Edward Stevenson, December 1833

 Here are the first converts to the church on the Cardon side of the Family.  Elizabeth and Edward were baptized at the same time, but most of the information here is about Edward. I will do a post for Elizabeth next time.

Edward Stevenson 1833

Stevenson was born on May 1, 1820, in Gibraltar, the fourth son of Joseph Stevenson and Elizabeth Stevens. In 1827, at the tender age of seven, he immigrated with his family to the United States, settling first in New York and then in Michigan. In 1831 his father passed away, leaving him in the care of his mother and siblings. In 1833, three years after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in upstate New York, missionaries Jared Carter and Joseph Woods evangelized in Michigan. Although still a young man, Stevenson believed their words and embraced their teachings. He was baptized on December 20, 1833, and his mother and several siblings also joined the church. As a family they gathered with the Latter-day Saints in Missouri and endured the trials that followed the church and its members across that state. While living in Far West, Stevenson became more acquainted with Joseph Smith, having first met him while living in Michigan. Stevenson was eventually exiled from Missouri with the body of the church and moved to the temporary safety of Nauvoo, Illinois. There he married his first wife, Nancy A. Porter (the sister of his future missionary companion Nathan T. Porter), in 1845 and was endowed in the Nauvoo Temple in 1846. He crossed the plains in the Charles C. Rich company in 1847, his first of nearly twenty crossings over the plains on behalf of the church as a leader and missionary.

Stevenson also made six missionary journeys, for up to five years at a time. These included three missions to Europe, two missions to the southern United States, and one mission to Mexico. 

Stevenson was a polygamist and had four wives, and we are descended from the third, Emily Electa Williams. All together, Edward Stevenson had 28 children according to Family Search (Wikipedia says he had 7 wives, and 24 children). 

In 1870, Edward Stevenson traveled to Ohio to meet Martin Harris.  He helped him move to Utah, and there rebaptized him. 

Stevenson wrote and self-published a biography of Joseph Smith in 1893, entitled Reminiscences of Joseph, the Prophet.  It is available on Project Guttenberg. 

In October 1894, Stevenson was called to serve as one of the first seven presidents of seventies, a position he honorably fulfilled until his passing in Salt Lake City on January 27, 1897.

Wilford Woodruff, December 29, 1833

Between section 101 and 102 we come to the time of the conversion of the next ancestor on our first ancestors to join the church list. It was an interesting time to join the church.  There were extreme persecutions of the saints in Missouri, though the church in Kirkland was still stable and growing. Here is a short introduction to Wilford Woodruff.

Wilford Woodruff was born on March 1, 1807, in Farmington, Connecticut, to Aphek Woodruff and Beulah Thompson Woodruff. When he was 15 months old, his mother died of spotted fever. About three years later, Aphek remarried. Wilford and his two older brothers were raised by their father and by their stepmother, Azubah Hart Woodruff.

“At an early age my mind was exercised upon religious subjects.”

“I could not find any denomination whose doctrines, faith or practice, agreed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the ordinances and gifts which the Apostles taught.”

On December 29, 1833, he heard a sermon preached by Elder Zera Pulsipher, a Latter-day Saint missionary. In his journal he described his response to Elder Pulsipher’s sermon: “He commenced the meeting with some introductory remarks and then prayed. I felt the Spirit of God to bear witness that he was the servant of God. He then commenced preaching, and that too as with authority, and when he had finished his discourse I truly felt that it was the first gospel sermon that I had ever heard.”

Wilford Woodruff invited Elder Pulsipher and his companion, Elijah Cheney, to stay in the Woodruff home. Two days later, having spent some time reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with the missionaries, Brother Woodruff was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

By April 1834 he had moved to Kirkland OH, and that June participated in the “Zion’s Camp” march to Missouri. When he returned to Ohio, he served two different missions before meeting and marrying Phoebe Carter in 1837.  I am descended from this marriage.

(Later when plural marriage became a practice among leaders of the church Wilford Woodruff wed a total of nine more women.  Four of the marriages were short lived and ended in divorce, but six of his wives bore him a total of 34 children.)

In 1839 he was ordained a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles, and then was sent on a mission to England.  His work in England is almost legendary.  When he returned he migrated with the saints to the Great Salt Lake valley. In fact, President Brigham Young was lying sick in Wilford Woodruff’s wagon when he uttered the famous words, “This is the right place, drive on.”  

In Utah he served in many positions until he finally became president of the church in 1889.  While he was president, the Salt Lake Temple was completed and dedicated, and the Manifesto was given, ending the practice of Plural Marriage. 

One of the great contributions Wilford Woodruff made to the church was that he kept a daily thorough diary.  Much of what we know about the early church we know from his journaling.

A good introduction to his life can be found here.

Section 93: Answering Theological Questions

 Last week we studied section 93 in the Doctrine and Covenants. As I listened to the different podcasts  this week, every one of them quoted a passage from one of Truman Madsen's books about this section that shows how this one passage answered some of the most debated questions in Christian Theology.  Rather than summarize what he said, I will quote it,  as found in his book Joseph Smith the Prophet (Bookcraft, 1989).

How can something come from nothing? Answer: The universe was not created from nothing. “The elements are eternal.” (v 33)

How can Christ have been both absolutely human and absolutely divine at the same time? Answer: He was not both at the same time. Christ “received not of the fulness at the first, but continued . . . until he received a fulness.” (v. 14)

If man is totally the creation of God, how can he be anything or do anything that he was not divinely pre-caused to do? Answer: Man is not totally the creation of God. “Intelligence was not created or made, neither indeed can be. Behold, here is the agency of man.” (v 29-31)

How can man be a divine creation and yet be “totally depraved”? Answer: Man is not totally depraved. “Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.” (v. 38)

What is the relationship of being and beings, the one and the many? Answer: “Being” is only the collective name of beings, of whom God is one. Truth is knowledge of things (plural), and not, as Plato would have it, of Thinghood. “Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” (v. 24)

How can spirit relate to gross matter? Answer: “The elements are the tabernacle of God.” (v. 35)

Why should man be embodied? Answer: “Spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy.” (v. 33)

If we begin susceptible to light and truth, how is it that people err and abuse the light? Answer: People are free; they can be persuaded only if they choose to be. They cannot be compelled. 

The Socratic thesis that knowledge is virtue (that if you really know the good you will seek it and do it) is mistaken. It is through disobedience and because of the traditions of the fathers that light is taken away from mankind( v. 38-39)

I have studied early Christian theology on several occasions, and these theological questions have been a big deal. Contests on these questions have caused schisms that lead to the creations of all the different creeds and sects.  It is amazing that the Lord through Joseph Smith could answer these questions in a single, succinct chapter.