Martha Jane Knowlton

From Hanksplace

Relationship: 1st Cousin to Ephraim Knowlton Hanks
Association: Scribe to Lucy Mack Smith, mother of Prophet Joseph Smith

Martha Jane Knowlton

Vitals

Born: (3 Jun 1822) (Covington, Kenton, Kentucky, USA)
Died: (14 Dec 1881) (Provo, Utah, Utah, USA)
Buried: (18 Dec 1881) (Provo, Utah, Utah, USA)

Spouse

Howard Coray m. (6 Feb 1841) (Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA)

Parents

Sidney Algernon Knowlton b. 24 May 1792 (Ashford, Windham, Connecticut, USA)
Harriet Burnham b. (7 Mar 1797) (Dunbarton, Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA)

Siblings:

Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton b. (6 Dec 1817) (Dunbarton, Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA)
Harriet Virginia Knowlton b. (30 Mar 1820) (Susquehanna, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, USA)
Martha Jane Knowlton b. (3 Jun 1822) (Covington, Kenton, Kentucky, USA)
Julia Ann Knowlton b. (17 Aug 1824) (Covington, Kenton, Kentucky, USA)
Ephraim Knowlton b. (22 Mar 1827) (Cumminsville, Hamilton, Ohio, USA)
Mary Ann Knowlton b. (11 Sep 1829) (Cumminsville, Hamilton, Ohio, USA)
George Washington Knowlton b. (4 Jul 1832) (Carthage, Hamilton, Ohio, USA)
John Quiney Knowlton b. (9 Jul 1835) (Cincinatti, Hamilton, Ohio, USA)
Benjamin Franklin Knowlton b. (30 Jan 1838) (Bear Creek, Hancock, Illinois, USA)
Marcia Eliza Knowlton b. (19 Dec 1841) (Bear Creek, Hancock, Illinois, USA)

Sketch

Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, was born in Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio, June 3, 1822. During Martha's childhood her parents first moved to Cumminsville, Ohio, and later, about 1835, to Bear Creek, Hancock County, Illinois. It was there early in 1840 that Mormonism entered the lives of her family. It is noted from her obituary that "in January, 1840, a hole was cut through the ice, and herself and a few others were baptized."

During the summer that year Martha was introduced to her future husband, Howard Coray, while attending a church gathering in Nauvoo. After a few months period correspondence and with the recommendation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, she was married to Howard.

Supplementing Martha's unsual record as wife and mother, other significant accomplishments outside the house mark her as one of the outstanding women of the Mormon Pioneer generation. Immediately after her marriage she assisted her husband in school teaching duties at Nauvoo which she continued on an intermittent basis until the winter of 1844-45.

About this time the mother of the late Prophet Joseph Smith visited Martha and requested that she assist in writing the history of the Prophet, which Martha agreed to do. From Howard Coray's personal history:

"Sometime in the winter following 1844-45 Mother Smith came to see my wife, about getting her to help write the history of Joseph; to act in the matter, only as her, Mother Smith's amanuensis. This my wife was persuaded to do; and so dropped the school. Not long had she worked in this direction, before, I was requested also to drop the school, . . . and help her in the matter of the history. After consulting President Young, who advised me to do so, I consented; and immediately set to with my might. We labored together until the work was accomplished, which took till near the close of 1845."

This undertaking entitled, The History of Mother Smith by Herself, was published in England in 1853 by Elder Orson Pratt from a copy of the original manuscript, which he purchased from a third party, who had obtained it from a member of the Smith family after her death. For several reasons not thought appropriate to recount her, this publication was later suppressed-Martha brought the original to Utah and later delivered it to President Brigham Young.

Subsequently, after a small committee of church leaders appointed by President Young made some revisions in the text, it was published serially by the Improvement Era in 1900, and the following year it was printed in book form entitled History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith.

Martha, during her rather short life, made other significant contributions to her people beyond the strenuous duties required by her large family. Among these were services rendered the Brigham Young Academy (Provo, Utah) which was organized in October 1875. She became a member of its original Board of Trustees and was also its first Dean of Women. She served as a trustee until her death December 14, 1881.

MARTHA JANE KNOWLTON CORAY: A WOMAN OF FAITH AND INTELLECT

In the 1870s when Brigham Young envisioned a school combining sacred and secular learning, he selected several educated Saints to lay its foundations. Among those asked to contribute was Martha Jane Knowlton Coray.

Martha Jane was born in Kentucky in 1821 to Sidney Algernon and Harriet Burnham Knowlton. The family later moved to Illinois, where in 1840 they heard George A. Smith preach the gospel. Martha led the family in baptism. Her great admiration for the Prophet was later described by her husband, Howard Coray, who wrote, "I have frequently heard her say, that [the Prophet] was the greatest miracle to her she had ever seen; and that she valued her acquaintance with him above everything else."

Howard also recorded his first impression of Martha: "I discovered at once that she was ready, off hand, and inclined to be witty; also, that her mind took a wider range than was common for young ladies of her age." The two were married on Feb. 6, 1841.

After Howard worked as a clerk for the Prophet, the couple began to teach school in Nauvoo. In January 1846 they received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple, leaving the city with the Saints that same year. To earn money for the trip to Utah, the couple worked for several years in Iowa, where Howard farmed and Martha tended a ferry. They entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1850. Their daughter, Martha Lewis, recalls her mother's sharp wit during the journey in the following memoir:

The gold rush to California was on and many curious people came by asking dozens of annoying questions. One time a man came up to mother with curiosity written on his face, but before he could say anything, she started out rapidly with "I'm David Crockett's aunt. I came from the East and I'm going to the West. I think that man over there died with the small pox." This seemed to suffice his curiosity, for he walked away and without a word. I suppose he wondered what was the matter with mother.

Once in Utah, Howard worked as a tithing clerk in Salt Lake City before they moved to Provo in 1857. When her husband homesteaded a ranch in Mona, Juab County, in 1871, Martha continued to reside in Provo in order to fulfill her commitments to the community. She participated in Church activities, including Sunday School and Relief Society functions, and wrote for the Woman's Exponent. She distilled herbs and liniments, marketing her products from Nephi to Ogden. Although most of her products had medicinal value, Martha also produced "Lightning Cage Oil," reputed to be stronger than Hartshorn. A slight whiff would render any assailant helpless, gasping for breath. She held the power of attorney for several court matters, and her journal entries and letters demonstrate her knowledge of the law.

Martha's journal also records the commitment she had to the education and personal improvement of her 12 children. She wrote of their progress: "All are studying very hard at arithmetic, every leisure hour. Donny read 6 pages and finished his book. Will and Sid began to study; got 5 parts of speech." And she continued to improve her own mind, writing, "Nellie and George came from the city and brought my books, Walter Scott and Herodotus."

As a teacher, Martha often faced the frustrations created by a lack of stability, tuition collection, and a general indifference of the public to education. Financial difficulties also plagued her as she served on the board of trustees at Brigham Young Academy. In an editorial published by George Q. Cannon, she complained about the lack of support given to the academy, stating that the school was struggling to accomplish the "greatest good with the smallest means" and that its success was due mainly to an "unflinching trust in God." She finished with a call to "Israel" to pay more attention to how close principles of "faith, honor and a deep desire for general intelligence cling to the scholar even after leaving Brigham Young Academy."

Despite these trials, Martha continued to champion educational causes throughout her life. In a letter to Brigham Young, she asked, "Does not the deed require the sacred book mentioned to be taken up as a study in the same way as the sciences mentioned?" She further wrote, "My principle of education has been--God's laws of religion first--Man's laws of honor and morality second--Science of every attainable kind and as much as possible but lastly in forming a permanent base for character and hope of future salvation."

The Woman's Exponent eulogized Martha with these words:

Very early in life she evinced a character in a degree somewhat rare for one of her sex--that is, of decidedly doing her own thinking; hence, before adopting any principle of religion, law, or politics, whether proposed by father, husband, priest, or king, she must clearly see and understand for herself the righteousness and consistency of the matter.

Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, scribe for Lucy Mack Smith, the preliminary manuscript of the book "History of Joseph Smith, by His Mother"

This article is part of an honors thesis written by Amy Reynolds, who graduated from BYU in December 1997.

It is not entirely clear who motivated the creation of Lucy Mack Smith's history. In January 1845, she wrote to her son William that she was constantly answering questions on "the particulars of Joseph's getting the plates, seeing the angels at first, and many other things which Joseph never wrote or published," and she had "almost destroyed her lungs giving recitals about these things." She "now concluded to write down every particular."

In her rough preface to the work she also states that she has been induced to write because "none on earth is so thoroughly acquainted as myself with the entire history of those of whom I speak." But it is also evident that at the same period Church historian Willard Richards and his staff were working on the Church history up to Joseph's death, and they gave encouragement to Lucy to supply the background only she could give. In that same letter to William, she said, "I have by the council of the 12 undertaken a history of the family that is my father's family and my own."

At any rate, sometime in the early winter, Mother Smith approached Martha Jane Knowlton Coray to be her scribe. Martha Jane's husband, Howard, remembered the event: "In the fall of 1844, I procured the Music Hall for a school room: it was large enough to accommodate 150 students; and I succeeded in filling the room. . . . Sometime in the winter following, Mother Smith came to see my wife, about getting her to help write the history of Joseph; to act in the matter, only as her, Mother Smith's, amanuensis. This my wife was persuaded to do; and so dropped the school."

Martha Jane's background suited her for the job. She had developed the habit of recording and preserving Joseph Smith's speeches in Nauvoo. In fact, her daughter Martha Jane Coray Lewis later noted that Wilford Woodruff "consulted her notes, when he was Church Historian, for items not to be obtained elsewhere."

This superior note-taking ability was a great help to Lucy, who could write but was, during the production of the work, according to Martha Jane, "in a very low state of health, at times suffering great pains with rheumatism, and often suffocated with an affection of the chest."

Ailing or not, Lucy wanted to get this history down, and it appears that she dictated her story to Martha through that winter, who wrote it with clear penmanship, excellent spelling, and little punctuation. Of course, whenever a second person is involved in a work the question arises: What part of the product reflects the personality and style of the author and what part the influence of the scribe? Martha Jane supplies the answer to this. She wrote Brigham Young that because of her practice at note taking, "this made it an easy task for me to transmit to paper what the old lady said, and prompted me in undertaking to secure all the information possible for myself and children. . . . Hyrum and Joseph were dead, and thus without their aid, she attempted to prosecute the work, relying chiefly upon her memory, having little recourse to authentic statements whose corresponding dates might have assisted her." Martha Jane's husband, Howard, seconds his wife's description of her role in the project. As quoted earlier, he said she served "only as her, Mother Smith's, amanuensis."

Thus, what Martha wrote down appears to be the raw, unedited Lucy, a reflection of her intellect and heart. What she expressed was her life as she saw it and the part that her family had played in bringing forth the Book of Mormon and the restored religion. It was not originally what it has long been titled, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith. It was instead "The History of Mother Smith, by Herself," a family history, a story of drama, spiritual adventure, and pathos, but most of all a personal story. Thus, without hesitation, she shared intimate details, probed feelings and made assessments, felt free to soliloquize. She was frank, for instance, to say that she looked forward to standing at the bar of God, where, after a lifetime of persecution, justice will finally reign and her persecutors will be brought to task. And though she shared her suffering, she was not full of self-pity, but rather grateful to be the mother of a prophet and part of a transcendent work.

The material that was dictated to Martha is found in two major places. First, there is an early notebook, a sixty-four-page manuscript that contains a number of jottings: notes on the early Christian martyrs (and it is clear to see why Lucy would be interested in these), notes on Samuel Smith's mission, an account of her journey to Missouri, excerpts from John Smith's diary, and some chronological data. Second is the Preliminary Manuscript, which includes approximately 210 pages of foolscap paper as well as several fragments and torn sheets. Though there are some major gaps, this material is mostly chronological, with an occasional correction and sometimes additional notes added between the lines. Observing this, it appears that Martha wrote down Lucy's dictation and then read it back to her for correction. _______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpts from Scot Proctor Facer paper, Meridian Magazine, commemorating the 140th anniversary of the death of Lucy Mack Smith, May 14, 1856.