Emma's life can be summed up by her motto of "seek out and relieve the distressed...be ambitious to do good". She constantly sought to "be a blessing to all who may need aught at [her] hands". Truly, this always was her goal. Though we often speak of her as "the apostate", "Emma who left the church", we shouldn't forget all the good she did and also everything she went through before she got to that point. Lucy Mack Smith said of Emma, "I have never seen a woman in my life who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship from month to month, and from year to year with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience to endure. She has been tossed on the ocean of uncertainty; she has breasted the storms of persecution and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman." And certainly this is all true.
Long before her marriage to Joseph, Emma was deeply spiritual. Her household growing up was somewhat hostile towards religion, but though hearing the prayer of young Emma, her father's heart was softened and the family returned to activity in the christian faith.
Despite some struggles in their marriage, many relating to polygamy, Emma did her best to support Joseph in his overwhelmingly large calling. She served as scribe for him for much of the translation process and it was clear through her entire life that she loved him deeply.
Emma was the first woman to receive her endowment and afterwards she served as temple matron assisting all other women to receive their own endowment.
As Emma worked to organize the Relief Society, her vision was large and ever expansive. She said "We are going to do something extraordinary-when a boat is stuck on the rapids with a multitude of mormons on board we will consider that a loud call for relief. We expect extraordinary occasions and pressing calls." And do something extraordinary she certainly did. Nauvoo brought in some of the poorest in the country, with some having lost or left behind everything they had to join the saints. Emma organized the sisters to provide for everyone they could, and would even give up her own bed if someone else needed it.
She denied polygamy it is true, but it is not our place to damn her. We do not know why-perhaps for her own safety, or from the pain of losing Joseph and wishing not to have his name tarnished by something she barely understood and the world certainly would never understand, or perhaps she truly had fallen away. But that she stumbled does not negate all the good she did for this church and for Joseph. And, away from the support system of the church and continuing revelation, it would be hard for anyone regardless of the original strength of their testimony to stay strong. Many things contributed. Her dislike of the practice of polygamy certainly was one of them, though there were other factors. Her refusal to reveal the burial spot of Joseph’s body to Brigham (for fear of the mobs finding and destroying it) increased tensions between the two, and his dismantling of the Relief Society because of Emma's outspokenness added even more stress.
Even in Nauvoo after the saints left for Utah, Emma continued to fulfill her calling as relief society president and "mother in israel". Until the end of her life she continued to serve everyone around her, giving everything she had.
Barrett, Ivan J. Heroic Mormon Women. Covenant Communications, 2000.
Peterson, Janet, and LaRene Gaunt. Elect Ladies: Presidents of the Relief Society. Deseret Book, 1990
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