Mormon Manuscripts to 1846: Guide to Lee Library, BYU
LIGHTNER, MARY ELIZABETH ROLLINS (1818-1913).
Reminiscence. Also photocopies. 2 folders.
Born at Lima Livingston County, New York, daughter of John Porter Rollins and Keziah Keturah Van Benthuysen. Her conversion as well as her mother's in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1830; sealed to eternal life in 1831; later sealing to Joseph Smith as a plural wife; genealogical data.
Guide to Archives and Manuscripts Collections In Selected Utah Repositories
Lightner, Mary Elizabeth Rollins, 1818-1913.
Autobiography.
43 pp. : photocopy of typescript.
Summary: Autobiography. Tells of life in Missouri, the Hawn's Mill Massacre, life in Nauvoo, Ill., Salt Lake City and Minersville, Utah.
Gift of George Tanner, 1978.
Preliminary catalogue record. See curator for more detailed information.
Location: University of Utah Marriott Library Manuscripts Div., Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112.
1. Women, Mormon--Biography. 2. Hawn's Mill Massacre, 1838. 3. Mormons-- Missouri. 4. Mormons--Ohio. 5. Autobiographies.
ACCN 608
ID: UTSW89-A3181
Wiggins, Marvin E. Mormons and Their Neighbors (Supplement)
Rollins, Mary Elizabeth 9 Apr 1818 - 17 Dec 1913
Brigham Young and His Wives and The True Story of Plural Marriage by John J. Stewart. Salt Lake City: Mercury, 1961. p.89
Wiggins, Marvin E. Mormons and Their Neighbors
Lightner, Mary Elizabeth Rollins 9 Apr 1818 - 17 Dec 1913
They Answered The Call: A History of Minersville, Utah edited by Alvaretta Robinson. [Minersville, Utah: Centennial Committee, c1962.] p.A164 Photo p.A164
Minersville. The Relief Society of the Minersville Ward was organized April 15, 1869, with Malinda Lewis as president and Harriet Bradshaw as secretary. A reorganization took place at a meeting in Minersville, April 5, 1870, at which time Mary E. Lightner was accepted as president of the Society. She was ordained by Bishop McKnight, William Wood and James H. Rollins, as were her counselors, Dionitia Lyman and Mary Stoddard. Phebe J. Bingham, secretary, and Elizabeth Gilbert, Elizabeth Corbridge and Malinda Lewis were chosen and ordained as mothers in Israel, and Lydia Blackburn was appointed as president of the teachers or visiting committee.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.102
1499. Lightner, Mary Elizabeth Rollins, 1818–1913
Journal (1818–c.1860s)
Davis Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies (1977), pg.212
Journal (1818–c.1860s)
Photocopy of typescript. 18 pp. BYU [Lee Library] (MSS 970)
UTAH GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE 17 (1926): 193–205, 250–60. HDC [LDS Church Archives]
THE LIFE AND TESTIMONY OF MARY E. LIGHTNER, compiled and published by N. B. Lundwall (n.p., n.d.), 44 pp. HDC [LDS Church Archives]
Davis Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies (1977), pg.212
Retrospective, 1818–63. Diary entries for 1863. Born at Lima, Livingston County, New York, 1818. Death of father. Moved to Kirtland, c. 1828. Lived in house belonging to her uncle, Algernon Sidney Gilbert. Visit of Mormon missionaries. Baptized, October 1830. Borrowed the only copy of Book of Mormon in Kirtland from Isaac Morley. Apparently the first person there to read it. To Independence, Missouri, fall 1832. Mobbings. Helped Peter Whitmer, a tailor, make Lieutenant-Governor Boggs's "fine ruffled bosom shirts, also to assist his wife in sewing." Rescued some sheets of Book of Commandments at time print shop destroyed. School teacher, 1834–35. Married Adam Lightner of Liberty, 1835. Husband persuaded her to open store in For West. Moved to Milford to open branch store, 1837. Governor Boggs ordered that Lightners be allowed to leave Far West, 1838. At Lexington. Moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Made shirts. Stopped at St. Louis before moving to Nauvoo area.
Davis Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies (1977), pg.212
Settled at Farmington, Iowa. Husband set up furniture shop. Author gave painting lessons. Moved to Nauvoo. Joseph Smith prophesied they would suffer disaster if they ever left the Church. [p.213] Baptized by Joseph Smith. Moved to Pontusuc as there was no work in Nauvoo, c. 1842–43. Forced to make flag for mob going to Carthage, June 1844. Death of Smiths. Destitution. Moved to Galena. Managed hotel at St. Croix Falls. Lived at various towns on Lake St. Croix. Lost all her property during Civil War. At Hannibal, Missouri, 1861–62. Back to Minnesota. Brother in Utah sent wagon to bring them west, 1863. Detailed account of trip to Utah. Scene at Florence: "The Tents are scattered over the hills & when the camp fires are lit at night the scene is beautiful to behold & makes me think of how the Children of Israel must have looked in the days of Moses, when they fled from Egypt." Settled at Minersville, Utah. Amasa Lyman tried unsuccessfully to convert her to Godbeites. Vision, fulfilling prophecy of Heber C. Kimball.
Davis Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies (1977), pg.213
Also author's testimony at BYU in 1905 and other items. Recollections and testimony of plural marriage. Joseph Smith's vision of Christ during Church meeting, c. 1831. Testimony that Joseph lived and preached polygamy, that he quarreled with the angel who brought him the revelation. Joseph tried to convince her to be sealed to him for some time—apparently years—but was not persuaded until angel appeared to her. Says Smith had six wives and that she knew of three children. She was sealed to him, c. 1842–43. Not clear that all three versions absolutely identical. Typescript was prepared by a great-granddaughter in 1936. Written partially in third person but mostly in first. Lundwall publication a reprinting of UGHM version. Lundwall had microfilm of stenographic copy of 1905 BYU talk, signed by the author. UGHM material is identified as "extracts from private journal." See also excerpts in Our Pioneer Heritage 5 (1962): 305–22, apparently taken from the typescript version.
1500. Lightner, Mary Elizabeth Rollins, 1818–1913
Diary (1890–1905)
Davis Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies (1977), pg.213
Diary (1890–1905)
Holograph. 57 pp. 28 m. BYU [Lee Library] (MSS 970)
Davis Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies (1977), pg.213
Temple ordinance record book. Speeches and personal thoughts interspersed
in the record.