User:Cstickel(byu)/sandbox/Death in 19th Century Mormonism-Notes

The "Beautiful Death" in the Smith Family - BYU Studies (Brown, 2006)✅

 * Joseph Smith's teachings on the subject often took the form of funeral sermons, such as the King Follett discourse (p.123) ✓
 * The concept of "beautiful death" stemmed from the amount of exposure people had to death - particularly of family and friends - in everyday life (infant mortality rates, diseases) (p.123,125) ✓
 * People had to remain calm in their final hours to show they weren't afraid of what was to come (p.124) ✓
 * Death was not a private occurrence; people gathered round deathbeds (p.130-131) ✓
 * People wanted a slow, dramatic death - not a sudden one (p.130) ✓
 * It was seen as an opportunity to teach your children (p.130) ✓
 * Angels (often ancestors) surrounded the deathbed, only visible to the dying (p. 134) ✓
 * Family members left behind entered an intense mourning period; some wished death upon themselves in the wake of the death of a loved one (p. 138) ✓
 * Corpses were seen as sacred and necessary parts of the resurrection (p.143) ✓
 * Death masks, locks of hair, etc. were kept as mementos, relics (p.146) ✓

The Mormon Culture of Salvation (Davies, 2000)✅

 * On January 21, 1836, Joseph Smith had a vision in which he saw his departed brother Alvin alongside the Father and the Son in heaven; he then learned from "the voice of the Lord" that those who would have accepted the Gospel if it had been taught to them before their death were welcome in God's kingdom. (p.87) ✓
 * This vision also included the teaching that children who died before the age of accountability are "saved in the Celestial Kingdom of heaven" (p.87) ✓
 * Joseph Smith Sr. also reported to have seen Alvin, shortly before his own death (p.88) ✓
 * Temple ordinances served as encouragement that the Saints could conquer death (p.92) ✓
 * It has been argued that Smith's increase in preaching related to death and salvation was his response to the Saints' struggles with health in Nauvoo (p.94) ✓
 * Mormon eulogies always included a reference to the continuity of the person's spirit after death (p.94) ✓
 * And often included proof of the person's "steadfastness and moral virtue" while they lived, whenever applicable (p.94) ✓
 * "The highest point in the faith of the Latter Day Saints is that they know where they are going after death, and what they will do, and this gives a consolation more glorious than all the fame, honors and wealth ... and when a faithful saint dies .. all Israel whispers ... 'let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.'" (source: Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, p. 606 (1844)) ✓
 * Departed souls were believed to continue the work of salvation in the afterlife by sharing the gospel with the spirits who had not received it on earth (p.98) ✓
 * Early Mormons also thought that the faithful would be translated, along with the entire city of Zion (p.103) ✓
 * Graves were blessed as "resting place[s] of the dead until the resurrection" (p.137) ✓
 * Burial remained the main method of respecting the dead in Mormon culture throughout the 19th century, but some Church members, beginning in 1877, were cremated (p.137) ✓
 * Joseph F. Smith taught that cremation would not interfere with the resurrection of the body in the afterlife; he stated that "It is impossible to destroy a body ... the time will come when every essential particle will be called back together again" (p.137) ✓
 * Still, burial was encouraged (p.137) ✓

Mormonism and the American Experience (Hansen, 1981)✅

 * The teachings of the Church at the time pertaining to death contrasted those of Protestantism of the past; Book of Mormon teachings such as the story of the Three Nephites asserted that some believers would "never taste of death" (here cite 3 Nephi 28:7) but instead live on the earth until the Second Coming (p.91-92) ✓
 * Protestants, particularly Calvinists, feared death and the afterlife. There was much uncertainty surrounding it, and people were frequently taught of the hellfire and damnation that awaited sinners. (p.85) ✓
 * Death was extremely common among early Church members due to both disease and "skirmishes," such as the Battle of Crooked River and Haun's Mill massacre (p.96-97) ✓
 * Mortality rates only increased with the Saints' move west; "several hundred Mormon graves" are found in Winter Quarters, Nebraska (p.97) ✓
 * Hansen writes: "According to Mormonism only those few who had committed the unpardonable sins of shedding innocent blood, or of denying the Holy Ghost, would suffer the kind of tortures that Puritans believed would be meted out to most mortals" (p.98) ✓
 * Smith revealed on July 12, 1843 the "new and everlasting covenant" of marriage - the teaching that family relationships were preserved in the afterlife "if sealed by the proper priesthood authorities". (p.101) ✓
 * This doctrine eased widespread heartache brought on by the common deaths of children and infants (p.104-105) ✓
 * Mormonism thus became "a comprehensive religious and social movement that addressed itself to the fundamental problems confronting mankind." (p.105) ✓
 * Age of accountability is eight (p.103) ✓
 * The afterlife was seen by Church members as both a place of rest and a place to hurriedly continue the work of salvation; Wilford Woodruff had a vision of Smith laboring to teach the Gospel in the spirit world (p.109) ✓
 * Mormons preferred peaceful deaths, and saw the deaths of loved ones as transitions to a place of both comfort and work, both rest and progress (p.110-111) ✓

To Overcome the "Last Enemy": Early Mormon Perceptions of Death - BYU Studies (Bishop, 1986)✅

 * Death was not dreaded, but seen as an opportunity to escape the world's problems (for the Saints, persecution) and be at peace with loved ones (p.1) ✓
 * LDS theology painted a desirable picture of the afterlife for the faithful (p.1) ✓
 * "Mormon mortality rates rose in the late 1830s and early 1840s due to the persecutions suffered in Missouri and the unhealthy conditions in Nauvoo" (p.2) ✓
 * Deaths were used as opportunities to inspire obedience and righteousness by highlighting the most admirable qualities of the deceased; this simultaneously comforted the mourners, for they were assured of the subject's salvation (p.2-3) ✓
 * Endowment and sealing ordinances (introduced in the mid-1840s) further alleviated stress concerning the death of loved ones (p.3) ✓
 * Being buried in a cemetery - which were seen as holy - was very important (p.4) ✓
 * Those who were not faithful while on earth faced an uncertain afterlife - though not automatically terrible (p.6) ✓
 * Obituaries often told of the person's righteousness, calm state while dying, and last words (p.6) ✓
 * They believed that children who died before the age of 8 were automatically received into heaven (p.8) ✓
 * Nauvoo presented health challenges, such as malaria and tuberculosis, which made the saints highly acquainted with death (1839-1845) (p.9-10) ✓
 * This led to more developed eschatology - particularly the belief that families would be reunited after death (p.10-11) ✓
 * Smith's King Follett discourse expanded Mormon eschatology to feature a "complex, highly structured immortal existence." (p.13) ✓

Distinctions in the Mormon Approach to Death and Dying - Deity & Death (Madsen, 1978)✅

 * In the midst of opposition, Smith told them not to fear, for mobs "can only kill the body." ✓
 * When one dies, their spirit leaves their body; having a body is beneficial and people will miss theirs ✓
 * All people will be immortal ✓

In Heaven as it is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death (Brown, 2011)✅

 * Joseph Smith used funeral sermons to address death and inspire in his followers the desire to study it extensively. (p.15) ✓
 * The "beautiful" or "holy" death was seen as a right of passage necessary for salvation. (p.17) ✓
 * three parties present, three roles to play: the dying had to be calm and convinced of their salvation; the living had to support the dying in their transition to salvation and mourn them to secure their salvation; and the dead opened the gate for the dying to salvation. (p.17) ✓
 * result of providentialism - God controlled when everyone would die (p.17) ✓
 * also influenced by high mortality rates and the common deaths of young people (p.20) ✓
 * Lucy Mack Smith's memoir includes descriptions of "beautiful death" scenes (p.19) ✓
 * 19th century Latter-day Saints were encouraged to bereave the dead, often through eloquent obituaries in newspapers (p.30), but the intensity of the mourning was not to exceed one's belief in God and salvation (p.34) ✓
 * "Mourning too much risked offending God and proving to outsiders that Mormonism had not solved the problem of death." (p.34) ✓
 * Smith taught that respect for God's will > love for family members/friends (p.32) ✓
 * People were remembered after death through mementos such as canes made from the wood of their coffin or a lock of their hair. (p.38) ✓
 * Uncertainty surrounding a person's actual status as alive or dead, because of the limits of medical science at the time, produced myths of live burials and resurrections. Influenced by these and the Book of Mormon account of a king being mistakenly pronounced dead, some 19th-century Mormons occasionally attempted to bring corpses back to life - particularly of those who died young and suddenly. (p.39-43) ✓
 * Joseph Smith Sr. reportedly blessed some Latter-day Saints with the power to raise people from the dead (p.43) ✓
 * Oliver Cowdery refuted the claim (p.45-46) ✓




 * If the family couldn't afford to have a portrait painted of their dead loved one, they would remember their face through death masks made of plaster (p.66) ✓
 * Coffin canes, locks of hair, and other relics of the dead were believed to possess the power to protect the living from the devil and physical ailments (p.67) ✓
 * "Beautiful"/"Holy" death also mandated that people be buried in a cemetery near home (p.91) ✓
 * Proper burial was essential to resurrection/being prepared for the Second Coming (p.92) ✓
 * Smith made plans to build a family sepulcher, but died before completing the project. Being buried with one's family was of utmost importance to the Mormons at this time. (p.92-94) ✓
 * Though some opted to be buried with other Latter-day Saints instead of their family (p.94) ✓
 * Smith believed that heaven for him would include not only his family but his entire community of believers (p.208) ✓
 * Some early church members marveled when their prophet, who had taught that death could be overcome, was murdered by a mob (p.287-288) ✓

Gaze into Heaven: Near-Death Experiences in Early Church History (Sullivan, 2013)✅

 * Multiple near-death experiences of early Mormons coincided with Joseph Smith's teachings of the afterlife (p.7) ✓
 * Brigham Young taught that, at the time of death, the "separation of spirit and body" occurs (p.11) ✓
 * He also taught that, once this occurs, the person no longer experiences pain (p.15) ✓
 * Of the people who had near-death experiences at this time, some recorded seeing Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, or Brigham Young in the afterlife (p. 38) ✓
 * Both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught that the "spirit" is made of a different substance - one more refined than that of our physical body (p.53) ✓
 * Some near-death experiences were published in magazines, such as the Juvenile Instructor (p.55) ✓

"Line upon Line": Joseph Smith's Growing Understanding of the Eternal Family - Religious Educator (Jensen; Goodman; & Garner, 2019)✅

 * This "context of tragedy that motivated deep and searching questions about death, salvation, and the eternal nature of families" ✓
 * Six of Joseph Smith's eleven children died ✓
 * ^ this, along with the death of his brother Alvin Smith, prompted him to ask questions about life after death and the salvation of souls ✓
 * Multiple passages from the Book of Mormon teach that young children who pass on are saved ✓
 * On August 15, 1840, Smith introduced baptism for the dead, doctrine that taught that baptisms could be performed vicariously for those who had previously died. This was a stepping stone towards the sealing ordinance, through which families could be reunited after death ✓
 * Smith believed that one's salvation was directly connected to that of their ancestors ✓
 * He eventually taught that the sealing of husbands and wives was necessary for exaltation ✓

"And Should We Die": Pioneer Burial Grounds in Salt Lake City✅

 * Along the trail west, the Mormon pioneers "respectfully and even reverently" buried their dead ✓
 * Block 49 in Salt Lake City became the first cemetery for Church members in Utah ✓
 * George B. Wallace, Daniel H. Wells, and Joseph Heywood designated 20 acres of land in the nearby foothills as the Salt Lake City Cemetery in 1849 ✓
 * Residents were required to be buried in the cemetery by order of an 1856 city ordinance; but some families, fearing grave robbers, buried their loved ones on their own property ✓

Saints and Sickness: Medicine in Antebellum American and the Latter-day Saints - Religious Educator (Hinckley, 2009)✅

 * The smallest of injuries could become infected and, for the early Latter-day Saints, prove to be fatal (particularly before the Civil War) ✓
 * Joseph Smith opposed heroic medicine, after the use of calomel contributed to the death of his brother Alvin ✓
 * Botanical medicine was often used among the Saints, particularly once the Word of Wisdom was revealed, urging the use of herbs for the body ✓
 * In Winter Quarters, scurvy was the main deathly disease, due to the lack of fruit and vegetables from traveling through the winter ✓
 * Death in Winter Quarters was so common that accurate records were difficult to keep, but it is estimated that around 600 people died ✓

Thought, Communication, Speed of Movement, and the Spirit's Ability to Absorb Knowledge: Near-Death Experiences and Early Mormon Thought - Journal of Near-Death Studies (Top, 1997)✅

 * Some modern near-death experiences corroborate things taught by 19th century leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as there being a new method of communication in the afterlife, the quick movement of beings after death, and increased intellectual ability after death (p. -210) ✓