“The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth, which I had given him to fold them in. I once felt of the plates, as they lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book.”
Timeline
July 10, 1804: Emma Hale was born in Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, the seventh child of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis Hale.
Biography
Emma was born on 10 July 1804, the seventh of nine children, and grew up in Harmony, Pennsylvania. She was well-educated and even had an extra year of school outside of the normal grammar school.
Life Stories
by Susan Easton Black
To the Prophet Joseph Smith, his wife Emma was, “My beloved Emma—she that was my wife, even the wife of my youth, and the choice of my heart . . . undaunted, firm, and unwavering …”
Statements
“Joseph Smith … could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter, let alone dictate a book like the Book of Mormon. … it is marvelous to me, “a marvel and a wonder,” …”