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| Edward
Stevenson Reminiscence (2) |
| In
October 1834 Joseph promises the gift of tongues and signs to Saints in
Pontiac, Michigan. Ten or eleven years later, twelve-year-old Mary Curtis,
who was born in the Pontiac branch, speaks in tongues in Nauvoo. Later,
as temple worker in the Logan Temple, she is asked to speak in tongues again.
She does so and Sarah Kimball translates. Mary dies that night. Others,
including Elijah Fordham, also spoke in tongues while in Pontiac. |
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Incidents of My Early Days in the Church. |
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Juvenile
Instructor 29, no. 16 (Aug. 15, 1894): 523–524.
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| Joseph's
promise |
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THE promise made by Joseph Smith, the great Prophet of the
last days, uttered with such great assurance and boldness, gave force and
character to his words. It came in contact with the preachers of the different
sects and forms of religion of this the nineteenth century. |
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| Edward
is 13 |
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I allude to the promise mentioned
in my last communication, and as found on page 443 of the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR.
Although it is over sixty years since I heard him utter those words, and
I at that time was little over 13 years of age, the words are imprinted
so strongly on my mind that they are as bright in my memory as they were
at the very moment I heard them. These are the very words of the Prophet:
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Actually,
Edward was fourteen and a half. He is probably confusing this with his age
when he was baptized.
Edward's recollection has other dating problems: he says Mary Curtis was
twelve when she spoke in tongues in Pontiac, but Mary did not turn twelve
until 1844, long after she moved from Michigan.
Elsewhere Edward maintains Joseph told the story of his First Vision during
this 1834 visit to Pontiac—which would make it Joseph's first public
announcement of the event. |
| Joseph
promises tongues and signs |
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And as a servant of God I promise you, inasmuch as you will
repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins, you shall receive
the Holy Ghost, and speak with tongues, and the signs (of the Gospel) shall
follow you, and by this you may test me as a Prophet sent of God. |
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| Angel
told Joseph |
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Now, my young readers, who would dare to utter such words
and great promises, and offer them as a test, unless he most assuredly knew
what he was talking about? Well, he did know, for an angel from heaven had
talked with him and given him promises which he neither doubted nor feared
to declare. |
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Mary
Curtis, 12, speaks in tongues
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Not long after a branch of the Church was organized
in the Mormon schoolhouse, one of its members (and I believe the first one
who received the gift of tongues) was a schoolmate of mine, Miss Mary Curtis,
a very nice little girl of only twelve years of age. In one of our meetings
Mary arose to testify of her good feelings and the goodness of God to her
in bestowing upon her the Holy Ghost. While thus speaking, she quite unexpectedly
to herself commenced speaking in tongues. Oh how this thrilled every one
of those who were present! For my part I can say that the Holy Ghost filled
that humble schoolhouse. |
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Speaking
in Tongues
Journal History, October 16, 1834, quoting Stevenson's 1893 pamphlet:
I am, with
others, a witness that these gifts did follow many in the branch of the
Church which was raised up in Pontiac. Among them was Deacon Samuel Bent
of the Presbyterian Church, who was the first one baptized (and who afterwards
became President of the High Council in Nauvoo, Illinois). His daughter
[sic], Mary, was the first one who spoke in tongues in his branch. Besides
Mary Curtis, Joseph Wood, Elijah Fordham and others also enjoyed that
gift. We felt that we were blessed above kings, rulers, and potentates
of the earth, and truly we were a happy branch.
Mary, daughter of Jeremiah Curtis and Ruth Strutton, was born near Pontiac,
Michigan, on November 15, 1832. According to FamilySearch™ Ancestral
File v4.19, she died in Spanish Fork (not in Logan), on October 7, 1900.
She and Calvin
Reed were married in Nauvoo by L. N. Scovil on July 11, 1841. Times
and Seasons 2 no. 18 (July 15, 1841): 485.
She married Ornan Houghton in Nauvoo in July 11, 1845. They had one son
before Ornan died in August 1847.
On October 5, 1850. Mary married Stephen Markham (1800–1878), the
third of his eight wives, They had three sons and seven daughters. |
| Michigan
Saints to Missouri, Illinois |
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I will add that this young girl, with her father's
family, moved to the State of Missouri, then our gathering place. This occurred
soon after Zion's Camp went up to Missouri, in 1834. Quite a number of the
Michigan Saints also gathered up there, and from there we were driven out,
and settled in the state of Illinois. |
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| Mary
Curtis Read |
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Mary Curtis was still with us, and was married in Nauvoo to
[524] a Brother Read. From thence I trace her steps to Utah, knowing her
as a good, faithful and consistent Latter-day Saint. |
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Mary
speaks in tongues in Logan Temple
Sarah Kimball interprets |
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President M. W. Merrill, of the Logan Temple, makes it a point
to occupy one hour every fast day as a testimony meeting in connection with
that day's work. On one of these occasions the Temple was largely attended,
and five of the members of the old Michigan branch of the Church were present,
including Sister Mary Curtis Read. Some of those present joined in the exercise
of faith that the Lord would bestow the gift of tongues to this same sister,
who used to speak in tongues in the Pontiac Branch, Michigan. During the
meeting, to the great joy of all who were present, she was moved upon by
the Holy Spirit, and spoke in tongues, and Sister Sarah Kimball interpreted
the remarks she uttered. |
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| Mary
dies that night |
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Sister Read had been working in the Logan Temple for about
two years, officiating for her dead relatives, and, strange as it is, in
the evening of that same day this favored sister passed peacefully away
from this mortal sphere, to reap the reward of a well spent life. |
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Samuel
Bent, first Michigan convert
Daughter speaks in tongues |
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There was another sister who received the gift of tongues
in the same schoolhouse in Michigan. She was the daughter of Deacon Samuel
Bent, formerly of the Presbyterian Church, but the first one who was baptized
into the Mormon Church in that land, and subsequently President of the High
Council in Nauvoo. |
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| Elijah
Fordham speaks in tongues (French) |
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There were others also who received
the gifts of the Gospel in Michigan. I will mention Brother Elijah
Fordham, as his case was one of a peculiar nature. I remember at one
of our meetings, and it was a testimony meeting, Brother Fordham was speaking
in tongues when two Frenchmen were coming up the turnpike road which passed
close by the schoolhouse. By some means, perhaps by hearing their own language
spoken, they were attracted to the window, where they asked a boy who was
outside if he knew what that man said. Of course the boy did not know any
more than did the speaker, for Brother Fordham did not understand any more
about French than he did about Greek, for it was a spiritual gift he was
then exercising. The Frenchmen testified that Brother Fordham was preaching
the Gospel to them. |
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| Mary's
speaking in tongues recalled |
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I wish before closing to say that on one of my visits to
my old home in Pontiac, that I met one Joseph Briggs, not in our Church,
who said, "I well remember hearing Mary Curtis and others speak in
tongues; and while she was speaking her face fairly shone, her countenance
changed, and often tears ran down her cheeks." |
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Edward Stevenson.
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| Edward
Stevenson sketch |
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Edward Stevenson, one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies (1894–1897),
was born May 1, 1820 in Gibraltar, Spain and died January 27, 1897. His
family emigrated to America in 1837. His father died when he was eleven.
In 1833 Edward, his mother, and other family members were converted by
Jared Carter and Joseph Woods in
Michigan. They were baptized in December 1833. He witnessed the fall of
Far West and Nauvoo, was an 1847 pioneer, and in 1870 he brought Martin
Harris to Utah. According to Andrew Jenson, Edward crossed the plains
eighteen times, and the Atlantic ocean nine times as a missionary. He
also served four missions to the States and two to Canada. (These were
relatively short missions—less than two years each.) He also visited
nearly every settlement in Utah as a home missionary. Nevertheless, he
managed to father 28 children by four wives. This is not to suggest all
was well in the family, for some time after giving birth to their fifth
child in 1853, his first wife, Nancy Porter (this webmaster's great-great-grandmother)
apparently left Edward and married Ezra T. Clark in 1870, birthing five
children for him (all—if genealogical records are accurate—with
the next-to-last name of … Stevenson!). Writes Andrew Jenson, "Elder
Stevenson was one of God's noblemen and one of the most faithful and energetic
missionaries who ever preached the gospel in this dispensation. It is
believed that he traveled and preached more on his own expense than any
other Elder in the Church. He ranked high as a public speaker, and in
private conversation he was untiring and entertaining. In his public and
private life he was very exemplary; he was a strict observer of the Word
of Wisdom, and partook of neither tea nor coffee during the last thirty
years of his life"—(an interesting commentary on Brother Jenson's
values).
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