(This article is still under construction)
"The Rodsmen"
By Anonymous
-- Chapter Three --
"Spare the Rod and Spoil The Child"
By 1806 (when his daughter Sally was born) the "great rodsman" Alvah and his Sarah were comfortably settled in what was then the Ontario frontier of New York, just north of West Bloomfield Twp. (see Mendon on the map below). Within a year or two Alvah had moved to Bloomfield and in a subsequent removal he would settle his family just south of Bloomfield's neighboring town of Lima (see northeast corner of Livingston Co. on map below).
It is not known exactly when Alvah (1775-1837) became a rodsman, but he may have had family connections in Vermont where those skills were attributed to the fathers of Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery around the turn of the century. In 1848 a Warren H. Beaman (1813-c.1860) "of Tunbridge, Orange, VT" married Cynthia Cowdery (1823-c.1890) (also of Tunbridge) a second cousin of Oliver's and a somewhat more distant relative of Joseph Smith, Jr. It is possible that Alvah acquired his rodsman's skills either while living in Vermont himself, or from a family member who had been living there c. 1800-1802.
Warren H. Beaman's exact relationship to Alvah Beaman remains unclear,
but they were probably cousins. Like Alvah, Warren probably eventually became a Mormon. His first son was named "Brigham Beaman" or "Brigham Cowdery Beaman." The LDS Church genealogical records show him as being related both to Oliver Cowdery and to Apostle Erastus Snow. Snow married Alvah Beaman's youngest daughter Artemisa (1819-1882) in 1838, three years before Joseph Smith made another of Beaman's daughter, Louisa (1815-1850), his second plural wife (the next after Lucinda Morgan, wife of the anti-Masonic martyr).
By 1810 Alvah had moved his growing family a few miles to the southwest, across the county line, to Livonia Twp., Livingston (then Genesee) Co., NY. The adjacent township on southwest of Livonia was Groveland, with Conesus Lake separating the two. Alvah remained in northeastern Livingston Co. until late in 1835 when he moved those members of his family who had become Mormons to Kirtland Ohio. During his stay in Livonia Alvah had some very interesting neighbors living just across the lake in Groveland. According to entries in a copy of a physician's and apothecary's ledger kept by Oliver Cowdery's brother Warren A. Cowdery (1788-1851), Warren and several of his siblings were living in the Groveland-Avon area as early as 1816. See footnotes #49 and #112 in Larry E. Morris' "Oliver Cowdery's Vermont Years," (BYUS 39:1 [spring 2000] pp. 106 ff.) for references to this "Warren Cowdery Ledger" at BYU's Lee Library in Provo, Utah. By consulting that ledger it is possible to document members of the Cowdery clan living about 5-10 miles from the Alvah Beaman family in the Groveland-Geneseo-Avon area between 1816 and 1826. Nor were Oliver's siblings the only Cowdery neighbors of the Beamans; the 1820 U.S. Census shows a John Cowdery at Conesus (then Freeport), Ontario Co., NY -- which is 3-6 miles immediately south of Livonia.
In 1829 Alvah pulled up stakes in Livonia and moved a few miles northwest to Avon. By the time the Beamans were settled in Avon the Cowderies had
apparently left (what had been since 1821) Livingston County for new homes in places like LeRoy (Genesee Co., NY), Freedom-Famersville (Cattaraugus Co., NY) and Youngstown (Trumbull Co., OH). Alvah became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr. of Manchester, Ontario Co., NY at about the same time that Smith first went to Pennsylvania to supervise treasure-digging for Josiah Stowell. In fact, Alvah Beaman may well have accompanied Smith to the Great Bend of the Susquehanna and there applied his rodsman skills as a supplement to Smith's seer-stone diving of treasure sites.
If Alvah Beaman was living so close to the Cowderies prior to his joining Smith's band of treasure-seekers, the question naturally arises as to whether or not Alvah met Oliver Cowdery prior to 1828. Given the fact that Oliver's
father was said to have been involved with the Vermont rodsmen, and the additional fact that Oliver himself possessed "the gift" of the witch hazel divining rod, it is entirely reasonable to assume that Oliver and Alvah would have had much in common, long before they both became Mormons. Alvah's close proximity to Batavia, Genesee Co., NY for most of the years between 1806 and 1835 also makes him suspect as a possible intermediary between William Morgan and Joseph Smith, Jr. Morgan, the anti-Masonic "martyr" who disappeared under suspicious circumstances in 1826, was said to have been an admirer of Smith. Morgan's widow Lucinda was a fellow
plural wife to Joseph Smith, Jr. along with Alvah Beaman's daughter Louisa.
Is there a long-forgotten story here, waiting to be uncovered? Certainly, if Alvah Beaman had "spared the rod" and not joined the Smith treasure-seekers, he could have "spoiled" his daughter safely in Livingston County, and kept her from the hardships of the Mormon expulsion from Missouri and becoming a young widow following Smith's assassination in 1844.
From: Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 19
Kate B. Carter (editor)
Daughters of the Utah Pioneers
Salt Lake City, Utah
LOUISA BEAMAN SMITH YOUNG (1815-1850)
by
Hazel Noble Boyack
[202]
In the little town of Lovina, Livingston County, New York, in the early
eighteen hundreds, there lived a family bearing the name of Alva and Sally
Burtis Beaman. These good Christian folk, through hard work and frugality,
had acquired a good home and much land and had become known among the
townspeople as well-to-do.
[203]
Into the Beaman home several children were born, both sons and
daughters. Of the sons, we know very little, but of the three daughters much
has been written. These three fine young ladies were destined to be among
the vanguard of women to the Salt Lake Valley. Artemissia became the wife of Erastus Snow. Mary Adeline, my grandmother, married Joseph Bates Noble. It is said Louisa became the first plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith. These girls were given every opportunity in education. They attended the best schools of the day. They were gifted in music and the Beaman home was one of refinement and culture.
Alva and Sally Burtis Beaman and their daughters were among the early
converts to the Church in that area. Old Father Beaman as he was
affectionately called, made his home a headquarters for the missionaries as
they traveled east from Kirtland preaching the restored Gospel.
Elder Parley P. Pratt, one of these missionaries, relates the following
instance in his Autobiography. "Among those whose hospitality we shared in
the vicinity of Genesco was Old Father Beaman and his amiable and
interesting family. He was a good singer and so were his three daughters. We
were much edified and comforted in their society and were deeply interested
in hearing the old gentleman and Brother Joseph converse on their early
acquaintance and history." He (Beaman) had been intimate with Joseph long
before the first organization of the church, and had assisted him to
preserve the plates of the Book of Mormon from the enemy, and had at one
time had them concealed under his own hearth.
The Beaman family removed with the Saints to Kirtland, Ohio. Here was
witnessed those stirring and history-making events of that early period; the
construction of the first Temple of this Dispensation, its dedication which
took place March 27, 1836. The beautiful and heavenly manifestations that
accompanied the dedication, were experiences in the lives of these people
never to be forgotten.
There were also dark days in that little city. Apostacy, persecution,
extreme financial difficulties of the Saints, brought down upon their heads
the wrath and fury of the enemy. To proclaim that Joseph Smith was still a
chosen and inspired Prophet was taking great risk with your life. Louisa
Beaman, together with her family met the adversity of those days with
conviction and fortitude that a testimony of the Gospel had instilled in
their hearts.
It was summer of 1838 that an important organization known as the Kirtland
Camp which consisted of the Seventy's Quorum, organized themselves into a
compact body and journeyed one thousand miles to Far West, Missouri. Louisa and her family joined with that of her brother-in-law, Joseph B. Noble and made
[204]
the historic trek to Far West, arriving there in early October,
1838. They were joyfully welcomed by the Saints, but there was to be no rest
or peace in that little city. It was already in a state of siege by the mob.
On October 27, 1838, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his famous
exterminating order which forced the Saints to flee the State of Missouri
and take refuge in Quincy and other small towns along the Mississippi River.
The next we hear of Louisa Beaman is in Nauvoo, Illinois. She had made her
home with her sister and brother-in-law, Mary Adeline and Joseph Bates
Noble. Brother Noble and the Prophet Joseph Smith had been devoted friends. Elder Noble had been almost instantly healed by the administrations of Joseph Smith in the summer of 1838 at Montrose, Iowa. While the Prophet was confined in Liberty Jail, Joseph Bates Noble visited him many times.
After the martyrdom of the Prophet, events were reaching a climax in Nauvoo. During the Fall and Winter of 1845Ð46, every effort was made to get ready for the exodus to the West. Louisa and Mary Adeline worked hard to dry and make ready vegetables, provide bedding for the winter's journey onto the windswept prairies of Iowa. Far into the night these women worked and
planned and prayed. Traveling with the Joseph B. Noble family, Louisa
arrived at the site of Winter Quarters sometime during the summer of 1846.
The energies of all the Saints were put to work erecting a sod or log house
before the advent of winter.
It was in the late Fall of 1846 that Louisa became the wife of President
Brigham Young. It was a signal honor to share the respect and protection of
this great and noble leader.
As the year 1847 dawned, the eyes of all the Saints were turned toward the
West, that was to be their home, their refuge. The womenfolk were busy
weaving baskets of willows, making leggings etc., for the journey to the
Rocky Mountains. Louisa and her people arrived in the Salt Lake Valley early
in October or 1847, having traveled in the Jedediah M. Grant Company.
In 1848 Louisa Young gave birth to her first children, a set of twins, both
sons. She named them Joseph and Hyrum. The tiny babes had little vitality
and shortly after their birth both babies died. Her tender mother heart was
deeply touched by this loss, but hers was the courage and faith of a real
pioneer mother. Again in 1850, she gave birth to twin boys. They were named
Alva and Alma. Whether it was the effect of childbirth or other difficulties
these two sons also passed away.
A few short weeks after the birth of her last children, Louisa became very
ill. She passed away sometime during the year 1850, in the Great Salt Lake
Valley, she who had been a valiant wife and mother among the vanguard of
Latter-day Saint women to the West.
[205]
Louisa Beaman Smith Young was born in Lovina, New York the 7th of
February, 1815. At the time of her passing she was but thirty-five years of
age. In the Church Historical Record these few words were written that sum
up the life of this valiant pioneer lady: Sister Louisa was a gentle,
affectionate woman, beloved by all who knew her.
Historical Quotations
[Joseph Smith was] obliged to hide them [the golden plates], and they hid them under a Brick harth in the west Room. About this time Came this Samuel Lawrance and one Beeman a grate Rodsman and wanted to talk with him. And he went into the west Room and they Proposed to go shares with him and tried every way to Bargain with him But Could not. Then Beeman took out his Rods and h[e]ld them up and they pointed Dow[n] to the harth whare they ware hid. "There," says Beeman, "it is under that harth.....
Joseph Knight
Joseph Knight's Recollection
c. 1840.
There was a company there in that neighborhood, who were digging for money supposed to have been hidden by the ancients. Of this company were old Mr. Stowell... old Mr. Beaman, also Samuel Lawrence, George Proper, Joseph Smith, jr., and his father, and his brother Hiram Smith. They dug for money in Palmyra, Manchester, also in Pennsylvania and other places....
Martin Harris
Tiffany's Monthly
1859.
Soon afterwards, a man by the name of Braman [sic. Beaman] came in from the village of Livonia, a man in whom we reposed much confidence, and who was well worthy of the same. Joseph told him his apprehensions of a mob being there that night ....
Lucy Mack Smith
Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith
1853.
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