Question: In 1832, while Joseph Brackenbury was serving a mission in New York, why did he suddenly become ill?
Joseph Brackenbury was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1788 and immigrated to the United States in 1818 to New York City, where he met and married Elizabeth Davis Goldsmith, a widow, with whom he had six children.
In 1830, upon hearing about Joseph Smith and the recently organized Church of Christ (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Joseph moved with his wife and children to northern Ohio. The Church had moved to Ohio after its formal organization in Fayette, New York.
The Brackenburys were baptized in 1831 by John Corrill and Solomon Hancock. Soon thereafter, Joseph Brackenbury was ordained an Elder of the church and then a High Priest by Oliver Cowdery. He was then called to serve a mission to New York in December of the same year with Edmund Durfee.
At the beginning of April 1832, while proselyting in the town of Pomfret, New York, Joseph Brackenbury suddenly became very ill. After suffering for three days, he died on April 7th. At first, it was believed he died of bilious colic. However, his missionary companions later learned that a small mob of men, after hearing the missionaries speak about faith and miracles, decided to “test” them by secretly poisoning Brackenbury’s food. When they heard of his death, the mob paraded around claiming they had “proved” that the Mormons had no faith and could not perform miracles.
Joseph Brackenbury was the first Missionary in the Church to die as a martyr while serving a mission.
1791 – 1876
Joseph’s wife, Elizabeth Davis, was born in New York on March 11, 1791. She married Gilbert Goldsmith on April 13, 1811. He was a sailor. Together they had twin sons, Gilbert Davis and Issac (died as a baby). Her husband died when his boat capsized in New York Harbor on December 24, 1811.
Elizabeth married Joseph Brackenbury in 1818 in New York. After Joseph died, Elizabeth and her children moved to Missouri in 1832, probably with Edmund Durfee. Tensions between Mormons and Missourians intensified in November 1833. Elizabeth and her children went to live with Joshua Lewis for protection. That evening, Elizabeth and her sons hid in a cornfield with Mrs. Lewis and her children for safety.
Elizabeth next married Jabez Durfee in Clay, Missouri, on March 3, 1834. This marriage ended in divorce. The family lived at a mill Jabez had built, located three miles from Liberty on Shoal Creek in 1834. About 1835, they moved to Far West. The Saints were expelled from Far West in November 1838. Elizabeth’s son, John Brackenbury, remembered camping in mud during the trip as it snowed and rained. They arrived in Quincy, Illinois, in late 1838, then moved to Nauvoo in 1839. Elizabeth received a patriarchal blessing on January 11, 1840, from Joseph Smith, Sr at her home. Elizabeth’s son, John, and Joseph Smith III were friends.
Nauvoo, Illinois
Elizabeth was reportedly with Emma when the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum arrived at Nauvoo. They were taken to the Mansion House, where Elizabeth’s son, Gilbert Goldsmith (from her first marriage), was doorkeeper while the bodies were prepared for burial.
Elizabeth married Cornelius Peter Lott on January 21, 1846, officiated by Brigham Young. Lott was a member of the Council of Fifty. Elizabeth and her husband and some of her children started west with the Saints and arrived in Winter Quarters in 1846. Elizabeth’s son, John, said, “We stayed in Nauvoo until Brigham Young started for the West, and we went with him as far as the Missouri River…then we went back to Quincy.” Elizabeth then left Cornelius Lott at this time, as she made the decision not to go West with him in 1850. Elizabeth returned to Quincy, where she later renewed her friendship with Emma Smith and her family.
Sometime before 1869, Elizabeth settled in White Cloud, Doniphan, Kansas. Here, Elizabeth was baptized into the RLDS church on November 14, 1869. Elizabeth’s RLDS obituary gives the following: “At White Cloud, Kansas, December 16th, 1876, sister Elizabeth Brackenbury, aged 85 years, 9 months and 5 days died.”
Source: Biography of Joseph Brackenbury, FamilySearch.org; Joseph Smith Papers, Biography of Elizabeth Davis.
They are my 5th great grandparents. And I couldn’t be more proud.
That is amazing, Kellie! If you have more information to share about them, please let us know. We’ll update our page with your additional information
They are my family also. My grandmother was a brackenbury
My grandmothers maiden name was Brackenbury.
Joseph and Elizabeth were my great great grandparents. Benjamin, one of their children and my great grand father, was in the Mormon Battalion. He’s buried in Caldwell, ID. One of his kids, also Benjamin and my grandfather, is buried in Almo, ID near the Silent City of Rocks. My father John Robert Brackenbury, was born in Almo in 1892, and is buried in Vancouver, WA.
I’d like to know a couple of things. Why did the Brackenburys leave England? (Were they proselytized there?) There were Brackenburys aboard the sailing ship ABIGAIL that came from England and landed in the Boston area. (Re: “The Great Migration Begins, Vol.1.)
Also, Where did the remains of Joseph wind up? (Where is he buried?)
Elizabeth was killed in a train wreck. I have a newspaper clipping to that effect around someplace.
Oddly, although I grew up in a little town in Idaho (Mountain Home) I went to college only a few miles from where Elizabeth lost her first husband and was later married to Joseph (north shore of Long Island).