Lydia Knight

Description

Lydia Goldthwaite was born in 1812 in Massachusetts. Hers was a happy childhood. When she was 16, she met and married a handsome and charming fellow, but when he turned to drinking, her marriage became “the story of a man’s cruelty and a woman’s suffering.”

In 1829, Lydia gave birth to a little girl who proved to be a blessing of comfort to a youthful mother. Two years later her husband abandoned her. Six months later a little boy was born, but he lived only a short time. And then one year later her little girl died also. Lydia was inconsolable.

Freeman Nickerson, a family friend, was moved to help the sorrowing girl. He invited her to come to Canada and live with him and his wife. While there Lydia met Joseph Smith the Prophet and heard him preach. She saw “his face become white and a shining glow seemed to beam from every feature.”

Lydia was converted and with “trembling joy” she was baptized. Shortly after, as Joseph was preparing to leave, he paced back and forth in deep thought. Finally, he spoke.

“I have been pondering on Sister Lydia’s lonely condition and wondering why it is that she has passed through so much sorrow and affliction and is thus separated from all her relatives. I now understand it. The Lord has suffered it even as He allowed Joseph of old to be afflicted, who was sold by his brethren as a slave into a far country, and through that became a savior to his father’s house and country. Even so shall it be with her, the hand of the Lord will overrule it for good to her and her father’s family.”

Turning to the young girl he continued: “Sister Lydia, great are your blessings. The Lord, your Savior, loves you, and will overrule all your past sorrows and afflictions for good unto you. Let your heart be comforted. You are of the blood of Israel descended through the loins of Ephraim. You shall yet be a savior to your father’s house. Therefore be comforted, and let your heart rejoice, for the Lord has a great work for you to do. Be faithful and endure unto the end and all will be well.”

Lydia gathered with the Saints to Kirtland. There she met Newel Knight, a widower. He “was tall, had light brown hair, a keen blue eye and a very energetic and determined manner.” Love grew between them, but when Newel proposed marriage Lydia was indignant. Notwithstanding her husband’s three year absence, Lydia was still married. She could not marry again.

Distressed, Newel took the matter to Joseph and Joseph took it to the Lord. Lydia was free to marry, the Lord said, and such a union would please him. Filled with joy, Lydia threw herself upon her knees and poured out her soul in thanks to God. She consented to marry Newel and within days word reached her that her former husband was dead.

November 23, 1835, Lydia and Newel were married by Joseph Smith the Prophet, the first marriage he had ever performed.

Time passed and their’s was a happy fulfilling union. Children came, and the family moved with the saints from Kirtland to Missouri, to Nauvoo, and finally onto the plains of Iowa in the Mormon exodus.

At a place called Ponca Camp in northern Nebraska on Christmas day 1846, a fire swept down on the Saints, threatening to destroy all they built. Newel and others fought the fire to ground. By 11:00 that night they had put it out, but at a terrible cost. Newel contracted pneumonia.

On January 1, 1847 Newel wrote in his journal the following,

“I scarcely know why I am thus anxious, why this world appears so trifling, or the things of this world. I almost desire to leave this tenement of clay, that my spirit may soar aloft and no longer be held in bondage, yet my helpless family seem to need my protection. For their sakes, and if I yet have more to do on earth, or can do more good to the living than to the dead, I am willing to remain yet longer in the flesh. Thy will O Lord be done and not mine.”

January 11, 1847, Lydia sat with tightly-closed hands and wild agonized eyes watching the breath of the being she loved better than life itself, slowly cease.

“Lydia,” the dying voice faintly whispered, “it is necessary for me to go. Joseph wants me. It is needful that a messenger be sent with the true condition of the Saints. Don’t grieve too much, for you will be protected.”

“Oh Newel, don’t speak so; don’t give up; oh I could not bear it. Think of me, Newel, here in an Indian country alone, with seven little children. No resting place for my feet, no one to counsel, to guide, or to protect me. I cannot let you go.”

The dying man looked at her a moment, and then said with a peculiar look: “I will not leave you now Lydia.”

But he was in such terrible agony. When she could bear his suffering no longer Lydia knelt and prayed that if it really was the will of the Lord, let him go.

“The prayer was scarcely over ere a calm settled on the sufferer, and with one long loving look in the eyes of his beloved wife, the shadow lifted and the spirit fled.

That evening, Newel was buried. No lumber could be had, so Lydia had one of her wagon-boxes made into a rude coffin. The day was excessively cold, and some of the brethren had their fingers and feet frozen while digging the grave and performing the last offices of love for their honored captain and brother.

As the woman looked out upon the wilderness of snow and saw the men bearing away all that was left of her husband, it seemed that the flavor of life had fled and left only dregs, bitter unavailing sorrow. But as she grew calmer she whispered with poor, pale lips, “God rules.”

Lydia joined the other saints at Winter Quarters to prepare for the move west. Lydia attended the organization meeting overwhelmed at the enormity of it all. How could she with seven children make a 1000 mile journey into the wilderness?

The burden weighed her very spirit down until she cried out in her pain: “Oh Newel, why hast thou left me!”

As she spoke, he stood by her side, with a lovely smile on his face, and said: “Be calm, let not sorrow overcome you. It was necessary that I should go. I was needed behind the veil to represent the true condition of this camp and people. You cannot fully comprehend it now; but the time will come when you shall know why I left you and our little ones. Therefore dry up your tears. Be patient, I will go before you and protect you in your journeyings. And you and your little ones shall never perish for lack of food.”

In time Lydia and her children did make their way to Utah. When the St George Temple opened in 1877, Lydia was called to be a temple worker, where she labored for the rest of her days, performing the sacred ordinances for hundreds of her kindred dead, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Joseph that she would be a savior to her people.

Sources:

https://archive.org/stream/lydiaknightshist00gate/lydiaknightshist00gate_djvu.txt

Stand By My Servant Joseph by William G. Hartley