Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Mormon Midwife by Patty Bartlett Sessions Patty Bartlett Sessions. Patty Bartlett Sessions is best known for one seemingly insignificant activity: she started keeping a journal in a little notebook in which she chronicled her life and bore her testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her first entry read: “I am now fifty-one years, six days old. February 10, 1846, City of Joseph, Hancock County, Illinois.” [1] Patty was born on February 4, 1795, in Bethel, Maine. She married David Sessions at age seventeen. Only three of the eight children born to them lived to adulthood. She joined the Church in 1834 and gathered with the Saints to Far West, Missouri, then Nauvoo, Illinois, before she made the trek to the Salt Lake Valley. appointed her to travel with the first company to care for the sick and afflicted and to act as a midwife. She selflessly gave medical attention to many on the trek West and to thousands when she arrived in Salt Lake on September 24, 1847. She recorded assisting in the birth of 3,977 infants. For more than twenty years, she daily recorded her medical service and other experiences and thoughts. She kept writing regularly in her journal until the age of 92. She founded the Patty Sessions Academy and taught children at no cost. She also read the , the Juvenile Instructor , and the Woman’s Exponent . She also read from her notebooks and reflected on her experiences and testimony: “I have been reading my journal and I feel to thank the Lord that I have passed through what I have. I have gained an experience I could not have gained no other way.” [2] She died on December 18, 1892, having achieved her dream: “O my Father, help me to live my religion, this is my greatest desire.” [3] Her journals document the physical, social, and religious circumstances of the pioneers, especially of the women, and historians frequently cite them. Her journals are also a primary source of birth records in the LDS community during her lifetime of service. Midwife Patty Bartlett Sessions. My client wanted to know more about the life of her Great Great Grandmother Patty Bartlett Sessions. To my delight Patty is a woman well researched, admired and celebrated in LDS circles. She and her colorful life have made it’s way into several well researched books. Also, it’s clear that she is a knitter which endears her to me immediately. A brief but well researched summary of her life has all ready been compiled and posted on the Feminist Mormon Housewives blog, in their series on the wives of . This post includes quotes from her journals, photographs and excerpts from a thoroughly researched book by Todd Compton, “In Sacred Loneliness.” She truly did have a fascinating life. My client was particularly interested in Patty’s career as a midwife in the late 1800’s. She delivered hundreds of babies in destitute conditions crossing the plains. She was also a much sought after midwife once the pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley. Lucky for my client there is actually a published version of Patty’s Diarys “Mormon Midwife” by Donna Smart which includes her midwifery and her life as an early Mormon convert. Here is a PDF 4 page review of the book written by a history professor. There is also an online collection of Patty’s Journals on scanned microform, from the Huntington Digital Library. (1) It is delightful to be able to see her actual handwriting. She is one of the few women from that period of Mormon history that left journals. Mormon Midwife. Patty Session's 1847 Mormon Trail diary has been widely quoted and excerpted, but her complete diaries chronicling the first decades of Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City have never before been published. They provide a detailed record of early Mormon community life from Illinois to Utah through the eyes of Mormondom's most famous midwife. They also recount her important role in women's social networks and her contributions to community health and Utah's economy, to pioneer education and horticulture. Patty Sessions assisted at the births of hundreds of early Mormons and first-generation Utahns, meticulously recording the events. Shed had an active role in the founding of the Relief Society and health organizations. She spoke in tongues and administered spiritually as well as medically to the ill. Her diaries are a rich resource for early Mormon and Utah history. Patty Bartlett. Patty Bartlett was born on February 4, 1795, to Enoch Bartlett and Anna Hall in Bethel, Maine. She married David Sessions on June 28, 1812. In August 1833, Patty was introduced to the restored gospel and according to her son, “As soon as my Mother herd she believed” and was baptized on July 2, 1834. 1 The family moved to Missouri in 1837 and then on to Nauvoo, Illinois, three years later. Patty Bartlett was sealed to Joseph Smith on March 9, 1842. A June 1860 handwritten entry the diary of Patty Sessions reported she was sealed “for eternity”: Patty Bartlett daughter of Enoch and Anne Bartlett was born February 4 1795 Bethel Mane/ and was married to David Session June 28th 1812 who was the son of David and Rachel Sessions, he was born April the 4th 1790 Veshire Vermont I was Batpised into the church of Jesus Christ of later day saints/ July 2 1834 Mr Sessions was Baptised Aug 1735 we received our we received our endowment Dec 16 1845 in Nauvoo. … I was sealed to Joseph Smith by Willard Richards March 9 1842 in Newel K Whitneys chamber Nauvoo for Eternity and I and if I do not live to attend to it myself when there is a place prepared I want some one to attend to it for me according to order Sylvia my daughter/ was present when I was sealed to Joseph Smith.I was after Mr. Sessions death sealed to senior for time on the 27 of March 1852 G[reat] S[alt] L. City. 2. In this entry Patty states that she was sealed for eternity to Joseph Smith. This is similar to the language found in other eternity-only sealings. 3 Seven years later, Patty signed an affidavit providing much of the same information: I Patty Bartlett daughter of Enoch and Anna Bartlett was born February 4 th 1795 town of Bethel State of Maine[.]I was Baptised into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints July 2d 1834[. I] was sealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet by Willard Richards March the 9th 1842 in Nauvoo in Newel K Whitneys chamber Sylvia my Daughter was present[.]I received my Endowment in Nauvoo Dec 16 1845. I Never was sealed at the alter to any one. Yours Truly, Patty Sessions 4. David and Patty Sessions attended the Nauvoo Temple together, receiving their endowments on December 15, 1845, but they were not sealed in marriage. Her original sealing to Joseph was not performed in the temple because the Nauvoo Temple was not yet completed. Apparently all marriage sealings performed outside of a temple need to be performed again (in person or by proxy) within a temple edifice in the future. In 1845–1846, many of Joseph Smith’s plural wives were resealed to him by proxy there. Similarly, in 1899 President Lorenzo Snow instructed Church historians to compile a list of women sealed to Joseph Smith for whom a written temple record was not available. Subsequently, proxy sealings were performed for eleven plural marriages. 5. The reason Patty Sessions was not resealed to Joseph Smith by proxy in the Nauvoo Temple is unclear. It is possible that she was unsure of her desires, or perhaps her preference to be the Prophet’s eternal wife, rather than David Session’s, created tension to the degree that the resealing was not then considered. As of 1867, a repeated proxy sealing had not yet been performed. It appears that just weeks after receiving the affidavit at church headquarters, priesthood leaders invited Patty to be resealed, with Apostle Joseph F. Smith serving vicariously for his Uncle Joseph Smith. Patty’s obituary gives more insight into her rich life: Sister Sessions drove her own team 1030 miles, arriving in Salt Lake valley Sept. 28th, 1847. … She has assisted liberally in the building of temples, done much to send the Gospel to the nations of the earth, and gather the poor, has been a strict observer of the Word of Wisdom, not have dunk tea or coffee for over forty years. … She was ever a true and faithful Latter-day Saint, diligent and persevering, her whole soul, and all she possessed being devoted to the Church and the welfare of mankind. She has gone to her grave ripe in years, loved and respected by all who knew her. 6. Mormon Midwife by Patty Bartlett Sessions. Hooray! You've discovered a title that's missing from our library. Can you help donate a copy? 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