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Mercy Rachel <I>Fielding</I> Thompson

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Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson

Birth
Bedfordshire, England
Death
15 Sep 1893 (aged 86)
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA
Burial
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA Add to Map
Plot
B_15_12_5_W
Memorial ID
View Source
Born at Honidon, Bedfordshire, England

Daughter of John Fielding & Rachel Ibbotson

Married Robert Blashell Thompson, 4 Jun 1837, Kirtland, Cuyahoga, Ohio

Daughter - Mary Jane Thompson, William McMillan Thompson

Married Hyrum Smith, Aug 1843, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illlinois

The Fielding family moved to Canada in 1832. Mercy and her brother Joseph and sister Mary joined the Church in May 1836 as a result of the preaching of Parley P. Pratt.

In 1837 she married Robert B. Thompson, who would become one of Joseph Smith's scribes. Robert died in August 1841 leaving Mercy alone.

During the years following the death of her husband, Mercy participated in the organization of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society, which was organized in part to assist in providing temple hands with food and meals.

She and her sister Mary, now the wife of Hyrum Smith, began immediately to organize their fellow Relief Society sisters in Nauvoo, and collected the donations. Although it began quietly in Nauvoo, the penny subscription quickly spread to the surrounding settlements.

In times of danger, they hid up the bag containing that money in a pile of bricks which Hyrum Smith had intended for building had his life been spared.

Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson tryed to care for her five-month-old baby alone after the mob drove off her husband, Robert. She also took over the care of her sister, Mary Fielding Smith, who was ill from the birth of her son, Joseph F., and the complications of a severe cold. Mary knew where her husband was—in Liberty Jail—but it was three months before Mercy heard anything from Robert.

Mob activity was so intense around Far West that "at times I feard to lay my Babe down lest they should slay me and leave it to suffer worse than immediate Death," Mercy records. By special permission, the two women were allowed to make the forty-mile trip through February weather to see Mary's husband, Hyrum, and spend a sleepless night with the prisoners in the jail, Mercy caring for both babies. "As long as memory lasts will remain in my recollection the Creeking hinges of that door which clo[s]ed upon the noblest Men on Earth. Who can immagine our feelings as we travaild homeward? But would I sell the honor bestowd upon me of being Locked up in jail with such characters for gold? No."

Mercy was the first woman in this dispensation to be sealed to a deceased husband. In 1843, she was sealed to her beloved Robert, her brother-in-law, Hyrum Smith, acting as his proxy.
Born at Honidon, Bedfordshire, England

Daughter of John Fielding & Rachel Ibbotson

Married Robert Blashell Thompson, 4 Jun 1837, Kirtland, Cuyahoga, Ohio

Daughter - Mary Jane Thompson, William McMillan Thompson

Married Hyrum Smith, Aug 1843, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illlinois

The Fielding family moved to Canada in 1832. Mercy and her brother Joseph and sister Mary joined the Church in May 1836 as a result of the preaching of Parley P. Pratt.

In 1837 she married Robert B. Thompson, who would become one of Joseph Smith's scribes. Robert died in August 1841 leaving Mercy alone.

During the years following the death of her husband, Mercy participated in the organization of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society, which was organized in part to assist in providing temple hands with food and meals.

She and her sister Mary, now the wife of Hyrum Smith, began immediately to organize their fellow Relief Society sisters in Nauvoo, and collected the donations. Although it began quietly in Nauvoo, the penny subscription quickly spread to the surrounding settlements.

In times of danger, they hid up the bag containing that money in a pile of bricks which Hyrum Smith had intended for building had his life been spared.

Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson tryed to care for her five-month-old baby alone after the mob drove off her husband, Robert. She also took over the care of her sister, Mary Fielding Smith, who was ill from the birth of her son, Joseph F., and the complications of a severe cold. Mary knew where her husband was—in Liberty Jail—but it was three months before Mercy heard anything from Robert.

Mob activity was so intense around Far West that "at times I feard to lay my Babe down lest they should slay me and leave it to suffer worse than immediate Death," Mercy records. By special permission, the two women were allowed to make the forty-mile trip through February weather to see Mary's husband, Hyrum, and spend a sleepless night with the prisoners in the jail, Mercy caring for both babies. "As long as memory lasts will remain in my recollection the Creeking hinges of that door which clo[s]ed upon the noblest Men on Earth. Who can immagine our feelings as we travaild homeward? But would I sell the honor bestowd upon me of being Locked up in jail with such characters for gold? No."

Mercy was the first woman in this dispensation to be sealed to a deceased husband. In 1843, she was sealed to her beloved Robert, her brother-in-law, Hyrum Smith, acting as his proxy.


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  • Created by: SMS
  • Added: Jan 17, 2008
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24023444/mercy_rachel-thompson: accessed ), memorial page for Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson (15 Jun 1807–15 Sep 1893), Find a Grave Memorial ID 24023444, citing Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, USA; Maintained by SMS (contributor 46491005).