 Mercy Rachel Thompson LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 2, p.725-726
Thompson, Mercy Rachel Fielding, a Utah pioneer of 1847, was born June 15, 1807, at Honeydon, Bedfordshire, England, the daughter of John Fielding and Rachel Abbotson. She emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832, together with her brother Joseph. There she became a convert to "Mormonism," being influenced by the preaching of Parley P. Pratt. She, together with her brother Joseph, John Taylor and wife, Robt. B. Thompson and three others (nine altogether) were baptized by Parley P. Pratt in the evening of May 21, 1836. Sister Mercy removed to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836, where she became the wife of Robert B. Thompson June 4, 1837. In January, 1839, she, with her little babe, accompanied her sister Mary, who was taken on her sick bed in a wagon from Far West to Liberty to visit her husband who, with his brother Joseph and others was incarcerated in Liberty jail. After suffering with the saints in the persecutions they endured in Kirtland and Missouri, Mercy, together with her husband, arrived at Quincy, Ill., in the spring of 1839. Here she resided temporarily until the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum and others were released from their imprisonment in Missouri. They then cast their lots with the saints at Commerce, Hancock co., Ill. There her husband, Robert B. Thompson, who was one of the recorders of the Church, took sick and died, leaving his widow with one little daughter. August 11, 1843, she was married as a plural wife, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, to his brother, Hyrum Smith, who had previously married her sister Mary, in Kirtland, Ohio. When the Nauvoo Temple was completed, so that holy ordinances were administered therein, Sister Mercy was called to labor as a Temple worker and continued this sacred work almost night and day for six weeks during the winter of 1845–46. In 1846 she [p.726] accompanied her brother Joseph Fielding and sister Mary, with their families, to Winter Quarters; here she remained until June, 1847, when she started for Great Salt Lake Valley, crossing the plains and mountains in Daniel Spencer's hundred, (also known as Parley P. Pratt's company). She spent the winter of 1847–48 in the Old Fort, and in the spring of 1849 located on Lot 8, Block 97, Plat A, Salt Lake City Survey (later the Sixteenth Ward) where she resided till the day of her death. When the Perpetual Emigrating Fund was instituted she was a generous contributor of funds toward emigrating the poor, giving at one time over $800 toward assisting the poor saints to emigrate to Zion. She also donated liberally toward the building of Temples, the assisting of missionaries and for many other charitable purposes. In 1871 she visited her relatives in Upper Canada, and the following year (1872) she visited England, traveling part of the way in company with Pres. George A. Smith, who at that time started on his famous mission to Palestine. Returning to America, she crossed the Atlantic in the steamship "Nevada," which sailed from Liverpool, England, June 4, 1873. On this occasion she assisted a number of people to emigrate from Great Britain to America. For many years Sister Thompson was an active member of the Relief Society of the Sixteenth Ward, and she passed to her final rest at her home No. 103 North Second West street. Salt Lake City, Sept. 15, 1893. In a short obituary published in the "Deseret News" after her demise, the following occurs: "Sister Thompson was widely known and highly esteemed among the Latter-day Saints, with whom she has been associated for more than half a century. She was at the time of her demise one of the oldest members of the Church, in connection with which her life has been one of faith and noble sacrifice. She was a sister to the mother of Pres. Joseph F. Smith. Her husband, who was private secretary to the Prophet Joseph, died August 27, 1841. About two years after this she became the wife of Patriarch Hyrum Smith. She was one of the first settlers of the Sixteenth Ward of this city. She has been an invalid for a number of years past."—"Deseret News" 47: 435. |
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