Almira Mack Covey Biography from FamilySearch

History of Almira Mack, prepared by Evan Covey Madsen, A great-granddaughter, May 13, 1971 - Facts for this History taken from:

• “The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, LucyMack Smith”
• “History of Benjamin Covey and Almira Mack” by Grace Covey Jorgenson
• Letters to Harriett Mack Whittmore from Almira Mack Covey & Temperance Bond Mack (Copies)

Obtained courtesy of the International Society of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers

 ALMIRA MACK

Almira Mack was born 28 April, 1805 in Turnbridge, Orange County, Vermont, the daughter of Stephen Mack and Temperance Bond. She was educated in private schools in New England and when she was seventeen years old she moved with her family to

Pontiac, Michigan. Her father, one of the early settlers in Michigan was a wealthy and influential man. He developed extensive business interests in Michigan and

Ohio and was a member of the Territorial Legislature. He served as a captain in the Revolutionary War and also served in the War of 1812. He was the founder of Pontiac, Michigan. He financed the first turnpike built between Detroit and Pontiac and did considerable public work for the purpose of giving employment to the poor.

Almira belonged to a large and unusual family. There were twelve children in all, including three sets of twins, Ruth and Rhoda, Lavina and Lovisa, and Almon and Almira, she herself being a twin and next to the youngest in the family. All the children lived to adulthood, which in those days of high infant mortality was a most unusual and fortunate

circumstance.

One branch of Almira’s ancestry stemmed from the royal families of England, France and

Aquitaine, including Robert, Duke of Normandy, Henry II Fitz of France and William, the

Conqueror and King of England. She was a descendant of seven Mayflower passengers, as well as three signers of the Mayflower Compact. She was a first cousin of the Prophet, Joseph Smith and was born in the same year. Her father, Stephen Mack was a brother of LucyMack Smith, the Prophet’s mother. According to the book, The History of Joseph Smith, written by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, “Almira’s father and his sister Lucy were very close even though he was nine years her senior. She tells of a time when she was eight years old, her mother was very ill and didn’t expect to live. She called all her children around her and after exhorting them to fear God and walk uprightly before Him, she gave Lucy to her brother, Stephen, and told him to bring her up as if she were his own. However, this was not necessary because her mother recovered. When Lucy was eighteen, she went to live with Stephen and his family at Turnbridge, Vermont for a

year and while she was there, she met the man who was to become her husband, Joseph Smith Sr. She went home to her family for a brief period, but she was living in Stephen’s home when she was married on 24 January, 1796 and she mentions that Stephen gave her five hundred dollars for a wedding present.

In 1807, Almira’s father went to Michigan which was then a frontier, and set up Indian

trading posts in Michigan and Ohio. He was also engaged in farming and building. He left his family in Turnbridge and returned for brief visits as often as he could, but travel was slow and difficult and he was lucky to get home more than once a year. In 1818 his daughter Lovisa came to keep house for him and soon the whole family moved permanently to Pontiac, Michigan. His business prospered, his trading posts became sizable mercantile institutions and by this time he

owned flour mills and saw mills. He became prominent in the business life and government of the area. He was a courageous man of action, enterprising and resourceful.

Almira’s father died in 1826 and left his widow an estate of $50,000. Almira’s older

brothers and sisters were married and had homes of their own and she lived with her widowed mother. In 1830 Almira went to visit her Aunt Lucy in Manchester, New York. Her aunt has preserved this record: “On April 6, 1830 the Church was organized. Shortly after this my sons were all ordained to the ministry, even Don Carlos, who was but 14 years old. Samuel was directed to take a number of Books of Mormon and go on a mission to Livonia to preach and sell the books if possible. While he was making preparation to go, Almira Mack, my niece, arrived in Manchester. She received the Gospel as soon as she heard it and was baptized immediately by David Whitmer and confirmed by Joseph Smith. She was the 36th member to join the Church.

In the book The Saints Come to Michigan, by John and Audrey *******, Almira is credited

with being Michigan’s first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Her cousin, Hyrum Smith was directed to go to Missouri by way of Detroit, so her Aunt

Lucy decided it would be a good opportunity to visit her brother Stephen’s family, as well as a good chance for Almira to get home, so they accompanied Hyrum and Brothers Murdock, Wight and Corril as far as Detroit. While in Detroit and Pontiac, Aunt Lucy took every opportunity to preach the gospel to her brother’s family and before her four weeks visit was ended she had converted Almira’s mother, Temperance Bond Mack and Almira’s sister, Fannie Mack Dart and her husband David Dart.

On 7 August 1831, Almira married William Scobey and they had a son, Stephen Henry

Scobey, born 15 September, 1832. Her baby died when he was two months old and her husband died the following year, on 4 December, 1833. In 1835 Almira was living with the Saints in Missouri. On 23 October, 1836 Almira married Benjamin Covey in Kirtland, Ohio. Benjamin Covey was the son of Walter Covey and Sarah Hatch Covey. He was born in Fredrickstown, Dutchess County, New York on 7 March, 1792, the tenth of twelve children. He had also been previously married to Sally Vanderhoff. When Benjamin joined the Church his wife would have no part of it and she left him. He joined the Saints at Kirtland where he eventually met and married Almira Mack. They had four sons. Enoch, was born in Caldwell County (probably in Far West) in 1837 just before the persecution of the Saints reached its height. Joseph, named for the Prophet, was born in Caldwell County in 1839 just as the Saints were being forced to leave their homes under the merciless exterminating order of Governor Boggs. Their third son, Almon, named after Almira’s twin brother, was born at Nauvoo, Illinois on 20 July, 1841 and died there ten months later. Their fourth child, Hyrum, named after Hyrum Smith, was born in Nauvoo, Illinois on 6 August, 1843.

Almira and Benjamin suffered persecution with the Saints of Ohio, Missouri and Illinois.

By a strange quirk of fate, the colonel in charge of one of the State militia units sent to drive the Mormons out of Missouri was Don Carlos Buckland, of Pontiac, a nephew of Almira’s and a grandson of her mother, Temperance Mack. Her grandmother wrote to her daughter in Pontiac as follows; “Carlos Buckland was sent here with a company of troops against the Mormons. He made us a visit. Almira and I spake very plain to him respecting his coming to drive us out of our habitation. He did not stay long and we don’t know if he was offended with our plain dealing.”

Almira’s mother, Temperance Bond Mack, was quite a woman. She was seventy when

she left Pontiac to join her daughter and the other Saints in Missouri. She traveled first to

Kirtland, Ohio, and then accompanied by her son-in-law, David Dart, she set out for Missouri. In spite of the fact that they arrived just in time to experience the violence and mob action which drove these people from their homes, she seems not to have been frightened; as a letter to her daughter, Harriett, in Pontiac demonstrates: “We don’t know but we must flee from the haunts of men to the caves and dens in the rocks, like the Saints of old, but none of these things move me. Neither do I regret that I have left the eastern states, for where the Lord says go, I must obey, although my heart is with my children and they are near and dear to me, yet I am no better than the old martyrs. They had to suffer the loss of all things to win an incorruptible crown and so must I, and I do it cheerfully knowing that I shall reap in due time, if I faint not.”

Almira wrote to her sister Harriett Whitmore in January 1840. Her letter is headed

Commerce, Illinois. She tells about her husband having been imprisoned for three weeks with fifty other men only because of their religion and goes on to say, “Mother has borne her trials very well. She said she never wished herself back in Michigan and I can say for me that I have never yet repented of uniting myself to this persecuted people but feel willing to suffer for Christ’s sake. But Harriett, it is no small trial to see your houses surrounded by a wicked mob threatening your lives and even killing some, and not knowing when we lay ourselves down at night but what we should be massacred before morning, for this was the order from the governor of Missouri.”

On 18 July, 1844, Almira wrote to her sister Harriett expressing sympathy to her in the

death of her little son, George. In her letter she tells her sister many details about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum and the deep grief felt by Aunt Lucy and all the family, and the Saints. She said in part, “Your trouble you think is as much as you can bear, but it is not like Aunt Lucy’s. What must have been her feelings at seeing two of her sons brought into the house dead? Murdered by wicked men. When your little boy was sick, you could be with himand administer to his wants, and when he was gone, you could bury him with decency. But this privilege she could not have, for they were murdered, yes, cruelly murdered in prison when waiting for trial for crimes of which they were not guilty.” And further on in her letter she says, “The bodies of Hyrum and Joseph were brought to Nauvoo to their families and such a house of mourning as was that, I never before beheld. There were the aged, the wives, the children, the brothers and sisters, the more distant relatives, and thousands of other people that

were assembled to take the last look at two innocent men that had stood between us the band of ruffians, and had laid down their lives for us. You can judge what were our feelings better than I can tell them, but this much I can say, that a dry eye I did not behold that day among that large assembly of people. It was enough to rend the heart of stone to behold the Prophets of the Lord laid prostrate by those who were once their friends. On the 29th we attended their funeral, but they could not be buried with that honor and respect as the Saints would have been glad to have paid them, on account of the excitement that existed at the time, for the mob was lurking around us in every direction, and we knew not how soon they would come to finish their work.” Before she finishes her letter she says, “Perhaps this question may arise in your heart—Almira, after all

this, will you still believe in this doctrine? Do you still believe that Joseph was called of God to do this work?” I answer, “Yes, My faith is stronger than ever, for they have given their testimony and sealed it with their blood, and what more could they do? This shows that they were true shepherds of their flock. We have testified to you a great many times that this is the work of God, and now if any more of us should ever be called to lay down our lives to seal our testimony as they have done, let it be remembered by you all, that we have born witness to you that this is the work of God, and do not any longer reject.”

Both Almira and her mother tried constantly in their letters to explain gospel principles to their family and to persuade them to join the Church. Almira and Benjamin lived through the uneasy days of dissention after the martyrdom while the leadership of the Church were driven out of Nauvoo with the Saints during that freezing winter of 1846. We have no personal record of their journey from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters, but do have copies of letters written by both Almira and her mother to Harriet Mack Whittmore in July of 1847, sent from Winter Quarters. Her mother says that she has employed Benjamin Covey to go to Michigan for her as she has no other way of sending that she can depend on, and that the reason for her sending is to prepare herself for the journey West the

following summer. She then lists many things to help provide comfort and also asks for money and a good wagon and team, and last of all she asks for a keepsake from each of her children “that I may have it to look back upon and think of them when I am far from them.” She ends her letter by saying, “I hope that I shall live long enough to see you all yet gather with the Saints, and until that time, I want you to remember the words that I have told you concerning the work of God and ponder it in your hearts, for I am going far from you and if you do not come where I am it is not at all likely that we shall ever meet again this side of eternity. I want you all to write by Mr. Covey and accept of this from you affectionate mother, Temperance Mack.

Almira and Benjamin and their family left Winter Quarters in June of 1848 under the

leadership of President Brigham Young, Lorenzo Snow was Captain of their 100 wagons and Benjamin Covey was Captain of their 10 wagons. They arrived in Salt Lake Valley 20

September, 1848. Benjamin Covey was selected to be the first Bishop of the Twelfth Ward in Salt Lake City. He was set apart 22 February, 1849. He served in this capacity for seven years.

Temperance Mack was right in saying that she was not likely to see her children in

Michigan this side of eternity, for just two years after she arrived in Utah she passed away on 5 September, 1850, in Salt Lake City.

In 1856 Almira accompanied her husband on a mission to Carson Valley, Nevada from

which they returned the following year. Benjamin Covey passed away in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 13 March, 1868.

After her husband’s death, Almira Mack Covey made her home with her son, Hyrum

except for a brief period when she went to live with her son Enoch, to help him take care of his little children after his wife passed away. My Aunt Mary, who was then only four years old, has told me that she remembers an old lady in a white cap rocking in a rocking chair (and this would have been Almira Mack Covey) at the house they lived in at that time on Brigham Street (which she told me was the name for South Temple in the early days). When Enoch remarried, his mother went back to live with Hyrum’s family and was there at the time of her death on 10 March, 1886. Before her death she was a remarkable bright and active woman for her age and for many years was regarded as the oldest living member of the Church.

Source of Information:

History of Almira Mack, prepared by Evan CoveyMadsen, A great-granddaughter, May 13, 1971

Facts for this History taken from:

“The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, LucyMack Smith”

“History of Benjamin Covey and Almira Mack” by Grace Covey Jorgenson

Letters to Harriett Mack Whittmore from Almira Mack Covey & Temperance Bond Mack (Copies)

Obtained courtesy of the International Society of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers