Lucy Smith Millikin

Lucy Smith was born on July 18, 1821, the youngest child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. She was named after her mother. She had eight older siblings: Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph Jr., Samuel, William, Katharine, and Don Carlos. At the time Smith was born, the family was residing in a small log cabin outside of Palmyra, New York, and her brother Joseph Smith was just beginning the Latter Day Saint movement. Young Lucy Smith's life was "inextricably connected with Restoration events"; for example, as a young child, she gathered with her family to listen to Joseph Jr. preach about God and the Book of Mormon. She is mentioned as the youngest of Joseph's sisters in verse 4 of Joseph Smith–History. When Lucy Smith was two years old, her brother Alvin died. His death impacted her deeply. Smith's sister Katharine helped take care of her when she was young, and the two remained close throughout their lives. As Lucy Smith grew up, she helped take care of the family farm by "hauling wood, gathering sheep, milking cows, and preparing meals." When she was ten years old, her sister Sophronia had a baby, Maria, and Smith helped care for her new niece. By the age of fourteen, all of her older siblings had married, and she was the only child in the Smith home. == Involvement in the Latter Day Saint movement ==

Lucy Smith was baptized into the Church of Christ, most likely in 1830 when the church was established. In October of that year, her father, Joseph Smith Sr., was put in jail due to an unpaid debt, leaving Lucy, Katharine, and their mother Lucy Mack Smith alone in the family's Palmyra home. While he was gone, a mob came in search of Hyrum Smith and began to ransack the house until Lucy's brother William forced the men to leave. After experiencing persecution in Missouri, the Smiths relocated to Illinois in 1839. Harsh weather and lack of food made the journey difficult. Lucy Smith became ill during the trip Then, when her father, Joseph Smith Sr., grew sick and began to die, she worked as his "primary nurse" until he died. who had died in 1794. At the age of eighteen, she married Arthur Millikin, who had been wounded in the Battle of Crooked River. and moved with Mack Smith to Webster, Illinois in 1849. Lucy Millikin was "received" into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints on April 8, 1873, but was involved in the faith only minimally. She maintained her distance from both the LDS and RLDS churches. == Later years ==

Lucy and Arthur Millikin moved to Colchester, Illinois, forty miles from Nauvoo, after contracting a respiratory disease while caring for a sick daughter-in-law. == References ==