{"id":26624,"date":"2015-09-23T22:31:55","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T04:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=26624"},"modified":"2015-09-23T22:31:55","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T04:31:55","slug":"a-man-that-you-could-not-help-liking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/a-man-that-you-could-not-help-liking.html","title":{"rendered":"“A man that you could not help liking”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\"The<\/a>
A commemorative plate, bearing an image of the original Nauvoo Temple, manufactured in England ca. 1846-1847<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Yesterday, I posted an item \u2014 part of a larger series of posts indicating his sincerity \u2014 to illustrate Joseph Smith\u2019s apparent lack of affectation.<\/p>\n

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This was much the same impression that his contemporaries had of Joseph, even late in his career. \u201cHe is a man that you could not help liking as a man,\u201d George W. Taggart wrote from Nauvoo to his three non-Mormon brothers in the fall of 1843, \u201csetting aside the religious prejudice which the world has raised against him. . . . Neither is he puffed up with his greatness as many suppose but on the contrary is familiar with any decent man and is ready to talk upon any subject that anyone wishes.\u201d[1] The perceptive and highly intelligent George Q. Cannon remembered him as \u201calways gentle and good-natured,\u201d \u201cconsiderate and just.\u201d[2] In 1843, Joseph Smith was head of a large and rapidly growing church, lieutenant general in the Illinois militia, and the dominant figure in what may at the time have been the state\u2019s largest city. Yet he was wholly unpretentious. \u201cWhen we all had a social chat,\u201d Jonah Ball wrote earlier that year, \u201cI found Joseph familiar in conversation, easy, and unassuming. I found no sycophancy.\u201d And the Prophet evidently did not demand formality in his presence, tolerating behavior by others that, by the standards of the time, could have been taken as disrespectful to him. \u201cThere are those,\u201d Ball said, \u201cthat came in or went out not even taking their hats or caps off their heads.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Concluding, Ball reported that \u201che is what the Mormons<\/a> represent him to be and the stories about him are false.\u201d[3]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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[1] Susannah Taggart and George W. Taggart, letter of 6 September and 10 September 1843 to Albert Taggart, Samuel W. Taggart, and Henry C. Taggart. The relevant text is given on pages 171 and 173 of Ronald O. Barney, \u201c\u2019A Man That You Could Not Help Likeing\u2019: Joseph Smith and Nauvoo Portrayed in a Letter by Susannah and George W. Taggart,\u201d BYU Studies<\/em> 40\/2 (2001): 165-179. I have standardized the spelling and punctuation.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Cannon, Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet<\/em>, 343.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Jonah Randolph Ball, letter of 15 January 1843 to \u201cDear Brother [Harvey Howard] and Sister.\u201d Cited in Barney, \u201c\u2019A Man That You Could Not Help Likeing,\u2019\u201d 178 note 41. I have standardized the spelling and punctuation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Posted from Nauvoo, Illinois<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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