Lot Smith: Mormon Pioneer and American Frontiersman

Abstract

When I saw this book was by a mother-daughter team of relatives, I feared a biased, boring family narrative lacking academic rigor. But I learned, “you cannot judge a book by its cover.” This intricate work is carefully documented with scores of primary sources. To her credit, when Carmen Smith's husband passed away, she continued his research of Lot's life. When her health failed, her daughter Talana Hooper stepped in, noting, “I resolved to not allow all the love, sacrifice, and labor of my mother, father, and grandfather . . . to be wasted” (xi). This is a family affair, but to their credit, a gifted mother and daughter team tell a riveting story of the good, bad, and ugly in the life of Lot Smith.This work is laid out in a sequential manner moving from Smith's 1830 birth in a log cabin in Oswego County, New York, to his calculated death by Native Americans who coveted his Arizona land. But it does not read like a mundane chronological listing (though it does have a useful timeline in the appendices). From a fearless sixteen-year-old who enrolls in the Mormon Battalion to a sixty-two-year-old wounded warrior, Smith did not recoil. He is portrayed as brave and loyal at all times to church leaders who called him to the British Isles and the Arizona desert. Brigham Young viewed Smith as a courageous minuteman. Smith did not flinch when facing the U.S. military during the Utah War and rallied his men who were astonished by his nerve.Though quick to hoist a sword, these attributes proved to also be stumbling blocks. Where he had victories in battle, he sometimes failed in the home. At times his plural wives were dismayed by his behavior and two of his eight left him. Vignettes portray Smith's hot temper on several occasions. Once, two of his seven-year-old daughters had their heads “knocked together” for making noise during a family prayer (115). Smith had high expectations, and though loved and respected by his wives and children, at times it appears he was feared. Wilford Woodruff advised him, “And the woman righteously demands at your hands love, affection, and kind treatment, and it is not a weakness in a good man to manifest these principles to his wives & children” (172).Though the book's intention is to bring honor to Smith, I found it difficult to not be biased to some degree due to his flaws on how he treated his family. The authors left me with the thought that if I was drafted, I would have selected Smith as my companion. The writers provide a portrait of a nineteenth-century “son of thunder” who had the guts of Porter Rockwell and the courage of a modern-day David who did not fear any Goliath. Yet, because he was quick on the trigger and had a hot temper, I do not think I would have wanted to be his son.The book concludes with a contemporary's comment, “A mighty man was Brother Lot, a brave, daring pioneer and soldier” (237). Though he was loyal, dutiful, and showed compassion to the poor and the downtrodden, at times he was erratic and unpredictable. Like the mighty Little Colorado, his impetuous temper could not be stayed and at times flooded those around him. Neither Smith nor the river could be tamed though he left a course and a tale worth telling.