Jane Manning: Your Humble and Eternal Servant

Jane Elizabeth Manning James was born September 22, 1822 in Fairfield County, Conneticut. She was born a free woman, certainly a precious status to anyone that could already see the precursors of civil war. She became a member of the LDS church in 1841, and  in 1843 traveled with her family to the meeting place of the saints, Nauvoo, Illinois. In describing her journey to Nauvoo, Jane said, "Our feet cracked open and bled until you could see the whole prints of our feet with blood on the ground." How sweet it must have felt to also record this precious memory: "Brother Joseph sat down by me and said, 'God bless you. You are among friends.'" Both lines are a testament to Jane's faith and will to endure, characteristics she shared with fellow LDS pioneers. No doubt, she felt honored to live in the same home as the Smith family.

Joseph Smith was killed on June 27, 1844, giving Jane approximately one year to enjoy the presence of the prophet of the restoration. Soon, Jane was back on the trail headed west, becoming the first recorded African-American woman to enter the Utah territory in 1847. She had eight children with her husband, Isaac James, who eventually left her in 1869. Maybe it was the departure of her husband that reminded Jane of the finitude of life and  the terminality of our familial relationships. All around her fellow members of the church entered into sacred covenants to ensure that in the next life they would be together as a family forever. She, a faithful Mormon, who traversed the plains and left her fair share of blood on the rocky soil, wanted what her fellow saints had - the surety that she would be with her children in the next life.

Jane petitioned the church leaders to allow her, a black woman, receive the sacred endowment and be sealed to a worthy man. Jane approached Walker Lewis, a black man who was ordained an Elder under the leadership of Joseph Smith. Jane hoped that Lewis, being an Elder, would be considered worthy to go through the temple, and that she and her children could be sealed to Lewis, ensuring their survival as a family for the rest of eternity. Her requests were repeatedly denied.

Jane's first husband died in 1891, breaking open a once forgotten avenue for her family's eternal unity. She remembered Emma Smith, the wife of the prophet, who told her that she could be sealed to the Smith family as one of their children. Through adoption Jane could connect herself to a priesthood holder, the prophet, and ensure her eternal welfare. Jane sought to take advantage of the invitation for eternal adoption into the Smith family. Her request was denied.

Instead, the First Presidency of the LDS church devised a unique alternative to adoption. Jane could be sealed to Joseph Smith as his servant.The church would create a special ceremony for just that purpose. This special ceremony that bound Jane to the prophet for time and all eternity took place on May 18, 1894. Joseph F. Smith represented Joseph Smith as his proxy during the ceremony. Bathsheba W. Smith stood in place for Jane. Jane was not allowed to participate in her own, specially made, sacred ceremony because of the color of her skin and the associated LDS teachings of the time. Even alive, Jane would only know of the sweetness of the sealing power of the temple through proxy.

Jane was dissatisfied with the ceremony, but further petitions fell on deaf ears. Jane lived the rest of her life in Salt Lake City, UT. She was eventually let in the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. Near the end of her life Jane wrote, "And I want to say right here that my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints is as strong today–nay it is if possible stronger–than it was the day I was first baptized. I pay my tithes and offerings, keep the Word of Wisdom. I go to bed early and arise early. I try in my feeble way to set a good example to all."

Jane died April 16, 1908.

On-Line Source Material

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elizabeth_Manning_James.

http://mormonthink.com/blackweb.htm#servant.

http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm.

http://www.blacklds.org/manning.

http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=438. (On-line book, Neither White Nor Black)