Health and Healing on the Latter-day Saint Peripheries

In 1920, in the prairie town of Lethbridge, Alberta, a crew of farmhands carrying an injured man tumbled through the office door of Smith and Smith Chiropractors. An accident left the man unable to walk, but the doctor whom they had just seen could offer no help. Their desperation turned to disappointment as they realized that the diminutive June Smith was the only Smith working that day. The men started for the door but stopped when June approached the injured man. She quickly examined him and discovered what she thought was a displaced vertebra. “I can fix it,” she declared, directing the crew to place the man on the exam table. June then retreated to a private dressing room to consider the bold promise she had just made. She offered up a request for divine help, then stepped into the now-quiet office and placed her hands on the man's back. After receiving some careful adjustments, the patient's pain receded, and he walked out of the office under his own power. “He never came back,” June's son Marvin later marveled, “as he was healed and [able to] return to work on the farm.”1June's success with the farmhand would become one of many incidents of healing in Smith family lore. The best stories were like this one: heroic, unconventional, and with a hint of the supernatural. The story also captures the contested field of medicine in which June A. Bushman and her husband, Hyrum Smith, operated in the early twentieth century. Against a historical backdrop of medical professionalization that radically transformed patient care, June and Hyrum negotiated their own path within medicine. More than just chiropractors, June and Hyrum were dynamic healers who incorporated childhood faith traditions, drugless therapies, and emerging pseudoscientific trends into a blended philosophy of medicine. Their everyday encounters with health and healing reveal “history's dynamics, culture's pain, and the possibilities of innovation” that moved beneath medicine's seemingly unstoppable drive toward modernity.2June and Hyrum came of age at the height of this medical transformation. As Latter-day Saints emerging from decades of theocratic governance and regional isolation, they were also navigating steep adjustments of their own. In the late nineteenth century, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced enormous political pressure to cease the practice of polygamy and relinquish what the federal government saw as theocratic governance over the region's economic and political systems. Following church president Wilford Woodruff's 1890 disavowal of plural marriage, the church entered a decades-long period of reform that aimed to both modernize its institutions and acculturate its members into mainstream America.Scholars of Mormon history have frequently characterized this transformation as a gradual—albeit uneven—assimilation into the norms of North American culture.3 June and Hyrum's experiences with medicine reveal the complex realities stirring beneath this path. Old practices were not simply discarded in the face of new innovations. Rather, the entanglement of charismatic healing, religious ritual, and novel pseudoscientific approaches reflects a kind of “braiding” of past and present. Hyrum and June's story shows us the “psychological, spiritual, and intellectual knots [that arise] within the same minds and hearts” when the forces of modern medicine clash with the durability of lived religious practices.4In most ways, June and Hyrum were ordinary Latter-day Saints. They grew up in polygamous families in the Mormon colonies of Arizona Territory, received educations in Utah, Chicago, and Iowa, and worked as chiropractors in southern Alberta. Their significance lies not in remarkable accomplishments or extraordinary events, but rather what their experiences tell us about how everyday families negotiated changes to closely held practices.5 Using family letters and diaries, this article traces the intersections of medicine and healing through Hyrum and June's upbringing, education, and work life. Their experiences offer a window not only into the transformation of medicine, but also into how medicine functioned as a mode of stability for families during moments of historical change.6Debates over medical practices were brewing long before farmhands burst through the door of Smith and Smith Chiropractors. Latter-day Saint beliefs on health, healing, and medicine were woven into the church's theologies and practices since its founding in 1830 and reflected the social and medical movements of the time. “Like many evangelical populists during the Second Great Awakening,” explains Jonathan Stapley, Latter-day Saints “generally rejected the standard medical treatments of the period.”7 Early Latter-day Saints showed a particular affinity for Thomsonianism, a medical countercultural movement developed in the early 1800s that promoted botanical cures and other natural remedies to combat illness.8By the mid-nineteenth century, deep-rooted practices in folk medicine, homeopathy, and faith healing collided with advancements in medicine and science. Microscopes and cell theory, for example, allowed doctors to mitigate contagion through hygiene and antiseptic use. To distinguish physicians with this training from their lay counterparts, medical schools and associations developed regulatory licensing and educational standards. Dispossessed from the medical authority they once held, homeopaths responded with licensing standards of their own and lobbied aggressively for recognition within the medical mainstream.9The medical professionalization movement did not achieve success on regulations and scientific advancement alone. “The new order of urban life and industrial capitalism,” explains medical historian Paul Starr, “generally required people to rely more on the complementary skills of others and less on their own unspecialized talents.”10 Between 1875 and 1900, “dramatic advances in medical science and practice (particularly surgery) that grew out of the germ theory of disease” helped sway public confidence toward professional physicians, according to historian James Whorton.11 By the turn of the twentieth century, physicians had amassed a near monopoly on patient care. At the same time, new systems such as chiropractic, osteopathy, and naturopathy contended for legitimacy amidst a crowded field. As patients like the injured farmhand in Lethbridge considered where, how, and from whom to seek care, they faced a hotly divided arena of contenders.Among the casualties of this movement was the extrication of popular ritual and folk healing practices that had persisted within the fabric of Mormonism through the nineteenth century. While newly licensed physicians in the East gained popularity, Brigham Young, who led as church president from 1848 to his death in 1877, taught Latter-day Saints to develop medical self-reliance. It was a vital skill for a people who wished to remain in relative isolation.12 Following their migration west in the late 1840s, Young counseled church members to rely on both supernatural and natural healing.While both men and women participated in healing rituals, they were strictly gendered. Elders were ordained with the ecclesiastical power to “administer to [the sick] the on of hands and with a women could also healing were not under the of the ecclesiastical but rather within their as and and to the of women and the late the of ritual healing over professional medicine showed of In an Young women the practice of the the of health, and the of While Young of professional medicine, he both the political and of Latter-day Saint women to medical the of the in the of She was later in women received their and to Utah, they were for their Latter-day Saint this time, Young and the an for Latter-day Saint women to in and in the this many Latter-day Saint women received professional training and were church to as in their The of the of the kind of that was popular in the and early nineteenth Latter-day Saint blended practices with theologies and to their also had the of within the of Latter-day Saint was an for polygamous families under from federal to of the practice under the the decades the medical practices early Latter-day Saints once with their to the church's and Early to medical to the of licensed medical and into church were from the urban of to how Latter-day Saints approached medical in their Hyrum Smith and June Bushman were in Arizona in the faith healing, and botanical medicine a in the urban in and were to professional the Mormon of health and healing had to from their religious The for this durability in the and of this in the church the with the to an on in the southern to and with but some had other to families from federal on The and when church to their and in and to the of Arizona in the late June and Hyrum's childhood reflected an religious Their they both had plural held church and as Their were also they were in Early of the colonies from the of and the men in the and like and men for or at a time. men in polygamous were more and were to their and in the and federal to some men into and others into this but were more women the of medical They in and and for from like and In to women also charismatic healing and ritual practice in with the for a healing was not women were to their in In the face of isolation, and women for through ritual healing folk medicine, and Hyrum and June were to healing was a a up in the of Hyrum Smith lived with was the and of his plural than Hyrum's lived in an on the of their She was president of the and was for the and of women a was in medicine and her As an her healing work a remarkable and women was of the life and She in into the and others through the a or was the to she developed of that from charismatic healing rituals, and her many of the healing she in her ecclesiastical of the most frequently was the ritual and of and women in of care. at its a at her her to the of an up at with she to the of and which had at not at had its in Latter-day Saint in which with and with The and then through a women the of or the and of such practices offered a of and to one of this ritual, historian the of and the of who the a doctor on and She also of and “I Smith and her of her she under more “I with and Paul Smith with on she on the when she was an to a family with everyday women like not only for but also that families had the and they women in her with they that the in a and a The that on the they would and offer to from to After the was that would with the and that was healed and to and the like a would a of medical ritual the of and they on of the also when and in healing a new a she such a She to and for she and as could not but the came in and to her and the a and the of the she was and The and in her and the pain in her was but and to her up but of no kind she would not only the that when a the the men and women both to the in practice the of healing Latter-day Saints. The men at the and the new with and a The who had for the They offered their own ritual and to and for the patient she was modern medicine, the for the that the women the of and as as The for women to and for the new her for or their and to and healing were and its within the social of on in when men required was a or family not the such care. of and a of medicine that was both complementary and us that women on how best to and for and The the the of supernatural cures over more modern was with her in her on the of the Hyrum's own Smith was with her had a for and but her was as a in training as of the to women in work was a family the of his her for or Hyrum of the during As the of and the of Hyrum for the of the as he for his when their was in June also her as a Smith Bushman was for her skill in natural was no doctor in June later was to for many the were to to she to their and their with and also a place within the of as can of the family was would doctor would lay her hands on the from his and received a on his the church a healing to was a who was on to up the and a who out of and to his who him Latter-day Saints in the Arizona health and medicine were within a of social and to the of care, and were in the social and In the childhood of Hyrum and women at the of the healing many ways, June and Hyrum grew up during what could as the of in healing and In Latter-day Saint Young the church's the of as they to the to their in At the of the in the of healing men and women according to Jonathan and of the the of Smith that healing from By healing were a in the the of the twentieth century, church to modernize its and its about the practice of healing both men and church to a their The church's the and this in a to church The an in the declared, “The in the Church for the healing of the to the While the a that who faith in Jesus Christ lay hands on the and for their church placed the of ritual healing within the of church also charismatic such as in and that in with ritual healing or other of The of president Smith this An a hint of that some women were in charismatic and to a of in on in the she some just as as had a of the charismatic and ritual the late church were to to from practices that could as or they walked a careful that some charismatic as or but they that religious experiences such as in and faith healing to the of As for she no of charismatic in the of her church to the which Latter-day Saints the governance and of the to the of healing within the of ritual practices such as and the were then medical many Latter-day Saint women to their of the public health that on and childhood time, Latter-day Saint moved from under the hands of their into the of physicians in As historian women were less in that could not of did this for women like and June's this that she was less her in healing as she had She to work as a and practice folk remedies in her In Smith to practice In at the social pressure for women to charismatic experiences to The experiences of church members in this period 1890 and that and to and In the Arizona practices considered or supernatural persisted the of modern within religious and medical the backdrop of and political within their church and in the Hyrum and June in education, and period of movement more than just a a social and religious They were the of Latter-day Saints who to of their as more of a than their and and migration the of and June and Hyrum into and with one in the into with the early of Latter-day Saint no other had a on the and of their explains that Latter-day Saints that men would remain at the the of plural families left an that families with a order of same that and in the church also its order on the no authority in to the family than that of the church president Smith in As of the It his and his to at the at as one ordained to within the healing As a June and Hyrum's in would from their plural on for many Latter-day plural was more than a was a a religious a a and a social It and and in the of Hyrum and June's an in which women had the to a of healing the church's from polygamy in many of the social that characterized polygamous faith healing and on of family and for help. men with their ecclesiastical and plural were but many plural families on as In this the polygamous of the nineteenth a polygamy was a a with polygamy in the was a more that just to have some people While most polygamous did not into new the of at for a time. that in some the that had once women to authority the religious that their practice most of the ritual healing practices within church the most came with the and death of the women who the the of the in the as and of healing authority a of the Latter-day Saint in the twentieth their both Hyrum and June worked as in the but in they to Utah, Hyrum could at Brigham Young Hyrum in this new his on and and was to the to under the Hyrum with a who Brigham Young to and his Hyrum was and to treatments for and June they could the this could on the science were both of the and of he After both treatments and its Hyrum and June the as an to healing that the practices they left in were not as medicine with his A. and the that Hyrum the to some of the doctors and church The who at that was emerging from a religious and education, Hyrum was a Hyrum's Hyrum the science of was to that of and thought that to the best of both Hyrum and June were not and a of to to of at and up the of and were in this new Hyrum their and were of the Hyrum and June were in a in many ways, the natural and healing they were the of to and patients the of they this path best of both The for economic from an field also to what the to and scientific also have a to In an of a a remarkable to the religious of “He had this that his own experiences through the historian healing philosophy that its with a for was in a historical when Latter-day Saints the of healing authority to the and June's to chiropractic, with other of drugless treatments and healing through their to practices in a new “I have with the in which the such as Hyrum later in his have had more than a in drugless June and of science and to medical norms through the stability of a faith Their of also rejected the of and medicine through the Smith and an from to Iowa, amidst As they left their in the to on an that most church and was they once on the of the same the Smith family left for Iowa, June faced a medical that her to the of her healing when her son Marvin had a his he to his and his was as June She was and could not for help. “I was with she was not to to June of a and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of healing were a June a she received over a promise that she would also have the of As she was a of was a a in which he had the of healing and would to and thought that a for a the June with this in church had not healing within the of Latter-day Saint June's own hands on the June was to “I placed hands his and for a she “The and he was It was a from standard but one that was in the experiences of her its June's to her could as a from that placed healing under the of In the of this from a blended with healing practices to a of religious that both her and the of the church she did she had seen before as a In that within a that the of June this that from this June Hyrum on his educational and professional path of June's of a healing other Latter-day Saints have the of ritual to new ritual and once a of faith healing and women for also as of Latter-day Saint that and as a careful and practice into the as for a and before into the for an or In Utah, Latter-day Saint through a of rituals, supernatural and lay medical of healing through June's healing her the in her of a that was family and experiences with healing were not to June and most of their and church members this same and they did not the medical of the to the same As that religious experiences have June and Hyrum's tell how encounters with religious and social not events, but rather a of and that never Their experiences with health and healing as and did not a to a of that encounters with medicine and healing over the of for Hyrum with the of a to which but on the the and her June was not to a and to June and Hyrum their from the the to Arizona to their they that southern was an to and a was at once like the Latter-day of the in polygamy a of family that into June's near family had its In the of their helped the to the new and with their At the the taught their how to the to and from the as a Hyrum taught at the Latter-day Saint June worked as a kind of from town to town with in to about medicine and the a in stories and of room for their and the blended a private family with the same June medicine in her and patients at the door a Smith the a of church and patients and in at the table. patients would for both to and in and Smith was also a Hyrum and June remedies and to their After with and they and treatments over the of a Their reveal for drugless therapies, on of care, and on the of one Hyrum to through a for a to with or on to in day. but of Following only June also to her at through the of a Hyrum's Smith, as for many of June's of the Smith trends that private from and of medical care. for the Smith the of lay medicine, faith healing, and social childhood into a The same that helped and their and family help, and a social for both June and Hyrum to more professional and and Hyrum's as and chiropractors were not from the healing within their In they a to medicine and drugless In their to medicine the approaches to healing within their As a Latter-day Saint in the twentieth century, June could not the healing for Latter-day Saint could she on the ritual healing of her the of that a church once her as a would to through June's to her with her medical at and at June the injured and his she a bold “I can fix she stepped into a room to she divine she In she and medical skill to her he was from a a from of the June to her and up the She Marvin face in the with and a to his she the over her him and him to a of and June a Hyrum developed his own of As a Latter-day Saint he was the of the in his and healing As a he same for in his who Hyrum's not reveal he in a did he to to whom he offered healing from his own the and more the same time, his were careful to he supernatural over the of medical Hyrum was to an to a church in a he and church the a healing “The doctor had she was to he later she that the and for The of the was in her Hyrum also other in medical when healing was no the the of his he that skill could was but to no held a her and to her placed her in the hands of the did to the as they then that was the that to who us ritual in a room a that religious not to While and the of Latter-day Saint healing, room for In to the can where, and such Hyrum's of a ritual of the healing to the was a recognition that was and not who required and that the of was of June and Hyrum's childhood up a of spiritual, and and Latter-day Saints. In to for the Latter-day Saint women a of to members of the during of and medical professionalization health from its social and religious its medical care. on the Latter-day Saint the extrication of medical at the of their social and June A. Smith that healing they could the most and of this had a during an time. in the to on the they a medical that was in the kind of they received in their Arizona medical through skill and their medical to social and the success of Smith and Smith in southern Alberta, Hyrum and June about their for in Alberta. By the late they turned their to Utah, they to their To the Hyrum his in Arizona to a in After to in the family was to that its had The of that practice was in with an in from medical licensing a and a public in professional physicians to this the of an for the Hyrum worked as an but to and June her in and public on While they no had a they adjustments to their and and with natural In the their healing practices retreated to they in the

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