Family Life and Friendship Network

Asenath Slafter was born at Mansfield, Tolland County, Connecticut, August 18, 1796. She was the daughter of Eleazer and Eunice Fenton Slafter, who also were born and raised in the very same community.

At the age of 36 she met and married Josiah Janes, son of Thomas and Ruth Whitmore Janes. Josiah was born at Ashford, Connecticut, November 11, 1792. Josiah and Asenath were married December 6, 1832, in Mansfield, Connecticut. March 12, 1834, twin boys were born to this couple, whom they named Elijah and Elisha, who should have become an excellent pair of prophets. But God ruled otherwise and called home Elisha the following day and Elijah lived but five more days.

March 8, 1835, a third arrival came to bless their home, so they named her Henrietta. She remained the youngest in the family.

About the year 1839 some Mormon Elders came to Mansfield to preach the Gospel. Josiah Janes became very interested. He borrowed a Book of Mormon from the elders and never put the book down until he had completed its reading. The reading completed, he applied immediately for baptism. Accepting the Gospel was not so easy for his wife Asenath. It required two years of heated discussion and debate before she was convinced the Gospel was true. Later, her mother Eunice Fenton Slafter and her two younger sisters also joined the Church. This was in the year 1841.

Josiah and Asenath did what all true converts do after accepting the Gospel. They realized that continued spiritual growth was only possible in association with the Saints. The desire to gather with the Saints was irresistible. They willingly left their home and loved ones and journeyed westward to the new Zion in Nauvoo. Sister Janes' mother and her two daughters, Julia and Lucinda, also accompanied the party west, arriving in Nauvoo about May 15, 1841.

In Nauvoo these new converts quickly adjusted themselves to the social and religious standards of the Church. Henrietta, the nine year old daughter of Asenath. clearly remembers having seen the Prophet Joseph Smith on several occasions. The family was profoundly shocked when he was assassinated in June, 1844. Josiah, who had been questioning the divinity of the plural marriage doctrine, was now convinced the doctrine was tr«e, but did not have the courage to practice it. The Prophet's death was the cause for this reaction. In this great dilemma. Josiah lost his mental control and committed suicide. September 6. 1844. By taking this course he committed a double sin. His wife was left to endure the stigma of his act and the material support of an aged mother and a daughter. Josiah has probably since learned that he cannot so easily escape from his responsibilities.

[Image - ASENATH SLAFTER JANES 
1796-1867 
Mother of three children, grandmother of nine children, great 
grandmother of 51 children.]

Asenath was married to Samuel Bent in the Nauvoo Temple, date unknown. The Temple was sufficiently completed by December 1, 1845, that endowments were given. The marriage might have been any time after that date. Believing that Josiah was unworthy, she was sealed to Samuel Bent for time and eternity. Samuel was once a preacher in the Congregational Church before joining the Saints in Kirtland. Soon after the exit from Nauvoo, Brigham Young appointed Samuel as Presiding Elder at Garden Grove, where he remained until his death, August 16, 1846. Asenath and family did not accompany him to Garden Grove, but remained in Nauvoo until October 1, 1846. The reason for this delay was the sickness and death of Lucinda, the sister of Asenath, who passed away in mid-September, near the time the Battle of Nauvoo was fought, September 12, 1846.

It was the very poorest families who were the last to evacuate Nauvoo. Asenath had no traveling equipment and so was forced to remain on the west bank of the Mississippi River four weeks before teams arrived from Council Bluffs to take them west. Leaving the river November 1, they arrived at Garden Grove 15 days later. They remained in that place nine months before another opportunity came to supply them transportation to Council Bluffs. They moved across the river to Winter Quarters where they remained until May, 1848, hoping they might have an opporunity to go west. The chance to go west did not come, so they moved back to Council Bluffs, where they were forced to wait four more years before the opportunity finally came. Meanwhile. June 25. 1848, Sister Eunice Fenton Slafter, the mother of Asenath, died at the age of 81. She had suffered much in her old age for the Gospel. This left mother and daughter alone in the world.

December 5, 1848. Asenath married Benjamin Gibson for time only. This marriage proved a failure, so the parties separated.

The great opportunity to go west came in 1852. Leaving the bluffs June 4 they arrived in Salt Lake City 100 days later, Semptember 12, 1852. Henrietta was a beautiful girl of 17 when she made that famous trip: she claimed to have walked nearly the entire distance.

It is not known how long Asenath and daughter remained in the city. In 1854 they were living in Union Fort. In this fortified "city" Henrietta met her future husband. She and Isaiah Cox were married January 1, 1856. From this time to her death, Asenath remained with her daughter, finally dying in St. George, Utah, October 5, 1867.