Joseph and Emma

 (An extract from a forthcoming project)

     Fifteen months or more after CTR and Maria married, CTR’s father and Maria’s sister followed suit. Joseph Lytle, approaching 67, was to marry Maria’s younger sister, Emma, aged 24, in mid-1880.

     For more precise dating, see the post: https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2026/04/when-did-joseph-marry-emma.html

     It may seem strange to modern readers that there could be such a disparity in ages, although it still happens on occasion. In the world of 19^th-century America, it was not uncommon for a widower to marry someone younger, and for a younger woman to choose such a marriage for financial stability and security. Emma, as her life later showed, was certainly very concerned about financial security.

     There were other factors, too, that may have contributed to this marriage. Charles and Joseph were very close. Maria and Emma were very close. Charles and Maria had just gotten married. At the time, they all shared the same strong religious convictions. Those convictions included strong beliefs about the near future, specifically 1881, a year frequently mentioned in early Zion’s Watch Tower magazines. As an example, from the December 1800 issue:

Soon, probably by, possibly before, the fall of 1881, we shall be changed—born of the spirit [of which we are now begotten] into the glorious likeness of our head.

     Of course, the way history worked out, they were not “changed” at all, but around December 1880, Emma did fall pregnant with Mabel.