Joseph Fielding Smith, President, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"...Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr. (November 13, 1838 – November 19, 1918) was the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was the last president of the LDS Church to have personally known the founder of the Mormon faith, Joseph Smith, Jr., who was the brother of his father Hyrum Smith..."

"...Smith was the son of Patriarch Hyrum Smith and his second wife Mary Fielding, a British convert to the Church who married Hyrum after the death of his first wife, Jerusha Barden Smith. In addition to her two children, Mary Fielding Smith raised the five children from the union of Hyrum and Jerusha..."

"...he would have been no more than five and a half when on June 27, 1844, Joseph's uncle and father were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois..."

"...Joseph and his family remained at Winter Quarters until the spring of 1848 when Smith drove his mother's wagon across the plains to Utah..."

"...On 5 April 1859, Smith married his sixteen-year-old cousin Levira Annette Clark Smith (29 April 1842 Nauvoo, Illinois- 18 December 1888 St. Louis, Missouri), daughter of Samuel Harrison Smith. He and Levira had no children. Seven years later, Brigham Young directed him to take a plural wife. Levira was never able to adapt to Plural marriage and obtained a divorce in 1868 "due to interference on the part of relatives, and because of the continued absence of her husband in mission fields and in ecclesiastical duties..."

"...Smith ultimately adopted five children and fathered forty-three children..."

SOURCE: Wikipedia Joseph F Smith
SOURCE: Find a Grave

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Brief Overview of the Life of Joseph Fielding Smith: In the spring and summer of 1836, Elder Parley P. Pratt preached the restored gospel in the vicinity of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Pratt's message of the restoration bore fruit, resulting in a number of baptisms, including Joseph, Mary, and Mercy Fielding. Mary soon moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where she married Hyrum Smith and took the responsibility of caring for his five children. Thereafter, Mary Fielding Smith's lot in life would be filled with hardship and trial. Persecution against the church forced Hyrum and his family to move from Kirtland to Far West, Missouri, in the fall of 1838. Then on November 1 of that year, Hyrum and his brother, Joseph, were arrested and imprisoned. Their incarceration lasted nearly six months. Joseph F. was born on November 13, 1838, just two weeks after Hyrum's arrest. Mary would spend much of the next four months ill and bedridden.

In late January, 1839, she was so sick that she had to travel on a made-up bed in the back of a wagon to Liberty, Missouri, so she could visit Hyrum and show him their son. Continued harassment required Mary to move without the help of her husband in mid-winter to Quincy, Illinois. After Hyrum's release from prison in April 1839, the family settled in Commerce (Nauvoo), Illinois, where they enjoyed nearly a five year respite. On May 14, 1841, Mary gave birth to her second and last child, Martha Ann.

In the spring and summer of 1844, the persecution against the church again intensified. On June 27, Hyrum Smith and Joseph Smith, Jr., were martyred while jailed at Carthage, Illinois. By the all of 1846, Mary and her family left Nauvoo and moved to Winter Quarters (Florence), Nebraska, where they remained until the spring of 1848. Circumstances were such that when the family moved west with other migrating saints, 9-year old Joseph F. would drive one of the family wagons to the Great Sale Lake Valley. Mary Fielding Smith died four years later from malnutrition and exhaustion. She was just 51 years old at the time of her death.

Joseph F.'s life took another dramatic turn just a year and a half later. During the April 1854 general conference, President Brigham Young read the names of those called to serve missions for the church. Without any previous inclination or advance notice, the 15-year old Joseph F. heard his name called from the pulpit as a missionary to the "Pacific Isles." The difficulty and challenges of Joseph F.'s mission proved to be a superb training ground for his lifelong service in the church. In 1858, after nearly a four year absence, he arrived home where he joined the Nauvoo Legion in the church's effort to thwart Johnson's army from coming into the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Following a peaceful negotiation between Brigham Young and the U.S. government, Joseph F. Smith turned his attention to other matters, including marriage. On April 5, 1859, he married Levira Smith, a daughter of Samuel H. Smith. Other wives would follow, including Julina Lambson in 1866, Sarah Ellen Richards in 1868, Edna Lambson in 1871, Alice Ann Kimball in 1883, and Mary Taylor Schartz in 1884. From these marriages would come 48 children.

After serving missions to the British Isles and another to the Sandwich Islands, the 27year old Joseph F. Smith received a call as an Apostle and was appointed Second Counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency. His service int he First Presidency would continue under Presidents John Taylor and Lorenzo Snow. Passage of anti-polygamy legislation, along with Joseph F. Smith's high profile within the church caused him to go into hiding from 1884 to 1891. On October 17, 1901, Joseph F. Fielding was sustained as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where he served until his death at the age of 80. He died on November 19, 1918.

SOURCE: Ancestry.com...David M. Whitechurch: Joseph F. Smith's Letter to his Sister, Martha Ann Smith Harris

The following information is from Find A Grave.com:

Joseph Fielding Smith led The Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-Day Saints into the first two decades of the twentieth century and was the first President of the Church to be born by LDS parents, a son of Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith and a nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Born in Far West, Missouri while his father was imprisoned in Liberty Jail, at the age of five his father was murdered, at the age of seven he drove the family wagon all the way to the Salt Lake Valley, at the age of fifteen he was called on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, and at the age of twenty-seven he was ordained an Apostle by Brigham Young. He was the first President to have served in the First Presidency of the Church. And for the first time since Joseph and Hyrum, two brothers served as President and Patriarch to the Church with an older brother from Hyrum's first wife Jerusha. President Smith's most significant doctrinal contribution was his "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," which he received on October 3, 1918, just six weeks prior to his death on November 19. In vision he saw the world of departed spirits and many individuals who reside there, including ancient and modern prophets. As well as the visit of Jesus Christ to the spirit world, where Jesus declared liberty to the righteous, and organized a mission to preach the gospel to the imprisoned spirits. In 1981 his account of this vision was added to the Doctrine and Covenants as section 138.

SOURCE: Find A Grave.com

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6261075

Parents:

Hyrum Smith (1800 - 1844)

Mary Fielding Smith (1801 - 1852)

Spouses:

Levira Annette Clark Smith Smith (1842 - 1888)

Julina Lambson Smith (1849 - 1936)

Sarah Ellen Richards Smith (1850 - 1915)

Edna Lambson Smith (1851 - 1926)

Alice Ann Kimball Smith (1858 - 1946)

Mary Taylor Schwartz Smith (1865 - 1956)

Children:

Edward Arthur Smith (1859 - 1911)

Mercy Josephine Smith (1867 - 1870)

Sarah Ella Smith (1869 - 1869)

Mary Sophronia Smith Peterson (1869 - 1948)

Leonora Smith Nelson (1871 - 1908)

Hyrum Mack Smith (1872 - 1918)

Donnette Smith Kesler (1872 - 1961)

Joseph Richards Smith (1873 - 1954)

Alvin Fielding Smith (1874 - 1948)

Heber John Smith (1876 - 1877)

Joseph Fielding Smith (1876 - 1972)

Alfred Jason Smith (1876 - 1878)

Rhoda Ann Smith (1878 - 1879)

Edna Melissa Smith Bowman (1879 - 1958)

David Asael Smith (1879 - 1952)

Minerva Smith Miller (1880 - 1958)

Albert Jesse Smith (1881 - 1883)

George Carlos Smith (1881 - 1931)

Alice Smith (1882 - 1901)

Robert Smith (1883 - 1886)

Julina Clarissa Smith Peery (1884 - 1923)

Willard Richards Smith (1884 - 1972)

Elias Wesley Smith (1886 - 1970)

Emma Smith Jensen (1887 - 1969)

Emily Jane Smith Walker (1888 - 1982)

John Schwartz Smith (1888 - 1889)

Franklin Richards Smith (1888 - 1967)

Zina Smith Greenwell (1890 - 1915)

Calvin Schwartz Smith (1890 - 1966)

Rachel Smith Taylor (1890 - 1986)

Lucy Mack Smith Carter (1890 - 1933)

Jeanetta Smith Ashton (1891 - 1932)

Samuel Schwartz Smith (1892 - 1983)

Ruth Smith (1893 - 1898)

Andrew Kimball Smith (1893 - 1951)

Edith Eleanor Smith Patrick (1894 - 1987)

James Schwartz Smith (1894 - 1950)

Asenath Smith Conklin (1896 - 1982)

Jesse Kimball Smith (1896 - 1953)

Agnes Smith Knowlton (1897 - 1966)

Martha Smith Jenson (1897 - 1977)

Fielding Kimball Smith (1900 - 1974)

Silas Schwartz Smith (1900 - 1983)

Royal Grant Smith (1906 - 1971)

Marjorie Virginia Smith Brown (1906 - 1994)

Siblings:

Lovina Smith Walker (1827 - 1876)

Mary Smith (1829 - 1832)

John Smith (1832 - 1911)

Hyrum Smith (1834 - 1841)

Jerusha Smith Peirce (1836 - 1912)

Sarah Smith Griffin (1837 - 1876)

Joseph Fielding Smith (1838 - 1918)

Martha Ann Smith Harris (1841 - 1923)

Maintained by: Find A Grave

Originally Created by: Chad Stowell

Record added: Mar 14, 2002

Find A Grave Memorial# 6261075

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Religious Figure. He led The Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-day Saints into the first two decades of the twentieth century and was the first President of the Church to be born by LDS parents, a son of Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith and a nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Born in Far West, Missouri while his father was imprisoned in Liberty Jail, at the age of five his father was murdered, at the age of seven he drove the family wagon all the way to the Salt Lake Valley, at the age of fifteen he was called on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, and at the age of twenty-seven he was ordained an Apostle by Brigham Young. He was the first President to have served in the First Presidency of the Church. And for the first time since Joseph and Hyrum, two brothers served as President and Patriarch to the Church with an older brother from Hyrum's first wife Jerusha. President Smith's most significant doctrinal contribution was his "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," which he received on October 3, 1918, just six weeks prior to his death on November 19. In vision he saw the world of departed spirits and many individuals who reside there, including ancient and modern prophets. As well as the visit of Jesus Christ to the spirit world, where Jesus declared liberty to the righteous, and organized a mission to preach the gospel to the imprisoned spirits. In 1981 his account of this vision was added to the Doctrine and Covenants as section 138. (bio by: [fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=46505431" target="_blank Chad Stowell)]

• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via daughter Leonora Nelson (born Smith) by SmartCopy: Apr 7 2015, 18:14:10 UTC

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Religious Figure. He led The Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-day Saints into the first two decades of the twentieth century and was the first President of the Church to be born by LDS parents, a son of Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith and a nephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Born in Far West, Missouri while his father was imprisoned in Liberty Jail, at the age of five his father was murdered, at the age of seven he drove the family wagon all the way to the Salt Lake Valley, at the age of fifteen he was called on a mission to the Sandwich Islands, and at the age of twenty-seven he was ordained an Apostle by Brigham Young. He was the first President to have served in the First Presidency of the Church. And for the first time since Joseph and Hyrum, two brothers served as President and Patriarch to the Church with an older brother from Hyrum's first wife Jerusha. President Smith's most significant doctrinal contribution was his "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," which he received on October 3, 1918, just six weeks prior to his death on November 19. In vision he saw the world of departed spirits and many individuals who reside there, including ancient and modern prophets. As well as the visit of Jesus Christ to the spirit world, where Jesus declared liberty to the righteous, and organized a mission to preach the gospel to the imprisoned spirits. In 1981 his account of this vision was added to the Doctrine and Covenants as section 138. (bio by: [fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=46505431" target="_blank Chad Stowell)]

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 6 2017, 19:31:14 UTC