Joseph Smith, Jr., Prophet

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Joseph Smith, Jr.

Also Known As: "1st President of the Church of Christ"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, United States
Death: June 27, 1844 (38)
Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois, United States (Assassination)
Place of Burial: Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of Joseph Smith, Sr and Lucy Smith (Mack)
Husband of Helen Mar Kimball; Emma Smith Bidamon; Frances Ward Custer; Lucinda Harris; Louisa Beaman Smith Young, Plural-Wife of Brigham Young and 28 others
Father of Alvin Smith; Louisa Smith; Thaddeus Smith; Joseph Smith III; Frederick Granger Williams Smith and 6 others
Brother of Baby Boy Smith; Alvin Smith; Hyrum Smith; Sophronia Stoddard McCleary; Samuel Harrison Smith, I and 7 others

Occupation: Mayor of Nauvoo, founder and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Managed by: willard deuel
Last Updated:

About Joseph Smith, Jr., Prophet

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KWJY-BPD

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-545

https://religionnews.com/2022/07/21/mormon-founder-joseph-smiths-ph... photo found of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Joseph Smith, Jr. (23 December 1805 – 27 June 1844) was the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), a church whose adherents regard him as a prophet. The son of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack, Smith was born 23 December 1805 at Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont; he was assassinated at Carthage Jail, Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois on 27 June 1844, and buried at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois on 29 June 1844 following a public viewing. He married Emma Hale on 18 January 1827; they had seven children and adopted twins.

Marriages and Children

Joseph Smith, Jr. met Emma Hale and, on 18 January 1827, eloped with her because her parents disapproved of the match. Emma gave birth to seven children, the first three of whom died shortly after birth. Joseph and Emma Smith had four sons who lived to maturity. Additionally, the Smiths adopted twins whose mother had recently died in childbirth.

  1. Alvin Smith (June 15, 1828 – June 15, 1828) Died shortly after birth.
  2. Thaddeus Smith (April 30, 1831 – April 30, 1831) Twin of Louisa, premature, died within a few hours of birth
  3. Louisa Smith (April 30, 1831 – April 30, 1831) Twin of Thaddeus, premature, died within a few hours of birth
  4. Joseph Smith Murdock (April 30, 1831 – March 29, 1832) Adopted. Twin of Julia, birth son of Julia Clapp Murdock and John Murdock, who upon his wife's death in childbirth gave the infants to the Smiths for adoption. Died at 10 months of age.
  5. Julia Murdock Smith (April 30, 1831 – September 12, 1880) Adopted. Twin of Joseph, birth son of Julia Clapp Murdock and John Murdock.
  6. Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914)
  7. Frederick Granger Williams Smith (June 20, 1836 – April 13, 1862)
  8. Alexander Hale Smith (June 2, 1838 – August 12, 1909)
  9. Don Carlos Smith (June 13, 1840 – August 15, 1841) Died aged 14 months.
  10. Male child (December 26, 1842 – December 26, 1842) Stillborn
  11. David Hyrum Smith (November 17, 1844 – August 29, 1904)

Biographical Sketch

Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) was born 23 December 1805, the fifth of eleven children of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. "I was born . . . of goodly parents," said Joseph, "who spared no pains to instruct me in the Christian religion." His parents stressed personal religion and encouraged Joseph to seek his "soul's salvation" in Jesus Christ.

Lucy Mack Smith eventually joined one of the local churches, but continued to search for something more. "I therefore determined," said Lucy, "to examine my Bible, and, taking Jesus and his disciples for my guide, to endeavor to obtain from God which man could neither give nor take away."

Joseph's father, Joseph Smith Sr., found peace in Bible study and seeking God in prayer. Under his leadership, the family met morning and evening for prayer, hymns, and scripture reading. At times Joseph Sr. taught his children "in his own home school and used the Bible as a text." The devotion to God that Joseph saw in his parents strengthened his confidence and faith to seek divine truth.

During the late 1820s Joseph Smith, Jr. revealed that an angel had given him a book of golden plates containing a religious history of ancient American peoples. Smith translated the writing on the plates from an unknown language into English; and in 1830, he published the translation as the Book of Mormon and organized a restoration of the early Christian church.

LDS Church members regard Smith's revelations as scripture, equal to the Bible. His teachings include unique views about the nature of godhood, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. His legacy includes a number of splinter churches which have broken away from the doctrine and teachings of the LDS Church proper.

Martyrdom

Smith and his brother Hyrum were held in Carthage Jail on controversial charges of treason. On the 27th of June, 1844, an armed group with blackened faces stormed the jail and killed Hyrum instantly with a shot to the face. Smith fought back with a pepper-box pistol that had been smuggled into the prison but was shot while jumping from a window, then shot and killed as he lay on the ground. Smith was buried in Nauvoo after a public viewing on 29 June 1844.

Polygamy

Although polygamy was later publicly practiced by Brigham Young and other early Mormons, Smith, and other leaders of his church, publicly denied he taught or practiced it. The first publication of a list of women alleged to be Smith's plural wives was in 1887; it included 27 women besides Emma Smith. Currently, historians disagree as to the number of plural wives attributed to Smith. Various scholars and historians have tried to identify the women who married Smith but are hindered by the lack of documents to support some of the alleged marriages. As of 2010, DNA testing has provided no evidence that Smith fathered any children with women other than Emma...

Historic Sites

A list of historic sites relating to Joseph Smith can be found here. They include locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois.

Sources and Further Information

https://www.ldsliving.com/what-prophets-have-said-about-extraterres...



Founder and First President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (also known as the Mormons). Born in Sharon, Vermont, his parents, Joseph and Lucy Smith, operated a farm. When the farm failed, Joseph Senior moved the family to Palmyra, New York, hoping to do better. Near poverty nearly all their lives, the children had to work early to support the family, and as a result, their education suffered. At the age of 14, Joseph announced that he had seen a vision of God and Jesus Christ. Some years later, Joseph unearthed golden plates on a local hillside, and these plates would later be translated as the Book of Mormon. After printing and distributing copies of the Book of Mormon in the Upstate New York region, Smith gathered a small core of followers and founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Fayette, New York on April 6, 1830. Smith, his wife Emma, and several followers moved to Kirtland, Ohio, Far West, Missouri, and finally Nauvoo, Illinois to avoid religious persecution. After destroying a newspaper operation that printed negative material about him and his church, Joseph was arrested for "suppression of freedom of the press" and imprisoned at the Carthage Jail. On June 27, 1844, a mob of 200 men stormed the jail and murdered Joseph and his brother Hyrum. The brothers were buried together at their family homesite in Nauvoo, Illinois. Brigham Young became the next President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

(bio by: [fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=46631477" target="_blank Carla Louca)] Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: Jan 01, 2001

Find A Grave Memorial# 962

This is the founder of the Mormon religion.


http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=962

Birth: Dec. 23, 1805 Sharon Windsor County Vermont, USA Death: Jun. 27, 1844 Carthage Hancock County Illinois, USA

Founder and First President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (also known as the Mormons). Born in Sharon, Vermont, his parents, Joseph and Lucy Smith, operated a farm. When the farm failed, Joseph Senior moved the family to Palmyra, New York, hoping to do better. Near poverty nearly all their lives, the children had to work early to support the family, and as a result, their education suffered. At the age of 14, Joseph announced that he had seen a vision of God and Jesus Christ. Some years later, Joseph unearthed golden plates on a local hillside, and these plates would later be translated as the Book of Mormon. After printing and distributing copies of the Book of Mormon in the Upstate New York region, Smith gathered a small core of followers and founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Fayette, New York on April 6, 1830. Smith, his wife Emma, and several followers moved to Kirtland, Ohio, Far West, Missouri, and finally Nauvoo, Illinois to avoid religious persecution. After destroying a newspaper operation that printed negative material about him and his church, Joseph was arrested for "suppression of freedom of the press" and imprisoned at the Carthage Jail. On June 27, 1844, a mob of 200 men stormed the jail and murdered Joseph and his brother Hyrum. The brothers were buried together at their family homesite in Nauvoo, Illinois. Brigham Young became the next President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

(bio by: Carla Fehr) 

Family links:

Parents:
 Joseph Smith (1771 - 1840)
 Lucy Mack Smith (1775 - 1856)

Spouses:

 Patty Bartlett Sessions (1795 - 1892)
 Mary Houston Kimball (1818 - 1896)
 Emma Hale Smith (1804 - 1879)
 Rhoda Richards (1784 - 1879)*
 Fanny Young Murray (1787 - 1859)*
 Eliza Roxcy Snow (1804 - 1887)*
 Desdemona Wadsworth Fullmer Smith (1809 - 1886)*
 Amanda Melissa Barnes Smith (1809 - 1886)*
 Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810 - 1892)*
 Melissa Snow Smith (1810 - 1835)*
 Rachel Ridgeway Ivins Grant (1821 - 1909)*
 Catherine Walker Rogers (1824 - 1885)*
 Melissa Lott Willes (1824 - 1898)*
 Emily Dow Partridge Young (1824 - 1899)*
 Lucy Walker Kimball (1826 - 1910)*
 Zina Diantha Huntington Young (1821 - 1901)*
 Delcina Diademia Johnson Sherman (1806 - 1854)*
 Agnes Moulton Coolbrith Pickett (1811 - 1876)*
 Sarah Ann Whitney Kimball (1825 - 1873)*
 Almera Woodard Johnson Smith Barton (1812 - 1896)*
 Eliza Maria Partridge Lyman (1820 - 1886)*
 Melissa Lott Willes (1824 - 1898)*
 Helen Mar Kimball Whitney (1828 - 1896)*

Children:

 Alvin Smith (1828 - 1828)*
 Infants Smith (1831 - 1831)*
 Louisa Smith (1831 - 1831)*
 Julia Murdock Smith Middleton (1831 - 1880)*
 Thadeus Smith (1831 - 1831)*
 Joseph Smith (1832 - 1914)*
 Frederick Granger Williams Smith (1836 - 1862)*
 Alexander Hale Smith (1838 - 1909)*
 Don Carlos Smith (1840 - 1841)*
 Thomas Smith (1842 - 1842)*
 David Hyrum Smith (1844 - 1904)*

Siblings:

 Baby Smith (1797 - 1797)*
 Alvin Smith (1798 - 1823)*
 Hyrum Smith (1800 - 1844)*
 Sophronia Smith Stoddard McCleary (1803 - 1876)*
 Saphronia Smith McClarry (1803 - 1871)*
 Joseph Smith (1805 - 1844)
 Samuel Harrison Smith (1808 - 1844)*
 Ephriam Smith (1810 - 1810)*
 William B. Smith (1811 - 1893)*
 Katharine Smith Salisbury Younger (1813 - 1900)*
 Don Carlos Smith (1816 - 1841)*
 Lucy Smith Millikin (1821 - 1882)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Smith Family Cemetery Nauvoo Hancock County Illinois, USA

Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: Jan 01, 2001 Find A Grave Memorial# 962

https://www.mrm.org/list-joseph-smiths-wives

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"Presented by the Toronto Area Stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith in Upper Canada illustrates a rich Canadian heritage. For the first time, this interesting documentary presents the little-known history of the early Saints in Upper Canada, now Ontario.
The Prophet Joseph Smith visited the area twice and sent missionaries to proclaim the restored gospel and establish branches in several familiar towns. This film details many fascinating stories of the early Canadian pioneers and demonstrates how their obedience and great sacrifice were instrumental in restoring the kingdom of God on the earth."
​[https://www.josephsmith.ca/joseph-smith-in-upper-canada]

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"For the first time made public, new evidence is revealed that purports that the recently identified photo/daguerreotype of Joseph Smith is authentic! Steven's guest is Curtis Weber an independent researcher from Utah who has been conducting research on Joseph Smith's anatomy since 2008. His most recent work has been an analysis of the Larsen daguerreotype, a purported photograph of Joseph Smith which was announced to the world on July 21, 2022. On this far ranging presentation Curtis provides the forensic, artistic, and historic evidence that he believes proves that the daguerreotype is indeed an authentic image of Joseph Smith.
Original Photo Copyright Dan Larsen Colorized version Copyright Curtis Weber"
[https://youtu.be/VZ-_wHcJ-xI]

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Joseph Smith, Jr., Prophet's Timeline

1805
December 23, 1805
Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, United States
1828
June 15, 1828
Harmony, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, USA
1829
May 15, 1829
Age 23
1831
April 30, 1831
Near Kirtland, Geuaga, Ohio, USA
April 30, 1831
Kirtland, Geauga, OH
May 1, 1831
Near Kirtland, Geuaga, Ohio, Burton, Geauga County, OH, United States