Joseph Smith Sr. (July 12, 1771 – September 14, 1840) was the father of

Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

, the founder of the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...

. Joseph Sr. was also one of the

Eight Witnesses The Eight Witnesses were one of the two groups of witnesses who made statements stating that they had seen the golden plates which Joseph Smith said was his source material for the Book of Mormon. An earlier group of witnesses who said they had se ...

of the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

, which Mormons believe was translated by Smith Jr. from

golden plates According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible) are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Some acco ...

. In 1833, Smith Sr. was named the first

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

of the

Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * When used in the plural, a New Testament designation for local groups of people following the teachings of Jesus Christ: "...all the churches of Christ greet you", Romans 16:16. * The entire body of Ch ...

(which was renamed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints"Minutes of a Conference", ''

Evening and Morning Star ''The Evening and the Morning Star'' was an early Latter Day Saint movement newspaper published monthly in Independence, Missouri, from June 1832 to July 1833, and then in Kirtland, Ohio, from December 1833 to September 1834. Reprints of edited ...

''
vol. 2, no. 20
p. 160. in 1834 and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in

Dean C. Jessee Dean Cornell Jessee (born 1929) is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of Joseph Smith Jr. Biography Jessee was one of the sons of Phillip Cornell Jessee and Minerva Boss. He was raised in Springvil ...

(comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–03. H. Michael Marquardt and

Wesley P. Walters Wesley Preston Walters (20 January 1926 - 9 November 1990) was a pastor of the United Presbyterian Church in Marissa, Illinois. He is notable for his historical research critical of the Latter Day Saint Movement, specifically Joseph Smith's First ...

(1994). ''Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record'' (Salt Lake City, Utah:

Signature Books Signature Books is an American press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D. Smith and Scott Kenney and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is majority owned by the ...

) p. 160. in 1838). Joseph Sr. was also a member of the

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

of the church.

Early life

Smith was born on July 12, 1771, in Topsfield,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, to Asael Smith and Mary Duty. He married Lucy Mack in

Tunbridge, Vermont Tunbridge is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the town population was 1,337. The town consists of three village centers, all situated on Vermont Route 110 in the valley of the first branch of ...

, on January 26, 1796, and had 11 children with her. Details of Smith’s paternal line go back to his 3rd great-grandfather Robert Smith from

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England who settled in

Massachusetts colony The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...

during the

Puritan migration The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

. Some previous DNA testing on Smith’s descendants had revealed some Irish roots. Smith tried his hands at several professions, including farmer, teacher, and shop-keeper, none of which proved very successful. He moved his family to Palmyra, New York, in 1816 and began to make payments on a farm located on the edge of neighboring Manchester Township. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason on May 7, 1818, in Ontario Lodge No. 23 of Canandaigua, New York. In the Palmyra–Manchester area, Smith and his sons were involved in a number of treasure digging excavations in the 1820s. Work on a frame house at the farm was halted by the unexpected death of Smith's eldest son,

Alvin Alvin may refer to: Places Canada *Alvin, British Columbia United States *Alvin, Colorado *Alvin, Georgia *Alvin, Illinois * Alvin, Michigan *Alvin, Texas * Alvin, Wisconsin, a town *Alvin (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community Other ...

, in 1823. Smith subsequently failed to make payments on the farm. Lemuel Durfee purchased it as a favor to the family and allowed the Smiths to continue there as renters through 1830. Though a spiritual man, Smith showed little interest in organized religion prior to his son Joseph reporting his visions to the family. He was content to allow his wife control over the religious upbringing of their children. This indifference bothered Lucy very much. After much prayer, she said she had received a divine witness that her husband would some day accept "the pure and undefiled Gospel of the Son of God." Smith professed that he had visionary dreams with highly symbolic content, perhaps related to his ambivalence about religious faith and sometimes presaging events to come. These dreams continued after the family's move to Palmyra until he had had seven in all; Lucy remembered five well enough to quote in detail.

Book of Mormon

In the late 1820s, Smith's son, Joseph Jr., began to tell the family about

, which he said contained a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. In September 1827, Joseph Jr. said he obtained the plates. In the following years, Joseph Jr. said he translated the plates into English through the use of a seer stone, which he found previously during a treasure digging expedition, as well as the

Urim and Thummim In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are ...

, a device given to him by the

angel Moroni The Angel Moroni () is an angel whom Joseph Smith reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, buried in the hill Cumorah near Smith's ...

. When the work was near completion, at the end of June 1829, Joseph Sr. and seven other men signed a joint statement, testifying that they had both lifted the plates and seen the engravings on the plates. Known as the " Testimony of the Eight Witnesses", this statement was published with the first edition of the

and has been a part of nearly all subsequent editions. Smith was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

when the

was formally organized on April 6, 1830. When Joseph Jr. saw Joseph Sr. come up out of the water, he is reported to have cried, "Oh! My God I have lived to see my own father baptized into the true church of Jesus Christ!"

Presiding Patriarch

In January 1831, Smith and his family moved to the church's new headquarters in

Kirtland, Ohio Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,937 at the 2020 census. Kirtland is known for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement from 1831 to 1837 and is the site of the movement's first t ...

. He was ordained to be the church's first

Presiding Patriarch In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Presiding Patriarch (also called Presiding Evangelist, Patriarch over the Church, Patriarch of the Church, or Patriarch to the Church) is a church-wide leadership office within the priesthood. Among the duties ...

on December 18, 1833. In reference to his father's role as patriarch of the church, Joseph Jr. likened his father to

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

, the first biblical patriarch: "So shall it be with my father; he shall be called a prince over his posterity, holding the keys of the patriarchal priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth, even the Church of the Latter Day Saints". As part of his new role, Smith presided in council meetings and administered patriarchal blessings. On September 3, 1837, Smith was also made an Assistant Counselor to his son in the

of the church.

Deathbed blessings

Smith moved with his family to

Far West, Missouri Far West was a settlement of the Latter Day Saint movement in Caldwell County, Missouri, United States, during the late 1830s. It is recognized as a historic site by the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, added to the register in 1970. It ...

, in 1838 and from there to the church's new headquarters at

Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its historic importance and its ...

, in 1839. Old age and illnesses had taken their toll and by the end of summer 1840, Smith realized he was dying. He called his family around him to administer patriarchal blessings. He blessed his wife: "Mother, do you not know that you are the mother of as great a family as ever lived upon the earth. ... They are raised up to do the Lord's work".Smith, chap. 52 He blessed and ordained his eldest surviving son, Hyrum to succeed to the office of

by right of

lineage Lineage may refer to: Science * Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor * Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populati ...

. Smith died in Nauvoo on September 14, 1840.

Descendants

Notes

References

* * *

ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She beg ...

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