Alvin Smith (Mormon)

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Alvin Smith was the older brother of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder and first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Alvin took a leading role in helping the Smith family work toward paying their debts and building their home. His untimely death in 1823 at age 25 resulted in his younger brother Joseph taking more of a leading role in family affairs. A vision claimed by Joseph Smith Jr. is said to have included Alvin and played a significant role in the establishment of the Mormon doctrine of redemption and baptism of the dead.

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[edit] Early life

Alvin Smith was born in 1798, the first surviving child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith.[1] During his youth, Alvin worked as a carpenter’s helper to assist the Smith family in saving up sufficient funds to make a down payment on a farm in Manchester Township, south of Palmyra, New York. Alvin also assisted his father in clearing timber, planting wheat and tapping maple trees for the purpose of making maple sugar.[2] A neighbor, Orlando Saunders, stated that the members of the Smith family “have all worked for me many a day; they were very good people. Young Joe (as we called him them) has worked for me, and he was a good worker; they all were.”[3] In 1823, Alvin took the lead in building the Smith’s new home and worked to get the family out of debt. [4][5]

[edit] Death of Alvin Smith

On 19 November 1823, at age 25, Alvin died of an overdose of calomel which was administered to cure a case of “bilious colic.”[6] Alvin believed his brother Joseph's claim that he was to recover an ancient record from a nearby hill. His death occurred two months after Joseph’s first visit to the hill from which he was eventually said to have recovered the golden plates that would later be claimed to be the source for the Book of Mormon. According to a history written by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, as Alvin lay dying he called each member of his family to his bedside to give them counsel. To his brother Hyrum, Alvin said "I have done all I could to make our dear parents comfortable. I want you to go on and finish the house."[7] He urged his younger brother Joseph to fulfill all of the requirements to obtain the golden plates.[8] Alvin's death had a significant effect on the family, resulting in Joseph taking more of a leadership role.

[edit] Significance in the Mormon doctrine of redemption of the dead

Alvin Smith figured prominently in the establishment of the Mormon doctrine the redemption of the dead and later establishment of the practice of baptism for the dead. On January 21, 836, after the completion of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith claimed to have had a vision of the Celestial Kingdom. Smith stated that he saw his brother Alvin in the vision, and was surprised at his presence there since he died before the establishment of the church and its associated doctrines.[9] Smith stated that he then received a revelation concerning the salvation of those who die without hearing the gospel and their ability to receive the same opportunities as those who had the opportunity to hear it on earth. [10]

[edit] Post-death rumors and events

[edit] Rumors of desecration of Alvin's body

Biographer Fawn M. Brodie wrote that the Smith family, "[H]eard a rumor that Alvin's body had been exhumed and dissected. Fearing it to be true, the elder Smith uncovered the grave on September 25, 1824 and inspected the corpse."[11] Following the exhumation, Joseph Smith Sr. printed the following in the local newspaper on September 29, 1824:

TO THE PUBLIC: Whereas reports have been industriously put in circulation that my son Alvin had been removed from the place of his interment and dissected; which reports....are peculiarly calculated to harrow up the mind of a parent and deeply wound the feelings of relations … therefore, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of such reports, I, with some of my neighbors this morning, repaired to the grave, and removing the earth, found the body, which had not been disturbed. This method is taken for the purpose of satisfying the minds of those who may have heard the report, and of informing those who have put it in circulation, that it is earnestly requested they would desist therefrom.”[12]

[edit] Subject of the "Salamander Letter" forgery

The story of the exhumation of Alvin’s remains gained new life with the “discovery” Mark Hofmann’s forged Salamander Letter.[13] Hofmann admitted that he used Joseph Smith Senior's letter and the affidavit of Willard Chase (‘’Mormonism Unvailed’’, 1834), to create the implication that Joseph Smith Jr. needed to take part of Alvin's body to the hill Cumorah. Chase states in his affidavit that the angel told Smith to bring his brother Alvin with him to obtain the plates. By the time of the second visit to the hill, Alvin had been dead for several months. Although Chase’s statement makes no further comment regarding Alvin, Hofmann’s forgery adds a claim that Smith said to the angel, “he is dead shall I bring what remains but the spirit is gone.” The presence of this statement in the Salamander Letter reintroduced speculation regarding the exhumation of Alvin’s body for the purpose of satisfying the requirements for obtaining the plates. The document also suggests that Smith's wife Emma or his brother Hyrum were dressed in Alvin's clothes when the plates were delivered to Smith.[14]

During the period of time that the Salamander Letter was believed to be authentic, the information contained within it was used in a number of publications and films related to Mormonism. One such film, The God Makers II, suggests that Joseph Smith was required to dig up Alvin’s body and bring a part of it with him to the hill Cumorah in order to obtain the gold plates.[15] The only known source of such a requirement is the discredited Salamander Letter.[16]

[edit] References in popular culture

He is one of the inspirations for Alvin Miller, the hero of a series of novels and stories by Orson Scott Card.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Allen & Leonard 1992, p. 21
  2. ^ Allen & Leonard 1992, p. 25
  3. ^ Saint’s Herald 28 (1881): 165
  4. ^ Allen & Leonard 1992, p. 25
  5. ^ Vogel, Dan (ed). Early Mormon Documents (Vol. 1), 284-285.  Regarding this debt, Alvin's mother Lucy stated, "In the spring [1823] after we moved onto the farm we commenced making Mapel [Maple] sugar . . . we then began to make preparations for building a house as the Land Agent of whom we purchased our farm was dead and we could not make the last payment."
  6. ^ One biographer of Joseph Smith Jr. actually speculates that Alvin was deliberately poisoned. As evidence of this claim, he refers to a Book of Mormon story relating to Amalikiah’s poisoning of Lehonti in order to become the king of the Lamanites (Alma 47:18) and suggests that Smith wrote this to represent the death of his older brother Alvin. See Vogel's Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet.
  7. ^ Smith, Lucy, ‘’Biographical Sketches’’, p. 88
  8. ^ Smith 1954, p. 87 "I am now going to die, the distress which I suffer, and the feelings that I have, tell me my time is very short. I want you to be a good boy, and do everything that lies in your power to obtain the Record. Be faithful in receiving instruction, and in keeping every commandment that is given you."
  9. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 137:5 Smith stated: “I saw Father Adam and Abraham; and my father and my mother; my brother Alvin, that has long since slept."
  10. ^ Allen & Leonard 1992, p. 109
  11. ^ No Man Knows My History, 1957, p. 28
  12. ^ Wayne Sentinel Sept. 29, 1824
  13. ^ Anderson 1987
  14. ^ Church News, 28 April 1985
  15. ^ The film displays a picture of a skeleton (not Alvin’s) as the alleged exhumation of the body is being discussed.
  16. ^ Tanner & Tanner 1993, p. 7

[edit] References

  • Allen, James B & Glen M Leonard (1992), The Story of the Latter-day Saints, Deseret Book Company, ISBN 0-87579-565-X.
  • Anderson, Richard Lloyd (Aug. 1987), "The Alvin Smith Story: Fact and Fiction", Ensign: 58 [link accessed 2007-02-20].
  • Smith, Lucy Mack (1954), in Preston Nibley, History of Joseph Smith, Bookcraft.
  • Tanner, Jerald & Sandra Tanner (1993), Problems in the Godmakers II, Utah Lighthouse Ministry.
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