Joseph Smith, Jr.

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Joseph Smith, Jr. Born December 23, 1805(1805-12-23) Birth place Sharon, Vermont Died June 27, 1844 (aged 38) Death place Carthage, Illinois Founder: Latter Day Saint movement Church Est. April 6, 1830 Successor disputed

This article is part of the series Joseph Smith, Jr. 1805 to 1827 - 1827 to 1830 1831 to 1834 - 1835 to 1838 1838 to 1842 - 1842 to 1844 Death - Polygamy - Teachings Prophecies - Bibliography

Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was the American religious figure who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism. Smith's followers declared him to be the first latter-day prophet, whose mission was to restore the original Church of Jesus Christ, said to have been lost soon after the death of the Apostles which caused an apostasy. This restoration included the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the priesthood authority, and the publication of the Book of Mormon and other new scriptures. As a leader of large settlement communities, Smith also was recognized as a political and military leader in the American Midwest.

Adherents to denominations originating from Joseph Smith's teachings currently number between thirteen and fourteen million. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the largest denomination with reported membership of over 13 million.^[1][2] The second largest is the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with about 250,000 members. Other groups who follow Smith's teachings have membership numbering from dozens to the tens of thousands.^[3]

[edit] Life

[edit] 1805 to 1827

Main article: Early life of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Joseph Smith, Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont to Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. After his birth, the family moved to western New York, where they continued farming just outside the border of the town of Palmyra. This region was an area of intense revivalism and religious diversity during the Second Great Awakening. Although Smith had limited involvement with organized religion during his youth, he studied the Bible, held religious opinions, and was influenced by the common folk religion of the area.^[4]

Smith reported that, in 1820 at the age of 14, he experienced a theophany, an appearance of God to man, or a divine disclosure, most commonly referred to by Latter Day Saints as the First Vision. Smith recorded several accounts of the vision later in life.^[5] The version which is most well-known and read was published in 1838.^[6]

Smith was concerned as to the correct church to join, and went to a grove of trees to pray. According to the most well-known version, when he did, he had a vision where he saw God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, appear to him as two separate, glorious, resurrected beings (in other accounts, they are described as heavenly beings). They told him that none of the churches established at the time were correct, and that he should join none of them.^[7]

Soon after, Smith reported his vision to a local minister, who pronounced it "of the devil," because the minister believed "there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and there would never be any more of them". Smith recounted that he was soon the object of much persecution and reviling in his neighborhood, for maintaining that he had seen a vision.^[8]

According to Smith, an 1823 visitation from a resurrected prophet named Moroni^[9] led to his finding and unearthing (in 1827) a long-buried book, inscribed on metal plates, which contained a record of God's dealings with the ancient Israelite inhabitants of the Americas. The record, along with other artifacts (including a breastplate and what Smith referred to as the Urim and Thummim), was buried in a hill near his home. On September 22, 1827, Smith's record indicates that the angel allowed him (after 4 years of waiting and preparation) to take the plates and other artifacts. Almost immediately thereafter Smith began having difficulties with people trying to discover where the plates were hidden on the Smith farm.^[10]

Smith left the family farm in October of 1825 and was hired by Josiah Stoal, who lived in nearby Chenango county, to search with others for a rumored lost silver mine established in the area by the Spanish. After working for about a month, Smith states that "I prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging after it. Hence arose the very prevalent story of my having been a money-digger.".^[11] During this time, Joseph Smith met Emma Hale, whom he married on January 18, 1827.

In 1826, Smith was convicted of being a "disorderly person" and an "impostor" in a court in Bainbridge, New York.^[12] However, details surrounding the case are still disputed by some historians.^[13]The court record states the conviction took place in March 1826, however, Smith was likely not present at the trial, and possibly not even notified of it. Convictions of people for a crime they committed after they no longer lived in an area were rare during the time. In addition, the record appears to have been either post-dated, inserted later, or otherwise tampered with contemporaneously, which leads to the disputes alluded to, although most Mormon and non-Mormon scholars believe the conviction did happen.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1827 to 1830

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith, Jr. from 1827 to 1830

Smith and his wife moved to Harmony, Pennsylvania, with the monetary and moral support of a wealthy Palmyra neighbor named Martin Harris. In Harmony, Smith reported to a few family members and colleagues including Harris that he had translated some of the Reformed Egyptian text from the Golden plates. According to Smith's history, he invited Harris to take a sample of the characters from the plates to a few well-known scholars including Charles Anthon. Harris returned to report that Anthon initially provided authentication to the translation of the Reformed Egyptian, but tore up his written statement upon hearing the story of how Joseph had obtained them.^[14] Harris returned, and acted as Smith's scribe while Smith translated words using Urim and Thummim.^[15] In June 1828, after completing the first 116 pages of the record, Smith allowed Harris to take the manuscript to Palmyra to show Harris' wife. Harris returned, long overdue, and informed Smith that the manuscript had been lost or stolen. According to Smith's record "the Lord took the Urim and Thummim and the plates",^[16] stopping the work of translation. Also, Smith's wife Emma gave birth to a stillborn son, their first child around the same time. Around February 1829, Smith recounts that the plates and the Urim and Thumim were returned to him by God. He resumed translating with Emma as scribe. Translation greatly intensified on April 7, 1829, when Oliver Cowdery, a school teacher in Palmyra, NY who had taken an interest in Smith's story while in Palmyra, and then set out for Harmony, PA to begin acting as Joseph's scribe.

At the beginning of June 1829, Smith and Cowdery moved to Fayette, New York for the remainder of the translation. The plates' title page indicated the book was to be entitled the Book of Mormon: An account written by the hand of Mormon, upon plates taken from the Plates of Nephi (Smith 1830b, title page). Translation was completed around July 1, 1829, and the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, with the financial assistance of Martin Harris.

Before publication, Joseph showed the ancient record to eleven other men. These men recorded their personal witnesses of seeing an angel show them the record (plates), seeing the record, handling the plates, and hearing the voice of the Lord command them to bear witness of the veracity of the record. These testimonies are included in the title pages of the Book of Mormon as The Testimony of the Three Witnesses, and The Testimony of The Eight Witnesses.

By the time the Book of Mormon was published, Smith's record indicates that he had received additional revelations and had begun the work of organizing a new Christian church. Smith and Cowdery reported having been visited by John the Baptist, the same as referenced in the New Testament. They stated that they were ordained by John the Baptist to "the Priesthood of Aaron."^[17] They said that he then commanded them to baptize one another.

Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery stated that they were later visited by Peter, James, and John, the disciples of Christ found in the New Testament, not long after the appearance of John the Baptist. According to Smith and Cowdery, Peter, James and John came to them in order to restore the Melchizedek priesthood, which they said contained the necessary authority to restore Christ's church.^[18]

On April 6, 1830, a church was formally organized as the Church of Christ, and small branches were soon set up in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York. There was strong local opposition to these branches, however, and Smith soon dictated a revelation (D & C 57:1-3) that the church would establish a "City of Zion" in Native American lands near Missouri. In preparation, Smith dispatched missionaries led by Oliver Cowdery to the area of this new "Zion". On their way, the missionaries converted a group of Disciples of Christ adherents in Kirtland, Ohio led by Sidney Rigdon. At the end of 1830, Smith dictated a revelation (D & C 37) that the three New York branches should gather in Ohio pending the results of Oliver Cowdery's mission to Missouri.^[19]

[edit] 1831 to 1834

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith, Jr. from 1831 to 1834

The church had more than doubled in size following the conversion of Sidney Rigdon, a former Campbellite minister in September 1830. Rigdon led several congregations of Restorationists in Ohio's Western Reserve area, and hundreds of his adherents followed him into Mormonism. Rigdon was soon called to be Smith's spokesman and quickly became one of the early leaders of the Movement.

Illustration of a mob tarring and feathering Joseph Smith.

To avoid further conflict encountered in New York and Pennsylvania, Smith moved with his family to Kirtland, Ohio, joining with the converts that joined with Rigdon. The church's headquarters were soon established there and Smith urged the rest of the membership to gather there or to a second outpost of the church in Missouri.

However, due to the controversy which followed him, he was not to escape persecution for long. In March of 1832, a violent mob came to Smith's house and attacked him. According to recorded accounts of the event, the mob broke down the front door, took Smith's oldest surviving adopted child from his arms (McKiernan 1971), and dragged Smith from the room.^[20] The mob beat, tarred and feathered, and attempted to poison Joseph.

This time period was prolific in its expansion of Church doctrine and organization; a number of new doctrines and leadership offices were added, based on Smith's teachings. An attempt to establish a communitarian economy based on Smith's "Law of Consecration" was established, but was abandoned after it was realized it was unfeasible.

[edit] 1835 to 1838

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith, Jr. from 1835 to 1838

Under Smith's leadership & direction, the church's first temple was constructed in Kirtland. The work of building the Kirtland Temple was begun in 1833, and was completed by 1836. Around the time of its completion, many extraordinary events were reported: appearances by Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Elias, and numerous angels, speaking and singing in tongues, prophesying, and other spiritual experiences.

However, the construction of the temple, in addition to other ventures of Smith's, left him and the Church deeply in debt.^[21] To raise money, Smith planned a banking institution, which was called the Kirtland Safety Society. The State of Ohio denied Smith a charter to legally operate a bank causing Smith to rename the company under the advice of non-Mormon legal counsel as 'The Kirtland AntiBanking Safety Society' and he continued to operate the bank and print notes. The bank became insolvent after 21 days of operation in January and collapsed later that year.^[22] During this time, Smith and his associates were accused of illegal and unethical actions.^[23] In the wake of this bank failure, many Mormons, including prominent leaders who had backed the venture, became disaffected with Smith.^[24]

Eventually, lawsuits and indictments against Smith and his banking partners became so severe that, on January 12, 1838, Smith and Rigdon left Kirtland by dark of night for the Far West settlement in Caldwell County, Missouri.^{[citation needed]} At the time, there were at least $6,100 in civil suits outstanding against him in Chardon, Ohio courts, and an arrest warrant had been issued for Smith on a charge of bank fraud.^[25] Those who continued to support Smith left Kirtland for Missouri shortly thereafter.

Independence, Missouri was identified as "the center place"^[26] and the spot for building a temple. Smith first visited Independence in the summer of 1831, and a site was dedicated for the construction of the temple. Soon afterward, Mormon converts—most of them from the New England area—began immigrating in large numbers to Independence and the surrounding area.

The Missouri period was marked by many instances of violent conflict and legal difficulties for Smith and his followers. The Mormons and non-Mormons in Missouri were, in general, fundamentally very different people. Local leaders and residents saw the Latter Day Saint community as a threat to their property and their political control due to the Mormon practice of voting 'en bloc'. The tension was further fueled by the Mormon belief that Jackson County, Missouri, and the surrounding lands would become a "promised land" to the Mormons as they purchased property and built settlements. The 'Latter Day Saints' began migrating to Missouri after Smith stated that Missouri would be the future center of the New Jerusalem. After Mormon leadership left Kirtland in 1838, the Saints from Kirtland followed them to Missouri increasing the church's numbers, which confirmed the fears of the local leaders and residents that the Mormons would dominate Missouri politics.

Later in 1838, many non-Mormon residents of Missouri and the LDS settlers engaged in an ongoing conflict often referred to as the Mormon War. After several skirmishes, the Battle of Crooked River (which involved Missouri state militia troops and a group of Latter Day Saints) occurred. There is considerable debate as to whether the Mormons knew their opponents were government officials.

Many exaggerated reports of this battle (some claimed that half of the militia's men had been lost, when in fact they had suffered only one casualty), as well as affidavits by hostile ex-Mormons that Mormons were planning to burn both Liberty and Richmond, Missouri, made their way to Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs. Boggs issued an executive order in response on 27 October 1838, known as the "Extermination Order". It stated that the Mormon community had "made war upon the people of this State" and that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace".^[27][28] The Extermination Order was not officially rescinded until 1976 by Missouri Governor Christopher S. Bond.

Painting of Liberty Jail, where Smith was held for several months.

Soon afterward, the 2,500 troops from the state militia converged on the Mormon headquarters at Far West. They raided Far West, ransacked homes, raped women, and killed several people.^{[citation needed]} Smith and several other Church leaders were brought into the Missouri Militia by Colonel George M. Hinkle under false pretenses. Hinkle then handed the prisoners over to General Lucas. They were held at Liberty Jail, and spent several months in captivity. They were later transferred to a jail in Columbia, Missouri.

The legality of Boggs' "Extermination Order" was debated in the legislature, but its objectives were achieved. Most of the Mormon community in Missouri had either immediately left or been forced out by the spring of 1839.

[edit] 1838 to 1842

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith, Jr. from 1838 to 1842

After escaping Missouri in 1839, Smith and his followers regrouped. They established a new headquarters in a town on the banks of the Mississippi River, called Commerce, in Hancock County, Illinois, which they renamed Nauvoo. They were granted a charter by the state of Illinois, and Nauvoo was quickly built up by the faithful, including many new arrivals. The Nauvoo city charter authorized independent municipal courts, the foundation of a university and the establishment of a militia unit known as the "Nauvoo Legion." These and other institutions gave the Latter Day Saints a considerable degree of autonomy.

In October 1839, Smith and others left for Washington, D.C. to meet with Martin Van Buren, then the President of the United States. Smith and his delegation sought redress for the persecution and loss of property suffered by the Saints in Missouri.^[29]

Construction of a new temple in Nauvoo began in the autumn of 1840. It was significantly larger and more grandiose than the one left behind in Kirtland, as it was intended for different functions (member endowments and baptisms) than the first temple (which could be used for large gatherings). The cornerstones were laid during a conference on April 6, 1841. Although Smith was instrumental in its completion, it was not finished for more than five years after Smith's death. It was dedicated on May 1, 1846, well after Nauvoo citizens had begun abandoning the city for points west (the first significant exodus occurred in February 1846). Approximately four months afterward, Nauvoo had been abandoned by the majority of its citizens under threats of mob action.

[edit] 1842 to 1844

General Joseph Smith addressing the Nauvoo Legion shortly before his death in 1844.

Main article: Life of Joseph Smith, Jr. from 1842 to 1844

On March 15, 1842, Smith was initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason at the Nauvoo Lodge. The next day, he was raised to the degree of Master Mason; the usual month-long wait between degrees was waived by the Illinois Lodge Grandmaster, Abraham Jonas.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]} Some commentators have noted similarities between portions of temple ordinance of the endowment and the Royal Arch Degree of Freemasonry.^{[36][37][38][39]} (See Freemasonry and the Latter Day Saint movement.)

In Nauvoo, Smith taught doctrines which he claimed were practiced in the early Christian church such as Baptism for the dead. He also introduced other teachings and ordinances such as the Endowment,^[40] and "the principle" of plural marriage neither of which are found in mainstream Christianity (although Christians, as a whole, believe in the Bible and most all the ancient prophets of the Old Testament had multiple wives and or concubines, see Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, etc.).^[41]

In February, 1844, Smith announced his candidacy for President of the United States, with Sidney Rigdon as his vice-presidential running mate. He also theorized a quasi-republican political system which he termed Theodemocracy and organized the Council of Fifty based upon its principles.

[edit] Death

Main article: Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.

An etching of the Carthage Jail, c. 1885, where Smith was killed in 1844.

A few disaffected Mormons in Nauvoo joined together to publish a newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor. Its first and only issue was published 7 June 1844. The paper was highly antagonistic toward Smith; the bulk of the Expositor's single issue was devoted to criticism of Smith's practice of polygamy and his political power. The city council, headed by Smith – who was mayor of Nauvoo – responded by passing an ordinance declaring the newspaper a public nuisance designed to promote violence against Smith and his followers.^[42] Under the council's new ordinance, Smith and the city council ordered the city marshal to destroy the paper and the press.^[43]

This action was seen by many non-Mormons as illegal; Smith was accused of violating the freedom of the press. Violent threats were made against Smith and the Mormon community in Nauvoo. Charges were brought against Smith and he submitted to incarceration in Carthage, the Hancock County seat. Smith's brother, Hyrum, and eight of his associates including John Taylor and Willard Richards, accompanied him to the jail.^[44] The Governor of the state, Thomas Ford had promised protection and a fair trial.^[45] All of Smith's associates left the jail, except his brother Hyrum, Richards and Taylor.

On June 27, 1844, an armed group of about 200 men stormed the jail, and went to Smith's cell. Despite a brief struggle, the group was able to open fire on Smith and his associates. Hyrum Smith was shot in the face, and died immediately. As the mob burst through the doorway, Joseph Smith (who had earlier been given a six-shooter by a visitor) managed to fire three shots at the mob. Richards was unharmed, while Taylor was shot several times, but survived. (One of the bullets may have glanced off the pocket watch in his left breast pocket.^[46][47]) Smith, however, was shot multiple times while trying to jump out an open window. After he fell from the window, he was shot several more times, killing him. He was 38 years of age.

Smith and his brother were initially buried below the Smith Homestead in Nauvoo. They were later disinterred on the orders of Smith's grandson Frederick M. Smith and reburied along with Smiths' wife Emma in a location thought to be safer from Mississippi flooding.^{[citation needed]}

Grave of Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, and Hyrum Smith.

[edit] Marriage and family

Emma Hale Smith, Joseph's first wife, whom he married in 1827.

Smith met Emma Hale in 1825 when he boarded with the Hales while he was employed in a company hoping to unearth buried treasure. Although the company was unsuccessful, Smith returned to Harmony several times seeking Emma's hand. Isaac Hale, Emma's father, refused to allow the marriage so the couple eloped across the state line to South Bainbridge, New York, present day Afton, New York, and were married on 18 January 1827, by the Village of Afton, New York Justice of the Peace. The couple initially moved to the home of Smith's parents on the edge of Manchester Township near Palmyra.

During the early portion of their marriage, Joseph and Emma Smith had the following children:

• June 15, 1828, Alvin, who lived only a few hours.
• April 30, 1831, twins, Thaddeus and Louisa, who died hours after their premature birth.
• April 30, 1831, twins Joseph and Julia. These were the children of Julia Clapp Murdock and John Murdock. Murdock, upon his wife's death in childbirth, gave the infants to the Smiths (who had just lost their own twins) to adopt.

The couple later had four additional sons:

• November 6, 1832, Joseph Smith III
• June 29, 1836, Frederick Granger Williams Smith
• June 2, 1838, Alexander Hale Smith.
• November 17, 1844, David Hyrum Smith, born after Joseph's death.

[edit] Polygamy and Plural marriages

Main article: Joseph Smith, Jr. and polygamy

A consensus of historians agree that Smith was married to other women besides Emma.^{[48] [49]} According to historian Todd Compton,^[50] in the group of Smith's 33 well-documented wives, eleven (33 percent) were 14 to 20 years old when they married him. Nine wives (27 percent) were twenty-one to thirty years old. Eight wives (24 percent) were in Smith's own peer group, ages thirty-one to forty. In the group aged forty-one to fifty, there is a substantial drop off: two wives, or 6 percent, and three (9 percent) in the group aged fifty-one to sixty. ^[51] Although Smith fathered several children with Emma, no additional offspring from any of the women making a "plural wife" claim has ever been proven,^[52] and in fact of the approximately twelve children of these wives that were claimed to have been fathered by Joseph Smith, five so far have been conclusively shown as genetically unrelated, through DNA analysis of living descendants.^[53] Work is ongoing to determine paternity or non-paternity of the remaining individuals.^{[citation needed]}

In official church publications, Smith publicly denied such doctrines existed, as did his brother Hyrum.^[54] Shortly before his death, Smith made a signed denunciation of Hyram Brown for "preaching polygamy, and other false doctrines" in Michigan, cutting him off from the church and requesting that he come to the next Special Conference.^[55] Bushman posits that, during Smith's lifetime, his wife Emma reportedly "vacillated between acceptance and rejection" of the practice,^[56] with Emma even attending the marriage of Smith to at least one of his plural wives.^[57] However, Emma died denying that her husband ever had any other wives, as did Smith's eldest son Joseph, who stated "I have conscientiously traced statements made by various individuals inculpating my father in this wrongdoing, and in every instance I have failed to find evidence worthy to be called proof."^[58] Emma Smith's deathbed testimony stated "no such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband's death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of... He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have."^[59] However, one modern commentator has stated that due to Emma's opposition to plural marriage, Smith "moved ahead surreptitiously", resulting in Emma's being unaware of the existence of many of Smith's plural wives.^[60] Some degree of Emma's opposition may have been directed at clearing up the aftermath of an incident in which:

John C. Bennett, mayor of Nauvoo and adviser to Joseph Smith, ...used the teaching [of plural marriage] to his own advantage. Capitalizing on rumors and lack of understanding among general Church membership, he taught a doctrine of "spiritual wifery." He and associates sought to have illicit sexual relationships with women by telling them that they were married "spiritually," even if they had never been married formally, and that the Prophet approved the arrangement. The Bennett scandal resulted in his excommunication and the disaffection of several others.^[61]

Claims that Smith neither taught nor practiced polygamy were at odds with the official publication by the LDS Church in Utah of the Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 in 1852. Unable to produce the original document, Brigham Young declared that Emma Smith had burned it^[62]. To this Emma Smith replied that she had never seen such a document, and added concerning the story that she had destroyed the original: "It is false in all its parts, made out of whole cloth, without any foundation in truth."^[63]This document, stating to be a revelation recorded on July 12, 1843 in which Jesus Christ^[64] is believed to have revealed through Smith that "a new and an everlasting covenant" of marriage is given, which allowed the practice of plural marriage. It contains numerous Biblical references to and justifications of polygamy, as well as the demand that Smith's wife, Emma, accept all of Smith's plural wives, and warns of damnation if the new covenant is not observed.^[65] However, in his personal records, Smith nowhere explicitly mentions plural marriage or the existence of other wives. According to Bushman, Smith's scribe Willard Richards is believed to have recorded Smith's plural marriages in Smith's journal in code.^[66] It was only after his death that some, including William Marks and Brigham Young, came forward and publicly claimed that Smith taught and practiced plural marriage.

Evidence exists that at least nine of Joseph Smith's wives were civilly married to other men while being religiously sealed (married) to Joseph Smith. Additionally, sealings took place years after Smith's death by proxy in the 1850s in Utah. Some Smith biographers state that the women Joseph Smith was sealed to but not civilly married to were practicing polyandry (the practice of a woman having more than one husband at one time),^[67][68] however polyandry would require at least an attempt at a legal civil marriage. One writer even claims that, while most of these "polyandrous" marriages were with the first husband's consent, others were done behind the first husband's back.^[69] The same writer states Smith used warnings of eternal damnation and promises of eternal rewards to secure consent to his proposals.^[70] There is no conclusive evidence as to whether or not Smith had sexual relations with women he was sealed to but not civilly married to.^[71][72]

As of 2007, there are at least twelve early Latter Day Saints who, based on historical documents and circumstantial evidence, have been identified as potential Smith offspring stemming from plural marriages. In 2005 and 2007 studies, a geneticist with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (founded by Mormon billionaire James Sorenson) showed "with 99.9 percent accuracy" that five of these individuals were in fact not Smith's children: Mosiah Hancock (son of Clarissa Reed Hancock), Oliver Buell (son of Prescendia Huntington Buell), Moroni Llewellyn Pratt (son of Mary Ann Frost Pratt), Zebulon Jacobs (son of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith), and Orrison Smith (son of Fanny Alger).^[73] The remaining seven have yet to be conclusively tested, including Josephine Lyon, for whom current DNA testing cannot provide conclusive evidence either way. Lyon's mother, Sylvia Sessions Lyon, left her daughter a deathbed affidavit telling her she was Smith's daughter.^[73]

[edit] Major teachings

Main article: Teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr.

During his adult life — from the time he began translating the Book of Mormon in 1827 until his death in 1844 — Smith introduced a large number of religious teachings. Although a number of his teachings are similar to doctrines circulating during his lifetime, several are unique to Smith.

Nearly all Smith's teachings had some root in the King James Version of the Bible, or his interpretation or elaboration of it. However, he believed in other scripture, and that in some instances, the Bible was translated incorrectly.^[74] Thus, he restored temples, orders of priesthood, and other elements of the Bible that he felt had been wrongly abandoned by protestant Christianity as part of a Great Apostasy. Much of this restoration is presented in the Doctrine and Covenants, which is described as modern scripture.

In many cases, Smith's doctrines or interpretations of the Bible, as well as his own revelations, placed him at odds with mainstream Christianity. For example, he publicly rejected mainstream Christianity's long-standing formulation of the Trinity as recorded in the 4th century Nicene Creed.^[75]

In what has come to be known as the Wentworth letter, Joseph Smith, Jr. wrote and sent a list of the basic beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to "Long" John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat. These articles of faith were subsequently published in Times and Seasons^[76], a newspaper published by the church (see Articles of Faith (Latter Day Saints)).

[edit] Translation of the Book of Abraham

Main article: Book of Abraham

Smith stated that he translated the Book of Abraham from papyrus rolls.^[77] Although it is accepted that Smith bought the papyri from an Irishman named Michael Chandler in 1835, these hieroglyphics were not able to be translated at the time until the discovery of the Rosetta stone^{[citation needed]}. The originals were thought by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to have been destroyed in a Chicago fire. Fragments of the papyri turned up in one of the vault rooms of the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In November of 1967 the Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported the rediscovery of the papyri.^[78] Egyptologists have pointed out that Smith's purported translation is not, in fact, a translation. Dr. Archibald Sayce noted, "It is difficult to deal seriously with Joseph Smith's impudent fraud....Smith has turned the Goddess [Isis] into a king and Osiris into Abraham." (For a counter to this assertion, see Abraham in Egypt, Hugh Nibley, Deseret Book Company, 1981, pp. 133-141). James H. Breasted wrote, "To sum up, then, these three fac-similies of Egyptian documents in the 'Pearl of Great Price' depict the most common objects in the mortuary religion of Egypt. Joseph Smith's interpretations of them as part of a unique revelation through Abraham, therefore, very clearly demonstrates that he was totally unacquainted with the significance of these documents and absolutely ignorant of the simplest facts of Egyptian Writing and civilization." Arthur C. Mace, assistant curator of the Department of Egyptian Art of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote, "The 'Book of Abraham,' it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication....Joseph Smith's interpretation of these cuts is a farrago of nonsense from beginning to end." Samuel Alfred Brown Mercer, of the Western Theological Seminary, and author of an Egyptian grammar, stated, "[Smith] knew neither the Egyptian language nor the meaning of the most commonplace Egyptian figures....the explanatory notes to his fac-similes cannot be taken seriously by any scholar, as they seem to be undoubtedly the work of pure imagination".^[79]

In the Ensign, an official publication of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Michael D. Rhodes, a researcher in ancient scriptures from Brigham Young University counters the assertions made by various experts regarding the translation of the Book of Abraham. He asserts that Egyptians "often placed vignettes next to texts that bore no relationship to them" and that it was not uncommon for all of the illustrations on a scroll to appear at the beginning, with the text following in a distant portion of the document. "Thus, the text that gave rise to the book of Abraham could have been located elsewhere on the same papyrus"^[80] and has yet to be found. However, this hypothesis ignores the fact that the papyrus from facsimile 1 has been conclusively shown to have originally adjoined several other fragments in the collection and bear no resemblance to the writings of Abraham (they are portions of the Book of the Dead).

Lastly, Rhodes states that several accounts of Abraham's life have been recovered since Smith's time and that The Book of Abraham compares favorably with them.^[80] According to LDS scholar Hugh Nibley, one non-Mormon scholar, E.A.W. Budge, stated that Smith's Book of Abraham was "clearly based on...some Old Testament apocryphal histories."^[81] As Nibley points out, the Old Testament apocryphal histories to which the document so closely corresponds were not available in Joseph Smith's time, and were available in the British Museum only to Budge himself nearly eighty years later.^[82] Critical scholars have noted that LDS researchers have succumbed to "parallelomania" in finding parallels to prove their points, and largely dismiss the explanations given by Rhodes and Nibley.

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Immediate reaction

Smith's death created a crisis for the Latter Day Saints. Their charismatic founder was dead and their hierarchy was scattered on missionary efforts and in support of Smith's presidential campaign. Brigham Young recorded in his journal his initial concern after Smith's murder: "The first thing which I thought of was, whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth." Without the keys of the kingdom, that is, the appropriate Priesthood authority, Young recognized the possibility that, according to the church's doctrine and Smith's own teachings, the church lacked a divinely-sanctioned leader.

Because of ongoing tensions, the state legislature revoked Nauvoo's city charter and it was disincorporated. All protection, public services, self-government and other public benefits were revoked. Those who lived in the former City of Nauvoo referred to it as the City of Joseph—he being its founder—after this time, until the city was again granted a charter. Without official defenses, city residents continued to be persecuted by opponents, leading Young to consider other areas for settlement, including Texas, California, Iowa, and the Great Basin region.

[edit] Succession

Main article: Succession crisis (Mormonism)

Smith left ambiguous or contradictory succession instructions that led to arguments and disagreements among the church's members and leadership, several of whom claimed rights to leadership.

An August 8, 1844 conference which established Young's leadership is the source of an oft-repeated legend. Multiple journal and eyewitness accounts from those who followed Young state that when Young spoke regarding the claims of succession by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he appeared to look or sound like the late Smith. Although many of these accounts were written years after the event, there were contemporary records. Historian D. Michael Quinn wrote:

The Times and Seasons reported that just before the sustaining vote at the afternoon session of the August meeting, "every Saint could see that Elijah's mantle had truly fallen upon the 'Twelve.'" Although the church newspaper did not refer to Young specifically for the "mantle" experience, on 15 November 1844 Henry and Catharine Brooke wrote from Nauvoo that Young "favours Br Joseph, both in person, manner of speaking more than any person ever you saw, looks like another." Five days later Arza Hinckley referred to "Brigham Young on [w]hom the mantle of the prophet Joseph has fallen."^[83]

Most Latter Day Saints followed Young, but some aligned with other various people claiming to be Smith's successor. Some waited for Smith's son, Joseph Smith III, to assume leadership of the church despite his young age at the death of his father. The church had published a revelation in 1841 stating "I say unto my servant Joseph, In thee, and in thy seed, shall the kindred of the earth be blessed",^[84] and this was widely interpreted as endorsing the concept of Lineal Succession. Documentary evidence indicates also that Smith set apart his son as his successor at various private meetings and public gatherings, including Liberty^[85] and Nauvoo.^[86] Indeed, Brigham Young assured the bulk of Smith's followers as late as 1860 that young Joseph would eventually take his father's place.^[87] That year, the younger Smith became leader of what was to later be incorporated as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ church) in the Midwest, made up of scattered church members not having journeyed west with Young, including Smith's widow Emma and two of Joseph III's brothers.

In addition, Smith's Vice Presidential running mate Sidney Rigdon formed the Church of Jesus Christ, headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania with a few more congregations scattered throughout the area.

Many of these smaller groups were spread throughout the midwestern United States, especially in Independence, Missouri, and several remain viable as religious groups. Issues relating to the succession crisis are still the subject of discussion and debate.

See also: History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

[edit] Eulogies

Josiah Quincy, a prominent New England citizen who later became the mayor of Boston, visited Joseph Smith two months before his death. Many years later he wrote about the people who had most impressed him during his life. Regarding Joseph Smith, he wrote,

“It is by no means improbable that some future text-book, for the use of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet.”^[88]

John Taylor, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who survived the event that killed Joseph and almost himself, wrote an account of the event and a eulogy to the Prophet, which are founded in Doctrine and Covenants 135.

"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it" (v. 3). He added that the names of Joseph and Hyrum Smith "will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of the Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world" (v. 6). The martyrdom, he said, fulfilled an important spiritual purpose: Joseph "lived great, and died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!" (v. 3).

The Latter Day Saint movement views his death as a martyrdom as the Christian term for martyr refers to someone being killed because of their religious views.

[edit] In the modern media

• In film, Joseph Smith has been portrayed by several actors including Vincent Price (Brigham Young), Dean Cain (September Dawn), Jonathan Scarfe (The Work and The Glory), Nathan Mitchell (Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration) and Richard Moll (Brigham).
• Smith was the subject of the cover of Newsweek Magazine, dated October 17, 2005. The cover was a reproduction of a stained-glass window portraying the First Vision. Many opinions on Joseph Smith were quoted, ranging from LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley to Mark Scherer, official historian of the Community of Christ.
• On TV, Joseph Smith's life was portrayed in the South Park episode All About Mormons in 2003. Joseph Smith was also featured as a member of the Super Best Friends, a superhero-type group of various major religious leaders and gods, on an earlier episode.
• A PBS documentary called "The Mormons" aired April 30 and May 1, 2007.

[edit] See also

Joseph Smith Jr.'s life 1805−1827 · 1827−1830 · 1831−1834 · 1835−1838 · 1838−1842 · 1842−1844 · Death · Polygamy · Teachings · Prophecies · Bibliography

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

In addition, Smith is also the main subject of virtually all works dealing with the early Latter Day Saint movement.

Further information: Works relating to Joseph Smith, Jr.

[edit] See also

Book of Mormon Portal

Latter-day Saints Portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Joseph Smith, Jr.

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Joseph Smith, Jr.

• Smith Political Family
• History of the Latter Day Saint movement
• Controversies regarding Mormonism
• Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration (film)
• Joseph Smith, Jr. and Polygamy
• Lectures on Faith
• List of assassinated American politicians
• "Praise to the Man"

[edit] External links

• Works by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Project Gutenberg
• "Who was Joseph Smith?" - At Mormon.org
• JosephSmith.net - The official web site on Joseph Smith by the LDS Church.
• JosephSmith.com
• Joseph Smith - collection of articles about Joseph Smith from LightPlanet.com
• Joseph Smith Daguerreotype - The only known photograph of Joseph Smith
• Joseph Smith, Jr. - The Prophet - a Mormon film about Joseph Smith
• The Restoration (Google Video) - a Mormon film about Joseph Smith
• LibraryThing author profile
• Joseph Smith Chronology Chart
• Joseph Smith: Mormon Prophet (YouTube) - a Mormon film about Joseph Smith

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