Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844)
From Biographical Wiki
Schmuhl, Albert F. The Royal Line, 1980
The Mormon religion is based upon the story and religious teachings of Joseph Smith. Smith was the founding prophet and first elder/president of the church. The original church was established in western New York state on 6 April 1830 in the Township of Manchester, Ontario County, New York (new research has found this to be the organizational site).
Joseph Smith (1805-44), born in Sharon, Vermont, received a visitation from the Father and the Son in the spring of 1820. He published the Book of Mormon, which he translated from golden plates, in 1829, and founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830. After a lifetime of dynamic leadership in Kirtland, Ohio, in Independence, Missouri, and in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph, sustained by his people as a prophet of God, was killed by a mob while he was being held prisoner in Carthage, Illinois.
Doctrine and Covenants 135:1-3
1 To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o’clock p.m., by an armed mob—painted black—of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.
2 John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.
3 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. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he 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!
[edit] Sources
- LDS Family Group Record Collection [Patron Section]
- Submitted by: Hiram Clawson Young
- Family of: Brigham Young & Emily Partridge
- McBride, Virginia. Charles R. McBride Memorial, p. 14.
- FamilySearch Center. Howland Family Chart
- Family History Library. Sir Winston Churchill Chart
- Bennett, Archibald F. Descendants of Henry Spencer of Badby and Isabel Lincoln
- Anderson, Jerry B., Comp. Descendants of Rev. John Lathrop, 1967
