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Joseph Smith Sr.

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Joseph Smith, Sr.
Presiding Patriarch
December 18, 1833 (1833-12-18) – September 14, 1840 (1840-09-14)
Assistant Counselor in the First Presidency
September 3, 1837 (1837-09-03) – September 14, 1840 (1840-09-14)
Personal details
Born(1771-07-12)July 12, 1771
Topsfield, Province of Massachusetts Bay
DiedSeptember 14, 1840(1840-09-14) (aged 69)
Nauvoo, Illinois, United States
Resting placeSmith Family Cemetery
40°32′25.98″N 91°23′31.06″W / 40.5405500°N 91.3919611°W / 40.5405500; -91.3919611 (Smith Family Cemetery)

Joseph Smith, Sr. (July 12, 1771 – September 14, 1840) was the father of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Joseph Sr. was also one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, which Mormons believe was translated by Joseph Jr. from the Golden Plates. In 1833 Joseph Sr. was named the first Presiding Patriarch of the Church of Christ, which was renamed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints[1] in 1834 and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints[2][3] in 1838. Joseph Sr. was also a member of the First Presidency of the church and a Master Freemason of the Ontario Lodge No. 23 of Canandaigua, New York.

Early life

Joseph Smith, Sr. was born on July 12, 1771 in Topsfield, Massachusetts to Asael Smith and Mary Duty. He married Lucy Mack in Tunbridge, Vermont on January 26, 1795, and had eleven children with her.

Smith tried his hands at several professions, including farmer, teacher, 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 Freemason on May 7, 1818 in Ontario Lodge No. 23 of Canandaigua, New York. Work on a frame house at the farm was halted by the unexpected death of Smith's eldest son, Alvin, 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 and 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."[4]

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, New York, until he had had seven in all; Lucy remembered five well enough to quote in detail.[5]

Book of Mormon

In the late 1820s, Smith's son, Joseph Jr., began to tell the family about Golden Plates, which he said contained a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. In September 1827, Joseph Jr. said he obtained the plates, which Joseph Sr. testified he felt and lifted.[6] In the following years, Joseph Jr. claimed to translate the plates into English through the use of the Urim and Thummim, a sacred device given to him by the angel Moroni. 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 Book of Mormon and has been a part of nearly all subsequent editions.

Joseph Smith Sr. was baptised as one of six founding members, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (called the Church of Christ until 1838) was 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!"[7]

Presiding Patriarch

In January 1831, Joseph Smith, Sr. and his family moved to the church's new headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. He was ordained to be the church's first Presiding Patriarch on December 18, 1833.

In reference to his father's role as patriarch of the church, Joseph Smith, Jr. likened his father to Adam, 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".[8]

As part of his new role, Joseph Smith Sr. presided in council meetings, ordained other patriarchs and administered patriarchal blessings.

On September 3, 1837, Smith was also made an Assistant Counselor in the First Presidency of the church.

Deathbed blessings

Grave of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith

Smith moved with his family to Far West, Missouri in 1838 and from there to the church's new headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois 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".[9] He blessed and ordained his eldest surviving son, Hyrum to succeed to the office of Presiding Patriarch by right of lineage.

Joseph Smith, Sr. died on September 14, 1840.

Descendants

Further information: List of descendants of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith

Notes

  1. ^ "Minutes of a Conference", Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, p. 160.
  2. ^ Manuscript History of the Church, LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–303.
  3. ^ H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters (1994). Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160. ISBN 1-56085-108-2
  4. ^ Smith, 56
  5. ^ Smith
  6. ^ See the Testimony of Eight Witnesses
  7. ^ Bushman, 110
  8. ^ Bates and Smith, page 34
  9. ^ Smith, chap. 52

References

  • Bates, Irene M.; Smith, E. Gary (2003) [1996]. Lost Legacy: The Mormon Office of Presiding Patriarch. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07115-7. OCLC 53077386.
  • Bushman, Richard Lyman (2007). Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. New York: Vintage Books. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-4000-7753-3.
  • Skinner, Earnest M. (2002) [1958]. Joseph Smith, Sr, First Patriarch of the LDS Church. Mesa, Arizona: Palmyra Publishing Company. ASIN B000M7VGQ8
  • Smith, Lucy Mack (2001). Anderson, Lavina Fielding (ed.). Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir. Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-137-6.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joseph Smith, Sr..
Church of Christ titles
Also known as
Church of the Latter Day Saints and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
First Presiding Patriarch
December 18, 1833 (1833-12-18) - September 14, 1840 (1840-09-14) 		Succeeded by
Assistant Counselor in the First Presidency
September 3, 1837 (1837-09-03) – September 14, 1840 (1840-09-14)
Served alongside: Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, and John Smith 		Succeeded by

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