The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

by George Q. Cannon

Footnotes

[1]. It was the author's privilege to thus meet the Prophet for the first time. The occasion was the arrival of a large company of Latter-day Saints at the upper landing at Nauvoo. The General Conference of the Church was in session and large numbers crowded to the landing place to welcome the emigrants. Nearly every prominent man in the community was there. Familiar with the names of all and the persons of many of the prominent Elders, the author sought with a boy's curiosity and eagerness, to discover those whom he knew, and especially to get sight of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum, neither of whom he had ever met. When his eyes fell upon the Prophet, without a word from any one to point him out, or any reason to separate him from others who stood around, he knew him instantly. He would have known him among ten thousand. There was that about him, which to the author's eyes, distinguished him from all the men he had ever seen.

JOSEPH SMITH'S LIFE AND WORK

Joseph the Prophet.

CHAPTER I.

JOSEPH'S HUMBLE EXTRACTION—THE GODLINESS AND FAIR FAME OF HIS ANCESTRY—A PREMONITION OF HIS WORK.

Joseph Smith was of humble birth. His parents and their progenitors were toilers; but their characters were godly and their names unstained.

In the year 1638, Robert Smith, a sturdy yeoman of England, emigrated to the New World, the land of promise. He settled in Essex County, Massachusetts, and afterwards married Mary French. The numerous descendants of these worthy people intermarried with many of the staunchest and most industrious families of New England. Samuel, the son of Robert and Mary, born January 26th, 1666, wedded Rebecca Curtis, January 25th, 1707. Their son, the second Samuel, was born January 26th, 1714; he married Priscilla Gould, and was the father of Asael, born March 7th, 1744. Asael Smith took to wife Mary Duty, and their son Joseph was born July 12th, 1771. On the 24th of January, 1796, Joseph married Lucy Mack, at Tunbridge, in the State of Vermont. She was born July 8th, 1776, and was the daughter of Solomon and Lydia Mack, and was the granddaughter of Ebenezer Mack.

The men of these two families, Smith and Mack, through several generations had been tillers of the soil. They were devout and generous, measurably prosperous in a worldly sense, and several of them were brave and steadfast soldiers through the early Colonial campaigns and the Revolutionary struggle.

After the marriage of Joseph Smith with Lucy Mack, they settled, respected and happy, upon their own farm at Tunbridge. Here they were successful, financially, for a few years, until the dishonesty of a trusted friend and agent robbed them of their surplus means and left them plunged in debt. They freely sacrificed all of money value which they possessed, even homestead and Lucy's treasured marriage portion, and paid every just claim which was held against them. Left thus in absolute poverty, they sought to retrieve their loss of home; and Tunbridge, where they were known and respected, offered for a time a prospect of success. Soon afterwards, however, they removed to Sharon, where Joseph rented a farm from his father-in-law. This field he diligently tilled through the summer, and during the winter taught the village school. Comfort was restored to them; but they were destined to be still tried and sanctified by the tribulations of life. Honest and industrious, pious and benevolent, yet Joseph and Lucy saw themselves and their children pursued by poverty, illness and the cold neglect of their fellow-mortals. They repined not at their chastenings, but they marveled.

God was teaching the parents the great lesson of personal humility; and they and their children were learning how fleeting is earthly wealth and how fallible is mere human friendship. For the choice seed which is to bring forth rich and perfect fruit, the Lord Almighty prepares the soil of His garden.

The paternal grandfather of the Prophet was Asael Smith, a man of the strongest religious convictions, and yet a man whose broad humanitarian views were repugnant to many of the sectarians of the day. Upon one occasion, before the Prophet's birth, Asael Smith had a premonition that one of his descendants should be a great teacher and leader of men. To quote his words, as they are remembered and recorded by one who knew and heard him speak: "It has been borne in upon my soul that one of my descendants will promulgate a work to revolutionize the world of religious faith."

It is not known if the young Joseph ever learned of this prophetic declaration, until after his own career had been made manifest. But Asael lived to see the dawn of the fulfillment of his words. Just before his death, the Book of Mormon, then recently printed, was presented to him. He accepted it, and with the light of inspiration which sometimes illumines the mind of man as the veil of eternity opens to his gaze, Asael solemnly warned his attendants to give heed to the Book, for it was true, and its coming forth heralded a renewal of the Gospel light.

CHAPTER II.

BIRTH OF JOSEPH—FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES—TOIL AND POVERTY—REMOVAL TO NEW YORK—INTENSE RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT.

The circumstances and surroundings of the elder Joseph were of the humblest, when unto his house was born, on the 23rd of December, 1805, Joseph, the Prophet of the Last Dispensation. The family were still living in the little town of Sharon, in Windsor County, Vermont; and were, at the time, greatly impoverished. Very early, therefore, was the future Prophet compelled to learn the lessons of labor, patience and self-denial. The father was striving, with every faculty, to repair his shattered fortunes, that he might educate his children and provide for their comfort and well-being; but successive disasters consumed his little savings. After a time, he removed from Sharon, and later, in 1815, left the State of Vermont, locating at Palmyra, Ontario County, New York: in which place and the adjoining town of Manchester, whither the family moved four years afterward, they dwelt for several years. Here they engaged in clearing land and farming, the boys, including the young Joseph, giving their constant aid to the family work. With the severest toil they could only compass a frugal mode of life. But they wasted no time in useless repining. They were able to pay their obligations, to maintain their honest name, to live in happiness, and to devote some hours of each week to the rudimentary education of the younger children.

The offspring of Joseph and Lucy Smith, with the dates and places of their birth, are named as follow:^[[1]]

Alvin, born February 11th, 1798, at Tunbridge, Vermont.

Hyrum, born February 9th, 1800, at Tunbridge, Vermont.

Sophronia, born May 18th, 1803, at Tunbridge, Vermont.

Joseph, born December 23rd, 1805, at Sharon, Vermont.

Samuel, born March 13th, 1808, at Tunbridge, Vermont.

Ephraim, born March 13th, 1810, at Royalton, Vermont.

William, born March 13th, 1811, at Royalton, Vermont.

Catherine, born July 8th, 1812, at Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Don Carlos, born March 25th, 1816, probably at Palmyra, New York.

Lucy, born July 18th, 1821, probably at Palmyra, New York.

The first quarter of the nineteenth century was a time of intense religious excitement, and New York and surrounding states were the scenes of many revivals and much strife. Not only among preachers and exhorters was the enthusiasm manifested, but the people themselves became much exercised over their sinful condition, and ran here and there in a wild search for the salvation for which their souls seemed to yearn. The movement originated with the Methodists; but it soon spread to other sects in the neighborhood, until the whole region was infected by it, and the greatest excitement was created, in which all the good effects of a revival were swallowed up in bitter contests of opinions and the strife of words between the adherents of the various creeds.

The Smith family inclined towards the Presbyterian faith, and the mother, two sons and a daughter united themselves with that church. Joseph was at the time in his fifteenth year—just at an age, with his limited experience, he might be deemed most susceptible to the example of others. He listened and considered, yet could not profess the faith of his family. The clergymen of other sects assailed him; but although he became somewhat partial to the Methodist creed, their soft words and direful threats were alike unavailing. The tempest could not reach the depths of the boy's nature. Unknown to himself he was awaiting the hour when the divine message should stir the waters of his soul.