Monday, 14.—My father, Joseph Smith, Sen., Patriarch of the whole Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at Nauvoo.
Biography of Joseph Smith, Sen., Presiding Patriarch of the Church, by the Prophet Joseph, his Son.
Joseph Smith, Sen., was born on the 12th day of July, 1771, in Topsfield, Essex county, Massachusetts; he was the second of the seven sons of Asahel and Mary Smith. Asahel was born in Topsfield, March 7th, 1744. He was the youngest son of Samuel and Priscilla Smith. Samuel was born January 26th, 1714, in Topsfield; he was the eldest son of Samuel and Rebecca Smith. Samuel was born in Topsfield, January 20, 1666, and was the son of Robert and Mary Smith, who emigrated from Old England.
My father removed with his father to Tunbridge, Orange county, Vermont, in 1791, and assisted in clearing a large farm of a heavy growth of timber. He married Lucy, daughter of Solomon and Lydia Mack on the 14th of January, 1796, by whom he had
Alvin Smith, born February 11th, 1798, died November 19th, 1824.
Hyrum, born February 9th, 1800.
Sophronia, born May 16th, 1803.
Joseph, born December 23rd, 1805.
Samuel Harrison, born March 13th, 1808.
Ephraim, born March 13th, 1810, died March 24th, 1810.
William, born March 13th, 1811.
Catherine, born July 28th, 1812.
Don Carlos, born March 25th, 1816.
Lucy, born July 18th, 1824.
At his marriage he owned a handsome farm in Tunbridge. In 1802, he rented it and engaged in mercantile business, and soon after embarked in a venture of [raising] ginseng[[5]] to send to China, and was swindled out of the entire proceeds by the shipmaster and agent, he was consequently obliged to sell his farm and all of his effects to pay his debts.
About the year 1816 he removed to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, bought a farm and cleared two hundred acres, which he lost in consequence of not being able to pay the last installment of the purchase money at the time it was due. This was the case with a great number of farmers in New York, who had cleared land under similar contracts. He afterwards moved to Manchester, Ontario county, New York, procured a comfortable home with sixteen acres of land, where he lived until he removed to Kirtland, Ohio.
He was the first person who received my testimony after I had seen the angel, and exhorted me to be faithful and diligent to the message I had received.[[6]] He was baptized April 6th, 1830.
In August, 1830, in company with my brother Don Carlos, he took a mission to St. Lawrence county, New York, touching on his route at several of the Canadian ports, where he distributed a few copies of the Book of Mormon. He also visited his father, brothers and sister residing in St. Lawrence county, bore testimony to the truth which resulted eventually in all the family coming into the Church, excepting his brother Jesse and sister Susan.
He removed with his family to Kirtland in 1831; was ordained Patriarch and President of the High Priesthood [in Kirtland][[7]] under the hands of Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams and myself, on the 18th of December, 1833; was a member of the First High Council, organized on the 17th of February, 1834, (when he conferred on me and my brother Samuel H., a father's blessing).
In 1836 he traveled in company with his brother John two thousand four hundred miles in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Hampshire, visiting the branches of the Church in those states and bestowing patriarchal blessings on several hundred persons, preaching the Gospel to all who would hear, and baptizing many. They returned to Kirtland on the 2nd of October, 1836.
During the persecutions in Kirtland in 1837, he was made a prisoner, but fortunately obtained his liberty, and after a very tedious journey in the spring and summer of 1838, he arrived at Far West, Missouri. After I and my brother Hyrum were thrown into the Missouri jails by the mob, he fled from under the exterminating order of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, and made his escape in midwinter to Quincy, Illinois, from whence he removed to Commerce in the spring of 1839.
The exposures he suffered brought on consumption, of which he died on this 14th day of September, 1840, aged sixty-nine years, two months, and two days. He was six feet, two inches high, was very straight, and remarkably well proportioned. His ordinary weight was about two hundred pounds, and he was very strong and active. In his younger days he was famed as a wrestler, and, Jacob like, he never wrestled with but one man whom he could not throw. He was one of the most benevolent of men; opening his house to all who were destitute. While at Quincy, Illinois, he fed hundreds of the poor Saints who were flying from the Missouri persecutions, although he had arrived there penniless himself.
Tuesday, 15.—The funeral of Joseph Smith, Sen., took place this day, when the following address was delivered by Elder Robert B. Thompson:
The Discourse of Elder Thompson at the Funeral of Joseph Smith, Sen.
The occasion which has brought us together this day, is one of no ordinary importance: for not only has a single family to mourn and sorrow on account of the death of the individual, whose funeral obsequies we this day celebrate; but a whole society; yes, thousands will this day have to say, a Father in Israel is gone.
The man whom we have been accustomed to look up to as a Patriarch, a Father, and a Counselor is no more an inhabitant of mortality: he has dropped his clay tenement, bid adieu to terrestrial scenes, and his spirit now free and unencumbered, roams and expatiates in that world where the spirits of just men made perfect dwell, and where pain and sickness, tribulation and death cannot come.
The friends we have lost prior to our late venerable and lamented Father, were such as rendered life sweet, and in whose society we took great pleasure, and who shed a lustre in the several walks of life in which they moved, and to whom we feel endeared by friendship's sacred ties. Their virtues and kindnesses will long be remembered by the sorrowing widow, the disconsolate husband, the weeping children, the almost distracted and heart-broken parent, and by a large circle of acquaintances and friends. These, like the stars in yonder firmament, shone in their several spheres, and filled that station to which they had been called by the providence of God, with honor to themselves and to the Church; and we feel to mingle our tears with their surviving relatives.
But on this occasion we realize that we have suffered more than an ordinary bereavement, and consequently we feel the more interested. If ever there was a man who had claims on the affections of the community, it was our beloved but now deceased Patriarch. If ever there was an event calculated to raise the feelings of sorrow in the human breast, and cause us to drop the sympathetic tear, it certainly is the present; for truly we can say with the king of Israel, "A prince and a great man has fallen in Israel." A man endeared to us by every feeling calculated to entwine around and adhere to the human heart, by almost indissoluble bonds. A man faithful to his God and to the Church in every situation and under all circumstances through which he was called to pass.
Whether in prosperity, surrounded by the comforts of life, a smiling progeny, and all the enjoyments of a domestic circle; or when called upon, like the Patriarchs of old, to leave the land of his nativity, to journey in strange lands, and become subject to all the trials and persecutions that have been heaped upon the Saints with a liberal hand, by characters destitute of every principle of morality or religion, alike regardless of the tender offspring and the aged sire, whose silvery locks and furrowed cheeks ought to have been a sufficient shield from their cruelty; still, like the Apostle Paul he could exclaim, (and his life and conduct have fully borne out the sentiment) "None of these things move me; neither count I my life dear, so that I may finish my course with joy."
The principles of the Gospel were too well established in that breast, and had got too sure a footing there, ever to be torn down, or prostrated by the fierce winds of persecution, the blasts of poverty, or the swollen waves of distress and tribulation. No; thank God, his house was built upon a rock—consequently it stood amid the contending elements, firm and unshaken.
The life of our departed father has indeed been an eventful one, having to take a conspicuous part in the great work of the last days; being designated by the ancient prophets who once dwelt on this continent, as the father of him whom the Lord had promised to raise up in the last days, to lead His people Israel; and by a uniform consistent, and a virtuous course, for a long series of years, he has proved himself worthy of such a son, and such a family by whom he had the happiness of being surrounded in his dying moments; most of whom had the satisfaction of receiving his dying benediction.
He was already in the wane of life, when the light of truth broke in upon the world, and with pleasure he hailed its benign and enlightening rays, and was chosen by the Almighty to be one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. From that time, his only aim was the promotion of truth—his soul was taken up with the things of the Kingdom; his bowels yearned over the children of men; and it was more than his meat and his drink to do the will of his Father, who is in heaven.
By unceasing industry of himself and family, he had secured a home in the state of New York, where he no doubt expected, with every honest industrious citizen, to enjoy the blessings of peace and liberty. But when the principles of truth were introduced and the Gospel of Jesus Christ was promulgated by himself and family, friends forsook, enemies raged, and persecution was resorted to by wicked and ungodly men, insomuch that he was obliged to flee from that place, and seek a home in a more hospitable land.
In Ohio he met with many kind and generous friends, and was kindly welcomed by the Saints; many of whom continue to this day, and can call to mind the various scenes which there transpired; many of which were of such a nature as not to be easily obliterated.
While the House of the Lord was building he took great interest in its erection, and daily watched its progress, and had the pleasure of taking a part at the opening, and seeing it crowded by hundreds of pious worshipers. As the King of Israel longed for and desired to see the completion of the House of the Lord, so did he; and with him he could exclaim, "O Lord, I love the habitation of thine house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth." To dwell in the house of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple, was his daily delight; and in it he enjoyed many blessings, and spent many hours in sweet communion with his heavenly Father. He has trod its sacred aisles, solitary and alone from mankind, long before the king of day has gilded the eastern horizon; and he has uttered his aspirations within its walls, when nature has been asleep. In its holy enclosures have the visions of heaven been opened to his mind, and his soul has feasted on the riches of eternity; and there under his teachings have the meek and humble been instructed, while the widow and the orphan have received his patriarchal blessings.
There he saw the work spreading far and wide; saw the Elders of Israel go forth under his blessing—bore them up by the prayer of faith, and hailed them welcome when they again returned bringing their sheaves with them. There with his aged partner, he spent many happy days in the bosom of his family, whom he loved with all the tenderness of parental affection.
Here I might enlarge, and expatiate on the "scenes of joy and scenes of gladness" which were enjoyed by our beloved Patriarch, but I shall pass on to an event which was truly painful and trying.
The delightful scene soon vanished; the calm was soon succeeded by a storm and the frail bark was driven by the tempest and foaming ocean, for many who had once been proud to acknowledge him a father and a friend, and who sought counsel at his hands, joined with the enemies of truth, and sought his destruction; and would have rejoiced to see his aged and venerable form immured in a dungeon; but, thank God, this they were not suffered to do; he providentially made his escape, and after evading his enemies for some time, he undertook and accomplished a journey of a thousand miles, and bore up under the fatigue and suffering necessarily attendant on such a journey with patient resignation. After a journey of several weeks, he arrived in safety at Far West, in the bosom of the Church, and was cordially welcomed by the Saints, who had found an asylum in the rich and fertile county of Caldwell.
There he, in common with the rest of the Saints, hoped to enjoy the privileges and blessings of peace. There, from the fertile soil and flowery meads, which well repaid the labor of the husbandman, and poured forth abundance for the support of the numerous herds which decked those lovely and wide-spread prairies, he hoped to enjoy uninterrupted, the comforts of domestic life.
But he had not long indulged these pleasing anticipations before the delightful prospect again vanished: the cup of blessing which he began again to enjoy, was dashed from his aged lips; and the cup of sorrow filled to overflowing, was given him instead; and surely he drank it to the very dregs; for not only did he see the Saints in bondage, treated with cruelty, and some of them murdered; but the kind and affectionate parent saw—and ah! how painful was the sight—two of his sons to whom he looked for protection, torn away from their domestic circles, from their weeping and distracted families, by monsters in the shape of men, who swore and threatened to kill them, and who had every disposition to imbrue their hands in their blood. This circumstance was too much for his agitated and now sinking frame to bear up under; and although his confidence in his God was great, and his conduct was that of a Christian and a Saint, yet he felt like a man and a parent. At that time his constitution received a shock from which it never recovered. Ah! yes there were feelings agitated in the bosom of our deceased friend at that time of no ordinary kind; feelings of painful anxiety, and emotion too great for his earthly tabernacle to contain without suffering a great and a sensible injury; and which from that time began to manifest itself.
It would be unnecessary to trace him and his aged partner (who shared in all his sorrows and afflictions) from such a scene, as many of the Saints are knowing to the privations and sufferings which they, in common with the Church, endured while moving from that land of oppression; suffice it to say, he arrived in safety in Illinois, broken down in constitution and in health, and since then he has labored under severe afflictions and pain, while disease has been slowly but surely undermining his system.
Whenever he had a short respite from pain, he felt a pleasure in attending to his patriarchal duties, and with cheerfullness he performed them; and frequently his labors have been more than his strength would admit of; but having great zeal for the cause of truth, he felt willing to be spent in the service of his God.
For some time past he has been confined to his bed, and the time of is departure was near at hand. On Saturday evening last, a rupture of a blood vessel took place, when he vomited a large quantity of blood. His family were summoned to his bedside, it being now evident that he could not long survive.
On Sunday he called his children and grandchildren around him, and like the ancient patriarchs gave them his final benediction. Although his strength was far gone, and he was obliged to rest at intervals, yet his mind was clear, perfectly collected, and calm as the gentle zephyrs. The love of God was in his heart, the peace of God rested upon him, and his soul was full of compassion and blessing.
All the circumstances connected with his death, were calculated to lead the mind back to the time when an Abraham, an Isaac and a Jacob bid adieu to mortality, and entered into rest.
His death, like theirs, was sweet, and it certainly was a privilege indeed to witness such a scene; and I was forcibly reminded of the sentiment of the poet:
The chamber where the good man meets his fate,
Is privileged beyond the common walk of virtuous life.There were no reflections of a misspent life—no fearful forebodings of a gloomy nature in relation to the future; the realities of eternity were dawning, the shades of time were lowering; but there was nothing to terrify, to alarm or disturb his mind; no, the principles of the Gospel, which, "bring life and immortality to light," nobly triumphed in nature's final hour. These principles so long taught and cherished by our lamented friend, were honorably maintained to the last; which is not only a consolation to the immediate relatives, but to the Church at large.
The instructions imparted by him will long be remembered by his numerous progeny, who will undoubtedly profit by the same, and strive to render themselves worthy of such a sire; and the whole Church will copy his examples, walk in his footsteps, and emulate his faith and virtuous actions, and commend themselves to his God and to their God.
Notwithstanding his enemies frequently "shot at him, yet his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob," and his courage and resolution never forsook him.
His anxiety for the spread of truth was great, and he lived to see great and important things accomplished. He saw the commencement of the work, small as a mustard seed, and with attention and deep interest he watched its progress; and he had the satisfaction of beholding thousands on this Continent, rejoicing in its truth, and heard the glorious tidings, that other lands were becoming heirs to the richest blessings.
Under these circumstances, he could exclaim, like pious Simeon of old, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
Although his spirit has taken its flight and his remains will soon mingle with their mother earth, yet his memory will long be cherished by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and will be fresh and blooming when those of his enemies shall be blotted out from under heaven.
May we, beloved friends, who survive our venerable Patriarch, study to prosecute those things which were so dear to his aged heart, and pray that a double portion of his spirit may be bestowed on us, that we may be the humble instruments in aiding the consummation of the great work which he saw so happily begun; that when we have to stand before the bar of Christ, we may with our departed friend hear the welcome plaudit, "Come up hither, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Amen.
The chamber where the good man meets his fate,
Is privileged beyond the common walk of virtuous life.
Footnotes:
[1]. The entry of the text is the only one made in the Prophet's manuscript history for the 23rd of August, but "Uncle" John Smith, brother of the Prophet's father, and formerly president of Adam-ondi-Ahman stake of Zion, in Missouri, makes the following entry in his journal:
"Attended meeting at Nashville. Joseph and Hyrum Smith present and a large assembly of saints, who voted to commence building a city at Nashville and a place of worship." Nashville, by the way, was situated in Lee county, Iowa, on the Mississippi river, at the head of the Des Moines Rapids, about three miles southeast of Montrose, eight miles north of Keokuk. The Church had purchased twenty thousand acres of land in this vicinity and surveyed out of it a townsite on which a number of saints located.
[2]. Again from the journal of "Uncle" John Smith we learn that on the 30th day of August, the Prophet Joseph was in Nashville and preached on "Eternal Judgment and the Eternal Duration of Matter."
[3]. Smithfield is noted for other historical incidents than being the scene of John Rogers' martyrdom. It is an open space of nearly six acres in London, England. It was formerly used as a market place, but is now partially laid out in gardens. It was the scene of Bartholomew Fair; William Wallace was executed there; it was the place of the meeting of Wat Tyler and King Richard II, in 1380, when the former was stabbed by the Mayor of London, and then dispatched by the King's attendants. It was the scene of many martyrdoms.