Joseph F. Smith

Biography

Smith was son of Patriarch Hyrum Smith and his wife Mary Fielding, a Canadian convert to the Church who married Hyrum after the death of Jerusha Barden Smith. In addition to her two children, Mary Fielding Smith raised Hyrum and Jerusha's five children.

Related Topics:
Patriarch - Hyrum Smith - Mary Fielding - Canadian

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Smith was born in Far West, Missouri in November 1838, while his father was in custody in Liberty Jail, Missouri. Joseph Fielding was named after his uncle, Joseph Smith, Jr. and his mother's brother Joseph Fielding. His mother and maternal aunt Mercy Fielding Thompson fled with their children to Quincy, Illinois early in 1839. After his uncle and father were murdered in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, the seven year old Smith and his family, along with many other Mormons, fled the American Midwest. They briefly settled in the Church encampment at Winter Quarters, Nebraska until the spring of 1848 when Smith drove his mother's wagon across the plains to Utah.

Related Topics:
Far West, Missouri - Liberty Jail - Quincy, Illinois - Carthage, Illinois - American Midwest - Winter Quarters - Nebraska - Utah

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While in Utah, Mary Fielding Smith worked with her sister to raise the two widow's families, as well as continuing to care for Hyrum and Jerusha's younger children. Mary Fielding Smith died in 1852, apparently of malnutrition. Smith reported that he was devastated by his mother's death, and relied upon the emotional support and help of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball among others. Smith, then thirteen, became primarily responsible for his young sister, Martha Ann, and subsequently left school in 1854.

Related Topics:
Brigham Young - Heber C. Kimball

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Returning from his first LDS mission, Smith found Utah in the midst of serious conflict with the federal government (see Utah War). Smith joined the territory's militia, named the "Nauvoo Legion" after a similar unit in Illinois, and spent the several months patrolling the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. After tensions between the church and the federal government abated, Smith assisted his relatives in their return to northern Utah from areas in southern Utah, where they had taken their families for safety.

Related Topics:
Utah War - Nauvoo Legion - Rocky Mountains

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Smith served seven terms in the Utah territorial House of Representatives, as well as terms on the Salt Lake City Council and in the territorial Senate; he also served in the presidency of a state constitutional convention in 1882. Smith also served as a Church representative on boards of many Utah businesses.

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In 1859, Smith married his sixteen year-old cousin Levira, daughter of Samuel Harrison Smith. With Levira's permission, Smith also took Julina Lambson as a plural wife. Later, he also married Sarah Ellen Richards, Edna Lambson, Alice Ann Kimball, and Mary Taylor Schwartz. To evade federal anti-polygamy prosecution, Smith was on the "underground," mostly in Hawaii, from 1883 to 1887.

Related Topics:
Samuel Harrison Smith - Plural wife

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Smith was the father of forty-three children, thirteen of whom preceded him in death. His first-born son Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., son of Julina Lambson, later served as the President of the Church. His eldest son by Edna Lambson, Hyrum Mack Smith served as an Apostle from 1901 to 1918. One of Smith's granddaughters married Bruce R. McConkie, a later member of the Quorum of the Twelve.

Related Topics:
Joseph Fielding Smith - Hyrum Mack Smith - Bruce R. McConkie - Quorum of the Twelve

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