Joseph F. Smith

Church Service

At the age of fifteen, Smith was called on a LDS Church mission to serve in the Sandwich Islands (designated the Hawaiian Islands after acquisition as a territory of the United States) under the direction of Apostle Parley P. Pratt. He successfully learned the language of the Hawaiian people and reported great success in four years of missionary work on the islands. Smith served in the Salt Lake Stake High Council in 1859, and in 1864 began working in the Church Historian's Office as a "recorder" for the Endowment House, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the First Presidency. By the time he was called to the apostleship in 1866 his late twenties, he had served three separate missions for the church.

Related Topics:
Hawaiian Islands - Parley P. Pratt

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• Mission to Sandwich Islands (1854-57)
• Mission to Great Britain (1860-63)
• Mission to Hawaii (1864)

On July 1, 1866, Smith was ordained an Apostle by Brigham Young and sustained as a Counselor to the First Presidency, where he served until Young's death. However, he was not sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until the Church's October conference of 1867. He served as President of the European Mission from 1874 to 1875, and again in 1877.

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After Young's death, Smith was named Second Counselor to President John Taylor serving from 1880 to 1887. He later served as Second Counselor to President Wilford Woodruff (1889-1898), and as Second Counselor to President Lorenzo Snow (1898-1901). Smith was sustained as first counselor to President Snow on the death of First Counselor George Q. Cannon, but, as President Snow himself died only four days later, never served in this position.

Related Topics:
John Taylor - Wilford Woodruff - Lorenzo Snow - George Q. Cannon

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Smith felt it was important for Utah to become a state, and thereby eliminate the ongoing federal supervision of the Utah Territory. Following the official discontinuance of new plural marriages by Wilford Woodruff in 1890, and the dissolution of the Mormon People's Party in 1891, Smith championed the anti-polygamy Republican party in Utah.

Related Topics:
Plural marriages - Mormon People's Party

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