Joseph Smith, Sr.

Joseph Smith, Sr. (1771–1840) 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's Golden Plates and was the first Presiding Patriarch of the early Latter Day Saint church.

The Coming of the 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 of 1827, Joseph Jr. obtained the plates, which Joseph Sr. testified he felt and lifted while wrapped in cloth. In the next years Joseph Jr. claimed to translate the plates into English through the medium of divine inspiration. 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.

Related Topics:
Golden Plates - Eight Witnesses - Book of Mormon

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Joseph Smith Sr. was baptised as one of six founding members, when the Church of Christ (as the Latter Day Saint church was first known) 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! Have I lived to see my own father baptised into the true church of Jesus Christ!"

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