3/26/2014 Joseph Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Smith From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader who founded the Latter Joseph Smith Day Saint movement, the predominant branch of which is Mormonism. At age twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, and by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers, established cities and temples, and founded a religion and a religious culture that continues to the present day. Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, and by 1817 had moved with his family to western New York, then the site of intense religious revivalism as part of the Second Great Awakening. There, according to Smith, he saw and heard a series of visions beginning in the early 1820s; in the first of these visions "two personages" (implied to be God the Father and the Son) appeared to him, and in subsequent visions an angel directed Smith to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo-Christian history of an ancient American civilization. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates, titled the Book of 1st President of the Church of Christ (later the Mormon. Also in 1830, he organized the Church of Christ, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)[1] calling it a restoration of the early Christian church. Church members were later called "Latter Day Saints", or April 6, 1830 – June 27, 1844 "Mormons". Successor Disputed; Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith III, and at In 1831, Smith and his followers moved west with plans to least four others each claimed build a communalistic American Zion. They gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, succession. Missouri, which was intended to be Zion's "center place". 2nd Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois During the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of an expensive In office temple. However, due to the collapse of a church-sponsored May 19, 1842[2] – June 27, 1844 bank and violent skirmishes with angry non-Mormon Predecessor John C. Bennett Missourians, Smith's dreams of building Zion in Missouri and [3] Ohio failed by the end of the decade. In the early 1840s, Successor Chancy Robison Smith established a new city called Nauvoo, Illinois, where Personal details he was a spiritual and political leader. In 1844, Smith and the Nauvoo city council angered non-Mormons by ordering a Born Joseph Smith, Jr. printing press destroyed after it was used to publish an December 23, 1805 exposé critical of Smith's power and practice of polygamy. Sharon, Vermont, United States During the ensuing controversy, Smith was imprisoned in Died June 27, 1844 (aged 38) Carthage, Illinois, and killed when a mob stormed the Carthage, Illinois, United States jailhouse. Resting place Smith Family Cemetery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith 1/34 3/26/2014 Joseph Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia During his lifetime, Smith published many revelations and 40.54052°N 91.39244°W other texts that his followers regard as scripture. His Spouse Emma Hale, various others teachings include unique views about the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and Children Julia Murdock Smith, Joseph Smith religious collectivism. His followers regard him as a prophet III, others. comparable to Moses and Elijah, while detractors view him as a false prophet or religious impostor. Smith's legacy Parents Joseph Smith, Sr. includes many religious denominations, the largest of which Lucy Mack Smith are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ. Signature Contents 1 Life 1.1 Early years (1805–27) 1.2 Founding a church (1827–30) 1.3 Life in Ohio (1831–38) 1.4 Life in Missouri (1838–39) 1.5 Life in Nauvoo, Illinois (1839–44) 1.6 Death 2 Legacy 2.1 Impact 2.2 Religious denominations 3 Family and descendants 4 Revelations 4.1 Book of Mormon 4.2 Moses and Abraham 4.3 Other revelations 5 Views and teachings 5.1 Cosmology and theology 5.2 Religious authority and ritual 5.3 Theology of family 5.3.1 Polygamy 5.4 Political views 5.5 Ethics and behavior 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Life Early years (1805–27) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith 2/34 3/26/2014 Joseph Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Main article: Early life of Joseph Smith Joseph Smith, Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph, a merchant and farmer.[4] After suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven, the younger Smith hobbled around on crutches for three years.[5] In 1816–17, after an ill-fated business venture and three years of crop failures, the Smith family moved to the western New York village of Palmyra, and eventually took a mortgage on a 100-acre (40 ha) farm in nearby Manchester town. During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm. Between 1817 and 1825 there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area.[6] Although the Smith family disagreed about religion, they were caught up in this excitement.[7] Smith became interested in religion at about the age of twelve, and he participated in church classes, read the Bible, and reportedly showed an interest in Methodism.[8] With his family, he also took part in religious folk magic, a common practice at the time.[9] Like many people of that era, both his parents and his maternal grandfather reportedly had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God.[10] Because of the religious divisions in his family and community, Smith was conflicted about the benefit of organized religion, saying that he had become concerned for the welfare of his soul but was confused by competing religious denominations.[11] Years later Smith said that in 1820 he had received a vision from God the Father and the Son that resolved his religious confusion.[12] While praying in a wooded area near his home, he said that God, in a vision, had told him his sins were forgiven and that all contemporary churches had "turned aside from the gospel."[13] Smith said he told the experience to a preacher, who dismissed the story with contempt; but the experience was largely unknown, even to most Mormons, until the 1840s.[14] Although Smith may have understood the event as a personal conversion, this "First Vision" later grew in importance among Mormons, who today see it as the founding event of Mormonism.[15] In 1823, Smith said that while praying one night for forgiveness from his sins, he was visited by an angel named Moroni, who revealed the location of a buried book of golden plates as well as other artifacts, including a breastplate and a set of interpreters composed of two seer stones set in a frame, which had been hidden in a hill in Manchester near his home.[16] Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him.[17] During the next four years, Smith made annual visits to the hill, but each [18] Smith said he received golden plates time returned without the plates. from the angel Moroni at the Hill Cumorah. Meanwhile, the Smith family was facing financial trouble due in part to the November 1823 death of Smith's oldest brother Alvin. Family members supplemented their meager farm income by working as hired hands, which included treasure-digging expeditions funded by a wealthy farmer in Chenango County, New York. Smith was said to have an ability to locate lost items by looking into a seer stone which he employed on treasure hunting expeditions to western New York and Pennsylvania in 1825-26.[19] In 1826, he was brought before a court in Chenango County for "glass-looking", or pretending to find lost treasure. The result of the proceeding remains unclear because primary sources differ.[20] While boarding at the Hale house in Harmony, Pennsylvania, Smith met and began courting Emma Hale. When Smith proposed marriage, Emma's father Isaac Hale objected because Smith was "a stranger" without a proven reputation and had no means of supporting his daughter other than money digging.[21] Smith and Emma eloped and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith 3/34 3/26/2014 Joseph Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia were married on January 18, 1827, after which the couple began boarding with Smith's parents in Manchester. Later that year when Smith promised to put treasure seeking behind him, Hale offered to let the couple to live on his property in Harmony and to help get Smith started in business.[22] On September 22, 1827, Smith made his last annual visit to the hill, taking Emma with him.[23] This time, he said he retrieved the plates and put them in a locked chest. He said the angel commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else but to publish their translation, reputed to be the religious record of indigenous Americans.[24] Although Smith had left his treasure hunting company, his former associates believed he had double-crossed them by taking for himself what they considered joint property.[25] They ransacked places where a competing treasure-seer said the plates were hidden, which caused Smith to decide to move from Palmyra.[26] Founding a church (1827–30) Main article: Life of Joseph Smith from 1827 to 1830 In October 1827, Smith and his pregnant wife moved from Palmyra to Harmony (now Oakland, Pennsylvania), aided by money from a comparatively prosperous neighbor, Martin Harris.[27] Living near his in-laws, Smith transcribed some characters which he said were engraved on the plates, and then dictated a translation to his wife.[28] In February 1828, Martin Harris arrived to assist Smith, transcribing as Smith dictated.