[Editor’s Note: No page numbers from the appendix in the original dissertation appear in this reprint of the appendix. Scholars on the Joseph Smith Papers Project are investigating all these dates for Joseph Smith family members. Researchers should consult their work since it is more current than what was available at the time this dissertation was published. For more information on Smith family members, see Kyle R. Walker, United by Faith: The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 2005).]
Joseph Smith Sr.
Artist’s conception of Joseph Smith Sr., by William Whitaker, based on photographs of Joseph’s brother John Smith and other known characteristics of the Smith family. Courtesy LDS Church Archives.
Biographical Sketch. Joseph Smith Sr. was born in Topsfield, Essex County, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1771. He was the third child and second son of Asael and Mary Duty Smith. Joseph Sr. married Lucy Mack on January 24, 1796, at Tunbridge, Vermont. He worked as a farmer, cooper, schoolteacher, and storekeeper and engaged in several business ventures early on in their marriage. He experienced several major financial reversals, which eventually led him to move the family to Palmyra, New York.
Figure 6. Asael and Mary Duty Smith family.
Father Smith was actively involved in the early events of the Restoration. According to his son, Joseph Sr. “was the first person who received my testimony after I had seen the angel.” He was one of the Eight Witnesses who saw and handled the plates in 1829. He was baptized on the day the Church was organized, April 6, 1830. The elderly father subsequently served missions in 1830 and 1836. Although sixty-four years old on this latter mission, he traveled over two thousand miles round-trip. He served as Patriarch to the Church, Assistant Counselor to the First Presidency, member of the Kirtland High Council, and overseer on part of the construction of the Kirtland Temple.
He followed the Saints to Waterloo, Kirtland, Far West, and finally to Nauvoo. His health failed shortly after moving to Nauvoo, where he was confined to his bed. He reportedly had a blood vessel rupture and then vomited a quart of blood just prior to his death. After blessing individual family members who had gathered at his bedside, Father Smith died on September 14, 1840, at the age of sixty-nine.1
Joseph has been described as “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.”2 Edward Stevenson remembered that “Father Smith was not a man of many words, but, sober-minded, firm, mild and impressive.”3 Dale Morgan has summarized that “the senior Smith brought much to the making of a prophet; his stalwart body, his hatred for the farm, his skeptical view of denominational religion, his love for the strange and marvelous, his inventive fancy, his will to rise above the circumstances of his life.”4 In addition, Father Smith had a strong sense of family and was closely connected with his wife and children.
Physical Description. Joseph Sr. was described as standing “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.”5 One of his grandsons recollected that “in stature he had no superior in the family. Not one of his sons excelled him in physical appearance—not one to my memory.”6 Another stated that Joseph Sr. “was very tall; his nose was very prominent. . . . Joseph [Jr.] looked very much like him.”7
Joseph Smith Sr. gravestone, Smith family cemetery, Nauvoo, Illinois. Photograph by the author.
Lucy Mack Smith
Lucy Mack Smith. Engraving by Frederick Piercy. Photograph courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Biographical Sketch. Lucy Mack Smith was born July 8, 1775, in Gilsum, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. She was the youngest of eight children born to Solomon Mack and Lydia Gates. She married Joseph Smith Sr. on January 24, 1796, at Tunbridge, Vermont. Mother Smith, as she was called by the Saints, bore eleven children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. This included six sons and three daughters. She was preceded in death by her husband (1840) and five of her adult sons.
Figure 7. Solomon and Lydia Gates Mack family.
Figure 8. Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family.
When the Church moved en masse to Ohio, Lucy demonstrated her ability as a leader. She successfully led the Fayette Branch of the Church approximately three hundred miles over land and water to Kirtland. In Kirtland the majority of her time was spent in feeding, housing, and clothing missionaries, converts, and temple laborers. One historian described her as “shrewd, strong-willed, warm-hearted, garrulous, passionately devoted to her family, credulous and even superstitious, on the homeliest terms with God, who manifested his will to her in dreams and ‘providences.’”8 Indeed, Lucy was a woman of faith and prayer, demonstrating her religious devotion throughout her life. It was, in fact, this religious devotion that provided the strength to endure the many difficulties with which her life was plagued. She was kind in caring for those in illness, both within and outside the family. She made considerable sacrifices in her life for the greater cause which she espoused. She followed her son Joseph Jr. wholeheartedly.
After the martyrdom, she remained in Illinois. She does not appear antagonistic towards Church leaders or those who followed Brigham Young. Lucy possessed a tribal sense of family that was heightened due to the persecution she frequently experienced. She did feel that as the first family of the Restoration, her family was entitled to certain Church privileges. When conflict between her son William and the Twelve surfaced, she struggled in her loyalty. Ultimately she decided to stay in Illinois for her final years, where she could be with her immediate family. Even so, she remained friendly with those who visited her from Utah. Her family memoir was dictated in 1845 and subsequently published in 1853. She spent her final years being cared for by her daughters and later by her daughter-in-law Emma in Nauvoo. Lucy died on May 14, 1856.9
Physical Description. In the early 1840s Lucy was described as “a trim looking old lady” who wore a “black silk gown and white cap and kerchief.”10[252]
Lucy Mack Smith. Courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Lucy Mack Smith gravestone, Smith family cemetery, Nauvoo, Illinois. Photograph by the author.
Alvin Smith
Alvin Smith. Sketch by William Whitaker. Courtesy Buddy Youngreen.
Biographical Sketch. Alvin was born while the family was living in Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont, on February 11, 1798. Alvin was a hard worker according to both family and neighbors, and during the family’s stay in Palmyra, he assisted in making the yearly payment on the hundred-acre farm they had contracted for. He also led out in the construction of the frame home on the property, motivated by a desire to provide a comfortable home for his aging parents.
Upon learning of Joseph’s experiences with the angel Moroni and the forthcoming gold plates, Alvin immediately believed. Mother Smith remembered Alvin’s zealousness in wanting to learn of the particulars from Joseph concerning the ancient record. Although all of the family rallied around Joseph Jr., Lucy remembered Alvin as the individual who was most interested in the unfolding events of the Restoration. Alvin frequently encouraged his siblings to finish their work early, so that they could all sit down and listen to Joseph Jr.’s experiences. However, Alvin’s life was cut short. He died on November 19, 1823, shortly after a lethal dose of calomel was administered by a local doctor. At the time of his death, he had been engaged to be married.11
Physical Description. Alvin was described by his brother as “a very handsome man, surpassed by none but Adam and Seth, and of great strength.”12
Alvin Smith gravestone located in Palmyra, New York, at the General John Swift Memorial Cemetery. The original stone has been adhered to a strong granite backing to preserve it. Photograph by the author.
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith. Engraving courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Biographical Sketch. Hyrum was born on February 9, 1800, at Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont. Hyrum was perhaps better educated than his siblings, having attended Moor’s Charity School located on Dartmouth Campus in Hanover, New Hampshire. Hyrum was remembered by his mother as being quite tender in his care for various family members. During his brother Joseph’s leg operation, Hyrum spent weeks looking after his brother in attempting to reduce his pain. In later years, he often looked out for Joseph and his parents after he assumed the role of oldest child upon Alvin’s death in 1823.
Hyrum was entrusted with the printer’s copy of the Book of Mormon manuscript, which he looked after with special care. Later he became one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon and was among the six original members of the Church. He served as a missionary for the Church, laboring in many midwestern states. He served on the Kirtland Temple Building Committee and on the Kirtland High Council. He was appointed as Assistant Counselor in the First Presidency, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, and Assistant President of the Church. Following his father’s death, Hyrum was sustained as Patriarch to the Church. In addition to his ecclesiastical responsibilities, Hyrum was involved in Freemasonry in New York and Illinois, as well as serving as Brevet Major General in the Nauvoo Legion.
Hyrum married Jerusha Barden on November 2, 1826, in Manchester, New York. Although skilled as a cooper, he largely earned his living as a farmer and laborer. He and Jerusha eventually had six children, with two dying very young. While Hyrum was performing Church business in Missouri, Jerusha became increasingly ill and died on October 13, 1837. Several months later he married Mary Fielding. Two children were born to this union.
Jerusha Barden Smith, wife of Hyrum Smith. Painting courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Figure 9. Hyrum and Jerusha Barden Smith family.
Mary Fielding Smith, second wife of Hyrum Smith. Painting courtesy LDS Church Archives.
Figure 10. Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith family.
Hyrum and Joseph Jr. enjoyed an especially close bond. Joseph respected Hyrum’s counsel and followed it when he recommended they turn themselves in to the authorities in June 1844. Although Joseph encouraged him to save himself, Hyrum would not leave his brother’s side. They were murdered together in Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844.13
Physical Description. Observers reported that Hyrum was a tall man, some six feet two inches. He reportedly had a thin face with lowered sideburns, whose most notable feature was a rather prominent nose. Eldred G. Smith, who owns the clothes Hyrum was martyred in, had several men try the clothes on and estimated that he stood six feet three inches to six feet four inches tall.14
Modern-day grave markers of Emma Hale Smith (left), Joseph Jr. (middle), and Hyrum (right), Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith family cemetery.
Sophronia Smith Stoddard McCleary
Sophronia Smith Stoddard McCleary. Sketch by William Whitaker. Courtesy Buddy Youngreen.
Biographical Sketch. Sophronia was the first daughter of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, born May 17, 1803, at Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont. When Sophronia was about ten years old she experienced a severe bout of typhoid fever that lasted nearly three months. Both parents feared for her life during this episode. According to Lucy, Sophronia was miraculously healed through the parental petitioning of the Lord through prayer. While in Palmyra Sophronia joined the Western Presbyterian Church with her mother.
On December 2, 1827, she married a neighbor named Calvin Stoddard. Her husband vacillated in his loyalty to the Church and was excommunicated on at least two separate occasions. Calvin also appears to have sided with William Smith during William and Joseph’s 1835 conflict. Two daughters were born to this union before Calvin’s death on November 19, 1836.
Figure 11. Calvin and Sophronia Smith Stoddard family.
Sophronia remarried on February 11, 1838, in Kirtland to William McCleary. William participated in making wagons for the exodus from Nauvoo and died shortly thereafter. Sophronia lived with her mother and sisters for a time following the exodus. Later when her daughter Maria married, Sophronia lived with her in and around Colchester, Illinois. Sophronia stayed close to her sisters throughout the remainder of her life. In 1873 she was received into the Reorganized Church on her original baptism. She died on July 22, 1876, at Fountain Green, Illinois.15
Figure 12. William and Sophronia Smith McCleary.
Physical Description. Sophronia was described as a tall woman who wore a “black alpaca hoop skirt” that reached to the floor. She also wore a lace neckerchief over her shoulder that was clasped at the throat with a great cameo brooch. She was said to have “severely chiseled Smith features.”16
Sophronia Smith Stoddard McCleary headstone, Mount Auburn cemetery, Colchester, Illinois. Photograph by the author. [Editor’s note: This tombstone, erected years after Sophronia’s death, misspells her name and lists an inaccurate death date.]
Calvin Stoddard gravestone, Palmyra, New York. Courtesy Bruce K. Satterfield.
Joseph Smith Jr.
Joseph Smith Jr. Courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Biographical Sketch. Joseph Smith Jr. the Prophet, was born December 23, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont. At the age of seven he contracted typhoid fever, which left him with osteomyelitis in his leg. Doctors called in from nearby Dartmouth College successfully removed the infected bone through an uncommon form of surgery. Joseph spent his youth laboring in farm work and later hiring out to neighbors in the Palmyra area to earn much-needed cash to help support the family.
As a young man, Joseph sought diligently to know how to secure the salvation of his soul. In the spring of 1820, after seeking among the various denominations, Joseph had a vision in which he saw God and Jesus Christ. Joseph learned that the fulness of the gospel would at some future time be restored. Several years later, an ancient-American prophet named Moroni appeared and informed Joseph of his role in translating a record that had been buried in a nearby hill. Joseph was eventually allowed to translate the record and published it as the Book of Mormon in 1830. Following its publication, he formally organized the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830.
Joseph continued to labor diligently in establishing the doctrines and structure of the newly organized church. He received numerous revelations, which were published first as the Book of Commandments and later as the Doctrine and Covenants. From 1830 to 1833, he worked tirelessly to make a new translation of the Bible. He served as president and prophet of the Church and oversaw the calling of numerous individuals to serve in the Church leadership and in missionary assignments. He led the Saints to Kirtland, Ohio, and later to various places in Missouri. In the early 1840s, he led out in establishing Nauvoo, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Here he founded a city that rivaled Chicago in its population.
Joseph endured severe persecution from the time he made known his First Vision. Joseph was tarred and feathered and severely beaten in 1832. He was driven from Palmyra, Harmony, Kirtland, and Far West and ultimately murdered by an angry mob on June 27, 1844, while imprisoned in Carthage, Illinois.
Joseph married Emma Hale of Harmony, Pennsylvania, on January 18, 1827. Out of the nine children she bore, only four lived to adulthood. Joseph enjoyed spending time with his wife and children.17
Emma Hale Smith. Courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Figure 13. Joseph Jr. and Emma Hale Smith family.
Physical Description. There are numerous written descriptions of the Prophet. Examining the various statements made about him reveals that he was about six feet to six feet one inch in height and weighed approximately two hundred pounds. Many remember him as being muscular in stature, round-shouldered, and somewhat corpulent in his later years. He was clean-shaven and had blue eyes and a prominent nose. Most recollections state that he was a handsome man and had a dignified appearance.18
Samuel Harrison Smith
Samuel Harrison Smith. Sketch by William Whitaker. Courtesy Buddy Youngreen.
Biographical Sketch. Samuel Harrison Smith, the fourth son of Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith, was born March 13, 1808, at Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont. He joined the Western Presbyterian Church of Palmyra at the same time as his mother. He assisted for a time as scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon and was the third person baptized, after his brother Joseph Jr. and Oliver Cowdery. Samuel later was permitted to be one of the Eight Witnesses who saw and handled the plates and was among the six charter members of the Church.
Samuel was one of the first missionaries and served many missions over the course of his life. During the first few years following the organization of the Church, Samuel traveled over four thousand miles from Maine to Missouri preaching the gospel. He was described by one of his missionary companions as a man of faith and integrity. Samuel attended the School of Prophets in Kirtland. He also assisted in building the Kirtland Temple and served as president of the Kirtland High Council. He participated in the Battle of Crooked River in Missouri. In Nauvoo he served as a bishop and in the Presiding Bishopric of the Church. He was a member of the Nauvoo Legion and was initiated into Masonry in 1842.
Samuel married Mary Bailey on August 13, 1834, in Kirtland, Ohio. He had met Mary previously when he was preaching in the Boston vicinity. Four children were born to Samuel and Mary before Mary died in 1841. After Mary’s death, Samuel married Levira Clark on May 30, 1841. Samuel reportedly died from overexertion in trying to come to the aid of his brothers at the time of their martyrdom. He died July 30, 1844, at Nauvoo, Illinois.19
Figure 14. Samuel Harrison and Mary Bailey Smith family.
Figure 15. Samuel Harrison and Levira Clark Smith family.
Physical Description. Samuel is described “as being six feet in height, and athletic in nature. He is said to have possessed great strength which far exceeded that of ordinary men and enabled him ‘to do an unusual amount of work.’”20
Smith family cemetery marker, Nauvoo, Illinois. Both Samuel Smith and Mary Bailey Smith are buried in this location. Photograph by the author.
William B. Smith
William B. Smith. Photograph courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Biographical Sketch. William B. Smith, the fifth surviving son and eighth child of Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith, was born at Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont, on March 13, 1811. He reported being less inclined to religion than other members of the family during his youth; however, through the petitions of his mother and Joseph Jr., William eventually took an interest along with the rest of the family. He was baptized in Seneca Lake by David Whitmer on June 9, 1830.
William had a quick temper, and on several occasions he defended his father and mother through violence. In 1835, he had an ongoing conflict with his brother Joseph, which eventually was settled through the intercession of various family members. Following his call to the Quorum of the Twelve on February 15, 1835, William served a mission to the eastern states with his fellow Apostles. He vacillated in his fellowship with other members of the quorum and was often returned to fellowship through the intercession of his brothers Joseph and Hyrum.
William served in Zion’s camp in 1834 and attended Hebrew School in Kirtland in 1835 and 1836. In 1839 he failed to serve a mission with other members of the Quorum of the Twelve. On being driven from Missouri, he settled in Plymouth, Illinois. In 1841, he was commissioned to collect funds for the building of the Nauvoo Temple, but ended up using the funds for his personal use. He was a member of the Nauvoo Legion and was initiated into Masonry April 9, 1842. In that same year, he was elected to the Nauvoo City Council and as a member of the Illinois State House of Representatives. William also edited The Wasp, a Nauvoo newspaper, from April through December 1842.
When his brothers were killed in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844, William was tending his ill wife, Caroline, and did not return to Nauvoo until May 1845. At that time, he was sustained as Patriarch to the Church. Conflicts soon arose between William and the rest of the Twelve, as he felt that his ordination as Patriarch entitled him to be president of the Church, unaccountable to any other leader. He was subsequently excommunicated for apostasy on October 12, 1845. From that time on, he fought against Brigham Young and the Twelve. William associated with leaders of several factions of the Church including James J. Strang, Lyman Wight, and later Joseph Smith III. He frequently sought high callings with these groups and, for a time, tried to reorganize the true church of Christ with himself as president. In 1860 he was rebaptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but his involvement was short-lived, and he withdrew. He eventually joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and remained a member until his death. William frequently wrote letters and participated in interviews in his later life, always vehemently defending Joseph’s legitimacy as the Prophet of the Restoration.
William married Caroline Grant February 14, 1833, and they had two children before her death in May 1845. Between the time of her death and his excommunication in October of that same year, William was married or sealed to six women. None of these marriages appear to have lasted after his excommunication. In May 1847, William married Caroline’s sister, Roxie Ann Grant, and they had two children. However, by 1853, Roxie Ann filed for and was granted a divorce from William on grounds of abandonment. In 1857, he married Eliza Elsie Sanborn, and the couple had three children. In 1864 he enlisted in the Civil War, and it was then that he adopted the middle initial “B.” to distinguish him from numerous others with his same name. After Eliza’s death in 1889, William married a French woman named Rosanna Surprise. William spent the last thirty years of his life in Iowa and died at age eighty-two on November 13, 1893.21
William B. and Caroline Grant Smith home, Kirtland, Ohio, ca. 1907 by George Edward Anderson. Courtesy LDS Church Archives.
Figure 16. William and Caroline Grant Smith family.
Figure 17. William and Roxie Ann Grant Smith family.
Figure 18. William and Eliza Sanborn Smith family.
Figure 19. William and Rosanna Surprise Smith.
Physical Description. A niece described William as being “as fine a specimen of mankind as is seldom seen. He was tall and elegant in appearence with a clear light olive complexion, wavy brown hair, blue eyes, handsome features. His mouth was hard to describe, even white teeth and his smile was the embodiment of all that a smile should be.”22 [“His son, Edson Don Carlos, remembered that his father was ‘well built and of powerful physique’ standing six foot three inches in his stocking feet.’” “Episodes in Genealogical Research: New Light on William Smith,” Deseret News, July 27, 1935, 8.]
William B. Smith headstone, located in Bethel Cemetery, two miles south of Osterdock, Iowa. Photograph courtesy William Shepard.
Katharine Smith Salisbury
Katharine Smith Salisbury, ca. 1880. Courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Katharine Smith Salisbury. Courtesy Community of Christ Library–Archives.
Biographical Sketch. Katharine, the second daughter and seventh surviving child of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, was born on July 28, 1813, in Lebanon, Grafton County, New Hampshire. Katharine was actively involved with the early events of the Restoration. When her older brother Joseph first brought home the plates in 1827, Katharine helped nurse Joseph’s injured hand. On another occasion, Katharine assisted Joseph by hiding the plates from a mob.
Katharine married Wilkins Jenkins Salisbury June 8, 1831, in Kirtland, Ohio, at the home of her sister Sophronia. Although Katharine’s husband was trained as an attorney, he followed the trade of blacksmithing for the better part of their married life. In Kirtland, Katharine organized and participated in weaving clubs. She also lent her seamstress skills to work on the interior of the temple. During the migration of the Saints from Kirtland to Far West, Katharine gave birth to a son in an abandoned hut in the pouring rain. Later, she followed the Saints to Illinois, where she settled in Plymouth, about thirty-five miles from Nauvoo.
When Joseph Sr. died in 1840, Katharine was the only child not present, arriving shortly after his decease. During the early 1840s, Katharine frequently visited Nauvoo and typically stayed with Joseph and Emma on such visits. Following the martyrdom of her brothers, Katharine lived in Nauvoo for a time with her surviving siblings and her mother. Later she settled in the Fountain Green, Illinois, area. In 1873 she was proselyted by the Reorganized Church and was received into that church on her original baptism. She affiliated with the Reorganized Church heavily in the 1880s and 1890s, often attending their general conferences, sitting on the stand with members of the church’s leadership.
Katharine and her husband, Jenkins, had five children who survived to adulthood. Jenkins died November 27, 1853, in Plymouth, Illinois, leaving Katharine a widow. On May 3, 1857, Katharine married Joseph Younger. Little is known about this union; by 1860, Katharine was using Salisbury as her last name once again. During her final years, Katharine lived off and on with her adult children, but she largely cared for herself. She also continued her close associations with her two sisters, who settled nearby in Colchester, Illinois. She died just following the turn of the century on February 2, 1900, the last surviving member of the Smith family.23
Wilkins Jenkins Salisbury, ca. 1850. Courtesy Mary Dennis.
Figure 20. Wilkins Jenkins and Katharine Smith Salisbury family.
Physical Description. Katharine was described as being very tall, like her siblings. One descendant described her as “a large big boned ungainly looking woman,” a “strong woman physically. . . . Mrs. Salisbury as has been stated was big . . . [and] had unusually big ears . . . which she had to keep covered with her hair if she could. She [had] very high cheek bones also.”24[274]
Wilkins Jenkins and Katharine Smith Salisbury gravestone, Webster cemetery, Webster, Illinois. Photograph by Alexander L. Baugh.
Don Carlos Smith
Sketch of Don Carlos Smith by William Whitaker. Courtesy Buddy Youngreen.
Biographical Sketch. Don Carlos Smith, the youngest son in the Smith family, was born at Norwich, Vermont, on March 25, 1816, just before the family’s departure for Palmyra, New York. He was baptized in June 1830 and soon after served a mission with his father to central New York.
In Kirtland he learned the trade of a printer and assisted in the publication of the first hymnal and the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835. He later became the printer of the Elder’s Journal and the Times and Seasons in Nauvoo, Illinois. He edited thirty-one numbers of the latter and also published another edition of the Book of Mormon in 1840.
When the Saints were driven from Missouri, Don Carlos was absent on his mission. His wife, Agnes, and their two children were driven from their home, she carrying her children through three miles of snow and then wading the Grand River, which was waist deep.
At age nineteen, Don Carlos was unanimously sustained as president of the High Priests Quorum in Kirtland and served in the same capacity once the Saints were established in Nauvoo. He participated in the construction of both the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples. Don Carlos also served on the Nauvoo city council. He was elected brigadier-general in the Nauvoo Legion and a major in the Hancock County militia.
On July 30, 1835, Don Carlos married Agnes Moulton Coolbrith, who had been converted through the efforts of Don Carlos’s brother Samuel. The couple had three children, the youngest of which concealed her Mormon heritage and became California’s first poet laureate. Don Carlos died on August 7, 1841, of pneumonialike symptoms.25
Figure 21. Don Carlos and Agnes Coolbrith Smith family.
Physical Description. Don Carlos was described as standing “six feet four inches high, was very straight and well made, had light hair, and was very strong and active. His usual weight when in health was 200 pounds.”26
Smith family cemetery, Nauvoo, Illinois. Don Carlos Smith is buried in this cemetery, which overlooks the Mississippi River. Photograph by the author.
Lucy Smith Millikin
Lucy Smith Millikin. Courtesy LDS Church Archives.
Biographical Sketch. Lucy Smith was the youngest child born to Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, at Palmyra, Wayne County, New York, on July 18, 1821. She lived with her parents during the migration of the Church from New York to Illinois.
Lucy was married to Arthur Millikin by her brother Joseph in 1840. Arthur had joined the Church in 1836 and participated in the Battle of Crooked River, where he was shot through both legs above the knee. After their marriage, the couple visited Arthur’s homeland of Maine, where their first child was born. In 1840, Lucy was baptized by proxy for her deceased aunt Lovina Mack. Following the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, Lucy and Arthur spent several years caring for Lucy Mack Smith. Mother Smith appreciated the couple’s kindness during these years.
By the early 1850s, the Millikins settled in Colchester, Illinois, where Lucy could be near her sisters, Sophronia and Katharine. In the spring of 1873, both Arthur and Lucy Millikin were received into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on their original baptisms, and the entire family eventually affiliated with the Church. The family spent the remainder of their lives living in Colchester, where Arthur worked in the railroad office and in the mining business. Lucy died on December 9, 1882, just eight months after her husband’s decease.27
Arthur Millikin, husband of Lucy Smith. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.
Figure 22. Arthur and Lucy Smith Millikin family.
Physical Description. The only physical description related to Lucy that exists is a description of her daughters, indicating they were “fair-haired” and “blue-eyed.”28
Arthur and Lucy Millikin gravestones, Widow Moore cemetery, Colchester, Illinois. Photograph by the author.
Notes
1. Susan Easton Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997), 289–91; Joseph Smith Jr., History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), 4:189–91; Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents, Vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996), 455. See generally, Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985); Earnest M. Skinner, “Joseph Smith, Sr., First Patriarch to the Church” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1958).
6. Journal of History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Lamoni, IA: Board of Publication of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1908), 1:41.
7. W. Wyl, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, His Family and His Friends: A Study Based on Facts and Documents, (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing, 1886), as cited in Ephraim Hatch, Joseph Smith Portraits: A Search for the Prophet’s Likeness (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1998), 11.
9. Lavina Fielding Anderson, ed., Lucy’s Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001), 779–97; Dean C. Jessee, The Papers of Joseph Smith, Vol. 2: Journal, 1832–1842 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 594; Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool: F. W. Richards, 1853), 36–37; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:213; Buddy Youngreen, “The Death Date of Lucy Mack Smith: 8 July 1775–14 May 1856,” BYU Studies 12, no. 3 (1972): 318.
10. John E. Hallwas and Roger D. Launius, eds., Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois (Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 1995), 31.
11. Richard L. Anderson, “The Alvin Smith Story: Fact and Fiction,” Ensign 17, no. 8 (August 1987), 58–72; Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 265–68; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:591–92; Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 87–90.
13. Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 280–83; Pearson H. Corbett, Hyrum Smith, Patriarch (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1963), 86; Ronald K. Esplin, “Hyrum Smith: The Mildness of a Lamb, the Integrity of Job,” Ensign 30, no. 2 (February 2000), 30–36; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:593; Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches, 214–15; History of the Church, 6:546, 550, 592; John Sweeney, “A History of the Nauvoo Legion in Illinois” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1974), 205–6; Whitney, 1964.
14. Corbett, Hyrum Smith, 86; Hatch, Joseph Smith Portraits, 5.
15. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 842–43; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:595; “Records of Early Church Families,” Utah Genealogical Magazine 26 (1935): 151; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:58n16.
17. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 869–70; Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 287–88; Dean C. Jessee, The Papers of Joseph Smith, Vol. 1: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989), 514–15; “Records,” 100; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:5–6. See generally, Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, Prophet’s Wife, “Elect Lady,” Polygamy’s Foe (New York: Doubleday, 1984).
19. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 872–73; Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 295–97; Cook, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 34; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:594–95; Ruby K. Smith, Mary Bailey (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954), 90–91; History of the Church, 7:216–22. See generally, Dean Jarman, “The Life and Contributions of Samuel Harrison Smith” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1961).
21. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 874–75; Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 300–303; Cook, Revelations, 276–77; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:595; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:475–76. See generally, Calvin R. Rudd, “William Smith: Brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith” (master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1973).
22. M. B. S. Norman to Ina Coolbrith, March 1908, Community of Christ Library-Archives, Independence, MO.
23. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 861–62; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:594; Emma M. Phillips, Dedicated to Serve: Biographies of 31 Women of the Restoration (Independence, MO: Hereld House, 1970), 11–18; Solomon J. Salisbury, “Old Nauvoo Days Recalled,” Autumn Leaves 37, no. 6 (June 1924): 151–58, 216–20, 245–48; W. Van Dine, “Biographical Sketch of Catherine Smith Salisbury,” unpublished typescript in author’s possession; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:517–18.
25. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 865–66; Black, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, 269–71; Cook, Revelations, 274–75; Jessee, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:592; Roger D. Launius, “Don Carlos Smith: Brother of the Prophet,” Restoration Witness 18 (1980): 11–17; “Records of Early Church Families,” 105–6; Josephine DeWitt Rhodehamel and Raymund Francis Wood, Ina Coolbrith: Librarian and Laureate of California (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1973), 11–22.
27. Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 845–46; Mary Salisbury Hancock, “The Three Sisters of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” The Saints’ Herald 101, no. 2 (11 January 1954): 34; “Record of Early Church Families,” 152–53.
