| Joseph Smith III | |
|---|---|
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| Prophet-President of the Church | |
| June 6, 1860 (1860-06-06) – December 10, 1914 (1914-12-10) | |
| Predecessor | Joseph Smith Jr. |
| Successor | Frederick M. Smith |
| Reason | Doctrine ofLineal succession |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1832-11-06)November 6, 1832 Kirtland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | December 10, 1914(1914-12-10) (aged 82) Independence, Missouri, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mound Grove Cemetery 39°6′41.20″N94°25′34.78″W / 39.1114444°N 94.4263278°W /39.1114444; -94.4263278 |
| Spouse(s) | [1] [1] [1] |
| Children | 15[1] 5 by Emmeline 7 by Bertha including Frederick M. Smith Israel Alexander Smith 3 by Ada including William Wallace |
| Parents | Joseph Smith Jr. Emma Hale Smith |
| Signature | |
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Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914) was the eldest surviving son ofJoseph Smith (founder of theLatter Day Saint movement) andEmma Hale Smith. Joseph Smith III was theProphet-President of what became the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church), renamedCommunity of Christ in 2001, which considers itself a continuation of the church established by Smith's father in 1830.[2][3] For fifty-four years until his own death, Smith presided over the church.[4] Smith's moderate ideas and nature set much of the tone for the church's development, earning him thesobriquet of "the pragmatic prophet".
Joseph Smith III was born inKirtland, Ohio, on November 6, 1832, to Joseph Smith Jr, and Emma Hale Smith. He moved with his parents toFar West,Missouri, in 1838, where his father was arrested partially as a result of the events in the1838 Mormon War.[5][6] Young Joseph was able to stay overnight with his father in prison on several occasions. It was later alleged by fellow prisoner and churchapostleLyman Wight that during one of these visits, his father laid his hands upon Joseph III's head and said, "You are my successor when I depart."[7] While his father was still imprisoned in 1839, Joseph III left Missouri with his mother and siblings and moved toQuincy, Illinois, and later to the new settlement ofNauvoo. The elder Smith escaped custody later that year and rejoined the family.
At Nauvoo, theLatter Day Saints created a militia known as theNauvoo Legion and soon afterward, 500 of the town's boys created their own junior version of the militia. Joseph III became general of the junior militia whose motto was, "our fathers we respect, our mothers we'll protect."
According to later reminiscences, Joseph III was blessed by his father at a special council meeting of church officials held on the second floor of the Smith family'sRed Brick Store in Nauvoo. By some accounts, participants also includedHyrum Smith,John Taylor,Willard Richards,Newel K. Whitney,Reynolds Cahoon,Alpheus Cutler, Ebenezer Robinson,George J. Adams,W. W. Phelps, andJohn M. Bernhisel. Joseph III's father reportedly seated him in a chair and Whitney anointed his head with oil. Then the elder Smith reportedly pronounced a special blessing upon his son's head that suggested that Joseph III would succeed him aschurch president if he lived righteously.[7]
Joseph Smith died atCarthage, Illinois, when Joseph III was 11 years old. Although many Latter Day Saints believed that Joseph III should succeed his father, his young age in 1844 made that impractical. Asuccession crisis ensued which resulted inBrigham Young taking lead of the majority of church members aspresident of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Three years later Young became thepresident ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Relations between Young and the Smith family were strained and many of the Smiths chose to recognizeJames J. Strang as church president. Young and the majority of the Latter Day Saints departed Nauvoo in 1846, leaving the Smith family in a mostly empty city. Smith's mother, Emma, attempted to make a living renting out rooms in the family home; in 1847, Emma married a second husband namedLewis Bidamon.
Joseph III began to study and eventuallypractice law. In 1856, he married Emmeline Griswold and the couple moved into a house that was his parents' first residence in Nauvoo. They had five children: Rebecca, Emma, Carrie, Zaide, and Joseph Arthur. After Emmeline died of probable tuberculosis, he married their housekeeper, Bertha Madison, on November 12, 1869. They had seven children: David Carlos, Mary Audentia, Frederick Madison, Israel "Dutch" Alexander, Kenneth, Bertha Azuba, and Hale. Bertha Madison Smith died from injuries sustained in a carriage accident in 1895. On January 12, 1898 Joseph Smith III wed Ada Rachel Clark of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They had three sons, William Wallace, Richard Clark, and Reginald Archer.[8]
In the late 1840s and early 1850s, the bulk of the Latter Day Saints either aligned themselves with Young and emigrated toUtah or they remained in the Midwest and looked to Strang as church president. Strang gave indications that he believed that a son of Joseph Smith would one day lead the church and made overtures to the Smith family. Emma and her sons, however, remained aloof. Many midwestern Latter Day Saints were adamantly opposed toplural marriage and when Strang began to openly practice the doctrine in 1849, several key leaders, includingJason W. Briggs andZenas H. Gurley, Sr. broke with hisleadership. Later, when Strang was mortally wounded byassassins, he refused to name a successor, and when he died he left his church leaderless.
The midwestern Saints began to call for the need to establish a "New Organization" of the church and many believed that Joseph III should be its head. Latter Day Saints repeatedly visited Smith and asked him to take up his father's mantle, but his reply was that he would only assume the church presidency if he were inspired by God to do so. Finally, in 1860, Smith said that he had received this inspiration and at aconference inAmboy, Illinois on April 6, 1860, he was sustained as president of theRLDS Church. Smith III stated at the conference:
I would say to you, brethren, as I hope you may be, and in faith I trust you are, as a people that God has promised his blessings upon, I came not here of myself, but by the influence of the Spirit. For some time past I have received manifestations pointing to the position which I am about to assume. I wish to say that I have come here not to be dictated by any men or set of men. I have come in obedience to a power not my own, and shall be dictated by the power that sent me.[9]
At the time both this organization and Young'sUtah-based church claimed to be the trueChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[10]
As church president, Smith was what his biographer[who?] has called a "pragmatic prophet." Many of RLDS Church followers were dissidents from what they felt were the excesses of atheocracy established by Smith's father, and which they also felt were continued under Young inUtah Territory. From the start, Smith attempted to steer a middle course. Smith taught that the later and more controversial teachings of Smith's father such asbaptism for the dead, the divinity of theBook of Abraham, and the concepts of "eternal progression" and the "plurality of gods," were never officially accepted, were misinterpreted, or should simply not be emphasized. Smith repeatedly taught that his father did not teach or practiceplural marriage and that this practice was an invention of Young and his followers. Smith also resisted calls from his followers to announce a new gathering place or to quickly "redeem" and build up "Zion" (Independence, Missouri).
In the 1860s and 1870s, Smith began to rebuild the structure of the church, establishing a newFirst Presidency,Council of Twelve Apostles, seven quorums of theSeventy, and aPresiding Bishopric. Zenas H. Gurley, Sr. became President of the Council of Twelve. Smith presented a revelation which calledWilliam Marks, formerpresiding officer of the church's centralstake, to be his first counselor in the reorganized First Presidency. After Marks died, Smith calledW. W. Blair and his brother,David Hyrum Smith, to be his counselors in the First Presidency.
In 1866, Smith moved from Nauvoo toPlano, Illinois, where the church's printing house had been established. He personally took over the editorship ofThe Saint's Herald, and Plano became the headquarters of the church. Meanwhile, Latter Day Saints adhering to the reorganization established a colony inLamoni, Iowa, where they attempted to practice the "Law of Consecration" or "Order of Enoch." In 1881, Smith decided to move to Lamoni which became the new headquarters of the church. Although the practice of the Order of Enoch proved a failure, the town of Lamoni continued to grow.[11] The church established a college there which becameGraceland University.[12]
Under Smith's presidency, the RLDS Church gained clear legal title to theKirtland Temple in the 1880Kirtland Temple Suit. However, the RLDS Church failed in its bid to acquire legal title to theTemple Lot in theTemple Lot Case of the late 1890s. The trial court in both cases declared that the RLDS Church was the legal rightful successor to theoriginal Latter Day Saint church founded in 1830 by Smith's father (it failed to gain the Temple Lot because the owners at the time appealed on the grounds that the RLDS Church waited too long to act, but the earlier rightful successor decision was upheld). Rather than focusing on the practical ownership results of the cases, Smith emphasized these court judgements for the remainder of his life as legal validation of the RLDS Church's claims.[13]
In Smith's final years, members of the church began to move toIndependence, Missouri, which Joseph Smith had designated as the "center place" of the "City of Zion." Many Latter Day Saints had wanted to return to this theologically important ground since their expulsion in 1839. In 1906, at the age of 73, Smith moved to Independence and entered a state of semi-retirement. His eldest son,Frederick Madison Smith, remained in Lamoni and took over active leadership of the church. Finally, on December 10, 1914, at the age of 82, Smith suffered a heart seizure in his home and died. He had been president of the church for more than fifty years and he was admired and mourned by thousands.[14]
Joseph Smith III was an ardent opponent of the practice ofplural marriage throughout his life. For most of his career, Smith denied that his father had been involved in the practice and insisted that it had originated withBrigham Young. Smith served many missions to the western United States where he met with and interviewed associates and women claiming to be widows of his father, who attempted to present him with evidence to the contrary. In the end, Smith concluded that he was "not positive nor sure that [his father] was innocent"[15] and that if, indeed, the elder Smith had been involved, it was still a false practice. However, many members of theCommunity of Christ, and some of the groups that were formerly associated with it are still not convinced that Joseph Smith III's father did indeed engage in plural marriage, and feel that the evidence that he did so is largely flawed.[16][17]
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Other sources
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| Preceded byasPresident of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | Prophet–President June 6, 1860 (1860-06-06)–December 10, 1914 (1914-12-10) | Succeeded by |
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