Joseph Smith, Jr. Biography Quotes 30 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. He grew up in a large family that included his older brother Hyrum and several other siblings who played important roles in his life. Economic hardship and the search for opportunity led the family to move from Vermont to western New York, settling near Palmyra and Manchester. There he worked on the family farm with limited formal schooling, developing a reputation for being industrious but also for experiencing unusual religious stirrings. The region was alive with revivalist fervor during the Second Great Awakening, and competing denominations sought converts. The Smith family attended various meetings, and the questions of authority, salvation, and which church to join weighed heavily on the young Joseph.

Visions and the Book of Mormon
As a teenager, Joseph Smith later said he had a vision in 1820 in which he was instructed not to join any existing church and was assured of divine forgiveness. He reported that in 1823 an angel named Moroni directed him to a hill near his home where a set of engraved metal plates lay buried, along with interpreters he called the Urim and Thummim. After years of preparation, he said he received the plates in 1827, not long after marrying Emma Hale, whose father initially disapproved of him. With Emma's support, he began translating the record by what he described as divine means. Early assistants included Martin Harris, who helped finance the endeavor and briefly served as a scribe, and Oliver Cowdery, who would become one of his closest collaborators. A loss of the first 116 pages after Harris pleaded to show them to family members prompted a stern rebuke in subsequent revelations and a restart of the translation. The work proceeded in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and later at the home of the Whitmer family in Fayette, New York, where David Whitmer also became a key participant. In 1830 the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra by E. B. Grandin, accompanied by testimonies of the Three Witnesses (Cowdery, Harris, and Whitmer) and the Eight Witnesses, which included several members of the Smith and Whitmer families.

Organization and Early Growth
On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith and a small group organized the Church of Christ in Fayette. He was recognized by followers as a prophet and leader through claimed revelations that were later compiled, forming much of what became known as the Doctrine and Covenants. Missionaries were sent soon after, with notable success in Ohio, where Sidney Rigdon, a prominent minister, and many of his congregation were baptized. In 1831 Joseph moved church headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio, while also identifying western Missouri as a place of gathering and a center for a future Zion. Early associates such as Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Newel K. Whitney, and Edward Partridge took on leadership roles, and the church established publishing efforts, schools, and a system of councils to guide its expanding membership.

Kirtland and Missouri Conflicts
In Kirtland, Joseph Smith oversaw the construction of a temple, dedicated in 1836, which he and others described as a time of spiritual outpouring and instruction. However, financial speculation and the collapse of the Kirtland Safety Society in 1837 produced internal dissent and legal pressure, prompting many leaders and members to relocate to Missouri. There, tensions with older settlers over land, politics, and religion escalated into open conflict in 1838. Violence, including the Haun's Mill massacre, and an executive order by Governor Lilburn W. Boggs to expel the Latter-day Saints culminated in Joseph Smith's imprisonment in Liberty Jail through the winter of 1838, 1839. Fellow leaders such as Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight were also confined. After months in harsh conditions, Joseph and his companions eventually left Missouri under guard and reached Illinois, where sympathetic citizens welcomed them.

Nauvoo: Building a City and a People
In 1839 church members gathered at a Mississippi River site renamed Nauvoo. With a city charter granted by the Illinois legislature, Joseph Smith and his associates built a bustling community featuring a militia known as the Nauvoo Legion, a university charter, and ambitious plans for the Nauvoo Temple. Joseph served as mayor and led the church, supported by counselors including his brother Hyrum and, for a time, William Law. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with figures such as Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and John Taylor, directed missionary work domestically and abroad, particularly in the British Isles, leading to major growth. Emma Hale Smith, as president of the newly organized Relief Society in 1842, played an influential role in women's organization and charitable work. During this period, Joseph directed the publication of newspapers, including the Times and Seasons, pursued additional translation projects such as the Book of Abraham from Egyptian papyri, and continued to articulate the church's theology and governance. Controversies also arose, notably around the conduct and later accusations of John C. Bennett, who had been a trusted civic and church officer before his dramatic break with Joseph and the church.

Teachings and Innovations
Joseph Smith's teachings emphasized priesthood authority, continuing revelation, and the gathering of Israel. He described two priesthood orders, Aaronic and Melchizedek, and organized the church with quorums and councils designed to diffuse authority and provide checks through common consent. The Kirtland Temple had introduced ceremonial worship and instruction; in Nauvoo he taught doctrines of proxy ordinances, including baptisms for the dead beginning in 1840, and introduced temple endowment rites in 1842 to a select circle of men and women. He taught about eternal marriage and, privately among trusted associates, introduced plural marriage, a practice that created strain within the community and within his own household. Discourses in Nauvoo, including the April 1844 funeral address known as the King Follett sermon, reflected an expansive view of human destiny, the nature of God, and the potential for families to be sealed eternally. These teachings were recorded by associates such as Willard Richards and Wilford Woodruff and shaped the movement's distinct identity.

Opposition, Arrest, and Death
By 1844 disagreements within the church leadership and friction with neighbors intensified. William Law and others, once close colleagues, broke with Joseph Smith and published the Nauvoo Expositor, accusing him of abuses of power and condemning plural marriage. The Nauvoo city council, with Joseph as mayor, deemed the press a public nuisance and ordered its destruction, a decision that inflamed public opinion across Illinois. State authorities charged Joseph and several associates with riot and later treason, and Governor Thomas Ford insisted on their submission to arrest. Joseph and Hyrum Smith surrendered and were confined in Carthage Jail, accompanied by John Taylor and Willard Richards. On June 27, 1844, a mob attacked the jail. Hyrum was killed instantly, and Joseph was shot and fell from a window. John Taylor was severely wounded, and Willard Richards survived with minor injuries. The deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith shocked the Latter-day Saint community and left the church without its founding prophet and patriarch.

Succession and Legacy
Joseph Smith's death triggered a succession crisis. Sidney Rigdon proposed leading as guardian, while Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve asserted the authority Joseph had conferred upon them. The majority followed Young, who led most members westward after continued conflict, eventually settling in the Great Basin. Emma Smith remained in Nauvoo and later supported the leadership of her son, Joseph Smith III, in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, reflecting divergent paths within the movement. Joseph Smith Jr.'s legacy includes the establishment of a new religious tradition, a substantial scriptural canon alongside the Bible, and a complex civic experiment in Nauvoo. His mother, Lucy Mack Smith, helped shape memory of his early life through her narrative, while associates like Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer left their own accounts, sometimes in agreement and sometimes at odds with later leadership. Admired by followers as a prophet and criticized by opponents as an innovator and charlatan, Joseph Smith's life remains central to understanding the origins, doctrines, and enduring institutions of the Latter-day Saint movement.

Our collection contains 30 quotes who is written by Joseph, under the main topics: Truth - Never Give Up - Friendship - Leadership - Faith.