Joseph Smith III
Joseph Smith III | |
---|---|
Lineal succession | |
Personal details | |
Born | Kirtland, Ohio, U.S. | November 6, 1832
Died | December 10, 1914 Independence, Missouri, U.S. | (aged 82)
Resting place | Mound Grove Cemetery 39°6′41.20″N 94°25′34.78″W / 39.1114444°N 94.4263278°W |
Spouse(s) |
Emmeline Griswold
(m. 1856; died 1869)Bertha Madison
(m. 1869; died 1896)Ada R. Clark (m. 1898)Emma Hale Smith |
Signature | |
Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914) was the eldest surviving son of
Biography
Childhood
Joseph Smith III was born in
At Nauvoo, the
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's
Joseph III began to study and eventually
Reorganization of the church
In the late 1840s and early 1850s, the bulk of the Latter Day Saints either aligned themselves with Young and emigrated to
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 a conference in Amboy, Illinois on April 6, 1860, he was sustained as president of the RLDS 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.[7]
At the time both this organization and Young's Utah-based church claimed to be the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[8]
President of the church
As church president, Smith was what his biographer has called a "
In the 1860s and 1870s, Smith began to rebuild the structure of the church, establishing a new
In 1866, Smith moved from Nauvoo to
Under Smith's presidency, the RLDS Church gained clear legal title to the Kirtland Temple in the 1880 Kirtland Temple Suit. However, the RLDS Church failed in its bid to acquire legal title to the Temple Lot in the Temple Lot Case of the late 1890s. The trial court in both cases declared that the RLDS Church was the legal rightful successor to the original 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.
Redemption of Zion
In Smith's final years, members of the church began to move to
Teachings on plural marriage
Joseph Smith III was an ardent opponent of the practice of
Family chart
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References
- ^ a b c d Jones, Gracia. "Joseph Smith III". The Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ The Early Church (1830), Community of Christ website (accessed July 20, 2008)
- ^ "The Early Church (1830)". Community of Christ. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ "History". Community of Christ. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ a b Wight, Lyman: letter to "The Northern Islander.", July 1855; reprinted in Saints Advocate, Vol. 7 (September 1884), p. 478. also quoted in "Chapter 35". The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Vol. 2. p. 789. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ISBN 0830905774.
- True Latter Day Saints' Herald. 1 (5): 102–104. May 1860. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
- ^ While retaining use of this original name, Smith's church for legal purposes was eventually incorporated as the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" in 1872, partly to distinguish it from the Utah church enmeshed in federal problems associated with polygamy and today is known as the Community of Christ, although the legal name remains the long Reorganized title. Young's church had reincorporated in Utah as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- S2CID 254387866, archived from the originalon July 7, 2012. University of Utah web site.
- ^ "Community of Christ." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. June 15, 2007.
- ISBN 1-891-35305-5. Archived from the originalon February 18, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
Other sources
- ISBN 0-252-01514-2
- Richard P. Howard, The Church Through the Years, Herald House: 1992, ISBN 0-8309-0629-0
External links