These historians spent years studying the prophet Joseph Smith’s life. Here’s what they learned about him

27/06/2024

For Latter-day Saints across the globe, Thursday marks the 180th anniversary of a tragedy — on June 27, 1844, an armed mob stormed into Carthage Jail and took the lives of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith.

Smith and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were in Illinois due to religious persecution and violence they had experienced. The martyrdom of both Joseph and Hyrum Smith led to the Saints trekking further westward to live their faith.

From the fateful day where Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees to the weeks he spent translating the golden plates with scarce formal education, he recorded accounts of miracles and revelations mixed in with human moments and experiences.

All written records that remain from Smith’s 38 years on earth can be found stretched across the 27 volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers. It’s a static account of the legacy he’s left behind that has inspired millions of people. To better understand what can be learned about Smith from the Papers, the Deseret News spoke with four historians who worked on the papers.

These historians shared stories about Smith, but also qualities and characteristics that they saw he had after countless hours reading his words. While the papers didn’t necessarily yield many facts unknown to historians about Smith, historians felt like they now know Smith better after the papers helped contextualize his life.

Relating to Joseph Smith

Sometimes it can be hard to relate to Smith, said Matthew Godfrey, general editor of the Joseph Smith Papers. “I think when you read his journals and his correspondence, his discourses and minutes of meetings, you get more at his humanness and who he was as he navigated life.”

Smith was cheerful and optimistic, even when he encountered trials, observed Godfrey. His perspective was such that he always believed things would get better.

Giving one example of this, Godfrey recounted a letter Smith wrote to his wife Emma after he had faced a brutal mob attack and lost his adopted son Joseph Murdock. In the letter, he spoke about how Hyrum Smith had lost his daughter Mary around the same time as well.

“Joseph says to Emma in there, I think we can in some degree sympathize with him,” said Godfrey. “And then he says, but we all must be reconciled to our laws and say the will of the Lord be done.” It’s one of several instances Godfrey said he could point toward Smith trusting God.

Godfrey said Smith underwent a wide variety of trials — in addition to facing mob violence and suffering in jail, he knew death well. Smith lost his father, his brother and children.

“I didn’t really think too much about how Joseph had to deal with those kinds of trials as well and with sickness, the sicknesses of his family,” said Godfrey. “And with having friends turn their backs on him and feeling betrayed and left alone at times.”

There are other moments that reveal something about Smith’s personality. Godfrey said as he has studied the papers, he’s learned that Smith had a sense of humor and would joke around with others.

Godfrey’s own favorite story of Smith comes from a letter he wrote to Edward Partridge on Dec. 10, 1833.

At the time, the Saints had been expelled from Jackson County and were living in Clay County. Partridge had asked Smith what he should do in his capacity as a bishop living in Missouri while Smith was in Kirtland. The Saints were struggling to feel like God was protecting them due to their circumstances.

In the letter, Smith asked God why he let the Saints be expelled from Jackson County and how they were supposed to rebuild Zion, said Godfrey. And Smith didn’t feel like his questions were directly answered. Instead, God told Smith to be still and know that he is God.

“That gave me a new perspective on Joseph as a prophet,” said Godfrey. “That perhaps in his prophetic role, it didn’t mean that he always had all the answers, but sometimes he had to struggle along and do the best that he could before God would give him the additional light he needed.”

There’s another moment Godfrey is touched by, and it happened in 1834. There’s a boy named Lyman Littlefield, and he was left out of a military parade because he was too young. Godfrey said Lyman sat down on a rock and was watching the parade.

Smith was hurrying by, but made a point of stopping to talk to Lyman and placed his hand on his head. Godfrey said this small moment may not seem like much, but it reveals something deeper about Smith.

“That, I think, gave me a little more insight into Joseph’s character — that he tried to bring in people who felt like they didn’t belong and maybe one reason he did this is because he had many moments in his life where he felt like an outsider,” said Godfrey.

Knowing Joseph Smith as husband, father and friend

Sharalyn Howcroft, project archivist for the papers, traveled all over to acquire documents for the project. She’s spent more than two decades doing so.

While Howcroft ran into some obstacles with collecting documents, it became easier over time as the project established a website and started gaining traction. She said people have gone the extra mile to help out on the project.

Through her capacity as an archivist, Howcroft has read countless documents about Smith and come to know him in a deep way. She didn’t have a historian there to interpret the documents.

“I was confronting and encountering Joseph Smith through his own words, and that was a phenomenal experience,” said Howcroft. Most of her knowledge about Smith had come from the Church Education System. This time, in addition to encountering Smith as a prophet, she was encountering him as a husband, as a father and as a friend.

“I wish everyone could get to know him this way,” said Howcroft. “He was incredibly kind and compassionate and willing to give everything for that inner circle of people, those people who know him well, his dear friends, he would do anything for them.”

One example Howcroft gave of Smith’s kindness was with John C. Bennett.

After Bennett betrayed him, Smith extended a hand of friendship to him. Bennett refused, but Howcroft said it stuck with her because it showed that Smith was willing to believe people could turn their lives around.

Howcroft said reading stories like this about Smith helped her understand his character.

Another story she read came from a court case where Smith presided as a judge. A man came before Smith who was trying to keep his family afloat, and to do so, he stole some items from a store for his children, said Howcroft. “And Joseph, at that point, tells him that (and I’m paraphrasing) this is the hardest thing that I have ever had to do — if you would have come to me, I would have cared for you. I would have provided you means.”

At this time of his life, Smith had already been to Liberty Jail and experienced several hardships, said Howcroft.

“I think it speaks volumes about the depth of compassion Joseph Smith had for the suffering and difficulties of those around him.”

Joseph Smith played different roles in his life

With the Joseph Smith Papers completed, associate managing historian Spencer McBride said Smith in his life wore many hats: He was a prophet, a president of the church, a father, a businessman, a mayor, and the papers show how he fulfilled all his responsibilities.

The papers also reveal a bit about Smith’s personality, said McBride. “Joseph Smith was a person, to use a modern term, who wore his emotions on his sleeve. He would express love and gratitude freely, but when he was frustrated or angry, he would also express those emotions.”

Smith was also the kind of person to forgive people and reinstate trust after betrayal, said McBride.

One facet of Smith’s life McBride knows well is when Smith ran for president. Presidential campaigns were a bit different back then than they are today. Candidates would send surrogates to canvas the country, often with a pamphlet like the one Smith had — “General Smith’s Views on the Government.”

“It really is a magnificent political document because we get Joseph Smith, with the help of William W. Phelps, expressing where he stood on some of the most pressing issues in American society at the time,” said McBride.

Smith called for the abolition of slavery, federal reform, the reform of the justice system with an emphasis on rehabilitation.

“In this pamphlet, we see Joseph Smith, who was very connected to the pressing issues of his time, and in presenting solutions to those issues, express this care for the marginalized in society who were the people not being helped or served as well as they might be by the government of the United States,” said McBride. While Smith was killed before the election, McBride said the ideas he put forward were taken seriously.

“He saw religious freedom as one of the most important civil freedoms or civil liberties,” said McBride, adding that Smith didn’t distinguish between religious freedom and civil liberties — he was deeply concerned about whether or not people were protected.

One of McBride’s favorite stories about Smith is when he met a boat of people who arrived from Nauvoo, Illinois.

Smith is riding by and stops to chat with them, and as McBride tells it, “He says, you must not expect me to be perfect. If you expect perfection of me, I shall expect perfection of you. But if you will bear with me and the brethren in our infirmities, we shall bear with you in yours.”

McBride also expressed admiration for the love Smith had for his family.

When Smith traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Martin Van Buren, he found it difficult to leave behind his wife and children, especially with a couple of kids who were sick.

“We get this sense of Joseph Smith’s worry for his children and for his wife in this difficult moment, but we also get the reality of their relationship,” said McBride. “They loved and respected each other.”

Latter-day Saints can embrace our history

Matthew Grow, general editor of the Joseph Smith Papers, said one of the most compelling aspects of the papers is how it lays out every early document associated with Smith in any way, so people can study and research them.

“We’re not afraid of scrutiny,” said Grow. The papers have also yielded additional understanding and context on aspects of Smith’s life including his revelations.

“As you study the revelations and you look at what he’s being told to do in the revelations and you look at the other documents, the letters and everything else from his life, those mandates that he’s receiving from heaven are really shaping everything else that he’s doing,” said Grow.

In the weeks leading up the martyrdom, Grow said it’s clear that Smith knew the revelations came from God.

When Smith is in Carthage and reading from the Book of Mormon to receive personal comfort, he and the others with him knew they were in danger. But they still were comforted by the Book of Mormon.

“He knew that the revelations or the Book of Mormon weren’t from him, they were divine,” said Grow.

Grow said the papers also show how much Smith cares about the people around him.

It’s clear Smith understood he had to choose between putting himself in danger by going to Carthage and submitting to an unjust arrest, or if he didn’t go, the Saints would face mob violence.

Zooming out more broadly from specific instances, Grow said the completion of the papers can help contextualize what historians know about Smith.

Pointing toward the 2013 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, Grow explained there were some small changes made as well as significant ones that put the revelations into more context.

“We understand the revelations much better when we understand the context in which they were given,” said Grow. “What was the question that led to the revelation?” This context can clarify what the revelations meant.

Then, there’s also minutes from the Council of Fifty, which Grow said the papers made accessible for the first time.

The context of these minutes is Smith speaking confidentially to a council of people oriented toward finding temporal solutions for Latter-day Saints. Something Grow said struck him is how much Smith spoke about religious freedom.

“Sometimes people might suppose that the church’s emphasis on religious liberty is a recent phenomenon or something like that, but it’s been fundamental since the very beginning,” said Grow.

Thinking about an even bigger picture, Grow said “the Joseph Smith Papers really declares that the history of the church, that the history of Joseph Smith can withstand the most intense scrutiny.”

“We don’t need to be ashamed of our history,” said Grow. “It’s a history that’s centered around faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a history that’s centered around people making tremendous sacrifices because they hear the word of God and want to obey and want to follow.”