Joseph Smith III was born on November 6, 1832, at Kirtland, Ohio, United States, while that place was the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which his father, Joseph Smith, had founded two years before. Both his father and his mother, Emma (Hale) Smith, were of New England ancestry. Joseph Smith III spent his early years at Kirtland.
Joseph Smith III studied law, but soon gave it up and turned to farm.
From 1850 to 1860 Smith clerked, farmed, and studied law. In 1856, Joseph Smith III was asked to head the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (later known as "non-polygamous Mormons"), started in 1852 by Mormons who had left the sect of James Jesse Strang. These claimed that the presidency of the Church must pass from father to son, realizing that only thus could their branch be popularized. Joseph Smith III hesitated, but through "divine direction" timidly accepted office in 1860. This period was filled with zealous activity; most Mormons in the Middle West joined his church.
In 1881 the church leaders moved to Lamoni, Iowa. Here Joseph Smith III strengthened his church, fought alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee (in conformance with "revelation"). As a prophet, he translated no "hidden books" but merely explained former scriptures or designated persons for office.
Joseph Smith III presided over the Community of Christ for fifty-four years until his own death. He was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and helped to found Graceland College, and opposed Mormonism's late doctrines of polytheism and baptism for the dead. Under his leadership, the church grew from a handful to 70, 000, and he was able to visit missions in England and Hawaii.
(Joseph Smith III was the eldest surviving son of Joseph S...)
1979Joseph Smith III always opposed polygamy. He fostered legal suppression of polygamy and convinced two courts that the Utah church had become heterodox.
Joseph Smith III was a poor financial administrator but personality and appearance were fitted for his patriarchal position. In advancing his positions Joseph Smith III was cautious and yet firm. He disliked flattery, ostentation, and dispute, and was at times more coldly logical than persuasive; his straightforwardness of speech caused some to think him unapproachable.
Physical Characteristics: Joseph Smith III was physically strong. Though color-blind he was a close observer of nature. He was of large frame, and his white hair and beard lent his unusual face impressiveness.
On October 22, 1856, Joseph Smith III married Emmeline Griswold. In 1865 he moved to Plano, as editor of the Saints' Herald. His wife died in 1869 and on November 12 of that year, Joseph Smith III married Bertha Madison. His second wife died in 1896 and on January 12, 1898, he married Ada Rachel Clark. By each wife, he had several children.
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 - April 30, 1879) was the first wife of Joseph Smith and a leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Joseph's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS Church). In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a women's service organization, she was elected by its members as the organization's first president.
Frederick Madison Smith (January 21, 1874 - March 20, 1946), generally known among his followers as "Fred M.", was an American religious leader and author and the third Prophet-President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (renamed the Community of Christ in 2001), serving from 1915 until his death.
