Month: April 2010

The Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Foundation Newsletter
http://www.josephsmithsr.org

Frances Orton: 2010 Foundation Chair

Dear Family,

Craig Frogley has accepted a two year LDS Church mission assignment and is now in the Missionary Training Center. This necessitates that Craig be replaced in his Foundation assignments. Craig has served long and hard and we express appreciation to him for his leadership and service. He has also been reminded that he has many more years of service to give after the completion of his mission.

Frances Orton has been appointed to replace Craig as Chairman of the Foundation Correlation Committee and will also serve on the Joseph Smith, Sr., and Lucy Mack Smith Family Foundation Board.

Frances has had a long interest and involvement with the Smith family. We anticipate that Frances and her husband, Steve will work together on family matters. We thank all of you for your good work and efforts in furthering the work of the family. We know that you will support Frances, as you have supported Craig, as the important work of the Smith Family moves forward.

Thank You,

Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Foundation Board
Karl Anderson, secretary

Next Reunion: July 7-10 Independence, Missouri

The descendants of Joseph and Emma Hale Smith gathered for the third time in June of 2009. This reunion was an adventure but just being together was the best part.
We were able to get a family picture of all the descendants in front of Joseph Smith III’s home in Independence, Missouri and then visit his home in Lamoni, Iowa.

It was incredible to walk into his home and see their pictures and belongings.
We loved learning more about Joseph Smith III by walking through his home and seeing that he loved photography and that he had his own dark room that he built from a closet. Then we got to go on and visit the family grave sites and the beautiful area all around there. There was an incredible spirit around our family’s graves.

Nauvoo was an incredible part of the reunion. We stayed at Grandma’s house (The Riverside Mansion) and spent a lot of time with each other. We could feel Emma’s
presence there, we knew she was there watching us and proud that her family
had finally come together. We spent a lot of time with just the family touring old
Nauvoo, visiting the old homesteads and other buildings there. Everybody was astounded at the feelings we had there. It felt like home. All of us felt so comfortable, like we could live there forever. We felt like a family, we were united in this beautiful place.

We also had an opportunity to play at the Adventure Zone, a local fun park, and then watch the “Emma Smith, My Story” movie together. We took time to share with each other how much we love and adore Emma. We also spent several hours at Carthage Jail learning about what happened there and feeling the spirit. On the
last evening of our reunion, Ryan Porrit set up a stick pull game. All the family gathered around to watch the competition to see who was the strongest in each age group. It was a riot watching the young children struggling to pull the stick and the older folks getting down and dirty. We then played tug-of-war and had everyone
that could fit on either end of the 50ft rope pulling and tugging with all their might, just to end up falling to the ground in laughter. It was so hard to leave our family. It was a wonderful experience to be able to spend so much time together, to visit and learn all the similarities we have. Many close relation ships were born because of an amazing reunion!

Our next reunion will be July 7th- 10th (Emma’s Birthday) in 2011. We will be spending that time in Independence, Missouri. We are so excited to be able to gather again and to see our family.

Next Reunion to be held in 2011 in Kirtland, Ohio

Joseph Smith Sr. cousins enjoyed a warm celebration at the 2009 Bus Tour and Nauvoo Reunion.

The bus left Salt Lake on Aug. 4, 2009 and visited Kanesville and Winter Quarters,
met with other cousins in Nauvoo, and then continued touring Missouri church history sites, including Liberty Jail and walking along the corn fields of the Mormon Trail and visiting Adam-Ondi-Ahman.

To visit the Joseph Smith Senior Reunion newsletter, see http://www.josephsmithsr.org/?q=node/72

The family put their hearts and hands into the service project staining the fence at the Smith Family Cemetery.

Earliest American Ancestor
by Paul M. Hokanson

Robert Smith, the first of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s, Smith ancestors to come to America, was brought to New England as an apprenticed servant to John Whittingham along with many other boys in 1638. About 3,000 colonists arrived in Boston that summer on twenty ships. The boys were sold as indentured servants and Robert Smith went to Ipswich, Massachusetts to work for the John Tuttle family. In March 1659 Robert “aged about 33” deposed in court that “he had lived with Simon Tuttle’s mother about eight or nine years”.

It has been conjectured that Robert came from near Boston in Lincoln shire because John Whittingham had an estate there but I have found that others of Mr. Whittingam’s apprenticed boys came from other parts of England. Joseph Smith’s cousin, George A. Smith said that Joseph stated their Smith Family was related to
Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, who was born in Willoughby, Lincoln shire but Captain John Smith’s family were from the northwest coast of England. Or was Joseph Smith talking about another Captain John Smith who settled in Virgina and was the ancestor of George Washington and Queen Elizabeth II through her mother? That family line came out of Lincoln shire but likely Smith descendants would not be living there today. Much more work needs to be done on Robert Smith’s family history and matching DNA and other Smith families.

In about 1655 Robert Smith married Mary French, daughter of Thomas and Mary French, who came to Boston on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. We do not have the date of their marriage but their first daughter, Mary was christened 23 May 1632 and died shortly thereafter.

The second daughter named Mary was christened in Boston 2 March 1633/4 making her about twenty-two when she married Robert Smith who was about twenty-six.

Robert and Mary moved to Topsfield Village where they owned 208 acres. Topsfield Village became known as Boxford. Robert was a farmer and a tailor like his wife’s parents. They were the parents of ten children. On tax records in 1671 Robert was called “an old decrepit man” (He was about forty-five) and was taxed 4s. 6p. on 1 house,12 acres, 2 oxen, 1 horse, 2 cows, 2 calves and 3 swine.

His Will was written 7 August 1693 which was signed with his mark, an O rather than an X. Robert died on the 30 of August that same year. Mary went to live with
their son Samuel and lived for twenty-five more years. She died during the winter of 1719-20. Next time we will learn about Robert and Mary Smith’s ten children and
some of their posterity.

Matt and Julie Maddox, editors

As archivist for the Community of Christ Church, Ronald E. Romig has done extensive work with Smith Family artifacts. He graciously sat for an interview with us in August 2009, before leaving to his current work, overseeing the historic Kirtland Temple Visitors Center.

Romig is president of the Mormon History Association and vice-president of the Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation. He is also co-chair of the Kansas City Archivists Association, and has served as the 1997 president of the John Whitmer Historical Association.

Romig’s interest in Mormon history runs deep. From 1988 to 2009, he worked for the Community of Christ Church in Independence, MO as lead archivist. His current assignment in Kirtland finds him overseeing the historical Kirtland Temple and
Visitors’ Center.

In his youth he had opportunity to worship in the Kirtland Temple–on Christmas, Easter, and special occasions–and his interest in Mormon history runs even deeper. Three generations back, Romig’s family immigrated to Ohio, and there joined the RLDS (now Community of Christ) Church. They were, Romig explains, “religious zealots,” with a passion for Mormon history.

As an archivist, Romig cares for and tries to understand artifacts and information. “Unfortunately,” Romig explains, “a lot of information gets forgotten.” But Romig isn’t about to let that happen.

“I really like local history,” he says, “Missouri church history, an overlooked era.” Romig has worked with the Mormon Missouri Frontier Foundation (MMFF) to erect 30 markers at Mormon Missouri sites. In Independence, although only 2 buildings are left, plaques show where 13 early events took place.

One of his most exciting finds was in Nauvoo: a gold bead from Emma’s necklace. Also interesting was a ceramic cup with fragments, and imprinted “J & E Smith.” “It’s exciting to get to find some things like that,” Ronald Romig explains, “because we know they used these things because they were broken.”

The gold bead and ceramic cup pieces were found in an archeological dig in the latrine outside of the Nauvoo Mansion House. “Some really wonderful artifacts are found in outhouses,” and Romig explains how you know you are at the bottom of the dig, “when you get to the tomato seeds–tomato seeds aren’t digested–you know you are at the bottom.”

The gold bead and ceramic cup are displayed in the Nauvoo Community of Christ Visitor’s Center. When they found the gold bead, they saw a tooth indentation. Romig suggests that David Hyrum probably bit and then swallowed it, breaking the necklace and preserving the bead for archeologists.

Joseph had given Emma a gold bead necklace, which is seen on her neck in the beautiful portraits of Joseph and Emma—the original portraits hang in the Church of Christ museum. Another example of Romig’s archival work is the recent and fun discovery of the artist of the these portraits. These portraits are artistic and vibrant, but the label reads, “artist unknown.” The work is now attributed to David Rogers, a New York artist who joined the early church.

Romig and Glen Leonard from the LDS church have recently identified David Rogers as the artist. Glen Leonard found 9 works of Roger’s art in New York. Joseph Smith recorded in his diary that he sat for an artist. Nothing is said about Emma.

Early speculations had pointed to William Major, but he is not as skilled as Rogers. Rogers is from a European art school. Romig pointed out that the paintings have a series of triangles to complement and reflect each other. In studying the works, Romig had the paintings x-rayed at a hospital. X-rays show the artist didn’t over paint much, indicating an artist who knew what he wanted. They also show a left-handed artist, because the gesso was applied from left to right.

Any visitor to Independence, MO will be well rewarded by a visit to the see the artifacts in the Community of Christ Museum in the Community of Christ temple. A virtual exhibit of Joseph and Emma artifacts is available at www.jwha.info/cofc/cofcmu.htm.