Author: gator

By Ben Donoho

Are you a descendant of Jerusha Smith Peirce and is your name shown as her descendant on the www.hyrumsmith.org web site? If so, you are one of about 650 others found there. How about checking to see if the descendant information is correct?

And if you could add to the information, all the better. We can thank cousins Earl Peirce, Arvid Webster, and others for their cumulative effort and for sharing what we know about the 650.

We realize the 650 is the tip of the iceberg. How about submitting to us any information you might have about your relatives who we have not yet been identified? And don’t forget: please include any corrections. No doubt some are needed.

We are also interested in becoming aware of reunions or other organized family activities that may have occurred among Jerusha’s descendants. The details of who, where, what, and when would be useful to know about. For example, you may be interested to know that Earl Peirce published a limited edition of an interesting volume called Biography and History, Jerusha Barden Smith, Patriarch John Smith. It is based on earlier work done by Jerry C. Roundy and Ralph Gibbs Smith.

By LaRene Gaunt

Our big news is the registration of www.SarahSmithGriffin.com as a web site. We are in the beginning stages of gathering information to put up on the site. We hope that the site will become a focal point for Sarah’s descendants. LaRene Gaunt welcomes contact from all Sarah descendants at gauntlr@ldschurch.org.

LaRene’s home address is 10122 Buttercup Dr, Sandy UT 84092.

We have a partial list of Sarah descendants on the www.JosephSmithSr.org web site. We are continuing to add families who are descended from Sarah Smith and Charles Emerson Griffin. We are also building an address list for these families so that they can receive the newletter. For those who don’t know, Jerry Roundy of Escalante, Utah, has written a book on Escalante. As you know, all of Sarah’s descendants were raised in Escalante and many of her descendants still live there or have family ties there. You can get a copy of Jerry’s book for $28 (includes shipping). Write to Jerry Roundy, 1605 North Pine Creek Rd, Escalante Utah 84726. If you have photographs or stories or family history, let’s get them up on the Web site.

by Carole Call King

What a marvelous challenge it has been for me to search for the descendants of Martha Ann Smith Harris! Forty or more Harris cousins I have contacted have been of great help in gathering names of their families. With their help my data base is increasing every day. Today–27 February 2001-in my Martha Ann Smith and William Jasper Harris file I have entered names and data regarding birth dates/places, marriage dates/places, and death dates/places, if necessary, of 3,420 people. This includes 2,561 families, of which 2,376 people are the direct descendants of Martha Ann and William Jasper. These are not all living descendants, of course. So far I have 537 family names and current addresses on my mailing list. I hope to add telephone numbers and email addresses to each of these. There are many I do not yet have and I need your help in this huge project.

In the process of finding these names it has been wonderful to get acquainted with many Harris cousins I didn’t know before. I have corresponded by telephone, mail, and email with cousins in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Missouri, and Virginia.

E-mail is a fantastic tool in this work! Many of our cousins have become closer to their extended families as they search out information to fill in family group sheets. Some have their own websites. Some have held reunions and tried to organize on a grandfather level. Such family reunions are highly encouraged.

Carol Nixon and Fred Willoughby are planning a reunion for all the descendants of Martha Ann Smith and William Jasper Harris in connection with the August 2001 Joseph Smith Sr. Family Reunion in Salt Lake! Our grandmother, Martha Ann, loved reunions and so did my grandmother, Sarah Harris Passey. They worked so hard to keep the family close to each other. Please make your plans to come together in Salt Lake City in August. You’ll hear more about it from Carol and Fred.

WILLIAM JASPER – MARTHA ANN SMITH HARRIS FAMILY REUNION
2 AUGUST 2001 FROM 10:00 A.M. TO 5:00 P.M.
THIS IS THE PLACE HERITAGE PARK, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

More good news! One of our great Harris cousins–Douglas Paulson of San Antonio, Texas–has agreed to be webmaster for our Marthaann.org website! Doug just began working on this site the end of November with help from Jared Glade, who is the webmaster for the Joseph F. Smith website, and a member of our Father/Mother Smith group. I am so grateful to Doug for taking on this huge task. It is exciting to think of the possibilities a Martha Ann website offers. We will be able to share pictures, letters, and family stories, as well as family information to add to and keep current the Harris database. There are several old photographs I have from the collection of my Grandmother Sarah Harris Passey which are not labeled and I don’t know who they are. These photos can be scanned and put on the website to see if any of you recognize the people in the pictures. Perhaps others have the same problem with old photographs. Really, the possibilities are endless. I especially hope the website will help us find other cousins to be counted. I know there are thousands of cousins I don’t have listed in my computer.

Click on to: www.marthaann.org, keep watching and help it grow! Carole King, 608 Davis St, Morgan UT 84050; ccking@xmission.com.

By Mary Donoho

Have you had a chance to visit the Joseph F. Smith website yet? Just go to www.josephfsmith.org and browse around, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by all the great information that you can access there. Jared Glade is the website coordinator and has done a fantastic job of making information available.

We have also added downloadable files for all the descendants of Joseph F. Smith. After you have downloaded the information check to make sure you are included. Then check to see if there are any inaccuracies in our data. If you have any additions or corrections to make write to me and we will get it entered properly. We know we are missing some of you and want to make it complete. My email address is thomasj@quwest.net and my home address is Mary Donoho, 1090 Raymond Road, Fruit Heights, Utah 84037-2250. I would love to hear from you!

At the Joseph F. Smith reunion this year we had a most informative and delightful presentation by Richard Holzapfel, who showed us many slides of Joseph F. Smith that have never been published before. His book: Joseph F. Smith: Portrait of a Prophet by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel co-written with R. Q. Shup is available at Deseret Book.

We mourn the passing of Elaine Nichols in July of this past year. She has, without a doubt, done more for gaining genealogical information and keeping records of the Smith Family then any other person. She is greatly missed. We are grateful for the heritage she has left us.

The Mary Fielding and John Smith home and Joseph F. Memorial Grove at the “This is The Place” State Park were finished and stand beautifully overlooking the Salt Lake valley. Several family members completed these wonderful historic monuments with donations from the family and much work: Thank you!!!

By Eldred and Hortense Smith

The Hyrum Smith Family Association was organized and activated on Dec 29, 1980 mainly for the purpose of raising funds to purchase the Hyrum Smith home in Kirtland, Ohio to save it from destruction. The project was successful and the home was purchased.

The board consists of representatives of each of Hyrum’s children as follows:

CHILD	REPRESENTATIVE
Lavina Smith Walker	Rex Campbell (now deceased)
John Smith	Eldred G. Smith
Jerusha Smith	Earl H. Peirce
Sarah Smith	Rae Jean Davis
Joseph F. Smith	Joseph Patrick (now deceased)
Martha Ann Smith Harris	Carole King

The passing of these two stalwart family and board members, Rex Campbell and Joseph Patrick, saddens us. We express sincere gratitude for their services.

It has been proposed by the board that there be two representatives of each child on the board. It is therefore, requested that the families make Recommendations for not only filling the vacancies but to add an additional board member for each family. These suggestions may be submitted to Eldred G. Smith, who is the President of the board. His address is 2942 Devonshire Circle, SLC, UT 84108; (801)582-9610.

We have been engaged in some significant activities:

1. An effort, which began as far back as l939, to memorialize, with a monument in the Kirtland cemetery, the burial spots for Hyrum’s wife, Jerusha Barden Smith; Mary (the little daughter of Hyrum and Jerusha); as well as Mary Duty Smith (the grandmother of Hyrum, Joseph and the other children), will finally have it’s day as arrangements are now reaching finality.

2. A work is underway to publish a biography of Jerusha.

3. A wonderful achievement has been the restoring of the surface and lettering on the large granite monument to Hyrum Smith that stands in the Salt Lake City cemetery. It now looks like new with the lettering very readable

4. The wonderful memorial celebration of Hyrum’s 200th birthday last year, as reported in the last newsletter, was a high point. The many thousands, who participated and grew to love their progenitor even more, enjoy its memory and the video (still available).

5. The family association participated in the placing of the heroic statue of Hyrum Smith in the City Center of Hyrum, Utah-which bears his name.

6. In Hyrum’s memory the association placed a bust statue of him in the home in Kirtland, Ohio.

7. We have launched our www.HyrumSmith.Com website with the help of Jared Glade. It is accessible either directly or as a link from the Foundation website or the Joseph F. Smith website (www.josephfsmith.org), as they are also accessible from ours. Please visit us.

By Michael Kennedy and Gracia Jones

The Joseph Smith Jr. Family Organization has worked hard during this past year making contacts, collecting photos, histories and building forgotten family relationships.

Three sons of Joseph Jr., have living posterity:

Joseph Smith III – Many good contacts have been made and some genealogical data gathered, but at this time there is no specific organizational contact established for this family line. It is hoped that in the coming year someone of this family will step forward and participate in the Joseph Smith, Jr. Family Organization and represent their family line.

Alexander Hale – Alexander’s posterity is the most numerous of all of Joseph & Emma’s children. Gracia Jones and her husband, Ivor, have spent most of the year with all of these descendants, except Fred A’s line. Gracia and Ivor made personal contact with 32 families in Australia and one in Oregon; collecting of many histories, photos, and ongoing correspondence both by mail and email means. The Wright’s held a reunion in Tuncurry, NSW, in October, which was well attended. They have a close-knit association between themselves with good outreach to their entire family. They keep us current with events and data as it transpires. Vida Smith (Yates) was visited via Ruth Derk, correspondence still ongoing.

Gracia has plans to visit more of this line during the 2001 year. Emma Belle Smith Kennedy has ongoing correspondence with Jean Hancock. Eva Grace Smith Madison family was contacted through Judy Madison; here too, Gracia will visit this family later this year. Don Alvin Smith family was contacted through Genie Graham, daughter of Carlos, and Beth Selle, daughter of Beatrice Griffin. Very comprehensive genealogical data/photos and history gathered this year ― very excellent organizational prospects. Joseph George Smith’s family was met with granddaughters living in Independence ― plans to visit other members of this family in Washington/Oregon this year. Arthur Marion Smith’s family contact has been made with all of his living children, several of his grandchildren and great grandchildren ― Joseph F. Smith, and his daughter Kim Davis have done a wonderful job of gathering and preserving histories, photos, and stories. Kim Davis, in Branson, assisted by the Hughes Brothers and the Osmonds, who provided place, food, and program for the event, spearheaded a wonderful reunion last fall. Coral Smith Horner and two major mini-reunions were held for descendants this past year. One in Montana, attended by around 30, and one in Washington State, attended also by about 30.

David Hyrum Smith – At this time we have leads but no personal contacts with anyone in this family. Anyone who can assist in establishing a contact please notify us.

Interest is growing for more frequent family gatherings Joseph and Emma have approximately 1000 living descendants. The Joseph Smith Jr. Family organization would like all of Joseph and Emma’s posterity meet in small mini-reunions within their community or nearby communities and become reacquainted with their rich heritage. If you have interest in doing this please visit our web site at www.josephsmithsr.com.

This web site is maturing and provides the research we gather to all descendents of Joseph and Lucy Mack. See if you are there.

By Marge Porter

Research continues as time rushes on to locate the descendants of Catherine Smith Salisbury, daughter of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. At the present time there is no family organization or unified family unit for Catherine. Early history books of the LDS and RLDS churches provide short glimpses of a select few episodes of her life and struggles with the early persecution of the members of the church generally. Combining these stories, a beautiful history of this courageous mother, daughter, and sister will be compiled. Contacts must be made to accomplish this effort. Those descendants of this noble ancestor may contact the family representative for Catherine: Marjorie Porter, 2360 West Old Highway Rd., Morgan, UT 84050. Phone: 801-876-3265 or e-mail marge@catherinesmith.org.

What is happening in my branch of the Smith Family? There are many branches to this family that are actively growing because there are members of that branch who are doing things. Some do a lot, some do a little but serve as a catalyst for others participation. There is a committee that meets nearly monthly to correlate these branch organization activities and information. Some key members on this correlation
committee are missing. The plan calls for one member for each child of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. Other large and active branches especially at their grandchild level may also have a representative. Currently there is a need for either a branch member or other person willing to represent or help with the following branches: William Smith; Lucy Smith Miliken; Lovina Smith Walker; Catherine Smith Salisbury. Please contact the branch representative or crfrogley@josephsmithsr.org / 801-588-8421. Here is the state of each branch organization. Please get involved.

The Family Organization Coordinating Committee meets each month to review status, progress, and research on each of the lines from the Children of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith.

Representatives include:

HYRUM- LIVING
-Lovina: Roger Anderson 435-846-3301 …………..4,484
-John Wilburta Moore 801-595-8131 ………….. ukwn
-Joseph F. Mary Donoho 801-546-4707 …………15,000
-Jerusha Ben Donoho 801-546-4707 …………. ukwn
-Sarah LaRene Gaunt 801-572-0169 ………….. ukwn
-Martha Ann Carole King 435-876-3273 …………..2,530
JOSEPH Jr- Michael Kennedy801-756-1091 …………….800
SAMUEL Robert Smith 801-489-7589 ……………..450
WILLIAM Michael Nebeker 801-942-5053 ………….. ukwn
CATHERINE Marjorie Porter 801-876-3265 ………….. ukwn
LUCY ……………………………… ukwn

Since this is continual work in progress we will update this data frequently with the invitation to please help by registering all known family members with your own family organization or through one of the committee.

This is just a last note to remind all to please send your annual dues. Our newsletter and research to find all the living descendents depend on you. All family members that we know receive the newsletter because we are family. Please become a dues paying member so that we can continue the work to find and unite the family. The Board of Trustees has recommended and approved a modest increase in our dues. Family Biographies will be finished and sent to all dues payers as we all renew. These are special personal sketches prepared by our Foundation historian, Mark McConkie. If you aren’t certain when you last paid the $15.00, NOTE THE MAILING LABEL for the date of your last payment. Please use the enclosed envelope and card. If you know of living Smiths descendants that don’t receive the newsletter please send their addresses by copying the card and sending them to the return address on the newsletter or emailing to c.frogley@m.cc.utah.edu.

Thank you.