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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.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705381677/Joseph-Smiths-doc-only-man-who-could-save-leg.html?pg=all

Dr. Nathan Smith, who operated on Smith’s leg, was an accomplished surgeon in the 1800s. The procedure was unprecedented, leading some to believe Smiths’ encounter was miraculous.

By Aaron Shill, Deseret News
Published: Saturday, July 12 2008 11:40 p.m. MDT

It took the curiosity of a Boston-area surgeon to uncover the identity of the man who conducted Joseph Smith’s famous leg operation.Once LeRoy Wirthlin made his discovery about four decades ago, it became apparent that Joseph and his family weren’t the only Smiths of significance in the room when the 7-year-old boy underwent surgery around 1813.Dr. Nathan Smith was pretty important in his own right, and Wirthlin’s placing of the once-renowned New England physician within this historic account added an intriguing new facet to the story.It was a historic convergence that saved Joseph’s leg. And Wirthlin, a Latter-day Saint who himself is a retired surgeon, knows just how important Nathan Smith’s presence was.”You wonder what would have happened,” Wirthlin says during an interview conducted for an episode of the Joseph Smith Papers Project television series produced by KJZZ. “One thing for sure is that Joseph Smith would not have been able to kneel in the grove in Palmyra with an above-knee amputation.”Wirthlin isn’t a historian by profession, but his research into Dr. Smith became a great boon to scholars. The discovery not only confirmed existing accounts of the event, but also provided additional details that some, like Wirthlin, consider miraculous. While his role in the surgery is still often overlooked, Nathan Smith gives the long-told story a more expansive place on the historical landscape while enriching Latter-day Saints’ understanding of this significant event of the Restoration.”This was the first miracle that we know about in the life of Joseph Smith,” Wirthlin said.

The beginning of the end for the anonymity of Joseph Smith’s surgeon came when LDS historian Richard Bushman, who at the time was a stake president in Boston, asked Wirthlin to assist him with some research about the operation.Documentation on the surgery is confined to two sources, and Bushman showed Wirthlin one of the accounts — a note from Joseph Smith dictated to Willard Richards that was intended for the Manuscript History of the Church.In his interview for the television series, Wirthlin says he was “astounded” by what he read. Joseph Smith named a medical school (Dartmouth) and the doctors who treated him (Smith, Stone and Perkins), while making reference to 11 “doctors” (some presumed to be medical students) visiting the home.The next day, Wirthlin says, he met a colleague in the elevator at Massachusetts General Hospital who was carrying a book about early New Hampshire surgeons. Wirthlin used the book to identify Nathan Smith and Cyrus Perkins.”That little bit of information then began a quest to dig into this more deeply,” Wirthlin says.The pursuit took him to the Dartmouth Baker Memorial Library, where Wirthlin was given access to Dr. Smith’s letters, notebooks and ledgers for research.What Wirthlin and other researchers have discovered is that Dr. Smith was a highly competent and compassionate physician who, after serving as an apprentice, studied at Harvard before traveling to England to further educate himself. He returned in 1797 and founded the Dartmouth Medical School, one of four medical schools he established throughout his career.Smith was a “country doctor,” according to Ronald K. Esplin, managing editor of the Joseph Smith Papers Project. He rode miles on horseback to visit patients in their homes, since there were no hospitals at the time. While Smith billed the patients and expected payment, many of his treatments ended up being “charity cases” because the recipients were unable to pay, Esplin said.Dr. Smith was also a teacher who had a lasting influence on the region. Wirthlin calls him a “great medical educator” who was competent in anatomy, physics, chemistry and pharmacology medicine.”He left a legacy of students who were the foundation of rural New England medicine for the next generation or two,” Esplin said.According to Smith’s biographers, Oliver S. Hayward and Constance E. Putnam, the physician cared for the welfare of his patients but was also brilliant and innovative.”For the duties of a practical surgeon, Dr. Smith was eminently qualified, and upon the manner in which he performed these duties, his reputation must, in a great measure, ultimately rest,” his biographers write in the book “Improve, Perfect, and Perpetuate: Dr. Nathan Smith and Early American Medical Education.”The most significant aspect of Dr. Smith’s career as it relates to the Prophet was that he resisted using amputation as a means to treat cases such as Joseph Smith’s. Instead, Dr. Smith used a surgical technique to combat osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection, where he operated directly on the bone to remove dead fragments.Joseph Smith’s case was a complication from the typhoid fever epidemic that hit the area, causing what Wirthlin calls “tremendous” and “unrelenting” pain.In addition to what was dictated by Joseph Smith himself, the only other written account of the surgery came from the Prophet’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, who wrote: “My poor boy at this time was in almost total despair, and cryed(sic) out, ‘Oh father, the pain is so severe, how can I bear it?’ “Dr. Smith’s biographers concur with Wirthlin’s findings — that the accounts of Joseph Smith and his mother provide adequate documentation of Dr. Smith’s involvement in the boy’s surgery.”Both give sufficient detail to make clear that the doctors in question were Nathan Smith and his medical school colleague (and at the time, partner in practice) Cyrus Perkin,” Hayward and Putnam write. “The two separate descriptions of the surgery that circumvented the need for amputation both accord well with what is known about Nathan Smith’s procedures…Thus, although we do not know positively that Smith himself performed the operation, we can be confident that he was the surgeon in charge.”Wirthlin went on to publish three articles about his findings, one of which was printed in the March 1978 edition of the Ensign. According to Esplin, Wirthlin’s work helped re-establish Dr. Smith as a significant figure in American medical history.”By the time Wirthlin got digging around, people had really forgotten Nathan Smith,” Esplin said.

Thanks to the accounts from Joseph Smith and his mother, Latter-day Saints have a sound understanding of the events surrounding the surgery — that Lucy and her son objected to amputation, that Joseph refused to be tied down or accept alcohol, that his father held him through the procedure, and that his mother re-entered the room several times upon hearing her son’s screams.But until Wirthlin’s discovery, not much was known about the surgeon — and that he was likely the only man in the country who could have saved the boy’s leg.And he just happened to reside within short riding distance.”It is truly remarkable that this guy had those skills and he was probably the only one in the United States who had them at the time,” Esplin said.The details of Dr. Smith’s stature and proximity to the Prophet’s family make the circumstances seem at the very least an amazing coincidence, if not miraculous.First, there is the fact that Dr. Smith resided in Hanover, N.H., just a handful of miles from the Smith home in Lebanon.There were also circumstances that factored into Dr. Smith’s availability. According to Wirthlin, Dr. Smith was anticipating a move to Connecticut to establish a medical school at Yale University, but he was delayed by the typhoid epidemic, which struck his own family. Otherwise, he would not have been at Dartmouth when Joseph Smith’s leg required treatment.Historians have surmised that the Smith family may have known of Dr. Smith because, at the time of Joseph’s sickness, his brother Hyrum was attending the Moore Academy at Dartmouth. Esplin points out that neither Alvin nor Joseph had many educational opportunities, but during this particular time, Hyrum was afforded the chance.According to Wirthlin, not only did Dr. Smith have 17 years of experience in practicing the technique before treating Joseph, he was the only surgeon who combated severe osteomyelitis by operating on the bone. The standard procedure at the time was amputation.”This procedure that Nathan Smith advocated was not done anywhere else in the world,” Wirthlin says. “The surgery that he performed did not catch on. Nobody seemed to be able to do it.”In her account, Lucy Smith described the surgery in detail.”He bored first on one side of the bone, which was affected, then on the other side: after which, he broke it off with a pair of pincers; and in this manner, took away large pieces of the bone,” she wrote.According to Wirthlin, the procedure never caught on and wasn’t widely accepted until 1874; it didn’t become standard practice until World War I. A believing Latter-day Saint, Wirthlin, in the 1978 Ensign article, concludes that the circumstances were far from coincidental.”What Lucy Smith is here describing is the technique that became known in 1874!” Wirthlin writes. “How was such a surgical feat possible 80 years before this time in the tiny community of Lebanon, New Hampshire? The answer is one that Latter-day Saints would hardly call coincidence.”Generations ahead of his time, he was the only man in America who could have saved Joseph Smith’s leg.”Dr. Smith’s biographers also reflect on the religious significance of these two individuals crossing paths.”Whether Nathan Smith can be credited with having saved Joseph Smith’s life, certainly he saved the boy’s leg,” they write. “Who knows whether religious history might have turned out quite differently if Joseph Smith had been an amputee from early childhood?”

Dr. Smith’s presence not only added a new facet to the story — it furthered scholars’ understandings of the accounts that have been in place since the mid-1800s.Lucy Smith’s history was written in 1845, approximately 32 years after the leg operation was performed. The length of that time period often caused historians pause, according to Esplin.Then there was Joseph Smith’s description of “eleven Doctors” visiting the home — a number that seemed high before historians came to understand who Dr. Smith was.”But after all this (research) has been done it turned out to be pretty solid description,” Esplin said.According to Wirthlin, Lucy Smith’s detailed description of the surgery proved credible. Wirthlin writes in the Ensign that her recollection aligned with the procedure described in notebooks found at Dartmouth.”They always questioned her memory on this thing but this was accurate and she nailed it and I have developed a great respect for her after reading her account,” Wirthlin says in his interview.While it may have seemed strange that there were more than 10 doctors in the room, Wirthlin points out that as an educator, it was standard procedure for Dr. Smith, who “routinely invited 10 to 20 of the medical students along on these trips as part of their training,” Wirthlin writes.”This was how they operated,” Esplin said. “These are good accounts…(Wirthlin is) the one who made the whole episode understandable.”What the accounts also show, according to Esplin, is that the Smith family was “functional” and worked together to assure each other’s well-being. And, the fact that this episode was the only event from Joseph’s younger years that was recorded by both the Prophet and his mother speaks to its significance.”Both he and his mother thought it was important enough to mention, and they mention almost nothing about his boyhood,” Esplin said. “In their minds, it’s one of the most significant (events) of his pre-teen years — the most significant.”For them, this loomed huge. It was the major event.”

E-mail: ashill@desnews.com

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/48345/Josephs-legacy-touches-life-of-apostle.html#

By Gerry Avant
Church News editor
Published: Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005

SHARON, Vt. — Although the southern Vermont countryside had gone without snow for a couple of days when Elder M. Russell Ballard arrived at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial on the morning of Dec. 23, a thick blanket of white covered the ground, trees and rooftops of structures on the property of the historic site.

Except for the sounds of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir drifting on the frigid air — part of a recorded narration about the birth of Jesus Christ — it was quiet at the mammoth granite shaft that has stood for the past century in honor of Joseph Smith. No one was outside during the few minutes that Elder Ballard walked and talked with the Church News about the significance of that date, and about his great-great-granduncle Joseph Smith and his great-great-grandfather Hyrum Smith.

In response to a question about his thoughts and reflections on being at the site where the Prophet Joseph was born exactly 200 years ago, Elder Ballard said, “You don’t realize the impact of Joseph’s life until you come out here and see this almost desolate area where his father and mother were trying to eke out an existence. They already had four children. Their little baby girl passed away shortly after being born, so there were Alvin, Hyrum and Sophronia, and now comes to them in this setting, Joseph.

“I am sure they didn’t realize who had come into their home 200 years ago. But the Lord in His great design, had the Smith family and the Mack family in His eye from the very foundations of the world, ultimately to this day where Joseph could be born here.”

Elder Ballard spoke of the difficulties and the struggles Joseph Smith Sr. and his wife, Lucy Mack Smith, had with farming and failing, and “the Lord moving them through some of that trauma and difficulty, keeping that family so deeply humble. They arrived in Palmyra when the son born here was in his 14th year.”

“You have to stand in reverence when you’re in the proximity of where Joseph was born,” he said. “He was an instrument in the hands of the Lord; his work has impacted more than 12 million people in the world today.

“We don’t worship him, but surely we honor him and we hold him in the highest esteem as the Prophet of this the dispensation of the fulness of times. As Brigham Young said, Joseph was prepared from the foundations of the world to lead this dispensation. It’s overwhelming when you see the full picture.”

Elder Ballard spoke of members reading the Book of Mormon during the closing months of 2005 and said, “Just think, 130 million copies of the Book of Mormon have been printed. It has been translated in over 77 languages scattered in every corner of the world — all from this humble beginning here in Sharon, Vermont.”

Asked to share some of his personal thoughts about the great men to whom he is related, Elder Ballard said, “I have heralded Joseph’s name and Hyrum’s name and Joseph F. Smith’s name as strongly as I know how to do. This Church must never lose sight of the contribution and the strength of Joseph’s brother Hyrum because I’m not sure Joseph would have survived as long as he did had he not had Hyrum at his side. For an older brother, almost six years older, to be willing to be so subservient to his younger brother whom he knew had the experience that he said he did is a remarkable thing. When I think of Joseph, I think of Hyrum. I think of both of them together.”

He spoke of their martyrdom, saying, “They were taken, and their witness is to the whole world, and we’re privileged to be here on Joseph’s 200th birthday.”

Elder Ballard declared, “There is no question that my love and affection for Joseph Smith is more than just being the Prophet of this dispensation, but, in effect, an exemplar and leader in many ways of the Smith family. I just love the concept of the companionship of Joseph and Hyrum. I really see them, when I think about them. Joseph was born here. His 5-year-old brother, going on six, was running around here somewhere trying to stay busy and probably very excited with the fact that he had a baby brother.”

On walking where he knew his great-great-grandfather had walked, run and played as a young boy, Elder Ballard said, “A way to keep yourself humble is to come to these places and glimpse how they lived. When you realize what they did, sometimes you have to ask yourself, ‘What am I doing?’ Once in a while . . . I think I hear them say, ‘Why don’t you get busy and do something@f0’ I think that’s what they would expect us to do.”

E-mail to: gerry@desnews.com