Author: Julie Maddox

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Daguerreotype Discovery the Real Joseph Smith?

Isn’t it every child’s dream to discover a lost treasure that peeks into the past? Daniel Larsen may have done just that. In 1992 Larsen’s mother, Lois Smith Larsen, daughter of Frederick Madison Smith, RLDS Church President, and son of Joseph Smith III, bequeathed him some family heirlooms. One was a pocket watch with a Joseph Smith III monogram. The second was a similar but smaller locket. The locket was gold plated, about 1 ½”, and had a jammed mechanism. He secured these in a safe for later perusal.

In 2020, he came across the keepsake items and grew curious. This time he forced open the locket and discovered a picture, a daguerreotype. Larsen said, “I looked at it and I looked at it and saw those eyes. I told my wife to come in and look at this. We looked at it and…almost at the same time said, ‘This is a photo of Joseph Smith.’” quoted from Trent Toone’s article “Does an image of Joseph Smith exist? What one descendant found in a forgotten family heirloom” in the Deseret News.

Dan Larsen then emailed a photo of the image to his nephew, Lachlan Mackay, avid historian and Community of Christ Apostle. Mackay shared the image with the Community of Christ historian and archivist Ron Romig, and they began to investigate the provenance and possibility that the daguerreotype could be the earliest image of Joseph Smith. They spent the next two years working to authenticate the daguerreotype before their public announcement.

To view details of the authentication process (expert analysis, historical research, facial recognition software, forensic artist & overlays and cutaways): and to see pictures, see:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVpwIOViIuw

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Topsfield Monument Dedicated 2022

“Never lose sight of those who laid the groundwork and built the paths that have led to light and truth that has now been available to those who would be willing to seek it and find it, embrace it and join it,” President Ballard said when he dedicated the monument in May 2022.

In 2020, the Ensign Peak Foundation* placed a 14,000 pound obelisk granite monument in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Topsfield, home to five generations of Smiths: Robert, a 14–year–old indentured servant who immigrated to America; Samuel, Samuel II, Asael, and Joseph Smith Sr.

In 1873 George A. Smith placed a monument honoring the two Samuels. The new monument updates and expands historical information.

Family members joined civic and religious leaders and friends at the dedication and attended the Topsfield Congregational Church.

*A private company dedicated to preserving and hallowing sacred sites.

newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-ballard-smith-monument-ministry-massachusetts

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50th Reunion – Treasured Connections

Facing death, Father Smith penned these words to his Dear Children: “Live together in an undivided bond of Love.” He urged them to continue to meet “if posably once Evry year [sic].”

By 1972, the Smith descendants were scattered not only across the United States but across the globe to Australia. Non–family member Buddy Youngreen became interested in the Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family, began identifying cousins, and encouraged the first Smith Family Reunion in Nauvoo in 1972. Descendants gathered at the Old Homestead overlooking the Mississippi, reminisced over scraggly lilac bushes, and began getting acquainted.

Since then, cousins have continued gathering at various locations. Granite tombstones have been placed for Father and Mother Smith at the cemetery next to the Old Homestead. The family has also beautified the cemetery and added a newer marker for Joseph Jr., Emma, and Hyrum.

In August 2022, 340 family members gathered for the 50th golden reunion in Nauvoo and made and renewed treasured connections. Frances and Steve Orton, reunion presidents, honored those who attended the first reunion 1972. Beautiful lilac bushes grace the edge of the granite markers for Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum. Lilacs are a favored family flower planted at various Smith locations. Debbie and Courtney Nelson pressed lilac petals from family gardens and then presented lilac necklaces and keychains to those who attended the first reunion.

Lilac mementos were also made available to family members. Suzanne Jones said her necklace “helped me feel a connection to our wonderful grandmothers that I’ve not sensed before, and for that, I’m immensely grateful.”

Joseph Fredrick Smith, a great– grandson of Joseph Jr., and John Smith, a great-grandson of Hyrum were acknowledged as the oldest living descendants at the reunion.

Joseph asked John Smith, “How old are you?” Then, after they spoke their ages out loud for everyone to hear, Joseph boldly said with good volume, “You are older than me. Bless you!” Joseph then grabbed John in a firm hug and said again, “Bless you.”

John (89 left and Joseph (87) right

In 1991 Lois Smith Larsen (Joseph Jr.’s descendant) and Donna Lee Frogley (Hyrum’s descendant), Joseph and Hyrum descendants, joined together to place a wreath at

the granite markers of Father and Mother Smith. This August, Zoe and Chloe, descendants of Lois Smith Larsen and of Joseph Jr. and Emma, again placed a wreath.

Zoey and Chloe Mackay de Riordan

And on the grounds of Joseph and Emma’s Mansion home, youth and families also helped build a split rail fence between the Mansion Home and Sidney Rigdon’s property. “The kids participated with joy. To realize they actually put up a fence on Joseph Smith’s property is something they’ll remember all their lives,” said Bob Smith, Samuel H. Smith descendant. The family service project also included painting fence panels to surround a garden behind the Mansion House wing—part of the Smith Family Gardens Phase I Project.

Family members visited local sites, enjoyed meals and visiting together, and were able to join the idigNauvoo archaeological project at the Hyrum Smith office site.

Were Father and Mother Smith looking on, would not they have seen their posterity together in an “undivided bond of love?”

See the painting and building of the split rail fence:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kdX1sXYlRo

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RE-MEME-BER US

Youth Meme Contest

RULES:

Connect us to the Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith Family

Use a relatable picture

Keep it uplifting

Ages 12-18

PRIZES: 

$50, $25, $10

DEADLINE:

Winners will be announced on the Facebook page and at the 2018 SLC Reunion.

ENTRIES:

Post your meme to https://www.facebook.com/groups/JSSR.LMS/ or https://www.facebook.com/groups/126771836337/?ref=br_rs

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2018 Reunion Highlights

  • Registration and Meet & Greet at the LDS Church Office Building Lobby and Auditorium.
  • Showing of the Youth Media Scholarship Competition in the Conference Center Little Theater.
  • Dinner in the lobby of the Conference Center.
  • Saturday Service Project and events at This Is The Place Heritage Park.
    – Building bunk beds.
    – Wreath placing at Mary Fielding Smith cottage.
    – Big family photo.
    – Picnic lunch.
    – Individual family time.
  • Family devotional at Temple Square Assembly Hall.
  • Music and the Spoken Word Sunday morning.
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We are a Visionary House

By David Adams

Sometime between the fall of 1829 and March 26, 1830, while the Book of Mormon was being printed, a curious visitor came to the Smith home in Palmyra.

Solomon Chamberlain set out from home carrying copies of a tract with information about his own visions. He started out to go to Canada, but when his boat stopped in Palmyra he had a distinct impression to get off the boat. The Spirit directed him to travel south, which he did for some three
miles until evening where again the Spirit directed that he stop at a farmhouse for shelter.

In the morning the family was talking about a gold Bible. Solomon said,

“When they said Gold Bible, there was a power like electricity went from the top of my head to the end of my toes. This was the first time I ever heard of the Gold Bible. I was now within half a mile of the Smith family where Joseph lived. From the time I left the boat until now, I was wholly led by the Spirit …. I said to myself, ‘I shall soon find why I have been led in this singular manner.’”

At the time the Smiths were accustomed to intruders of various kinds, arriving unannounced and seeking to stop the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon.

When Solomon Chamberlain arrived, he found Hyrum pacing the floor. Solomon entered with the greeting, “Peace be to this house.”

“I hope it will be peace,” Hyrum replied, astonished.

“Is there anyone here that believes in visions or revelations?” Solomon asked.

Hyrum responded, “Yes, we are a visionary house.”

“Then I will give you one of my pamphlets, which was visionary, and of my own experience,” Solomon said.

Hyrum, Father Smith, and some of the Whitmer boys gathered and took turns reading from Solomon’s pamphlet.

“I began to preach to them,” Solomon said, “in the words that the angel had made known to me in the vision, that all churches and denominations on the earth had become corrupt, and [there was] no church of God on the earth, but that he would shortly raise up a church that would never be confounded nor brought down and be like unto the Apostolic Church. They wondered greatly who had been telling me these things, for said they we have the same things [written] down in our house, taken from the Gold record, that you are preaching to us. I said, ‘The Lord told me these things a number of years ago.… If you are a visionary house, I wish you would make known some of your discoveries, for I think I can bear them.’ They then made known to me that they had obtained a gold record, and just finished translating it here. Now, the Lord revealed to me by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost that this was the work I had been looking for.”

Solomon took pages of the Book of Mormon, continued on his journey, and preached to all who would listen. He joined with the saints and traveled from Kirtland to Missouri to Nauvoo and then west with the saints.

Solomon Chamberlain’s life demonstrates the value and relevance of personal visions and spiritual experiences. So did the lives of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith and their children. It is good to seek for and find the hand of God in our lives. That’s what Smiths do. We are a visionary house.

– Read full article at http://avisionaryhouse.blogspot.com

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Share Your Vision – Children’s Coloring Contest (ages 3-11)

Father and Mother Smith have been so busy moving and trying to plant crops, they haven’t had time to plant trees, flowers, or decorate their home in Palmyra New York. How would you help them decorate their home? Print and color the picture. Pictures will be displayed and prizes will be awarded at the August 2018 Reunion. Submission Deadline: July 15, 2018.

Send pictures to J. Maddox 875 N 140 W American Fork, UT 84003 by July 15, 2018.