Category: Reunion

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Smith Family Helping Hands – It’s What We Do

August 1-4, 2024 the Smith Family is holding the Bi-Annual Reunion in Salt Lake City, UT.

Social Hall Meetinghouse by Intellectual Reserve.

On Thursday, August 1, 2024, the registration and the traditional “Meet and Greet” will take place at a unique chapel on Social Hall Avenue in Salt Lake City. You must register for the reunion to receive nametags, which must be picked up on Thursday to use throughout the reunion. New findings from the research on the Joseph Smith Daguerreotype will be presented, and the Smith Family 2024 scholarship winners will also be announced.

Thursday, August 1 Smith Family Meet and Greet
110 East Social Hall Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT
5:00 – 6:30 pmRegistration
7:00 – 8:30 pmGreeting Meeting
Church History Museum

On Friday, August 2, 2024, the family will gather at the Church History Museum at 9:00 a.m. for a private viewing hour before the general public. This is a great opportunity to see Smith Family memorabilia from this interactive “The Heavens Are Opened” exhibit.

Friday, August 2, Smith Family Memorabilia Tour
Church History Museum
45 North West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
9:00 – 10:00 amPrivate Tours for the Smith Family
Church History Library

The Church History Library will have selected Smith Family documents pulled from the archives specifically for our family to view. To maintain the proper environment for these papers, we will view them in groups of thirty people at a time.

Friday, August 2 Smith Family Memorabilia Tour
Church History Library
15 E North Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
30-minute intervalsPrivate Tours for the Smith Family
Registered attendees will be sent a link for sign-ups.
Photo of Brad Wilcox speaking at the Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Reunion Devotional, Conference Center Little Theater, 2018

Friday night, our family will enjoy a devotional with a speaker who is back by popular request, Brad Wilcox. This meeting will also be held at the Social Hall Meetinghouse.

Friday, August 2 Smith Family Meet and Greet
110 East Social Hall Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT
7:00 – 8:30 pmSmith Family Devotional

Saturday, August 3, 2024, The Smith Family service project is raising awareness of food insecurity in Utah, and donations will go to the Utah Food Bank. Our hope is to follow the counsel to “look to the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief…” – Doctrine and Covenants 38:35. During the service project, our family will have a competition and divide into groups to build creative structures. Standing shoulder to shoulder, we will load the donation items into the Utah Food Bank truck. Our family photo will be taken in the bleachers, and we will eat lunch in the cafeteria.

Saturday, August 3 West High School
241 N 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84103
10:00 am –
4:00 pm		Smith Family Activities, Service Project, Luncheon, and Social
Photo credit: https://west.slcschools.org/

Sunday, August 4, 2024, we will attend the Music and the Spoken Word with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

Sunday, August 4 Conference Center 60 North Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
9:00 am –
10:00 am		Meet 30 minutes before the 9:30 program

Reunion Registration is now open: Registration Link.

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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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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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2020 Smith Family Reunion Commemorative Photos

Our family was not able to be together physically but we did gather in smaller family units and globally watched messages to honor the 200th Anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision – 2020 Vision Celebration.

Fun Facts:

306 Viewers completed the mapping survey

1209 Viewers were reported on the survey

10 Countries had viewers

3.98 Average number of viewers per survey response

2,685 views reported by YouTube

With each reunion we traditionally we have a family photo. Not meeting in person meant our photo needed some creativity. I believe we accomplished this and we are grateful for your participation.

2020 Online Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Reunion Group Photo – We had 228 families submit a picture with a total 2793 people from the following family lines: Hyrum, Joseph Jr., Samuel, William, Katharine, and Lucy.

2020 Virtual Family Photo in the Sacred Grove

“This year has been full of so many things that have made us feel disconnected. Then the turmoil in the country and the world has pulled many apart. We wanted to find a way to bring everyone together and so we decided a virtual family mosaic would allow us this opportunity. Mosaics bring many pieces together in one unified image and because we could not meet in the Sacred Grove, we made us part of our own Grove.” – Frances Orton


Painting for Mosaic Used with Permission
 
“Light Descending” by Matt Kennedy
Image used with permission of Temple House Gallery.
All rights reserved.
templehousegallery.com

2020 Virtual “Go to the Grove” Photo


Painting for Mosaic Used with Permission
 
“Prayer — Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove” by Bev Barnett
Image used with permission of Bev Barnett.
All rights reserved.
BevBarnettArtStudio
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2018 Salt Lake City Memories

2018 Family Photo by Lindsey Orton at the Mary Fielding Smith Home at This Is The Place Heritage Park

Reunion Links

2018 Smith Reunion Final Program

2018 Online Reunion Final

Thursday, August 2 – Registration – Meet and Greet

Thursday Recaps

Gilda Sundeen Letter

Friday, August 3 – Scholarship Presentation and

In Emma’s Footsteps Movie

Friday Morning Recaps

Friday Dinner Photo Memories

Friday – Smith Family Devotional

Saturday, August 4 – Service Project and Devotional

Saturday Service Project

Log Cabin Experience

Saturday Picnic Lunch

Saturday – Smith Family Devotional

Sunday, August 5 – Music and the Spoken Word

Sunday – Music and the Spoken Word

Video Clips

Log House build

Family Service Project – Sleep in Heavenly Peace – Bunk Beds

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Reunion News – April 27, 2018

Scholarship Contest

The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Association is offering annual scholarships to college, high school and junior high students who are planning to attend college or similar institution.

Up to $1,000

Deadline is July 1, 2018

How learning about the values and sacrifices of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith’s family can help me and my family honor their legacy.

Applicants do not need to be Smith Family descendants to enter. For more details go to https://josephsmithsr.org/scholarship/.

Inside the Smith family home in 1818, which was their second home in Palmyra.

  • The reconstruction is located on the site of the original.
  • The eight witnesses saw the golden plates in a grove near the log home.
  • Joseph’s first visit from Angel Moroni was here.
  • Joseph lived here at the time of the First Vision which occurred in the woods behind the home.

“Dreaming of a Heavenly Home”

Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Reunion

August 2-5, 2018

Reunion Registration Is Now Open!

Click on the above registration link or use: https://josephsmithsr.org/reunion/registration/.

You can look forward to:

  • Thursday night registration will be held in the lobby of the Church Office Building.
  • Friday morning, we will have a family gathering at the Conference Center’s Little Theater. The afternoon will be open for individual family groups to take tours and enjoy time together. In the evening we will have a family dinner in the lobby of the Conference Center. This is a unique opportunity to sit down and enjoy a meal together as one large happy family group. A devotional will be held after the dinner in the Conference Center’s Little Theater.
  • Saturday, we will have our service project, family memorial and photo, and a picnic lunch at This Is The Place Heritage Park at 2601 East Sunnyside Ave. There will be free time in the afternoon to enjoy This Is The Place Heritage Park. Saturday evening, we have a family meeting in downtown Salt Lake at the Assembly Hall.

Then of course we will have our last gathering attending Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday.


The Spring Family Newsletter Is Here

We had an unfortunate mix up on the database and we are sorry for the confusion with the newsletter mailing. You may have received someone else’s name to your address. We apologize for the error. We hope you understand that we won’t be able to resend the newsletter.

The pattern used on the cover of the newsletter was taken from a shawl that belonged to Lucy Mack Smith under the design work of Danielle Maddox.

We have attached a copy of the Spring Newsletter to this email blast. You can also view this information here: https://josephsmithsr.org/newsletter/2010-2019/spring-2018/.

Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Association Is Working with Sleep In Heavenly Peace

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

The Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Association is working with Sleep In Heavenly Peace for our summer’s service project. Sleep In Heavenly Peace was featured this month on a program called Returning The Favor. Please watch this clip https://www.facebook.com/ReturningTheFavor/videos/2020109721593621/ and see why their team stopped by Twin Falls, Idaho to meet Luke Mickelson who started Sleep in Heavenly Peace, an organization whose mission is to ensure that no child in their town ever has to sleep on the floor.

 

Click to donate toward our service project.

Or contribute by mail with checks or money orders to:

Joseph Smith Sr. Family Association
c/o Frances Orton
381 W 3700 N
Provo, UT 84604

Make a notation on the check: Sleep In Heavenly Peace.

2013 – This Is The Place Heritage Park

2014-Independence Temple Lot

2016 – Nauvoo Smith Family Cemetery

Steve & Frances Orton
Steve: steve.ortonio@gmail.com
Frances: ortonfrances@gmail.com
c/o Steve and Frances Orton
381 West 3700 North
Provo UT 84604

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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.