Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family Organization

http://www.ldsmag.com/index.php?option=com_zine&view=article&ac=1&id=7538

By Mark Albright

Mark Albright is the president of the Washington DC South mission and shares these missionary stories with Meridian Magazine. This letter comes from Gracia N. Jones.

If you want to share a missionary story, send it to President Albright by clicking on the “email author button” by the title of the article. Please note the names of new converts and investigators may be changed to maintain privacy.

Dear President Albright,

My name is Gracia Normandeau Jones. On 17 March 2011, I will celebrate the fifty-fifth anniversary of my baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My grandmother, Coral, was a granddaughter of Joseph and Emma Hale Smith; her father, Alexander Hale Smith, was their third surviving son. Many people ask how it is I am a convert when I am a great-great granddaughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was several years after my conversion before I finally pieced together the family history and learned the reason my family had never spoken of Joseph Smith.

In the terrifying aftermath of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and his elder brother, Hyrum, at Carthage, Illinois, in 1844, my great-great-grandmother, Emma, was left widowed, with four minor children: adopted daughter, Julia, 12; and sons, Joseph III, 11 ½, Frederick, 8, Alexander Hale, 6, and David Hyrum born 4 ½ months later. Amid great distress, Emma chose not go west when the LDS Church was forced to leave Illinois in 1846. Except for a brief time when she fled to safety during the mob hostilities from September 1846 to January 1847, she brought up her children in Nauvoo. With the LDS Church gone from Nauvoo, and the neighborhood hostile toward anyone who professed belief in it, the Smith children missed being raised in the LDS faith.

About fifteen years after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and the exodus of the Mormons from Illinois, young Joseph Smith III was, in 1860, recruited by a group calling themselves “The Reorganization,” which soon became The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS). His decision threw his family into a quandary, with the brothers reacting in different ways. Frederick held back, refusing to become involved, but young David Hyrum eagerly embraced the faith and became actively involved in writing hymns and preaching. Like Frederick, Alexander had held back from any religion, until Frederick suddenly died in 1862.

Shocked into considering the need to be baptized, as he understood from reading the Bible, Alexander feared for his brother Frederick’s spiritual fate. At the age of twenty-four, he accepted baptism into the RLDS Church. For nearly fifty years, Alexander served as a missionary, apostle, and counselor in the RLDS presidency and was presiding patriarch at the time of his death in 1909. Alexander, and his brother, David Hyrum, made several trips to Utah as RLDS missionaries, contending against the Utah Mormon faith with great zeal. The conflicts engendered during these trips gave rise to great animosity in the hearts of people on both sides of the issue, laying ground for prejudice which has persisted for over a century.

Joseph Smith III’s large family, and David Hyrum’s one son, Elbert, were headquartered in Lamoni, Decatur, Iowa; Alexander’s family of nine children remained in Illinois and then southern Iowa while he traveled in his world-wide ministry. Nearly all of the family was affiliated with the RLDS Church and remained closely knit in Iowa and Missouri until the mid-1920s. Then, driven by divisive conflicts over leadership style and economic crisis, which swept the United States in the 20’s, the Smith family was more or less scattered to the north, south, east and west.

Gracia with Joseph Fielding Smith and Jesse Evans Smith, 1968.

It was the untimely financial crisis which forced my grandparents, Coral and Louis Horner, from their dairy farm in southern Iowa, another in western Nebraska, and another in Wyoming. In 1932 they finally moved to the Flathead Valley, settling in northwestern Montana, at Ronan, Lake County, where my mother, Lorena, the youngest of their four children finished high school and married my father, Rupert A. Normandeau, in 1935.

I was born, the second of my parent’s four children, in Ronan, Lake County, Montana. Our home was in the middle of the Flathead Indian Reservation. My dad was a member of the Flathead Indian Tribe and through him I am also a member of that tribe. He developed a ranch west of Ronan in the community of Round Butte and created one of the first “Grade A” dairies in that part of the country. There was little time in our busy lives for organized church attendance. My parents were diligent in teaching their four children the good Christian principles of honesty, good manners, and the virtue of hard work. My parents always advocated tolerance for all people.

I had a mixed religious experience since my father’s family was Catholic and my mother, notwithstanding she was a great granddaughter of Joseph Smith, was Protestant, though she had never been baptized. Her mother was never able to live near an RLDS Church. Therefore, she sometimes served as organist in the Methodist Church and even taught Sunday school. She did not talk about her family’s past; she never discussed the story of the restoration with her children other than to tell them her grandfather had seen an angel. I never, as a child, heard my grandmother speak the name of Joseph Smith, though she did one time speak of “the martyrs.” I didn’t understand what she was referring to, and nobody explained.

One time, when I was in grade school, I brought home my history book. My mother was always interested in reading what we were studying in school. When she discovered a brief historical account of Joseph Smith having founded communities, and that he started a religious movement, she said to me, “Joseph Smith is your great-great grandfather, but don’t you ever tell anybody.”

The subject never came up again until years later, after our family had moved east of the Rocky Mountains, to Conrad, Montana. That fall I was about to enter into my senior year of high school. It was kind of tough trying to fit into a new town and begin in a new school. One thing I needed was to earn money, so I found a job babysitting for a family named Lederer. Dee Lederer had two youngsters and needed help. I fell in love with the children and eagerly began working after school and on weekends to assist this woman whose husband was away. It was an ideal situation, as we got along very well from the start. Soon after I began working for her, my mother took me aside and said, “Don’t you tell HER you are related to Joseph Smith; she’ll think you should be a Mormon.”

Having never heard the word “Mormon,” I couldn’t imagine what she meant. My mother’s attitude and tone of voice seemed to forbid my asking any questions. I thought it was really strange.

I was curious, but I didn’t dare ask. It was not too long before my curiosity about “Joseph Smith” would be satisfied.

One day my employer told me a really fantastic story about a man named Joseph Smith, whom she said, was “a prophet.” I didn’t understand. In my mind, the word sounded like “profit”. I thought “profit” was the difference between what you bought something for and what you could sell it for. She soon explained to me that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Bible. I had heard those Bible stories, but I had no real concept of what a “prophet” was. It seemed like myth, but she made it sound very special. It only took a little discussion to realize that the Joseph Smith she was talking about was my great-great grandfather, who my mother said not to talk about. I was intrigued and curious. Soon I found myself telling her that my great-great grandfather was Joseph Smith. Her reaction was surprise and delight.

A few days later she called me in the morning to ask, “Can you come over after school? The missionaries want to give you a gift.”

Well, I had no idea what a “missionary” was, but I knew that those two cute guys living in her basement apartment were called “missionaries”. I had not met them, but I’d seen them a time or two at a distance. They were really cute guys, and I was seventeen years old. What could I say? “Sure, I’ll be there.”

At the time I had no concept of what was about to transpire; now after many years, I understand that she must have talked to those two young men, explaining to them who I was, preparing them to make a most important presentation.

When I walked into the kitchen that day, Dee Lederer introduced me to Elder Waldron and Elder Richins. In a few moments, one of them held out a little black book to me, and he said, “This is The Book of Mormon. It was translated by the gift and power of God, by your great-great grandfather, and it is true.”

As I took the book into my hands, I was swept over with a very intense feeling, almost like an electric shock, or vibration. In my mind echoed the words, “It’s true! It’s REALLY TRUE!”

As I look back over the span of more than half a century, I can still feel the powerful sense of assurance of the truth of the testimony just spoken to me and the truth of the book I was holding in my hands. Although I have spent years of research and study in The Book of Mormon, and about it, gaining deeper and deeper appreciation for the sacred witness it contains–that Jesus Christ was and is God’s son, and the Redeemer and Savior of all mankind–I do not know more surely now, in my spirit, that the Book of Mormon is really true, than I did at that moment. That spiritual witness remains as clear and strong with each passing year. Naturally, having such strong conviction of the truth of this message, I wanted to learn more. Because I was under age I had to have permission from my parents before the missionaries could teach me more about the Church. I was not prepared for the reaction of my normally tolerant parents. They were very disturbed; my father urged me, “Don’t get involved with those people!” (meaning the Mormons).

My questions to my mother were very upsetting to her. She would not answer my questions. She was very unwilling to talk about it at all. It took years before she was able to open up and reveal that she had not kept any secrets from me—she did not know anything other than that there was something in the past connected with her great-grandfather which could not be discussed. Her own mother’s reaction any time the subject came up had been very negative—very emotionally distressing. She had learned to just not talk about it.

Because I was so insistent that I wanted to take the missionary discussions, my parents reluctantly gave me permission. They had spent all my life up to that point teaching that we were not to be ignorant or intolerant of others. That worked in my favor and I was able to take the lessons at the Lederer home. However, when I finished the lessons and asked my father for permission to be baptized, he refused, saying, “Not under my roof.” His statement was clear and his meaning was that he felt I was too young to know what I was doing.

The time passed slowly. My missionaries were transferred. I managed to study The Book of Mormon, and came to appreciate the correlation between it and the Bible, which I also read for the first time. I came to appreciate the “marvelous work and a wonder” that had been revealed to the earth through the efforts of my great-great grandfather. My testimony grew stronger and I began to learn to have faith in my Heavenly Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I could not be baptized until after I turned of age.

Shortly after my eighteenth birthday I left home and prepared to be baptized. There was a baptism planned in Great Falls, Montana, which was in our district of the Western States Mission, 65 miles away from where I was living. When the day for my baptism came, nobody from my little Conrad Branch could attend. Everyone was involved in putting on a dinner. It was a very big event for them and everyone was involved. I would learn later, it was the birthday of the Relief Society organization, March 17th. My great-great grandmother, Emma was the first woman to serve as president of the Relief Society.

I was baptized by a strange missionary and confirmed by another strange missionary. Nobody there knew of my relationship to Joseph Smith. It didn’t occur to me that I was doing anything out of the ordinary. When I was confirmed, the blessing given me suggested that the Lord was very pleased with my choice to become a member of His church and that my talents and abilities would be useful to the Kingdom of God on this earth.

Gracia with Conrad Montana Branch youth group at Cardston Temple 1956

I joined the Church in 1956. I was the third descendant of Joseph and Emma to be baptized into the church. I am the first to remain active and the first to receive temple ordinances. The first descendant baptized was Joseph III, who was baptized in the Mississippi River by his father when he was a young boy. The second was a granddaughter, Alice Frederica Smith, daughter of Joseph and Emma’s son, Frederick. Alice joined the LDS Church[i] in Chicago, and was baptized on 6 January 1915. She then renounced her action, and was baptized by her cousin, Elbert A. Smith, into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She later renounced that religion as well.

She never married, so she had no posterity when she died in 1932.

Therefore, at the time of my baptism, I was the only descendant of Joseph Smith in the Church. That circumstance would stand for a good many years until a few of my cousins began to come into the waters of baptism. Michael Kennedy, baptized in 1973, became the first to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and now leads the Joseph Smith Jr., Family Organization, and founded the Joseph Smith Jr., and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society (www.josephsmithjr.org). Eventually, twenty-three years after I was baptized, my mother, Lorena H. Normandeau was baptized on 9 May 1979. Five years later, 9 May 1984, she entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah–the first descendant of Joseph Smith to serve as a full-time missionary in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her field of service: Independence, Missouri.

I received my patriarchal blessing, in 1956. In it I was told that it was not by accident that I had been brought into this Church, but that I would fulfill a beautiful mission. Understanding of that statement has unfolded line upon line, as my mission in this life has unfolded. From being a young teenaged convert, I then became a wife and mother, a teacher, a researcher, an author. In my books I boldly testify that I believe The Book of Mormon to be the word of God; I love the Prophet Joseph Smith and rejoice in the magnificent foundation he laid for the gospel to be preached in the entire world. I treasure the testimony he gives this generation that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of all who will heed and embrace this great plan of happiness.

In my confirmation blessing when I was told that my talents would be useful, I wondered what it meant. I cannot play the piano or organ in church. I do not sing except in groups. I have never developed creative skills for crafts or don’t have patience to make beautiful quilts. I wondered a long time before I figured out what talent I have that is useful to the Lord, sufficient to be labeled, ‘a beautiful mission.’ It is, I believe, the talent to see all sides of any issue. It is impossible for me to hold a grudge or bear any animosity toward anyone.

Gracia with 10 grandchildren, July 2010.

Now that I am engaged in the work of gathering the scattered posterity of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife Emma, I realize that I have the talent to simply love them. I know that some have heavy burdens of family prejudice which may never be lifted in this mortal life. I know that others are committed to the creeds and faiths in which they have found spiritual and social comfort or solace—they may never be ‘converted’. Let them worship who, what, when or how they may, I love them, and I wish to dispel the prejudice that binds the minds and hearts of so many.

My ongoing passion is to find each descendant, to bond with them as kin, through family reunions, or perhaps just through one-on-one visits, in person, or on the phone. I want to teach them to know and respect their ancestor, Joseph Smith, and his wife Emma. In this labor I am greatly blessed to have my wonderful husband, Ivor Jones, to share the burdens and the joys of our endless travels in search of the dear ones we have yet to find. Our dearest wish is that every descendant of Joseph and Emma could somehow come to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that The Book of Mormon is really, really, true.

Sincerely,

Gracia N. Jones
_____________________________________________________________________

[i] Northern States Mission, “A Record of Baptism and Confirmations for 1915”, Northern States Mission Records, CR 375 8, reel #3091, (LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, UT), pages 22-263) For Annie’s parentage, see Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Smith and Emma Hale, p. 579-580.)

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

Volume 8, spring 2001

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