Smith, Joseph

Smith, Joseph (1805–44),founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐Day Saints, commonly called Mormon, was born in Vermont and raised in Palmyra, N.Y., an area of ephemeral revivalist sects. He had virtually no formal education, but at the age of 14 he seems to have undergone the first of a series of visions that culminated in 1823 with the appearance of an angel, Moroni, and the discovery of a book written on golden plates. After the angel delivered them to Smith (1827), he moved to Pennsylvania and, with the aid of a magic device called Urim and Thummim, translated and published them as the Book of Mormon (1830). He founded his church in New York state that year and, aided by Sidney Rigdon, gained many followers. The leaders and their flock moved to Ohio and then Missouri (1831), but friction drove them to Nauvoo, Ill. (1839). There Smith ruled so autocratically that Rigdon and others seceded, also in part because of Smith's revelation (1843) sanctioning polygamy. He destroyed the press of a paper that opposed him, and while jailed for this act, a mob broke in and killed him and his brother Hyrum. This martyrdom stabilized the church, which, under the leadership of Brigham Young, moved to Utah (1847).

Joseph Smith (1832–1914), his son, having failed to become president in 1852, founded the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐day Saints, which disavowed polygamy. Under his leadership this church grew to c. 70,000 members. By 1990 it numbered more than 200,000 members.