John Smith (Mormon)

John Smith

John Smith ( July 16, 1781 in Derryfield , New Hampshire , † May 23, 1854 in Salt Lake City , Utah Territory ), known as Uncle John , was a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .

John Smith was the younger brother of Joseph Smith, Sr. , uncle of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith , father of George A. Smith, grandfather of John Henry Smith, and great-grandfather of George Albert Smith . He served on the First Presiding High Council of Kirtland, Ohio , as an additional counselor in the First Presidency under Joseph Smith, and as Supreme Patriarch under Brigham Young . He succeeded his great-nephew John Smith as Supreme Patriarch.

Smith served as the president of the Lee County Iowa Stake during the Nauvoo period . He was the first president of the Salt Lake Stake, the first in the Utah Territory, to serve as leader of the Latter-day Saints in Utah for the winter of 1847–1848.

Smith practiced polygamy and had four children. He died in Salt Lake City and was buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery.

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  Monument to John Smith, among others

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  Back of the monument

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  Tombstone of John Smith

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Smith in Lawrence R. Flake, Prophets and Apostles of the Last Dispensation (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2001), 311-313.
2. ↑ John Smith (1781-1854) on mormonbiography.org

Further literature

• Jeremy C. Schwendiman: Uncle of the Prophet - The Life and Achievements of John Smith . Eborn Books, Salt Lake City 2016, ISBN 978-1-890718-47-3 .