Isaac and Elizabeth Hale Home

The Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home is the home of Emma Hale Smith’s parents. About 1810, when Emma was about six years old, the Hale family moved from the log home where she was born to this stately frame home. It was where she lived when she first met Joseph Smith Jr.

In 1790, Isaac and Elizabeth Hale settled in Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Isaac had bought a 100-acre farm. For the next 20 years, the Hale family worked to develop their farm (which grew to 150 acres), built a small log home, and carved out a living in the Pennsylvania wilderness. Isaac also built a profitable business as a hunter, selling wild game and leather products downriver. He also cut lumber, grazed sheep, and tapped maple trees for maple syrup and sugar. Elizabeth gave birth to five sons and four daughters in those early years. About 1810, the Hale family moved to a two-story home recently completed near their log home. The current home is a reconstruction of the original Hale Family home on the location where the home once stood.

Joseph Smith Jr. first met the Hale family in October 1825 when he and his father had been hired by Josiah Stowell to help dig for silver in the area. Isaac Hale allowed Josiah Stowell’s work crew to board in the old log home on his property for about three weeks. During this time, Joseph first met and began courting Isaac Hale’s daughter Emma. During the following season, Josiah Stowell offered Joseph Smith Jr. other work on his farm in nearby Colesville, New York, to allow Joseph and Emma to continue their courtship. The two were married in January 1827.

After their marriage, they first lived with Joseph’s family in Manchester, New York. Shortly after Joseph received the gold plates, he and Emma moved to Harmony where they eventually purchased a home from Emma’s family.

Read more about Joseph’s time at the Hale Home in Saints Volume 1, Chapter 4.

360° Walkthrough

What to Expect

The Isaac and Elizabeth Hale Home is part of the guided tour available at the Priesthood Restoration Site. Tours begin at the Visitors’ Center. During the tour you will explore the kitchen, parlor, and bedrooms.