Joseph Wakefield

(1792–1835)

Joseph Wakefield was born in Dublin, New Hampshire. He married Eunice Sawyer in 1812. He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and ordained an elder and then a high priest by June 1831. He was called by revelation to serve missions in 1831 (Doctrine and Covenants 50:37; 52:35). In 1831–1832 he served a mission to New York and other states in the eastern United States, after which he moved to the Kirtland, Ohio, area. Before 1833, presumably after his first wife died, he married Miss Pepper. He was excommunicated by January 1834 and was a member of a committee trying to prove the Book of Mormon was a work of fiction.

References in the Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants 50, 52

Additional Information

Biographical facts and sources, The Joseph Smith Papers

Joseph Wakefield in the Church History Biographical Database

See Joseph Wakefield in FamilySearch