Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Samuel Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Samuel Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Samuel Smith
(1808–44)
Born in Tunbridge, Vermont, Samuel Smith was a younger brother of Joseph Smith Jr. Samuel was baptized by Oliver Cowdery in May 1829 and was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon a month later. On 6 April 1830, he became one of the six original members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In June of that year, he was ordained an elder and went on a mission to New York. After being called by revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 52:30; 61:35; 66:8; 75:13), he later served missions to Ohio, Missouri, and the eastern United States. Samuel was ordained a high priest in June 1831, attended the School of the Prophets beginning in 1833, and was appointed a member of the first Kirtland, Ohio, high council in 1834 (Doctrine and Covenants 102:3). He married Mary Bailey in 1834. He briefly lived in Missouri before leaving with the rest of the Saints, after which he moved to Quincy, Illinois, and then to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he was appointed a bishop in 1841 (Doctrine and Covenants 124:141). Early that same year his wife died; he was remarried to Levira Clark later in 1841. Samuel died in Nauvoo only a month after his brothers Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred.
References in the Doctrine and Covenants