Joseph F. Smith

Joseph F. Smith was the sixth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph was 5 years old when his father, Hyrum Smith, was martyred and 13 when his mother, Mary Fielding Smith, died. At age 15, Joseph F. Smith served a mission to the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), the first of several missions he served to Hawaii and Britain. In 1866 he was ordained an Apostle and called to the First Presidency as a counselor to Brigham Young; it was not until the next year that he was set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.¹ Smith married 5 women and had 48 children, 5 of whom were adopted. His family was characterized by close, supportive relationships. After serving as a counselor to four Church Presidents, Smith was sustained as President of the Church in 1901.

Photograph of Joseph F. Smith.

In the 17 years he led the Church, Joseph F. Smith had a significant influence on the experience of Church members in their wards or branches. Under his direction, major reforms in priesthood quorum organization were introduced, including standardizing meeting frequencies and curriculum materials, setting ordination ages for different priesthood offices, and emphasizing channels of priesthood authority.²

During his years as Church President, Smith also worked to improve the relationship between the Church and the broader public. In 1904 he appeared before the United States Congress as part of hearings conducted over whether to seat Reed Smoot, an Apostle who had been elected to the Senate.³ As he continued efforts to reach out to the broader public, Smith ultimately witnessed a marked reduction in hostility toward the Church.

Smith launched the family home evening (now referred to as home evening) and seminary programs and helped the Church establish a presence at its historic sites in the eastern United States. In 1918 Smith received a vision of the spirit world, which was later added to the scriptures as Doctrine and Covenants 138.

For more information about the life of Joseph F. Smith, see the Prophets of the Restoration videos on history.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library app.

Church Resources

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1998).

M. Russell Ballard, “The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,” Ensign, Oct. 2018, 71–74.

Lisa Olsen Tait, “Susa Young Gates and the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,” in Matthew McBride and James Goldberg, eds., Revelations in Context: The Stories behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016), 315–22.

“The Spirit World,” The Latter-day Saint Channel Q&A, episode 26.

Joseph F. Smith papers, 1854–1918, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.

Bibliography

The following publications provide further information about this topic. By referring or linking you to these resources, we do not endorse or guarantee the content or the views of the authors.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith, Sixth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938).

George S. Tate, “‘The Great World of the Spirits of the Dead’: Death, the Great War, and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic as Context for Doctrine and Covenants 138,” BYU Studies, vol. 46, no. 1 (2007), 4–40.

Notes

1. See Topic: Succession of Church Leadership.

2. See Topic: Adjustments to Priesthood Organization.

3. Many Americans at the time, suspicious that Church leaders secretly continued to encourage the illegal practice of plural marriage, questioned whether a Latter-day Saint Apostle was fit to be a senator. They argued that he would be more loyal to the Church than to his duty to uphold the laws of the United States. See “The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage,” Gospel Topics Essays, topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.