Samuel Smith is the younger brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was born on March 13, 1808 in Tunbridge, Vermont.
When Samuel was 19 years old in 1827, he was six feet tall, and endowed with “great strength, far exceeding that of ordinary men, enabl[ing] him to do an unusual amount of work.”
Samuel was privileged to be one of the eight witnesses of The Book of Mormon.
Samuel was baptized by Oliver Cowdery and was one of the six original members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
Samuel Smith is recognized as the first missionary of the restored Church of Jesus Christ. His mission helped lead to the baptisms of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball!
Samuel Smith met Mary Bailey while serving a mission with Orson Hyde in Boston. Mary Bailey moved to Kirtland Ohio and boarded with the Smith’s. Samuel started courting Mary and they married on Aug. 12, 1834.
Samuels and his family moved to Marrowbone, Daviess County, Missouri. The persecution of the Saints started escalating, and Samuel started making preparations to get his family out of the State. While Samuels was gone getting transportation for his family to leave the state they were attacked by the mob. Mary Smith was taken out of their home, “they took her by picking up the feather bed and carried her with her baby out into the sleet and rain and placed the bed on the ground. They then burned the house down to the ground.”(p.296). Mary never fully recovered from what happened that night in Missouri and it was said that “she never spoke above a whisper” again.
Samuel and his family were some of the first to seek refuge in Quincy Illinois.
In 1844 when Samuel had heard about the imprisonment of his brothers in Carthage Jail, he attempted to aid them. Samuel was met by a mob who prevented him from traveling to Carthage, he returned home with a new horse and tried again to get to Carthage. When he was close to the town he heard his brothers had died. The mob did not give up but Samuel was able to stay out of the range of their bullets and made it to Carthage.
Samuel was able to get his brothers bodies home to Nauvoo. When he got home he told his mother “Mother, I have had a dreadful distress in my side ever since I was chased by the mob, and I think I have received some injury which is going to make me sick.” He had bilious fever until he died on July 30, 1844, only 30 day’s after Hyrum and Joseph died.
Mother Lucy Mack Smith lost three of her sons in one month.
On Samuel Smiths obituary it says: “If ever there lived a good man upon the earth, Samuel H. Smith was that person.”
Other Blog Posts:
Places to Visit:
Smith Home, Palmyra New York
Whitmer Home, Fayette New York
Kirtland Ohio- where Samuel married his wife, Mary Bailey
Davis County Missouri-where the family lived and were persecuted by mobs.
Nauvoo, Illinois- lived with his family and helped build the town.
Carthage Jail-where his brothers were killed, and he died rescuing their bodies from the mob.
Smith Family Cemetery in Nauvoo Illinois- where Samuel is buried.