SMITH 



5414 



SMITH 



"A restless, vain, ambitious, overbearing, 

 blustering fellow, who made all men either his 

 hot friends or his hot enemies," one biographer 

 says of him; he nevertheless belonged to the 

 sane and wholesome class of men that can plan 

 and can do. His True Relation of Virginia, 

 Description of New England and The Summer 

 Isles are vigorously written and possess true 



are theLlTltS thatjheM 



lhatfhew thy Grate andglOQr, bryhter let : 

 i^ItyFaire-ifycoueries and JTowe-Over/ 

 Of Jabqgeimuch, Civittizd ly thet 

 Befcjtew 1%r Spirit-,and to it- Glory < 



'. artBrafie wtihautrjitt Qola\rtthin,, 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

 From an old painting. 



historical and geographical value. Smith was 

 a man of great energy and versatility, and will 

 always hold a high place as one of the found- 

 ers of American civilization. E.D.F. 



Consult Bradley's Captain John Smith; Jenks' 

 Captain John Smith. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will explain the references in the 

 above discussion of John Smith, and will give 

 further information : 

 Jamestown Saracens 



Pocahontas Virginia, subhead 



Powhatan History 



SMITH, JOSEPH (1805-1844), the founder of 

 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 

 Saints, more commonly known as the Mor- 

 mons, was born t at Sharon, Vt. Early in life 



JOSEPH SMITH 

 The founder of the Mormon 

 Church. 



he showed those hereditary tendencies that 

 had so large a part in shaping his career, for 

 both his parents and grandparents were believ- 

 ers in heavenly visions and miraculous cures. 

 The Smith family moved to Manchester, near 

 Palmyra, N. Y, 

 in 1819, and the 

 boy began work 

 as a farm laborer. 

 In 1820, during a 

 season of reli- 

 gious revival, he 

 received, accord- 

 ing to his own 

 account, a vision 

 directing him not 

 to join any exist- 

 ing religious sect, 

 but to await spir- 

 itual guidance as 

 to his future. 

 This was the first of the series of visions which 

 were the inspiration of the Book of Mormon 

 and out of which developed the great Church 

 now centered at Salt Lake City, Utah. 



In these visions he was told where he would 

 find buried a number of gold plates, upon 

 which were inscribed "the fullness of the ever- 

 lasting gospel." He was told, as he himself 

 said, to dig in a mound four miles from Pal- 

 myra, and there he claimed to have found the 

 plates. These he translated from the "re- 

 formed Egyptian," in which he said they were 

 written. He did this work shielded behind a 

 thick curtain. The information they con- 

 tained, which is embodied in the Book of 

 Mormon, he made the foundation of his new 

 Church. This sect, which he named the Church 

 of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or the 

 Mormon Church, was organized in 1830 at 

 Fayette, N. Y. Smith claimed to have received 

 the priesthood of Aaron from John the Bap- 

 tist, and the priesthood of Melchizedek from 

 Peter, James and John. His followers quickly 

 recognized him as a prophet, and, as the re- 

 ligious unrest of the times was favorable to 

 the founding of a new sect, he soon was the 

 leader of a very considerable number of Mor- 

 mon believers. 



Shortly after the organization of the Church 

 at Fayette, Smith sent out a number of mis- 

 sionaries. Among their first converts was Sid- 

 ney Rigdon, then pastor of a church of the 

 Disciples of Christ in Mentor, Ohio. Rigdon 

 at once became a Mormon leader, and in 1831 

 accompanied Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, where 



