SMITH 



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SMITH 



he gave valuable assistance to his leader in 

 establishing the new sect. There a general 

 store, a steam sawmill and a tannery' were 

 soon being operated by them; land was bought 

 and a great city platted, and in 1836 they con- 

 secrated a stone temple. Another of the early 

 converts was Brigham Young, who joined 

 Smith at Kirtland in 1832, and whose qualities 

 of leadership, persuasive eloquence and practi- 

 cal sense were destined to exert a powerful 

 influence on the history of the Church. 



Difficulties beset the community at Kirt- 

 land from the beginning. There were persecu- 

 tions from without and dissensions within the 

 body, and an attempt to depose Smith was 

 thwarted only by the determined opposition of 

 Young and Rigdon. Nevertheless, before the 

 settlement broke up, most of the details of the 

 Church organization were worked out. During 

 the years at Kirtland, Smith, with untiring zeal, 

 was sending out missionaries and attempting to 

 spread his doctrines in the states farther west. 

 Mormon emigration to Missouri had begun as 

 early as 1830, and in 1838, when the settlers in 

 Kirtland were driven out, Smith and Rigdon 

 fled to a new settlement called Far West (now 

 Kerr), in Caldwell County, Mo. There the 

 Mormons were in conflict with the native Mis- 

 sourians from the beginning, and Far West 

 soon surrendered to a force of state militia. 



The scene of Smith's activities was then re- 

 moved to Nauvoo, 111., where a numerous body 

 of his followers was already encamped. In 

 December, 1840, the state legislature granted 

 them a charter giving Smith nearly unlimited 

 civil authority. The city grew rapidly, a uni- 

 versity was established, and in 1841 the foun- 

 dation of their new temple was laid. Yet the 

 fair outlook in the new and beautiful settle- 

 ment was not destined to fulfil its promise. 

 Smith aroused enmity here, as elsewhere, be- 

 cause of his clashes with civil authority. Fur- 

 thermore, it became rumored that he had a 

 revelation establishing and approving polyg- 

 amy, which aroused indignation throughout 

 the community. A newspaper was established 

 to oppose him, the editors of which were driven 

 out of the city. In 1844 there was a general 

 uprising against the Mormons, and Smith put 

 Nauvoo under martial law. 



At this critical period his most efficient lieu- 

 tenant, Brigham Young, was away on a gospel 

 mission to the Eastern states, and the Mormon 

 leader found the tide too strong for him. Ar- 

 rested on the charge of treason, Joseph and 

 Hyrum Smith (a brother) and others were 



placed in the jail at Carthage on June 25. On 

 the night of the 27th a mob, aided by the 

 militia guard, broke into the prison and shot 

 the two brothers. M.M.B. 



Related Subjects. In connection with this 

 study of Joseph Smith, the reader will find the 

 following articles of interest : 

 Latter Day Saints Salt Lake City 



Mormons Utah 



Polygamy Young, Brigham 



SMITH, SAMUEL FRANCIS (1809-1895), an 

 American poet and clergyman, born at Boston. 

 He graduated from Harvard in 1829 in the 

 same class with Oliver Wendell Holmes an/1 

 James Freeman Clarke, and pursued further 

 study in Andover Theological Seminary. He 

 was ordained in the Baptist ministry in 1834, 

 and in that year became pastor of a church 

 at Waterville, Me., and professor of modern 

 languages in Waterville College. He was a 

 pastor at Newton, Mass., from 1842 to 1854, 

 at the same time edited The Christian Review, 

 published at Boston, and took an active part in 

 preparing the publications of the American 

 Baptist Missionary Union. At length he de- 

 voted most of his time to the work of this 

 Union, and made two trips around the world 

 investigating its numerous stations. 



His fame rests upon his authorship of 

 America, first sung in Park Street Church, 

 Boston, July 4, 1832; but he wrote a large 

 number of other well-known hymns, among 

 them The Morning Light is Breaking. He was 

 author of several books on missionary topics, 

 such as Missionary Sketches and Rambles in 

 Mission Fields, but is remembered to-day al- 

 most solely for the poem which is popularly, 

 but not legally, the national anthem of the 

 United States. For the details of the origin of 

 America, see the article under that title. 



SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845), an English 

 clergyman and humorist, born at Woodford, 

 Essex. He graduated from New College, Ox- 

 ford, where he was later given a fellowship, and 

 in 1794 he became curate of Nether Avon, on 

 the Salisbury Plain. Four years later he re- 

 moved to Edinburgh, where he engaged in 

 preaching and tutoring, and where he aided 

 Brougham, Jeffrey and other men of eminence 

 to establish the Edinburgh Review. To this 

 periodical he continued to contribute for 

 twenty-five years. In 1804 he began in Lon- 

 don a series of lectures on moral philosophy 

 which were brought to an end in 1806 when he 

 became rector of Foston-le : Clay in Yorkshire. 

 After twenty-two years of service here he was 



