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Smith (JOSEPH the founder)

JOSEPH, the founder of the Mormons; born in Sharon, Windsor co., Vt., Dec. 23, 1805. He was revered as a prophet by his followers. His parents were poor farmers who went to Palmyra, N. Y., in the hope of bettering their condition, taking Joseph with them, about 1815. Later the family removed to Manchester in the same State. According to his own story regarding his earlier years, he worked hard on his father's farm. But the "oldest settlers" reported that the family had an aversion to hard toil of any kind and seemed inclined to lead thriftless lives, spending much time in digging for possible hidden treasure.

About 1820 Joseph claimed to be a constant witness of supernatural visions and to be gifted with a supernatural sight.

He pretended that he received in 1828 a divine revelation inscribed in mysterious hieroglyphics on golden plates which were delivered to him by an angel, and that the "Book of Mormon," which he published in 1830, was translated from those golden plates. The translation was dictated by him while he sat behind a curtain as if in the society of mysterious spiritual companions. He gathered a number of converts, and as "prophet" went with them first to Kirtland, O., and afterward to Independence, Mo. See MORMONS.