Sixth president; first disclosures
Joseph F. Smith
1838–1918
3 topics · 10 dated events · 2 sources
Their part in each topic
Utah Polygamy and the Manifesto
Sixth church president
Smith was the first witness at the Reed Smoot hearings in March 1904, where he acknowledged cohabiting with five wives and fathering eleven children since 1890 while denying that any plural marriage had been performed with the church's sanction. A month later he issued the Second Manifesto, attaching excommunication to new plural marriages worldwide.
Race and the Priesthood
Church president 1901–1918
For nearly thirty years Smith testified that Elijah Abel had been ordained a Seventy in Joseph Smith's day and held a certificate to prove it. In 1908 he told the council the opposite: that the ordination had been declared null and void by the Prophet himself. Under him the First Presidency and Twelve settled by 1907 that no member of Black African descent could receive priesthood or enter the temple.
Church Finances, Tithing, and the Transparency Question
Sixth president; first disclosures
Smith announced at April 1907 conference that the Church owed 'not a dollar that it cannot pay at once.' Under pressure from the 1904–07 Senate investigation of Reed Smoot, he acknowledged in 1904 that general authorities were supported from tithing, and in 1915 began the annual disclosure of how tithing was disbursed — describing it as a liberty he took because of the 'false charges' made against him. He also told, repeatedly, the story of his widowed mother insisting on paying tithing in potatoes.
In the timeline
10 events across 3 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.
John Taylor investigates, and Abel defends himself
Taylor convened a council after Abel again sought the endowment. Zebedee Coltrin and Abraham Smoot testified to recollections of Joseph Smith barring Black ordination. Abel produced his Seventy's certificates and stated that the Prophet Joseph had told him he was entitled to the priesthood. Joseph F. Smith supported Abel's account. Taylor let the ordination stand as made before the word of the Lord was fully understood, but refused the temple. Taylor called the seventy-three-year-old Abel on a final mission in 1883; he fell ill, returned to Utah, and died on 25 December 1884.
Joseph F. Smith testifies at the Smoot hearings
The church president was the first witness, testifying on six separate days. He acknowledged cohabiting with five wives and fathering eleven children since 1890, and said he had taken his chances rather than abandon his children and their mothers. Asked about new plural marriages, he distinguished acts sanctioned by the church from acts of individuals.
The Second Manifestohinge
Joseph F. Smith read a statement affirming that no plural marriages had been solemnized with the sanction, consent or knowledge of the church, and announcing that all such marriages were prohibited, with excommunication for any officer or member who solemnized or entered one. It was sustained unanimously.
Taylor and Cowley sign resignations
Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley, who had continued to marry and to solemnize plural marriages, signed resignations to be used if needed. They were formally dropped from the Quorum of the Twelve at the afternoon session of general conference on 8 April 1906.
The Presidency and Twelve settle the temple bar
By 1907, after a decade of questions about marriage and temple access for Black members and for white members previously married to Black spouses, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve had agreed that no member of Black African descent could receive the priesthood or be admitted to the temple. Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost remained open.
'The Church owes not a dollar that it cannot pay at once'
Joseph F. Smith announced to April conference: 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owes not a dollar that it cannot pay at once. At last we are in a position that we can pay as we go. We do not have to borrow any more, and will not have to if the Latter-day Saints continue to live their religion and observe this law of tithing. It is the law of revenue to the Church.' The bond issues floated under Snow were retired by 1903 and 1907.
Joseph F. Smith reverses himself on Elijah Abelhinge
Recounting Abel's case to the council for at least the fourth time, Smith now said that Abel had been ordained a Seventy by Joseph Young “but this ordination was declared null and void by the Prophet himself.” He had testified to the opposite for nearly thirty years, and the same year he wrote that priesthood once received could not be taken away except by transgression serious enough to forfeit membership.
Jane Manning James dies
She died at home in Salt Lake City in her nineties. Joseph F. Smith spoke at her funeral in the Eighth Ward meetinghouse, which was crowded with Black and white friends. Her autobiography, read at the service, ended in a fervent testimony. She had never received the endowment.
The First Presidency denies the neutrality teaching
Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund and Charles W. Penrose stated: “So far as we know, there is no revelation, ancient or modern, neither is there any authoritative statement by any of the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in support of that which many of our elders have advanced as doctrine, in effect that the negroes are those who were neutral in heaven at the time of the great conflict or war.”
The disclosure era begins
For the first time the Auditing Committee's annual report showed how the tithing of the Church had been disbursed. Joseph F. Smith explained that he was 'taking a liberty that has not been indulged in very much: but there have been so many false charges made against me and against my brethren by ignorant and evilly disposed people, that I propose to make a true statement.' Brunson reads the motive as pragmatic — short-circuiting criticism and reinforcing members' trust — rather than as the fulfilment of a commandment. Smith had already acknowledged in February 1904, during the era of the Senate's investigation of apostle-senator Reed Smoot, that tithing was the source of financial support for the general authorities.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
Joseph F. Smith
The contemporaneous telling of the Widow Smith potato story, the founding anecdote of tithing-from-poverty in Latter-day Saint preaching.
Official Statement (the "Second Manifesto"), Joseph F. Smith, general conference, 6 April 1904
Joseph F. Smith
The exact prohibitory language, including the threat of excommunication, and its reference back to Woodruff's declaration.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with Joseph F. Smith.
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