President of the Reorganization
Joseph Smith III
1832–1914
1 topic · 1 dated event · 20 sources
Their part in each topic
The Succession Crisis of 1844
President of the Reorganization
Eleven years old when his father was killed, he refused every approach for fifteen years, then in 1860 accepted the presidency of the 'New Organization' that Jason Briggs and Zenas Gurley had built on the principle of lineal succession. He led the Reorganized Church for fifty-four years, rejecting plural marriage and denying that his father had practised it.
In the timeline
1 events across 1 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.
Joseph Smith III is ordained at Amboyhinge
At twenty-seven, after fifteen years of refusing, Joseph Smith III travelled with his mother Emma to the April conference of the 'New Organization' at Amboy, Illinois, and was ordained President of the High Priesthood. The body soon dropped 'New Organization' and took the 1838 name, later adding 'Reorganized.' It rejected plural marriage and, over the following two decades, most of the other Nauvoo innovations.
Sources in their own name
Source records in the database whose author line names this person. Each links to the topic that uses it.
The Book of Mormon (1830 edition)
Joseph Smith Jr.
The text as it was first published, including the one-paragraph preface on the lost manuscript, the title page, the copyright notice, and the pre-1837 readings such as 'the mother of God' at 1 Nephi 11:18.
Joseph Smith Jr. and Frederick G. Williams
The only account of the vision partly in Joseph Smith's own handwriting: one personage, forgiveness of sins, and 'the 16th year of my age.'
Book of Commandments (1833) and Doctrine and Covenants (1835 first edition)
Joseph Smith and others
The church's own foundational scripture in the 1830s says only that a remission of sins was 'manifested unto this first elder' before an angel ministered to him — no theophany, no two personages.
Doctrine and Covenants (1835 first edition)
Joseph Smith and others
The June 1829 revelation promising Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris a view of the plates 'by your faith' — the instruction that precedes and shapes the Three Witnesses' experience.
Joseph Smith Jr., scribe Warren Parrish
Two retellings five days apart: two personages plus 'many angels' on 9 November, and 'the first visitation of Angels which was when I was about 14, years old' on 14 November.
History, 1834–1836 (Kirtland journal-derived history)
Joseph Smith, Warren Parrish, Frederick G. Williams
Day-by-day Kirtland entries: labor on the Egyptian alphabet on 1 October 1835 when 'the system of astronomy was unfolded,' and the 17 November exhibition of 'the Alphabet of the ancient Egyptian Records' to the visitor Erastus Holmes.
History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834]
Joseph Smith Jr. and scribes
The manuscript behind the canonized account: the revival frame, the struggle with an unseen power, and 'I saw two personages.'
Elders' Journal of the Church of Latter Day Saints (1837–1838)
Joseph Smith, editor
That the Fourth of July oration was not a rogue speech: the church's own paper, edited by Smith, recommended that members obtain the pamphlet.
Joseph Smith
Smith's contemporaneous, favorable reference to 'a company of Danites' — the strongest primary evidence that he knew of and approved the band.
Doctrine and Covenants 119 and 120
Joseph Smith Jr.
The canonical basis of tithing — 'one-tenth of all their interest annually' — and of the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes that authorizes all expenditure.
History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838]
Joseph Smith and clerks
The July 1835 statement that Smith was 'continually engaged in translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arrangeing a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients.'
History, circa June 1839–circa 1841 [Draft 2]
Joseph Smith Jr. and scribes
The working draft of the 1838–39 history, carrying the 'join none of them, for they were all wrong' answer and the creeds-are-an-abomination language.
"Church History," 1 March 1842 (the Wentworth letter), Times and Seasons 3:706–10
Joseph Smith Jr.
Smith's own public summary for a newspaper editor: 'about fourteen years of age,' two personages, a commandment to 'go not after them,' and no 'This is My Beloved Son.'
Times and Seasons, Volume 3 (1841–1842)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Joseph Smith, editor)
The Book of Abraham as published: Facsimile 1 and Abraham 1:1–2:18 on 1 March, Facsimile 2 and the remainder on 15 March, Facsimile 3 on 16 May, each facsimile with Joseph Smith's own numbered explanation.
Revelation to Newel K. Whitney, 27 July 1842 (sealing of Sarah Ann Whitney)
Joseph Smith Jr.
The only known revelation giving the words of a plural-marriage ceremony, dictated for a seventeen-year-old bride's father to speak.
Revelation, 12 July 1843 [Doctrine and Covenants 132]
Joseph Smith Jr.
The text of the plural-marriage revelation, including its terms for virgins, its threat to Emma Smith, and its date of recording.
Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith—History
Joseph Smith Jr.
The canonical text as Latter-day Saints read it today, canonized in 1880 — the version against which every other account is measured.
Bill of sale, Lewis C. Bidamon and Emma Bidamon to A. Combs, 26 May 1856
Lewis C. Bidamon, Emma Smith Bidamon, Joseph Smith III
That the mummies and records were 'purchased by the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith at the price of twenty four hundred dollars in the year Eighteen hundred thirty-five,' and how the collection left the family.
"Last Testimony of Sister Emma," Saints' Herald, 1 October 1879
Emma Smith Bidamon, interviewed by Joseph Smith III
The closest eyewitness account of the mechanics of dictation, from the person who wrote first and had least to gain.
Last Testimony of Sister Emma, Saints' Herald, 1 October 1879
Joseph Smith III (interviewer); Emma Smith Bidamon
Emma Smith's final recorded denial that her husband ever had another wife, and the RLDS position built on it.
Appears alongside
People who share the most dated events with Joseph Smith III.
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