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1805–20.

BIRTHPLACE OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH—HIS ANCESTOR—REMOVAL TO NEW YORK STATE—A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL.

It was two days before Christmas in the year eighteen hundred and five, and cold winter had already set in. The Green Mountains of Vermont were white with the snow that had fallen, and now it lay also in the valleys and upon the level land. It was the season when men celebrate the birth of our Savior, and they felt in their hearts the gladness and peace that come with Christmas tide.

Twenty miles east of the Green Mountains, on the White River, a branch of the Connecticut, lies the little town of Sharon. To a humble family living there, came additional joy that day. A son was born, and, though they knew it not, he was destined to be very great. He was not the first-born, two sons and a daughter had come before; but none the less did his parents welcome him. They gave him his father's name—Joseph Smith—a good name and never tarnished by an evil deed, but one to be known for both good and evil through all the world.

The boy came of goodly parentage. The Smiths, since Robert and Mary settled in Essex, Massachusetts, a century and a half before, had been honorable farmers. Lucy Mack, the mother, was also of a family of industrious land-owners. Members of both families had fought for their country. The father and mother of the boy, Joseph and Lucy, when they were married in 1796, and for a few years afterward, had been well-to-do, but had lost all in paying the debts brought upon them by the fraud of a trusted agent. They had left their home in Tunbridge, Vermont, and moved to Sharon in the adjoining county of Windsor. Here the father farmed in the summer and taught school in the winter. But little success came as the reward of his industry. He tried other places and at length, in the year 1815, he left the Green Mountain state entirely and moved his family to New York.

It seems as though the Lord must have had a hand in the misfortunes of Joseph Smith, Senior, and his wife Lucy. He was teaching them and their children humility. They all had their share of hard work and of the sacrifices that poverty brings. But hard work strengthened their bodies and sacrifice strengthened their souls. They had no time to dream away their lives. They were taught rather to be industrious and to do their duty.

The father was a large, vigorous man, and the younger Joseph and his brothers inherited his strength. They worked at his side in the fields and helped him provide for the family wants. He taught them while at work, and when at rest by the fireside, to be truthful, honest and virtuous, and to love God. He gave them also lessons in reading and writing, but they had no such chance to learn these things as have children now-a-days.

The Lord doubtless directed the family in their journey westward to New York. It was there that His latter-day work must begin. Joseph, the instrument of that work, was nine years old at the time. The family first came to Palmyra, Wayne County, a little town lying twelve miles south of Lake Ontario. Here for about four years they labored in clearing the land and making themselves a home. Then they moved a mile or two south to Manchester, Ontario County, and took up land for a farm. There were now eight children in the family: Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel, William, Catherine and Don Carlos.

In the second year after they had come to Manchester the Methodists of that region began a religious revival. The Presbyterians and Baptists soon joined. A revival is caused by holding frequent meetings where those who attend preach, sing and pray, and try by all means to stir up religious enthusiasm. Sometimes they go to great extremes, and scream and groan and dance until nearly exhausted. These actions are of course not directed by the Spirit of the Lord. In Manchester there was great excitement and many were converted or at least joined themselves with one or other of the sects. As the people began to divide up, much strife arose, and so much bad feeling was shown that one could hardly believe they were true followers of Jesus.