Joseph Smith Sr.
1771 ― 1840

When imprisoned for a $14 note of indebtedness and promised freedom if he would renounce the Book of Mormon, Father Smith thought of the Apostle Paul and said to himself, “I was not the first man who had been imprisoned for the truth’s sake; and when I should meet Paul in the Paradise of God, I could tell him that I, too, had been in bonds for the Gospel which he had preached.”

Timeline

Joseph Smith Sr. was born July 12, 1771, in Topsfield, Massachusetts. He married Lucy Mack on January 24, 1796, in Tunbridge, Vermont.

Statements

Joseph, Sr., stated “[Sir], we shall not burn the Book of Mormon, nor deny the inspiration of the Almighty.”
 

Life Stories
by Susan Easton Black

With the financial gift of a thousand dollars from Stephen Mack and his partner John Mudget, and Asael Smith’s gift …