Samuel H. Smith

I am studying the Doctrine & Covenants right now. Reading it has reminded me of when we learned about Samuel H. Smith in institute. I think that we often don't make the connection about who he was and what he did. Here are some facts that helped me put the puzzle together. He is an amazing person.

1. Born three years after his brother, Joseph Smith.

2. He occasionally served as scribe for Joseph while he was translating the Book of Mormon and brought Oliver Cowdery to Joseph to be the full-time scribe.

3. He was the third person to be baptized into the Church.

4. He was one of the 8 witnesses of the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

5. He was one of the original six members of the Church.

6. He is known as the first great missionary. Through Books of Mormon he had distributed, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball found the Church.

7. While he was gone, the mob sent his wife and small children out of the house and into the rain and burned it to the ground. His wife became ill from the incident and never recovered. She died at age 32, leaving 3 small children behind. He remarried after that.

8. When he found out that his brothers Hyrum and Joseph were in trouble at Carthage, he rode in a wagon with a 14 year old boy to help them. The mob found out that he was Joseph's brother and chased him away into the woods. He returned home and got a horse and broke through the mob. They shot at him and a bullet went through his hat. He didn't make it to Carthage in time. He drove the wagon back to Nauvoo that held the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum.

9. When he arrived at Carthage, he had a severe pain in his side. This pain did not go away. His health declined and he died a month after Joseph and Hyrum.


Here is a link to an ensign article about the life of Samuel H. Smith:

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/08/samuel-h-smith-faithful-brother-of-joseph-and-hyrum?lang=eng&query=samuel+h+smith

"It was Samuel who helped chop the wood, plow the land, and harvest the crops in 1829 so that Joseph was free to translate the gold plates. It was Samuel who, as an early missionary during the years 1831–32, walked more than 4,000 miles through the Midwest and New England distributing copies of the Book of Mormon. It was Samuel who often helped his parents move as Joseph led the Saints from Ohio to Missouri to Illinois. And, in the end, it was Samuel who helped load the bodies of his martyred brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, into the wagons that carried them to Nauvoo. This was the pattern of Samuel’s life."

This is a link to a video posted on Youtube describing a dream WWPhelps recorded that Joseph Smith had before he died. It is called Joseph Smith's Last Dream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q_vgg4WjMk&feature=youtu.be