Family accounts of First Vision

[Calm]

Thought some would find these interesting.  I was not familiar with Kyle Walker.  He works at BYU-Idaho and is President-Elect of MHA according to a friend.

https://www.fromthedesk.org/first-vision-smith-family-accounts-kyle-walker/

Been working on this for awhile.

https://www.academia.edu/74014259/Smith_Family_Recollections_of_Joseph_Smiths_First_Vision

He also goes by Kyle R. Walker and has several books:

https://www.amazon.com/Kyle-R-Walker/e/B00Z7Q7T6U/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

https://gregkofford.com/collections/kyle-r-walker

https://byustudies.byu.edu/author/kyle-r-walker/

https://rsc.byu.edu/author/walker-kyle-r

Devotional by Brother Walker:

https://www.byui.edu/devotionals/kyle-walker
 

Quote

Kyle R. Walker was raised in Logandale, Nevada. He has worked as a Counselor in the Counseling Center at BYU-Idaho since 2002. He received his doctorate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Brigham Young University. He is the author or editor of two books about the Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family, and has recently published a biography on Joseph Smith's younger brother, William Smith. He served as a full-time missionary in the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission, and currently serves as the bishop of his ward. He and his wife Daylene are the parents of five children, four boys and one daughter.

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by Calm

[OGHoosier]

Looks very interesting, thank you for bringing it up.

Weirds me out that Joseph's last surviving sibling died in 1900. Feels too recent.

Edited June 24, 2022 by OGHoosier

[Kenngo1969]

3 minutes ago, OGHoosier said:

Looks very interesting, thank you for bringing it up.

Weirds me out that Joseph's last surviving sibling died in 1900. Feels too recent.

I admit, freely, that this is a thread derail, Calm, so if you would like me to delete it (preferably after our friend, OG Hoosier, has had a chance to look at it, but even before, if that is your preference) I will be happy to do so.

If that weirds you out, then this will really throw you for a loop, OG Hoosier.  Would you like to hear the actual voice of someone who knew the Prophet, Joseph Smith, personally?

 

[OGHoosier]

14 minutes ago, Kenngo1969 said:

I admit, freely, that this is a thread derail, Calm, so if you would like me to delete it (preferably after our friend, OG Hoosier, has had a chance to look at it, but even before, if that is your preference) I will be happy to do so.

If that weirds you out, then this will really throw you for a loop, OG Hoosier.  Would you like to hear the actual voice of someone who knew the Prophet, Joseph Smith, personally?

 

Yeah that absolutely floors me. 

[Calm]

33 minutes ago, OGHoosier said:

Weirds me out that Joseph's last surviving sibling died in 1900. Feels too recent.

Definitely.  Yet Joseph might have lived that long himself as he would have been 95, which is two years younger than Pres. Nelson.

Life had changed so dramatically in terms of technology between 1850 and 1950, I think it makes 1850 and anything around there feel much longer ago than it was.

http://www.krysstal.com/display_inventions.php?years=1850+to+1900

Edited June 24, 2022 by Calm

[Kenngo1969]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

... Devotional by Brother Walker:

https://www.byui.edu/devotionals/kyle-walker
 

 

Found my Sunday viewing/listening.    Thanks, Cal.  

[manol]

deleted

Edited June 24, 2022 by manol

[Calm]

59 minutes ago, manol said:

Kyle Walker's article at that link signs off with these words:

"During three major migrations of the Church, every one of his siblings, their spouses and children, all uprooted and followed Joseph to Kirtland, Ohio, Far West, Missouri, and finally to Nauvoo, Illinois. Both parents, and all eight of his siblings, never lost faith in his prophetic role or in their belief in the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

"These were the individuals who knew his character best. Their united support is one of the strengths of the Restoration."

The willingness of the individuals who "knew his character best" to uproot and follow kid brother Joseph kinda stands out in contrast with their to-the-best-of-my-knowledge uniform unwillingness to follow Brigham.  In other words, their "united support", which Kyle Walker characterizes as "one of the strengths of the Restoration", was not extended to the man who became Joseph's successor nor to the group that followed him.  Back when I was active in the Church, I got the impression that the extended Smith family were staunchly among "the faithful" up until Joseph was killed, then they effectively all went "apostate". 

Can you point me to a paper addressing this issue which puts historical accuracy over defending this or that "side"? 

Do you want something that tells what happened afterwards or just their positions?  From what I have read they never lost faith, but believed leadership of the Church belonged to the Smith line.

Basically do you want the info on the surviving siblings? (Lucy  Mack Smith was old enough to be under the care of Emma and Joseph at the time of Joseph’s death, so I include her with Lucy, her daughter who cared for her, and Emma, who I understand never got along very well with Brigham or he with her; my opinion is Brigham adored Joseph as well as saw him first and foremost as Prophet of the Restoration and anything that got in the way of that, including the needs of Joseph’s family, rated much lower on Brigham’s scale with the result being conflict and dislike with Emma, who fought for the needs of her family not to be lost in Joseph’s care of the Church and other missions.  Wiki does have Lucy Mack saying she hoped he family would go to Utah and she would go with them if they did, but she appears to have supported Strang some as well.)

Sophronia, who was married to William McCleary, not finding much on her.  Supposedly most detailed history is at a defunct site, Joseph Smith Sr Family History Archives (So if anyone knows if it has changed its name or something else is carrying the info, please share).  Will keep looking later.

William Smith…got to admit I am not interested in him as he seemed all over the map before and after Joseph’s death, including claiming leadership of the Church for himself.  The little I know of him, he seems rather self centered and juvenile in how he made decisions.

Katharine Smith:  she backed lineal descent of the church presidency and joined the Reorganized.

Lucy Smith:  she took in Lucy Mack Smith after Joseph’s death, apparently not antagonistic towards the Church, but believed in lineal descent as well, but did not get too involved with the RLDS.

The sisters lived close together (Cochester, Illinois is not that far from Fountain Green) after Nauvoo, so my guess is both family feeling and a belief leadership should stay in Joseph’s line motivated them not to stay with the Church once Brigham took over and went out west, though Lucy apparently supported the missionary work of her nephews according to wiki. 

Edited June 25, 2022 by Calm

[manol]

9 minutes ago, Calm said:

Do you want something that tells what happened afterwards or just their positions?  From what I have read they never lost faith, but believed leadership of the Church belonged to the Smith line...

Thank you very much for the in-depth.

I tried to delete my post before you got to it but was too slow, as in retrospect realized that it was a de-rail. 

[Calm]

1 minute ago, manol said:

Thank you very much for the in-depth.

I tried to delete my post before you got to it but was too slow, as in retrospect realized that it was a de-rail. 

That is fine, I don’t mind in this case for the derailing. Not particularly in-depth as I just googled. I am most familiar with William, know very little about the sisters besides them supporting Joseph.  It appears to have been a very close family. 

[Duncan]

There was a lady, her name escapes me at the moment, but she spoke at the Jordan River Temple groundbreaking anyways, her father either knew Joseph Smith or he was a close relative of him and knew him. 

 

edit to add. Laura B. Cook (1880-1985), her father was Ezra T. Clark and he knew Joseph Smith. The temple groundbreaking was in 1979

Edited June 25, 2022 by Duncan