Joseph Sr. and Lucy Smith Frame Home: Palmyra, New York
In many ways, this frame home is a memorial and a reminder of the appreciation, love, and admiration that Alvin Smith had for his father and his mother.
Abstract
Not long after the Smiths moved into the log home, situated a few hundred feet to the north, they contracted to purchase an additional 100 acres adjoining their 80 acre farm. Alvin determined to build a home where his parents could enjoy their family in their later years and to repay them for all of their love, toil, and sacrifice in behalf of their children. Sadly, before Alvin could finish this more spacious frame home, he died on November 19, 1823, while the Smiths still resided in the log home. He passed away just a few months after Moroni had appeared to his younger brother.
After Alvin’s death, a neighbor, Russell Stoddard, supervised the completion of the home.
The Smith family lived here for less than five years, from 1825 to the spring of 1829. During that time the Prophet Joseph Smith continued to be tutored and prepared to receive the Book of Mormon plates. For a brief time, in the autumn of 1825, he and his father left to earn money to make the payment on the home and farm by working for by Josiah Stowell of South Bainbridge, NY. During that time Joseph Jr. met and married Emma Hale of Harmony, PA. After they married, January 18, 1827, they traveled to Manchester and lived in this home with Joseph’s family. It was to this home that the Prophet brought the Book of Mormon plates after he received them on from the Hill Cumorah on September 22, 1827.
Interesting Facts
During the winter of 1828-29, a young school teacher named Oliver Cowdery taught in the Palmyra area. While boarding with the Smith family, a common means of providing for teachers of that time, he learned of the coming forth of the plates and Joseph’s commission to translate the Nephite record.
The Joseph Smith Sr. frame home was restored in the year 2000.
In the family room, the Smiths kept the plates in a chest, shown on the dresser to the right.
Family Room
The comfortable, but meager financial state of the Smiths is reflected in the simplicity of this room. A replica of Hyrum’s chest used to secure the Book of Mormon plates is placed on the dresser on the northern wall. Soon after Joseph brought the plates to the Smith home, the hearth stones of the fireplace were removed, the plates were safely situated beneath them, and then the hearth was carefully replaced to avoid suspicion.
Kitchen
The kitchen of the Smith home was the scene of one of the most disappointing events in the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the summer of 1828, against the Lord’s clear counsel, Joseph allowed his scribe, Martin Harris, to take 116 pages of handwritten translation of the Book of Mormon plates to show to his wife in Palmyra, New York. When Martin did not return to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Joseph and Emma lived at the time, Joseph traveled to Palmyra to inquire the reason for Martin Harris’ delayed return. Word was sent to the Harris home that Joseph needed to speak with Martin immediately. Hours passed before Martin entered the Smith home, where he sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands avoiding eye contact with Joseph. After some time he declared, “I have lost my soul!” When Martin informed Joseph that he had lost the manuscript, Lucy Mack Smith said that Joseph clinched his hands together and exclaimed, “All is lost, is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned. It is I who tempted the wrath of God by asking him for that which I had no right to ask, as I was differently instructed by the angel.” And he wept and groaned, walking the floor continually.
“At last he told Martin to go back to his house and search again. ‘No,’ said Mr. Harris, ‘it is all in vain, for I have looked in every place in the house. I have even ripped open beds and pillows, and I know it is not there.’
“‘Then must I,’ said Joseph, ‘return to my wife with such a tale as this? I dare not do it lest I should kill her at once. And how shall I appear before the Lord? Of what rebuke am I not worthy from the angel of the Most High?’
“I besought him not to mourn so,” continued Joseph’s mother, “for it might be that the Lord would forgive him, after a short season of humiliation and repentance on his part. But what could I say to comfort him, when he saw all the family in the same situation of mind that he was? Our sobs and groans, and the most bitter lamentations filled the house. Joseph, in particular, was more distressed than the rest, for he knew definitely and by sorrowful experience the consequence of what would seem to others to be a very trifling neglect of duty. He continued walking backwards and forwards, weeping and grieving like a tender infant until about sunset, when we persuaded him to take a little nourishment.”
As a result of his disobedience, Joseph lost the privileges of translating the Book of Mormon plates, which were taken from him by the angel Moroni. Following Joseph’s return to his home in Harmony, Pennsylvania, the Lord severely chastened him by revelation through the Urim and Thummin. “Behold, you have been entrusted with these things,” the Lord firmly reminded Joseph, “but how strict were your commandments… you should have been faithful” (D&C 3:5, 8). In time Joseph sufficiently humbled himself and repented of his weaknesses in wanting to please Martin Harris more than desiring to obey God. Mercifully, the Lord again called Joseph to His work and restored the plates and the gift of translation and informed him about what had happened to the 116 pages (see D & C 10). This was a significant lesson in the young prophet’s life, in which he learned to trust in the wisdom of God and to never again to follow the persuasions of others while disregarding divine counsel.