Tapestry of Faith Part 2
Barnstable and Topsfield, MA: New England Ancestry of the Prophet Joseph Smith
Birthplace of Joseph Smith Sr.
Photo by The Historical Collections of the Topsfield Historical Society, ed. George Francis Dow, (Topsfield, Mass: The Merrill Press, 1902), Vol. VIII, photo insert between pages 44 and 45.
Abstract
Several of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s early colonist ancestors lived in Barnstable and Topsfield, Massachusetts. John Lothrop, an early colonist minister, is a common ancestor of the Prophet Joseph Smith, early Church leaders, and even presidents of the United States. John Lothrop’s bible is housed in the Sturgis Library in part of his original home. Joseph’s father and his Smith ancestors lived in Topsfield. Asael Smith, Joseph’s paternal grandfather, predicted that one of his descendants would do a work that would revolutionize the world of religious faith.