History of the Prophet Joseph by his Mother
Lucy Smith
As Revised By George A. Smith and Elias Smith.
Salt Lake City, Utah, 1902.
INTRODUCTION.
This history of the Prophet Joseph Smith, originally entitled, "TheHistory of Mother Smith, by Herself," was written at the dictation ofLucy Smith, mother of the Prophet, by Mrs. Martha Jane Knowlton Coraywho acted as her amanuensis. It was taken from the words of MotherSmith and dictated from memory mostly, but she also made use of suchhistorical memoranda of the events related as were within her reach.Of the original manuscript one copy was taken which was left with LucySmith, while the original was retained by the writer. This original,Mrs. Coray held in her possession until her arrival in Utah, when shesubsequently deposited a copy of it with President Brigham Young.
Lucy Smith died near Nauvoo, May 5, 1855; but years prior to this date,some of her effects were left in the hands of her son, William Smith,among them being the manuscript copy of this history. From William(who was the last surviving brother of the Prophet, and whose deathoccurred at Osterdock, Clayton county, Iowa, November 13, 1893,) thedocument fell (surreptitiously it is declared by George A. Smith) intothe hands of Isaac Sheen, who was at one time a member of the Church,in Michigan. When, in September, 1852, Apostle Orson Pratt went on amission to England, he called on Mr. Sheen on his way East, and, beingshown the manuscript copy, he purchased it for a certain sum of money,took it to Liverpool with him, where, without revision and without theconsent or knowledge of President Young or any of the Twelve, it waspublished under his direction, in 1853. It was afterwards discoveredthat the book contained errors, occasioned by its not being carefullycompared with historical data. Some of the statements in the prefacewritten by Elder Pratt were also in error; one especially that the bookwas mostly written in the lifetime of the Prophet, and that he had readit with approval, was incorrect, since it was written in 1845, the yearfollowing his martyrdom. For these reasons, and others mostly of afinancial character, it was disapproved by President Young, on August23, 1865, and the edition was suppressed or destroyed. While somestatements contained in the work were considered somewhat overdrawn,—acircumstance easily accounted for when we remember the age of MotherSmith, the losses she had sustained in the death of a husband andfour sons, and the consequent lapses of her memory,—its many meritswere fully recognized by the authorities, many of whom were greatlydisappointed at the necessity of issuing the order to temporarilysuppress its further circulation.
Subsequently, a committee of revision was appointed by President Young,consisting of President George A. Smith and Judge Elias Smith, cousinsof the Prophet, men personally familiar with the family, and thoroughlyconversant with Church history. They were instructed carefully torevise and correct the original work throughout, which they did,reporting their labors to President Brigham Young, to his entiresatisfaction. The revised and only authentic copy thus prepared andreported upon was retained by President George A. Smith, and shortlyafter his death, September 1, 1875, it was committed into my keeping,where it has remained until now.
Recently the question of printing the work as a serial in theImprovement Era came up for consideration, and there was a unanimoussentiment among the members of the General Board of Y. M. M. I. A.favorable to its publication. The subject was accordingly submitted andexplained to President Lorenzo Snow, who gave his sanction, and hishearty approval of the enterprise.
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