1.
Relief Society
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The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational womens organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, the Relief Society is often referred to by the church and others as one of the oldest and largest womens organizations in the world. The motto of the Relief Society, taken from 1 Corinthians 13,8, is Charity never faileth, Relief Society accomplishes these purposes through Sunday gospel instruction, other Relief Society meetings, visiting teaching, and welfare and compassionate service. In the spring of 1842 Sarah Granger Kimball and her seamstress, Margaret A. Cook and they determined to invite their neighbors to assist by creating a Ladies Society. Kimball asked Eliza R. Snow to write a constitution and by-laws for the organization for submission to President of the Church Joseph Smith for review, after reviewing the documents, Smith called them the best he had ever seen but said, this is not what you want. Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, I will organize the women under the priesthood after a pattern of the priesthood. Twenty women gathered on Thursday, March 17,1842 in the meeting room over Smiths Red Brick Store in Nauvoo. Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards sat on the platform at the end of the room with the women facing them. The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning was sung, Smith also proposed that the women elect a presiding officer who would choose two counselors to assist her. Emma Hale Smith was elected unanimously as president and she chose Sarah M. Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Whitney as her two counselors. John Taylor was appointed to ordain the women and he did so and it was proposed that the organization go by the name Benevolent Society and with no opposition the vote carried. However, Emma Smith made a point of objection, after discussion, it was unanimously agreed that the fledgling organization be named The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. Joseph Smith then offered five dollars in gold to commence the funds of the Society, Eliza R. Snow was unanimously elected as secretary of the Society with Phebe M. Wheeler as Assistant Secretary and Elvira A. Coles as Treasurer. Emma Smith remarked that each member should be ambitious to do good and seek out, several female members then made donations to the Society. The men returned, and Taylor and Richards also made donations, after singing Come Let Us Rejoice, the meeting was adjourned to meet on the following Thursday at 10 oclock. Taylor then gave a closing prayer, E feel convinced that with their concentrated efforts, the condition of the suffering poor, of the stranger and the fatherless will be ameliorated. The new organization was popular and grew so rapidly that finding a place for such a large group proved difficult. Under Emma Smiths direction, the Society was divided for the purpose of meeting according to each of the four municipal wards
2.
Zina D. H. Young
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She practiced polyandry as the wife of Joseph Smith, and later Brigham Young, each of whom she married while she was still married to her first husband, Henry Jacobs. Zina Huntington was born in Watertown, New York, the child of William. Her fathers family was descended from Puritan Simon Huntington, who died at sea in 1633 on the voyage to America. Her father was a veteran of the War of 1812, her grandfather a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his brother, Samuel Huntington and she was taught household skills, such as spinning, soap making, and weaving, and received a basic education. She developed musical talent by learning to play the cello, in 1835, when Zina was fourteen, her family was contacted by Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer, missionaries of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. With the exception of her oldest brother, the family joined the church. Zina was baptized by Smith on August 1,1835, after receiving advice from Joseph Smith, Sr. Zinas father sold their property and relocated to the churchs headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. Zina was a member of the Kirtland Temple Choir, nineteen months later, the family moved again to Far West, Missouri. They arrived in Far West at a time of violence between Missouri residents and the newly arrived Mormons, after Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the Extermination Order, Zinas father helped coordinate the evacuation of church members to Illinois. In 1839, when Zina was only eighteen years old, there was an epidemic in Nauvoo, Illinois, Zina. Her mother died, but Zina recovered after receiving care in the home of Joseph, Zina was noted among the new converts of the church for her somewhat remarkable spiritual gifts. Not long after the arrived in Kirtland she exhibited the gift of tongues and of the interpretation of tongues. She also later exhibited the gifts of prophesy and healing, wells later wrote of her, in all spiritual labors and manifestations, she was greatly gifted, and no woman in Israel was more inspirational in prayer. Her whole life was one of untiring devotion to her Heavenly Father, Zina recorded in her autobiography that when she was eighteen she was courted by Henry Bailey Jacobs. During this time, Joseph Smith, also taught her about marriage in private conversations. Zina declined the proposals out of her respect for Emma Smith and for traditional Christian monogamy, on March 7,1841, she married Jacobs, believing she had thus avoided future proposals from Smith. Nauvoo mayor John C. Bennett conducted the ceremony and her journal from the day of the wedding reads, I was Married to Mr. Henry Bailey Jacobs. He had been a missionary preaching the Gospel for some time and his Father Henry Jacobs was one of the first elders in the Church, faithful and true until the last
3.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
4.
Salt Lake City
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Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city lies at the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo Combined Statistical Area. This region is a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along an approximately 120-mile segment of the Wasatch Front and it is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin. The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and numerous other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City—the word great was dropped from the name in 1868 by the 17th Utah Territorial Legislature. Today, however, less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing, and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the banking center of the United States. Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. The land was treated by the United States as public domain, the first U. S. explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, some as far north as the nearby Utah Valley. Frémont surveyed the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Lake Valley in 1843 and 1845, the Donner Party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846. The first permanent settlements in the date to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints on July 24,1847. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley, president of the church Brigham Young is recorded as stating, This is the right place, Brigham Young claimed to have seen the area in a vision prior to the wagon trains arrival. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement, four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple, which would eventually become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark. The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block that would later be called Temple Square, construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on 6 April 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece, in fact, the southeast corner of Temple Square is the initial point of reference for the Salt Lake Meridian, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormon pioneers organized a new state called Deseret and petitioned for its recognition in 1849, the United States Congress rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the Utah Territory, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the capital in 1858
5.
George A. Smith
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Smith played a prominent role in the chain of events preceding the Mountain Meadows Massacre on September 11,1857. The city of St. George, Utah, is named after him, Smith was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York, the son of John Smith and Clarissa Lyman, and a nephew of Joseph Smith, Sr. In September 1832, at the age of 15, George A. Smith was baptized into the Church of Christ founded by his cousin Joseph Smith, the following year, John Smith and his family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, the churchs headquarters. There Smith met his cousin, Joseph, for the first time, in 1838, he moved with his parents and a large body of church members to the state of Missouri. In the spring of 1834, the 16-year-old Smith accompanied a group Latter Day Saints on a 2000-mile march to Missouri and this trip, known as Zions Camp, was intended to bring aid to suffering members of the church in Missouri. Smith served as a missionary to the eastern United States, traveling and preaching during the summers of 1835,1836, Smith was ordained a seventy in the priesthood on March 1,1835, by Joseph Smith. On April 26,1839, at the age of 21, George A. Smith was ordained an apostle, future church president Wilford Woodruff was ordained as an apostle on the same day. The two men replaced former apostles Thomas B, marsh, who had left the church, and Orson Hyde, who had been disfellowshipped and removed from his position. After Joseph Smiths death and the assumption of leadership by Brigham Young. After arriving in Utah, Smith led a company of 118 volunteers and they arrived at Centre Creek,265 miles from Salt Lake City, on January 13,1851. Under direction from the General Assembly of the State of Deseret, during the winter of 1850–51, the settlers constructed a fort enclosing homes, a meeting house, a school, and a watch tower. Smith taught school during the first winter, and later served as a member of Utahs territorial legislature, in 1868, Smith was called to replace Heber C. Kimball as First Counselor in the First Presidency under church president Brigham Young, Smith served in this position until his death. Smiths first wife, Bathsheba W. Smith, served as president of the churchs Relief Society from 1901 to 1910. A son, John Henry Smith, also served as an apostle, George A. Smiths grandson and namesake, George Albert Smith, also became an apostle and later was the churchs eighth president. Smith was the eighth official Church Historian of the LDS Church between 1854 and 1871, Smith instructed church members to stockpile grain, and not to sell it to emigrants or use it for animal feed. In addition to Parowan, Smiths tour included visits to Cedar City, the group stopped at Mountain Meadows to eat dinner on August 20 with a group of resident missionaries. Smith addressed a group of Indians in Santa Clara, counseling them that the Americans were approaching with a large army, riding in a wagon afterwards, John D
6.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations, according to the church, it has over 70,000 missionaries and a membership of over 15 million. It is ranked by the National Council of Churches as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States and it is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening. Adherents, often referred to as Latter-day Saints, or, less formally, Mormons, view faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement as fundamental principles of their religion. The church has a canon which includes four scriptural texts, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants. The current president is Thomas S. Monson, individual members of the church believe that they can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives. The president heads a hierarchical structure with various levels reaching down to local congregations, Bishops, drawn from the laity, lead local congregations. Male members, after reaching age 12, may be ordained to the priesthood, Women do not hold positions within the priesthood, but do occupy leadership roles in some church auxiliary organizations. Both men and women may serve as missionaries, and the church maintains a large missionary program which proselytizes, faithful members adhere to church laws of sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute ten percent of their income to the church in tithing. The LDS Church was formally organized by Joseph Smith on April 6,1830, Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion. In 1831, the moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri. However, in 1833, Missouri settlers brutally expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County, the Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections. Smith regrouped with the church in Far West, Missouri. Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that the Saints be exterminated or driven from the State, in 1839, the Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the churchs new headquarters. Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo, meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates. He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow people to become gods in the afterlife. He also introduced the church to an accounting of his First Vision. This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in history since the resurrection of Jesus
7.
Salt Lake Temple
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The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At 253,015 square feet, it is the largest LDS temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the temple completed by the church, requiring 40 years to complete. The Salt Lake Temple is the centerpiece of the 10-acre Temple Square in Salt Lake City, in 1912, the first public photographs of the interior were published in the book The House of the Lord, by James E. Talmage. Since then, various photographs have been published, including by Life magazine in 1938, the temple grounds are open to the public and are a popular tourist attraction. Due to its location at LDS Church headquarters and its historical significance, the Salt Lake Temple is also the location of the weekly meetings of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As such, there are meeting rooms in the building for these purposes, including the Holy of Holies. The official name of the Salt Lake Temple is also unique, in 1999, as the building of LDS temples accelerated, the church announced a formal naming convention for all existing and future temples. For temples located in the United States and Canada, the name of the temple is generally the city or town in which the temple is located, followed by the name of the state or province. For temples outside of the U. S. and Canada, however, for reasons on which the church did not elaborate, the Salt Lake Temple was made an exception to the new guidelines and was not renamed the Salt Lake City Utah Temple. The temple also includes some elements thought to evoke Solomons Temple at Jerusalem and it is oriented towards Jerusalem and the large basin used as a baptismal font is mounted on the backs of twelve oxen, as was the Molten Sea in Solomons Temple. At the east end of the building, the height of the pinnacle to the base of the angel Moroni is 210 feet, or 120 cubits. The temple is located in downtown Salt Lake City, with mountain peaks close by. Nearby, a stream, City Creek, splits and flows both to the west and to the south, flowing into the Jordan River. There is a wall around the 10-acre temple site, the surrounding wall became the first permanent structure on what has become known as Temple Square. The wall is a uniform 15 feet high but varies in appearance because of the southwest slope of the site. The location for the temple was first marked by Mormon prophet Brigham Young, in 1901 the apostle Anthon H. Lund recorded in his journal that it is said that Oliver Cowderys divining rod was used to located the temple site. The temple site was dedicated on February 14,1853 by Heber C, groundbreaking ceremonies were presided over by Young, who laid the cornerstone on April 6 of that year
8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
9.
Women's suffrage
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for women. In 1881, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote, in 1893, the British colony of New Zealand, granted women the right to vote. The colony of South Australia, did the same in 1894 and women were able to vote in the next election, South Australia also permitted women to stand for election alongside men. In 1899 Western Australia enacted full womens suffrage, enabling women to vote in the referendum of 31 July 1900. In 1902 women in the four colonies also acquired the right to vote. Discriminatory restrictions against Aboriginal people, including women, voting in elections, were not completely removed until 1962. Norway followed, granting full womens suffrage in 1913, most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the interwar era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918 and the United States in 1920. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. Late adopters in Europe included Spain in 1931, France in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971, the United States gave women equal voting rights in all states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920. Canada and a few Latin American nations passed womens suffrage before World War II while the vast majority of Latin American nations established womens suffrage in the 1940s, the last Latin American country to give women the right to vote was Paraguay in 1961. In December 2015, women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia, extended political campaigns by women and their supporters have generally been necessary to gain legislation or constitutional amendments for womens suffrage. In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men, for instance, in ancient Athens, often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult, male citizens who owned land were permitted to vote. Through subsequent centuries, Europe was generally ruled by monarchs, though forms of parliament arose at different times. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times and they make decisions there like the men, and it is they who even delegated the first ambassadors to discuss peace. The Iroquois, like many First Nations peoples in North America, had a kinship system. Property and descent were passed through the female line, Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them
10.
Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
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The Church of Christ was the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith. Each of the churches that resulted from this schism considers itself to be the continuation of Smiths original Church of Christ. This church is unrelated to other bodies bearing the name, including the United Church of Christ, a Reformed church body, and the Churches of Christ. Today, there are several Latter Day Saint churches called Church of Christ, the first Latter Day Saint references to the church of Christ are found in passages of the Book of Mormon that Smith dictated from April to June 1829. During the course of this dictation, the outlines for a community of believers or church structure became apparent. Such a structure would have authority from God, ordinances such as baptism, the book described the clergy in Almas church as consisting of priests, who were unpaid and were to preach nothing save it were repentance and faith in the Lord. Alma later established churches, which were considered one church because there was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance. In addition to priests, the book mentions that the clergy of these also included teachers. Smiths further dictation of the Book of Mormon also stated there were two churches only, the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil. As a result of the references to baptism and the organization of churches. Smith and Cowdery then baptized each other by immersion and they also baptized dozens of people, as early as June 1829. These converts, however, did not belong to a church organization. Nevertheless, this community of believers referred to themselves as the Church of Christ, in June 1829, Smith dictated a revelation stating that in are all things written, concerning my church, my gospel, and my rock. Wherefore if you build up my church, and my gospel, and my rock. Some time between June and December 1829, Cowdery said he received a revelation about how he should build up his church & the manner thereof. This revelation was called the Articles of the Church of Christ, the church was to meet regularly to partake of bread and wine. Cowdery was described as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to David Whitmer, by April 1830, this informal Church of Christ had about six elders and 70 members. On April 6,1830, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and a group of approximately 30 believers met with the intention of formally organizing the Church of Christ into a legal institution
11.
Joseph Smith
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Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religious culture that continues to the present. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates, the same year he organized the Church of Christ, calling it a restoration of the early Christian church. Members of the church were later called Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, in 1831, Smith and his followers moved west, planning to build a communalistic American Zion. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, during the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of the expensive Kirtland Temple. In 1844, Smith and the Nauvoo city council angered non-Mormons by destroying a newspaper that had criticized Smiths power, after Smith was imprisoned in Carthage, Illinois, he was killed when a mob stormed the jailhouse. Smith published many revelations and other texts that his followers regard as scripture and his teachings include unique views about the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23,1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Sr. a merchant, after suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven, the younger Smith used crutches for three years. During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm, although Smiths parents disagreed about religion, the family was caught up in this excitement. Smith later said he became interested in religion at about the age of twelve, he participated in church classes, as a teenager, he may have been sympathetic to Methodism. With other family members, Smith also engaged in folk magic. Both his parents and his grandfather reportedly had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God. Smith said that although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul, years later Smith said that in 1820 he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion. While praying in an area near his home, he said that God, in a vision, had told him his sins were forgiven. Smith said he told the experience to a preacher, who dismissed the story with contempt, but the experience was largely unknown, even to most Mormons, until the 1840s. Although Smith may have understood the event as a conversion, this First Vision later grew in importance among Mormons. Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him, Smith reported that during the next four years, he made annual visits to the hill but each time returned without the plates. Meanwhile, the Smith family faced financial hardship due in part to the November 1823 death of Smiths oldest brother Alvin, Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period
Media related to Bathsheba W. Smith at Wikimedia Commons
