" Our duty is to keep the commandments of the Lord, to walk uprightly, to defend every principle of truth, to sustain and uphold the Constitution of this great country, to remember the Declaration of Independence, for, as we heard this morning from our President, upon these principles our country was based."
Joseph Fielding Smith was the first son of Julina Lambson Smith and Joseph F Smith. Julina wanting a son, prayed fervently for a boy. She received her blessing on July 19, 1876. His father was much absent during most of his early childhood due to persecution of the church. At age 10, Joseph Fielding had read the Book of Mormon twice. He knew that it was true and went forward through his life with faith. He never doubted but never had an extraordinary experience either.
“I was born with a testimony of the gospel. . . . I do not remember a time when I did not have full confidence in the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith and in the teachings and guidance of my parents”
His mother, a mid-wife, put him to work helping her. His job was to drive the buggy to the home of the woman needing assistance. No matter the hour his mother simply had to tell him it was time and he did his duty. While very young, Joseph and his brother, George, was outside bailing hay. When George did not follow Joseph's counsel one of the horses bucked and Joseph fell off the doubletree. Thinking that he was to be trampled to death the horses suddenly turned and the horses hooves and wheels had missed Joseph. When Joseph went back to the house, his father came out and asked what kind of trouble he had been in for he had the spirit testify that his son was in danger. He learned the value of working hard and arising early.
His first wife, Louie Shurtliff, attended University of Utah and stayed at the Smith's home while doing so. They courted 3 1/2 years and were sealed in the temple by Joseph F Smith on April 26, 1898. After being married one year- Joseph, his brother-Joseph Richards, and 2 others left on a mission to Great Britain.
“During his two-year mission, Elder Smith did not convert and baptize a single person. He did confirm one member, but that was the full extent of his proselyting harvest” (Francis M.Gibbons)
After his mission he was hired in the Church Historian Office. In 1906, he was appointed Assistant Church Historian. While his wife was pregnant with her 3rd child became severely ill and died March 30. 1908.
“The bereaved father closed down the home that he had built for his bride and moved his little family into the Beehive House where his mother and his sisters Julina and Emily could provide motherly love and care for his two little girls. The passing of their mother was particularly hard on two-year-old Julina, whose frequent sobbings for her mother would melt her father’s heart” Bruce R McConkie, son-in-law of President Joseph Fiedling Smith
Feeling the sorrow and burden for the loss of his wife, he knew that his children needed a mother and sought after someone who would be loving to his 2 daughters. On November 2, 1908 Joseph Fielding Smith was sealed in the temple to Ethel Georgina Reynolds. President Joseph F Smith sealed them in the Salt Lake Temple. Many knew and felt that one day Joseph Fielding would become an apostle of the church.
“For an hour or more the Church Presidency and Council of Twelve Apostles, meeting in the Salt Lake Temple in April, 1910, had discussed various men as possibilities to fill the vacancy in the council occasioned by the death of President John R. Winder on March 27...But to every name suggested there was some exception taken. It seemed impossible to reach any unanimity of feeling in the matter. Finally President Joseph F. Smith retired to a room by himself and knelt in prayer for guidance. When he returned he somewhat hesitantly asked the 13 other brethren whether they would be willing to consider his son Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. for the position. He was reluctant to suggest it, he said, because his son Hyrum was already a member of the council and his son David was a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. Church members, he feared, would be disgruntled to have another of his sons appointed as a general authority. Nevertheless he felt inspired to offer Joseph’s name for their consideration. The other men seemed immediately receptive to the suggestion and sustained President Smith in it”
After 28 years of marriage, Ethel died on August 26, 1937. She mothered 11 children (2 from the previous marriage). On April 12, 1938 he married Jessie Evans. He met Jessie while she sang at Ethel's funeral. (Jessie had requested that she sing at the services). Joseph Fielding sent a thank you to her and the friendship blossomed. He was 61. Joseph continued to live life to the fullest. He played sports well past age 65, loved to fly jet air planes, and added a sense of non-offensive humor to the scriptures.
“When at 89 years of age he was walking down a flight of steps from his apartment, he slipped, fell, and suffered multiple fractures of his leg. But he was due at a meeting in the Temple a block away. gritting his teeth, he walked the block, ‘limping like an old man,’ attended the meeting, walked home again, and only then, at others’ insistence, accepted medical treatment. ‘The meeting got a little long,’ he admitted. ‘But then, most meetings do’” (Smith and Stewart, Life of Joseph Fielding Smith, 4)
July 2, 1972-President Joseph Fielding Smith died quietly in his home.
