Joseph Smith III's Memoirs ... In process of being added.

I have read and reread this book three times now and have high-lighted the most important parts. It is a chunky book, containing many many pages, and I do recommend a full reading, but to get out the information faster, I will focus on typing up the parts that I feel critical for Latter-day Saints all over the world to know!

The Memoirs of Joseph Smith III, the Son of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jun (1832-1914)

Actual Title:-The Memoirs of President Joseph Smith III (1832-1914)
published by 'Herald House' 1979. Independence, Missouri

'A photo reprint edition of the original publication as edited by Mary Audentia Smith Anderson and appearing in The Saints' Herald (November 6, 1934-July 31, 1937)

Richard P. Howard, Editor
The History Commission
Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints



I am typing up pages from this book ....

Joseph Smith III dedicated his memoirs to his mother Emma Hale with these words :-

Dedication

To my mother, Emma Hale, whom my father, Joseph Smith, married on January 18, 1827, and who was his only wife, I dedicate these memories.

To her care I was committed after the death of my father, together with my brothers, Frederick Granger Williams, Alexander Hale, and David Hyrum, and my adopted sister, Julia Murdock, who shared her motherly solicitude and untiring energy.

I aknowledge with gratitude to my heavenly Father that to the precept and example of my father's humble wife I owe the love for right and the hatred for wrong which have characterized my life. She early impressed upon my mind the conviction that under Divine Providence only truth and right would live and that error and wrong must perish.

Upon those teachings I have tried to build the foundation and rear the structure of my life's services to God, ever bearing in mind the nobility of that character to which she pointed, by precept and example, as the best and the highest that through effort could be attained by man.  

Joseph Smith, May 22, 1911

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The first few chapters are already accessible online, so I shall proceed with parts that struck my mind the most and type the parts that are apparently not online as of yet.

P. 75.. Joseph Smith III's comments on being mis-represented by Brigham Young and the church in Utah

''It would be out of place to indulge in argumentation in these Memoirs, were it not for the fact that I have been greatly misrepresented by the leading men of the Utah Church, including Brigham Young.

A portion of the statement I made upon my assuming leadership of the Reorganization has been singularly twisted out of its true and intended meaning, in an endeavour to put me in a false light before all classes of Latter Day Saints.  In that statement I pledged myself to promulgate no doctrine which was not approved by them with whom I was joining myself in organization, or by the code of good morals. 

The leaders of the Utah faction, then in the full swing of preaching and practicing polygamy, endeavored to interpret this statement to mean that I had placed myself subservant to the wills and wishes of those who were the principal movers in the Reorganization.

In the spiritual experiences I had had prior to going to *Amboy, I had been told by my *Spiritual Advisor to have nothing to do with polygamy except to oppose it.  I regarded the doctrine as contrary to good morals, and the church which was being reorganised and to which I was uniting myself had already expressed the same opinion and had publicly declared against the evil. 

I had gone on record as endorsing the Bible (The King James' Version), the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants as left on record by the church at the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. In these three books was to be found the code of good morals, I was sure, and so in these books and in this code of good morals I found the bulwark behind which I gladly took shelter.''

My added Notes:- 'Amboy' was the place Joseph Smith first attended conference of  'The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'

'Spiritual Advisor' is Joseph Smith III's reference to the Holy Ghost.
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Below is the statement Joseph Smith III made from the stand at the first conference of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints held at Amboy, USA, April 6th, 1860 (the son of the prophet Joseph Smith was at that time in his 28th year).

''I would say to you, brethren - as I hope you may be and in faith I trust you are, as a people that God has promised his blessings upon - I came not here of myself, but by the influence of the Spirit.

For some time past I have received manifestations pointing to the position which I am about to assume. I wish to say that I have come here not to be dictated by any man or set of men. I have come in obedience to a power not my own, and shall be dictated by the power that sent me.

God works by means best known to himself, and I feel that for some time past he has been pointing out a work for me to do.  For two or three years past, deputations have been waiting on me, urging me to assume the responsibilities of the leadership of the church; but I have answered each and everyone of them that I did not wish to trifle with the faith of the people. 

I do no propose to assume this position in order to amass wealth out of it, neither have I sought it as a profit.

I know opinions are various in relation to these matters.  I have conversed with those who told me they would not hesitate one moment in assuming the high and powerful position as the leader of this people. But I have been well aware of the motives which might be ascribed to me - motives of various kinds, at the foundation of all of which is selfishness - should I come forth to stand in the place where my father stood.

I have believed that should I come without the guarantee of the people, I should be received in blindness, and would be liable to be accused of false motives.  Neither would I come to you without receiving favour from my heavenly Father.

I have endeavoured as far as possible to keep myself unbiased. I never conversed with J.J. Strang, for in those days I was but a boy and in fact am now but a boy. I had not then acquired a sufficient knowledge of men to be capable of leading myself, setting aside the leading of others.

There is but one principle taught by the leaders of any faction of this people that I hold in utter abhorrence; that is a principle taught by Brigham Young and those believing in him - I have been told that my father taught such doctrines. I have never believed it and never can believe it. If such things were done then I believe they never were done by divine authority. I believe my father was a good man, and a good man never could have promulgated such doectrines.

I believe in the doctrines of honesty and truth.  The Bible contains such doctrines, and so do the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants, which are auxilaries to the Bible. I have my peculiar notions in regard to revelations, but am happy to say that they accord with those I am to associate with, at least those of them with whom I have conversed.

I am not very conversant with those books ( pointing to a volume before me), not so conversant as I should be, and will be. The time has been when the thought that I should assume the leadership of this people was so repulsive to me that it seemed as if the thing could never be possible.

The change in my feelings came slowly, and I did not suffer  myself to be influenced by extraneous circumstances. I have never read the numerous works sent to me which had a bearing on this subject, for fear they might entice me into wrong-doing. It is my determination to do right and let heaven take care of the result. Thus I come to you free from any taint of sectarianism, or taints from thoughts of the varied minds I have come in contact with; and thus I hope to be able to build up my own reputation as a man.

It has been said that a Mormon elder, though but a stripling, possesses a power unequalled by almost any other preacher. This arises from a depth of feeling, and the earnestness with which they believe the doctrines they teach; and it is this feeling that I do not wish to trifle with.

I know that Brigham Young is considered a man of talent, by some a bold and fortunate man, and by others an unscrupulous and bad man, according as circumstances differ. Should you take me as a leader, I promise that all should be dealt by in mercy, open as to Gentile or Jew.

I ask not to be received except as by the ordinances of the church. Some who ought to know the proprieties of the church have told me that no certain form was necessary in order for me to assume the leadership, that the position came by right of lineage; yet I know that if I attempted to lead as a Prophet by these considerations and not by a call from Heaven, men would not be led to believe who do not believe now.  And so I have come not of my own dictation to this sacred office.

I believe that we owe duties to our country and to society, and are amenable to the laws of the land. I have always considered it my duty to act upon this principle; and I do say that among the people where I live I have as many good and true friends as I could desire among those of any society.  The people of Hancock County have been strongly anti-Mormons; I have mingled with them, and have not only been obliged not to make any remarks which might give offense, but also to smother my feelings if I had any. I hold not enmity to any man living who has fought this doctrine; nor do I know any who hold enmity towards me. I hope there are none.

In conclusion: I will come to you if you will receive me! will give my ability, and the influence my name may bring, together with what little power I possess; and I trust by your prayers and faith to be sustained. I pledge myself to promulgate no doctrine that shall not be approved by you or the code of good morals.

I have my shortcomings, but I trust as a leader I shall do nothing to lead astray.  If I do so, I shall expect condemnation; for I am satisfied that this people, governed by the same policy would serve me worse than they have Brigham Young before, for I would be wholly deserted.  A gentleman from Utah informs me that a majority of Brigham Young's people are restive, not satisfied with their condition, but dare say nothing. He says that those who preach and those who practice those teachings are in reality the old fogies of the institution, and that the younger ones take a different view of matters.

I do not care to say any more at present, but will simply add that if the same Spirit which prompts my coming, prompts my reception, I am with you.''

Joseph Smith III at the end of his life commented about the statement he made of 1860....

''I made the statement purposely to protect myself against the evil of animadversion from the advocates of plural marriage and to give to the worthy men I was joining - men who had been members of the church in my father's day - a guarantee that I sought neither to foist upon them evil and corrupt doctrines nor to use spiritual interests and influence to secure personal advantage, prestige, or power. The statement was clear, and I was determined then, as I am now, to stand by it to the end of the conflict and that I would accept no associations - with them or with any class of believers - without just such safeguard. ''

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P.70 .... Joseph Smith III's thoughts before choosing to lead the Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ....

''The questions where to go and with which body of believers in the restored gospel to identify myself could be easily canvassed and answered now, in the light of events that have passed. They were not so easy at the time I had first to decide them.  Many things were involved over which I prayed earnestly, greatly needing and desiring light and direction.  

Should I wish to join with the Utah faction I should be under the necessity of going to Salt Lake City, and either ask to be received on my original baptism, or submit myself to the ordinance of rebaptism, the imposition of which had become universal out there, applied at the dictation of Brigham Young who decreed that 'all passing over the rim of the basin' should subject themselves to that rule.

I was satisfied that President Young would not receive me upon the terms of the first alternative, for to do so would have been a contradiction of his avowed policies.

As to the second, I believed that the baptism I had received at the hands of my father had been as sacred and effective as any baptism performed since the days of the Saviour could possibly be, and that the ordinance of laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, which ordinance was administered by my Sunday school teacher, had been efficacious for the purpose designed, and that I had, indeed, received that gift.

Did I wish, then, to forfeit what spiritual blessing, power, and standing these ordinances had given me? Could I afford to throw discredit upon either by casting it aside and submit to a readministration?

My feelings strongly revolted against such a step, for I felt it would have required me to throw away every sense of sacredness with which I had accepted the ordinances in my young boyhood and tacitly repudiate that which I had received.  This was a course distinctly at variance with all the instructions I had received on the subjects from my father, from the pulpits of the early church, and from its Sunday school teachers.

And there were other phases of the question. Should it be possible for me to go to Brigham Young and ask and receive rebaptism at the hands of that body, by that act I should be permitting myself to be inducted into the changed policies adopted by the leading authorities of that church, and virtually subscribing myself to their acceptance.  These changes included the dogma and practice of plural marriage, then quite generally called polygamy, and a number of concomitant theories which, as I believed, had come to seem necessary in advocating and defending 'the faith' as publicly set forth in Utah. Such a course was repugnant to me in countless ways, and was one which I could not admit even to contemplation.

Further; rebaptism out there would require administration of the ordinance of laying on of hands as taught in the New Testament Scripture, the Book of Mormon, and the revelations to the church as contained in the Book of Covenants, all of which I thoroughly believed.  Such an ordinance would have to be performed by either Brigham Young or those under him who might me assigned to the duty. If the reports of well-established facts were of worth, I felt justified in believing that some of the men who might be appointed to this task had either personally reddened their hands in the blood of their fellow men, or were responsible, through counsel and countenance, for others doing so - as witnessed in the Mountain Meadow Massacre of 1857. Reflecting on these matters I asked myself:

      'Could I bring myself to accept baptism, confirmation, or other ordinances administered by or under such hands?'

As a citizen of the State of Illinois and of the Republic, as a student of the laws of State and Nation, and as one who had heard and read much about the great struggles for political and religious liberty which have taken place upon this land of Zion, I decided I could not conscientiously ally myself with those who could, according to apparent facts, be justly charged with such crimes.  'Thou shalt not kill', was an unchangeable law, written deeply upon the sacred tablets of rock in Moses' day; and while the law of Moses made nothing perfect, with the bringing in of 'the better hope' there came a repetition of the same divine commandment, as cited by the Master in the New Testament record.  Likewise, again, in the revealments of Christ to the church as reinstated in latter days, which revelations were given as law to  govern his church, this command came as a re-enactment, and given in such force as to fill the scope of the wondrous prophecy:

    ' I will write my law in their hearts'
   ' Thou shalt not commit adultery,'  had also been engraven in the rock as a law to the Israelites. This too, was re-enacted by the voice of the Master in the meridian of time, and re-enacted and re-enforced again in the Book of Mormon and in the Doctrine and Commandments to the latter day church.

Therefore I felt I could not consent to ask for a baptism and for a confirmation which would be administered by the hands of men who, by submission to the direction and dictation of Brigham Young, had helped to fasten such evils such as adultery and bloodshed upon the body politic of the church, and to write them into the faith and doctrine of the church.

Further: to accept membership in the Utah Mormon Church under its president, Brigham Young, upon any terms, either upon my original baptism or by accepting baptism and confirmation at their hands, would have been tantamount to admitting that their claims that my father was responsible for , and the human author of, the dogma and practice of spiritual wifery; that it existed as a sublime theory of self-abnegation in the flesh to be rewarded in the world to come by a sublimated and spiritual personal association between the sexes; and that subsequently it became the doctrine recognized as plural marriage, now commonly called polygamy.

Such a step on my part would be, in effect, to concede that such claims were true, that I had knowledge to it,and that my father was indeed compromised in the introduction of said dogma and practice.  Such a concession would have been untrue, for all the knowledge that came to me from observation and experience as a member of my father's family up to the time of his death and in association with the members of the family who survived him, clearly and unequivocally contradicted any such conclusion. 

I was not a believer in any sort of extreme theory concerning the sublime sanctity of human affection between the sexes while in the flesh, nor did I accept the theory of what was taught as 'platonic love', for I believe the only persons of opposite sex between whom such love could exist were those who were abnormally emasculated or those in whom natural love was not possible.

To admit that my father was the author of such false theories as were being taught, or that he practiced them in any form, was not only repulsive in itself to my feelings and strongly condemned by my judgement, but was contrary to my knowledge of, and belief in him, would serve to neutralise at one the intention I had formed to redeem his memory from false accusations and make honourable in the sight of men the religion for which he became a martyr, and would result in the utter failure on my part to accomplish that which I felt divinely urged to do.  I did not feel it was necessary for me to make any such confession, openly or tacitly, as would be involved in an affiliation with the organisation that had made those charges  about him, his teaching, and his conduct; and I am grateful as I reflect that in over fifty years of active service dedicated to the objects I had in view, there has never been presented to me any evidence worthy to be called proof by which I have been compelled to reverse the conviction of my judgement on these important matters, made at the time I took up my ministry.  Nor have I been called to suffer shame before God and man by having to receive and admit a knowledge that my father was guilty of such gross immorality as I deem that which was laid to his door, or such wanton forgetfulness of divine precepts and utter disregard for the clear direct commands of God given to him through revelation as have been charged against him.'

To be continued ..... I will add as I have time, but will focus on getting it typed up within the next few days and weeks.