Family Background

1876. July 19: Born Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., in Salt Lake City to Julina Lambson and future Church President Joseph F. Smith. He was the grand-nephew of Joseph Smith, grandson of Church Patriarch Hyrum Smith, nephew of Church Patriarch John Smith, brother of Apostle Hyrum Mack Smith, and father-in-law of Apostle Bruce R. McConkie.

Until his father's death Joseph Fielding signed his name, "Joseph F. Smith, Jr."; after Joseph F.'s death, he signed, "Joseph Fielding Smith."

In 1898 he married Louie E. Shurtliff. Eight months after her death in 1908, he married Ethel G. Reynolds. Eight months after her death in 1938, he married Jessie Ella Evans. He was the father of eleven children.

Historian and Scriptorian

1901. Following a two-year mission to Great Britain, he became a clerk in the Church historian's office. He was to work in various capacities in this office, including assistant Church historian (1906) and historian (1921), for the next sixty-nine years.

In 1908 he became director and librarian of the Church Genealogical Society, and in 1934 was named president of the organization.

"From the time I first could read," he recalled, "I have received more pleasure and greater satisfaction out of the study of the scriptures, and reading of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the work that has been accomplished for the salvation of men, than from anything else in all the world."

He wrote twenty-five books, including Blood Atonement and Plural Marriage, Essentials in Church History,Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Doctrines of Salvation (three volumes), Answers to Gospel Questions (five volumes), and Man: His Origin and Destiny.

Apostle

1910. Called to the Quorum of the Twelve by his father, President Joseph F. Smith, after the death of John R. Winder. The calling fulfilled an 1896 patriarchal blessing: "It is thy privilege to live to a good old age and the will of the Lord that you should become a mighty man in Israel. … It shall be thy duty to sit in counsel with thy brethren and to preside among the people."

In 1945 he was called as president of the Salt Lake Temple, and in 1951, at the age of seventy-four, became president of the Quorum. In 1965, at the age of eighty-nine, he was named a counselor to David O. McKay in the First Presidency.

Advocate of Righteousness

President Smith often spoke and wrote fervently against the evils which Church members should avoid: "We should be on guard always to resist Satan's advances. He will appear to us in the person of a friend or a relative in whom we have confidence. He has power to place in our minds and whisper to us in unspoken impressions to entice us to satisfy our appetites or desires and in various other ways he plays upon our weaknesses and desires."

He was often viewed as a "stern and unbending judge of righteousness," as suggested by his views on capital punishment: "There is a growing notion in the world today that it is adding a crime to a crime to take the life of those who deliberately murder. … There are sins which cannot be forgiven, except by the guilty person paying a price by the shedding of his blood. Capital punishment was to benefit the guilty to obtain a better resurrection when the sin had been one unto death."

Father

Despite a stern public manner, his family remember him as a loving husband and father. His wife Ethel, mother of nine of his eleven children, wrote, "I have often thought that when he is gone people will say, 'He is a very good man, sincere, orthodox, etc.' They will speak of him as the public knows him; but the man I know is a kind, loving husband and father whose greatest ambition in life is to make his family happy, entirely forgetful of self in his efforts to do this. He is the man that lulls to sleep the fretful child, who tells bedtime stories to the little ones, who is never too tired or too busy to sit up late at night or to get up early in the morning to help the older children solve perplexing school problems. When illness comes, the man I know watches tenderly over the afflicted one and waits upon him. It is their father for whom they cry, feeling his presence a panacea that gives courage to the sufferer, his voice that remonstrates with them gently when they do err, until it becomes their happiness to do the thing that will make him happy."

Joseph Fielding Smith refused to waste time, and instilled the same discipline in his children. His son remembered, "Somehow it seemed immoral to lie in bed after six. Of course, I only tried it once. Father saw to that."

Physical punishment was not his method of discipline. His children remember him putting both hands on their shoulders, looking down into their eyes, and saying, "I wish my kiddies would be good."

President Smith's low-key humor delighted those who knew him well. Scolded by one of his sisters for never taking a day off, he quipped, "All my days are off." The sister advised, "Now I want you to go home and take a nap. George Albert Smith, Stephen L. Richards, and J. Reuben Clark always did, so you can too." "Yes," President Smith replied, "and where are they today? All dead!"

Relating a boyhood incident when his father had purchased a fine riding horse from George Q. Cannon, President Smith said, "She was so smart she learned how to unlock one kind of corral fastener after another that I contrived, until Father said to me, half humorously, that Juney seemed to be smarter than I was. So Father himself fastened her in with a strap and buckle. As he did so, the mare eyed him coolly; and, as soon as our backs were turned, she set to work with her teeth until she actually undid the buckle and followed us out, somewhat to my delight. I could not refrain from suggesting to Father that I was not the only one whose head compared unfavorably with the mare's."

Joseph Fielding Smith often took his sons to the Deseret Gymnasium, where, "with one hand—either hand, he gave us our choice—behind him he would beat the socks off us playing handball." He also enjoyed flying, a privilege of his position as honorary brigadier general of the Utah National Guard.

Tenth President of the Church

1970. At the age of ninety-four Joseph Fielding Smith became the oldest man ever set apart as president of the Church. He succeeded David O. McKay and selected Harold B. Lee and N. Eldon Tanner as counselors. President Smith and his father, Joseph F. Smith, are the only father and son to become presidents of the Church.

During his administration the Improvement Era, Relief Society Magazine, and Children's Friend, all of which had been initiated during his father's administration, were replaced by the Ensign, the Friend, and the New Era (1970). He directed the Church's first area general conference (Manchester, England, 1971), reorganized the Church Educational System, and formed the Health Services Department. In 1972 he dedicated the Provo and Ogden temples.

During his life he delivered more than 125 general conference talks, and participated in over five thousand stake conferences. He loved music, often singing duets with his opera star wife, Jessie. He wrote the lyrics to several songs, including "The Best Is Not Too Good for Me," "Come, Come, My Brother, Wake! … "Does the Journey Seem Long?" and "We are Watchmen of the Tower of Zion."

Death

1972. July 2: Died in Salt Lake City two weeks short of his ninety-sixth birthday; buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Sources
Conference Reports, April 1930.
Heslop, J. M., and Van Orden, Dell R. Joseph Fielding Smith: A Prophet Among the People. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1971.
Hinckley, Bryant S. "Joseph Fielding Smith." Improvement Era, June 1932.
McConkie, Joseph F. True and Faithful. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1971.
Nibley, Preston. The Presidents of the Church. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1971.
Smith, Joseph Fielding, Jr., and Stewart, John J. The Life of Joseph Fielding Smith. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1972.
West, Emerson R. Profiles of the Presidents. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1973.