Summary
The Prophet’s mother tells her family’s story — the Smiths’ early years in New England, the First Vision, the plates, Kirtland, Missouri, Nauvoo and the martyrdom at Carthage — with a distinct voice for Joseph, Hyrum, Emma and every other speaker.
The book
- Author
- Lucy Mack Smith, mother of the Prophet; revised by George A. Smith and Elias Smith
- Date of the work
- Dictated 1845; first published 1853; revised edition 1902
- Edition recorded
- 1902 edition (Salt Lake City), as revised by George A. Smith and Elias Smith
- Listening time
- 9 h 28 min
- Chapters
- 56
Where this text comes from
The book began as “The History of Mother Smith, by Herself,” taken down from Lucy Smith’s dictation, mostly from memory, by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray. Lucy Smith died near Nauvoo on May 5, 1855. Her manuscript passed to Orson Pratt, who published it in Liverpool in 1853 without revision and without the knowledge of Brigham Young; it was found to contain errors, and on August 23, 1865, Young disapproved the edition and it was suppressed.
A committee of two, George A. Smith and Elias Smith, was then appointed to revise and correct it. This recording follows the 1902 edition from their revision, with its introduction explaining all of this. Text produced for Project Gutenberg by the Mormon Texts Project (released May 9, 2014). Footnotes appear as small numbers you can tap and are not read.
Public domain
Public domain, free to share. The text of History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother is in the public domain in the United States. It was first published in 1853, and the edition recorded here appeared in 1902. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright there.
This site claims no copyright or trademark in the text. It uses no logos, trademarks or modern artwork of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or anyone else, and the cover picture is also in the public domain. Names such as “Book of Mormon” or the Church’s own name appear only to identify the book and its subject, and belong to their owners.
This is an independent project, not produced, sponsored or endorsed by the Church. The voices are AI-generated.