Alvin Smith (brother of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
Encyclopedia
Alvin Smith was the older brother of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement
. Alvin took a leading role in helping the Smith family
work toward paying their debts and building their home. His death in 1823 at age 25 resulted in his younger brother Joseph taking more of a leading role in family affairs. A vision claimed by Joseph Smith Jr. is said to have included Alvin and played a significant role in the establishment of the Mormon doctrine of redemption of those who die without a knowledge of the gospel and baptism of the dead.
. During his youth, Alvin worked as a carpenter’s helper to assist the Smith family in saving up sufficient funds to make a down payment on a farm in Manchester Township
, south of Palmyra, New York
. Alvin also assisted his father in clearing timber, planting wheat and tapping maple trees for the purpose of making maple sugar
. A neighbor, Orlando Saunders, stated that the members of the Smith family “have all worked for me many a day; they were very good people. Young Joe (as we called him then) has worked for me, and he was a good worker; they all were.” In 1823, Alvin took the lead in building the Smith’s new home and worked to get the family out of debt.
from calomel, which was administered to cure a case of “bilious colic
.” Alvin believed his brother Joseph's claim that he was to recover an ancient record from a nearby hill. His death occurred two months after Joseph’s first visit to the hill from which he was eventually said to have recovered the golden plates
that would later be claimed to be the source for the Book of Mormon
. According to a history written by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith
, as Alvin lay dying he called each member of his family to his bedside to give them counsel. To his brother Hyrum
, Alvin said, "I have done all I could to make our dear parents comfortable. I want you to go on and finish the house." He urged his younger brother Joseph to fulfill all of the requirements to obtain the record . Alvin's death had a significant effect on the family, resulting in Joseph taking more of a leadership role.
. On January 21, 1836, after the completion of the Kirtland Temple
, Joseph Smith claimed to have had a vision of the celestial kingdom. Smith stated that he saw his brother Alvin in the vision, and was surprised at his presence there since he died before the establishment of the church and its associated doctrines. Smith stated that he then received a revelation concerning the salvation of those who die without hearing the gospel and their ability to receive the same opportunities as those who had the opportunity to hear it on earth.
wrote that the Smith family, "[H]eard a rumor that Alvin's body had been exhumed and dissected. Fearing it to be true, the elder Smith uncovered the grave on September 25, 1824 and inspected the corpse." Following the exhumation, Joseph Smith Sr. printed the following in the local newspaper on September 29, 1824:
Historian D. Michael Quinn
, in his book Early Mormonism and the Magical World View, suggests that the newspaper notice published by Joseph Smith Sr. is evidence that the "guardian," "spirit" or "angel" commanded Joseph Jr. to bring a piece of Alvin's body to the hiding place of the golden plates as a requirement for seeing them. Quinn argues that when Smith did not do this, he was unable to see the plates for a second time and had to wait another year. Additionally, Quinn suggests that this information was obscured in official church history because it implies Smith's participation in necromancy
.
The requirement to bring a portion of Alvin's body to view the plates originated with the forged Salamander Letter
, which was believed to be authentic at the time that Quinn wrote Early Mormonism and the Magical World View.
’s forged Salamander Letter
. Hofmann admitted that he used Joseph Smith Senior's letter and the affidavit of Willard Chase (Mormonism Unvailed
, 1834), to create the implication that Joseph Smith Jr. needed to take part of Alvin's body to the hill Cumorah
. Chase states in his affidavit that the angel told Smith to bring his brother Alvin with him to obtain the plates. By the time of the second visit to the hill, Alvin had been dead for several months. Although Chase’s statement makes no further comment regarding Alvin, Hofmann’s forgery adds a claim that Smith said to the angel, “he is dead shall I bring what remains but the spirit is gone.” The presence of this statement in the Salamander Letter reintroduced speculation regarding the exhumation of Alvin’s body for the purpose of satisfying the requirements for obtaining the plates. The document also suggests that Smith's wife Emma
or his brother Hyrum
were dressed in Alvin's clothes when the plates were delivered to Smith.
During the period of time that the Salamander Letter was believed to be authentic, the information contained within it was used in a number of publications and films related to Mormonism. One such film, The God Makers II
, suggests that Joseph Smith was required to dig up Alvin’s body and bring a part of it with him to the hill Cumorah
in order to obtain the gold plates. The only known source of such a requirement is the discredited Salamander Letter.
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
. Alvin took a leading role in helping the Smith family
Smith (family)
The Smith family is the name of a U.S. family with many members prominent in religion and politics; this article focuses only on those with political and civic activity...
work toward paying their debts and building their home. His death in 1823 at age 25 resulted in his younger brother Joseph taking more of a leading role in family affairs. A vision claimed by Joseph Smith Jr. is said to have included Alvin and played a significant role in the establishment of the Mormon doctrine of redemption of those who die without a knowledge of the gospel and baptism of the dead.
Early life
Alvin Smith was born in 1798, the first surviving child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack SmithLucy Mack Smith
Lucy Mack Smith was the mother of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. She is most noted for writing an award-winning memoir: Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations. She was an important leader of the movement during...
. During his youth, Alvin worked as a carpenter’s helper to assist the Smith family in saving up sufficient funds to make a down payment on a farm in Manchester Township
Manchester (town), New York
Manchester is a town in Ontario County, New York, USA. The population was 9,258 at the 2000 census. The town was named after one of its villages, which in turn was named after the original Manchester in Greater Manchester, England....
, south of Palmyra, New York
Palmyra, New York
Palmyra, New York may refer to:*Palmyra , New York*Palmyra , New York...
. Alvin also assisted his father in clearing timber, planting wheat and tapping maple trees for the purpose of making maple sugar
Maple sugar
Maple sugar is a traditional sweetener in the northeastern United States and Canada, prepared from the sap of the sugar maple tree.-Preparation:...
. A neighbor, Orlando Saunders, stated that the members of the Smith family “have all worked for me many a day; they were very good people. Young Joe (as we called him then) has worked for me, and he was a good worker; they all were.” In 1823, Alvin took the lead in building the Smith’s new home and worked to get the family out of debt.
Death of Alvin Smith
On 19 November 1823, at age 25, Alvin died of mercury poisoningMercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury is a heavy metal occurring in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses...
from calomel, which was administered to cure a case of “bilious colic
Abdominal pain
Abdominal pain can be one of the symptoms associated with transient disorders or serious disease. Making a definitive diagnosis of the cause of abdominal pain can be difficult, because many diseases can result in this symptom. Abdominal pain is a common problem...
.” Alvin believed his brother Joseph's claim that he was to recover an ancient record from a nearby hill. His death occurred two months after Joseph’s first visit to the hill from which he was eventually said to have recovered the golden plates
Golden Plates
According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates are the source from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith...
that would later be claimed to be the source for the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. According to a history written by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith
Lucy Mack Smith
Lucy Mack Smith was the mother of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. She is most noted for writing an award-winning memoir: Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations. She was an important leader of the movement during...
, as Alvin lay dying he called each member of his family to his bedside to give them counsel. To his brother Hyrum
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
, Alvin said, "I have done all I could to make our dear parents comfortable. I want you to go on and finish the house." He urged his younger brother Joseph to fulfill all of the requirements to obtain the record . Alvin's death had a significant effect on the family, resulting in Joseph taking more of a leadership role.
Significance in the Mormon doctrine of redemption of the dead
Alvin Smith figured prominently in the establishment of the Mormon doctrine of the redemption of the dead and later establishment of the practice of baptism for the deadBaptism for the dead
Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is the religious practice of baptizing a living person on behalf of one who is dead, with the living person acting as the deceased person's proxy...
. On January 21, 1836, after the completion of the Kirtland Temple
Kirtland Temple
The Kirtland Temple is a National Historic Landmark in Kirtland, Ohio, USA, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Owned and operated by the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , the house of worship was the first temple to be...
, Joseph Smith claimed to have had a vision of the celestial kingdom. Smith stated that he saw his brother Alvin in the vision, and was surprised at his presence there since he died before the establishment of the church and its associated doctrines. Smith stated that he then received a revelation concerning the salvation of those who die without hearing the gospel and their ability to receive the same opportunities as those who had the opportunity to hear it on earth.
Rumors of desecration of Alvin's body
Biographer Fawn M. BrodieFawn M. Brodie
Fawn McKay Brodie was a biographer and professor of history at UCLA, best known for Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, a work of psychobiography, and No Man Knows My History, an early and still influential non-hagiographic biography of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint...
wrote that the Smith family, "[H]eard a rumor that Alvin's body had been exhumed and dissected. Fearing it to be true, the elder Smith uncovered the grave on September 25, 1824 and inspected the corpse." Following the exhumation, Joseph Smith Sr. printed the following in the local newspaper on September 29, 1824:
- TO THE PUBLIC: Whereas reports have been industriously put in circulation that my son Alvin had been removed from the place of his interment and dissected; which reports....are peculiarly calculated to harrow up the mind of a parent and deeply wound the feelings of relations … therefore, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of such reports, I, with some of my neighbors this morning, repaired to the grave, and removing the earth, found the body, which had not been disturbed. This method is taken for the purpose of satisfying the minds of those who may have heard the report, and of informing those who have put it in circulation, that it is earnestly requested they would desist therefrom.”
Historian D. Michael Quinn
D. Michael Quinn
Dennis Michael Quinn is a historian who has focused on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a professor at Brigham Young University from 1976 until his resignation in 1988. At the time, his work concerned church involvement with plural marriage after the 1890 Manifesto, in which...
, in his book Early Mormonism and the Magical World View, suggests that the newspaper notice published by Joseph Smith Sr. is evidence that the "guardian," "spirit" or "angel" commanded Joseph Jr. to bring a piece of Alvin's body to the hiding place of the golden plates as a requirement for seeing them. Quinn argues that when Smith did not do this, he was unable to see the plates for a second time and had to wait another year. Additionally, Quinn suggests that this information was obscured in official church history because it implies Smith's participation in necromancy
Necromancy
Necromancy is a claimed form of magic that involves communication with the deceased, either by summoning their spirit in the form of an apparition or raising them bodily, for the purpose of divination, imparting the ability to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...
.
The requirement to bring a portion of Alvin's body to view the plates originated with the forged Salamander Letter
Salamander Letter
The Salamander Letter was a document created by Mark Hofmann in the early 1980s.The letter was one of hundreds of documents concerning the history of Latter Day Saint movement that surfaced in the early 1980s...
, which was believed to be authentic at the time that Quinn wrote Early Mormonism and the Magical World View.
Subject of the "Salamander Letter" forgery
The story of the exhumation of Alvin’s remains gained new life with the “discovery” Mark HofmannMark Hofmann
Mark William Hofmann is an American counterfeiter, forger and convicted murderer. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, Hofmann is especially noted for his creation of documents related to the history of the Latter Day Saint movement...
’s forged Salamander Letter
Salamander Letter
The Salamander Letter was a document created by Mark Hofmann in the early 1980s.The letter was one of hundreds of documents concerning the history of Latter Day Saint movement that surfaced in the early 1980s...
. Hofmann admitted that he used Joseph Smith Senior's letter and the affidavit of Willard Chase (Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed
Mormonism Unvailed is an anti-Mormon book published in 1834 by Eber D. Howe. The title page proclaims the book to be a contemporary exposé of Mormonism, and makes the claim that the historical portion of the Book of Mormon text was based upon a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding.The...
, 1834), to create the implication that Joseph Smith Jr. needed to take part of Alvin's body to the hill Cumorah
Cumorah
Cumorah is a drumlin in Manchester, New York, where Joseph Smith, Jr...
. Chase states in his affidavit that the angel told Smith to bring his brother Alvin with him to obtain the plates. By the time of the second visit to the hill, Alvin had been dead for several months. Although Chase’s statement makes no further comment regarding Alvin, Hofmann’s forgery adds a claim that Smith said to the angel, “he is dead shall I bring what remains but the spirit is gone.” The presence of this statement in the Salamander Letter reintroduced speculation regarding the exhumation of Alvin’s body for the purpose of satisfying the requirements for obtaining the plates. The document also suggests that Smith's wife Emma
Emma Hale Smith
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, during Joseph Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...
or his brother Hyrum
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
were dressed in Alvin's clothes when the plates were delivered to Smith.
During the period of time that the Salamander Letter was believed to be authentic, the information contained within it was used in a number of publications and films related to Mormonism. One such film, The God Makers II
The God Makers II
The God Makers II is a documentary styled film produced by Ed Decker and Jeremiah Films. The film claims to be an exposé of secrets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, suggests that Joseph Smith was required to dig up Alvin’s body and bring a part of it with him to the hill Cumorah
Cumorah
Cumorah is a drumlin in Manchester, New York, where Joseph Smith, Jr...
in order to obtain the gold plates. The only known source of such a requirement is the discredited Salamander Letter.