Joseph Johnson Smith

Joseph Johnson Smith - Paternal Grandfather of Emory Clarence Smith


Joseph Johnson Smith was the son of William and Sophia Brooks Smith, and was born April 8, 1821, in Kempston, Bedforshire, England. He learned the trade of blacksmith and wheelwright and became a proficient mechanic in this line. On March 1, 1840, he married Mary Ann Smart and on September 25, 1841, John Sheffield baptized him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In May 1843 in company with his father, mother, and some of his brothers and sisters who also had accepted Mormonism, he emigrated to America. Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana. He sailed up the Mississippi River to Missouri. His wife, Mary Ann, and two young daughters accompanied him. Joseph and his family moved from Missouri to Nauvoo, Illinois. On the 8th of August 1844, his wife died, leaving him with three small children and in August 1845, his mother died. Soon after this his father returned to England where he later married and raised another family. Joseph and his children moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa where the Mormons were preparing for emigration to Utah. This was in 1846. He worked as a wagon freighter using oxen. He freighted from Council Bluffs to St. Joseph, Missouri. He related that whisky was hauled in 50-gallon containers and wholesaled for $1 per gallon at that time and there was no revenue tax.

Joseph in company with Bishop David Evans and others lived at Bonepart during the summer. In September Bishop Evans and company moved forty miles west of Pisgah on the headwaters of Nodaway, intending to settle there, but their provisions gave out and their cattle died. They were compelled to move into Missouri for supplies. On January 1,1850, Bishop David Evans at Marysville, Missouri married Joseph to Ann Coleman, daughter of Prime and Sarah Thornton Coleman. Ann was also a convert to the LDS Church from England. Her family had been personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, in Nauvoo and had gone through many of the persecutions the Saints had suffered during that time. Joseph and family crossed the Missouri River on June 13, 1850 and started across the plains.

When Joseph emigrated to Utah he had very good equipment consisting of 1 yoke of oxen, 1 yoke of milk cows, 6 sheep, 1 yoke of heifers and good wagons.

They arrived in Salt Lake City, September 17, 1850, a journey of four months. Although there were wagons in the party, the young people, including Joseph’s daughter Caroline, had walked most of the way, and barefooted at that. They lived in Salt Lake City that first winter. In February 1851 President Brigham Young sent Bishop David Evans to preside over and further settle a little colony already located on Dry Creek, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. This is now the town of Lehi, Utah. Joseph was asked by Bishop Evans to go with him because of his trade as a blacksmith. For several years Joseph was the only blacksmith between Salt Lake City and American Fork, Utah.

Joseph was the first blacksmith to settle in Lehi and took an active part in the building up of the community. He made plows for the farmers of wagon tires, which Johnston’s army brought; made the first iron rollers for crushing sugar cane in the manufacture of molasses; and made nails and tools of various kinds. This work occupied Joseph’s spare time in winter, in the summer he farmed. Being of an industrious disposition, he was able to surround his family with all the necessities and some of the luxuries of life and was considered well to do in those days.

Although he had started out as a blacksmith upon arriving in America, Joseph was interested in many things. He set up a livestock and ranching business from the equipment and animals he had brought across the plains with him. His six sheep were leased out on share and by 1896 they had multiplied to 500 head. He was a good carpenter, making all his own furniture. He was interested in horticulture and soon had an orchard, a garden, raised bees, grew sugar cane from which he obtained molasses. He also turned his talents to being a tinsmith as well.

In his later years he peddled fruit and vegetables from a horse and buggy up into Bingham Canyon where miners who worked the copper mine lived. At this time his youngest son, Moroni, accompanied him, and recalls selling molasses and peach preserves from big barrels in the back of the buggy.

He was a stockholder in many of the industries and enterprises launched for the building up of the country. He was active in furnishing supplies for those who were out on Indian expeditions and after the Church immigration. He was among the first to launch out in the bee industry. He homesteaded a quarter section of land some distance north of Lehi on Dry Creek, which he brought into a high state of cultivation and also built a sawmill, using the water of Dry Creek for power.

Joseph and Ann had fourteen children. Four of their children died in infancy. On February 10, 1866, he married a second wife, Sarah Ann Liddiard, and had two daughters. The second daughter died in infancy.

Joseph died on August 6, 1902 at the age of 81. He was a small man, being only five feet, five inches tall. As he grew older he became almost square in shape. His wife was of more stature, with red hair and a ruddy complexion. They were an industrious and enterprising couple and in the settling and building of their community, passed through all the hardships and trying times of early pioneer life.

It is interesting to note that Lehi, Utah and many other Utah communities were settled about the same time as many famous towns, such as Tombstone, Arizona and other western towns heard about in cowboy stories. But while adventurers and wealth seekers settled these towns, Lehi and other Utah communities were settled for religious beliefs. Law and order were among the first things established. Joseph was among the first to build his quarters in the central fort of Lehi for protection against the Indians. Joseph always took an active part in the leadership of the community.

Joseph and his wives raised a very large family, as follows:

Children of Mary Ann Smart:
Caroline (Mrs. Wm. Skeens), Mercy, and Joseph.
Children of Ann Coleman:
Sarah Ann (Mrs. Samuel Southwick), Joseph William, George, Hyrum,
Aldura (Mrs. James Roberts), Julia Elizabeth, (Mrs. James Taylor), Alfred James, Samuel Abraham, John Franklin, Rebecca, Jacob, David, Albert,
and Moroni Alma.
Children of Sarah Ann Liddiard:
Florence Sopho (Mrs. J. E. Cotter) and Elizabeth.