SMITH, Joseph, Mormon prophet, b. in Sharon, Vt., 23 Dec., 1805; d. in Carthage, Ill., 27 June, 1844. His parents were poor, and when he was ten years of age they moved to Palmyra, N. Y., and four years later to Manchester, a few miles distant. In the spring of 1820, in the midst of great religious excitement, four of his father's family having joined the Presbyterian church, Joseph claimed to have gone into the woods to pray, when he had a vision in some respects similar to St. Paul's, but was told by his religious advisers that "it is all of the devil," and he was ridiculed by the public. On the evening of 21 Sept., 1823, after going to bed, he claimed to have had another vision. According to his story, an angel named Moroni visited him and told him of a book written upon golden plates, in which was a history of the former inhabitants of this country and "the fulness of the everlasting gospel," and indicated to him where the book was deposited in the earth. He subsequently went to the spot that he had seen in his vision, found the plates of gold, but an unseen power prevented him from removing them. Moroni, with whom Smith claimed to have had many interviews, told him that he had not kept the Lord's command, that he valued the golden plates more than the records upon them, and not till his love for gold had abated and he was willing to give his time to the Lord and translate the inscriptions upon the plates would they ever be delivered to him. It is claimed that this was done by the angel, 22 Sept., 1827. Smith told of his visions from time to time, and, to escape the jeers and ridicule of the people of Manchester, he went to reside with his wife's family in Susquehanna county, Pa., where, according to his own account, he began to copy the characters on the plates and by the aid of "Urim and Thummim," a pair of magic spectacles, translated them from behind a curtain, dictating the "Book of Mormon to Martin Harris and later to Oliver Cowdery, who joined him in April, 1829. These two frequently went into the woods to pray for divine instruction, and on 15 May, 1829 , they claimed that they were addressed by the materialized spirit of John the Baptist, who conferred upon them the priesthood of Aaron and commanded that they baptize each other by immersion for the remission of sins. Both claimed after they were baptized to have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and from that time had the spirit of prophecy. The "Book of Mormon" was printed in Palmyra, N. Y., by Egbert B. Grandin in 1830. The Mormon church was organized, 6 April, 1830, by six "saints," at the house of Peter Whitmer, in Fayette, N. Y., and Oliver Cowdery preached the first sermon on the following Sunday, at the house of Mr. Whitmer, when several were baptized.