The Smiths in Palmyra and Manchester

The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family migrated to western New York in 1816 and 1817 after a bad harvest and financial troubles upset their livelihood. They first settled in Palmyra village and rented a house for two years, living on wages earned from day labor and running a small shop. In 1820 the family purchased a 100-acre farm a few miles south of Palmyra in Manchester Township.

Several key events of the early Restoration took place in this area. Joseph Smith Jr. recounted that around the time of his family’s move to western New York, his “mind became seriously impressed” with religious questions. These spiritual concerns led to his First Vision, which occurred in a wooded area on the family’s farm. In a log home on the farm is where the angel Moroni first visited him. Four years later, Joseph retrieved the golden plates from a hill closer to the village of Manchester, and in 1830 the Book of Mormon was printed in Palmyra.

In her history, Lucy Mack Smith said Joseph received a revelation in the fall of 1830 directing the Joseph Sr. family to move to Waterloo, New York. In October the family left Manchester for Waterloo, where they remained until the Saints gathered to Ohio early the next year. In 1907 the Church acquired the Manchester farm from the son of a boyhood friend of Joseph Smith.