Samuel Harrison Smith - Definition

Samuel Harrison Smith (1808–1844) was one of the younger brothers of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Samuel was a leader in his own right and a successful missionary. One of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates, Samuel remained devoted to the church through his death.

Born March 13, 1808 in Tunbridge, Vermont, to Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, Samuel moved had moved with his family to western New York by the 1820s. When Samuel's father missed a mortgage payment on the family farm on the outskirts of Manchester Township near Palmyra, a local Quaker named Lemuel Durfee purchased the land and allowed the Smiths to continue to live there in exchange for Samuel's labor at Durfee's store.

At the end of June 1829, Samuel along with his brother Hyrum, his father, and several men of the Peter Whitmer, Sr. family signed a joint statement declaring their testimony of the Golden Plates. This "Testimony of the Eight Witnesses" as it is known was then printed as part of the Book of Mormon.

When the early Latter Day Saint church was later organized on April 6, 1830, Samuel became one of the first six members. At the next church conference, he was ordained one of the church's earliest elders. He served a number of missions for the church and baptized many converts. When the first "High Council" of the church — at the time the chief judicial and legislative body — was organized on February 17, 1834, Samuel was one of twelve men called to be a High Councilor. Later that year, Samuel married Mary Bailey, his first wife, with whom he had four children.

Samuel moved with his family to Far West, Missouri in 1838 and took part in the subsequent Mormon War that took place in northwestern Missouri that year. At the Battle of Crooked River, Samuel fought next to Apostle David W. Patten, who subsequently died from wounds received in the skirmish. As a result of the conflict, the Latter Day Saints were expelled from Missouri and Samuel moved with with the main body to their new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Samuel's wife Mary died in Nauvoo in 1841 and he married Lavira Clark later that year. Samuel and Lavira had three additional children together.

When Samuel's brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, were assassinated in 1844, many assumed that he would succeed them as Prophet and President of the Latter Day Saint church. (See Lineal Succession (Mormonism).) Samuel died just one month later, however. His sole remaining brother, William charged that Samuel had been poisoned to prevent his succession to the presidency. The charges were never proved nor completely disproved.