JosephSmithSr.
So shall it be with my father: he shall be
called a prince over his posterity, holding
the keys of the patriarchal priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth, even the Church
of the Latter Day Saints, and he shall sit in the general assembly of patriarchs, even in
council with the Ancient of Days when he shall sit and all the patriarchs with him and shall
enjoy his right and authority under the direction of the Ancient of Days.
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SMITH, Asael[1]

Male 1744 - 1830  (86 years)  Submit Photo / DocumentSubmit Photo / Document


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    Smith Asael memorial.jpg
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  • Name SMITH, Asael 
    Birth 7 Mar 1744  Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 11 Mar 1744  Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 31 Oct 1830  Stockholm, St. Lawrence, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Nov 1830  Stockholm, St. Lawrence, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    WAC 27 Jun 1879  SGEOR Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    _TAG Reviewed on FS 
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    Person ID I16300  Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
    Last Modified 19 Aug 2021 

    Father SMITH, Captain Samuel T. Jr. ,   b. 26 Jan 1714, Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationTopsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United Statesd. 14 Nov 1785, Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 71 years) 
    Mother GOULD, Priscilla ,   b. 4 Aug 1707, Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationTopsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United Statesd. 25 Sep 1744, Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years) 
    Marriage 27 May 1734  Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • ~SEALING_SPOUSE: Also shown as SealSp 31 Oct 1959
    Family ID F8788  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family DUTY, Mary Elizabeth ,   b. 11 Oct 1743, Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this locationRowley, Essex, Massachusetts, United Statesd. 27 May 1836, Kirtland, Lake, Ohio, United States Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 92 years) 
    Marriage 12 Feb 1767  Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • ~SEALING_SPOUSE: Also shown as SealSp 25 Aug 1897
    Children 7 sons and 4 daughters 
    Family ID F38  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 24 Jan 2022 

  • Notes 
    • BIOGRAPHY: Known as "crooked-neck Smith" SUP Monthly Meeting from Karl S. Farnsworth to Earl Pierce (1999) and by Alice C. Turley at the National Sons of the Utah Pioneers Conference in 2002 - As you were commenting on the unusual events that took the Ashael Smith family to Vermont, I recalled this statement by President Joseph F. Smith, that I had heard Gerald Lund quote. "It has not been by the wisdom of man that this people have been directed in their course until the present; it has been by the wisdom of Him who is above man and whose knowledge is greater than that of man, and whose power is above the power of man, . . .. The hand of the Lord may not be visible to all. There may be many who can not discern the workings of God's work, but there are those who see in every hour and in every moment of the existence of the Church, from its beginning until now, the overruling, almighty hand of Him who sent His Only Begotten Son to the world to become a sacrifice for the sin of the world. (In Conference Report, April 1904, pg 2.) (See below) PROPHETIC STATEMENT OF ASHAEL SMITH In his declining years he moved to Stockholm, St. Lawrence County, New York, and made his home with his son Silas. ... stature - he was tall and he possessed unusual strength. On one occasion he said: "It has been borne in upon my soul that one of my descendants will promulgate a work to revolutionize the world of religious faith." (Essentials in Church History - Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1967 edition), p. 25) It is hardly possible that he expected to live to see his prophetic inspiration fulfilled, but he did. In his declining years, his son, Joseph, and grandson, Don Carlos, came to visit him bringing a copy of the Book of Mormon. He readily accepted their message and that of his grandson, Joseph, but was not baptized because of enfeebled heath. He died a short time later, October 31, 1830, when eighty-six years of age. His wife, Mary Duty Smith, joined the Church, moved to Kirtland where she died full of faith in the mission of her grandson, Joseph Smith. (History of the Mack Family- pg 648 Asael Smith removed from Topsfield, Massachusetts, to Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont.) Revolutionary War - In ... 1776, Asael mustered under Captain John Nesmith in "a company raised for Canada service, "an act of obvious hardship for a family head with six dependents. His regiment was enrolled to defend New York's northern frontier. Possibly exertion and disease took their toll in 1776--a decade later Asael was "in a low state of healthy, entirely unable to labour for three years." (Anderson 118) Ashael Smith's letter to Peter Town: (God) had conducted us through a glorious revolution and has brought us into the promised land of peace and liberty.... And I believe that the stone is now cut out of the mountain without hands, spoken of by Daniel, and has smitten the image upon his feet, by which the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, all the monarchial and ecclesiastical tyranny will be broken to pieces and become as the chaff of the summer threshing floor, the wind shall carry them all away, that there shall be no place found for them. Asael also said repeatedly: "It has been born in upon my soul that one of my descendants will promulgate a work that will change the course of religious history in the earth." ....... This may certify all whom it may concern that we whose names are here under written have regularly formed ourselves into a society and wish to be known by the name or forme (sic) of Universalists and whereas the laws of the state of Vermont allow free liberty of conscience, to worship God according to the dictates thereof and it being contrary to the dictates of our conscience, to pay money to support any teacher of a different denomination agreeable therefore the liberty of the laws of our State we wish not to be charged with any tax toward the support of any teacher of an different denomination whatever. Alexander Stedman, Asael Smith, Peter Grow, Samuel Branch, Abel Camp Jr., Abner Borough, David Grow, Levi Stedman, John Ridle, Joseph Smith, Edward Grow, Benoni Polly, Ebene Tilley, Wm. Clements, Deliverance Brown, Daniel Hunt Jr. The above is a true copy of the record by order of Asael Smith moderator and Wm Clements Clerk for said Society Tunbridge, December 6, 1797. ------------------------------ Seek Ye Earnestly pg. 175 - Ashael, grandfather of the Prophet, was born in Topsfield, March 7, 1744. He married Mary Duty of Windha, New Hampshire, and later moved to that place. During the Revolution he followed his honored father, and served faithfully with the Colonial forces. After the death of his father, he returned to Topsfield and made his home on the family estate, where some of his children were born, notably, Joseph father of the Prophet. Ashael was a man of liberal views. He had outstanding literary ability. Some of his views, far in advance of his time, have come down to us and are cherished by members of the family He was very frank and outspoken and wrote the things he firmly believed, without fear or favor. Many years before his death he wrote a document of sound advice for the guidance of his family. This advice could be followed very profitably by his descendants to this day. He was a devout believer in the atoning sacrifice of our Redeemer, but could not conform to the dogmas and religious notions of his day which brought down the wrath of some pious hypocrites upon his head. Time has vindicated his sound judgment. One item of interest in his remarkable epistle to his family I will here present. And first to you, my dear wife, I do with all the strength and power that is in me, beseeching God who is the husband of the widow, to take care of you and not to leave you nor forsake you, nor suffer you to leave nor forsake Him, nor His ways. Put your whole trust solely in Him; He never did not never will forsake any that trust in Him. ... And now, my dear children, let me pour out my heart to you and speak first of immortality; you have to deal with an infinite Majesty! you go upon life and death, therefore in this point be serious. Do all to God in a serious manner; when you make your address to His great Majesty, be in good earnest. Trifle not with His name, nor with His attributes, nor call him to witness to anything but in absolute truth, nor then, but when sound judgment and reason or serious consideration require it. (Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co.), p. 24.) He had a good sense of humor which he mingled with his seriousness, but he knew when properly to use it. When, on one occasion, he declared his possessions to the tax assessor, he couched his statement in the following words: I have two poles, tho' one is poor; I have three cows and want five more; I have no horse, but fifteen sheep; No more than these this year I keep. Steers, that's two years old, one pair; Two calves I hae, all over hair; Three heffers two years old, I own; One heffer calf that's poorly grone. My land is acres eighty-two, Which search the record youle find true And this is all I have in store; I'll thank you if you'le tax no more. (Ibid, p. 21 above) --------------------------------- Ref: Joseph Smith Papers.org (some Smiths in this database). See "Works Cited" page 12, 13, and 14 for more complete Sources. --BYU L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, BYoung University, Provo, Utah --CCLA Community of Christ Library - Archives, Independence, Missouri --CHL Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, SLC, Utah --FHL Family History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, SLC, Utah -- Pedigree Chart, This chart provides documentation for the information published in the JS pedigree chart in Journals, Vol. 1: 1832-1839. In addition, this chart provides, where known, the month, day, and place of births, deaths, and marriages, with documentation. Other Sources: -- Lyme, Ct, Records of Births, Mariages, and Deaths, 1700-1921 -- US and Canada Record Collection -- Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah. -- Hayward, History of the Town of Gilsum -- Bennett, Solomon Mack and His Family -- Anderson, Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Smith, 160 -- Fuller, Genealogy of Edward Fuller -- Anderson, Joseph Smith's New England Heritage -- 2nd Congregational Church/Ecclesiastical Society, East Haddam, CT, Church Records, vol. 1 -- Lyme, CT, Records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1700-1921, 92, microfilm, US -- Canada Record Collection, FHL. -- Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844-1845, bk. 1, 8-(9) -- Spilman, Semi-Centenarians of Butler Grove Township -- Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches; -- Montague, MA, Town Records, 1719-1859, 201, microfilm -- U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL. AFN: Merged with a record that used the AFN 1XV8-M1 DEATH: Also shown as Died Stockholm, St Lawrence, New York, USA. ~BAPTISM: Also shown as Baptized 16 Dec 1939 ~ENDOWMENT: Also shown as Endowed 12 Jan 1940, ARIZO. ~SEALING_PARENTS: Also shown as SealPar 4 Nov 1959

  • Sources 
    1. [S11] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Unknown (Reliability: 3).

    2. [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 458210, downloaded 28 May 2009 (Reliability: 3).

    3. [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 0170543, page 404, reference number 9026, downloaded 28 May 2009 (Reliability: 3).