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A brief history of early Mormonism from the time of Joseph Smith to Brigham Young. For further documentation, please see: http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/mormonism/mormonisms-history.
Mormonism began with Joseph Smith Jr. who was born on December 23, 1805 in Vermont.
He was the fourth child of Lucy and Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith Sr. was known as a money digger and sought after buried treasure, particularly that of Captain Kitt.
His mother was highly superstitious. Joseph Smith Jr. stated that he was disturbed by all the different denominations of Christianity and wondered which of them was true.
He said that in 1820, when he was 14, he went into the woods to pray concerning this, and allegedly
God the Father and Jesus appeared to him and told him not to join any of the denominational churches.
Three years later, on September 21, 1823, when he was 17 years old, an angel called
Moroni, who was supposed to be the son of Mormon, the leader of the people called the Nephites who had lived in the
Americas, appeared to him and told him that he had been chosen to translate the Book of Mormon, which was compiled by Moroni's father around the 4th century.
The book was written on golden plates hidden near where Joseph Smith was living in Palmyra, New York. Joseph Smith said that on September 22, 1827, he received the plates and the angel
Moroni instructed him to begin the translation process. The translation was finally published in 1830 as the
Book of Mormon. Joseph claimed that during this translation process, John the Baptist appeared to him and ordained him to accomplish the divine work of restoring the true church by preaching the true gospel, which allegedly had been lost from the earth.
The Book of Mormon is supposed to be the account of people who came from the Middle East to the Americas.
It covers the period of about 600 B .C. to 400 A .D. It tells of the
Jaredites, people from the Tower of Babel time who came to Central America but perished because of their own immorality.
It also describes some Jews who fled persecution in Jerusalem and came to America led by a man called
Nephi. The Jews divided into two groups known as the Nephites and Lamanites who fought each other.
The Nephites were defeated in 428 A .D. The Lamanites continued and are known as the
American Indians. The Book of Mormon is the account of the Nephite leader Mormon concerning their culture, civilization, and appearance of Jesus to the
Americas. After the publication of the Book of Mormon, Mormonism began to grow because their religion was so deviant from Christianity such as teaching doctrines like the plurality of gods, polygamy.
Joseph Smith had 27 wives. Persecution soon forced them to move from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri, and finally to Nauvoo, Illinois.
After being accused of breaking some laws in Nauvoo, basically for destroying a printing press that was publishing harmful information on Mormonism, Joseph and his brother
Hiram ended up in jail. A mob later broke into the jail and killed Joseph and his brother.
After the shooting, the church divided into two groups, one led by his widow which went back to Independence, Missouri.
They are known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints, or today they are known as the
Community of Christ. They claim to be the true church and lay claim to the legal succession of the church presidency which was bestowed upon Joseph's son by Joseph Smith himself.
The other group was led by Brigham Young and they went to Utah where in 1847 they ended up in the
Salt Lake area and founded Salt Lake City. Brigham Young had 25 wives and accumulated a great deal of wealth.