Portrait of Joseph F. Smith

Birthday profile

Joseph F. Smith

Joseph F. Smith, American religious leader, 6th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (died 1918)

Born
November 13, 1838
Died
November 19, 1918
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1838

About Joseph F. Smith

Joseph Fielding Smith Sr. (November 13, 1838 – November 19, 1918) was an American religious leader who served as the sixth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was a nephew of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and the last LDS Church president who had personally known him. == Biography == Smith was the son of church patriarch Hyrum Smith and his second wife, Mary Fielding, a British convert to the church who married Hyrum after the death of his first wife, Jerusha Barden Smith (1805–1837). In addition to her two children, Mary raised the six children born to Hyrum and Jerusha. === Early life === Smith was born in Far West, Missouri, on November 13, 1838. Just a few days before he was born, his father had been taken prisoner under the auspices of Missouri Executive Order 44 (infamously called the "extermination order" due to its threat against the lives of Mormons who refused to leave the state after clashes between them and a Missouri militia). At point of bayonet, Hyrum was marched to his home in Far West and ordered to say farewell to his wife. He was told that his "doom was sealed" and that he would never see her again. Hyrum was still in custody in Liberty Jail, Missouri, when Smith was born.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Joseph F. Smith was born

Joseph F. Smith was born in 1838. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1838

  • Best-selling bookOliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineTrail of Tears — forced removal of Cherokee
  • Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic steamship crossing (SS Great Western)
  • World population~1.18B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderMartin Van Buren
  • U.S. population16.3M

1838 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Joseph F. Smith's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18382026
Population16.3M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.