Joseph Coe

(1784–1854)

Joseph Coe was born in Cayuga County, New York, in 1784. He married Sophia Harwood around 1824. In 1831 he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was ordained an elder, and moved to Kirtland, Ohio. In June, he was called by revelation on a mission to Missouri (Doctrine and Covenants 55:6), and later that year, he fulfilled that mission as well as one to New York. That same year, he was ordained a high priest. In 1834 he was appointed to the Kirtland high council (Doctrine and Covenants 102:3), and he remained on that council until 1837. In 1835 he contributed one-third of the funds used to purchase the mummies and papyri associated with Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Abraham. In December 1837, during a period of dissension in the Church, Coe was excommunicated. He remained in Kirtland, where he died in 1854.

References in the Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants 55, 102

Additional Information

Biographical facts and sources, The Joseph Smith Papers