Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Alvin Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2021)
Alvin Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2021)
Alvin Smith
(1798–1823)
Born at Tunbridge, Vermont, in 1798, Alvin Smith was the first surviving child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack and an older brother of Joseph Smith Jr. During the winter of 1816–1817 he moved with his family to Palmyra, New York. He helped establish the family farm and supervised construction of the Smith home in Manchester, New York. He was a firm believer in Joseph Smith’s heavenly manifestations and encouraged his brother to be faithful so he could obtain and bring forth the Book of Mormon. He died after a medical emergency in November 1823. Alvin was remembered as kind, amiable, and noble, a man in whom there was no guile.
In 1836, Joseph Smith experienced a vision of the celestial world, seeing Alvin there even though Alvin died before the restoration of the church and the priesthood and had not been baptized by that authority (Doctrine and Covenants 137).
References in the Doctrine and Covenants