Lucy Mack Smith's Autobiography
The firsthand family record of Joseph Smith's mother, covering the Smiths' religious life from the late 1700s through the founding years of the Latter-day Saint movement.
- Dictated in 1845 to two scribes as a direct response to public attacks on her son
- Follows the family's moves, visions, and persecutions across New England and New York
- Preserves domestic details and spiritual experiences absent from official church histories
- First published in 1853 and later revised by church leaders for doctrinal tone
Lucy Mack Smith's autobiography, formally titled Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations, is the only extended account written by a member of the immediate Smith family about the events that led to the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
How it was written
In the winter of 1844-45, shortly after Joseph Smith's death, Lucy dictated the narrative to Martha Jane Coray and her husband Howard. She spoke from memory, drawing on letters, family stories, and her own observations. The Corays recorded her words, then produced a polished manuscript that Lucy reviewed. The work was completed in about eight months.
Structure and main sections
The book opens with the Mack and Smith family lines in the late eighteenth century, then moves through Lucy's marriage, the family's financial struggles, Joseph Sr.'s dreams, the move to Palmyra, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the early organization of the church. Later chapters describe mob violence in Missouri and the family's arrival in Illinois. Everyday household details sit alongside accounts of visions and angelic visits.
Publication history
Orson Pratt arranged the first printing in Liverpool in 1853. Brigham Young later objected to certain passages and ordered an edited version in 1865. Modern editions usually restore the 1853 text or note the changes.
The autobiography supplies the only continuous family perspective on the Smiths' religious experiences and daily life before and during the church's founding. Historians use it to fill gaps in official records, while church members have long read it for its personal tone and testimony of Joseph Smith's calling. It remains essential for anyone studying early Mormon origins because no other participant left a comparable narrative.
