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Dates of Smith Family Relocations External Link lds.org, Church History Maps, #2 - Palmyra-Manchester, New York, 1820-31 Map of Smith dwelling locations in Palmyra (Note:  According to the Road Tax List below, from 1816-1819 the Smiths lived on Main Street at the north end of Stafford Road, which is not marked on this map.) External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, History, circa Summer 1832, pg 1 1832 Account Joseph Smith Jr. Summer, 1832    I was born in the town of Charon in the State of Vermont North America on the twenty third day of December AD 1805 of goodly Parents who spared no pains to instruct me in christian religion at the age of about ten years my Father Joseph Smith Seignior moved to Palmyra Ontario County in the state of New York (Note:  This document is in Joseph Smith's handwriting.) Full Source External Link Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate Volume 1, December 1834, pg 40 Letter to Oliver Cowdery Joseph Smith Jr. Dec, 1834    I was born, (according to the record of the same, kept by my parents,) in the town of Sharon, Windsor Co. Vt. on the 23rd of December, 1805.    At the age of ten my father's family removed to Palmyra, N. Y. where, and in the vicinity of which, I lived, or, made it my place of residence, until I was twenty one - the latter part, in the town of Manchester. (Note:  This was published in the Latter Day Saints Messenger and Advocate in 1834. No original letter has been located) External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, History, 1838-1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805-30 August 1834], pgs 1-3 Joseph's timeline in the canonized account Joseph Smith Jr. 1838    My father Joseph Smith Senior left the State of Vermont and moved to Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne) County, in the State of New York when I was in my tenth year.    In about four years after my father's arrival at Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester in the same County of Ontario. His family consisting of eleven souls, namely, My Father Joseph Smith, My Mother Lucy Smith whose name previous to her marriage was Mack, daughter of Solomon Mack, my brothers Alvin (who is now dead) Hyrum, Myself, Samuel Harrison, William, Don Carlos, and my Sisters Sophonia, Cathrine and Lucy. Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion...    I was at this time in my fifteenth year...    It was on the morning of a beautiful clear day early in the spring of Eighteen hundred and twenty. (Note:  This manuscript, dated 1839, is in the handwriting of scribe James Mulholland. Its content is based on an early document from 1838 which is not extant. In December 1842 Willard Richards inserted some text into the margins.) External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, "Church History," 1 March 1842, pg 1 Wentworth Letter Joseph Smith Jr. 1 Mar, 1842    I was born in the town of Sharon Windsor co., Vermont, on the 23d of December, A. D. 1805. When ten years old my parents removed to Palmyra New York, where we resided about four years, and from thence we removed to the town of Manchester. (Note:  This account was published in the Nauvoo, Illinois Times and Seasons. No original letter has been located.) Full Source External Link William Smith on Mormonism, pg 5 William Smith dates of moves William Smith 1883    I was born in Royalton, Vermont, on the 13th day of March, 1811. At the age of five, my father moved his family into the town of Palmyra, Ontario county, New York. We moved into Manchester, in the same county in 1821 Full Source A Record of Strangers Who Are Warned Out of Town, Town Warning Book 1813-1818, Norwich, VT, pg 53 Warning Out of Town 27 Mar, 1816    State of Vermont. To either constable of Norwich Windsor County in the county of windsor... you are hereby required to summon Joseph Smith & family now residing in Norwich to depart said town hereof fail Not but of this precept & your doings hereon due return make according to Law given under our hands at Norwich this 15th day of March 1816...    Norwich March 27th 1816 I served this warning by leaving a true & attested copy of the same with my return thereon indorsed with the within named Joseph Smith... Full Source External Link Palmyra, N.Y., Copies of Old Village Records, 1793-1867 (Salt Lake City: LDS Church Genealogical Dept., 1970), film #812869; microfilm 900, reel #60 at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah Palmyra Road Tax List Palmyra Road Tax List 1817-1822 (Note:  The Road Tax List was compiled in April of each year, and District 26 included West Main Street, Walworth Road, and present Stafford Road. With the lists for 1817 and 1820 apparently in reverse-order, dwelling locations can be approximated from the placement of the names. From 1817-1819 Joseph Smith Sr. was apparently living between Jeremiah Hurlbut and Zebulon Williams, neighbors on Main Street near present Stafford Road. In 1820 Joseph Smith Sr. appears in a different location near Ebenezer Barnes, and Alvin appears on the opposite side of the list from Hurlbut. In 1821-1822 Joseph Sr. appears with Alvin opposite Hurlbut, with Hyrum joining them in 1821. There are no known lists for the years 1823, 1824 or 1825. The next list is for the year 1826 when the Smith family lived in Manchester. This source is a typescript made by Doris Nesbitt in 1970. Sometime after 1970 the original document went missing.) Full Source External Link Ontario. Common Pleas Court papers in cases of Joseph Smith Sr. and Jeremiah Hurlbut, Church History Library, pg 1 Agreement between Joseph Smith Sr. and Jeremiah Hurlbut Joseph Smith Sr, Alvin Smith 27 Mar, 1818    For value Received I Promise to Pay to Jeremiah Hurlbut Or Barer the sum Of Sixty five Dollars to be Paid in good Merchant Grain at the market Price by the first January next with use for value Received (Note:  This promissory note indicates that the Smiths promised to create a crop of grain in 1818 using materials obtained from Jeremiah Hurlbut which would be paid for by the resulting harvest.) External Link Ontario. Common Pleas Court papers in cases of Joseph Smith Sr. and Jeremiah Hurlbut, Church History Library, pg 5 Goods and Services Rendered to Smith family in 1818 Jeremiah Hurlbut Summer, 1818 (Note:  This list shows Hurlbut's resources that were used by the Smiths, including "half of Tax on land," indicating that the Smiths lived on his farm. A list of goods and services rendered by the Smiths to Jeremiah Hurlbut can be seen here.) External Link Ontario. Common Pleas Court papers in cases of Joseph Smith Sr. and Jeremiah Hurlbut, Church History Library, pg 7 Summary of Lawsuit against Jeremiah Hurlbut in 1819 Abraham Spears 6 Feb, 1819    by consent of the Defendant February 6th parties presant, Jury summond by Daniel Uandee Constable and Drawn and after hearing the proof and alagations of Both parties they found for the plaintiff $40.78 External Link The Ontario Court of Common Pleas, docket entry Completion of the Appeal of the Lawsuit in August, 1819 Ontario Court of Common Pleas Aug, 1819 Jeremiah Hurlbut vs Joseph Smith impleaded with Alvin Smith The like as 2d above. (Note:  The entry at the top of the page reads "The like having been duly ordered on motion of F. Smith Plaintiffs Atty interlocutory judgment & that a writ of inquiry issue.") Full Source External Link 1820 Minutes for Palmyra, New York, pg 221 Road survey placing the Smith cabin in Palmyra 13 Jun, 1820    Minutes of the survey of a public highway beginning on the south line of Township No. 12, 2nd Range of township in the Town of Palmyra, 3 rods, 114 links southeast of Joseph Smith's dwelling house, thence north 3 degrees, west 192 rods... (Note:  Both the original and a written copy made in the 1800's are in the possession of the Town of Palmyra.) External Link Visitors Centers & Historic Sites of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Pictures of a modern replica of the log home on the south-edge of the Palmyra district (Note:  Discoveries made in an excavation of this site, described here, were used in determining the location of this replica cabin.) External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, History, 1834-1836, pg 12 Birth of Lucy Smith Joseph Smith, Jr. 1834-36    Lucy Smith, born in Palmyra, Ontario Co. N.Y. July 18, 1821 Full Source External Link History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, pgs 212-13 Orsamus Turner Account Orsamus Turner Jun, 1851    (Joseph Smith Sr.) first settled in or near Palmyra village, but as early as 1819 was the occupant of some new land on "Stafford street," in the town of Manchester, near the line of Palmyra. *Here the author remembers to have first seen the family, in the Winter of '19, and '20, in a rude log house, with but a small spot underbrushed around it. Full Source External Link Origin, rise, and progress of Mormonism : biography of its founders and history of its church : personal remembrances and historical collections hitherto unwritten ..., pgs 12-13 Pomeroy Tucker Account Pomeroy Tucker 1867    Joseph Smith, Sr., who, with his wife Lucy and their family, removed from Royalton, Vt., to Palmyra, N. Y., in the summer of 1816...    In 1818 they settled upon a nearly wild or unimproved piece of land, mostly covered with standing timber, situate about two miles South of Palmyra, being on the north border of the town of Manchester, Ontario County. The title of this landed property was vested in non-resident minor heirs; and the premises being uncared for by any local agent or attorney, the Smiths took posession of it by the rights of 'squatter sovereignty.' Thus they remained unmolested in its possession for some twelve years, occupying as their dwelling-place, in the first instance, a small, one-story, smoky log-house, which they had built prior to removing there. This house was divided into two rooms, on the ground-floor, and had a low garret, in two appartments. A bedroom wing, built of sawed slabs, was afterward added.    Subsequently this property was purchased by Mr. Smith on contract, a small payment thereon being made by him to bind the bargain; and in this way his occupancy of the premises was prolonged until after the blooming of the Mormon scheme in 1829. No Preview Available External Link Peoria Register and North-Western Gazetteer, Vol 5, No 23, Sep 3, 1841 1841 Interview with William Smith James Murdock 19 Jun, 1841    Joseph Smith, now 35 years of age, is the eldest of five brothers, all born at Norwich, in the state of Vermont. The family originated in the south part of New England, but my informant could not tell precisely where. In the year 1816-1817, the whole family removed to the state of New York, and lived sometimes in Palmyra, and sometimes in the adjacent town of Manchester. They were in rather low circumstances, and followed farming. Full Source External Link Lippincott's Magazine 26:152, pgs 198-99 Lippincott's Monthly Magazine Frederic G. Mather Aug, 1880    In the year 1815 there came to the town of Palmyra, in Wayne county, a family by the name of Smith. Their former home was Sharon, Vermont...    After living in Palmyra for about ten years, the Smith family moved southward a few miles and settled in Manchester, the northern town of Ontario county. Their residence was a primitive one, even for those days. William Van Camp, the aged editor of the Democratic Press at Lyons, recalls the fact that it was a log house from the following circumstance. Martin Harris, a farmer near Palmyra, visited the Smiths while he was yet in doubt concerning the doctrines of Mormonism. One night, while he was in his room, curtained off from the single large room of the interior, there appeared to him no less a personage than Jesus Christ. Harris was informed that Mormonism was the true faith, and Van Camp knows that it was a log house, although no vestige now remains, because Harris told him that his celestial visitor was lying on the beam overhead! Full Source Miscellaneous Records, C: 342-44, 347-48, Ontario County Records Center and Archives, Canandaigua, New York Power of Attorney Caspar Eddy 14 Jul, 1820 it is my design to substitute Zachariah Seymour of the town of Canandaigua and county of Ontario in my room & stead to perform all the trusts ... in said power of attorney as fully as I can or may do by virtue of said power ... In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fourteenth day of July Eighteen hundred and twenty (Note:  Power of attorney over the Smith Manchester property was granted to Caspar Eddy on June 21st, 1820, and then transfered to Zachariah Seymour on July 14th, 1820. This transfer was signed by commissioner Hugh Jameson on July 15th, 1820. The Smiths subsequently purchased the Manchester farm from Seymour and made payments to him.) Full Source External Link Population schedules of the fourth census of the United States, 1820, New York, pg 168 U.S. 1820 Census Record U.S. 1820 Census Records 1820-21    Farmington...    524 Joseph Smith (Note:  In 1820 Manchester was named Farmington. This census report was gathered sometime between August 7th, 1820 and February 5th, 1821.) External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844-1845, pg. 37 Smith family contracts for Manchester land and builds cabin Lucy Mack Smith 1844-45    My Husband and 2 oldest sons set themselves about raising the means of paying for 100 Acers of land for which Mr Smith contracted and which was then in the hands of a land agent Mr . In one years time we made nearly all of the first payment The Agent adivised us to build a log house on the land and commence clearing it we did so. It was not long till we had 30 acres ready for cultivation (Note:  This quote comes from Lucy's original manuscript transcribed in 1844-1845 by Martha Jane and Howard Coray. In 1845 the Corays produced an altered copy which can be read in full here. This altered manuscript was used in the 1853 publication by Orson Pratt in England under the title "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his Progenitors for many Generations" which can be read in full here.) Full Source External Link Manchester, New York, Assessment Roll, 29 June 1822, 16, & Manchester, New York, Assessment Roll, 24 July 1823, 17, Ontario County Records Center and Archives, Canandaigua, New York Manchester Assessment Roll Manchester Assessment Roll 1821-23 (Note:  Joseph Smith Sr. was first taxed for the Manchester property in July, 1821, with an assessed value of $700. Between 29 June 1822 and 24 July 1823 the value rose from $700 to $1000. According to the Laws of the State of New York, Chapter 52, subsection 3, passed on April 5, 1813 and viewable here, these values "shall be considered the true valuation of real estates within this state, and shall not thereafter be varied, except where the value of any shall be increased by the erection of houses, or by any other improvements.") External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844-1845, pgs 39-40 Death of Land Agent Lucy Mack Smith 1844-45    In the spring after we moved onto the farm we commenced making mapel sugar of which we averaged 1000 lbs per year. we then began to make preparations for building a house as the Land Agent of whom we purchased our farm was dead and we could not make the last payment we also planted a large orchard and made every possible preparation for ease to when advanced age should deprive us of the ability to make those pysical exertions which we were then capable of (Note:  The land agent was Zachariah Seymour. This quote comes from Lucy's original manuscript transcribed in 1844-1845 by Martha Jane and Howard Coray. In 1845 the Corays produced an altered copy which can be read in full here. This altered manuscript was used in the 1853 publication by Orson Pratt in England under the title "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his Progenitors for many Generations" which can be read in full here.) External Link Find A Grave Zachariah Seymour gravestone 2 Jul, 1822    ZACHARIAH SEYMOUR    Born in Hartford Conn. Died July 2, 1822 AE 63 External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844-1845, pg. 45 Frame house raised on Manchester property Lucy Mack Smith 1844-45    We were still making arrangements for building my oldest son took principle Charge of this and when the month of November 1822 arrived the House was raised and all the Materials procured for completing the building. Alvin was very much animated by Idea as he said of making Father & mother so comfortable. he say now I am going to have a nice pleasant rom for them to sit in & everything arranged for their comfort and they shall not work as they have done any more.    On the 15th of this month Alvin came in to the and said to me mother I am very sick... (Note:  This quote comes from Lucy's original manuscript transcribed in 1844-1845 by Martha Jane and Howard Coray. In 1845 the Corays produced an altered copy which can be read in full here. This altered manuscript was used in the 1853 publication by Orson Pratt in England under the title "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his Progenitors for many Generations" which can be read in full here.) External Link Visitors Centers & Historic Sites of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Pictures of a replica of the frame home on the Manchester property External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844-1845, pg. 46 Alvin asks Hyrum on his deathbed to finish the frame house Lucy Mack Smith 1844-45    He then called Hyrum to him and said Hyrum I must die and now I want to say a few things to you that you you must remember I have done all that I could do to make our dear Parents comfortable I now want you to go on and finish the House take care them in their old age and do not ever let them work hard any more. (Note:  This quote comes from Lucy's original manuscript transcribed in 1844-1845 by Martha Jane and Howard Coray. In 1845 the Corays produced an altered copy which can be read in full here. This altered manuscript was used in the 1853 publication by Orson Pratt in England under the title "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his Progenitors for many Generations" which can be read in full here.) External Link Find A Grave Alvin Smith gravestone 19 Nov, 1823    In memory of Alvin, Son of Joseph & Lucy Smith, who died Nov. 19, 1823, in His 25 year of His life. External Link The Joseph Smith Papers, Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844-1845, pg. 48 Autopsy Performed by Dr. McIntrye and Dr. Robinson Lucy Mack Smith 1844-45    Dr. Mcintire & Dr. Robinson performed the operation the last named Dr. was 70 years old of age (Note:  This quote comes from Lucy's original manuscript transcribed in 1844-1845 by Martha Jane and Howard Coray. In 1845 the Corays produced an altered copy which can be read in full here. This altered manuscript was used in the 1853 publication by Orson Pratt in England under the title "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his Progenitors for many Generations" which can be read in full here.) No Preview Available External Link Gain Robinson Day Book, [21 July 1823 to 2 June 1826], King's Daughters Library, Palmyra, NY $3.00 Charge by Dr. Robinson Gain C. Robinson 19 Nov, 1823 Joseph Smith visit attend 300 (Note:  This is recorded in the Day Book of Dr. Gain C. Robinson, owner of the first drugstore in Palmyra. "300" is taken to mean "$3.00". No image of the original is available online. Contact me if you have any information regarding this source.)

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