Joseph F. Smith - Church Service

Church Service

After Smith's first mission to Hawaii at age fifteen, he served in the Salt Lake Stake High Council in 1859, and in 1864 began working in the Church Historian's Office as a "recorder" for the Endowment House, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the First Presidency. By the time he was called to the apostleship in 1866 at the age of 27, he had served three separate missions for the church. (Hawaii 1854–57; Great Britain 1860–63; Hawaii 1864)

On July 1, 1866, Smith was ordained an apostle by Brigham Young and sustained as a counselor to the First Presidency, where he served until Young's death. However, he was not sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until the church's October conference of 1867. On February 28, 1874, he left for his second mission to England, serving as President of the European Mission from 1874 to 1875, returning home upon the death of First Presidency member George A. Smith. He was then called to preside over the Davis Stake until he left again in the spring of 1877 for his third mission to England. When news arrived of the death of Young, Smith was released and sent home. The following year he served an Eastern States Mission with Orson Pratt, visiting noteworthy places in the history of the church in Missouri, Ohio, New York and Illinois. During this trip they met with and interviewed David Whitmer.

After Young's death, Smith was named second counselor in the First Presidency to church president John Taylor in October 1880, serving from 1880 to 1887. He later served as second counselor to president Wilford Woodruff (1889–1898), and as second counselor to president Lorenzo Snow (1898–1901). Smith was sustained as first counselor to Snow on the death of first counselor George Q. Cannon, but, as President Snow himself died only four days later, Smith never served in this position. He succeeded Snow as president of the Salt Lake Temple and served in this capacity until 1911, when he transferred this responsibility to Anthon H. Lund.

Smith also served as editor of the Improvement Era and Juvenile Instructor, and general superintendent of the Sunday School and Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association.

Smith felt it was important for Utah to become a state, and thereby eliminate the ongoing federal supervision of the Utah Territory. Following the official discontinuance of new plural marriages by Wilford Woodruff in 1890, and the dissolution of the Mormon People's Party in 1891, Smith championed the anti-polygamy Republican party in Utah.