Lucy Mack Smith (mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith) was a woman of incredible courage and nobility, who sacrificed everything she had to further the work of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her legacy and example still lives on today. Learn more about this great hero of the faith in the accounts below!
Associated Locations:
- Gilsum, New Hampshire – Lucy Mack Smith Birthplace
Associated Dates:
- July 8, 1775 – Lucy Mack Smith Born
Joseph Fielding Smith
Lucy was Joseph Fielding Smith’s great-grandmother. He recorded:
Lucy Mack was a woman of exceptional talent. She was descended from John Mack, a Scotch immigrant of 1669, who came to Connecticut from Scotland. It is thought that the Mack family dropped their original name, retaining the prefix only because of persecution on account of religious belief during the religious wars in the British Isles. It is thought that part of their coat of arms was a boar’s head. The Scotch families of MacDougal and McTavish have as part of their coats-of-arms a boar’s head erased. One branch of the Mack family believes that the original name was McDerman. About the year 1795, Lucy Mack went to Tunbridge, Vermont, to spend some time with her brother Stephen and while there she became acquainted with Joseph Smith, son of Asael, and they were married January 24, 1796.
From that time forth they met with many reverses because of the treachery of trusted friends. These trials and the desire to better their condition impelled them to remove to Western New York. Without any doubt the hand of the Lord was in this, for he had a mission for Joseph, Jr. to perform, and to accomplish it successfully it was necessary that he be in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah. Surely the Lord works in a marvelous way to bring to pass his purposes. Lucy, the mother of the Prophet and Patriarch shared with her husband all the hardships, drivings and persecution of those early days in New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. She was loyally devoted to the mission of her son and had an abiding testimony in the work which he was called upon to usher into this unbelieving and wicked world with the hope that many might be saved.1
William Smith
Lucy’s son, William, recorded:
“The people in our neighborhood were very much stirred up with regard to religious matters by the preaching of a Mr. Lane, an elder of the Methodist Church, and celebrated throughout the country as a “great revival preacher.”
My mother, who was a very pious woman and much interested in the welfare of her children, both here and hereafter, made use of every means which her parental love could suggest, to get us engaged in seeking for our soul’s salvation, or (as the term then was) “in getting religion.” She prevailed on us to attend the meetings, and almost the whole family became interested in the matter, and seekers after truth. I attended the meetings with the rest, but being quite young and inconsiderate, did not take so much interest in the matter as the older ones did. This extraordinary excitement prevailed not only in our neighborhood but throughout the whole country. It extended from the Methodists to the Baptists, from them to the Presbyterians; and so on until finally, almost all the sects became engaged in it; and it became quite the fashion to “get religion.” My mother continued her importunities and exertions to interest us in the important of seeking for the salvation of our immortal souls, until almost all of the family became either converted or seriously inclined.”2
Did you some people have claimed that the Prophet’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, was given to vanity and extravagance? What was the character of Mother Smith?
