Smith family (Latter Day Saints)
American family associated with the Latter Day Saint movement

The Smith family is the name of an American family with many members prominent in religion and politics. The family's most famous member was Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Many other members of the family took on leadership roles in various churches within the movement.
First generation
Joseph Smith Sr.
Lived 1771–1840
Married: Lucy Mack in 1795
Father of Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph Jr., Samuel, Ephraim, William, Catherine or Katharine, Don Carlos, and Lucy (see Joseph Smith-History 1:4 and “Family of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith: First Family of the Restoration,” December 2005 Ensign magazine)
brother of John Smith
Lucy Mack Smith
Lived 1775–1856
Married: Joseph Smith Sr. in 1795
Mother of Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph Jr., Samuel, Ephraim, William, Catherine or Katharine, Don Carlos, and Lucy (see Joseph Smith-History 1:4 and “Family of Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith: First Family of the Restoration,” December 2005 Ensign magazine)
John Smith
Lived: 1781–1854
brother of Joseph Smith Sr.
father of George A. Smith
Second generation: children of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack
Alvin Smith
Lived: 1798–1823
Oldest child of Joseph Smith Sr.
The public source identifies “Smith family (Latter Day Saints)” as american family associated with the Latter Day Saint movement. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Smith, family and Latter.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 13, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q7545381. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1771, 1840, 1795 and 2005.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Smith family (Latter Day Saints)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.