The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
The home holds a significant place in Church history
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased the home and the surrounding property in 2012 and conducted extensive archaeological and architectural research to determine which parts of the structure are original to the home and which parts were added later. Construction to return the structure to its original appearance began in May 2022.
“It has really been a labor of love for the past 10 years,” said Church Historic Sites Director Ben Pykles. “[The 2012 purchase] started a decade of research — architectural research, archeological research, historical research, material culture research. And so many experts and intelligent individuals have come together to really make this home as accurate and as authentic as possible so that we can bring people here and tell them this is what the home looked like when Joseph and Emma lived here in the 1830s.”
The site is located on the west side of Chillicothe Road (Ohio SR 306), immediately north of the Kirtland Temple and the historic Kirtland North Cemetery.
“Kirtland is rich in faith, faith that is rooted in people helping people, community looking out for community, prayer and communion abounding,” said Kirtland Mayor Kevin Potter. “And as we sit atop this hill today in this space that means so much to so many. I’d just like to say thanks. Thank you for extending your hand of faith to enrich this community. We are so blessed. Thank you for letting me be a part of this.”
The site includes two parcels — one to the south, which is occupied by the restored home, and one to the north, which was once occupied by the home of Joseph Smith’s parents, Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. The elder Smiths’ home does not survive, but a historical marker explains its location.
Latter-day Saints believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet through whom Jesus Christ restored His New Testament church. They also believe that God led Smith to translate a sacred record of Christians who lived in the ancient Americas. This record, called the Book of Mormon, includes an account of Jesus Christ visiting the Americas after His crucifixion and resurrection. In 1830 in Fayette, New York, Smith organized what has become a worldwide church.
The main body of the church moved to Kirtland in 1831, gathering with an energetic group of new converts in the area. The Western Reserve town served as Church headquarters for the next seven years.
Joseph and Emma arrived in Kirtland in February 1831. They lived in four different places from that time until late 1833, when they moved into the home that has now been restored. They lived in that home until January 12, 1838, when they fled the city because of persecution and threats of violence.
Joseph and Emma’s time in the home — a little longer than four years — was longer than they lived anywhere else together before Joseph was killed in 1844.
The Smiths’ home was a place of family unity, hard work and practical faith in Jesus Christ. When they moved into the home, their family included their 2-year-old adopted daughter, Julia Murdock, and their 1-year-old son, Joseph III. Another son, Frederick Granger Williams Smith, was born there in 1836.
“As I toured this beautiful residence this morning,” said Susan Bednar, “I could sense how excited Joseph and Emma must have been to be together there with their young children in a house that would hold memories both amazingly joyful and deeply sorrowful.”
“Emma was the heart of the home,” said Mark Staker, a master curator in the Church History Department. “She even writes letters to Joseph while he’s away. Even though it’s a small family, she’s very busy trying to maintain that family. And so we tried to emphasize her role” in the restoration of the home.
Pykles said visitors will also get a strong sense of Joseph Smith as husband and father.
“We focus so much on his role as a prophet, as we should. But there was this other part of his life that we don’t focus on as often,” Pykles said. “In this home, you get a real sense of what it must have been like for him — a man in his late twenties who had seen God and Jesus Christ, who had been commanded to restore his Church on the earth, who had been given the restored priesthood — but also with a young wife, three small children, needing to care for his family as well as this young church.”
The home was often busy with visitors. Extended family and friends gathered there. Strangers came to quench their curiosity about Joseph’s prophetic claims and about the church he led. The Smiths also welcomed boarders. Some long-term guests paid for the privilege of living here. Others did not — for example, Joseph’s parents lived there for more than a year until their home was built next door.
And with so many visitors, Joseph and Emma sometimes sacrificed comfort and privacy.
“They have a constant stream of visitors,” Staker said. “People, as soon as they arrive to Kirtland, often come to visit Joseph. He would invite them to stay in his home until they got their own place. So often Joseph and Emma are sleeping on the floor on their coat. Their parents are sleeping on the floor to accommodate all of these visitors. As you go into the home, you say, ‘Where could they have slept? How could they have fit everybody?’”
In this home, Joseph and Emma Smith both oversaw significant publications for the Church. Emma completed the compilation of the Latter-day Saints’ first hymnal. Joseph guided the publication of the second edition of the Book of Mormon and the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, a collection of revelations he received from God. He also began his inspired translation of teachings of the ancient prophet Abraham. These teachings now appear in the church’s book of scripture called the Pearl of Great Price.
To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
