He was a nephew of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and the last LDS Church president who had personally known him.

The seven-year-old Smith drove the team of oxen with his family to the Latter Day Saint encampment at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.

While at Winter Quarters, Smith and another boy, Thomas Burdick, were out on horseback some distance from the settlement, watching the cattle graze.

A company of men from the encampment then arrived, chased away the fleeing Indians, and recovered the herd, but Smith's horse was stolen.

Smith reported that he was devastated by his mother's death, and relied upon the emotional support and help of Brigham Young and his stepfather, Heber C. Kimball.

[2] At the age of fifteen, Smith was called to go on his first LDS mission to the Sandwich Islands under the direction of apostle Parley P. Pratt.

This mission assignment at an unusually young age happened after Smith assaulted a teacher who he felt was unfairly punishing another student; decades later Smith wrote in the LDS publication Improvement Era of the burning rage and explosive temper of his youth which he blamed in part on his reaction to the deaths of his parents.

In the San Francisco area, possibly in what is now Fremont, California, on the farm of John Horner, he was again employed in agricultural pursuits seeking to earn money for passage to Hawaii.

He spent the first part of his mission on Maui, but later presided over groups of branches on the island of Hawaii and then over all LDS Church units on Molokai.

Shortly after this, Smith joined the territory's militia, named the Nauvoo Legion, and spent several months patrolling the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.

After a short stay in New York City to earn enough money to return home, he served as the chaplain of a Mormon pioneer wagon company bound for Utah from Nebraska.

Prior to leaving Hawai'i Smith and William W. Cluff located a new gathering place for the Saints in Laie, Hawaii.

Smith then reiterated his impression of danger, imploring them not to go, but they insisted, so he asked that they leave their satchels, clothes, and valuables and permit him to stay.

Partway there, the freight boat was overturned by the rough water about 20 or 30 feet deep, and Lorenzo Snow nearly drowned in the ocean.

[12] Smith served as a member of the Utah Territorial Council, essentially the equivalent of the upper house of the legislature, in 1880 and 1882.

[15]: 245  Smith disagreed and they departed on a wagon train to Utah, but she only made it as far as Dutch Flats, Nevada before becoming too ill to continue.

Upon returning to San Francisco, Levira began to bleed heavily off and on for the next six months, and was informed by a doctor she had probably miscarried.

Thirteen of his biological children preceded him in death: Mercy, Leonora, Sarah Ellen, Heber, Rhoda, Alice, Hyrum, Alfred, Albert, Robert, Zina, Ruth, and John.

The following year, Smith served an Eastern States Mission with Orson Pratt, visiting noteworthy places in the history of the church in Missouri, Ohio, New York and Illinois.

Smith's reaction to the Manifesto reveal that the church's movement away from polygamy was an incremental process rather than an abrupt turnaround.

One of the first issues Smith faced was the ongoing difficulties for the church due to the continuing practice of plural marriage.

[24] Following his appearance before a Senate panel in 1904, Smith took steps to prevent any surreptitious addition of new plural marriages within the church.

During his presidency, Smith apparently pushed to change the order in which church leaders were sustained in general conferences.

In 1906, Smith went on a tour to Europe, becoming the first LDS Church president to travel outside of North America during his presidential tenure.

The administration acquired historic sites, constructed numerous meetinghouses, and expanded the church system of educational academies and universities.

Also during Smith's presidency, the Seagull Monument at Temple Square in Salt Lake City was dedicated on October 1, 1913.

During much of his presidential tenure, Smith oversaw the planning and construction of the Hawaiian Temple in Laie, Hawaii, one of his part-time residences.

Smith died of pneumonia resulting from pleurisy in Salt Lake City on November 19, 1918,[27] and was succeeded by Heber J.

During his administration as president of the church, Smith made significant official statements of church doctrine: Funded by Lorenzo N. Stohl, the sermons and writings of Smith were compiled by John A. Widtsoe, Osborne J. P. Widtsoe, Albert E. Bowen, Franklin S. Harris, and Joseph Quinney.

Smith's teachings as an apostle were the 2000–01 course of study in the LDS Church's Sunday Relief Society and Melchizedek priesthood classes.