Timeline
(for more information follow the links to the full articles)
December 23, 1805
Joseph Smith Jr. is born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont to Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. (Read more)
Winter 1812 age: 7
The Smith children contract Typhoid Fever. Joseph’s leg becomes infected and a surgery is performed to remove the infected bone, which saves his life. Joseph uses crutches for many years and limps for life as a result of the surgery. (Read more)
1816 age: 11
Joseph’s family moves to Palmyra, New York.
Spring 1820 age: 14
Joseph receives the First Vision in the Sacred Grove in answer to a prayer about which church to join. (Read more)
September 21-22 1823 age: 17
Joseph is visited five times by the angel Moroni, who reveals to Joseph information about the Book of Mormon and how to restore Christ’s gospel.
March 20, 1826 age: 20
Joseph is put on trial for disorderly conduct. Charges are dismissed.
January 18, 1827 age: 21
Joseph Smith Jr. marries Emma Hale in South Bainbridge, New York. (Read more)
September 22, 1827 age: 21
Joseph receives the gold plates from the angel Moroni at the Hill Cumorah and begins translation of the Book of Mormon with the help of the Urim and Thummim. (Read more)
December 1827 age: 21
Because of persecution, Joseph and Emma decide to leave Manchester and move to Harmony, Pennsylvania where they live with Emma’s parents.
February 1828 age: 22
A transcript and partial translation of the Book of Mormon is taken to academics by Martin Harris. (Read more)
June 1828 age: 22
Martin Harris loses 116 pages of the translated manuscript of the Book of Mormon. (Read more)
June 15, 1828 age: 22
Joseph and Emma have their first child, a boy named Alvin. He dies within a few hours.
February 1829 age: 23
Joseph Smith Sr. visits Joseph. Joseph Smith Jr. receives revelation about his father, now found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 4.
April 5, 1829 age: 23
Oliver Cowdery arrives to help Joseph by acting as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon.
May 15, 1829 age: 23
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receive the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist and are baptized. (Read more)
May or June 1829 age: 23
Joseph receives the Melchizedek Priesthood and is ordained an apostle by Peter, James, and John in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
June 1, 1829 age: 23
Joseph moves to Fayette, New York and stays with the Peter Whitmer family. Translation of the Book of Mormon continues.
June 11, 1829 age: 23
Joseph obtains a copyright for the Book of Mormon.
June 1829 age: 23
Joseph completes the translation of the Book of Mormon and the Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses see the gold plates. (Read more)
March 26, 1830 age: 24
The first printed copies of the Book of Mormon are made available. (Read more)
April 6, 1830 age: 24
Joseph Smith officially organizes the Church in Fayette, New York. (Read more)
April 11, 1830 age: 24
The first Sunday meeting of the Church is held.
June 9, 1830 age: 24
The first conference of the Church is held.
June 27-28, 1830 age: 24
Many want to be baptized in Colesville. Joseph visits them and they attempt baptisms, but a mob stops them. They try again the next day and are successful in baptizing thirteen people. (Read more)
June 28, 1830 age: 24
Joseph Smith is arrested on false charges of disorderly conduct and is acquitted. (Read more)
August 1830 age: 24
Joseph begins his translation of the Bible. (Read more)
September and October 1830 age: 24
Joseph’s family is persecuted. With direction from God, Joseph calls the first Mormon missionaries. (Read more)
December 1830- January 1831 age: 25
Joseph receives revelation that the members of the Church should gather in Ohio.
January 1, 1831 age: 25
Joseph and Emma move to Kirtland, Ohio.
April 30, 1831 age: 25
Joseph and Emma have twins. The twins die the same day. They adopt twins born to John Murdock after his wife dies. (Read more)
Spring 1831 age: 25
Joseph miraculously heals two women.
June 19, 1831 age: 25
Joseph leaves Kirtland to travel to Missouri. Some of the Saints are asked to move to Missouri. (Read more)
July 20, 1831 age: 25
Joseph receives revelation that the site of Zion is Independence, Missouri. (Read more)
August 3, 1831 age: 25
Joseph dedicates a site for a temple in Missouri. (Read more)
Late August 1831 age: 25
Joseph returns to Kirtland.
November 1, 1831 age: 25
Joseph has compiled all of the revelations he has received so far and the members of the Church decide to print them under the name “Book of Commandments.” This book is now known as the Doctrine and Covenants. (Read more)
December 3, 1831 age: 25
Joseph receives a revelation calling him and Sidney Rigdon on missions. They leave Kirtland to start their mission in Southern Ohio. (Read more)
January 10, 1832 age: 26
Joseph and Sidney return to Kirtland.
January 25, 1832 age: 26
Joseph becomes the president and prophet of the Mormon Church. He serves in this position for twelve years until his death.
February 16, 1832 age: 26
Joseph and Sidney Rigdon see a vision concerning life after death. This vision is now found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 76.
March 24, 1832 age: 26
Joseph is taken from his home and attacked by a mob. (Read more)
March 29, 1832 age: 26
Joseph’s adopted son dies from a cold, which many believe was contracted when the mob attacked Joseph.
April 1, 1832 age: 26
Joseph leaves to visit Missouri a second time.
May 6, 1832 age: 26
Joseph leaves Missouri to return to Kirtland.
November 6, 1832 age: 26
Emma gives birth to Joseph III. Joseph III is the first child born to Joseph and Emma who lives.
March 18, 1833 age: 27
The First Presidency of the Church is organized with Joseph Smith as the President, and Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams as counselors.
June 1, 1833 age: 27
Work begins on the temple in Kirtland.
October 5-November 4, 1833 age: 27
Joseph serves a mission to Canada.
December 18, 1833 age: 27
Joseph Smith gives the first patriarchal blessings in this dispensation to his parents, three brothers, and Oliver Cowdery.
February 17, 1834 age: 28
The first stake of the Church is organized in Kirtland, Ohio; Joseph is the stake president.
May 8, 1834 age: 28
Joseph leads Zion’s Camp out of Kirtland to Missouri. (Read more)
September 1, 1834 age: 28
Joseph personally works on the temple in Kirtland.
February 14, 1835 age: 29
Joseph Smith organizes the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (Read more)
February 28, 1835 age: 29
Joseph organizes the First Quorum of the Seventy.
July 9, 1835 age: 29
Mummies and papyrus are purchased from Michael Chandler.
July 19, 1835 age: 29
Joseph begins translating the papyrus. It will be known as the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. (Read more)
August 17, 1835 age: 29
The Doctrine and Covenants, a group of revelation received by Joseph Smith, is accepted as doctrine of the Church.
September 1835 age: 29
The first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants is completed.
March 27, 1836 age: 30
Joseph dedicates the Kirtland Temple. (Read more)
April 3, 1836 age: 30
Joseph sees Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah in the Kirtland Temple. (Read more)
January 12, 1838 age: 32
Joseph’s life is threatened and he leaves Kirtland. He waits in Norton for his family to join him. He is followed for nearly two hundred miles by those who threatened him.
March 14, 1838 age: 32
Joseph and his family arrive in Far West, Missouri.
June 3, 1838 age: 32
Emma gives birth to a son; he is named Alexander Hale.
July 4, 1838 age: 32
Cornerstones are laid for a temple in Far West.
July 8, 1838 age: 32
Joseph receives a revelation concerning tithing and institutes it as a part of the Church.
December 1, 1838-April 16, 1839 age: 33
Joseph is imprisoned at Liberty Jail. (Read more)
April 16, 1839 age: 33
Joseph is allowed to escape.
April 22, 1839 age: 33
Joseph arrives in Illinois and is reunited with his family.
May 1, 1839 age: 33
Joseph purchases land for the Saints to live on in Commerce, Illinois.
July 22, 1839 age: 33
Joseph heals many of the Saints who have been stricken with malaria because of the poor living conditions along the river in Illinois.
October 29, 1839 age: 33
Joseph travels to Washington D.C. to seek help from the President for the persecutions of the members in Missouri.
November 29, 1839 age: 33
Joseph and Judge Higbee meet with President Martin Van Buren and tell him their petition. The President says he cannot help them. Joseph spends a few more days in Washington trying to find someone who will help the Saints but no one will.
June 13, 1840 age 34
Emma gives birth to Don Carlos Smith.
August 15, 1840 age: 34
The first baptism for a deceased person is performed. Joseph pronounces that the ceremony is valid.
September 14, 1840 age: 34
Joseph’s father dies.
October 3-4, 1840 age: 34
A conference is held; Joseph speaks on building a temple in Nauvoo, baptism for the dead<, and the restoration of all ordinances.
January 19, 1841 age: 35
Joseph receives revelation to build a temple in Nauvoo (Read more); the ordinance of baptism for the dead is officially introduced.
February 1, 1841 age: 35
Joseph is voted in as a councilman for the city of Nauvoo.
June 5, 1841 age: 35
Joseph is arrested and a trial is held to decide if he should be sent back to Missouri. Joseph is let go.
August 15, 1841 age: 35
Joseph’s son Don Carlos dies at fourteen months old.
February 6, 1842 age: 36
Emma gives birth to a stillborn son.
February 15, 1842 age: 36
Joseph becomes the editor of the Nauvoo paper, The Times and Seasons. (Read more)
March 1, 1842 age: 36
The Articles of Faith are printed in The Times and Seasons.
March 17, 1842 age: 36
Joseph organizes the Relief Society of Nauvoo. (Read more)
May 4, 1842 age: 36
Joseph receives his full endowments in the Nauvoo Temple.
May 19, 1842 age: 36
Joseph is elected mayor of Nauvoo.
August 6, 1842 age: 36
Joseph prophecies that the Saints will move to the Rocky Mountains and become a mighty people there.
December 21, 1842 age: 36
Joseph goes on trial to determine if he can legally be required to return to Missouri to face false charges. It is found illegal to send Joseph to Missouri and Joseph is released.
February 6, 1843 age: 37
Joseph is re-elected as mayor of Nauvoo.
June 13, 1843 age: 37
Joseph, Emma, and their children take a vacation to Emma’s sister’s home. While there Joseph is arrested illegally; he is eventually set free.
January 29, 1844 age: 38
Joseph is nominated to be President of the United States.
June 22, 1844 age: 38
Joseph and Hyrum Smith turn themselves in to government officials.
June 27, 1844 age: 38
Joseph and Hyrum are martyred in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. (Read more)
June 28, 1844 age: 38
Funeral of Hyrum and Joseph Smith. (Read more)
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