For more information, follow the links to the full articles.
1805
December 23
Joseph Smith Jr. is born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont to Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack. (Read more)
1812
Winter
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.
1820
age: 14
Joseph receives the First Vision in the Sacred Grove in answer to a prayer about which church to join. (Read more)
1823
September 21–22
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.
1826
March 20
age: 20
Joseph is put on trial for disorderly conduct. Charges are dismissed.
1827
January 18
age: 21
Joseph Smith Jr. marries Emma Hale in South Bainbridge, New York. (Read more)
September 22
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
Because of persecution, Joseph and Emma decide to leave Manchester and move to Harmony, Pennsylvania where they live with Emma’s parents.
1828
February
age: 22
A transcript and partial translation of the Book of Mormon is taken to academics by Martin Harris. (Read more)
June
Martin Harris loses 116 pages of the translated manuscript of the Book of Mormon. (Read more)
June 15
Joseph and Emma have their first child, a boy named Alvin. He dies within a few hours.
1829
February
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
Oliver Cowdery arrives to help Joseph by acting as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon.
May 15
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receive the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist and are baptized. (Read more)
May or June
Joseph receives the Melchizedek Priesthood and is ordained an apostle by Peter, James, and John in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
June 1
Joseph moves to Fayette, New York and stays with the Peter Whitmer family. Translation of the Book of Mormon continues.
June 11
Joseph obtains a copyright for the Book of Mormon.
June
Joseph completes the translation of the Book of Mormon and the Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses see the gold plates. (Read more)
1830
March 26
age: 24
The first printed copies of the Book of Mormon are made available. (Read more)
April 6
Joseph Smith officially organizes the Church in Fayette, New York. (Read more)
April 11
The first Sunday meeting of the Church is held.
June 9
The first conference of the Church is held.
June 27–28
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
Joseph Smith is arrested on false charges of disorderly conduct and is acquitted. (Read more)
August
Joseph begins his translation of the Bible. (Read more)
September and October
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.
1831
January 1
age: 25
Joseph and Emma move to Kirtland, Ohio.
April 30
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
Joseph miraculously heals two women.
June 19
Joseph leaves Kirtland to travel to Missouri. Some of the Saints are asked to move to Missouri. (Read more)
July 20
Joseph receives revelation that the site of Zion is Independence, Missouri. (Read more)
August 3
Joseph dedicates a site for a temple in Missouri. (Read more)
Late August
Joseph returns to Kirtland.
November 1
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
Joseph receives a revelation calling him and Sidney Rigdon on missions. They leave Kirtland to start their mission in Southern Ohio. (Read more)
1832
January 10
age: 26
Joseph and Sidney return to Kirtland.
January 25
Joseph becomes the president and prophet of the Mormon Church. He serves in this position for twelve years until his death.
February 16
Joseph and Sidney Rigdon see a vision concerning life after death. This vision is now found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 76.
March 24
Joseph is taken from his home and attacked by a mob. (Read more)
March 29
Joseph’s adopted son dies from a cold, which many believe was contracted when the mob attacked Joseph.
April 1
Joseph leaves to visit Missouri a second time.
May 6
Joseph leaves Missouri to return to Kirtland.
November 6
Emma gives birth to Joseph III. Joseph III is the first child born to Joseph and Emma who lives.
1833
March 18
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
Work begins on the temple in Kirtland.
October 5–November 4
Joseph serves a mission to Canada.
December 18
Joseph Smith gives the first patriarchal blessings in this dispensation to his parents, three brothers, and Oliver Cowdery.
1834
February 17
age: 28
The first stake of the Church is organized in Kirtland, Ohio; Joseph is the stake president.
May 8
Joseph leads Zion’s Camp out of Kirtland to Missouri. (Read more)
September 1
Joseph personally works on the temple in Kirtland.
1835
February 14
age: 29
Joseph Smith organizes the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (Read more)
February 28
Joseph organizes the First Quorum of the Seventy.
July 9
Mummies and papyri are purchased from Michael Chandler.
July 19
Joseph begins translating the papyri. The translation will be known as the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. (Read more)
August 17
The Doctrine and Covenants, a group of revelation received by Joseph Smith, is accepted as doctrine of the Church.
September
The first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants is completed.
1836
March 27
age: 30
Joseph dedicates the Kirtland Temple. (Read more)
April 3
Joseph sees Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah in the Kirtland Temple. (Read more)
1838
January 12
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
Joseph and his family arrive in Far West, Missouri.
June 3
Emma gives birth to a son; he is named Alexander Hale.
July 4
Cornerstones are laid for a temple in Far West.
July 8
Joseph receives a revelation concerning tithing and institutes it as a part of the Church.
December 1, 1838–April 16
age: 33
Joseph is imprisoned at Liberty Jail. (Read more)
1839
April 16
age: 33
Joseph is allowed to escape from Liberty Jail.
April 22
Joseph arrives in Illinois and is reunited with his family.
May 1
Joseph purchases land for the Saints to live on in Commerce, Illinois.
July 22
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
Joseph travels to Washington D.C. to seek help from the President for the persecutions of the members in Missouri.
November 29
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.
1840
June 13
age: 34
Emma gives birth to Don Carlos Smith.
August 15
The first baptism for a deceased person is performed. Joseph pronounces that the ceremony is valid.
September 14
Joseph’s father dies.
October 3–4
A conference is held; Joseph speaks on building a temple in Nauvoo, baptism for the dead, and the restoration of all ordinances.
1841
January 19
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
Joseph is voted in as a councilman for the city of Nauvoo.
June 5
Joseph is arrested and a trial is held to decide if he should be sent back to Missouri. Joseph is let go.
August 15
Joseph’s son Don Carlos dies at fourteen months old.
1842
February 6
age: 36
Emma gives birth to a stillborn son.
February 15
Joseph becomes the editor of the Nauvoo paper, The Times and Seasons. (Read more)
March 1
The Articles of Faith are printed in The Times and Seasons.
March 17
Joseph organizes the Relief Society of Nauvoo. (Read more)
May 4
Joseph receives his full endowments in the Nauvoo Temple.
May 19
Joseph is elected mayor of Nauvoo.
August 6
Joseph prophecies that the Saints will move to the Rocky Mountains and become a mighty people there.
December 21
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.
1843
February 6
age: 37
Joseph is re-elected as mayor of Nauvoo.
June 13
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.
1844
January 29
age: 38
Joseph is nominated to be President of the United States.
June 22
Joseph and Hyrum Smith turn themselves in to government officials.
June 27
Joseph and Hyrum are martyred in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. (Read more)
June 28
Funeral of Hyrum and Joseph Smith. (Read more)
Other Links: