Joseph Smith
Great Bend Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Founder of Mormonism, once lived a few miles East of here prior to 1830. Much of the translation of the "Golden Plates" for the Book of Mormon is said to have been done there. Site now owned by the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the years before 1830, the young Joseph Smith spent time in this part of the Susquehanna Valley, where — according to Latter-day Saint tradition — much of the translation work that produced the Book of Mormon was carried out. The site, a few miles from this marker, became one of the formative locations in the origins of a distinctly American religious movement. The land is preserved by the church that grew from Smith's work.
Why it matters
The Latter-day Saint movement born here became one of the most influential homegrown American faiths and a major force in the settlement of the West.
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Related people
- · Joseph Smith
Related events
- · Translation of the Book of Mormon
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Joseph Smith
Oakland Township, PA · est. 1948
In the late 1820s a young Joseph Smith lived in this stretch of the Susquehanna valley, where his wife Emma's family had roots. Here, at a house nearby, he carried out much of the work he described as translating the golden plates into the Book of Mormon, the founding scripture of the movement he would lead. An infant son of his is buried in this cemetery.
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Galusha Grow
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