KIRTLAND, Ohio — Almost two centuries after the Prophet Joseph Smith and his family lived in this quiet community in northern Ohio, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a new historic site in the city.
Nearly 300 people gathered just down the hill from the historic Kirtland Temple on Saturday, Aug. 26, as Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the restored home of Joseph and Emma Smith.
“I dedicate this house as a place of remembrance, a place of inspiration, a place of appreciation, a place of knowledge, a place of seeking and learning, and a place of reverence,” Elder Bednar said in the dedicatory prayer. “We ask Thee to sanctify this historic site with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We ask Thee to bless all people that come to this home with open minds and sincere hearts. May they learn in this setting eternal truths by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
Elder Bednar was accompanied by his wife, Sister Susan Bednar; Elder Kyle S. McKay, a General Authority Seventy and the Church’s historian and recorder, and his wife, Sister Jennifer McKay; Elder Allen D. Haynie, a General Authority Seventy who serves as the Church’s North America Northeast Area president, and his wife, Sister Deborah Haynie; and Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, and his wife, Sister Lori Budge.
Kirtland City Mayor Kevin Potter gave brief remarks at the event, which was also attended by local government and religious leaders. Latter-day Saint congregations gathered in local chapels to watch a broadcast of the proceedings.
Elder McKay extended appreciation to Lachlan E. Mackay, an apostle in the Community of Christ and a descendant of Joseph Smith, for that faith’s “most kind and generous” support in allowing the Church to purchase and restore the home. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acquired the Smith property from the Community of Christ — formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints — in 2012. Construction to re-create the original structure began in May 2022.
Elder Haynie believes the new historic site will continue to “deepen and strengthen” the Church’s relationship with the community.
“There will be people in this community who when they find the time to come into this home, I think they will leave having a sense that something important happened here,” he said. “And that’s a good thing.”
The Joseph and Emma Smith Home
The home is on the west side of Chillicothe Road, immediately north of the Kirtland Temple and the historic Kirtland North Cemetery.
In his remarks, Elder Bednar said Joseph Smith was about to turn 28 years old and his wife Emma was 29 when the couple with young children moved into their Kirtland home in 1833.
“We are blessed today to participate in this historic dedicatory service,” Elder Bednar said. “This house is far more than a building of historic interest. This house was truly a home to Joseph and Emma Smith — the place where they lived together for the longest period of time before Joseph’s death.”
Many important events occurred within the home while the Smith family resided there:
- The Smiths raised their family while caring for each other and many others.
- Joseph received many revelations to guide the Church, including instructions for organizing the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy.
- He oversaw printing of the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants and printing of the second edition of the Book of Mormon.
- He organized the Church’s first high council and translated a portion of the Book of Abraham.
- Emma completed her work on the first Latter-day Saint hymnal.
- Joseph oversaw construction of the Kirtland Temple.
- He also marched to Missouri and back with Zion’s Camp, endured persecution and endured failure of the Kirtland Safety Society.
“This house was not just any home,” Elder Bednar said. “Rather, it was the home of a Prophet of God — the Prophet of the Restoration.”
As she toured the home Saturday morning, Sister Bednar said she could imagine the Smith children learning to take their first steps and hear Emma singing with her soprano voice. She spoke of Emma’s “welcoming heart” for the generous way she welcomed people into the small home and worked to compile the Church’s first hymnal.
“Emma was compassionate and charitable,” she said. “I am sure Emma had no idea that her valiant effort so long ago would bless our worship services today in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as we sing some of the hymns from her original collection.”
Why restore the Smith home?
Elder McKay addressed the question of why the Church wanted to re-create the Smith home. He related the Old Testament story of Joshua crossing the Jordan River to enter the promised land, recorded in Joshua chapter 4. Joshua memorialized the event by commanding 12 men, one each from the tribes of Israel, to retrieve a stone and build a monument.
Quoting from Joshua 4:24, Elder McKay said the intent of that monument was “‘that all the people of the earth might know the hand of God, that it is mighty.’ That is what we hope to do today,” he said. “When you come here and think of the residents of this home and the events that happen in it and around it, you will feel drawn to them and connected to them. But you will not stop there. You will let those memories, those events, those people, be an usher, if you will, a guide so that you can see and recognize the hand of God and know that it is mighty.”
‘A labor of love’
The effort to restore the Smith home has been “a labor of love” since the Church acquired the property from the Community of Christ in 2012, said Benjamin Pykles, director of the Church History Department’s Historic Sites Division.
Architects, archaeologists, historians, engineers, craftsmen, furniture and textile specialists, and others — some members of the Church and some not — have made the Smith home as historically authentic as possible. Local Amish carpenters, who specialize in old building styles and techniques, were especially helpful in giving the structure an 1830s feel.
“We have had a team of talented individuals who have all lent their special expertise to restoring this home so that it is as close to what Joseph and Emma and their small family experienced in the 1830s as best as we know,” Pykles said.
Most of the home’s furnishings are antiques or replicas built to match the furnishings of the time period. One table in the home was originally owned by Joseph and Emma Smith and is on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society. Other furnishings reflect family life in the 1830s, such as cooking, doing laundry, sewing and writing letters.
One eye-catching item is a stick with a thread and homemade fishhook attached. Mark Staker, a curator for the Church History Department’s Historic Sites Division, said one of his favorite Smith family stories is about Emma fashioning just such a fishing pole for her young son Joseph Smith III. Despite having no bait, the boy somehow managed to catch a fish and ran home yelling “I got one, I got one.”
“We wanted to tell that story,” Staker said.
Aaron West, a historian and writer in the Church History Department’s Historic Sites Division, helped to prepare the materials for the missionaries who will guide tours. One of his favorite stories about the Smith home took place on Christmas Day 1835. Joseph’s parents had moved in the previous day and would stay for more than a year while building their own home.
Joseph wrote: “At home all this day and enjoyed myself with my family, it being Christmas Day, the only time I have had this privilege, so satisfactorily, for a long time.”
“It speaks of his love for his family, his love for the Lord and his diligence in serving in the home and outside of the home,” West said. “That’s hardly even a story, but it’s a glimpse from his life.”
Pykles, Staker and West all hope visitors to the Smith home will see and feel that it was a “place of revelation and a place of gospel living.”
“It’s not just a collection of artifacts,” West said. “It was a home.”
Testimony of temples and the Restoration
One of Joseph Smith’s most significant accomplishments while living in the home was overseeing construction of the Kirtland Temple, the first in this latter-day dispensation.
Today there are more than 300 temples in operation, under construction, in design, announced or undergoing renovation.
“The restoration and dedication of the Prophet’s house today provides us with an opportunity to ‘stand all amazed’ at the growth of the kingdom of God on the earth over the last 193 years and at the increasing number of houses of the Lord,” Elder Bednar said.
Elder Bednar read from section 110 of the Doctrine and Covenants, where the Lord spoke to Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple about the future of building temples: “Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house. And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people.”
“How blessed we are in 2023 to stand as witnesses of the ongoing fulfillment of this remarkable prophecy,” the Apostle said.
Elder Bednar concluded his remarks by bearing his apostolic witness of the Savior Jesus Christ, the Prophet Joseph Smith and the ongoing Restoration.
“I joyfully witness that Joseph Smith was and is the Prophet of the Restoration,” Elder Bednar said. “I also witness that God, the Eternal Father, is our Father and the Author of the great plan of happiness. I know that Jesus Christ is the Beloved and Only Begotten Son of the Father. I witness that He is our Savior and Redeemer — and He lives.”
What people felt and learned
Following the dedication, those in attendance reflected on their feelings and what they learned while listening to the dedicatory prayer and other messages or touring the home.
Bishop Justin Baker of the Euclid Ward in the Kirtland Ohio Stake, was impressed by the growth of temples since Kirtland. His wife, Angela Katherine Baker, said she felt an “overwhelming sense of peace and comfort” as Elder Bednar was praying and dedicating the building and area.
Matthew Greenway, a local Latter-day Saint who attended the service with this family, was struck by how many important things happened in this home.
“Many of the great blessings we sometimes take for granted started in this home,” he said, noting that it gives him a sense of appreciation for the great blessings that can happen in his own home.
His daughter, 17-year-old Madelynne Greenway, said she felt a powerful spirit during the service and noticed how many times Elder Bednar sincerely thanked the Lord during the dedicatory prayer.
“I loved how he said, ‘thank you,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘thank you’ again. We ask a lot of things, but I loved how he repeatedly thanked our Heavenly Father for everything,” she said, adding that it was humbling to hear. “That’s something I need to work on.”
Latter-day Saints Paige Paystrup and Courtney Jones, who watched the dedicatory service from the first aid tent, appreciated the focus on Emma Smith and her role in the home.
“I think we forget how much of a support she was to Joseph,” Jones said.
Joe and Sarah Jackson are local Latter-day Saints who have worked to develop interfaith friendships in the community.
“We see Kirtland growing and thriving today while retaining its quaint, small-town feel,” Sarah Jackson said. “It’s just a wonderful blessing to be a part of.”
Joe Jackson added, “The first thing that stood out was that [Elder Bednar] prayed that the youth who come here to Kirtland will feel the spirit and their testimonies will grow.”
President Nathan Johnson of the Kirtland Stake and his wife, Camille Johnson, said the Joseph and Emma home is a valuable addition to the Kirtland historic sites because it will help visitors learn more about their individual lives, faith and accomplishments. They appreciated Elder Bednar’s heavenly request for protection on the home and grounds, as well as the youth.
“The special blessing on the whole site stood out to me,” President Johnson said.
Elder Richard McClellan and his wife, Sister Cheryl McClellan, Kirtland residents for 40 years who are now serving a mission in Kirtland, appreciate the new Smith home.
“Those who come to this place will feel just what Elder Bednar said they would feel — that this is a very important place where their faith can be strengthened and they can be blessed by following the example of the Saints and especially the Smiths in raising their families in the gospel,” Sister McClellan said.
How to tour the historic Smith home
The Smith home will be open for tours starting Tuesday, Aug. 29, and reservations are required. Learn more at historickirtland.eventbrite.com.
