The Mormon religion is based upon the story and religious teachings of Joseph Smith. Smith was the founding prophet and first elder/president of the church. The original church was established in western New York state on 6 April 1830 in the Township of Manchester, Ontario County, New York (new research has found this to be the organizational site). Joseph Smith (1805-44), born in Sharon, Vermont, received a visitation from the Father and the Son in the spring of 1820. He published the Book of Mormon, which he translated from golden plates, in 1829, and founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830. After a lifetime of dynamic leadership in Kirtland, Ohio, in Independence, Missouri, and in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph, sustained by his people as a prophet of God, was killed by a mob while he was being held prisoner in Carthage, Illinois.
RESIDENCES: 1820 - Manchester, New York


DEATH: Killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.