Get To Know SHARON, VERMONT - #5

In 1804, Solomon Mack purchased a 100-acre farm in the beautiful and fertile White River valley bordering the Royalton-Sharon Townships. Soon after, he rented his cabin and about 68 acres of the farm to his daughter, Lucy, her husband Joseph Smith Sr., and their four small children. The little family cultivated in the summer and Joseph Smith Sen. taught school in the winter. They labored and found themselves eventually quite comfortable in their 3 year stay in Sharon. On December 23, 1805, Lucy gave birth to a third son who was given the name of his father – Joseph Smith.

From Sharon the Smiths moved to Turnbridge, nearby, where they had another son, Samuel in 1808. They lived in this place a short time, then moved to Royalton, were Ephraim was born in 1810 and William in 1811. The Smiths would then move to Lebanon, New Hampshire, and finally to Norwich, before leaving Vermont for the state of New York after several crop failures.

All that remains of Joseph Smith's first home is the fireplace hearthstone and a stone from the front doorstep.

In memory of this great prophet, a granite monument was dedicated on the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1905. The shaft was sculpted from a single granite block quarried in Barre, Vermont, and is one of the largest polished shafts in the world. It weighs 40 tons and stands 38 1/2 feet tall, one foot for every year of the Prophet Joseph Smith's life.