Joseph Smith portrait by unknown artist (Painting courtesy RLDS)
Example of a Kirtland Safety Society Bank Note hand-signed by Joseph Smith dated 9 March 1837
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JOSEPH SMITH
First Prophet and President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
December 23, 1805 • June 27, 1844
- Birthplace: Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont
- Parents: Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack
- November 2, 1836: Several of the brethren meet in Kirtland, Ohio and draw up the articles of the "Kirtland Safety Society,"
with Sidney Rigdon as president and Joseph Smith as cashier. Orson Hyde travels to Columbus, Ohio to secure a banking charter from the legislature.
Oliver Cowdery goes to Philadelphia to get printing plates to print their notes.
- January 1, 1837: Orson Hyde returns from Columbus with the disappointing news that the bank charter has been rejected. by the state legislature.
The anti-banking wing of the Democratic Party had just won control of the state legislature and those in power were turning down all bank applications.
- January 2, 1837: The Kirtland Safety Society met and revised its articles. They decided to go ahead with the bank in spite of the lack of legal charter
from the state government, but they call it the "Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Bank-ing Company."
- January 6, 1837: The new bank notes begin circulation. There is a short boom, but within three weeks the bank announces it will stop redeeming the notes in gold.
- January 23, 1837: Sidney Rigdon announces that the bank no longer will give out specie for the Kirtland bank notes.
Many people honored the notes but no other bank accepted them. This caused a run on the bank.
- May 10, 1837: Eight hundred banks nationwide suspend payments in the "Panic of 1837" as a depression sweeps the nation.
- July 7, 1837: The Kirtland Safety Society Bank fails, caused by a number of events working against it.
- Date and Place of Marriage: January 18, 1827 to Emma Hale, in South Bainbridge, New York. Afterwards went to Manchester, NY.
- Children: 11 children
- Age at Death: 39 years old
- Place of Death: Carthage Jail, Illinois
- Burial Place: Nauvoo Mansion House, Illinois
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