The Real Face of Joseph Smith the Prophet

Found in the book, Retratos Quase Inocentes

 I came across this daguerreotype that very well could be the only picture we have of the prophet Joseph Smith. I have seen other photos believed to be of the prophet Joseph Smith but to me they look nothing like the death mask or paintings. This picture - at first glance I truly felt it was him. It is an original photo of an unknown honorable man from New York, about 1844.


The blog where I found this picture is  in which the author of the blog describes where the picture came from:

photo copy of daguerrotype from above

Painting by Alvin Gittins

One (fateful?) day, a curious book was placed in my hands. It was a Brazilian book about a museum exhibition of early daguerrotypes. (Daguerrotypes were an early type of photograph.) I flipped through the pages to get a feel for the book, which had, of course, lots of pictures, before I started writing my summary of its contents. I admit, the old pictures were interesting to look at and I may have taken more time than I should have, going through each and every page instead of skipping here and there, but it turned out to be just the thing I needed to do. I turned a page and suddenly was face-to-face with the strangest daguerrotype I had ever seen.

Sculpted by DJ Bawden in 1981, original forensic bust

Unlike the other pictures, which were placed several to a page and had very short text descriptions, this particular daguerrotype was placed on the entire left-hand page and the author of the book used the entire opposite page to write about it. It was obvious that this daguerrotype was considered worthy of more notice than the others. And it did stand out, for it was colorized and set into a frame with a hinged cover, so that it could be closed and carried around and then flipped open to show to people. But the most startling aspect of it was that it appeared to be Joseph Smith himself.

Exact dimensional sketch from a photograph 

I tried my best to read the Portuguese text (using my knowledge of Spanish) and determined that the daguerrotype was acquired from New York in 1844, but nothing else was known about it or its subject. The author of the book proceeded to analyze the pose, dress and face of the man and the exquisite sharpness and quality of the daguerrotype (it was the best preserved of all those in the book), plus the way it was framed, etc., and he came to the conclusion that the man must have thought he was something really special and had a commanding look about him. Perhaps he was a congressman or someone else in authority, etc.

He eventually tracks down the man who bought the photo and writes: 

Mr. Moura has said that he acquired the daguerreotype from the Armory Show in New York City in 1966. He paid 5 or 10 dollars for it. He looked it over himself, but did not see any maker’s marks on it. By comparison with other daguerreotypes, and based on the hair style, collar, suit, etc., he put it at circa 1845. As he acquired it from New York City, it is listed as: New York, c. 1845. He also has confirmed that it is an original daguerreotype, not a copy.

Even more stunning he writes:

A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a blog post entitled, Is this Joseph Smith?, which contains a quote by historian Will Bagley, who said, “Smith recorded having his picture taken in 1844.” Now, I wasn’t aware that Joseph Smith wrote down that he got his picture taken in 1844. I find the fact that the daguerreotype I saw came out of New York in 1844 to be awfully coincidental.

Front and side view of Joseph's death mask compared with photo

It turns out that he was unsuccessful at generating any interest from church leadership to investigate the picture. I'd like to know what you think? I think it looks 100% like Joseph's death mask.

 Sources: http://www.josephsmithimage.com/
 http://ldsanarchy.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/joseph-smiths-daguerrotype-an-appeal-for-help/

Joseph Smith and the Savior

Recently, I've been reading and studying a lot of personal accounts of people who knew or had met the prophet Joseph Smith. It's helped me to come to know the prophet in a more personal way and to love him even more. Now when I hear the song "Praise to the Man" it has an even greater meaning to me.

Some of the things that appear to be a pattern in these personal accounts and experiences are Joseph glowing and turning white and translucent when receiving visions, revelation or in the presence of the Savior. Countless people record this happening and their description of it is remarkable and beautiful.

Another common experience are the countless times that the mob was planning to capture or kill Joseph and he was led away at the last minute through the Holy Ghost or from strangers, away from the mob and into safety.

A favorite of mine are the experiences in which the disbelievers would come to Joseph to call him a liar or to tell him he had been deceived by the devil and upon meeting him they sense something different and wonderful about him. By the end of the conversation they believe him and want to be baptized.

Many describe him as loving, humble and almost "god-like" in his appearance and countenance. Many said that when they saw him for the first time not knowing who he truly was, they knew he was a prophet of God at first glance. They said he was gentle yet joyful. He was always positive, encouraging and uplifting. Joseph was born into humble circumstances. He always wore a smile on his face and went out of his way to talk to everyone. He played with the children, loved them very much and cheered up the downtrodden. People said that when he looked at you it felt as though he knew everything about you. People traveled from far distances just to hear him speak. He was described as a very strong man with beautiful blue eyes. He healed the sick and raised the dead. Sadly, he was betrayed by some of his closest friends and given to the mob. He was hunted down and spat upon. People shouted "blasphemy" at him. He was persecuted and martyred.

I couldn't help but notice the many striking similarities to the Savior and truly believe that as we are all taught to be Christ-like and to know the Savior, Joseph really knew the Savior as he emulated him in so many ways. He sacrificed all he had for the gospel and sealed his testimony with his blood. I imagine that Joseph and the Savior continue to have a very close relationship and I testify that there was no greater man to have been chosen to restore Christ's church in these latter days.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

The Movement Against the Family

You don't have to look hard to see the many ways Satan tries to destroy the family on a daily basis. This recent blog post, I Look Down On Young Women With Husbands and Kids and I'm Not Sorry, has been all over facebook, news headlines and talk radio.  When I first saw this post last week it didn't anger me but instead made me feel sorry for the woman who wrote it. How can a woman who is not married and does not have kids, make such judgements about women who are married and do have kids? I saw it as a possible bandaid post to cover up some personal inner sadness and insecurities. When you are happy with yourself and your life, you don't make the time and effort to put down others - instead you use your time to help uplift and build up others.

All of these feminist movements have an underlying tone of personal unhappiness and it's a personal choice to read into them and become bothered or simply just ignore them. Because of the way this post effected so many people that I know, I felt I need to respond.

Here is my personal response to this blog post:

Motherhood is Truly Remarkable

Also, here is a wonderful article about motherhood that I found in the March 1983 Ensign by Margaret Richards.

I Rejoice in Being a Mother

Why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Only True Church

If you've ever considered that the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth today should be organized exactly as it was when Christ Himself organized it when he was living on the earth, then you will really enjoy this!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the face of the earth today. Why? Because Jesus Christ himself heads the church - it is His church and as you can see in this recent devotional by Elder Tad R. Callister, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church on the face of the Earth that is set up exactly the same as it was during Christ's ministry on the earth.

The LDS church is not a new religion or a new church, it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. That means that when the fulness of the gospel was taken from the Earth after the death of the apostles, it was restored again in a latter day (our day) by Jesus Christ himself.

In an account by Newel Knight (one of the early members of the church ) said this about his thoughts upon hearing of Joseph Smith's restoration of Christ's church,

"So honest and plain were all his statements that there was no room for any misgivings with me on the subject. Besides, I found by reading and searching the Bible that there would be a great falling away from the gospel as preached and established by Jesus and His apostles, that in the last days God would set His hand again to restore that which was lost." ("Newel Knights Journal," in Scraps of Biography (Faith Promoting Series, Volume 10) (Salt Lake City, 1883), pp. 47-65

The Bible prophecies that Newel was referring to can be found in the old and New Testament:

 Isaiah 24:5–6; Amos 8:11–12 Acts 20:29–30; 2 Thessalonians 2:1–4; 2 Timothy 4:3–4; 2 Peter 2:1–3

In 325 A.D Christianity as founded by Jesus Christ was completely changed through the Council of Nicaea, and around the time of the fifth century A.D., Christianity had actually become a composite of Christian beliefs, practices, and doctrines; Jewish teachings and rituals; Greek, Roman, and Egyptian pagan philosophies; and pagan religions of various brands. The Holy Priesthood had been withdrawn from the earth. The power of godliness was no longer present in the Christian Church. Thus there was a complete falling away from the gospel which had been established by the Son of Man. The Church lay in darkness, and the darkness enveloped the earth. This spiritual darkness continued for hundreds and hundreds of years” (Milton R. Hunter, “The Missionary Assignment,” Improvement Era, Dec. 1951, 920).

The sure and best way to know that Joseph Smith truly did restore the gospel and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church today, is to pray about it and receive a witness from Holy Ghost for yourself. The Holy Ghost is the bearer of all truth.

Everything You Need to Know About LDS Temples

I love this video.It's truly everything you need to know about LDS temples. Why we build them, what purpose they serve, what we use them for, what they look like inside and everything else! Beautifully done.

A Tender Mercy

With it now being 2014, I was reflecting on my life over the past year. I realized that this was the first year I did not make any new goals. How strange for me. 

If you've read my book Successful Failures, then you know the kind of goals I set, how hard I work to achieve them and how close I get to reaching them. For me setting goals has always been very addicting. I enjoy the fulfilling satisfaction of seeing a small dream come true and watching it lead to more open doors. For some reason when fall rolled around last year, I had reached a point where it truly felt like no matter how hard I tried to make something happen, it just wouldn't happen. 

I don't know if it's the pregnancy (don't think so) or just the way life goes (more likely) but I felt beaten down and exhausted. How I wished I had a personal secretary or an agent of some sort that could share some of the workload. The harder I pushed the thicker that wall in front of me became. The more I believed the more I watched my dreams crumble. The more money I put into my projects the more it became evident I wasn't going to earn any return on those investments. I was soon out of money, out of ideas and out of energy. It seemed that over working myself on my goals was leading to nothing and if I was going to get "nothing" and nowhere anyways, then it just made sense to sit back and "do nothing". So that's what I did. 

True, I enjoyed putting all my time and effort into my role as a mom and wife. That was fulfilling. But there was a part of me that felt lacking. I had lost my passion and I felt a little hollow. I missed those days of feeling connected to my dreams and making a difference with my talents. I missed that passion and that drive that I used to have. But part of me worried that if I opened that door again, I would again feel quickly beaten down and not have the strength or energy to persevere. Clearly someone had been trying to tell me that I needed to point my time and energy in a different direction which is why I abandoned all of my goals last fall. But still I felt a little lacking.

Soon it was obvious that I had fallen off my horse and had just been looking for ways to justify staying off it. I knew that I was feeling a little empty for a reason and I needed to make the choice to do something about it. Yes, that's right - it was a choice. 

So, I began with some long prayers to the Lord - asking for guidance and direction. I explained how frustrated I had been last year and how it led to my lack of confidence and motivation. I further explained that I felt like all my hard work had made the slightest difference and if working that hard couldn't even make a dent in the universe then why bother? I wanted to feel like my talents were needed and I had made a difference. I asked the Lord if he had any instruction for me at this time in my life and that I was listening and willing to obey. I asked if he could speak to me.

Well, let me just say that it hadn't even been 24 hours before he responded. I'm pretty sure he was waiting for this moment - waiting for me to just ask for his help. He was eager to do his part, I just needed to ask. Why I had felt like my desires were frivolous and better to be forgotten about, I'm not sure but I'm glad I changed my mind. I heard the Lord speak to me through an alert I received on my phone telling me that I had a facebook message. I went into my facebook page and found this sweet tender mercy.

Hey Lindsey - Just wanted to send a quick Thanks. I'm working on some new projects this year and have been feeling discouraged and impatient without anyone who's entrepreneurial to chat with about it and today I picked up Successful Failures again and read a section that spoke to my heart and refreshed my determination to press forward despite my inadequacies. Just wanted you to know that you are making a real difference and that your words are helping. 

As warm little goosebumps showered me from head to toe, I could feel God's love for me and I knew that I had been making a difference even when I couldn't see it. He was speaking directly to me through those around me. I knew it was time to get back on my horse and keep going onward. 

At this point I'm not quite sure what the next steps are other than building my hope again and exercising faith. I do know that by at least "doing something" that's all it takes for me to move forward. I trust that I will be led in the right direction and that I will soon get back my passion.

Shortly after writing this post I received a phone call from a counselor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. She asked if I'd be willing to speak at the annual Stake Relief Society Women's Conference on the topic of having a positive attitude. She said that my name came to mind as someone who is always very positive. How humbled I was that that again, the Lord had answered my prayer. I felt needed and that I was making a difference. 

I hope my experience helps everyone to see that discouragement happens to all of us and it's how we deal with it that makes all the difference in the outcome. Anytime you lose your faith and allow doubt to take over - happiness, confidence and motivation goes right out the window. You allow Satan to have power over you. It's so easy to lose your vision and lose sight of the bigger picture. However when you are doing good things and you have good desires - all you need to do is exercise patience. Don't forget to ask (pray) for help along the way. There is a plan for your amazing talents and a place for you in this crazy world where you and only YOU along with your unique abilities can make a difference.