Joseph Smith's father made time for children

Despite limited accounts of Joseph Smith Sr., historians say the father of the Prophet left a legacy of faith, family and kindness.His days were full of hard labor in the fields, but Father Smith made a point of playing with the kids."In one (account), he was recorded as often wrestling with his children," said Kyle Walker, author of "The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family." "He was someone who worked but could play with his children as well." Walker said Joseph Smith Jr. carried on the tradition of playing with his own children, often stopping his work to "go downstairs and romp around with his kids to relax his mind." There is one account of him taking his son Frederick to go ice-blocking in Nauvoo. Many have criticized Joseph Smith Sr. because he didn't pass on a tradition of temporal support to his children, Walker said."But what he did offer was emotional and physical availability," Walker said. "He was there for them when they needed him."Richard Lloyd Anderson, a retired professor of religious education at BYU, relates several tributes the Prophet left about his father, including the statement of revelation in Doctrine and Covenants 124:19.One of the most usable is in Joseph Smith's journal, dated Aug. 23, 1842, when the Prophet was in exile avoiding arrest and dictated several feeling comments about friends and relatives.The following is extracted from a long description of his father, Joseph Smith Sr.: "He ... possessed ... a virtuous mind. ... I now say, that he never did a mean act that might be said was ungenerous, in his life, to my knowledge ... and many of his kind and parental words to me, are written on the tablet of my heart."While Father Smith kept himself distant from organized religion for many years, he established habits of religious worship in his home that would later become a standard for his son."He appears to have led out in private religious customs, while Lucy was more apt to join the churches of that time," Walker said. "They did prayer morning and evening. Joseph Smith Jr. once recalled that when 'Dad reached for his spectacles, it was time for prayer.' "When the family's older sister Sophronia was near death with illness, Father Smith guided his family in what they should do in troubling times."In the bleakest hour, Joseph Sr. clasped hands with Lucy Mack and begged the Lord in prayer on (Sophronia's) behalf," Walker said.Joseph Smith Jr. also was influenced by his parents' fathers.Another quote from the Prophet, from Dean Jessee's "Personal Writings of Joseph Smith," reads: "It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul, civil and religious liberty — were diffused into my soul by my grandfathers while they dandled me on their knees."Joseph Smith's maternal grandfather was Solomon Mack, and his paternal grandfather was Asael Smith.

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