Claim profile

Joseph Smith

Founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and prophet (1805–1844)

  • Fame70.2
  • Momentum2.2
  • Wikipedia138.3K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1805–1844, aged 39United States
United States flagUnited StatesPoliticiansPolitician
  • Wikipedia
    95 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1805–1844
    Aged 39
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

At 24 he published a book he said came from golden plates shown to him by an angel, and by his death at 38 had drawn tens of thousands into a new American faith. Millions follow the church he founded; a mob killed him in an Illinois jail.

Biography

About

Born in Vermont in 1805, Joseph Smith Jr. moved with his family to western New York after crop failures left them struggling. In 1820, during the fever of the Second Great Awakening, he reported seeing two personages he later identified as God the Father and Jesus Christ. Three years later an angel directed him to buried golden plates inscribed with an ancient American civilization's history. He published the Book of Mormon in 1830 as their translation and organized the Church of Christ the same year, calling it a restoration of early Christianity. Smith led his followers west to build a commu…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith
said
If I had not actually got into this work and been called of God, I would back out. But I cannot back out: I have no doubt of the truth.
— History of the Church, 5:336 (6 April 1843)
Joseph Smith
said
Deep water is what I am wont to swim in.
— Doctrine and Covenants, 127:2 (1 September 1842)
Joseph Smith
said
Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand, and watch over them with tenderness.
— History of the Church, 5:23–24 (9 June 1842)
Joseph Smith
said
That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another.
— Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 256 (11 April 1842)
Joseph Smith
said
A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge.
— History of the Church, 4:588 (10 April 1842)
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
70.2
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum2.2
Historical29.0
Now attention24.0
Source confidence70.0
Completeness80.0
Global rank
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Country rank
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Category rank
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Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence