He Played the Part of Joseph Smith

In 1940, Hollywood released the movie “Brigham Young.”  Dean Jagger played the part of Brigham Young, but who played the role of Joseph Smith?

a.      Vincent Price

b.      Clark Gable

c.       Jimmy Stewart

d.      Danny Kay

Yesterday’s answers:

1.      C.   U.S. Federal troops

While the Mormon Battalion was stationed at Los Angeles they were caught in a power struggle between Stockton and Fremont. Fremont was insubordinate to the commands of Stockton, which placed the Mormon Battalion in a position to fight Federal troops. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the attack never took place.

On April 26, 1847, Standage wrote disparagingly: “Last night we were called up and ordered to load and fix bayonets, as the Col. [Cooke] had sent word that an attack might be expected from Col. Fremont’s men before day.”

Sherman L. Fleek, “The Kearny/Stockton/Fremont Feud: The Mormon Battalion’s Most Significant Contribution in California, The Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 37, Summer 2011, 254.

2.      C.   Sir Winston Churchill

Ambrose and Clarissa Hall, the maternal great grandparents to Winston Churchill, attended Church at the Western Presbyterian Church in Palmyra, New York the same time Lucy Mack Smith was attending the same congregation in 1825.

When I learned that Sir Winston Church’s maternal grandmother was born in Palmyra in 1825, I put my wife to work to do what she does best—find lost people. I told her that Lucy Mack Smith attended church in Palmyra at the Western Presbyterian Church. I wondered, what were the chances that the Halls also attended the same congregation? My wife was able to pull the church records from that year and sure enough, the Halls and the Smiths are both on the records.

Researched by Kate Barker