Joseph Smith - History 1

In Joseph Smith - History, we receive very little information of his life before his tenth birthday. All that is written is -

"My father, Joseph Smith, Sen., left the State of Vermont, and moved to Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne) county, in the State of New York, when I was in my tenth year, or thereabouts. In about four years after my father's arrival in Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester in the same county of Ontario—
...Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion." (Pearl of Great Price JS-History 1:3 - 5)

We know that at the age of seven, the Prophet contracted typhoid fever. As a result of that fever, a short time later an infection or absess formed in his left leg. We read that -

"Seven-year-old Joseph, Jr., recovered from . . . [typhoid] after two weeks but suffered complications that eventually required four surgeries. The most serious complication involved a swelling and infection in the tibia of his left leg.” An operation on his leg to remove the infection was endured by Joseph “without being bound or drinking brandy wine to dull his senses." (Church History in the Fulness of Times, 22–23)

What caught my interest this morning as I studied a student manual on the Pearl of Great Price was that in their move to Palmyra, the Prophet remembered that even though he was not yet fully recovered from his leg operation, the teamster engaged to assist the Smiths in their journey made him walk through snow, forty miles per day for several days, during which time he suffered the most excruciating weariness and pain.

The week after next, we will be holding an every-four-year handcart trek for our youth. On their most demanding day, they will only have to walk ten miles. And for many, this will be all they will be able to bear. Just think of the Prophet with a crippled leg walking forty miles a day.