Joseph Fielding Smith (November 13, 1838–November 19, 1918) was the sixth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Smith was the nephew of the founder of the Mormon faith, Joseph Smith, and son of Patriarch Hyrum Smith. After his uncle and father were murdered in Carthage, Illinois, Smith, with many other Mormons, fled the American Midwest and settled in Utah.
Smith was then called on a mission to serve in the Hawaiian Islands at the age of fourteen. He was called to the apostleship in his late twenties and had already served three missions for the church.
Smith is remembered for the construction and dedication of the Seagull Monument at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 1, 1913. Smith spent most of his presidential tenure overseeing the planning and construction of the Laie Hawaii Temple in Laie, Hawaii, one of his part-time residences. The fifth oldest Mormon temple in the world, Smith died a year before his beloved Laie Hawaii Temple was to be dedicated.
His son Joseph Fielding Smith later served as the President of the Church and his granddaughter married Bruce R. McConkie, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.
