Phinehas Richards and Joseph Smith Sr.

Today I’m writing about my husband’s 4th-great-grandfather, Phinehas Richards. This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson, “My Work Shall Go Forth,” Doctrine and Covenants 3-5, includes a revelation to Joseph Smith Senior, who was an associate of Phinehas. I enjoyed learning about both of them. I received an authored source that has been extremely helpful for learning about the Richards family, Richards Family History, edited by Joseph Grant Stevenson. The book is out of print, and the website Stevenson Genealogy & Copy Center is out of business (as of April 2022), but by requesting it from Chris Stevenson (their website says), you can receive an email with the PDF. I requested several Richards histories. They are high quality and helpful sources. The book pointed me toward Phinehas Richards’ journal, which was digitized on the Church History Catalog website in the Richards Family Papers collection.

Dorothy Streeper, “Phinehas Richards,” in Joseph Grant Stevenson, ed., Richards Family History, vol. 1 (Stevenson, 1977).

Phinehas Richards

Phinehas Richards, via FamilySearch

Phinehas Richards was born on 15 November 1788 in Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, to Joseph and Rhoda Richards.[1] He started a journal in 1837 in which he related the beginning events of his life up until 1837. He related that on 24 February 1818, he was married to Miss Weaelthy Dewey, “the only daughter of Samuel & Milly Dewey of the town of Richmond, Massachusetts, in which I resided. Father D. was a blacksmith and a good farmer, being possessor of more than 100 Acres of land … I then went to keeping house, establishing business for myself, in the cabinet line, though frequently taking jobs at house building & painting, as it agreed better with my health.”[2]

Phinehas Richards, Diary, 1837 April-1871 March, p. 1; image, Church History Catalog (https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/35203bee-3de4-4d14-a98a-fdd7ad8bd14e/0/0 : accessed 3 February 2025), image 7 of 266.

In 1836, Phinehas received a visit from three of his relatives (including Brigham Young), who taught him about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He said, “I soon discovered that the system they taught contained principles which I had long been looking for…”[3] In 1837, Phinehas moved to Kirtland, Ohio, “to see the Prophet and learn more fully the principles of the gospel.” He was baptized 13 June 1837 by Brigham Young and confirmed by Hyrum Smith and Don Carlos Smith in the Kirtland temple.[4] On 9 September 1837, Phinehas was ordained a high priest, and then set apart as a high councilor “by the hands of Joseph Smith Jr., Sidney Rigdon, and Joseph Smith Senior the Patriarch.”[5] He returned to Richmond, Massachusetts, at the end of 1837, and in January left Richmond to visit relatives all over New England to preach.[6]

On 19 September 1837, Phinehas received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith Senior, the Patriarch of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. It was given “at a blessing meeting held in the Lord’s House in Kirtland, [Ohio].” Patriarch Smith said, “I need blessings from thee, yet I stand as Patriarch to bless thee.”[7]

Patriarch Smith was seventeen years older than Phinehas. Phinehas and Father Smith had much in common – they were both born in Massachusetts and were both previously members of the Congregationalist Church there – Phinehas in Richmond, and Joseph Sr. in Topsfield.[8] They were both farmers, among Phinehas’s other occupations.[9] They both served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the eastern states and taught their relatives in New England.[10]

About Joseph Smith Senior

Joseph Smith Senior was the father of the prophet Joseph Smith. He was born 12 July 1771, in Massachusetts, to Asael and Mary (Duty) Smith.[11] He was called as a patriarch in 1834 and blessed church members at meetings where up to fifteen members would receive blessings.[12] Lorenzo Snow attended one of these meetings before he joined the church. What he saw and felt there influenced him to study the doctrines of the church and eventually was baptized and later became the fifth president of The Church.[13]

Joseph Smith Senior was the recipient of one of the first revelations of Joseph Smith, which is now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants section 4.[14] This section is commonly known as a missionary text, although Joseph Smith Sr. wasn’t being called on a mission when it was received. Father Smith wanted to know God’s will for him and visited Joseph in Harmony, Pennsylvania, in 1829 to ask him what the Lord wanted him to do. The revelation was suited to Father Smith’s understanding as a farmer and spoke of the hard work required for successful harvests and encouraging him to work hard to help others learn about the gospel of Christ.[15]

February 1829, A Revelation to Joseph the Father of the Seer [16]

How to Find the Patriarchal Blessings of Ancestors

You can view patriarchal blessings of ancestors on The Church’s website. Log in to your account, and go to “Resources,” then “Patriarchal Blessing.” On that page you’ll see the tab “Family Blessings,” and then a list of your direct-line ancestors’ blessings.

https://pb.churchofjesuschrist.org/

Before this was here, I requested several of the blessings of my ancestors, and they were mailed to me. It was neat to receive them in the mail and transcribe them. I made a book about my Grandpa Elder’s side of the family and their biographies and patriarchal blessings and wrote about it here: “Remembering the Faith of My Ancestors with a Blurb Book.”

Notes

[1] Phinehas Richards, Diary, 1837 April-1871 March, p. 1; image, Church History Catalog (https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/35203bee-3de4-4d14-a98a-fdd7ad8bd14e/0/0 : accessed 3 February 2025), image 7 of 266.

[2] Phinehas Richards, Diary, 1837 April-1871 March; image 10 of 266.

[3] Dorothy Streeper, “Phinehas Richards,” in Joseph Grant Stevenson, ed., Richards Family History, vol. 1 (Stevenson, 1977), p. 118.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., image 13 of 266.

[6] Streeper, “Phinehas Richards,” in Stevenson, ed., Richards Family History, p. 125.

[7] Joseph Smith Senior, patriarchal blessing given to Phineas Richards, 29 September 1837, Kirtland, Ohio; image, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://pb.churchofjesuschrist.org/ : accessed 3 February 2025).

[8] Phinehas Richards, Diary, 1837 April-1871 March; image 11 of 266. See also “Smith, Joseph, Sr.,” The Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/joseph-smith-sr : accessed 3 February 2025).

[9] Dorothy Streeper, “Phinehas Richards,” in Joseph Grant Stevenson, ed., Richards Family History, vol. 1 (Stevenson, 1977), p. 110-111. See also “Smith, Joseph, Sr.,” The Joseph Smith Papers.

[10] Streeper, “Phinehas Richards,” in Stevenson, ed., Richards Family History, p. 125. See also Steven C. Harper, “Section 4,” Doctrine and Covenants Contexts (https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book-chapter/section-4 : accessed 3 February 2025).

[11] “Joseph Smith Sr.,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/joseph-smith-sr?lang=eng : accessed 3 February 2025).

[12] “Joseph Smith Sr.,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/joseph-smith-sr?lang=eng : accessed 3 February 2025).

[13] Ibid. See also “Lorenzo Snow,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/lorenzo-snow : accessed 3 February 2025).

[14] “Chronology of Texts in the Modern Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/church-historians-press/jsp-revelations/chronological-order-of-texts : accessed 3 February 2025).

[15] Steven C. Harper, “Section 4,” Doctrine and Covenants Contexts (https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book-chapter/section-4 : accessed 3 February 2025).

[16] Joseph Smith and John Whitmer, Revelation of February 1829, Revelation Book 1, [ca. Mar. 1831–July 1835], p. 2; image, The Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-book-1/4 : accessed 3 February 2025).