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Smiths' descendant on family quest He's working to identify, reunite Joseph and Emma's posterity... |
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... today - on the eve of the 177th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - he spearheads production of a new film on his third great-grandmother, Emma Smith. And he travels the world seeking out descendants of Emma and her husband, Joseph Smith, who founded the faith in 1830. |
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Virtually none of the Smiths' descendants were affiliated with the LDS Church for more than 100 years after Joseph Smith's death in 1844, and Emma Smith's papers and artifacts were passed down through her children. One became president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ. |
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www.josephsmithjr.org - will be established in mid-November as the home page for the Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society. Images of Smith family documents and artifacts will be made available to the public on the Web site, Kennedy said. |
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Kennedy is dedicated to expanding public understanding of Emma Smith's legacy. He also wants to help her descendants know who she was and why she made the choices she did. While many revere her memory, he said, others have taken stories about her out of context and painted her to be someone she was not. "It's like passing the telephone message along - it always gets distorted." "Emma does not want sympathy," Kennedy said. "Empathy, maybe, but not sympathy. Having Latter-day Saints concerned about her salvation (in the afterlife)" is ironic, he said, adding both she and her husband "had their calling and election made sure (meaning their salvation is assured). The last I recall, you have to commit murder to lose that." |
Rather off topic, but... Article noted: Film crews just finished shooting the last footage of the full-length, narrative film called "Emma Smith: My Story," Kennedy said. Once the film premieres in Utah, it will go into wider distribution, with premieres in Montana, Independence, Mo., and Sydney, Australia, where many of Smith's descendants live. |