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Around Christmas time, we had a special evening with the boys where I gave them a framed picture that I found earlier in the year.  It is a painting that was in our Church's magazine last summer.  It is of Joseph, Hyrum and Samuel Smith (one of the Samuel's that our own SPS is named after).  Much is known and discussed about the close relationship of the brothers, Hyrum and Joseph Smith.  But it was neat for me to learn of the devotion and love of another brother, Samuel, including this story…

On June 27, 1844, while still living in Plymouth, Samuel learned that his brothers Joseph and Hyrum, who were in Carthage Jail with John Taylor and Willard Richards, were in danger. Samuel headed toward Carthage with a 14-year-old boy driving a wagon. On the way they met a mob, which attacked when they learned Samuel was Joseph Smith’s brother. The boy headed to Carthage with the wagon, and Samuel escaped into the woods.

He made his way home and “acquired a horse noted for its speed.” His six-year-old daughter, Mary, remembers this moment: “My father came into the house in much excitement, and said … ‘I think I can break through the mob and get to Carthage’ and immediately he mounted the horse and was gone.”

As he neared the town, a man and woman escaping in a buggy told him his brothers had been killed. Samuel rode on at great speed. Some of the mob, expecting his return, had hidden in a thicket. They chased Samuel, shooting at him. A bullet passed through the top of his hat, but Samuel, an excellent horseman, outran them.

Samuel was the first Latter-day Saint to arrive at the jail, but by then Joseph and Hyrum were already dead. The violence was over, the mob had retreated, and Samuel had a piercing pain in his side.

Samuel helped Willard Richards take the two bodies and the severely wounded John Taylor to a nearby hotel owned by Artois Hamilton. That night Willard wrote a letter to Emma (Joseph's wife) telling her that Joseph and Hyrum were dead. Samuel’s signature appears alongside that of Willard Richards and John Taylor.

The next day, Samuel, Willard, and Artois took the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum in two wagons to the Mansion House in Nauvoo. Samuel drove the wagon carrying the body of his brother Joseph. A guard of eight men accompanied them.

On July 30, just 34 days after Joseph and Hyrum died, Samuel died. His young daughter Mary remembered how “silence gave way to sobs” after their father passed away. His cause of death was listed as bilious fever.

Two things strike me when reading this…

1.  That in the space of only two months, Lucy Mack Smith lost three sons.  I cannot imagine.

2.  These brothers were loyal, kind and devoted to one another…risking life and limb, and making the ultimate sacrifice for one another.

It is this message that I wanted to teach to my boys, and this is why we have this picture framed where they can see it often and hopefully remember the example of these three brothers.