Julina Lambson Smith

Who was Julina Lambson Smith?

Julina Lambson Smith was a leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From 1910 to 1921 she was a member of the General Presidency of the Relief Society. The second wife of Joseph F. Smith and the mother of Joseph Fielding Smith, she is the only woman in the history of the LDS Church to have been the wife of a President of the Church and the mother of another church president.

Julina Lambson was born to Alfred Boaz Lambson and Melissa Jane Bigler in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. Her parents were Mormon pioneers who arrived in Utah in 1847. Her family's home was the first house in Salt Lake City to be plastered.

In 1866, Lambson married Joseph F. Smith in the Endowment House. It was Joseph F. Smith's second marriage; Juliana was his first plural wife. Joseph F. Smith would go on to be an apostle in the LDS Church and was the church's president from 1901 until his death in 1918. Joseph F. Smith and Julina Smith had 11 children, one of which was Joseph Fielding Smith, longtime apostle of the church and president from 1970 to 1972. Another son was David Smith, who became a member of the church's Presiding Bishopric.