Alexander Hale Smith

Who was Alexander Hale Smith?

Alexander Hale Smith was the third surviving son of Joseph Smith Jr. and Emma Hale Smith. Alexander was born in Far West, Missouri and eventually became a senior leader of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Alexander served as an apostle and as Presiding Patriarch of the church. He became religiously inclined after the April 1862 death of his older brother Frederick G. W. Smith, who had not been baptized, and was baptized on 25 May 1862 in Nauvoo, Illinois by another older brother, Joseph Smith III.

Alexander was ordained an apostle on 10 April 1873 and "served a mission to the Pacific Slope" with David Hyrum Smith in 1875. He was ordained president of the Council of Twelve on 15 April 1890 at Lamoni, Iowa. He was called to be a counselor to his brother, Joseph Smith III, and also a patriarch and evangelical minister on 12 April 1897. He went on a mission to Australia, Hawaii, and the Society Islands in 1901. Alexander was a partner in a photograph gallery before becoming a carpenter.

Alexander wed Elizabeth Agnes Kendall in Nauvoo, on 23 May 1861.