afterwards worked out before my leg
healed, during which time I was reduced
so very low that my mother could carry
me with ease.”
One cannot comprehend how trauma-
tizing this surgery must have been to a
7-year-old boy. In this occasion alone, we
are witness to his iron-clad spirit.
Incredibly, the incision in Joseph’s leg
healed in a matter of weeks, but he
required crutches for the next three years.
Not one to indulge his disability, Joseph
still went on treasure hunts with his family.
(At the time, many folk believed magical
stones would allow them to find the
locations of hidden treasure.)
According to Lucy’s family memoir, at 14,
the young Joseph was “out one evening
on an errand.” Upon returning home, as
he was “passing through the door-yard, a
gun was fired across his pathway, with the
evident intention of shooting him.” The
family investigated the incident—find-
ing one ball in the neck of a cow and the
criminal’s tracks beneath a wagon. The boy
was not injured, but was quite shaken from
the incident.
Overcome with uncertainty, Joseph began
attending numerous religious meetings,
seeking out revivals and even joining a
youth debate club. When attending the
revival meetings, he was known as an
“exhorter,” often speaking after the
Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial and home site in South Royalton, Vermont
62 VERMONT MAGAZINE