Katharine Smith Salisbury

Katharine Smith Salisbury was a sister of Joseph Smith and an important witness to early events of the Restoration. As a child, she witnessed Joseph bring the golden plates into the family home in September 1827, and she was allowed to lift them when covered with a cloth.

She was baptized in June 1830 by David Whitmer at the first church conference. She married Wilkins Jenkins Salisbury on June 8, 1831, in Kirtland, Ohio, and they had eight children together. After Wilkins died in 1853, she married Joseph Younger in 1857, though that marriage ended in divorce.

After Joseph and Hyrum’s martyrdom in 1844, Katharine remained in Illinois rather than migrating west with Brigham Young’s followers. In 1873, she joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of Christ), led by her nephew Joseph Smith III.

Katharine was the longest-living sibling of Joseph Smith, dying on February 1, 1900, in Fountain Green, Illinois, at age 86. She served as a living link to the earliest days of the movement.