Joseph Smith loved and admired his eldest brother, Alvin. Alvin loved Joseph too, and he
supported Joseph in his preparation to receive the gold plates from the angel Moroni. In
November 1823, when Alvin was 25 years old and Joseph was 17, Alvin suddenly became
gravely ill. As his condition worsened and it became apparent that he would soon die, he
counseled Joseph: “I want you to be a good boy and do everything that lies in your power
to obtain the records. Be faithful in receiving instruction and keeping every commandment
that is given you” (quoted in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007],
401; see also Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual, 2nd ed. [Church
Educational System manual, 2003], 41–42).
Alvin’s death brought great sorrow to the Smith family. A Presbyterian minister in Palmyra,
New York, officiated at Alvin’s funeral. “As Alvin had not been a member of the minister’s
congregation, the clergyman asserted in his sermon that Alvin could not be saved. William
Smith, Joseph’s younger brother, recalled: ‘[The minister] . . . intimated very strongly that
[Alvin] had gone to hell, for Alvin was not a church member, but he was a good boy and
my father did not like it’” (quoted in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith,
401, 403).
