38 Facts About Joseph Fielding

Joseph Fielding was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Joseph Fielding served as the second president of the British Mission, coordinating the activities of missionaries in sections of the United Kingdom and parts of Europe.

Joseph Fielding was the brother of Mary Fielding, the second wife of Hyrum Smith, and an uncle of Joseph F Smith, the sixth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The family then moved to Honidon, Bedfordshire, where the Joseph Fielding family were active in the growing Methodist movement in the area.

Martha Ibbotson Joseph Fielding married Peter Isaac Watson in Preston in 1836.

Thomas Joseph Fielding served the ministry in the Church of England, initially at Papworth under the rector, Harvey James Sperling.

In 1832, Joseph Fielding emigrated to Canada with his sister, Mercy Rachel.

Joseph Fielding was ordained a teacher in the summer of 1836 and a priest in May 1837.

Joseph Fielding then moved his family to Kirtland, Ohio to join the general body of the church in May 1837.

Joseph Fielding's sister, Mercy, born 15 June 1807, married fellow Latter Day Saint Robert Blashel Thompson, who served as a missionary to Canada and later became associate editor of Times and Seasons.

Joseph Fielding became stepmother to his six children by his first wife and on 13 November 1838 bore him a son, Joseph F Smith, and later a daughter, Martha Ann.

Between 1837 and 1840, Joseph Fielding was called to serve as part of the first Latter Day Saint mission to England.

Joseph Fielding was ordained both an elder and a high priest while in England.

Joseph Fielding later served as President of the British Mission, when the remaining missionaries other than Willard Richards returned to America in April 1838.

Joseph Fielding had high hopes that his brother and other members of his family remaining in England would join the Church and spent much of the voyage praying to that end.

Joseph Fielding was aware that the missionaries were coming to England and eagerly awaited their arrival in Preston.

Joseph Fielding's brother did not take kindly to losing his flock, most of whom would join the Church, despite a late attempt to have Robert Aitken offer baptism to his congregation.

Many in Preston blamed Joseph Fielding, saying that he had broken his brother's heart by stealing his congregation.

Joseph Fielding recorded that his brother finally left his church in March 1839.

Joseph Fielding was described as a good and kindly man, anxious to serve the Lord faithfully, but he felt less worthy and successful than some of his missionary companions, particularly Elders Hyde and Kimball, and struggled with his own missionary service.

For often weeks at a time Joseph Fielding was left very much to his own labours in Preston.

Joseph Fielding greatly admired Elders Kimball and Hyde and felt highly favoured in having their companionship.

Joseph Fielding was said to be making Methodist preachers scarce, having baptised some thirteen of them.

Joseph Fielding felt that the Lord would never make much of him, yet was determined to keep him humble.

Sometimes, Joseph Fielding found himself unfavourably compared to Heber C Kimball.

Between 1838 and 1840, Joseph Fielding was left in charge of the mission when Kimball and Hyde returned to America in the spring of 1838.

Joseph Fielding acted as Mission President for the church, with Willard Richards as his first counselor and recent British convert William Clayton as his second counselor.

Joseph Fielding married a newly baptized church member, Hannah Greenwood, on June 11,1838.

Willard Richards was a witness to his marriage and Joseph Fielding was a witness to Willard's marriage to Jenetta Richards.

Joseph Fielding and Hannah had six children, two of them born in Preston: Rachel on 27 June 1839, and Ellen on 2 September 1841.

Joseph Fielding was released as mission president when Brigham Young and other apostles arrived in England in 1840, but continued to serve as a missionary until September 1841.

Joseph Fielding took an addition plural wife, Mary Ann Peake Greenhalgh in either 1843 or 1846.

Hannah Fielding was troubled by what she had learnt of Joseph Smith's preaching about "spiritual" wives.

In Nauvoo, Joseph Fielding found himself a witness to apostasy in the Church and many false charges laid against the prophet Joseph Smith.

The group only just crossed the Mississippi River with its nine wagons, 21 cattle and 43 sheep, before Joseph Fielding's land was taken over by the Nauvoo attackers, from where they fired into the city.

Joseph Fielding sold his land for $4.50, some horses, a wagon, and some cloth.

The group only just crossed the Mississippi River with its nine wagons, 21 cattle and 43 sheep, before Joseph Fielding's land was taken over by the Nauvoo attackers, from where they fired into the city.

Joseph Fielding died there on December 19,1863, aged 66.