Published June 19, 2005. Reprinted with permission from The Boston Globe.

Markers to honor church's heritage
John Laidler, Globe Correspondent, The Boston Globe

Joseph Smith Jr. Courtesy Alvin Gittins, Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

It is a town with a rich history and a keen interest in preserving it. But at least one strand of Topsfield's past has remained largely obscure.

Five generations of ancestors of Joseph Smith, Jr. the founder of the Mormon church, resided in Topsfield.

Now, even as the church celebrates the bicentennial of Smith's birth, a project is underway in Topsfield that promises to bring more awareness of his family's historic connection with the town.

The Topsfield Historical Society and the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation are collaborating to place two historic markers in town this fall recalling Smith and his familial roots. The Utah-based foundation is a nonprofit that helps identify, preserve, and commemorate sites of significance to Mormon History.

One of the stones will be located in front of a home on Boardman Lane that was previously the site of the Smith family homestead. The other will be placed behind the Congregational Church of Topsfield. The Smith family belonged to the Topsfield church, which has had three buildings on that site over the years.

Historical Society president Norman Isler said the project is important to the town and to the Mormon church - known formally as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - though for different reasons.

"I'm looking at the whole thing from an historical viewpoint; the Mormons are looking at it I'm sure from the religious standpoint. But we have common objectives here," he said.

The first Icelandic settlers' conversion and subsequent migration to America cannot be separated, he said. It also launched a general migration of Icelanders to North America during the rough financial climate in Iceland at the time.

In addition to being ancestors of a historical figure in American religion, "the Smiths were very patriotic and very religious people, and they form a part of the fabric of the early settlers of this town," Isler said.

Joseph Smith, Jr. did not actually live in Topsfield. He was born in 1805 in Sharon, Vt., where his father, Joseph Smith Sr., had moved from Topsfield. In 1830, Joseph Jr. organized the Mormon church. He and his brother died at the hands of a mob in Illinois in 1844.

But "the fact that four generations of Smiths actually lived on the Boardman Lane site makes it very significant for the Latter-day Saints," said Fred E. Woods, executive director of the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, and professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

The congregational church site was important, too, he added, because of the Smiths' century-long involvement in that church.

Mormons "by the thousands have gone by this house and gone by the church and there hasn't been a marker before," he said.

Praising Topsfield for its cooperation, Woods said, "It's just a wonderful thing where we can work across the country to do these things."

Brian Rossano, who with his wife, Catherine, owns the Boardman Lane house, said his family has grown accustomed to seeing Mormon sightseers pull up outside his home to catch a glimpse of the old Smith property. The original Smith house was razed in the 1870s, replaced in 1876 by the Rossanos' current house. He said his family is glad to accommodate those visitors and to allow the placement of the marker.

"We live on a property that is important to a lot of different people," he said. "It's very nice to be part of it and we are happy to let people experience it as part of their history.

The Rev. Norman Bendroth, interim pastor of the Congregational Church of Topsfield, said, "Even though historically, religiously, spiritually we are a totally different lineage [than the Mormons], it's still of historic significance so we certainly want to honor and participate in that," he said.

The society and the foundation plan ceremonies on Oct. 15 when the markers will be installed. The preceding evening, they will sponsor a presentation by a Mormon choir and a talk by Joseph McConkie, a BYU professor and the great-great-great grandson of Joseph Smith Sr., regarding the church's connection to Topsfield.

Isler became aware of the town's Mormon connection about a decade ago when some Mormon visitors stopped into the Historical Society's Parson Capen House and inquired where the Smith homestead was. Isler told them he did not know. But soon after, through research, he learned about the Smith family, including that several of its members are buried at the town's Pine Grove cemetary.

According to Mormon history accounts and Topsfield Historical Society records, Robert Smith came from England to Boston in 1638, later settling in Topsfield. His son, Samuel Smith, born in 1666, was the first of the Smiths to occupy the original homestead on Boardman Lane, built in 1690.

His son, Samuel Smith, Jr. born in 1714, was a community leader and a fervent supporter of American independence. A selectman and state legislator, he represented the town at the First Provincial Congress in Massachusetts in 1774, and was a captain in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

Samuel's son, Asael Smith, was born in 1744. He, too, served in the Revolutionary War. His son, Joseph Smith Sr., born in 1771, was Joseph Smith Jr.'s father.

Isler said that after his initial research, he thought of the idea of the historical markers. But the idea only recently took off when a Mormon from Idaho, whom he was helping with a genealogical project, put him in touch with Woods.

With Wood's support, Isler gained the approvals he needed from the town, the Congregational church, and the Rossanos. He also made contact with David M. Keating, a Topsfield Mormon, who embraced the project. It was though Keating's effort that Mormons in Vermont, where the church maintains Smith's birthplace, pledged to provide free granite from that area for the markers.

Isler worked with Woods and the Congregational church on the wording of the bronze plaques that will be affixed to the markers. He and Keating will build concrete foundations.

Keating, who estimates there are three Mormon families in Topsfield, said, "I'm just thrilled at the way this is all coming together." He said to see a recognition of the historical ties between the church and his town is "very humbling and exciting."