Gay has a photo of Joseph Smith's headstone. This headsto n e was used for the date of birth and death which appear s o n Joseph Smith's Family Group Sheet.
On the 1st of July, 1877, Mr.. Swinney was united in marri a ge to Miss Catherine Smith, a daughter of Joseph Smith, w h o left his Ohio home as a boy of seventeen years, and aft e r spending a short time in Iowa, he crossed the plains i n 1 846. On the journey he contracted mountain fever and wh en t he train with which he was traveling reached Walla Wal la, h e was left with Dr. Whitman, who nursed him back to h ealth . He spent the following winter and the next sprin g with D r. Whitman, for whom he worked at splitting rail s and als o planted some small tracts to grain. In the summ er of 1847 , prior to Dr. Whitman's murder, he went to Oreg on, settlin g in lane county, where he was afterward marrie d. There h e lived until 1861, when he came to Washington a nd spent th e summer in the Orofino mines. During the har d winter of 1 861-2 -- a winter memorable in the history o f the state - - he was in Columbia county, living near Dayt on. There he a cquired land and later made that place his h ome. During th e later years of his life, however, he resid ed with Mr. an d Mrs. Swinney, reach-ing the ripe old age o f eighty-one ye ars.
The Back Rhodes of Our Genealogy
1825 - 1903 (77 years)
