Plausible
Photograph of Joseph Smith
In 1910, Joseph Smith III talked about there being a daguerreotype of his Father, Joseph Smith. scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5922&context=etd, there are even letters written by him asking a photographer to help him reprint images of his father, possibly implying in the letter that there was more than one image that he wanted reprinted although he thought some would not be considered as valuable (possibly a hazy, salt water print would fall into that category).
Alexander Smith spoke about Brigham Young accusing Emma of stealing "pictures" of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Eliza R. Snow spoke about seeing a "picture" of Joseph Smith... Paper photograph existed well before Joseph Smith's death (1840- by Henry Fox Talbot, England), and daguerreotypes were the most popular form which J.S. III spoke of (patented 1839) by Daguerre in France). It IS very likely no one was lying...
Whether or not there is a photograph of Joseph Smith in existence has inspire a movement in the 00s to find the alleged "daguerreotype" mentioned by Joseph Smith's sons, surely done by Lucien Foster. After the LDS Faith Church headquarters issued a statement regarding the "Scannell Daguerreotype"- the hysteria had been a quelled, not much time went when the Scannell daguerreotype was found to taken in the 1850s (daguerreotypes existed as long as paper photographs, but came out in a flipped perspective and could not be reprinted, they didn't have negatives, unlike paper photographs. The year of numerous mass emailed and obsessed over images, 2009, one image was never considered, at the tail end of the mass hysteria, an online blogger made fun it.
I didn't discover "1840s Illinois Man" until 2016, he was no where to be found, other than someone's blog (have screen shot it themselves). I was taken aback by his likeness to the death mask of Joseph Smith, and like the ebay seller, his likeness to the photographs of Joseph's sons. The ebay seller stated to have a "Smith Family Photo Album" and this image, taken in Illinois (Newark, Illinois, Kendall County) he was sure showed the urim and thummin, so he became target for vent.
I invested a lot of time doing research, comparing this man to Joseph's paintings and death mask; the image's physical characteristics, scars, eyelid shape, nose shape, lip shape, chin, hairline... and it all match, even the eyebrow hairs, how they angled and pointed different directions and how much more full one eyebrow was more than the other, the high cheekbones, but one day... I wanted to see how well they matched up if, using a drawing app, I uploading a screenshot of 1840s Illinois Man, outlined his facial features and put that outline onto the Dibble Death Mask of Joseph Smith, and it matched, very well, so well that even WRINKLES matched up (to a quality, straight on shot of the death mask). It's cool, and when I bought it, I found out the high degree of provenance, the history- time period clothing, it was all right.
This very well could be a reprint of a photograph done of Joseph Smith in the year 1844 (my theory), by a photographer who lived not only in the same county as Joseph Smith's sons (Kendall County), but died in the SAME city (Plano, Illinois) that they lived for 20 years (at the same time they lived there), and was in his 20s when Joseph Smith was alive. J.S. Bibbins may not be Lucien Foster, but when all of his work states "Photographer" and my image states, "Photographic Artist", implies an even higher likelihood of him being a reprint, never a daguerreotype (I DO think that has been discovered and looks different but very similar to this man, just younger, fatter with more hair), which is important because being a CDV- it easily has been brushed off by some because of a modern technology, but when I found Emma Smith's 1845 CDV (9 years before CDV were officially invented), studied the history of paper photograph (which I believe the very soft focus makes it likely to be of the 1840s softer- salt water print...). This is very possible.
I didn't discover "1840s Illinois Man" until 2016, he was no where to be found, other than someone's blog (have screen shot it themselves). I was taken aback by his likeness to the death mask of Joseph Smith, and like the ebay seller, his likeness to the photographs of Joseph's sons. The ebay seller stated to have a "Smith Family Photo Album" and this image, taken in Illinois (Newark, Illinois, Kendall County) he was sure showed the urim and thummin, so he became target for vent.
I invested a lot of time doing research, comparing this man to Joseph's paintings and death mask; the image's physical characteristics, scars, eyelid shape, nose shape, lip shape, chin, hairline... and it all match, even the eyebrow hairs, how they angled and pointed different directions and how much more full one eyebrow was more than the other, the high cheekbones, but one day... I wanted to see how well they matched up if, using a drawing app, I uploading a screenshot of 1840s Illinois Man, outlined his facial features and put that outline onto the Dibble Death Mask of Joseph Smith, and it matched, very well, so well that even WRINKLES matched up (to a quality, straight on shot of the death mask). It's cool, and when I bought it, I found out the high degree of provenance, the history- time period clothing, it was all right.
This very well could be a reprint of a photograph done of Joseph Smith in the year 1844 (my theory), by a photographer who lived not only in the same county as Joseph Smith's sons (Kendall County), but died in the SAME city (Plano, Illinois) that they lived for 20 years (at the same time they lived there), and was in his 20s when Joseph Smith was alive. J.S. Bibbins may not be Lucien Foster, but when all of his work states "Photographer" and my image states, "Photographic Artist", implies an even higher likelihood of him being a reprint, never a daguerreotype (I DO think that has been discovered and looks different but very similar to this man, just younger, fatter with more hair), which is important because being a CDV- it easily has been brushed off by some because of a modern technology, but when I found Emma Smith's 1845 CDV (9 years before CDV were officially invented), studied the history of paper photograph (which I believe the very soft focus makes it likely to be of the 1840s softer- salt water print...). This is very possible.
We
Welcome
Photographs of Joseph Smith's Immediate Family
Wel
Drawing, depicted by Sutcliff Maudsley, who drew Joseph Smith numerous times, before his death. Notice how his lapel has a darker upper, and matches that of this man from a Smith Family Album.
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1840s Illinois Man, vest matches one owned by Joseph Smith, as does his jacket, match one owned by the Prophet.
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Vest worn by Joseph Smith, shown in a Buddy Youngreen 1984 Ensign Magazine article.
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