City for departure he was told he would serve in the Scandinavia Mission. In the spring of 1862, at the age of 27, he was asked by Brigham Young to serve as Mission president of that mission. He went home for a brief period, but returned to the Scandinavian Mission again in 1868 to serve as mission president for a second time. He assisted almost 3,000 members of the church in emigrating to America. Smith learned to read and speak Danish on his missions. Smith served as the first Stake President of the Eastern Arizona Stake from 1879 to 1887 followed by the Snowflake Stake from 1887 until his death. In 1882, he predicted that a temple would be built in Pima, Arizona. The Gila Valley Arizona Temple is between Pima and Thatcher. Colonizer Smith helped colonize different Mormon settlements. The church leadership asked him, his mother and brother to help settle Parowan, Utah in 1851. He also helped in creating the settlement of Minersville. In 1878 he went to explore an area in the Arizona Territory where Mormon settlements were being established. Smith returned to report his findings to John Taylor, who had succeeded Young. Taylor asked Smith to relocate there as a church leader. He settled his family in what is now Snowflake, Arizona. In 1884, he was assigned to a committee for the church to purchase land in Mexico for Mormon colonization. Statesman Smith was involved in local politics throughout his adult life. He served as Mayor of Parowan from 1859 to 1861, as a member of the 5th Utah Territorial Legislature in 1855–56, the 22nd Utah Territorial Legislature in 1876 and the 24th Utah Territorial Legislature in 1880, and in the 19th Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1897. He was elected probate judge of Iron County in 1866 by Utah Territory Legislators and again appointed by the Arizona territorial governor. He served as a captain in the local militia while in Utah Territory. He also held the positions of Deputy U.S. Marshal, Iron County District Attorney, surveyor, city clerk, town councilman, city magistrate, stockman and established cooperative mercantiles in both Utah and Arizona. Wives and children Smith practiced plural marriage. He had five wives and forty-four children. Smith was eighteen years old when his oldest child was born and seventy when his youngest was born. Of the forty-four children, forty-two lived to adulthood, forty were married and