Book Ponders LDS Prophet's Troubled Son
Salt Lake Tribune 23Jan99
By Jan Stevens: Arizona Daily Sun

A new book looks at the life of David Hyrum Smith, youngest son of the prophet Joseph Smith. David Hyrum was born five months after his father and his Uncle Hyrum were murdered in Carthage.

During the early part of his life, David Hyrum Smith became a link between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the RLDS Church. Author Valeen Tippetts Avery's book "From Mission to Madness: Last Son of the Mormon Prophet" discusses Smith's devotion to his religion and the tragic turn to his life in his early thirties as he suffered from mental illness... He died in an asylum in 1904.