Joseph Wakefield: He Apostatized for Seeing Joseph Smith Play with Children — A Cautionary Witness

Joseph H. Wakefield was an early convert in New York who was baptized and ordained an elder before gathering with the Saints to Kirtland, Ohio. He was ordained a high priest in May 1831 at the conference at Isaac Morley's farm — one of the most spiritually extraordinary events in early Church history.

Wakefield baptized Heber C. Kimball, who later became one of the most beloved Apostles of this dispensation.

Yet despite the spiritual power he witnessed and the saving ordinance he performed, Wakefield eventually fell away from the Church. In a remarkable moment of historical irony, those who came after him recorded that his stated reason for apostasy was that he had seen Joseph Smith playing with children during breaks in the prophetic work — and this 'stumbled' him. He concluded that a true prophet of God could not behave so humanly and joyfully.

Wilford Woodruff later taught about this in a discourse, warning against apostasy born of misunderstanding the humanity of prophets. The account became a teaching moment in Church history about the danger of holding prophets to impossible, inhuman standards.

Wakefield's story stands as both a witness to the spiritual power of the early Restoration (he was present at the first high priest ordinations) and a cautionary witness to how pride and misplaced expectations can cause a person to walk away from a true work of God.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in George A. Smith, as quoted in Joseph H. Wakefield | Doctrine and Covenants Central):

Joseph Wakefield announced to the astonished world the fact that, while he was a guest in the house of Joseph Smith, he had absolutely seen the Prophet come down from the room where he was engaged in translating the word of God, and actually go to playing with the children! This convinced him that the Prophet was not a man of God, and that the work was false, which, to me and hundreds of others, he had testified that he knew came from God.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Joseph H. Wakefield | Doctrine and Covenants Central):

Joseph Wakefield announced to the astonished world the fact that, while he was a guest in the house of Joseph Smith, he had absolutely seen the Prophet come down from the room where he was engaged in translating the word of God, and actually go to playing with the children! This convinced him that the Prophet was not a man of God, and that the work was false, which, to me and hundreds of others, he had testified that he knew came from God.