Death, loss and family separation troubled Smith greatly and were part of life on the American frontier. Toward the end of his life, the man many considered a prophet was consumed with concern about keeping his family intact, and his quest for answers resulted in Section 132 of the faith's Doctrine and Covenants. In what he said was a revelation from God, Smith was "thrilled to discover that he could seal human relationships after death."

He planned and ordered construction of a family tomb in Nauvoo where all of his family members could be buried together, anticipating a future resurrection of all of them present in one place.

"He had a passion for family," Bushman said, quoting one author who said Smith " 'did not lust for wives so much as for kin.' He wanted them all around and bound to him forever. He couldn't bear to be alone."

Both in regard to his father and his family, Smith produced answers to vexing questions about not only their temporal well-being but about their eternal salvation as well, Bushman said.

"Priesthood sealings were a theological solution to a social problem of how to bind families together in a mobile society," Bushman said. "Does it detract from the divinity of his revelations for it to resolve personal and social problems?

"Surely, we want revelation to be relevant both here and now as well as in the hereafter."

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