Mormonism began with a single family—the family of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. Just how did this family operate, and what characteristics did they exemplify? Although much has been written about this family, little has been produced with the intent of sifting through the historical records to reveal what kind of family this was.

Through careful research, marriage and family therapists have developed several paradigms or models to facilitate family assessment, and these constructs can be used to evaluate a historical family. While there are certain limitations, there also are many constructs that can be successfully evaluated in a historical family. Kyle Walker uses five family process concepts—cohesion, resiliency, religiosity, conflict management, and family work and recreation—to examine historical sources that identify how the Smith family operated.