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The children of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his wife Emma Smith, are historically significant because of their roles in establishing and leading the Latter Day Saint Movement, which includes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church, now called Community of Christ), The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and several other sects. Several Latter Day Saint sects, including the RLDS believed that leadership of the church would flow through Smith's descendants, (Lineal succession). In 1860, Joseph Smith III became its prophet and president of the RLDS Church. The larger LDS Church was led following Joseph's death by Brigham Young.
Joseph Smith publicly condemned polygamy, but there is ample evidence that Smith both taught and practiced it, had a number of wives sealed to him, and may have had sexual relations with at least some of them. Though there were allegations of paternity in some of these polygamous marriages, no children have ever been proven to be Smith's. There is ongoing genetic research to determine if any descendants of alleged children have Smith's genetic markers, and so far all tests have been negative.