Joseph Smith Jessop was born on 25 January 1869 in Millville, Utah, the son of Richard Jessop and Mary Ellen Shaffer, and died on 1 September 1953 in Hildale, Utah.1 Published accounts describe him as working with John Y. Barlow in the founding of Short Creek, the settlement that later became Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale.2

He married Martha Moore Yeates, who was born on 8 July 1871 and died on 27 June 1938. Published family lists of their children include Richard S. Jessop, Martha Jessop, and Frederick Meade — Fred M. Jessop.3 In a 1989 deposition, Fred named his parents as Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Yates.4

Wikipedia records that he was excommunicated from the Millville Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1930 and that he moved to Short Creek in 1942.5 He died in Hildale on 1 September 1953, a little more than a month after the 26 July 1953 raid. Published accounts of his funeral say that many of his family could not attend because they were then being held in Phoenix by Arizona authorities.6

His brother Moroni Jessop (1874–1952), also born in Millville, later dictated a testimony to Arnold Boss about his years with the Woolleys and about an eight-hour meeting in September 1886 as it had been told to him.7