Photos: Where all 16 Latter-day prophets are buried (a few might surprise you)

Note: This article was originally published in May 2017 and has been updated.

Throughout the years, the Church has had many wonderful prophets who have guided and counseled members as they acted as leaders of the Latter-day Saints. To honor these wonderful men, we have compiled a little bit about their history as prophets.

▶Did you know: 12 of the 16 former prophets of the Church were buried at the Salt Lake City Cemetery located two miles from Temple Square.

President Joseph Smith was born December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith. 

In 1820, at the age of 14, young Joseph went out to a grove of trees near his home in Palmyra, New York, to pray concerning which religious sect he should join. While praying, he was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in what would become known as the First Vision. Of this experience, Joseph Smith said, "I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it” (Joseph Smith—History 1:25).

This event led to Joseph Smith aiding in restoring the gospel to the earth and serving as the first prophet of the Church for more than 14 years. He died on June 27, 1844, at the age of 38 at Carthage Jail after a mob murdered him and his brother Hyrum Smith. President Smith was buried at his family cemetery in Nauvoo, Illinois. 

▶Did you know: The bodies of Joseph and Hyrum Smith were originally buried in the basement of the unfinished Nauvoo House in secret while coffins carrying sandbags were buried publicly in order to avoid desecration of the bodies. Months later, Emma Smith had the bodies reinterred once again in secret on land the family owned.

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Brigham Young was born June 1, 1801, in Whitingham, Vermont, to John Young and Abigail Howe Young. 

Brigham Young was sustained the second president of the Church on December 27, 1847, and served as a prophet for almost 30 years. As a prophet, he was known for his work leading and organizing the movement to bring the Latter-day Saint pioneers to Utah. While in Nauvoo, Illinois, President Young had a vision of the location where the Saints were to settle to avoid further persecution. After traveling 1,300 miles across the Great Plains, President Young looked across the Salt Lake Valley and said, "This is the right place" for the members of the Church to settle.

On August 29, 1877, at the age of 76, President Young passed away and was buried at the Pioneer Memorial in Salt Lake City. 

John Taylor was born on November 1, 1808, in Milnthorpe, United Kingdom, to James and Agnes Taylor. 

Taylor joined the Church in 1836 and was ordained an Apostle in 1838. As a member of the Church, he served missions to France, Germany, and England. He was also seriously injured at Carthage Jail when a mob murdered Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith.

Taylor was ordained the third prophet of the Church in 1880. During his time as a prophet, President Taylor aided with the worldwide acceptance of the Primary program and dedicated the Logan Utah Temple. He also helped canonize the Pearl of Great Price into modern-day scripture.

President Taylor died on July 25, 1887, in Kaysville, Utah. He is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Wilford Woodruff was born March 1, 1807, in Farmington, Connecticut, to Aphek Woodruff and Beulah Thompson.

President Woodruff joined the Church in 1833 and later was ordained an Apostle in 1839. Although he had no formal education, President Woodruff became one of the first Church historians and also served as the temple president for the St. George Temple.

President Woodruff was ordained a prophet on April 7, 1889, and, as a prophet, he dedicated the Salt Lake Temple and the Manti Temple. He also ended the practice of polygamy within the Church.

After a little more than nine years as the prophet, President Woodruff died September 2, 1898, in San Francisco, California. He was later buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Lorenzo Snow was born on April 3, 1814, in Mantua, Ohio, to Oliver Snow III and Rosetta Lenora Snow. 

He became a member of the Church in 1836 and served missions to Ohio, Kentucky, southern Missouri, Illinois, Northwestern US, Hawaii, Italy, and England. He was ordained as an Apostle on February 12, 1849, and later ordained as prophet on September 13, 1893.

During his time as prophet, President Snow visited the members in St. George for a series of special conferences. While speaking to the members, he urged them to pay their tithing faithfully. As a result, the Church was eventually cleared from debt and able to establish a firm temporal foundation. 

President Snow was a prophet of the Church for a little more than three years, and he passed away at the age of 87 on October 10, 1901, in Salt Lake City. He was later buried at the Brigham City Cemetery.

President Joseph F. Smith was born November 13, 1838, in Far West, Missouri, to Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith. When he was just five years old, his father, Hyrum, was incarcerated in Carthage Jail and killed by an angry mob along with the prophet Joseph Smith. 

After his mother passed away in 1852, when President Joseph F. Smith was 13, he was left in the care of his aunt Mercy R. Thompson. In 1854, he was called on a mission to Hawaii and later served as a missionary in England before returning to Hawaii in 1864.

President Joseph F. Smith was called as an Apostle and counselor to the First Presidency in 1866 at the age of 28. He was later called as a prophet in 1901.

During his time as the prophet, President Joseph F. Smith emphasized the importance of home teaching and worked to develop historic Church sites. He served for 17 years as a prophet before passing away at 80 years old on November 19, 1918, in Salt Lake City. He is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

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President Heber J. Grant was born November 22, 1856, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Jedediah Morgan Grant and Rachel Ridgeway Ivins. 

When he was just 9 years old, his father passed away from a combination of typhoid fever and pneumonia. 

After President Grant was called as an Apostle on October 16, 1882, he was called to serve as a missionary in Sonora, Mexico, and the Southwestern US. He later presided and opened the Japanese Mission.

On November 23, 1918, President Grant was called as prophet. He added the Word of Wisdom to temple worthiness requirements in 1921, spoke at the first radio broadcast of general conference in 1924, and oversaw the Salt Lake Missionary Home—the processor to the Missionary Training Center—in 1925. 

After nearly 27 years as the prophet, President Grant passed away on May 14, 1945, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is now buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

President George Albert Smith was born on April 4, 1870, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to John Henry Smith and Sarah Farr. 

Though he struggled with chronic fatigue and poor health that would later be a diagnosed as lupus erythematosus, President George Albert Smith filled his life with service for others.

When he was 33 years old, he was ordained an Apostle and was called as prophet on May 21, 1945. A strong supporter of Boy Scouts of America, President Smith recommended the program become a part of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, the predecessor for the Young Men program.

After six years as a prophet, George Albert Smith passed away on his 81st birthday on April 4, 1951, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

President David O. McKay was born September 8, 1873, in Huntsville, Utah, to David McKay and Jennette Evans McKay. 

While President McKay was still young, his father was called on a two-year mission to Scotland. Despite the hardship of running a farm without her husband, David O. McKay's mother encouraged her husband to take the call. President McKay would later say that his mother "In tenderness, watchful care, loving patience, loyalty to home and to right, she seemed to me in boyhood, and she seems to me now after these years, to have been supreme."

Throughout his life, President McKay pursued education and became a professional educator. He married Emma Ray Riggs on January 2, 1901, in the Salt Lake Temple and became an Apostle on April 9, 1906, at the age of 32. He later became President of the Church on April 9, 1951, at the age of 77.

President McKay served for 19 years as the prophet of the Church before passing away at the age of  96 on January 18, 1970, and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Joseph Fielding Smith was born July 19, 1876, in Salt Lake City to Julina Lambson Smith and President Joseph F. Smith. 

President Joseph Fielding Smith spent most of his life serving the Church through his work as a missionary, Church historian, president of the Genealogical Society and of the Salt Lake Temple, and an Apostle, in addition to his service as a prophet. 

He was called to serve as the president of the Church on January 23, 1970, at the age of 93. President Joseph Fielding Smith passed away on July 2, 1972, and is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Harold B. Lee was born March 28, 1899, in Clifton, Idaho, to Samuel Lee and Louisa Emeline Bingham Lee.

Throughout his life, President Lee developed careers in education, business, and government. 

During the Great Depression, President Lee developed a self-help program that would grow into the Church's welfare system.

President Lee was called to be an Apostle in 1941 and was called as prophet of the Church on July 7, 1972. After serving for 18 months as prophet, President Lee passed away on December 26, 1973, in Salt Lake City and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Spencer W. Kimball was born on March 28, 1895, in Salt Lake City to Andrew Kimball and Olive Kimball.

When President Kimball was 3 years old, his father accepted a call to serve as a stake president in Arizona and the family settled in Thatcher, Arizona. 

President Kimball was called as an Apostle in 1943 and was later called as President of the Church on December 30, 1973, at the age of 73. Throughout his time as an Apostle, President Kimball battled health problems that included throat cancer and a series of heart attacks that lead to an operation on his heart performed by President Russell M. Nelson, who was a heart surgeon at the time. 

During his time as prophet of the Church, the priesthood was extended to all worthy male members regardless of race and the missionary force doubled. 

After 12 years as prophet, President Kimball passed away on November 5, 1985, and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Ezra Taft Benson was born August 4, 1899, in Whitney, Idaho, to George T. Benson Jr. and Sarah Sophia Dunkley Benson.

He served his mission in Great Britain on July 14, 1921, and married Flora Amussen in 1926. A
President Benson served as stake president twice before he was called to serve as an apostle on October 7, 1943. After he received a master's degree in agricultural economics, President Benson became the US Secretary of Agriculture in 1953. 

On November 10, 1985, President Benson was called to serve as prophet. As prophet, he emphasized the importance of daily scripture study and missionary work. President Benson passed away on May 30, 1994, and was buried in Whitney, Idaho. 

President Howard W. Hunter was born November 14, 1907, in Boise, Idaho, to John William Hunter and Nellie Marie Rasmussen.

President  Hunter grew up wth a love of music and after high school, he toured for five months on the SS President Jackson with his band, Hunter's Croonaders. However, President Hunter gave up his music career shortly after marrying his wife, Clara May Jeffs. President Hunter later enrolled in law school and became a successful lawyer in California.

In 1959, President Hunter was called as an Apostle and spent 35 years serving in that capacity until he was called as prophet of the Church on June 5, 1994, at age 86. As prophet, President Hunter encouraged all members to be temple worthy and to increase the building of temples around the world. On March 3, 1995, President Hunter passed away and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Gordon B. Hinckley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 23, 1910, to Bryant S. Hinckley and Ada Bitner Hinckley. After graduating from the University of Utah, President Hinckley was called to serve on a mission to Great Britain. Once he returned, he began working as the executive secretary of the Church Radio, Publicity, and Literature Committee. 

In 1961, President Hinckley was called as an Apostle for the Church. He later was called as a counselor to President Kimball, President Benson, and President Hunter. On March 12, 1995, President Hinckley was called to serve as prophet. As prophet, he began the largest temple building movement the Church has ever experienced and increased the media attention on the Church through TV interviews and news articles. 

On January 27, 2008, President Hinckley passed away at the age of 97 and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 

President Thomas S. Monson was born in Salt Lake City to G. Spencer and Gladys Condie Monson on August 21, 1927. He graduated cum laude from the University of Utah in 1948 and received an MBA from Brigham Young University. He also served in the US Navy near the end of World War II, and later in life he received honorary degrees from a number of universities.

President Monson and his wife, Francis, married in the Salt Lake Temple. They had three children, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren at the time of his passing.

During his career, President Monson worked in publishing and printing. He was appointed to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1963 at the age of 36. Previously, he served as mission president in the Church's Canadian Mission from 1959 to 1962. He also served as bishop at age 22 in a ward of over 1,000 members with 85 widows. Throughout his life, he was known for following spiritual promptings, serving the one, and encouraged others to do the same. President Monson served as prophet of the Church since February 3, 2008, and was a member of the First Presidency since November 10, 1985. As prophet, President Monson announced a missionary age change that allowed men to serve at age 18 and women to serve at age 19. President Monson passed away on January 2, 2018, at age 90 from causes incident to age. He was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery next to his wife, Francis.