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The Patriarchal Crisis of 1845 E The Patriarchal Crisis of 1845 E. Gary Smith ALMOST A YEAR after Patriarch to the Church Hyrum Smith was killed, the Times and Seasons, the official church newspaper in Nauvoo, carried an edi- torial entitled "Patriarchal," with the prefatory note: "As the nature of the office of Patriarch, does not seem to be fully understood, we thought a little explanation on this point might not be amiss." 1 If what followed failed in its stated purpose of providing a complete understanding of the office, it never- theless represents the first attempt to provide a written description of the duties and responsibilities of the office of Patriarch to the Church, and for that reason has usually figured largely in historical studies of the subject and period.2 "Patriarchal," which appeared 1 June 1845, was authored by John Taylor, of the Times and Seasons and presumably spoke on behalf of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve.3 Taylor, in his description of the office of Patriarch to the Church, concluded among other things that: the title is "Patriarch to the Church" and not "Patriarch over the whole Church"; that the Patriarch to the Church is one of several patriarchs, all of whom have equal E. GARY SMITH is an attorney practicing in Costa Mesa, California, with an active interest in Mormon history. He is currently researching a book on the office of Patriarch to the Church with Irene M. Bates. This paper was presented at the Mormon History Association annual meeting, May 1982, in Ogden, Utah. 1 "Patriarchal," Times and Seasons 6 (1 June 1845) : 927. Although bearing the publica- tion date of 1 June 1845, the article was not written until 23 June 1845 and was not pub- lished until shortly thereafter. John Taylor, Diary, 23 June 1845, photocopy in the Histori- cal Department Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah; cited hereafter as LDS Church Archives. 2 See, for example D. Michael Quinn: "Joseph Smith Ill's 1844 Blessing and the Mor- mons of Utah," John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 1 (1981) : 14; and DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT 15 (Summer 1982) : 69-90; G. Homer Durham, ed., The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings of John Taylor (Salt Lake City: Book- craft, 1943), pp. 146-49. 3 Taylor, Diary, 23 June 1845. SMITH: The Patriarchal Crisis of 1845 25 authority to give blessings; that patriarchs only bless the "fatherless" (those without worthy priesthood-bearing fathers); and that the presiding rights of the Patriarch to the Church are limited to presiding over other patriarchs. To make use of this editorial in reconstructing the office as it once existed we must remember that, as with other offices in the Mormon hierarchy, the position of Patriarch to the Church evolved with few written guidelines during the lifetime of the Prophet Joseph Smith. We are left to evaluate and collate the miscellaneous and disparate evidences available to us. Taylor's article must be viewed as only one of those evidences; and to test the extent of its value in the reconstruction process, we must first understand what prompted its au- thorship and the point of view from which it was written. The story begins with the martyrdom of Hyrum Smith on 27 June 1844. Historians have given much attention to the controversy surrounding Joseph's rightful successor but little has been written concerning the uncertainty sur- rounding Hyrum's successor and the effect of that process on the history of the office of Patriarch to the Church. The patriarchy was then barely ten years old. Joseph Smith, Sr., the first patriarch, was ordained by the First Presidency on 18 December 1833.4 On his deathbed, 14 September 1840, Father Smith sealed the patriarchal power upon the head of his son Hyrum.5 Four months later Joseph Smith, Jr., received a revelation confirming Father Smith's action: Hyrum was to take the "office of Priesthood and Patriarch which was appointed unto him by his father, by blessing and also by right." G When Hyrum was killed at Carthage, his oldest son, John, was not quite twelve years old,7 too young, like Joseph III in the case of succession to the presidency, to be considered. Of the brothers, only Samuel and William sur- vived Hyrum. Samuel died a month after Hyrum on 30 July 1844.8 This left William Smith as the nearest adult male relative of Hyrum. 4 In the larger sense, Joseph Smith, Jr., was the first patriarch. Oliver Cowdery recorded the blessings pronounced by the younger Joseph upon his family on 18 Dec. 1833, before the older Joseph received the priesthood office from his son on the same occasion. Joseph Field- ing Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1953), 1:473, originally published as Course of Study for the Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums, 1947—1950. Brigham Young once stated that his father, John Young, was the first patriarch in the Church by reason of his ordination after the return of Zion's Camp, Journal History, 21 June 1874, p. 30. However, the return of Zion's Camp was in 1834, after Joseph Smith, Sr.'s ordination on 18 Dec. 1833. See also D. Michael Quinn, "The Evolution of the Presiding Quorums of the LDS Church," Journal of Mormon History 1 (1974) : 26; Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1956), 3:163; and Earnest M. Skinner, "Joseph Smith, Sr., First Patriarch to the Church" (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1958), pp. 83-86. 5 B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978), 4:29; Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), p. 309. 6D&C 124:91; see also Times and Seasons 2 (1 June 1841): 42. 7 John Smith was born 22 Sept. 1832. 8 History of the Church, 7:213. 26 DIALOGUE: A JOURNAL OF MORMON THOUGHT At the time of the martyrdom, William, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, was on a mission to the eastern states.9 He did not return to Nauvoo until 4 May 1845, over ten months later.10 However, William, as well as others, had considered his possible role as a successor to Hyrum's patriarchal office well in advance of his return. On 8 August 1844, Brigham Young had spoken pub- licly of such a possibility during his confrontation with Sidney Rigdon over leadership of the church, contrasting the cases of the president and the patri- arch. At that time Brigham Young opposed naming any man as head of the Church in Joseph's place and declared that the Twelve were sufficient to lead the church without a replacement for Joseph: "Inasmuch as our prophet and patriarch are taken from our midst," he propounded to the congregation, "do you want someone to guard, to guide and lead you through this world into the Kingdom of God, or not? All that want someone to be a guardian, or a prophet, a spokesman, or something else, signify it by raising the right hand (no votes)." " He then addressed the question of a replacement for Hyrum Smith: Do you want a patriarch for the whole church? To this we are perfectly willing. If Brother Samuel H. Smith had been living, it would have been his right and privilege, but he is dead, . Do you want a patriarch? here is Brother William left .... Here is Uncle John, he has been ordained a patriarch. Brother Samuel would have taken the office if he had been alive; it would have been his right; the right is in Uncle John, or one of his brothers. I know that it would have belonged to Samuel. But as it is, if you leave it to the Twelve, they will wait until they know who is the man. Will you leave it to the Twelve, and they dictate the matter (a unanimous vote)." 12 William Smith wrote to Brigham Young only two weeks later from his mis- sionfield and asked: "Will the Bretherin remember me and my clames in the Smith family I do not mean sucessian as a prophet in Joseph place for no man on earth can fill his place . hence the 12 come next to him . and govern the church in all things." William pledged his support to Brigham Young as head of the Quorum and as the proper person to receive revelation for the church, then continued: "The next in order is the Patriarch of the church this Singular personage stands as father to the whole church, a patriarch can be a prophet and revelator not to the church as government but to the church as his children in Patriarchal Blessings upon their heads . and all I have to say farther is that this office 9 William Smith was ordained an apostle 15 February 1835. See Reed C. Durham, Jr., and Steven H. Heath, Succession in the Church (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970), p. 17. His arrival in the Eastern States Mission was some time prior to the martyrdom, for corre- spondence was addressed to him in Philadelphia on 20 June 1844. See History of the Church, 6:519. 10 James M. Monroe, Diary, photocopy, Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif., 4 May 1845; William Clayton, Journal, 4 May 1845, LDS Church Archives. 11 History of the Church, 7:232. 12 Ibid., 7:234, 241-42. SMITH: The Patriarchal Crisis of 1845 27 of Patriark must continue in the Smith family while they live and are in the faith." 13 Brigham Young responded over a month later in a letter dated 28 Sep- tember 1844: As it regards a Patriarch for the whole church there has not been any appointed yet in the place of Brother Hyrum and I do not calculate to do anything but what is strictly according to the mind and will of God; the right rests upon your head there is no doubt and all will remain as it is until we have further connections from you, but if you feel disposed you can bestow it upon Uncle John or Uncle Asael; and if not dis- posed to do so but feel to have it yourself we wish you to come to Nauvoo as soon as possible to receive your ordination as Patriarch.14 At the October 1844 conference a few days later, Brigham Young "went on to show that the right to the office of Patriarch to the whole church belonged to William Smith as a legal right by descent." 15 Though the Quorum of the Twelve moved steadily toward William's ap- pointment as Hyrum's successor, it was a decision they probably would have preferred to avoid.
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