1.
Joseph Smith
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Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religious culture that continues to the present. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates, the same year he organized the Church of Christ, calling it a restoration of the early Christian church. Members of the church were later called Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, in 1831, Smith and his followers moved west, planning to build a communalistic American Zion. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, during the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of the expensive Kirtland Temple. In 1844, Smith and the Nauvoo city council angered non-Mormons by destroying a newspaper that had criticized Smiths power, after Smith was imprisoned in Carthage, Illinois, he was killed when a mob stormed the jailhouse. Smith published many revelations and other texts that his followers regard as scripture and his teachings include unique views about the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23,1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Sr. a merchant, after suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven, the younger Smith used crutches for three years. During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm, although Smiths parents disagreed about religion, the family was caught up in this excitement. Smith later said he became interested in religion at about the age of twelve, he participated in church classes, as a teenager, he may have been sympathetic to Methodism. With other family members, Smith also engaged in folk magic. Both his parents and his grandfather reportedly had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God. Smith said that although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul, years later Smith said that in 1820 he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion. While praying in an area near his home, he said that God, in a vision, had told him his sins were forgiven. Smith said he told the experience to a preacher, who dismissed the story with contempt, but the experience was largely unknown, even to most Mormons, until the 1840s. Although Smith may have understood the event as a conversion, this First Vision later grew in importance among Mormons. Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him, Smith reported that during the next four years, he made annual visits to the hill but each time returned without the plates. Meanwhile, the Smith family faced financial hardship due in part to the November 1823 death of Smiths oldest brother Alvin, Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period
2.
Mormons
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After Smiths death in 1844, the Mormons followed Brigham Young to what would become the Utah Territory. Today, most Mormons are understood to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some Mormons are also either independent or non-practicing. The center of Mormon cultural influence is in Utah, and North America has more Mormons than any other continent, Mormons have developed a strong sense of communality that stems from their doctrine and history. Mormons dedicate large amounts of time and resources to serving in their church, Mormons have a health code which eschews alcoholic beverages, tobacco, coffee, tea, and other addictive substances. They tend to be very family-oriented, and have connections across generations and with extended family. Mormons also have a law of chastity, requiring abstention from sexual relations outside of heterosexual marriage. Mormons self-identify as Christian, although some non-Mormons consider Mormons non-Christian, Mormons believe in the Bible, as well as other books of scripture, such as the Book of Mormon. They have a view of cosmology, and believe that all people are spirit-children of God. Mormons believe that returning to God requires following the example of Jesus Christ and they believe that Christs church was restored through Joseph Smith and is guided by living prophets and apostles. Central to Mormon faith is the belief that God speaks to his children, due to their high birth and conversion rates, the Mormon population has grown significantly in recent decades rising from around three million in 1970 to over 15 million in 2015. The term Mormons has been embraced by most adherents of Mormonism, most notably Mormon fundamentalists, while other Latter Day Saint denominations, both LDS Church members and members of fundamentalist groups commonly use the word Mormon in reference to themselves. The LDS Church, however, disagrees with this self-characterization, Church leaders also encourage members to use the churchs full name to emphasize its focus on Jesus Christ. Today, polygamy is practiced within Mormonism only by people that have broken with the LDS Church, the history of the Mormons has shaped them into a people with a strong sense of unity and communality. From the start, Mormons have tried to establish what they call Zion, in the first period, Smith had tried literally to build a city called Zion, in which converts could gather. During the pioneer era, Zion became a landscape of villages in Utah, in modern times, Zion is still an ideal, though Mormons gather together in their individual congregations rather than a central geographic location. Mormons trace their origins to the visions that Joseph Smith reported having in the early 1820s while living in upstate New York, in 1823, Smith said an angel directed him to a buried book written on golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient people. Smith published what he said was a translation of these plates in March 1830 as the Book of Mormon, named after Mormon, on April 6,1830, Smith founded the Church of Christ. The early church grew westward as Smith sent missionaries to proselytize, in 1833, Missouri settlers, alarmed by the rapid influx of Mormons, expelled them from Jackson County into the nearby Clay County, where local residents were more welcoming
3.
Temple (Latter Day Saints)
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In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to be a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for worship services. Temples have been a significant part of the Latter Day Saint movement since early in its inception, today, temples are operated by several Latter Day Saint denominations. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are 155 operating temples,14 under construction, and 13 announced. Several other variations of the church have built or attempted to build temples, the Community of Christ operates two temples in the United States, which are open to the public and are used for worship services, performances, and religious education. The Latter Day Saint movement was conceived as a restoration of practices believed to have been lost in a Great Apostasy from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Temple worship played a prominent role in the Bibles Old Testament and it is believed to emphasize that when the Jesus comes again, he will come to his temple. As plans were drawn up to construct a temple in Kirtland, conflict in Missouri led to the expulsion of the Mormons from Jackson County, preventing any possibility of building a temple there, but work on the temple in Kirtland continued. At great cost and sacrifice, the Latter Day Saints finished the Kirtland Temple in early 1836, on March 27, they held a lengthy dedication ceremony and numerous spiritual experiences and visitations were reported. Far West was also platted along the lines of the City of Zion plan and in 1838 the church construction of a new. They may also have dedicated a site in the neighboring Mormon settlement of Adam-ondi-Ahman. The events of the 1838 Mormon War and the expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri left these attempts at temple-building no further progressed than excavating foundations, in 1839, the Mormons regrouped at a new headquarters in Nauvoo, Illinois. They were again commanded to build a House of the Lord—this one even larger and greater than those that went before, plans for the temple in Nauvoo followed the earlier models in Kirtland and Independence with lower and upper courts, but the scale was much increased. New conflicts arose that caused Joseph Smith, the prophet and president of the church, to be murdered, along with his brother Hyrum, the Nauvoo Temple stood only half finished. Eventually, this temple was finished and dedicated, some temple ordinances were performed before most of the Latter Day Saints followed Brigham Young west across the Mississippi River. Joseph Smiths death resulted in a crisis which divided the movement into different sects. The concept of temple worship evolved separately in many of these sects, in April 1990, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began to construct the Independence Temple, which was officially dedicated in 1994. Temples have held numerous purposes in the Latter Day Saint movement, all Latter Day Saint denominations with temples still consider temples to be special houses of the Lord
4.
Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)
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In the Latter Day Saint movement the term ordinance is used to refer to sacred rites and ceremonies that have spiritual and symbolic meanings and act as a means of conveying divine grace. Ordinances are physical acts which signify or symbolize a spiritual act, for some ordinances. Ordinances are always performed by the authority of the priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ, LDS use of the term ordinance carries the same meaning as the term sacrament as used by other Christian denominations 1. Some ordinances, such as baptism, confirmation and the sacrament of the Lords Supper, are similar to those practiced by other Christian denominations, other Latter Day Saint ordinances are unique and usually performed within a Latter Day Saint temple. These ordinances include the endowment and sealings, saving ordinances are those ordinances that are a requirement for exaltation. Most Latter Day Saints denominations see saving ordinances as necessary, but not sufficient, for example, baptism is believed to be required for exaltation, but simply having been baptized does not guarantee such a result. The baptized person is expected to go on to be obedient to Gods commandments, the following are examples of saving ordinances in most sects of the Latter Day Saint movement, Baptism, Performed by immersion at age eight or older. Confirmation and reception of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Performed by laying hands on the head of a baptized member. Through confirmation, the initiate becomes a member of the church. Latter Day Saint theology has recognized at least three orders of priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood, and the Patriarchal priesthood, although these are different orders, they are all subsumed under the priesthood held by Jesus Christ, or the Melchizedek priesthood. In some Latter Day Saint churches, some additional saving ordinances are performed in temples and these include the endowment, the washing and anointing, and sealings. Currently, only LDS Church-derived and Cutlerite-derived denominations within the Latter Day Saints movement practice all three, other Latter Day Saint denominations, such as Community of Christ-derived and Hedrickite-derived denominations do not perform any of them. Still other denominations, such Strangite-derived denominations, practice sealings but reject the washing and anointing, endowment, Referred to as a gift of power from on high by Joseph Smith, the purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during his lifetime. After 1842, the endowment usually consists of two phases, an initiation, and an instructional and testing phase, the initiation consisted of the washing and anointing, culminating in the clothing of the patron in a Garment of the Holy Priesthood. The instructional and testing phase of the endowment consisted of a reenactment of Adam. The instruction is punctuated with personal covenants, gestures, and a circle around an altar. Marriage and sealing, An ordinance where individuals are married and sealed as husband and this ordinance is particularly performed by the LDS Church and branches of Mormon fundamentalism. According to Latter Day Saint theology, ordinances can be performed vicariously on behalf of any person who would desire to accept the ordinance but did not receive it
5.
Nauvoo, Illinois
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Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 1,149 at the 2010 census, the city and its immediate surrounding area are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Nauvoo Historic District. The area of Nauvoo was first called Quashquema, named in honor of the Native American chief who headed a Sauk, by 1827, white settlers had built cabins in the area. By 1829 this area of Hancock County had grown sufficiently so that a post office was needed and in 1832 the town, however, the honor was awarded to a nearby city, Carthage. In 1834 the name Venus was changed to Commerce because the settlers felt that the new name better suited their plans, the name Nauvoo is derived from the traditional Hebrew language with an anglicized spelling. The word comes from Isaiah 52,7, “How beautiful upon the mountains. ”It is notable that “by 1844 Nauvoos population had swollen to 12,000, after Joseph Smiths death in 1844, continuing violence from surrounding non-Mormons forced most Latter-Day Saints to leave Nauvoo. Most of these refugees, led by Brigham Young, eventually emigrated to the Great Salt Lake Valley, in 1849, Icarians moved to the Nauvoo area to implement a utopian socialist commune based on the ideals of French philosopher Étienne Cabet. At its peak the colony numbered over 500 members, but Cabets death in 1856 caused some members to leave this parent colony, in the early and mid 20th century Nauvoo was primarily a Roman Catholic town, and the majority of the population today is Catholic. Guided tours are available at the churchs Joseph Smith Historic Site, located at the end of the town. The LDS Church owns most of the historic sites in Nauvoo, including the homes of Brigham Young. Kimball, and other members of the church, as well as other significant buildings. Most of these sites are open to the public, with demonstrations and displays and these tours are free, as are the stage and riverside theatrical productions. There is a visitors center complete with two theaters and a relief map of 1846 Nauvoo. The creation of Nauvoo as a tourism destination was largely a result of the work of J. LeRoy Kimball. Kimball was a descendent of early Mormon leader Heber C, Kimball, and bought his ancestors home in 1954 with the intention of restoring it. He was the president of Nauvoo Restoration, Inc. from 1962 to 1986, an LDS congregation was established in Nauvoo in 1956, from its inception consisting largely of elderly LDS couples serving as missionaries and historical guides. The City of Joseph Pageant, a musical produced by the LDS Church. An LDS stake was organized with headquarters at Nauvoo in 1979, in addition to the many homes that had been restored, the Relief Society Memorial Garden was dedicated in 1978, featuring statues designed by Dennis Smith and Florence Hansen
6.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
7.
Latter Day Saint movement
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The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 15 million members, the vast majority of adherents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with their predominant theology being Mormonism. The LDS Church self-identifies as Christian, based on the teachings of this book and other revelations, Smith founded a Christian primitivist church, called the Church of Christ. The Book of Mormon attracted hundreds of followers, who later became known as Mormons, Latter Day Saints. In 1831, Smith moved the headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio. After the church in Ohio collapsed due to dissensions, in 1838, Smith and the body of the moved to Missouri. After Smiths death in 1844, a crisis led to the organization splitting into several groups. The largest of these, the LDS Church, migrated under the leadership of Brigham Young to the Great Basin, the LDS Church officially renounced this practice in 1890, and gradually discontinued it, resulting in the Utah Territory becoming a U. S. state. This change resulted in the formation of a number of small sects who sought to maintain polygamy and other 19th-century Mormon doctrines and practices, other groups originating within the Latter Day Saint movement followed different paths in Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. For the most part these groups rejected plural marriage and some of Smiths later teachings, the largest of these, the Community of Christ, was formed in Illinois in 1860 by several groups uniting around Smiths son, Joseph Smith III. Most existing denominations that adhere to the teachings of Smith have some relationship with the movement. The driving force behind and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, Smith and Cowdery also explained that the angels John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John visited them in 1829 and gave them priesthood authority to reestablish the Church of Christ. The first Latter Day Saint church was formed on April 6,1830, consisting of a community of believers in the western New York towns of Fayette, Manchester, the church was formally organized under the name of the Church of Christ. In 1844, William Law and several other Latter Day Saints in church leadership positions publicly denounced Smiths secret practice of polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor, the city council of Nauvoo, Illinois, led by Smith, subsequently had the printing press of the Expositor destroyed. In spite of Smiths later offer to pay damages for destroyed property, critics of Smith, some called for the Latter Day Saints to be either expelled or destroyed. These various claims resulted in a succession crisis, many supported Brigham Young, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, others Sidney Rigdon, the senior surviving member of the First Presidency. These various groups are referred to under two geographical headings, Prairie Saints and Rocky Mountain Saints. Today, the vast majority of Latter Day Saints belong to the Utah-based The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the second-largest denomination is the Missouri-based Community of Christ which reports over 250,000 members
8.
Washing and anointing
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Washing and anointing is a temple ordinance practiced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Mormon fundamentalists as part of the faiths endowment ceremony. It is a ritual for adults, similar to chrismation. The ordinance is performed by the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood by an officiator of the same sex as the participant, in the ritual, a person is sprinkled with water to symbolically wash away the blood and sins of this generation. After the washing, the officiator anoints the person with consecrated oil while declaring blessings upon certain body parts, the officiator then declares that the person is anointed to become a king and priest or a queen and priestess in the afterlife. Once washed and anointed, the participant is dressed in the temple garment, finally, the participant is given a new name which he or she is instructed never to reveal except under certain conditions in the temple. Mormons link the ritual to biblical washings and anointings and this ritual took place beginning on 21 January 1836 in the attic of a printing office. Their bodies were washed with water and anointed with perfume, soon after the temples dedication ceremony on 27 March 1836, about 300 Mormon men participated in a further ritual washing of feet and faces. Several years later, after Mormons moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, on 4–5 May 1842, nine prominent Mormon men were inducted into this endowment ceremony in the upper story of Smiths store. The first woman was inducted into the endowment ceremony on 28 September 1843, then oil from a horn was poured over the head of the participant, usually by another officiator, while similar words were repeated. As part of the ceremony, participants were ordained to become kings, men performed the ritual for men, and women performed the ritual for women. Also, as part of the ceremony, participants were given a new name, originally, the recipient of the washing and anointing was naked during the ceremony. Beginning in the 20th century, recipients were given a white poncho-like shield to wear during the washing and anointing, since 2005, participants in the LDS Church version of the ritual already come clothed in the temple garment and wear it during the washing and anointing. Ritual anointings were a prominent part of religious rites in the biblical world, recipients of the anointing included temple officiants, prophets, and kings. In addition, sacral objects associated with the Israelite sanctuary were anointed, of equal importance in the religion of the Israelites were ablutions. To ensure religious purity, Mosaic law required that individuals receive a ritual washing. The washings and anointings of the period have a parallel today in the LDS Church. The rites are in many similar in purpose to ancient Israelite practice. These modern LDS rites are performed only in temples set apart and dedicated for sacred purposes, the ordinances are mostly symbolic in nature, but promising definite, immediate blessings as well as future blessings, contingent upon continued righteous living
9.
Endowment (Mormonism)
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In Mormonism, the endowment is an ordinance designed to prepare participants to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife. As part of the ceremony, participants take part in a reenactment of the Biblical creation and fall of Adam. Participants are taught symbolic gestures and passwords considered necessary to pass by angels guarding the way to heaven, all Latter-day Saints who choose to serve as missionaries for the LDS Church or who choose to contract a celestial marriage in an LDS Church temple must first complete the endowment ceremony. The endowment was instituted by founder Joseph Smith in the 1840s with further contributions by Brigham Young, there was a brief period during the construction of the Salt Lake Temple where a small building referred to as the Endowment House was used to perform the ritual. The endowment is currently practiced by the LDS Church, several denominations of Mormon fundamentalism, the LDS Church has simplified its ceremony from its 19th century form and has removed some of the more controversial elements. The term endowment has various meanings historically, and within the branches of that movement. The prevalence of LDS members who undergo the endowment ceremony is difficult to determine, the most well-known Mormon endowment ceremony is that performed by the LDS Church in its temples. This ceremony is only to members of the church deemed worthy. It comprises two parts, an initiatory, and an instructional and testing portion, see also Temple Entrance Requirements The endowment is open only to Mormons who have a valid temple recommend. To be eligible to receive a temple recommend, one must be deemed worthy by church leadership and have been a member of the LDS Church for at least one year, a male member of the church must hold the Melchizedek priesthood to participate in the endowment. Persons seeking a recommend to attend the temple for the first time and receive their endowment will generally meet with their bishop, washing and anointing are perhaps the earliest practiced temple ordinances for the living since the organization of the LDS Church. There is evidence that these ordinances have been performed since 1832 and they were first practiced in the Whitney Store as part of the School of the Prophets and were part of the Kirtland endowment. The washing symbolizes being cleansed from the blood of this generation, after the washing and anointing, the patron is given the temple garment, formally called the Garment of the Holy Priesthood. This garment represents the coats of skins given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as the final part of the initiatory, the patron is given a new name, which is a key word used during the ceremony. In general, this name is known to the person to whom it is given, however. The new name is supported in part by Book of Revelation 2,17 and 3,12, if a new name coincides with their own name, Adam or Eve is given instead. Most Latter-day Saints who attend the temple believe that the endowment focuses heavily on the plan of salvation, during the ceremony, Latter-day Saints are dressed in temple clothes or temple robes, are taught about various gospel laws and make covenants to obey these laws. They are given various key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, B. H. Roberts declared that certain aspects of the endowment ceremony were intended to be secret from the world
10.
Red Brick Store
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The Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois, was a building that was constructed and owned by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith constructed the Red Brick Store in 1841, the building became a center of economic, political, religious, and social activity among the Latter Day Saints. In addition to being a store, the second floor of the building also served as the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for a period of time. Members would visit the store to pay their tithing and other offerings to the church, after Joseph Smith was killed and the majority of Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo, the Red Brick Store fell into disrepair. Eventually, it was torn down and the bricks were used to new buildings in Nauvoo. In 1980, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints rebuilt the Red Brick Store on the foundation as part of its 1980 sesquicentennial celebrations. Today, the Red Brick Store is owned and operated as a tourist attraction by the Community of Christ, the Store sells goods that are similar to the kind that were sold in the Store in the 1840s. Council House Endowment House Anointed Quorum Plano Stone Church Robert T. Bray, archaeological Investigations at the Joseph Smith Red Brick Store, Nauvoo, Illinois Roger D. Launius and F. Mark McKiernan. Joseph Smith, Jr. s Red Brick Store ISBN 99966-62-69-1 Media related to Red Brick Store at Wikimedia Commons Joseph Smiths Red Brick Store, official website for Community of Christ tourist attraction
11.
First Presidency
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Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency is the highest presiding or governing body. And the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, when the Church of Christ was organized on April 6,1830, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery led the church in their capacity as elders. Smith established the inaugural First Presidency on March 8,1832, with the ordinations of Jesse Gause, the term first presidency, though used at least as early as 1834, did not become standard until 1838. In the LDS Church, the First Presidency is the presiding and it usually consists of the President of the Church and two counselors, although up to eight counselors have on occasion been included in the presidency at the same time. The counselors assist the president and work closely with him in guiding the entire church. Eyring, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, all members of the First Presidency are sustained by the membership of the church as prophets, seers, and revelators. Any worthy high priest within the church may serve as a counselor in the First Presidency, charles W. Nibley, for example, was a counselor to Heber J. Grant without ever being ordained to the priesthood office of apostle. In the case of a president, his counselors may be called upon to perform more of his duties. If needed, any number of additional counselors may be called to assist them, Counselors serve in the First Presidency until their own deaths, until the death of the church president who called them, or until they are released by the church president. The death of a church president dissolves the First Presidency, the death or release of a counselor does not dissolve the First Presidency. On the death or release of a first counselor, the second counselor usually succeeds, although this is a fairly common occurrence, there are no hard and fast rules about such practices and each president is free to choose the counselors he prefers. The First Presidency is the highest leadership or priesthood quorum of the Community of Christ, normally the First Presidency consists of the Prophet-President of the church and two counselors. In 1860 with the reorganization of the First Presidency, Joseph Smith III became the second Prophet-President of this church, william Marks became Smiths First Counselor. The First Presidency of Community of Christ differs from the First Presidency of the LDS Church, in the Community of Christ, each new church president has generally been designated as the successor by God through revelation received by the preceding church president. The Counselors in the First Presidency are then chosen by the president and are occasionally. The two members who were counselors to the Prophet-President, cease to be counselors during this time, members of the First Presidency are not generally considered to be members of the Council of Twelve Apostles or holding the priesthood office of apostle, regardless of previous calling. Prior to 1996, all prophet-presidents were descendants of the movements founder and this pattern was broken by Wallace B. Smith, who designated W. Grant McMurray church president, McMurray, in turn, resigned the church presidency in 2004 without designating a successor
12.
Death of Joseph Smith
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The assassination of Joseph Smith on June 27,1844, marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois and he was killed while jailed in Carthage, Illinois, on charges relating to his ordering the destruction of facilities producing the Nauvoo Expositor. The newspaper had reported that Smith was practicing polygamy and claimed that he intended to set himself up as a theocratic king, Smith voluntarily surrendered to the authorities at the county seat at Carthage to face the charges against him. While he was in jail awaiting trial, a mob of men with painted faces stormed the jail, they shot and killed him. Since then, Latter Day Saints generally view the two men as religious martyrs, five men were indicted for their murders but were acquitted at a jury trial. The Mormons began to move into Hancock County in 1839, at the time, after their people were expelled from Missouri, Joseph Smith went to Washington, DC and met with President Martin Van Buren, seeking intervention and compensation for lost property. Van Buren said he could do nothing to help, after returning to Illinois, Smith vowed to join the Whig Party. Most of his supporters switched with him, adding political tensions to the suspicions in which this group were held. Several of Smiths disaffected associates at Nauvoo and Hancock County, Illinois and its first and only issue was published June 7,1844. Based on allegations by some of associates, the newspaper reported that Smith practiced polygamy. It said that he tried to marry wives of some of his associates, about eight of Smiths wives had already been married to other men at the time they married Smith. Typically, these continued to live with their first husband. Some accounts say Smith may have had relations with one wife. The reliability of sources is disputed by some Latter Day Saints. DNA investigations performed to date have consistently shown that Smith was not the father of children thought to be his based on written and they reached this decision after lengthy discussion, including citation of William Blackstones legal canon, which defined a libelous press as a public nuisance. Under the councils new ordinance, Smith, as Nauvoos mayor, in conjunction with the city council, ordered the city marshal to destroy the paper, by the city marshals account, the destruction of the press type was carried out orderly and peaceably. However, Charles A. Foster, a co-publisher of the Expositor, reported on June 12 that not only was the press destroyed. Smiths critics said that the action of destroying the press violated freedom of the press, some sought legal charges against Smith for the destruction of the press, including charges of treason and inciting riot
13.
Brigham Young
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Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877 and he founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah, Young was dubbed by his followers the Lion of the Lord for his bold personality and was also commonly called Brother Brigham by Latter-day Saints. Young was a polygamist and was involved in controversies regarding black people and the Priesthood, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows massacre. Young was born to John Young and Abigail Nabby Howe, a family in Whitingham, Vermont. Young was first married in 1824 to Miriam Angeline Works, though he had converted to the Methodist faith in 1823, Young was drawn to Mormonism after reading the Book of Mormon shortly after its publication in 1830. He officially joined the new church in 1832 and traveled to Upper Canada as a missionary, after his wife died in 1832, Young joined many Mormons in establishing a community in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1844, while in jail awaiting trial for treason charges, Joseph Smith, several claimants to the role of church president emerged during the succession crisis that ensued. Young opposed this reasoning and motion, the majority in attendance were persuaded that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was to lead the church with Young as the Quorums president. Many of Youngs followers would later reminisce that while Young spoke to the congregation, he looked or sounded exactly like Smith, Young was ordained President of the Church in December 1847, three and a half years after Smiths death. Rigdon became the president of a church organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Repeated conflict led Young to relocate his group of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley, Young organized the journey that would take the Mormon pioneers to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, then to the Salt Lake Valley. By the time Young arrived at the destination, it had come under American control as a result of war with Mexico. Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24,1847, Youngs expedition was one of the largest and one of the best organized westward treks. On August 22,29 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, after three years of leading the church as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Young reorganized a new First Presidency and was declared president of the church on December 27,1847. As colonizer and founder of Salt Lake City, Young was appointed the territorys first governor, during his time as prophet, Young directed the establishment of settlements throughout present-day Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, California and parts of southern Colorado and northern Mexico. Young was also one of the first to subscribe to Union Pacific stock, Young organized the first legislature and established Fillmore as the territorys first capital. Young organized a Board of Regents to establish a university in the Salt Lake Valley and it was established on February 28,1850, as the University of Deseret, its name was eventually changed to the University of Utah
14.
Nauvoo Temple
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The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The churchs first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, when the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois, in the winter of 1846, the church attempted to sell the building, finally succeeding in 1848. The building was damaged by fire and a tornado before being demolished, in 1937, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reacquired the lot on which the original temple had stood. In 2000, the church began to build a temple on the original site whose exterior is a replica of the first temple, but whose interior is laid out like a modern Latter-day Saint temple. On 27 June 2002, a date that coincided with the 158th anniversary of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Latter Day Saints made preparations to build a temple soon after establishing their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1839. On 6 April 1841, the cornerstone was laid under the direction of Joseph Smith. At its base the building was 128 feet long and 88 feet wide with a tower and weather vane reaching to a total height of 165 feet —a 60% increase over the dimensions of the Kirtland Temple. Like Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple contained two assembly halls, one on the first floor and one on the second, called the lower and upper courts, both had classrooms and offices in the attic. Unlike Kirtland, the Nauvoo Temple had a basement which housed a baptismal font. Because the Saints had to abandon Nauvoo, the building was not entirely completed, the basement with its font was finished, as were the first floor assembly hall and the attic. When these parts of the building were completed they were used for performing ordinances or for worship services, the Nauvoo Temple was designed in the Greek Revival style by architect William Weeks, under the direction of Joseph Smith. Weeks design made use of distinctively Latter Day Saint motifs, including Sunstones, Moonstones and it is often mistakenly thought that these stones represent the Three Degrees of Glory in the Latter Day Saint conception of the afterlife, but the stones appear in the wrong order. Instead, Wandle Mace, foreman for the framework of the Nauvoo Temple, has explained that the design of the temple was meant to be “a representation of the Church, the Bride, the Lamb’s wife”. In this regard Mace references John’s statement in Revelation 12,1 concerning the “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. ”This explains why the Starstones are at the top of the temple, the Sunstones in the middle and the Moonstones at the bottom. Construction was only half complete at the Death of Joseph Smith in 1844, after a succession crisis, Brigham Young was sustained as the churchs leader by the majority of Latter Day Saints in Nauvoo. During the winter of 1845-46, the temple began to be used for additional ordinances, including the Nauvoo-era endowment, sealings in marriage, the Nauvoo Temple was in use for less than three months. Most of the Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo, beginning in February 1846, once the first floor was finished with pulpits and benches, the building was finally dedicated in private services on 30 April 1846, and in public services on 1 May. Initially the churchs agents tried to lease the structure, first to the Catholic Church, when this failed, they attempted to sell the temple, asking up to $200,000, but this effort also met with no success
15.
Mormonism and polygamy
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The Latter-day Saints practice of polygamy has been controversial, both within Western society and the LDS Church itself. America was both fascinated and horrified by the practice of polygamy, with the Republican platform at one time referencing the twin relics of barbarism—polygamy, the private practice of polygamy was instituted in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, in spite of the law, Mormons continued to practice polygamy, believing that it was protected by the First Amendment. In 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially terminated the practice of polygamy. Although this Manifesto did not dissolve existing plural marriages, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, on its web site, the church states that the standard doctrine of the church is monogamy and that polygamy was a temporary exception to the rule. Many early converts, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and Lyman Johnson, Pratt reported that Smith told some early members in 1831 and 1832 that plural marriage was a true principle, but that the time to practise it had not yet come. Johnson also claimed to have heard the doctrine from Smith in 1831, mosiah Hancock reported that his father was taught about plural marriage in the spring of 1832. William Clayton, Smiths scribe, recorded polygamous marriages in 1843. Clayton relates, On the 1st day of May,1843, I officiated in the office of an Elder by marrying Lucy Walker to the Prophet Joseph Smith, during this period the Prophet Joseph took several other wives. Amongst the number I well remember Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and these all, he acknowledged to me, were his lawful, wedded wives, according to the celestial order. His wife Emma was cognizant of the fact of some, if not all, of these being his wives, the majority of what became the Quorum of the Twelve in 1835 attended Mormon conferences held in the center of the Cochranites in 1834 and 1835. Joseph Smith publicly condemned polygamy, denied his involvement in it, but church leaders nevertheless began practicing polygamy in the 1840s, particularly members of the Quorum of the Twelve. At the time, the practice was kept secret from non-members, throughout his life, Smith publicly denied having multiple wives. However, John C. Bennett was called to account by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, in April 1844, Joseph Smith referred to polygamy as John C. The practice was publicly announced in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, in 1852, some five years after the Mormons arrived in Utah, the doctrine authorizing plural marriage was published in the 1876 version of the LDS Churchs Doctrine and Covenants. The 1843 polygamy revelation, published posthumously, counseled Smiths wife Emma to accept all of Smiths plural wives, Emma Smith was publicly and privately opposed to the practice and Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand. Emma Smith remained affiliated with the RLDS Church until her death at the age of 74, Emma Smith claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of the 1843 polygamy revelation was when she read about it in Orson Pratts publication The Seer in 1853. There is a difference between sealing, and marriage
16.
Almon W. Babbitt
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Almon Whiting Babbitt was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement, a Mormon pioneer, and the first secretary and treasurer of the Territory of Utah. He was killed in a raid by Cheyenne Native Americans in Nebraska Territory while travelling on government business between Utah and Washington, D. C, Babbitt was born in Cheshire, Massachusetts. He graduated from Ohio State University at Cincinnati and became licensed to practice law in six states and he married Julia Ann Johnson on 23 November 1833 and is thought to have joined the Latter Day Saint church sometime in 1833. In 1834, he was a member of Zions Camp, and on 28 February 1835 he was ordained as one of the first seventies in the church by Joseph Smith, in 1837 and 1838, Babbitt was a missionary for the church in Upper Canada. He attempted to move to Missouri in 1838 but was among the Latter Day Saints who were out by unfriendly residents, eventually settling in Nauvoo. At a conference of the church in May 1839, Babbitt, in 1841, Babbitt was appointed as the president of the churchs Kirtland Stake, where he was charged with shepherding the Latter Day Saints who did not have the financial resources to move to Nauvoo. In 1843, Babbitts tenure ended in Kirtland and he began practicing law in Nauvoo. While in Nauvoo, Babbitt was also selected by Joseph Smith, in 1844, Babbitt was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. In February 1846, Babbitt, Joseph L. Heywood and John S. Fullmer were together given charge over the affairs of the church in Nauvoo after the departure of the church apostles. After the Battle of Nauvoo in September 1846, Babbitt and the two men signed the treaty that surrendered the city of Nauvoos charter. In 1848, Babbitt emigrated to Utah Territory to join the gathering of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Utah, Babbitt, a Democrat, became involved in politics. In 1849, he was selected by the provisional General Assembly of the State of Deseret to travel to Washington, D. C. instead, the federal government created the Territory of Utah and in 1853 Babbitt was appointed secretary and treasurer of the territory. In this position, Babbitt had frequent clashes with Brigham Young, the territorial governor and these clashes have been attributed in part to Babbitts tendency to view himself as a representative of the United States federal government rather than an enabler of Youngs pro-LDS Church policies. Babbitt led a company of Mormon pioneers to Utah in 1851, in addition to his clashes with Brigham Young, Babbitt was involved in a number of conflicts with Latter Day Saint leaders from his early days in the church. On 19 August 1835, Babbitt brought before the high council on charges that included not keeping the Word of Wisdom. The council reproved him and instructed him to observe the Word of Wisdom, on 28 December 1835, Joseph Smith, Jr. submitted a complaint before the churchs high council that Babbitt had been misrepresenting him to a number of Latter Day Saints. Babbitt claimed that Smith was angry with him because he had bested him in a debate, the council decided that Babbitt had spoken falsehoods against Smith, Babbitt confessed that he had done wrong, but refused to confess that he had lied, and the matter was closed. Later, Babbitt was disfellowshipped from the four separate times, in 1839,1841,1843, and 1851
17.
Utah Territory
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The creation of the territory was part of the Compromise of 1850 that sought to preserve the balance of power between slave and free states. The creation of the Utah Territory was partially the result of the petition sent by the Mormon pioneers who had settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake starting in 1847. S. The Mormon settlers had drafted a constitution in 1849 and Deseret had become the de facto government in the Great Basin by the time of the creation of the Utah Territory. Following the organization of the territory, Young was inaugurated as its first governor on February 3,1851, in the first session of the territorial legislature in September, the legislature adopted all the laws and ordinances previously enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret. In 1861, partly as a result of this, the Nevada Territory was created out of the part of the territory. Non-Mormons also entered the easternmost part of the territory during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, in 1861 a large portion of the eastern area of the territory was reorganized as part of the newly created Colorado Territory. Territories that encompassed land that would become part of the Territory of Utah, Mexican Cession,1848 State of Deseret
18.
Louisa Beaman
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Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, taught and practiced polygamy during his ministry, and married multiple women during his lifetime. During his lifetime, Smith and the quorums of his church publicly denied he taught or practiced it. In 1852, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledged that Smith had practiced plural marriage, the first publication of a list of women alleged to be Smiths plural wives was in 1887, by Andrew Jenson, an assistant church historian of the LDS Church. It included 27 women besides Emma Smith, currently, historians disagree as to the number and identity of the plural wives which Smith had. Various scholars and historians, including Fawn M. Brodie, George D. Smith, the discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support some of the alleged marriages. As Compton has stated, for many of these marriages, absolutely nothing is known of marriage after the ceremony, apart from his marriage to Emma, Smiths marriages were not solemnized under any civil authority and were therefore solely religious unions. Research by LDS researcher Ugo A. Perego has shown that a number of children of Smiths alleged polygamous relationships were not his genetic offspring, the LDS Church and Joseph Smiths Polygamy. Media related to Wives of Joseph Smith, Jr. at Wikimedia Commons
19.
John Milton Bernhisel
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John Milton Bernhisel was an American physician, politician and early member of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was a friend and companion to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Bernhisel was born at Sandy Hill, Tyrone Township, near Harrisburg and his name at birth was John Martin Bernheisel, which he changed as an adult. He graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1827, after becoming affiliated with the Latter Day Saint movement, he moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1843. Bernhisel served as the physician to Joseph Smith, and lived in his home. He delivered some of Emma Smiths children, after Smiths death, Bernhisel followed Brigham Young and moved west with the majority of the Latter-day Saints. He settled in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, in 1848, Bernhisel was selected by Young to represent the interests of the Latter-day Saints before Congress when the Mormon settlers began to consider an application for statehood as the State of Deseret. He was selected to the Thirty-second and to the three succeeding Congresses, after returning briefly to his medical practice, he also ran and served in the Thirty-seventh Congress. Bernhisel also served as regent of the University of Utah, Bernhisel was a bachelor until he was 46 years old, when he married Julia Ann Haight, the widow of William Van Orden and mother of five children. The couple had one child, also named John Milton Bernhisel, like some early LDS Church members, Bernhisel went on to practice plural marriage. He was married to seven women, but by 1850 all of them and he died in Salt Lake City on September 28,1881, and is interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. United States Congress Delegates from Utah Territory Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, Publication and use Barrett, Gwynn W. Dr. John M. Bernhisel, biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Fox, Ronald, Little-known John Bernhisel did much for Utah, Deseret News
20.
United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
21.
Reynolds Cahoon
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Reynolds Cahoon was an early leader in Latter Day Saint movement and later, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was one of the members of the Council of Fifty. Cahoon was born at Cambridge, New York and he later moved to Kirtland, Ohio. Here he was baptized into the Latter Day Saint church by Parley P. Pratt on October 12,1830, on June 4,1831, Cahoon was ordained a high priest by Joseph Smith. Cahoon traveled as a missionary to Jackson County, Missouri, with Samuel H. Smith in June 1831, on February 10,1832, Cahoon was made a counselor to Bishop Newel K. Whitney. In Daviess County, Missouri, in 1838, Cahoon was a counselor to John Smith and later the position in relation to Smith in Montrose. Cahoon was a Mormon pioneer and emigrated to Utah Territory under the direction of Brigham Young Cahoon died at South Cottonwood, Salt Lake County, Utah Territory. Cahoon is mentioned in the LDS Church edition of the Doctrine and Covenants four times, D&C52,30, D&C61,35, D&C75,32, marrott, Robert L. Reynolds Cahoon in Garr, Arnold K. Donald Q. Cannon and Richard O. Cowan, ed. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, P. 164–165 Reynolds Cahoon, Joseph Smith Papers Project website
22.
William Clayton (Mormon)
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William H. Clayton was an early leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who was a clerk and scribe to the Mormon religious leader Joseph Smith. Clayton, born in England, was also an American pioneer journalist, inventor, lyricist, Clayton was born in Penwortham, Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas Clayton and Ann Critchley. He was the eldest of 14 children and he married Ruth Moon on October 9,1836. In 1836, Clayton investigated the Church of the Latter Day Saints, taught by church apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, Clayton was baptized October 21,1837, ordained a priest in December, Claytons parents and siblings also joined the church. Clayton quit his job as a clerk to devote his time to missionary service in England. In 1838, he served as counselor to the British mission president Joseph Fielding. In September 1840, Clayton led a group of British converts who emigrated to the United States and he and his family first tried to farm in Iowa Territory, then settled in the predominantly Latter Day Saint community of Nauvoo, Illinois. There he was a clerk and scribe to Joseph Smith, in an 1840 letter, Clayton wrote to church members in Manchester about interacting with Smith, We have had the privilege of conversing with Joseph Smith Jr. and we are delighted with his company. We have had a privilege of ascertaining in a measure from whence all the evil reports have arisen. He is very familiar, and delights to instruct the poor saints, I can converse with him just as easy as I can with you, and with regard to being willing to communicate instruction he says, I receive it freely and I will give it freely. He is willing to answer any question I have put to him and is pleased when we ask him questions, Clayton was responsible for maintaining church records in Nauvoo, including those considered private and sacred. In 1843, Smith dictated a revelation on plural marriage to Clayton, as the practice of polygamy was initially secret, Clayton spent time dealing with rumors and innuendo about the practice both in the church and surrounding community. He accepted plural marriage as a principle, and ultimately married nine wives. Three of his wives left him. Claytons impressions of day-to-day activities, recorded in a series of journals, describe the social activities of mid-19th century America. After Smiths death, Clayton helped complete Smiths official church history, Claytons personal records were at times incorporated into official Mormon scripture and history without recognition of their source. His notes were one of four used to reconstruct a sermon by Smith known as the King Follett Discourse
23.
Alpheus Cutler
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John Alpheus Cutler was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement who founded the Church of Jesus Christ in 1853. Following the death of Joseph Smith in June 1844, Cutler at first followed the Twelve Apostles under Brigham Young, Cutler claimed that his was the sole legitimate continuation of Smiths organization, and he served as its leader until his death. Cutler was born in Plainfield, New Hampshire, to Knight Cutler, a veteran of the American Revolution and he married Lois Lathrop of Lebanon, New Hampshire on November 17,1808. Lathrop was a descendant of Rev. John Lothropp, and thus a distant cousin of Latter Day Saint prophet Joseph Smith, Cutler fought as a private in the War of 1812, serving in Cpt. E. Smiths company of New York Militia from September to December 1812, Cutler was a stonemason by occupation. Some of Cutlers contemporaries would later refer to him as having a natural parabolical, allegorical, symbolical, mysterious, secretive way of telling things. Following what they claimed to be a cure of their daughter by Pattons prayers and laying on of hands, Cutler. He moved to the main Mormon settlement at Kirtland, Ohio the following year, an enthusiastic convert, Cutler was invited to attend Smiths School of the Prophets in Kirtland, and assisted in the construction of the Kirtland Temple there. He also claimed in this vision to have seen a gold chain draped across the newly completed edifice. When Joseph Smith moved church headquarters to Caldwell County, Missouri in 1837, Cutler followed him there, a victim of Governor Lilburn Boggss Extermination Order, Cutler was expelled from the state with the other Latter Day Saints during the winter of 1838–39. Relocating with his religious brethren to Nauvoo, Illinois, Cutler was appointed one of three members of a committee to oversee construction of the Nauvoo Temple on 3 October 1840. While in Nauvoo, Cutler served on the Nauvoo High Council, Cutler also served as captain of Smiths bodyguard. Prior to Smiths murder in 1844, Cutler was called by Smith to undertake a mission to the Lamanites, however, he had not yet departed when Smith was killed on 27 June at the jail in Carthage, Illinois. Smiths death produced a succession crisis in his movement, with members torn between competing claimants for Smiths prophetic mantle. At first, Cutler threw in his lot with the Twelve and he continued to work on the Nauvoo Temple, where he was reportedly sealed to Lois on 14 February 1846. When Brigham Young decided to commence the Saints trek to the Salt Lake Valley,3, one of twenty-five such travelling units into which the Mormon pioneers were organized. Cutler established Cutlers Park, Nebraska in 1846, and was appointed presiding member of the municipal High Council on 9 August of that year. Barely a month later, he was asked to find a new location for a settlement, on 11 September he selected the site that would become Winter Quarters, Nebraska
24.
Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)
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The succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement occurred after the death of Joseph Smith, the movements founder, on June 27,1844. For roughly six months after Joseph Smiths death, several people competed to take over his role, the leading contenders were Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang. The majority of Latter Day Saints elected to follow Youngs leadership and this significant event in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement precipitated several permanent schisms. The new Church of Christ was organized by Joseph Smith and a group of men on April 6,1830. This change over time was driven by both the growth in population and the evolution of Smiths role as leader of the church. Prior to the establishment of the church, Smith held the title of Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. However, as the church was organized rather than legally incorporated, its property needed to be held in trust by a trustee, initially, the highest leadership position in the church was that of elder, and church elders were sometimes called apostles. Smiths initial title in the church was First Elder, while his friend and associate, in March 1832, Smith created a quorum of three presidents known as the First Presidency. On December 18,1833, Smith created the office of Patriarch over the Church and ordained his father, Joseph, Sr. to fill the role. The Presiding Patriarch, as the office came to be called, on February 17,1834, Smith created a High Council in Kirtland, Ohio. This body consisted of men, headed by the First Presidency. The Kirtland High Council took on the role of judicial and legislative body of the local church and handled such things as excommunication trials. Several months later on July 3,1834, the High Council of Zion was organized in Far West, Jackson County, Missouri. Cases tried in the standing High Councils of outlying stakes were regularly appealed to the High Council of Zion, the Presiding High Council also provided clearance for ordinations in the standing High Councils at the Stakes of Zion. Marsh was set apart as their president, when the High Council in Zion was dissolved after the church was expelled from Missouri, the headquarters of the church were moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. There, Joseph Smith formed a new Presiding High Council, led by William Marks, which supervised the High Councils of outlying stakes, under the direction of the First Presidency. At the time of his death, Smith thus held several roles, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator, President of the Church, President of the First Presidency, and Trustee-in-Trust of the Church. It was unclear if all of these offices should be together by any one successor
25.
Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)
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The Church of Jesus Christ is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, United States. The church derives its epithet from its founder, Alpheus Cutler, hence, Cutlers organization claims to be the only legitimate Latter Day Saint church in the world today. Currently, it has one branch, located in Independence. The Cutlerite church retains an endowment ceremony believed to date to the Nauvoo period, practices the United Order of Enoch, and accepts baptism for the dead, but not eternal marriage or polygamy. Alpheus Cutler was a Latter Day Saint leader and contemporary of Joseph Smith who converted to Smiths Church of Christ in January 1833, Cutler attended Smiths School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio, and assisted in the construction of the Kirtland Temple there. In 1838, during the dedication of cornerstones for the Far West Temple, Cutler was named by Smith as chief architect, Cutler was later appointed a member of the Nauvoo Temple construction committee, after enduring the expulsion of the Latter Day Saints from Missouri. In Nauvoo, he served on the High Council, and was named to Smiths Council of Fifty, prior to Smiths murder in 1844, Cutler was called on a mission to the Lamanites. However, he had not yet departed when Smith was assassinated on 27 June at the jail in Carthage, Smiths death produced a profound leadership crisis in his movement, with members torn between competing claimnants for Smiths prophetic mantle. At first, Cutler threw in his lot with the Twelve and he continued to work on the Nauvoo Temple, where he was allegedly sealed to his spouse Lois on February 14,1846, having received his endowment on October 12,1843, prior to Smiths death. When Brigham Young decided to commence the Saints trek to the Salt Lake Valley,3, one of twenty-five such travelling units into which the Mormon pioneers were organized. Cutler established Cutlers Park, Nebraska in 1846, and was appointed presiding member of the municipal High Council on 9 August of that year. Barely one month later, he was asked to find a new location for a settlement, on September 11, sometime prior to 1849, Cutler made a decision to withdraw from the main church body under the Twelve, and to go his own way. In the fall of 1847, Young had sanctioned his request to conduct the work among the Indians to which Joseph Smith had assigned him. However, the arrival of apostle Orson Hyde at nearby Kanesville, Cutler became the subject of lurid rumors concerning his Indian mission, with spurious reports indicating that he had been elected as the Generalissimo of a union of thirty-seven nations. Although Young wrote to Cutler, offering him aid to move west, a house in Salt Lake City and a warm welcome once he arrived, the Old Fox refused to go. Hyde ultimately became convinced that Cutler considered himself to be an authority than the council over which he presided. Insisting that Cutler had become an enemy to Youngs organization, the Kanesville High Council excommunicated him on April 20,1851. Young labored to bring Cutler back into the fold, writing of an ardent desire to see his old friend and promising him protection against any enemies he might have in the church
26.
President of the Church
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In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smiths claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon. Joseph Smith was known by all of these titles in his lifetime, Smith died in 1844 without having indisputably established who was to be his successor. Therefore, his death was followed by a crisis in which various groups followed leaders with succession claims. Some smaller denominations, such as the Church of Christ, reject the office as an unscriptural creation, the concept that the Church of Christ would have a single presiding officer arose in late 1831. Initially, after the formation on April 6,1830, Joseph Smith referred to himself as merely an apostle of Jesus Christ. However, there was one other apostle—Oliver Cowdery—and several other elders of the church, for he receiveth them even as Moses. This established Smiths exclusive right to lead the church, as high priests, these men were higher in the priesthood hierarchy than the elders of the church. However, it was unclear whether Smith and Cowderys calling as apostles gave them superior authority than that of other high priests. And again the duty of the President of the priesthood is to preside over the whole church. Smith was ordained to this position and sustained by the church on January 25,1832, at a conference in Amherst, in 1835, the Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ were revised, changing the phrase an. Elder of the church to the first elder of this Church, thus, subsequent to 1835, Smith was sometimes referred to as the First Elder of the church. The 1835 revision also added a verse referring to the office of president of the high priesthood, which had since been added to the church hierarchy. The only president of the church brought before the Common Council was Joseph Smith, the Council determined that Joseph Smith had acted in every respect in an honorable and proper manner with all monies and properties entrusted to his charge. The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the leader and the head of the First Presidency. Latter-day Saints consider the president of the church to be a prophet, seer, and revelator, and refer to him as the Prophet, when the name of the president is used by adherents, it is usually prefaced by the title President. The President of the Church serves as the head of the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes, the President of the Church also serves as the ex officio chairman of the Church Boards of Trustees/Education. In the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Prophet-President is the highest priesthood leader of the church
27.
Elizabeth Davis Durfee
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Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, taught and practiced polygamy during his ministry, and married multiple women during his lifetime. During his lifetime, Smith and the quorums of his church publicly denied he taught or practiced it. In 1852, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledged that Smith had practiced plural marriage, the first publication of a list of women alleged to be Smiths plural wives was in 1887, by Andrew Jenson, an assistant church historian of the LDS Church. It included 27 women besides Emma Smith, currently, historians disagree as to the number and identity of the plural wives which Smith had. Various scholars and historians, including Fawn M. Brodie, George D. Smith, the discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support some of the alleged marriages. As Compton has stated, for many of these marriages, absolutely nothing is known of marriage after the ceremony, apart from his marriage to Emma, Smiths marriages were not solemnized under any civil authority and were therefore solely religious unions. Research by LDS researcher Ugo A. Perego has shown that a number of children of Smiths alleged polygamous relationships were not his genetic offspring, the LDS Church and Joseph Smiths Polygamy. Media related to Wives of Joseph Smith, Jr. at Wikimedia Commons
28.
Joseph Fielding
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Joseph Fielding was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement. He served as the president of the British Mission, coordinating the activities of missionaries in sections of the United Kingdom. He was the brother of Mary Fielding, the wife of Hyrum Smith, and an uncle of Joseph F. Smith. James was christened there on 5 May 1793, the family then moved to Honidon, Bedfordshire, where the Fielding family were active in the growing Methodist movement in the area. For many years they walked the four miles to attend the Methodist chapel at St Neots. It is significant that of the ten children, at least eight were to spend their lives closely involved with the evangelism of the gospel, Martha Ibbotson Fielding married Peter Isaac Watson in Preston in 1836. Thomas Fielding served the ministry in the Church of England, initially at Papworth under the rector, in 1832, Joseph Fielding emigrated to Canada with his sister, Mercy Rachel. The siblings established a farm in Charleton, nine miles northwest of Toronto and they were joined a short time later by his younger sister, Mary. Between 1834 and 1836, Fielding and his sisters participated in a study group in Toronto. Other members included John and Leonora Taylor, who also became prominent in the Latter Day Saint faith. The group discussed problems and concerns with their Methodist faith, Fielding was baptized into the Church of the Latter Day Saints on May 21,1836 by Parley P. Pratt. He was ordained a teacher in the summer of 1836 and a priest in May 1837 and he then moved his family to Kirtland, Ohio to join the general body of the church in May 1837. He died of consumption in 1841, in 1837, Mary Fielding met and married widower Hyrum Smith, Patriarch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and brother to the prophet Joseph Smith. She became stepmother to his six children by his first wife and on 13 November 1838 bore him a son, Joseph F. Smith, and later a daughter Martha Ann. Joseph F. Smith was to serve as counsellor to four prophets before becoming the sixth President of the Church in 1901, at the age of 62. His own child, Hyrum and Mary’s grandson, Joseph Fielding Smith, born 19 July 1876, became the 10th President of the Church in 1970, at the age of 93. Another grandson, Hyrum Mack Smith, was ordained an apostle in 1901 and his grandson, M Russell Ballard is a serving apostle, between 1837 and 1840, Fielding was called to serve as part of the first Latter Day Saint mission to England. In June, he accompanied Apostles Heber C, Kimball, Orson Hyde, and four other missionaries on board The Garrick, across the Atlantic from New York to Liverpool, where they landed on 19 July 1837
29.
Mary Fielding Smith
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Mary Fielding was born in Honeydon, Bedfordshire, England, on July 21,1801. She was the child of John Fielding and Rachel Ibbotson. In 1834, Mary emigrated to join her brother Joseph and her sister Mercy in Toronto, the three Fielding siblings were introduced to the Church of the Latter Day Saints in 1836 by their good friend John Taylor. Taylor and his wife were in the congregation as the Fieldings. On a trip to Toronto, John Taylor came in contact with the LDS missionary Parley P. Pratt and they were baptized on May 21,1836 in a creek near their home. Mary, John, and Mercy moved to Kirtland, Ohio, well educated, Mary earned a living through teaching school, tutoring private pupils and acting as a governess. At the suggestion of the president, Joseph Smith, the recently widowed Hyrum Smith courted Mary Fielding. Mary accepted the responsibility of caring for and raising Hyrums children from his first marriage, in March of 1838, Hyrum was among the church leaders taken to prison by the Missouri militia. At this time, Smith was pregnant with her first child, Smith went to Quincy, Illinois, with the remaining Mormons and, after Hyrum escaped from jail, they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Their second child, Martha, was born in Illinois, after Hyrum was murdered in 1844, Smith chose to follow the direction of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. She and her family were among the poorer Mormons driven out of Nauvoo in the fall of 1846 and she went to Winter Quarters and then on to the Salt Lake Valley. One story recounts Smiths trip across the plains with Heber C, one of the captains, Cornelius P. Lott, questioned her preparation and suggested she stay behind and wait for others to help her, he called her a burden to the whole company. In response, Smith said that she would not only stay with the company but would arrive in the Salt Lake Valley before Lott and she reportedly arrived in the Valley one day before Lott. She would eventually marry Heber C, on September 21,1852, Smith died in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, at the home of her second husband, Heber C. She was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery, letters from Mary Fielding Works by or about Mary Fielding Smith in libraries
30.
Hyrum Smith
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Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the brother of the movements founder, Joseph Smith. Hyrum was born in Tunbridge, Vermont, the son of Joseph Smith, Sr. Smith received an education, and established himself as a farmer. Smith attended Dartmouth College in his teens and this may have been one of the factors behind Dr. Nathan Smith treating Smiths brother Josephs leg. During the translation of the Book of Mormon and the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Smith was a close advisor, in June 1829, Smith was baptized in Seneca Lake, New York. He was one of the Eight Witnesses who examined and testified of the reality of the golden plates and he also saw the angel Moroni at some point. When the Church of Christ was organized on April 6,1830, six men signed their names as members, at the age of 30. Smith served as presiding officer of a branch in Colesville. As the church headquarters and membership moved west, Smith and his family relocated, in 1831, he established a home in Kirtland, Ohio. During his residence there, he served as foreman of the quarry providing stone for the Kirtland Temple, between 1831 and 1833, he served proselyting missions to Missouri and Ohio. In 1834, under the direction of Joseph Smith, he recruited members for a militia, Zions Camp and he was appointed Second Counselor in the churchs First Presidency in November 1837. In 1838 and 1839, Hyrum, Joseph and three church leaders shared a jail cell in Liberty, Missouri while awaiting trial. After relocating to Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith became Presiding Patriarch of the Church, although Hyrum Smith was never explicitly ordained to the priesthood office of apostle, his appointment as assistant president may have included such authority. When warned of danger, Joseph urged Smith and his family to flee to Cincinnati. Smith refused and, in 1844, traveled with Joseph to Carthage, Illinois, Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and Willard Richards were held awaiting trial in a jail in Carthage. On June 27,1844, the building was attacked by a mob of between sixty and two hundred men. While attempting to barricade the door to prevent the mob from entering, Smith was shot in the face and exclaimed, I am a dead man, Taylor was struck by several bullets but survived with the help of Richards
31.
Joseph F. Smith
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Joseph Fielding Smith Sr. was an American religious leader who served as the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was the last president of the LDS Church to have personally known Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith was the son of church patriarch Hyrum Smith and his wife, Mary Fielding. In addition to her two children, Mary also raised the six children born to Hyrum and Jerusha, Smith was born in Far West, Missouri, on November 13,1838. Just a few days before he was born, his father had taken prisoner under the auspices of the Missouri Executive Order 44. At point of bayonet, Hyrum was marched to his home in Far West and he was told that his doom was sealed and that he would never see her again. Hyrum was still in custody in Liberty Jail, Missouri, when Smith was born and he was named after his uncle, Joseph Smith, and his mothers brother, Joseph Fielding. Hyrum was later released from custody during a transfer from Liberty Jail and his mother was later able to exchange their property in Illinois for a wagon and team of oxen. Smith and his family, along many other Latter Day Saints. The seven-year-old Smith drove the team of oxen with his family to the Latter Day Saint encampment at Winter Quarters, while at Winter Quarters, Smith and another boy, Thomas Burdick, were out on horseback some distance from the settlement, watching the cattle graze. They saw a band of twenty or thirty American Indians ride into the valley on the side of the cattle. Burdick rode back to camp to get help while Smith rode toward the Indians, Smith was able to turn the herd back toward the settlement, and, coupled with the noise and arrival of the Indians, started a stampede which saved the herd from capture. He was still riding with the herd at full speed when two Indians picked him up off of his horse from either side and dropped him to the ground. A company of men from the encampment then arrived, chased away the fleeing Indians, and recovered the herd, Smith and his family remained at Winter Quarters until the spring of 1848 when Smith drove his mothers wagon across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848, Smiths mother worked to raise her own children as well as the children of her husbands first wife, Mary Fielding Smith died in 1852, apparently of pneumonia, leaving Smith an orphan at the age of 13. Smith reported that he was devastated by his mothers death, and relied upon the support and help of Brigham Young. Even with the support of his older half-brother John Smith, Smith assumed primary responsibility for his sister, Martha Ann. His leaving school was linked to his resistance of a teachers attempt to whip Martha
32.
President of the Church (LDS Church)
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In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the President of the Church is the highest office of the church. It was the held by Joseph Smith, founder of the church. The President of the LDS Church is the leader and the head of the First Presidency. Latter-day Saints consider the president of the church to be a prophet, seer, and revelator, and refer to him as the Prophet, when the name of the president is used by adherents, it is usually prefaced by the title President. The President of the Church serves as the head of both the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes and the Council of the Church, the President of the Church also serves as the ex officio chairman of the Church Boards of Trustees/Education. The concept that the Church of Christ would have a single presiding officer arose in late 1831, initially, after the churchs formation on April 6,1830, Joseph Smith referred to himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and elder of the church. However, there was another apostle—Oliver Cowdery—and several other elders of the church, for he receiveth them even as Moses. This established Smiths exclusive right to lead the church, in early June 1831, Smith was ordained to the high priesthood, along with twenty-two other men, including prominent figures in the church such as Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, and Martin Harris. As high priests, these men were higher in the hierarchy than the elders of the church. However, it was unclear whether Smiths and Cowderys callings as apostles gave them superior authority to that of other high priests. And again the duty of the President of the priesthood is to preside over the whole church. Smith was ordained to this position and sustained by the church on January 25,1832, at a conference in Amherst, in 1835, the Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ were revised, changing the phrase an. Elder of the church to the first elder of this Church, thus, subsequent to 1835, Smith was sometimes referred to as the First Elder of the church. The 1835 revision also added a verse referring to the office of president of the high priesthood, in 1844, while in jail awaiting trial for treason charges, Joseph Smith was killed by an armed mob. Hyrum Smith, his successor, was killed in the same incident. Smith had not indisputably established who was next in line as successor to President of the Church, several claimants to the role of church president emerged during the succession crisis that ensued. Young would not be ordained President of the Church until December 1847, thomas S. Monson is the 16th and current President of the LDS Church. As president, Monson is considered by adherents of the religion to be a prophet, seer, a printer by trade, Monson has spent most of his life engaged in various church leadership positions and in public service
33.
Hannah Greenwood Fielding
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Hannah Greenwood Fielding was the wife of early Latter Day Saints missionary Joseph Fielding. She died in Salt Lake City, Utah,1877, at age 57, Hannah Greenwood married Joseph Fielding on June 11,1838. Willard Richards was a witness to his marriage and Joseph was a witness to Willards marriage to Jenetta Richards, Joseph and Hannah had six children, two of them born in Preston, Rachel on 27 June 1839, and Ellen on 2 September 1841
34.
Olive Grey Frost
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Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, taught and practiced polygamy during his ministry, and married multiple women during his lifetime. During his lifetime, Smith and the quorums of his church publicly denied he taught or practiced it. In 1852, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledged that Smith had practiced plural marriage, the first publication of a list of women alleged to be Smiths plural wives was in 1887, by Andrew Jenson, an assistant church historian of the LDS Church. It included 27 women besides Emma Smith, currently, historians disagree as to the number and identity of the plural wives which Smith had. Various scholars and historians, including Fawn M. Brodie, George D. Smith, the discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support some of the alleged marriages. As Compton has stated, for many of these marriages, absolutely nothing is known of marriage after the ceremony, apart from his marriage to Emma, Smiths marriages were not solemnized under any civil authority and were therefore solely religious unions. Research by LDS researcher Ugo A. Perego has shown that a number of children of Smiths alleged polygamous relationships were not his genetic offspring, the LDS Church and Joseph Smiths Polygamy. Media related to Wives of Joseph Smith, Jr. at Wikimedia Commons
35.
Nauvoo Expositor
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The Nauvoo Expositor was a newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois, that published only one issue, on June 7,1844. Its publication set off a chain of events led to the death of Latter Day Saint prophet Joseph Smith. The Expositor was founded by several seceders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the single edition of the newspaper was critical of Smith and other church leaders. Specifically, Smith was criticized for teaching doctrines such as plural marriage, in response to the newspapers publication, Smith and the Nauvoo City Council declared the paper a public nuisance, and ordered the press destroyed. The town marshal carried out the order during the evening of June 10, the destruction of the press led to charges of riot against Smith and other members of the Council. After Smith surrendered on the charges, he was charged with treason against Illinois. Smith was killed by a mob while awaiting a trial in Carthage Jail, a group of former members of the church were in open conflict with Smith for various doctrinal, economic, and political reasons. Although he publicly denied being involved in polygamy, it was known within the church that Smith was married to multiple women, in 1842, former church leader John C. Bennett made public allegations of Smiths unorthodox marriages. On August 12,1843, Hyrum Smith read Smiths revelation concerning plural marriage to the Nauvoo High Council, William Law was a member of the First Presidency. According to Law, Smith had made proposals to Laws wife Jane. Laws wife later described Smiths proposals, saying that Smith had asked her to give him half her love, on January 8,1844, Smith removed Law from the First Presidency. On April 18,1844, Law and his wife were excommunicated from the church, along with his brother Wilson Law, also excommunicated were Robert D. Foster and Howard Smith. On May 1, Francis M. Higbee filed a complaint in the Fifth Judicial District of Illinois, suing Smith for slander. On May 10, a prospectus was circulated, announcing the creation of the Nauvoo Expositor. On May 18, the church excommunicated Higbee, James Blakesley, Charles Ivins, on May 29, the high council published a document purporting to show Higbees brother Chauncey had also committed misdeeds. On May 23, Law obtained a jury indictment against Smith on the charge of polygamy from the Hancock County Circuit Court. Law swore that Smith had been living with Maria Lawrence in a state of adultery since October 12,1843. The Expositor was planned as an exposé of church practices which Law, the editor was Sylvester Emmons, a non-Mormon member of the Nauvoo City Council
36.
Orson Hyde
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Orson Hyde was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Hyde was born to Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe in Oxford and he was raised in nearby Derby, Connecticut, under the care of Nathan Wheeler. In 1819, when he was just 14 years of age, he walked from Connecticut to Kirtland, while employed as a retail clerk in Kirtland, Hyde became involved with the Reformed Baptist Society, also called Campbellites, through the preaching of Sidney Rigdon. When Oliver Cowdery and other Latter Day Saint missionaries preached in Kirtland in late 1830, however, when his former minister, Sidney Rigdon joined the Latter Day Saint church, Hyde investigated the claims of the missionaries, and was baptized by Rigdon on October 30,1831. Hyde was called on a succession of missions for the church, serving with Hyrum Smith, Samuel H. Smith, in 1832 he was among the first missionaries in Connecticut, he was also among the first missionaries from the church to preach in Maine and Massachusetts. Hyde marched with Zions Camp in 1834 and became one of the members of the first presiding high council in Kirtland and he was ordained an apostle of the church on February 15,1835 as one of the original twelve, being fifth in seniority. An apostolic mission with Heber C, kimball to Great Britain in 1837 to 1838 was successful in bringing thousands of converts to the faith. Upon returning from Britain, during a period of persecution and internal dissension and he left the church on October 19,1838 with Thomas B. Marsh, the member of the Twelve. Marsh explained the reasons for their dissent in an affidavit which he and Hyde signed on October 24,1838 in Richmond, Missouri. Marsh and Hyde also claimed that Joseph Smith planned to take the State, the testimony of Marsh and Hyde added to the panic in northwestern Missouri and contributed to subsequent events in the 1838 Mormon War. Because a Mormon attack was believed imminent, a unit of the militia from Ray County was dispatched to patrol the border between Ray and Mormon Caldwell County to the north. On October 25,1838, reports reached Mormons in Far West that this state militia unit was a mob and had kidnapped several Mormons, the Mormons formed an armed rescue party and attacked the militia in what became known as the Battle of Crooked River. Although only one non-Mormon was killed on the Missourian side, initial reports held that half the unit had been wiped out, the Mormons suffered more casualties, Gideon Carter died in the battle and David W. Patten and Patrick Obanion died from wounds they received in the battle. This attack on the militia, coupled with the earlier expulsion of non-Mormons from Daviess County led Missouris governor to respond with force. On 27 October he called out 2,500 state militia to put down what he perceived as a Mormon rebellion and signed Missouri Executive Order 44, because he had signed the Richmond affidavit with Marsh, Hyde was disfellowshipped in 1838. On May 4,1839, a conference in Quincy, Illinois voted to remove Hyde. The leadership of the church invited the two to explain their actions, on June 27, Hyde returned to the church and publicly explained himself, recanting his affidavit and asking to be restored
37.
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)
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In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are apostles, with the calling to be prophets, seers, and revelators, evangelical ambassadors, the jurisdiction of the Twelve was originally limited to areas of the world outside of Zion or its stakes. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles claims a leadership role second only to that of the First Presidency, at the time of the death of Joseph Smith, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was Brigham Young. Young emphasized what he said was Smiths authorization that the Quorum of the Twelve should be the governing body of the church after Smiths death. Church policy decisions are made unanimously, with consultation among the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and where appropriate, effort is made to ensure that the organizations are united in purpose and policy. Each member of the quorum is accepted by the church as an apostle, as well as a prophet, seer, thus, each apostle is considered to hold the rights to use all powers granted by God to the church. Individually and collectively, the Twelve Apostles hold the keys and have conferred the authority to exercise all of the keys upon the President of the Church. Thus, as outlined in the Doctrine and Covenants, only the President of the Church is entitled to revelation or dictate policy for the entire church. A major role of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is to appoint a successor when the President of the Church dies, shortly after this occurs, the apostles meet in a room of the Salt Lake Temple to appoint a successor. Invariably the successor has been the most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the apostles lay their hands on his head and ordain him and set him apart as President of the Church. The president then chooses two counselors in the First Presidency, who are high priests, the second most senior surviving apostle becomes the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This has invariably been the most senior member of the quorum who is not a member of the First Presidency, the final decision rests with the President of the Church, but is formally voted on by the Twelve and the counselors in the First Presidency. The chosen man is generally ordained an apostle by the President of the Church, depending on circumstances, this may occur before or after a sustaining vote is held at a church general conference. Any Melchizedek priesthood holder is eligible to be called as an apostle, generally, new apostles have considerable experience in church government and have served faithfully as bishops, stake presidents, mission presidents, or seventies. Some apostles receive assignments to become members of boards of church-owned for-profit corporations, the calling of an apostle is typically a lifetime calling. Pages, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — biographical sketches of all past and present members of the Quorum
38.
Zina D. H. Young
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She practiced polyandry as the wife of Joseph Smith, and later Brigham Young, each of whom she married while she was still married to her first husband, Henry Jacobs. Zina Huntington was born in Watertown, New York, the child of William. Her fathers family was descended from Puritan Simon Huntington, who died at sea in 1633 on the voyage to America. Her father was a veteran of the War of 1812, her grandfather a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his brother, Samuel Huntington and she was taught household skills, such as spinning, soap making, and weaving, and received a basic education. She developed musical talent by learning to play the cello, in 1835, when Zina was fourteen, her family was contacted by Hyrum Smith and David Whitmer, missionaries of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. With the exception of her oldest brother, the family joined the church. Zina was baptized by Smith on August 1,1835, after receiving advice from Joseph Smith, Sr. Zinas father sold their property and relocated to the churchs headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. Zina was a member of the Kirtland Temple Choir, nineteen months later, the family moved again to Far West, Missouri. They arrived in Far West at a time of violence between Missouri residents and the newly arrived Mormons, after Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued the Extermination Order, Zinas father helped coordinate the evacuation of church members to Illinois. In 1839, when Zina was only eighteen years old, there was an epidemic in Nauvoo, Illinois, Zina. Her mother died, but Zina recovered after receiving care in the home of Joseph, Zina was noted among the new converts of the church for her somewhat remarkable spiritual gifts. Not long after the arrived in Kirtland she exhibited the gift of tongues and of the interpretation of tongues. She also later exhibited the gifts of prophesy and healing, wells later wrote of her, in all spiritual labors and manifestations, she was greatly gifted, and no woman in Israel was more inspirational in prayer. Her whole life was one of untiring devotion to her Heavenly Father, Zina recorded in her autobiography that when she was eighteen she was courted by Henry Bailey Jacobs. During this time, Joseph Smith, also taught her about marriage in private conversations. Zina declined the proposals out of her respect for Emma Smith and for traditional Christian monogamy, on March 7,1841, she married Jacobs, believing she had thus avoided future proposals from Smith. Nauvoo mayor John C. Bennett conducted the ceremony and her journal from the day of the wedding reads, I was Married to Mr. Henry Bailey Jacobs. He had been a missionary preaching the Gospel for some time and his Father Henry Jacobs was one of the first elders in the Church, faithful and true until the last
39.
Relief Society
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The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational womens organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, the Relief Society is often referred to by the church and others as one of the oldest and largest womens organizations in the world. The motto of the Relief Society, taken from 1 Corinthians 13,8, is Charity never faileth, Relief Society accomplishes these purposes through Sunday gospel instruction, other Relief Society meetings, visiting teaching, and welfare and compassionate service. In the spring of 1842 Sarah Granger Kimball and her seamstress, Margaret A. Cook and they determined to invite their neighbors to assist by creating a Ladies Society. Kimball asked Eliza R. Snow to write a constitution and by-laws for the organization for submission to President of the Church Joseph Smith for review, after reviewing the documents, Smith called them the best he had ever seen but said, this is not what you want. Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, I will organize the women under the priesthood after a pattern of the priesthood. Twenty women gathered on Thursday, March 17,1842 in the meeting room over Smiths Red Brick Store in Nauvoo. Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards sat on the platform at the end of the room with the women facing them. The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning was sung, Smith also proposed that the women elect a presiding officer who would choose two counselors to assist her. Emma Hale Smith was elected unanimously as president and she chose Sarah M. Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Whitney as her two counselors. John Taylor was appointed to ordain the women and he did so and it was proposed that the organization go by the name Benevolent Society and with no opposition the vote carried. However, Emma Smith made a point of objection, after discussion, it was unanimously agreed that the fledgling organization be named The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. Joseph Smith then offered five dollars in gold to commence the funds of the Society, Eliza R. Snow was unanimously elected as secretary of the Society with Phebe M. Wheeler as Assistant Secretary and Elvira A. Coles as Treasurer. Emma Smith remarked that each member should be ambitious to do good and seek out, several female members then made donations to the Society. The men returned, and Taylor and Richards also made donations, after singing Come Let Us Rejoice, the meeting was adjourned to meet on the following Thursday at 10 oclock. Taylor then gave a closing prayer, E feel convinced that with their concentrated efforts, the condition of the suffering poor, of the stranger and the fatherless will be ameliorated. The new organization was popular and grew so rapidly that finding a place for such a large group proved difficult. Under Emma Smiths direction, the Society was divided for the purpose of meeting according to each of the four municipal wards
40.
Heber C. Kimball
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Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. Agreeing to take on plural marriage, then part of doctrine, Kimball eventually married forty-three women. He had a total of children by seventeen of his wives. Heber Chase Kimball was born in Sheldon, Franklin County, Vermont in 1801 and he was a descendant of the Kimball immigrants to Massachusetts from England in 1634. He was named after a judge Heber Chase, who had helped the family in their efforts to settle in the area, due to the embargo on trade with Britain preceding the War of 1812, his father lost his investments and the family moved into western New York. They settled in West Bloomfield, New York, Ontario County, Kimball left school at age 14, trained as a blacksmith and potter, and moved with his brother about 1820 to Mendon, Monroe County, New York. There he married his first wife, Vilate Murray, in 1822, after purchasing his brothers pottery business, for the next 10 years, he carried out his trades. He acquired five and a half acres of land, built a house and a barn, in 1823, Kimball received the three first degrees of Freemasonry in the lodge at Victor Flats, Ontario County, New York. In 1824, he sent a petition to the chapter at Canandaigua, New York and his petition was accepted, although, as he reported, Anti-Masons had burned down the chapter building in Canandaigua. When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints established itself in Nauvoo, Illinois and he served as Nauvoo Lodge U. D. s first Junior Deacon. He remained active in Freemasonry throughout his stay in Nauvoo, but was not active once he moved to Utah Territory, there was no lodge in Utah in his lifetime that would admit Mormons. His son William Henry was born in Mendon, April 10,1826 and his daughter Helen Mar was born August 22,1828. She was the daughter to survive. Kimball claims to have witnessed an event on September 22,1827. According to his autobiography, he learned that it took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the Book of Mormon from the Angel Moroni. The most profound order existed throughout the army, when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time. When the front rank reached the Western horizon a battle ensued, as we could hear the report of the arms. No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men and this scenery was gazed upon for hours, until it began to disappear
41.
First Presidency (LDS Church)
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The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors, the First Presidency currently consists of Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B. The First Presidency is composed of the President of the Church, historically, and as mandated by church scripture, the First Presidency has been composed of the president and two counselors, but circumstances have occasionally required additional counselors. Any high priest of the church is eligible to be called as a counselor in the First Presidency, there have been other cases where counselors have been ordained to the office of apostle but not set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Other counselors in the First Presidency were never ordained to the office of apostle, whether or not a counselor is an apostle, all members of the First Presidency are sustained by the church as prophets, seers, and revelators. Counselors are formally designated as First Counselor in the First Presidency, additional counselors have been designated in different ways, including Third Counselor in the First Presidency, Assistant Counselor to the President, and simply Counselor in the First Presidency. Counselors serve in the First Presidency until their own deaths, until the death of the president who called them. The death of a church president dissolves the First Presidency, the death or release of a counselor does not dissolve the First Presidency. On the death or release of a first counselor, the second counselor usually succeeds, although these are fairly common occurrences, there are no hard and fast rules about such practices and each president is free to choose the counselors he prefers. Like the church president and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency is the highest ranking priesthood quorum of the church. The counselors assist the president and work closely with him in guiding the entire church. In the case of a president, his counselors may be called upon to perform more of the duties of the First Presidency that would normally be performed by the president. If needed, any number of additional counselors may be called to assist them, all members of the First Presidency are sustained by the membership of the church as prophets, seers, and revelators and given the keys of the kingdom when ordained as an apostle. All members of the First Presidency are also members of the churchs Council on the Disposition of the Tithes, there is no requirement that counselors in the First Presidency be apostles of the church. Brown, First Counselor to David O. McKay, not retained as a counselor by Joseph Fielding Smith Thorpe B, the position is paid employment position and the incumbent is not a member of the First Presidency or a general authority of the church. However, it is common for letters from the office of the First Presidency to private individuals to bear the signature of the secretary as opposed to members of the First Presidency, the First Presidency also employs assistant secretaries and press secretaries. When David O. D. Arthur Haycock also served as secretary to several church presidents in the 20th century. George W. Robinson George Reynolds George F. Gibbs Joseph Anderson Francis M. Gibbons F. Michael Watson Brook P. Hales Council of the Church
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