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1 The best source of information on Joseph Smith, Jr.'s descendents is
Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Smith and
Emma Hale: With Little Sketches of Their Immigrant Ancetstors, all of whom
came to America between the years 1620 and 1685, and Settled in the
States of Massachusetts and Connecticut (Independence, Missouri: Herald
Publishing House, 1929).
2 Details about Joseph Smith III's childhood, in this and succeeding
paragraphs, are drawn from Memoirs, pp. 1-37, unless otherwise noted.
Details concerning Latter day Saint history are drawn from HC, HRC, CHC,
and general histories such as James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story
of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976);
Arrington and Bitton, The Mormon Experience; Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows
My History: The Life of Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet, 2nd ed. (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1974); and Donna Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. 1977).
3 One source of discontent was the clandestine introduction, on a limited
scale, of polygamy. See Danel W. Bachman, "New Light on an Old Hypothesis:
The Ohio Origins of the Revelation on Eternal Marriage," Journal of Mormon
History 5 (1978):19-32. Cf. Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon, pp. 188-190,
Brodie, No Man Knows My History, pp. 181-187; and Linda King Newell and
Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, Prophet's Wife,
"Elect Lady," Polygamy's Foe, 1804-1879 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday &
Company, Inc., 1984), pp. 64-67.
4 HC 3:175.
5 Ibid., 3:190-191.
6 Joseph Smith III, untitled Biographical Sketch of Emma Hale Smith, P13,
f2302, RLDS Archives, p. 7. This sketch formed the basis for the biography of
Emma Hale Smith in Recollections of the Pioneers of Lee County (Dixon, Illinois:
Inez A. Kennedy, 1893), pp. 96-107. The published version is an abridgement
and contains alterations from the original typescript. Throughout this dissertation,
reference will be made to the original typescript, not to the published version.
Cf. Memoirs, p. 2; and John W. Rigdon, "Life Story of Sydney Rigdon,"
F297, LDS Archives, p. 150.
7 For a description of Liberty Jail see Joseph A. McRae and Eunice H. McArae,
The Historical Facts Regarding the Liberty and Carthage Jails (Salt Lake City:
Utah Printing Company, 1954), p. 47.
8 Revelation of February 1831 (RLDS D&C 43:1-2; LDS D&C 43:1-7).
9 D. Michael Quinn, "The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844," Brigham
Younq University Studies 16 (Winter 1976):188, 194, 199, 200. Quinn, pp. 212-213,
also points out that in 1835 Joseph Smith had cited several ecclesiastical bodies as
possessing authority "equal" to that of the First Presidency, but that he did not
define how this might affect the question of succession in the presidency.
10 HRC 2:309, 315.
11 Late in life, John Wickliffe Rigdon recorded his reminiscences of this
visit. By the time he wrote his reminiscences, the blessing at Liberty Jail was an
item of hot dispute between the LDS and RLDS Churches, apologists for the
former denying that it ever took place. John W. Rigdon, who had been rebaptized
into the LDS Church in 1904, lent his voice to the polemical dispute. He had been
present, he argued, and no such "ordination" occurred:
". . . we were taken up to the Jail & there we remained for 3 days & that is
the time & place wh[e]re Young Joseph Smith claims that his father Joseph Smith
ordained him to be the leader of the Church at his Fathers death Now I was there
& was with Young Joseph all of the time while we remained at the Jail when the
Jailer let me out to go around to see the town Joseph Smith went with me & when
I went back he always went with Me as he was a Little afraid to st[a]y out alone
thinking they [sic] might be danger in doing so & I say that no such ordination
ever took place while we were at Liberty Jail if it had I should have certainly
remembered it Young Joseph Smith the Prophet['s] son & I are the only ones who
are a live that was in that Jail at that time & I know that that ordination which he
claims never took place I was only to Liberty Jail once nor neither was Young
Joseph Smith we Went out in the same carriage & came back in the same carriage
I understand that he now claims that his Father blessed him but he cannot
remember wheather he was ordained or not I say his father did not bless hirn
either when we bid them good buye the turnkee stood at the Door with the Key in
his hand to let us out his Father Might have put his hand on his Sones head & said
good buy my son God Bless you & do not say he did but he Might have done so But
as for his Father Gave him a blessing in Liberty Jail More than what [I] have said
he did not[. ]" Quotation from John W. Rigdon, "Lecture on the Early History of
the Mormon Church," F 297, LDS Archives, pp. 62-65. A parallel account is found
in his "Lecture by John W. Rigdon on the Early History of the Mormon Church "
,
Washington State Historical Society, pp. 54-56 (photocopy at Utah State
Historical Society).
A refutation is found in "John W. Rigdon's Affidavit," SH (August 30,
1905):826-827. It pointed out that Joseph Smith III visited Liberty Jail three times,
and John W. Rigdon was present only one of these three times.
12 Memoirs, pp. 2, 264.
13 Lyman Wight to the Northern Islander, July 1855, Lyman Wight
Letterbook, RLDS Archives, p. 24. (Spelling as in original.) Wight's expression,
"came out of jail to lay hands. . . on him," raises some minor historical problems.
Wight may have slipped with his pen, intending to say, "shortly after we came into
jail." Or, more likely, he may refer to the basement of Liberty Jail, in which they
were housed, as the "jail," in which case he meant to say that the blessing took
place outside of their living quarters, upstairs on the ground floor (or even at the
doorway of the jail). Conceivably he could refer to another blessing after the
prisoners gained their freedom in April 1839, but this seems unlikely. Lastly, he
simply may have confused his chronology.
See Heman C. Smith, "Succession in the Presidency," Journal of History 2
(January 1909):4-8 for information regarding additional statements of Lyman
Wight regarding the blessing in Liberty Jail.
14 In 1861 W. W. Blair was told by former members of Lyman Wight's colony
that Wight always taught that Young Joseph someday would lead the church, and
that he had been present with Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Liberty Jail, where
"they put their hands on the lad's head (then but 6 years old,) and the martyr then
and there sealed prophetically that calling and blessing upon him." Soon
afterwards Blair asked Joseph Smith III about this blessing. Joseph told him that
he could remember visiting his father in prison but could not remernber the
blessing. However, he stated that he could remember a similar blessing in 1844.
See "Mission of Bro. W. W. Blair. No. 1," SH 8 (October 1, 1865):101. Blair may
have misunderstood Joseph's statement. The RLDS president may have told him
that he could not remember the content of the blessing or the form of words
employed, because in 1868 Joseph Smith III stated: "In Liberty jail the promise
and blessing of a life of usefulness to the cause of truth was pronounced upon our
head by lips tainted by dungeon damps, and by the spirit confirmed through
attesting witnesses." See "Pleasant Chat," SH 14 (October 1, 1868):105.
In later years, Joseph Smith III definitely claimed to have been blessed by
his father in Liberty Jail. See his letters to T. W. Davis, June 10, 1893, LB #4, p.
425; to A. V. Gibbons, June 1, 1893, LB #4, p. 391; and to H. C. Smith, November
1, 1894, LB #5, p. 433. In none of these letters does he claim to remember the
content of the blessing, merely that it occurred. In Memoirs, p. 2, he specifically
disclaimed memory of the content of the blessing. Cf. Heman C. Smith,
"Succession in the Presidency," pp. 9-10.
15 For an extended study of dynasticism in the Mormon hierarchy, see
Dennis Michael Quinn, "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the
Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932: A Prosopographical Study," M.A. thesis,
University of Utah, 1973, pp. 69-70, 125-176.
16 II Nephi 2:10-29 (RLDS); II Nephi 3:6-1S (LDS).
17 Genesis 50:24-33 (Inspired Version).
18 Joseph Fielding Smith, The Life of Joseph F. Smith: Sixth President of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ([Salt Lake City:] Deseret News
Press, 1938), pp. 34-36.
19 Revelation of December 6, 1832 (RLDS D&C 84:3; LDS D&C 86:10).
20 Quinn, "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the Mormon
Hierarchy," pp. 126-127. Quinn's fourth chapter, "Farnily Relationships in the
Hierarchy," pp. 125-176, demonstrates that both during the lifetime of Joseph
Smith and under later Mormon presidents, appointments to the hierarchy
frequently were based upon ties of kinship. Hyrum L. Andrus, Doctrines of the
Kingdom, vol. 3: Foundations of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft Inc, 1973), pp. 527-567, places the doctrine of lineal succession in the
larger context of Joseph Smith's theology.
21 Lucy Mack Smith, Blessing of Joseph Smith III, dictated to Martha
Coray, Summer of 1845, LDS Archives.
22 Baby Don Carlos Smith was born June 13, 1840. On December 26, 1842,
another son of Joseph and Emma Smith died at birth.
23 0n the junior auxiliary of the Nauvoo Legion, see Joseph Smith III, "What
Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," Journal of History 3 (April 1910):135-137; "Still
Later from Nauvoo," New-York Messenger 2 (September 6, 1845):78; and "The
Nauvoo Legion," Warsaw Signal, August 13, 1845. In later life Joseph Smith III
regarded the martial spirit surrounding the Nauvoo Legion to have been a mistake,
and he never mentioned his own participation. However, Schuyler Everett
recalled that Young Joseph had been the first lieutenant and his cousin John Smith
the second lieutenant in the junior auxiliary. See "Biography of Schuyler and
Rachel Everett," W.P.A. Historical Records Survey Typescript, Film 920 #1,
Brigham Young University.
24 0n Joseph Smith III's baptism see Memoirs, pp. 70, 101; Tullidge, p. 744;
and "Pleasant Chat," SH 14 (October 1, 1868):104. The baptism may have
occurred as early as the spring of 1842, because in the Nauvoo, Illinois, "Record of
Members, 1841-1845," p. 55, Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, Julia Smith, and Joseph
Smith, Junior are listed as members of the Fourth Ward, in a list compiled in the
spring of 1842. In his later recollections, Joseph Smith III thought the baptism
occurred in 1843.
25 James L. Kimball, Jr., "A Wall to Defend Zion: The Nauvoo Charter,"
Brigham Young University Studies 15 (Summer 1975):491-497; and by the same
author, " The Nauvoo harter: Reinterpretation," Journal of the Illinios State
Historical Society 64 (Spring 1971):66-78.
26 Robert Bruce Flanders, Nauvoo: Kinqdom on the Mississippi (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1965), p. 92.
27 Ibid., pp. 99, 307, 308.
28 Klaus J. Hansen, Quest for Empire: The Political Kingdom of God and
the Council of Fifty in Mormon History (N.p.: Michigan State University Press,
1967), pp. 45-89.
29 Several recent studies summarize the evidence concerning polygamy in
Nauvoo. See Lawrence Foster, Religion and Sexuality: Three Arnerican
Communial Experiments of the Nineteenth Century (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1981); Brodie, No Man Knows My History; Hill, Joseph Smith:
The First Mormon; and Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith.
Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner's work Joseph Smith and Polygamy (Salt
Lake City: Modern Microfilm Co., n.d.), collates a large amount of data, within
an anti-Mormon perspective. Danel W. Bachman, "A Study of the Mormon
Practice of Plural Marriage before the Death of Joseph Smith," M.A. thesis,
Purdue University, 1975, is an excellent study.
30 Valeen Tippetts Avery, "Insanity and the Sweet Singer: A Biography of
David Hyrum Smith, 1844-1904," Ph.D. dissertation, Northern Arizona University,
1984, p. 14.
31 Brodie, No Man Knows My History, pp. 457-488. Jerald and Sandra
Tanner, Joseph Smith and Polygamy, count far more.
32 Avery, "Insanity and the Sweet Singer," p. 15.
33 LDS D&C Section 132.
34 Paragraph based on Avery, "Insanity and the Sweet Singer," pp. 18-20.
Cf. Linda King Newell, "Emma Hale Smith and the Polygamy Question," John
Whitmer Historical Association Journal 4 (1984):3-15 for a summary of Ernma
Smith's opposition to plural marriage. Also consult Newell and Avery, Mormon
Eniqma: Emma Hale Smith, pp. 151-155, 170-173.
35 Ibid., p. 16.
36 A good study of the doctrinal developments in Nauvoo is T. Edgar Lyon,
"Doctrinal Developments of the Church during the Nauvoo Sojourn, 1839-1846,"
Brigham Younq University Studies 15 (Summer 1975):435-446.
On April 7, 1844, Joseph Smith preached the funeral sermon of elder King
Follett, who had died accidentally. This sermon came to be called the "King
Follett Discourse," and was noteworthy for its incorporation of many of the most
revolutionary themes in Joseph Smith's theology. See HC 6:302-317. Three
important recent studies are: Donald Q. Cannon, "The King Follett Discourse:
Joseph Smith's Greatest Sermon in Historical Perspective," Briqham Younq
University Studies 18 (Winter 1978):179-192; Stan Larson, "The King Follett
Discourse: A Newly Amalgamated Text," Brigham Young University Studies 18
(Winter 1978):193-208; and Van Hale, "The Doctrinal Impact of the King Follett
Discourse," Briqham Younq University Studies 18 (Winter 1978):209-225. Hale, p.
213, sumrnarizes the four most important concepts in the sermon: (1) Men can
become gods; (2) Many gods exist; (3) the gods exist one above another
innurnerably; and (4) God was once as man now is. He also demonstrates that each
of these concepts had antecedents in Joseph Smith's thought, prior to 1844.
37 D. Michael Quinn, "Joseph Smith III's 1844 Blessing and the Mormons of
Utah," John Whitmer Historical Association Journal I (1981):15, points out that
James Whitehead's later claim that this was a meeting of the Nauvoo High
Council is unsubstantiated by the High CounciI's minutes. Whether this was a
formal council of some sort or an informal meeting of elders is unknown at
present.
38 More than one elder may have held the horn of oil during the ceremony.
This and other details are derived from the recollections of James Whitehead in In
the Circuit Court of the United States Western District of Missouri, Western
Division, at Kansas City. The Reorganize Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, Complainant vs. the Church of Christ at Independence, Missouri; Richard
Hill, Trustee, Mrs. E. Hill, C. A. Hall, President; Mrs. C. A. Hall George Frisbie
Mrs. E. Frisbie, Miss Nannie Frisbie, Daniel Bauder, and G.D. Cole, as Members
of and Doinq Business under the Name of the Church of Christ at Independence,
Missouri, Respondents. Complainant's Abstract of Pleading and Evidence
(Lamoni, lowa: Herald Publishing House and Bindery, 1893), pp. 28-33. (This work
is henceforth cited as Complainant's Abstract.) Cf. Quinn, "Joseph Smith III's
1844 Blessing and the Mormons of Utah," p. 14.
39 Joseph Smith, Jr., Blessing of Joseph Smith III, January 17, 1844, RLDS
Archives. The existence of this document was unknown until 1981. It is written
in the distinctive handwriting of Joseph Smith's scribe, Thomas Bullock. The
document is photographically reproduced in a small pamphlet, For He Shall Be My
Successor ([ Independence, Missouri:] Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, 1981 ). It is transcribed in Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Personal
Writinqs of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984), pp. 565-566.
40 W, W, Blair, Journal, June 17, 1874, RLDS Archives.
41 Cf. Complainant's Abstract, p. 33. Whitehead's testimony was widely
circulated within the RLDS Church in the 1890s. A typical statement is found in
his "Testimony Given April 1895," RLDS Archives. Here he stated that Joseph
and Hyrum Smith placed their hands upon Young Joseph's head to bless him and
Newel K. Whitney poured the oil upon his head. Hyrum blessed the youth with a
patriarchal blessing, according to Whitehead, and "then Joseph ordained him to be
a prophet sear translator revelator and holding all the gifts and blessings of the
first elder of the church and his successor in office. Also he said my son you must
be patient and wait the appointed time of the Lord and he will direct you where to
go." Whitehead added, to reinforce the proper RLDS conclusions: "I was an ear
and eye witness to the above. I never heard Joseph preach polygamy. He did not
believe it." As Quinn, "Joseph Smith III's 1844 Blessing and the Mormons of Utah, "
p. 15, has concluded, Whitehead's core recollections about the blessing are
credible, because his earlier accounts were accompanied by admissions damaging
to the RLDS apologetic position (i.e., that Joseph Smith, Jr. taught and practiced
polygamy). His later embellishments are demonstrably inaccurate.
42 W, W, Blair, Journal, May 17, 1865, RLDS Archives. According to Blair's
entry, this information was given to him at Nauvoo by Emma Smith Bidamon and
Alexander Hale Smith.
43 "Letter from T. Vlj. Smith," Autumn Leaves 1 (July 1888):374-375.
44 Joseph Smith III to Joseph Flanders, January 5, 1895, LB #5, p. 481. Cf.
Memoirs, p. 79; Joseph Smith III to A. V. Gibbons, June 1, 1893, LB #4, p. 391; and
"Pleasant Chat," SH 14 (October 1, 1868):105. Unlike some of his colleagues,
Joseph Smith III always called this a blessing rather than an ordination, holding
that one could not be ordained to an office while another yet held it. Cf.
Complainant's Abstract, p 79
45 Joseph Smith III, "What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," p. 142.
46 Quinn, "Joseph Smith III's 1844 Blessing and the Mormons of Utah," p. 14.
A synopsis of Joseph Smith's sermon is found in Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W.
Cook, eds., The The Words of Joseph Smith: Contemporary Accounts of the
Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University, 1980), pp. 317-319.
47 W. W. Blair, Journal, May 17, 1865, RLDS Archives.
48 W. W. Blair, Journal, March 9, 1863, RLDS Archives.
49 Complainant's Abstract, p. 33.
50 Quinn, "Joseph Smith III's 1844 Blessing and the Mormons of Utah," pp.
14-15.
51 "PIeasant Chat," SH 14 (October 1, 1868):105. See also Complainant's
Abstract, pp. 40-41.
52 Complainant's Abstract, pp. 179-181.
53 Affidavit of Sophia K. Cook, September 13, 1900; Affidavit of George
Washington Bird, June 13, 1910; and Affidavit of Elizabeth E. Cowlishaw, June
13, 1910. All three affidavits are in the RLDS Archives.
54 Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon, p. 387.
55 Flanders, Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi. P. 307.
56 Ibid., pp. 306-308; Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon, p. 387; and
Brodie, No Man Knows My History, p. 367.
57 Bennett's charges were widely printed in the press and later collected
into a book entitled The History of the Saints; or, an Expose of Joe Smith and
Mormonism (Boston: Leland & Whiting; New York: Bradburn, Soden, & Co.;
Cincinnati: E. S. Norris & Co., 1842). This expose included tales of sexual
escapades, financial swindles, murderous Danites, and plans for a Mormon empire.
58 After Boggs recovered, he swore to an affidavit charging Joseph Smith
with being an accessory before the fact to the attempted murder. Missouri's
Governor Reynolds then demanded the prophet's extradition from Illinois. For
some months, Joseph Smith led a harried existence trying to avoid arrest.
Rockwell was investigated by the Jackson County Grand Jury, but the Grand Jury
declined to indict him due to lack of evidence. HC 6:36.
59 Memoirs, pp. 19-20.
60 Joseph Smith III, untitled Biographical Sketch of Emma Hale Smith, P13,
f2302, RLDS Archives, pp. 10-11.
61 Ibid., p. 11.
62 Ibid., pp. 13- 16. Cf. Memoirs, pp. 36-37.
63 Joseph Smith III, " Vhat Do I Remember of Nauvoo?," Journal of History
3 (July 1910):335.
64 Joseph Smith III, untitled Biographical Sketch of Emma Hale Smith, pp.
16-17.
65 Joseph Smith III, letters to Mrs. D. C. Chase, January 7, 1893, January
17, 1893, and May 5, 1893, RLDS Archives.
66 This and the following paragraphs based on Hill, Joseph Smith: The First
Mormon, pp. 387-394. For a study of the factors which led to William Law's
disillusionment with Joseph Smith, see Lyndon W. Cook, "William Law, Nauvoo
Dissenter," Briqham Yougn University Studies 22 (Winter 1982):47-72.
An illuminating picture of Mormon dissent within Nauvoo is found in
George F. Partridge, ed., "The Death of a Mormon Dictator: Letters of
Massachusetts Mormons, 1843-1848," The New England Quarterly: An Historical
Review of New England Life and Letters 9 (December 1936):583-617. Isaac and
Sarah Scott, two of the letter-writers, still retained faith in the Mormon gospel
they had first heard, but were shocked at the introduction of doctrines such as the
plurality of gods, plural marriage, sealing up to eternal life; and practices such as
lying to outsiders about polygamy and summary excommunication of dissidents.
They viewed the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith as divine judgment for
transgression. Such Mormons as these could not accept the leadership of Brigham
Young and later found a natural home in the RLDS Church.
67 HC 6:432-448.
68 Ibid. 6:453-458 & 479-552. In HC 6:449-452 it is alleged that (an
embittered) Emma Smith induced her husband to return and face the charges
against him. This is challenged by Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma: Ernma
Hale Smith, pp. 183-191. Cf. Avery, "Insanity and the Sweet Singer," p. 22, which
states that investors who faced losses were the ones who prevailed upon the
prophet to return.
69 HC 6:554-558.
70 Hill, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon, p. 403.
71 Joseph Smith III to A. V. Gibbons, June 1, 1893, LB #4, pp. 391-392.
Additional references by Joseph Smith to this blessing may be found in Tullidge, p.
744; Memoirs, p. 331; "Pleasant Chat," SH 14 (October 1, 1868):105; Joseph Smith
III to T. W. Davis, June 10, 1893, LB #4, p. 425; Joseph Smith III to H. C. Smith,
November 1, 1894, LB #5, p. 433; and Joseph Smith III to Fred Salisbury, June 3,
1897, RLDS Archives..
Late in life, in denying that she ever endorsed the claims of J. J. Strang,
Katharine Salisbury (Joseph Smith's sister) claimed that to have done so would
have been inconsistent, because she "was present at the council when the present
Joseph Smith was Ordained and set apart to lead the Church by his Father the
week before he was killed at Carthage." Josephine Salisbury to "Bro. George"
(Lambert?), n.d., P21, f92, RLDS Archives. This claim must be viewed with a
certain degree of skepticism, because in June 1844 the Salisbury family lived in
Plymouth, Illinois. See Solomon J. Salisbury, "Reminiscences of an Octogenarian,"
Journal of History 15 (January 1922):18-20.
72 Joseph Luff to Joseph Smith III, July 7, 1880, RLDS Archives. Luff
continued: "I write this to ask you if there is any truth in it. It is new to me, and
if true, ought to be known more generally.
"I take her statements at a large discount, as a rule; but this she avows is a
solemn truth. She is a great advocate of nearly all the abusrdities out here; but
says she knows they were and are wrong regarding the Successor."
73 HC 6:558-574.
74 For an account of the prophet's death, see Hill, Joseph Smith: The First
Mormon, pp. 405-418; and HC 6:612-621.
75 Accounts differ concerning whether Joseph Smith died of shots received
at the window or of final wounds administered after he landed on the ground.
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