Read Ebook: When Santiago Fell; or The War Adventures of Two Chums by Stratemeyer Edward

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Whether it was the discussion about William's appointment to be patriarch "over" the church which first put it into his head to make a claim to the office of President of the church; or that he took advantage of the phrase "Patriarch over the Church," to bring forward claims to the Presidency which he had previously entertained, may not be accurately determined; but most likely it was the latter, because on the occasion of the writer's visit to William Smith, at his home, near Elkader, Clayton County, Iowa, late in the summer of 1880, he claimed to have been anointed, appointed, and ordained by the prophet Joseph to succeed to the office of President of the church after the prophet's death.

William Smith, however, based his claim to the position of president, mainly upon the fact that he was the brother of the Prophet, the only surviving brother, and therefore he should succeed to his brother's position. He claimed to find a precedent for this in scripture. In the council which convened in the early Christian church to consider how far the Gentile converts were under obligations to observe the forms and ceremonies of the Jewish law, after Peter and Paul and Barnabas and others were through speaking on the subject, James, "the Lord's brother," is represented as saying:

Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles have turned unto God; but that we write unto them; that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.

The "sentence" of James here is regarded as the "decision" of the council; and William Smith argued that if James gave the decision of the council, he must have been the president of the council; and if president of the council, then President of the church; and since James was the Lord's brother and succeeded him in the Presidency of the church, so in this dispensation, as in the former one, the surviving brother of him who stood at the head of the church should succeed to the Presidency.

But this sophistry is confronted by the stubborn fact that the Lord Jesus had said to the Apostle Peter in the most direct terms:

I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

It is controverted also by all the facts of history which represent Peter as the chief Apostle and as holding a Presidency over the entire church. In modern revelation, too, the order in which the Apostles have been named who have administered to men on the earth--has been invariably Peter, James and John--Peter always named first as the leader, the chief.

William Smith, however, did not command much of a following in this first attempt to make himself a leader. His profligate life was too notorious in Nauvoo to make it possible for him to wield much influence even as a schismatic. His efforts at leadership on this occasion resulted only in violent denunciations of those who would not receive him, and his final expulsion from the church. At the general conference held on the 6th of October, 1845, he was disfellowshipped from the quorum of the Twelve, and on the 12th of the same month, more of his wickedness having come to light, he was excommunicated from the church. He shortly afterwards became associated with James J. Strang and other apostates in an attempt to establish a church in the state of Wisconsin, but that failed as we shall see.

Here it will be proper to note the support which Lucy Smith, mother of William, gave to his claims to the Presidency. I regret being under the necessity of quoting her in such a controversy, as it shows this good and noble woman to have been very much mistaken in this matter, and one must ever be sorry to see those who are upright mistaken, especially in so grave a matter as this under consideration. One must ever feel a delicacy in referring to the words and actions of the mother of Joseph and Hyrum, of Don Carlos and Samuel H. Smith. She was a woman who had suffered much for the work of God and the testimony of Jesus; who in addition to toil, sickness, poverty and exile had lived to see her two noblest sons murdered, and two other sons and her husband laid away in premature graves, indirectly the victims of that relentless persecution which followed her family and the church from the beginning. These sufferings and her great age doubtless will account for that weakness of mind through which, and not through any wrong intent, I feel sure, she was led into this error of supporting the claims of her son William. But glad as I would be to pass by this matter for the sake of Sister Lucy Smith, I cannot do so, for the reason that the Josephites quote her as supporting the claims of "Young Joseph," and I wish to show by her support of William that she did not do it.

The evidence that Sister Lucy Smith sustained the pretentions of William Smith to the Presidency and not those made in behalf of "Young Joseph," is found in the journal of the late President John Taylor, a member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time in Nauvoo:

Friday, June 27th, 1845.

This was the anniversary of the day that Brothers Joseph and Hyrum were killed and myself shot. We met together to pray, several of the Twelve were present. When I returned in the evening, Mrs. Taylor showed me a copy of a vision that Mother Lucy Smith had, stating that her son William was head of the Church; the following is a copy:

FIRST VISION.

Thou art the mother in Israel, and tell thy children all to walk uprightly. Thy son William, he shall have power over the churches, he is father in Israel over the patriarchs and the whole of the Church; he is the last of the lineage that is raised up in these last days. He is Patriarch to regulate the affairs of the Church. He is President over all the Church, they cannot take his apostleship away from him. The Presidency of the Church belongs to William, he being the last of the heads of the Church, according to the lineage, he having inherited it from the family from before the foundation of the world. Thou art a mother in Israel. Thy spirit arose and said in eternity that it would take a body to be a mother to prophet who should be raised up to save the last dispensation. And the spirit said unto me to be faithful, and tell the Church to be faithful. And the spirit said I should live until I was satisfied with life.

Brothers and children, I want you to take notice that the burden of the Church rests .

SECOND VISION.

Joseph came to me and said: "That day is coming when I shall wave the scepter of power over my enemies. Be patient my brothers and sisters, the day is coming when you shall have eternal life and be rewarded for all your troubles."

THIRD VISION.

Father came to me and I said, Father, have you come? And he said "yes." I said tell me where you have been. And he said, "I have been all around here. I have come to you again to tell you one thing certain, which I have told you many times before. It is my prayer and the prayers of our sons that you live to take care of William and my daughters, and see that they have their rights and standing where they ought to have it." He turned to go away, and I said I will go with you. He said you must stay.

The following persons were present at the time this vision was related:

On June 30th, 1845, at the request of Sister Lucy Smith, seven of the Twelve, with Bishops Miller and Whitney and Elder Cahoon, met at her house to talk over these visions in respect to William. Several members of her family were present. It was also arranged for William Smith to be present, but he failed to appear. I copy from Elder Taylor's journal, under date of June 30th:

The conversation was full and free. President Young stated that William was aiming at power and authority and priesthood that did not belong to him; that he would sustain William in his office and calling, but would not allow him to tread upon his or any other man's neck; that if the Church wanted to have William Smith, he would mention it to them, and they should have their choice. This, however, neither the Church, nor the Twelve would consent to; for if it had been put to them--I do not suppose that twenty would have voted for him, out of the many thousands there are in the Church. Mother Smith said he did not want it; she did not profess to be a revelator only for herself and family, that she wanted peace, union and harmony. The Twelve all expressed the same feeling and manifested the greatest kindness to Mother Smith as did also the bishops.

WILLIAM SMITH."

To this letter the Twelve wrote an answer before leaving the house of Mother Smith. In said letter the brethren regretted not having had the pleasure of meeting William. They had had considerable talk with

"Mother Smith, and find her possessing the best of feelings towards the whole Church. As to your requests in your letter we would say: we are perfectly willing and wish to have all things right, but there are some ordinances in the Church that cannot be administered by any person out of this place at present, but must be done here. As to having the right to administer all ordinances in the world and no one standing at your head, we could not sanction, because the President of the Church, and each one of our quorum are amenable to the quorum of which you are a member. But as to your right to officiate in the office of Patriarch, we say you have the right to officiate in all the world wherever your lot may be cast, and no one to dictate or control you excepting the Twelve, which body of men must preside over the whole Church in all the world."

The following postscript was added:

"We have read this to Mother Smith, Catherine, Lucy, and Arthur, and they express their satisfaction with it, as well as those of the council who are present."

Elder Taylor thus concludes his account of this visit with "Mother Smith:"

"We prayed with Mother Smith before we left her; and she and the family manifested good feelings. I am sorry the old lady should be troubled, she is a good woman and has passed through much trouble for the cause of truth, and has the respect and confidence of the whole Church."

A year later, viz., in the summer of 1851, Palestine, Lee county, Illinois, was designated as a Stake of Zion, a gathering place for the saints, and the home of William Smith. At the October conference held at Palestine that year, there was a confession of belief in and the practice of polygamy, which resulted in many immediately withdrawing from the organization; and, it is said, that the declaration proved the means ultimately of its complete destruction.

This was the last effort of William Smith at organizing a church; subsequently, when an organization was effected with Joseph Smith, eldest son of the prophet, as its President, he became nominally connected with that movement, but he was never prominent or influential. In the summer of 1880, the writer, then on a mission in the state of Iowa, in company with Hyrum Jensen, called at the home of William Smith, near Elkader, and found him living in poverty and obscurity.

As I think upon this man, and of how far he fell--from the office of an Apostle and Patriarch to the Church--when I think of his vain attempt to become President of the church, and, failing in that, attempting to lead away a party, then organizing a faction from the remnants of the church left in Illinois and Wisconsin, and every effort of his ending in failure--I think of the prophetic words of President Brigham Young:

It can scarcely be said that either Lyman Wight or Bishop George Miller sought to lead the church; but they were guilty of insubordination to the constituted authorities and lead away parties with them, and illustrate the truth of President Young's prediction about the failure of such persons, hence we consider their course.

Lyman Wight was a strong, bold man; fixed in his friendship for the prophet Joseph, and true to him under many trying circumstances; but withal rather difficult to control, and after the death of Joseph soon manifested a disposition of insubordination to authority. As far back as February, 1844, he had expressed a desire to go to Texas, and after the death of the prophet seemed determined that the church should be removed there. For some time a number of persons had worked under his and Bishop George Miller's direction in the pineries of Wisconsin, getting out lumber for the Temple. In the latter part of August, 1844, President Young desired him to return to the pineries and continue his labors; but he refused and expressed a determination to carry out his own views, and be the controller of his own conduct regardless of the counsel of the presiding quorum. He therefore went to Texas instead of to Wisconsin, taking a small company of saints with him and settling in Texas, not far from the present site of Austin.

For his insubordination Lyman Wight was excommunicated from the church, the action being taken in Salt Lake City, 1848. The company of saints that followed him were soon scattered as sheep that have wandered from the fold and the care of the shepherd; but some few of them finally found their way back into the church. Lyman Wight lived in obscurity in Texas, unknown by the world, unhonored, without a following, and died outside the church of Christ, with which he had suffered so much during the persecutions it passed through in Missouri.

Bishop George Miller was closely associated with Lyman Wight in his rebellion against the authority of President Young. As already stated they had been associated in directing the labors of the brethren working in the pineries, and on returning to Nauvoo both had manifested a spirit of insubordination to authority. Bishop Miller, however, did not immediately follow Lyman Wight to Texas, but remained with the church some two years longer, and was among the first to cross the Mississippi in the great exodus from Nauvoo. During the subsequent journey through what was then the wilderness of Iowa, he manifested a disposition to draw off with his company from the main camp; and when the great body of the exiled saints wen into Winter Quarters, near Council Bluffs, Bishop Miller and his company were more than a hundred and fifty miles north at the junction of the Running Water and the Missouri River, where they remained during the winter of 1846-7.

In the spring of 1847, when the saints were making ready for their journey to the west, Bishop Miller urged the advisability of changing their destination, and going to Texas, where Lyman Wight had already settled. The bishop's views being rejected, he withdrew from the camp, followed by a few over whom he had influence, and with them he joined Lyman Wight in Texas. The union, however, was of short duration. The spirit which led them to rebel against President Young would not permit them to live in peace together. They soon quarrelled and separated, Miller making his way to Wisconsin where he joined James J. Strang. He was excommunicated from the church for his rebellion at the same time as Lyman Wight, in Salt Lake City, 1848. Of the circumstances under which he died we have not learned, we only know that he died out of the church of Christ and in obscurity. The rebellion of these two prominent men in the church, and their effort to lead away a party therefrom, brought neither honor or fame to them nor even wealth--they did not prosper. In January, 1841, the Lord had said to Lyman Wight:

It is my will that my servant Lyman Wight should continue in preaching for Zion, in the spirit of meekness, confessing me before the world, and I will bear him up as on eagle's wings, and he shall beget glory and honor to himself, and unto my name. That when he shall finish his work, that I may receive him unto myself, even as I did my servant David Patten, who is with me at this time, and also my servant Edward Partridge, and also my aged servant Joseph Smith, Sen., who sitteth with Abraham at his right hand, and blessed and holy is he; for he is mine.

Of Bishop Miller, the Lord said:

I say unto you, my servant George Miller is without guile; he may be trusted because of the integrity of his heart; and for the love which he has to my testimony, I, the Lord, love him! I therefore say unto you, I seal upon his head the office of a Bishopric, like unto my servant Edward Partridge, that he may receive the consecrations of mine house, that he may administer blessings upon the heads of the poor of my people, saith the Lord. Let no man despise my servant George, for he shall honor me.

What a splendid prospect was opened before these men! to what heights they could hope to ascend--even to the companionship of God! Here was honor, glory, exaltation held out to them, within their reach; but they pushed it all aside--exchanged it all for the "wo" of them who are cut off from the church of Christ--who are overcome of the world! And instead of living among the saints, honored as God's servants, supported by the faith, prayer, love and confidence of the church of Christ, they lived and finally died in wretched obscurity-- unwept, unhonored and unsung, their lives and their ending only important as illustrating the truth of the prophetic words of him who said:

But little is heard of James J. Strang in the church until after the death of the prophet Joseph; but that he was a man of considerable intellectual ability there can be no question. Mr. Strang claimed that about ten days before his death the prophet Joseph gave to him a letter containing a revelation appointing him to be his successor as President and Prophet of the church. The letter also appointed Mr. Strang's counselor, and commanded the Twelve Apostles to proclaim Voree, Wisconsin, as the gathering place of the saints. Mr. Strang attempted to strengthen his claim to the position of President and Prophet of the church by reference to the revelation which says:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my Church, through him whom I have appointed to receive commandments and revelations from my hand. And this ye shall know assuredly that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations, until he be taken, if he abide in me. But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be taken from him, he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead.

Mr. Strang claimed that the appointment he received through the letter here presented as coming from the prophet Joseph, fulfilled the terms of the revelation above quoted; for he had been appointed through the prophet Joseph.

When he presented this "letter" and "revelation" to some of the saints in Michigan, viz., to those living in the town of Florence, St. Joseph County, they asked him if the Twelve that were commanded in his "revelation" to proclaim Voree, Wisconsin, as the gathering place for the saints, were the Twelve Apostles at Nauvoo. He replied they were. Did they know anything of this "revelation?" They did not. Had he been ordained a prophet? He replied no. The saints were suspicious of his claims, and would not receive him.

This question as to his ordination presented a serious difficulty to Mr. Strang, a difficulty which he tried to surmount by announcing soon afterwards that immediately after the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph, an angel appeared to him and ordained him to be a prophet to the church, and the successor to Joseph as the President thereof.

He presented himself in Nauvoo and succeeded in drawing to his support a number of restless men--men who had been neglectful of their duties in the church of Christ, and of a disposition to follow any person who promised them change and excitement. Not many followed him from Nauvoo, however, for there his influence amounted to little; but in the scattered branches, especially in those in Wisconsin, he succeeded in deceiving many. Among those who accepted and sustained his claims were William Smith, the only surviving brother of the prophet Joseph; the notorious John C. Bennett, who had been excommunicated from the church for his crimes, and afterward plotted with the enemies of Joseph to bring to pass his destruction; and also John E. Page, one of the Twelve, who for several years previous to Joseph's death had been in bad repute with the church. John C. Bennett had first supported Sidney Rigdon, claiming to have received a sealed document from the prophet Joseph--when as yet he was in full fellowship with the church--with a strict charge not to open it until after the prophet's death. When he opened it, lo! it contained what purported to be a revelation from the deceased prophet appointing Sidney Rigdon to be his successor. John C. Bennett averred that this was as it should be, and so eagerly was this purported revelation accepted by the supporters of Mr. Rigdon, that they had it published and widely circulated among the branches of the church. But when Mr. Strang came forward with his claims, John C. Bennett turned from Sidney Rigdon and supported Mr. Strang--having forgot, apparently, the "revelation" contained in the sealed document which appointed Mr. Rigdon President of the church!

John E. Page, in support of the Strang movement, intercepted a company of saints in Michigan, en route from Canada to Nauvoo. He represented that it was the will of the Lord that they should settle in Voree, Wisconsin, Mr. Strang's gathering place, and not go to Nauvoo. This company, however, were prudent enough not to receive his representations without investigation. They sent messengers to Nauvoo who received such instructions from the Twelve as preserved them from the deceitfulness of this apostate Apostle. John E. Page continued to support the claims of James J. Strang, and for doing so was excommunicated from the church, and swelled the number of those who have made shipwreck of faith through opposing legitimate authority.

Mr. Strang in a short time changed his gathering place from Voree, Wisconsin, to Beaver Island, in the north end of Lake Michigan. He organized a township on Beaver Island, went to the state legislature and succeeded in having the whole group of islands in north Lake Michigan organized into a county, under the name of Manitou County, which for some years Mr. Strang represented in the Michigan state legislature.

Mr. Strang was not satisfied with being Prophet and President of the church, he must also be a king; and accordingly was crowned and given a scepter--"The attribute to awe and majesty, wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings!"

He was crowned by George J. Adams, also an apostate from the church. At one time Mr. Adams had been appointed to go on a mission to the empire of Russia, to preach the gospel; but before he started he was found to be in transgression. His appointment was, of course, cancelled; and subsequently, as he still further transgressed, he was excommunicated from the church, after which he joined Mr. Strang at Beaver Island.

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