Twenty-Six (1831)Patriarch, which was appointed unto him by his father, by blessing and also by right;’ in January of
- (See D&C, 124:91 (91–6); also DHC, 4:229–30 & note ()) Subsequent to the murders of Hyrum
and Joseph, at a conference at Nauvoo, Illinois on 6 October 1844, “President Young arose and said
that it had been moved and seconded that Asael Smith() should be ordained to the office of
patriarch. He went on to show that the right to the office of Patriarch to the whole church belonged to
William Smith (†) as a legal right by descent. Uncle Asael [however] ought to receive the office of [a]
patriarch in the church.” (DHC, 7:300–1 & nn. () (†)).
() This was the son of Asael Smith, brother of the Prophet Joseph’s father, who was the first
Presiding Patriarch to the church. Asael Smith, here proposed as a patriarch in the church, was not
made the Presiding Patriarch to the church, as that position was filled at the time by William Smith,
the brother of Hyrum Smith, the martyr, who had succeeded his father Joseph Smith, known in our
annals as Joseph Smith, Sen.
(†) William Smith was subsequently ordained to be the Presiding Patriarch to the whole
church. ...But before he was sustained in that position by the church, which in the due order of events
would have taken place at the October conference, 1845, his iniquitous life came fully to light and he
was rejected by the conference both as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, and as Presiding
Patriarch to the church. ...On the 12th of October, 1845 he was excommunicated from the church.
More recently, in 1979, the office of Patriarch of the Church was abandoned and its then-
existing Patriarch (Eldred Gee Smith) was placed on emeritus status. Thus, the only position in the
church that was personally made by its founding prophet ceased to exist thereafter. (See “LDS
Historical | Eldred Gee SMITH,” RootsWeb, 23 Nov. 2003, Ancestry.com, 19 Mar. 2012
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ldshistorical&id=I5520. (As of
9 Jan. 2012, Smith [b. 1907] became 105 years old.)
(^6) “In August, 1829, we began to preach the gospel of Christ. ...The Book of Mormon was still
in the hands of the printer, but my brother, Christian Whitmer, had copied from the manuscript the
teachings and doctrines of Christ, being the things which we were commanded to preach. We
preached, [b]aptized and confirmed members into the Church of Christ, from August, 1829, until
April 6th, 1830, being eight months in which time we had proceeded rightly; the offices in the church
being Elders, Priests and Teachers. Now, when April 6, 1830 had come, we had then established three
branches of the ‘Church of Christ,’ in which three branches were about seventy members: ...It is all a
mistake about the church being organized on April 6, 1830, as I will show. We were as fully
organized—spiritually—before April 6th as we were on that day.” (Whitmer, 32–3.)
(^7) Compare D&C, 132:15–20.
(^8) John 7:19.
(^9) Matthew 21:12; 23:25; Malachi, chapter 3, Inspired Version; James 2:2–5; 1 Peter 3:3–4. See
also D&C, 85:3–5: “It is contrary to the will and commandment of God that those who receive not
their inheritance by consecration, agreeable to his law, which he has given, that he may tithe his
people, to prepare them against the day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled
with the people of God. Neither is their genealogy to be kept, or to be had where it may be found on
any of the records or history of the church. Their names shall not be found, neither the names of the
fathers, nor the names of the children written in the book of the law of God, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
(^10) Matthew 23:23, 27–8; Acts 17:24; Hebrews 9:24; BOM, 2 Nephi 26:26–8.
(^11) “Nowhere in the Book of Mormon does it talk about ‘eternal families,’ nor of any lasting
importance associated with the family unit or of its existence beyond the grave. Joseph Smith said
nothing of these isolating mortal filial units. Yet, nothing means more to the LDS people than their
families, in spite of the ‘fatherless and the widow’ that mourn constantly because they do not have a
family.” (See ch. 8 infra, section titled, “The Fullness of the Everlasting Gospel.”)
(^12) JSH 1:34.
(^13) Mark 3:35; Matthew 12:50.
(^14) There are over 1,400 references to this phrase in the Book of Mormon alone.