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Brothers Bound by Love and Faith

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https://www.lds.org/ensign/1994/09/brothers-bound-by-love-and-faith?lang=eng

BY ELDER M. RUSSELL BALLARD

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Carthage, Illinois, Satellite Broadcast Sunday evening, June 26, 1994

Elder M. Russell Ballard speaking at the evening program in Carthage.

I’m so appreciative of being invited by President Hunter and President Hinckley to join with you this evening. It is an overwhelming thing, my brothers and sisters, to stand on this hallowed ground on this most significant day. As a great-great-grandson of Hyrum Smith, it is impossible for me to consider the traumatic events that took place here 150 years ago tomorrow and not be deeply touched in a personal, emotional way. And as a dedicated believer in the great and eternal principles for which Hyrum and his younger brother Joseph gave their lives, I am in awe of their courageous faith and inspired by the testimony of truth they sealed here with their blood.

There is a sweet and peaceful feeling here today, and that is just as it should be. These were men of peace, brothers who were bound by their love of God as well as their love for each other. Although Hyrum was six years older, he recognized Joseph’s sacred and holy calling, and he stood by his younger brother faithfully throughout his life—and death. “During the entire ministry of the Prophet,” one biographer noted, Hyrum and Joseph “were never separated from each other as much as six months at any given time.” 1

President Joseph Fielding Smith, a grandson, described the unique intimacy that existed between brothers Hyrum and Joseph as follows: “No man was ever more closely associated with the Prophet than was the Patriarch Hyrum; no man understood the Prophet better. They were together through most of the trials and difficulties that beset the Saints. Together they shared joy and sorrow, and side by side they stood in their unjust imprisonments, persecutions, and sentence of death.” 2

The two brothers sustained and supported each other through the cruelty to which they were subjected in jail at Richmond and the inhumane treatment in the dungeons of Liberty Jail. While marching with Zion’s Camp, both were stricken with cholera and were literally at death’s door. As they prayed with each other to be healed, Hyrum sprang to his feet, exclaiming, “I have had an open vision, in which I saw mother kneeling under an apple tree; and she is even now asking God, in tears, to spare our lives, that she may again behold us in the flesh. The Spirit testifies, that her prayers, united with ours, will be answered.” 3

As a result of such experiences, Joseph came to depend upon Hyrum just as Moses depended upon Aaron. Of Hyrum, Joseph said: “I could pray in my heart that all my brethren were like unto my beloved brother Hyrum, for truly he possesses the mildness of a Lamb, and the integrity of a Job; and in short the meek and quiet spirit, of Jesus Christ; and I love him with that love, that is stronger than death, for I never had occasion to rebuke him, nor he me.” 4

Brigham Young said that “Hyrum was as good a man as ever lived. … His integrity was of the highest order. … I used to think, and think now, that an angel dwelling in the presence of the Father and the Son possessed no more integrity in their hearts than did Hyrum Smith.” 5 John Taylor said that Hyrum was “a great and good man, and my soul was cemented to his. If ever there was an exemplary, honest, and virtuous man, an embodiment of all that is noble in the human form, Hyrum Smith was its representative.” 6

The Lord Himself, however, gave the greatest tribute to Hyrum when He said, “Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me, saith the Lord.” 7

I wish time would permit us to fully explore the spiritual breadth of Hyrum’s testimony as reflected in his sermons and teachings. Perhaps this one quotation will suffice, especially when considered in light of the event we commemorate today. Said Hyrum: “I had been abused and thrust into a dungeon, and confined for months on account of my faith, and the ‘testimony of Jesus Christ.’ However I thank God that I felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which my eyes had seen, which my hands had handled, and which I had borne testimony to, wherever my lot had been cast; and I can assure my beloved brethren that I was enabled to bear as strong a testimony, when nothing but death presented itself, as ever I did in my life.” 8

When death finally did present itself, Hyrum chose to accept it. Now, that may seem an odd choice of words, given the circumstances that confronted Joseph and Hyrum here at Carthage on 27 June 1844. But according to a First Presidency blessing given to him in 1835, Hyrum was promised power to escape his enemies if he so chose. Listen to the words of the blessing: “Thou shalt have power to escape the hand of thine enemies. Thy life shall be sought with untiring zeal, but thou shalt escape. If it please thee, and thou desirest, thou shalt have the power voluntarily to lay down thy life to glorify God.” 9

With perfect faith in the Lord’s promise, Hyrum was able to face mobs and persecutions, always knowing that he would eventually escape and return to his family. But at Carthage, the time had come to voluntarily lay down his life to glorify God and to “seal his testimony with his blood” 10 —together with his beloved brother Joseph. As Associate President of the Church, Hyrum served as “a prophet, and a seer, and a revelator unto [the] church, as well as … Joseph.” 11 In this capacity he held the keys of the kingdom in concert with his brother. 12 According to President Joseph Fielding Smith, “The sealing of the testimony through the shedding of blood would not have been complete in the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith alone; it required the death of Hyrum Smith who jointly held the keys of this dispensation.” 13

There is no doubt that Hyrum made a conscious decision to join his brother in martyrdom here at Carthage. He was warned at least four times that we know of not to come here. A week before the trip to Carthage, Joseph recorded that “I advised my brother Hyrum to take his family on the next steamboat and go to Cincinnati. Hyrum replied, ‘Joseph, I can’t leave you.’ Whereupon I said to the company present, ‘I wish I could get Hyrum out of the way, so that he may live to avenge my blood.’” 14

On June 24, three days before the Martyrdom, a messenger rode from Carthage to Nauvoo and reported: “Brother Hyrum, you are now clear, and if it was my duty to counsel you, I would say, do not go another foot, for they say they will kill you, if you go to Carthage.” 15 At first Joseph and Hyrum accepted that counsel and crossed to the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. Joseph believed that the Saints in Nauvoo would be safe from hostility because it was the Smith brothers that the mobs wanted. But then word came that some of the fainthearted Saints had called for Joseph’s return, some even accusing him of cowardice. Fittingly, Joseph turned to Hyrum and said, “Brother Hyrum, you are the oldest, what shall we do?” Hyrum responded, “Let us go back and give ourselves up, and see the thing out.” After a moment to assess the situation, Joseph responded, “If you go back I will go with you, but we shall be butchered.” Hyrum’s answer showed his great faith in the Lord and willingness to die for His cause: “Let us go back and put our trust in God,” Hyrum said, “and we shall not be harmed. The Lord is in it. If we live or have to die, we will be reconciled to our fate.” 16

And so Joseph and Hyrum spent the last few days of their mortal lives together as prisoners in Carthage, brothers to the very end. On June 26 Joseph told his brethren, “Could my brother, Hyrum but be liberated, it would not matter so much about me.” 17 Later that evening, as they both prepared for what they must have known was ahead, Hyrum “read … copious extracts from the Book of Mormon” and commented upon them. “Joseph bore a powerful testimony to the guards of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon … and that the Kingdom of God was again upon the earth.” 18

Late in the afternoon of 27 June 1844, a hate-driven mob burst up the stairs and into the room where Hyrum, ever the older brother, was holding the door in an attempt to protect the others. He became the first martyr that dark day, falling to the floor when he was shot, declaring, “I am a dead man!” Joseph’s thoughts went immediately to his brother. He exclaimed, “Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum!” 19 John Taylor was the next prisoner to be shot, after which Joseph leapt to the window to draw the mob’s attention. As soon as he was shot and fell to the ground below, the mob rushed outside, leaving the wounded John Taylor to survey the gruesome scene in the room. He later recorded: “I had a full view of our beloved and now murdered brother, Hyrum. There he lay as I had left him; he had not moved a limb; he lay placid and calm, a monument of greatness even in death; but his noble spirit had left its tenement, and was gone to dwell in regions more congenial to its exalted nature.” 20

I think we can all understand the horrible shock and grief members of the Church must have felt as news of the Martyrdom spread to Nauvoo. Dan Jones, who spent the night before the Martyrdom in Carthage but who was not present at the time of the murders, gave this poignant description of what he encountered in Nauvoo upon the return of the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum:

“Oh, the sorrowful scene to be seen in Nauvoo that day! There has never been nor will there ever be anything like it; everyone sad along the streets, all the shops closed and every business forgotten. Onward I quickened my pace until I reached the house of the late Joseph Smith. I pushed my way through the sorrowful crowd until I reached the room where his body and that of his brother had been placed. … There they lay in their coffins side by side, majestic men as they suffered side by side from prison to prison for years, and they labored together, shoulder to shoulder, to build the kingdom of Immanuel; eternal love bound them steadfastly to each other and to their God until death; and now, my eyes beheld the blood of the two godly martyrs mingling in one pool in the middle of the floor, their elderly mother, godly and sorrowful, … a hand on each one of her sons … , her heart nearly broken by the excruciating agony and the indescribable grief. At the head of the deceased sat the dear wife of each one and around their father stood four of Joseph’s little children and six of Hyrum’s children crying out intermittently, ‘My dear father.’ … ‘Oh, my father.’ And from the hearts of the mothers, ‘My husband killed,’ and the grey-haired mother groaning pitifully, ‘Oh, my sons, my sons.’” 21

Still, Mother Lucy Mack reported that even in the midst of so much grief and despair, there was comfort and peace. As she cried in agony, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family!” she reported hearing a voice reply, “I have taken them to myself, that they might have rest.” Then, as she looked upon the mortal remains of her two sons, she said, “I seemed almost to hear them say, ‘Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.’” 22

I testify today, my brothers and sisters, that that is true. As John Taylor so fittingly observed, “In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

“… Their testament is in force.

“… Their innocent blood … is a broad seal affixed to ‘Mormonism’ that cannot be rejected by any court on earth.” 23

Of this I bear humble testimony. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes

  1.    The Life of Joseph F. Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1969), p. 39.
  2.    The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Apr. 1911, p. 61.
  3.    Leonard J. Arrington and Susan Arrington Madsen, Mothers of the Prophets (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987), p. 20.
  4.    The Papers of Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989–92), 1:168.
  5.    Address given by Brigham Young, Salt Lake City Bowery, 8 Oct. 1866, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.
  6.    History of the Church, 7:107.
  7.    D&C 124:15.
  8.    “A History, of the Persecution, of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints in Missouri,” Times and Seasons, Dec. 1839, p. 23.
  9.    Kirtland High Council Minutes, Dec. 1832–Nov. 1837, typescript, p. 186, LDS Church Archives.
  10.    D&C 136:39.
  11.    D&C 124:94.
  12.    D&C 124:95.
  13.    Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 1:219.
  14.    History of the Church, 6:520.
  15.    Ibid., 6:557–58.
  16.    Ibid., 6:549–50.
  17.    Ibid., 6:592.
  18.    Dan Jones manuscript, “The Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” LDS Church Archives, p. 9.
  19.    History of the Church, 7:102.
  20.    Ibid., 7:107.
  21.    Dan Jones, “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum,” Brigham Young University Studies 24, no. 1 (Winter 1984): 93.
  22.    History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), pp. 324–25.
  23.    D&C 135:3, 5, 7.

 

Through Teenage Eyes

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https://www.lds.org/new-era/1994/06/through-teenage-eyes?lang=eng

by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, “Through Teenage Eyes”, New Era, June 1994, 41

They were your age. They knew Joseph Smith. Here, in their own words, is how his death affected them.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s martyrdom shocked every Latter-day Saint, including the youth of the Church.

One hundred and fifty years ago this month on June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered by a mob of angry men. The events of that tragic afternoon at Carthage, Illinois, have usually been seen through the eyes of adults. Yet there were many young men and women who knew the Prophet and the patriarch and who felt great grief at their passing. While we don’t have a great deal of information about young people who were affected by the deaths of their leaders, a few records do give us a view of the martyrdom through teenage eyes.

Fifteen-year-old Mary Ann Phelps told of being asked to help the Prophet. “When [Joseph] found he had to go to Carthage [to meet with Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois], he wanted a man by the name of Rosecrantz, who was well acquainted with the governor, to go with him.”

At the time, Mr. Rosecrantz’s wife was ill. The Prophet thought that if someone could be found to take care of her, Mr. Rosecrantz would be more likely to make the trip. He asked Mary to stay with Mrs. Rosecrantz.

“I went to stay with Mrs. Rosecrantz,” Mary recalled. “As [the Prophet and Hyrum] were going, they called at the gate with their company of about twenty men, and Joseph Smith asked me if I would bring them out a drink of water.” Mary took them a glass and a pitcher. Joseph leaned over and said to her, “Lord bless you.”1

Another young person, William Hamilton, met Joseph and Hyrum when, on their first night in Carthage, they stayed at his father’s inn. They arrived at the Hamilton House hotel five minutes before midnight on June 24. Early the next morning, the Smith brothers voluntarily surrendered to a constable. After a court hearing during the day, they met with Governor Ford. During the interview a justice of the peace appeared with a paper from a judge authorizing the jailing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith until they could be tried for treason—which was a change from the original charge of rioting.

Despite protests from their attorneys, Joseph and Hyrum were hurried off to Carthage jail, only a few blocks away. Several friends and associates were allowed to stay with the Prophet and the patriarch that evening. On the next day, June 26, the treason hearing was held. No witnesses appeared, so Joseph and Hyrum were required to stay in jail until another hearing could be held, this one scheduled for June 29. But the conspiracy to murder the Prophet and his brother was already in motion.

On June 27, 1844, William stood as lookout on the roof of the county courthouse. It was hot and humid. Sometime near five o’clock, William noticed a group of about 100 men with blackened faces going toward the jail. He hurried to report the movement, but it was already too late. The soldiers assigned to protect the prisoners were outnumbered by the mob. They stormed the jail, rushed up the stairs, and fired shot after shot after shot. Then a yell that the Mormons were coming caught everyone’s attention, and the mob fled.

William went into the jail, where he saw the body of Hyrum Smith. Outside the jail, the Prophet Joseph also lay dead in a pool of blood. John Taylor was severely wounded. Willard Richards was only grazed on his ear by a bullet.2

Fourteen-year-old Eliza Clayton also entered the jail. The doors were still open. She said it looked “as though the people had left in great haste.” When she went upstairs, she saw “some Church books on the table and the portraits of Joseph’s and Hyrum’s families on the fireplace mantel.” But when she saw the “blood in pools on the floor and spattered on the walls,” Eliza started to cry.3

Fifteen-year-old Henry Sanderson was one of the first in Nauvoo to hear the tragic news, “when a runner went past our house shouting that the Prophet was killed.” Henry recalled how “sad a blow” it was to him and his family.4

The news spread quickly. At Hyrum’s home on Water Street, not far from Joseph and Emma’s home, George D. Grant knocked at the door and delivered the sad tale to the family.

“The news flew like wild-fire through the house, and the anguish and sorrow … can be easier felt than described. But that will never be forgotten by those who were called to go through it,” recalled Mary Ann Smith, one of Hyrum’s children.5

On the morning of June 28, the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were gently placed on two different wagons, covered with branches to shade them from the hot summer sun. William Hamilton and his father Artois accompanied Samuel Smith and Willard Richards to Nauvoo with the bodies of the slain Church leaders.

They left Carthage about 8:00 A.M. and arrived in Nauvoo about 3:00 P.M., where they were met by a great assemblage. When the bodies were returned to Nauvoo, they were washed and dressed. Then family and friends were ushered in to see them.

When young Joseph Smith III entered the room, he dropped upon his knees, laid his cheek against his father’s, and kissed him. He was heard saying, “Oh, my father, my father!” Other children of the Prophet and the patriarch crowded around to see their slain fathers. It was an almost unbearable scene.6

On the following day, June 29, the bodies lay in state in the Mansion House while thousands of Saints silently filed past the coffins, grateful but sobered to see their beloved leaders one last time. Mary Ann Phelps’s father took her to the Mansion House early in the morning, before the bodies were prepared for the public viewing.

“I went down, saw them, and laid my hand on Joseph’s forehead,” she said. “The sheet that was around him was stained with blood. Still he looked very natural.”7

Slowly, life in Nauvoo got back to normal. Missionaries left to serve missions; new converts arrived. Work continued on homes, shops, and most importantly, the temple. Young people fell in love and were married. Parties and sporting contests were held.

Yet the memory of Joseph and Hyrum did not fade. For example, one young woman made a sampler, a common activity at the time. She embroidered:

“Sacred to the Memory of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Who fell as Martyrs for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, June 27th, 1844. Aged 38, and 44, years.
“Zion’s noblest sons are weeping,
See her daughters bathed in tears,
Where the prophets now are sleeping,
Nature’s sleep—sleep of years.
When the earth shall be restored,
They will come with Christ the Lord.”

She signed it: “Mary Ann Broomhead’s work, 1844, Age 13 years.”8

Following a short period of peace, dark clouds cast their long shadow on Nauvoo again. Eventually the Saints were driven out, leaving their beautiful temple and the graves of their Prophet and his brother behind. Yet these young people who lived in the days of Joseph and Hyrum remembered them throughout their lives. They passed on their personal stories and experiences to a new generation. By doing so they kept alive their own faith and the testimony of two great witnesses of the Restoration.

Notes

1. Mary Ann Phelps Rich, “The Life of Mary A. Rich: 1820–1912,” Harold B. Lee Library Archives, Brigham Young University.

2. Hamilton’s testimony is found in Charles J. Scofield, ed., History of Hancock County, in Newton Bateman, et. al, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Hancock County, Chicago: Munsell, 1921, 2:84. His age is not documented, but he was probably between 10 and 14 years old at the time of the martyrdom.

3. Eliza Clayton, “Reminiscences of Nauvoo,” in Leonard J. Arrington, ed., Voices from the Past: Diaries, Journals, and Autobiographies, Provo: BYU Press, 1980, p. 15.

4. Henry W. Sanderson, “Autobiography,” copy of typescript, LDS Church Archives.

5. Mary Ann Smith Harris, letter dated March 2, 1881, LDS Church Archives.

6. Joseph Smith [III], “What Do I Remember of Nauvoo?” Journal of History 3 (July 1910): 336 41.

7. Mary Ann Phelps Rich, “Life of Mary A. Rich.”

8. The sampler is on display at the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City. A copy is reproduced in Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffery Cottle, A Window to the Past, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1993, p. 57.

 

Smith Family Artifacts Donated to BYU Library

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By Laura Andersen Callister, Staff Writer

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/299808/SMITH-FAMILY-ARTIFACTS-DONATED-TO-BYU-LIBRARY.html?pg=all

A large collection of historical documents and artifacts – including manuscripts from Hyrum Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith Jr., the first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – were presented Monday to Brigham Young University.

The collection also includes manuscripts from Hyrum Smith’s son, John Smith.The documents contain a rich history of the origin of the LDS Church. Hyrum Smith was shot and killed with Joseph Smith Jr. while incarcerated at Carthage Jail in Illinois in 1844. John Smith later traveled to Utah with Brigham Young and the rest of the Mormon pioneers.

The core of the collection consists of diaries and letters from Hyrum Smith between 1832 and 1844 and diaries by John Smith and his correspondence with others from 1848 to 1909. The first known painting of Hyrum Smith is also included.

The collection was presented to BYU by Elder Eldred G. Smith, LDS Church patriarch emeritus, on the 222nd anniversary of the birth of his great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Smith Sr.

“We hope this will open the door to any Smith descendants who have diaries, photographs or other artifacts so we can document the rich tradition and history of the Smith family,” said David J. Whittaker, curator of the Archives of Mormon Experience at BYU.

Because of the donation, BYU established the Joseph Smith Sr. Family Collection, which is to be placed in the Harold B. Lee Library’s Department of Special Collections and Manuscripts.

“One of the major purposes in establishing the Smith Family Collection is to continue documenting this rich heritage and to thereby make this history available to others through the archives at BYU,” Whittaker said.

The collection also includes a letter from Joseph Smith Jr.’s son Joseph Smith III to his cousin John Smith explaining why he didn’t move west with Brigham Young and his opposition to polygamy. Joseph Smith III later became the first leader of the Reorganized LDS Church.

Elder Smith said he has used the documents of his ancestors as visual aids while presenting LDS Church history firesides in many places around the world.

Elder Smith’s sister, Cleone Smith Isom, also donated correspondence, legal documents and family photograph albums as part of the collection.

The manuscripts will be available for study after the professional organizing and cataloging are complete, probably in September, Whittaker said.

Smith, Hyrum

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Encyclopedia of Mormonism
by Bruce A. Van Orden

http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Smith,_Hyrum

Among early Mormon leaders, Hyrum Smith (1800-1844) stands next to his brother the Prophet Joseph Smith in the esteem of many Latter-day Saints. Although nearly six years older than his prophet brother, Hyrum became Joseph’s closest adviser and confidant. When he died a martyr with Joseph on June 27, 1844, Hyrum was Associate President of the Church, second in authority.

Hyrum was born to Joseph Smith, Sr., and Lucy Mack Smith on February 9, 1800, in Tunbridge, Vermont. During his childhood, the family moved to eight different locations near the Connecticut River while the father struggled as a farmer, storekeeper, and tenant farmer. At age eleven, Hyrum was sent to Moor’s Charity School, associated with Dartmouth College. About two years later, a severe epidemic of typhoid fever broke out and Hyrum returned home ill to find several siblings ill as well. Joseph, Jr., was stricken with the dreaded disease, which developed into osteomyelitis in his left leg. Hyrum, who was already recognized for his tender and compassionate nature, became young Joseph’s nurse, developing an enduring bond between the brothers.

After the family moved to New York, Hyrum and the other Smith brothers helped the family finances by hiring out as farm laborers, coopers, and masons, in addition to clearing their own land for farming. On November 2, 1826, Hyrum married Jerusha Barden (1805-1837).

After Joseph received the plates and started translating the Book of Mormon, Hyrum journeyed to Harmony, Pennsylvania, in 1828, and again in May 1829, to learn how the work was progressing. Joseph sought a revelation at Hyrum’s earnest request in which Hyrum learned that after he had prepared himself by studying the Bible and the teachings soon to come forth in the Book of Mormon, he was called to “assist to bring forth my work” and to preach “nothing but repentance” (D&C 11:9, 22). Early in June 1829, Hyrum was baptized in Seneca Lake, New York. Toward the end of June, he became one of the Eight Witnesses, examining and “hefting” the plates of gold (see Book of Mormon Witnesses). He served as Oliver Cowdery’s bodyguard as he delivered a few pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript each day to the printer in Palmyra.

When the Church was organized under New York state law on April 6, 1830, Hyrum was the oldest at age thirty of the six men who signed their names as charter members (see Organization of the Church, 1830). He was told, “Thy duty is unto the church forever” (D&C 23:3), a duty he faithfully fulfilled. Hyrum became one of the first preachers of the Church in surrounding communities in New York, baptizing some of the earliest converts. When a substantial branch of the Church was formed in Colesville, Hyrum was called as its presiding officer.

In 1831 Hyrum Smith moved, along with most Church members, to Kirtland, Ohio. Between 1831 and 1833 he served three proselytizing missions to Missouri and Ohio. In 1834 he helped recruit members for Zion’s Camp and served as Joseph Smith’s chief aide in that military March. Upon his return, Hyrum became foreman of the stone quarry for the rising Kirtland Temple. Having proved his ability and faithfulness, Hyrum was ordained an Assistant President of the Church in December 1834. His responsibilities were further increased in November 1837 when he became Second Counselor in the First Presidency with Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and with Oliver Cowdery as Associate President.

In Missouri in October 1838, when the Latter-day Saints clashed with their neighbors, Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, and several other Mormons were arrested on false charges of treason, murder, arson, and stealing. They were taken to Richmond, Missouri, for trial, while the rest of the Saints were driven from the state (see Missouri Conflict). After a preliminary hearing in November, Joseph and Hyrum were bound over for trial. For nearly five more months, they and three others shared a jail cell in the village of Liberty, Missouri, while state officials deliberated on their fate. On April 16, 1839, during a second change of venue, they were allowed to escape.

In the Saints’ new home along the Mississippi in Illinois, Hyrum Smith was ordained to two prominent positions in the Church: Presiding patriarch, in place of his deceased father (D&C 124:91), and Associate President of the Church, in place of Oliver Cowdery (D&C 124:95). When Joseph Smith traveled to Washington, D.C., to seek redress from federal officials for the Saints’ Missouri grievances, Hyrum served as Acting President of the Church in Nauvoo. Hyrum pronounced hundreds of patriarchal blessings upon the members of the Church, including numerous converts arriving from Britain. He was a founding leader of the Nauvoo Masonic lodge. In 1842 he clarified that “hot drinks” in the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89:9) referred to tea and coffee (T&S 3:800), a point that had been controversial. He was also the chairman of the Nauvoo Temple Building Committee and stood close to the Prophet Joseph, acting “in concert” with him in all leadership capacities (D&C 124:95).

Latter-day Saints revered their “Prophet Joseph” and “Patriarch Hyrum”; enemies of the Church despised both them and the power they represented. As events led toward Joseph’s assassination in Carthage, Hyrum refused to leave him, even though Joseph requested that Hyrum flee with his family to Cincinnati. He went with Joseph to Carthage in June 1844 and was charged with riot and treason, along with his brother. When a mob stormed the jail where they were confined awaiting trial, Hyrum, standing to hold the door shut, was the first to die from gunfire through the door. Joseph and Hyrum became dual martyrs. Like many of “the Lord’s anointed in ancient times,” they sealed their works with their own blood; “in life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated” (D&C 135:3;see also Carthage Jail; Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith).

Hyrum Smith is credited in Church history with being an astute organizer who gave ecclesiastical leadership to the emerging Church. As a person, he was considered a man without guile. One scripture concerning him reads, “I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart” (D&C 124:15). With a love for Hyrum that was stronger than death, Joseph once described him as possessing “the mildness of a lamb, and the integrity of a Job, and in short, the meekness and humility of Christ” (HC 2:338). When John Taylor looked upon Hyrum’s slain body, he reflected, “He was a great and good man, and my soul was cemented to his. If ever there was an exemplary, honest, and virtuous man, an embodiment of all that is noble in the human form, Hyrum Smith was its representative” (HC7:107).

Hyrum and his first wife, Jerusha, had four daughters and two sons. After Jerusha’s death, he married Mary Fielding in 1837, and she bore him a son and a daughter. When Joseph Smith introduced plural marriage to him, Hyrum at first opposed the idea, but when converted to the principle, he became one of its staunchest advocates.

Many of Hyrum’s descendants have played significant roles in Church history. A son, Joseph F. Smith, became the sixth President of the Church, and a grandson, Joseph Fielding Smith, became the tenth President. Four of the six Patriarchs to the Church since 1845 have been descendants of Hyrum Smith.

Bibliography

Bennett, C Gary. “Hyrum: A Life of Integrity.” BYU Studies 45:3 (2006):184-185.

Corbett, Pearson H. Hyrum Smith, Patriarch. Salt Lake City, 1963.

Mascill, Craig L. “‘Journal of the Branch of the Church of Christ in Pontiac,…1834’.” BYU Studies 39:1 (2000):215-218.

Smith, Joseph Fielding. “The Martyrs.” IE 47 (June 1944):364-65, 414-15.

BRUCE A. VAN ORDEN

1837 Letters of Mary Fielding (1801-1852)

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http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/MFielding.html

Mary Fielding, 1801-1852

Source: Kenneth W. and Audrey M. Godfrey, Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982), pp. 60-68.
Kirtland, July 8, 1837

My dear Sister [Mercy],

As I have met with paper I feel inclined to commence the proposed correspondence, as I hope you also do. I shall begin from the time my last letter was written. You would hear what a glorious meeting we had on the Thursday before Bro. Brunell left so I need give you no account of that. On the Sunday following we had a quiet comfortable waiting upon God in his House. President (Sidney) Rigdon delivered a very striking discourse from Daniel, chapter 2 verse 44. It would be useless for me to attempt giving you an idea of the manner in which he handled the subject. You must read the text and remember that he is a masterpiece and then you may perhaps form some idea. He told us with great warmth indeed, that the kingdom which was set up should never be destroyed, nor be left to other people. No, said he, nor yet change governors. I really thought from what he said that all opposers from that time rest satisfied that their exertions would be fruitless, but I do not expect in the least that Satan will give up the contest. No, he’d work in the children of this world, and also in the hearts of the children of the kingdom where ever he can find access to them, until he is bound. O may the Lord preserve us from his subtle power and keep us to that day. It was truly gratifying to see the venerable Patriarch (Joseph Smith, Sr.) with his two aged brothers in the upper stand and in the next, four of his sons with President Rigdon in their midst, all I believe faithful servants of the living God. Joseph and Hirum [Hyrum] I know best and love much. While I looked at them all my heart was drawn out in earnest prayer to our Heavenly Father in their behalf and also for the prophetess their aged mother (Lucy Mack Smith) whose eyes are frequently bathed in tears when she looks at, or speaks of them. Our Thursday meeting was again better than any former one. The hearts of the people were melted and the spirit and power of God rested down upon us in a remarkable manner. Many spoke in tongues and others prophesied and interpreted. It has been said by many who have lived in Kirtland a great while that such a time of love and refreshing has never been known. Some of the sisters while engaged in conversing in tongues, their countenances beaming with joy, clasped each others hands and kissed in the most affectionate manner. They were describing in this way the love and felicities of the celestial world. Although the house of the Lord was more than half filled during this time there were few dry faces. The brethren as well as the sisters were all melted down and we wept and praised God together.

Some of the prophecies delivered in tongues and interpreted were so great that I cannot begin to describe them but I do assure you Brother Hyrum Smith’s prediction that from that hour the Lord would begin to bless his people has been verily fulfilled, I believe as do many others that angels were present with us. A bright light shone across the house and rested upon some of the congregation. What I felt that day seemed to outweigh all the affliction and distress of mind I have suffered since I came here. We have a promise of a still better meeting next Thursday if we humble ourselves as in the dust before the Lord. This will be our fast day. May the promise be verified indeed.

On Saturday, July 8, we all received letters from our brethren (missionaries) in New York giving an account of their journey thither and their preparations for setting sail which did not take place till the 30 of June. You will see that from various causes they were delayed 10 days in New York. They were all well and in good spirits though much disappointed at not receiving the expected money but they contrived to exchange some Kirtland paper (bank notes) or to get provisions for it, so as to enable them to pay their expenses amongst them. The fare was 20 dollars each in one of the largest vessels that has ever sailed, 9 hundred tons burden. Joseph says I must send the money when the next Elders go which will probably be in the fall. But all uncertain they expect to land at Liverpool so that poor Brother James (Fielding) will soon have to receive or reject them. Our prayer to God must be unceasing that he may become as a little child that he may enter into the Kingdom. Sisters (Vilate) Kimball and (Marinda) Hyde are beginning to write to their husbands at Preston (England). They continue to be in good spirits.

While the brethren were in New York they endeavored to do all the good they could by conversing with the people and distributing the prophetic warning to all the priests they could find. About 105 of them were put into the post office.

Elders (Thomas B.) Marsh and (David W.) Patten have arrived from Missouri. They met Elder (Parley P.?) Pratt 300 miles on his way thither and brought him back with them. Elder Marsh is a most excellent man. He seems to be a man of great faith. He says he believes the difficulties between the presidency and the twelve will very shortly be settled. And then we can expect better days than ever. [The remainder of the letter is badly torn, and only parts of the sentences remain.] [ca. September 1, 1837]

My dear sister,

I have this day received a very short note from you and am glad to learn by Brother [Almon W.] Babbit that you are well and comfortably situated. He tells me he is expecting soon to return to Canada so that it is unnecessary for me to say much as he can inform you of the state of things here verbally better than I can by writing. But still I can hardly refrain from sending a few lines.

I am now in a school which I took for one month. The time expires tomorrow when I expect again to be at liberty or without employment, but I feel my mind pretty much at rest on that subject. I have called upon the Lord for direction and trust He will open my way. I hope you will not fail to remember me at the throne of grace. I have no doubt but you have many trials but I am inclined to think you have not quite so much to endure as I have. Be this as it may, the Lord knows what our situations are and he will support us and give us grace and strength for the day if we continue to put our trust in him and devote ourselves unreservedly to his service. I do thank my Heavenly Father for the comfort and peace of mind I now enjoy in the midst of all the confusion and perplexity, and raging of the devil against the work of God in this place. For although here is a great number of faithful precious souls, yea the salt of the earth is here, yet it may be truly called a place where Satan has his seat. He is frequently stirring up some of the people to strife and contention and dissatisfaction with things they do not understand. I often have of late been led to look back on the circumstances of Korah and his company when they rose up against Moses and Aaron. If you turn to and read 16th chapter of Numbers you will there find the feelings and conduct of many of the people and even the elders of Israel in these days exactly described. Whether the Lord will come out in a similar way or not I cannot tell. I sometimes think it may be so, but I pray God to have mercy upon us all and preserve us from the power of the great enemy who knows he has but a short time to work in. We have had a terrible stir with Warren Parish the particulars of which I cannot here give you at length. We are not yet able to tell where it will end. I have been made to tremble and quake before the Lord and to call upon him with all my heart almost day and night as many others have done of late. I believe the voice of prayer has sounded in the house of the Lord some days from morning till night and it has been by these means that we have hitherto prevailed and it is by this means only that I for one expect to prevail. I feel more and more convinced that it is through suffering that we are to be made perfect and I have already found it to have the effect of driving me nearer to the Lord and so has become a great blessing to me. I have sometimes of late been so filled with the love of God and felt such a sense of his favor as has made me rejoice abundantly indeed, my Heavenly Father has been very gracious unto me both temporally and spiritually.

Since I commenced this letter a kind sister has proposed my going to stay for a while with her to take charge of 2 or 3 children who have been in my school. They propose giving something besides my board and I think this will suit me better than a public school if it is but little. I expect to go there in a day or two and hope to be quite comfortable as I know the family to be on the Lord’s side. The mother is a cousin of Brother Joseph and took care of him when a child. Their name is Dort.

I felt much pleased to see Sisters Walton and Snider who arrived here on Saturday about noon, having left Brother Joseph Smith and Rigdon about 20 miles from Fareport (Ohio) to evade the mobbers. They were to come home in Dr. (Sampson) Avards carriage and expected to arrive about 10 o’clock at night but to their great disappointment they were prevented in a most grievous manner. They had got within 4 miles of home after a very fatiguing journey, much pleased with their visit to Canada and greatly anticipating the pleasure of seeing their homes and families, when they were surrounded with a mob and taken back to Painesville and secured as was supposed in a tavern where they intended to hold a mock trial. But to the disappointment of the wretches the housekeeper was a member of the church who assisted our beloved brethren in making their escape, but as Brother Joseph Smith says not by a basket let down through a window, but by the kitchen door.

No doubt the hand of the Lord was in it or it could not have been effected. The day had been extremely wet and the night was unusually dark and you may try if you can to conceive what their situation was. They hardly knew which way to steer, as it had by that time got to be about 10 o’clock. The first step they took was to find the woods as quick as possible where they thought they should be safe. But in order to reach thereto they had to lay down in a swamp or by an old log just where they happened to be so determinedly were they pursued by their mad enemies in every direction. Sometimes so closely that Brother J. [Joseph] was obliged to entreat Brother Rigdon, after his exertion in running, while lying by a log to breath more softly if he meant to escape.

When they would run or walk they took each other by the hand and covenanted to live and die together. Owing to the darkness of the night their pursuers had to carry lighted torches which was one means of the escape of our beloved suffers as they could see them in every direction while they were climbing over fences or traveling through brush or corn fields until about 12 o’clock. When after traveling as they suppose in this manner 5 or 6 miles they found the road which led homeward and saw no more of their pursuers. After traveling on foot along muddy slippery roads till near 3 in the morning they arrived safe at home almost fainting with fatigue.

He, Brother J. [Joseph], told us that he decreed in his heart when first taken that he would see home before sun rise and thank God so it was. And notwithstanding all he had to endure he appeared in the house of the Lord throughout the Sabbath in excellent spirits and spoke in a very powerful manner and blessed the congregation in the name of the Lord and I do assure you the saints felt the blessing and left the house rejoicing abundantly returning their blessing upon him. Brother Rigdon through his great weariness and a small hurt received from a fall did not attend the house but is now well. I suppose all these things will only add another gem to their crown.

I did not think of taking up so much room in relating these circumstances but I have been as brief as possible. I must now give you an account of a very affecting event which took place in Kirtland Sunday before last. You will of course remember a Mr. (Wycom?) Clarke, a miller who has been a great opposer of our church. As he and his wife with some of their children and other friends were returning from the Presbyterian meeting house in a very nice carriage, about one minute after they passed the house of the Lord their horses took fright and started off the side of the hill, overthrew the carriage and hurt Mr. C. [Clark] and one child considerably but Mrs. C. [Clark] so seriously as to prove fatal. She was buried on the Wednesday following. She has left 6 weeping children and a mourning husband indeed. On the day proceeding the accident she was heard to speak very unfavorably of our church but is now gone to prove whether it is the church of Christ or not. I greatly desire that the visitation may be sanctified to the family.

I believe it is not quite a year since Bro. J. [Joseph] told Mr. C. [Clark] that the curse of God would be upon him for his conduct towards him and the Church. You may remember that our people wished to purchase his place, but he would not sell it on any reasonable terms and therefore kept it, and has been a trouble in the place but has prospered in business so much as to say he never prospered better and told a person some time ago that he was ready for another of Joseph Smith’s curses. I feel inclined to think he will never be heard to utter such words again. May the Lord forgive and save him and all others who raise their hand against the Lord’s anointed for I see more clearly than ever that this is no trifling sin in the sight of God. No it is as great as ever it was in any age of the world. I sincerely wish that all the members of the Church had a proper sense of their duty and privilege in this respect.

I expect to hear from you soon and also from England. I hope I shall not be disappointed. Tell me if you and Brother Thompson have any idea of coming to Kirtland this fall, (if the field of labor remains open there), and unless a change should take place in the state of affairs here for the better I should not advise it however much I might like to see you. Here are corps of men out of employ even in the summer and how it will be in the winter I cannot tell but I fear for Kirtland. O, that we as a people may be faithful this is our only hope and all we have to depend on. Give my kind love to Brother Thompson and all other friends particularly Brother and Sister Law. I thank them for their kindness to you. I thank Brother Thompson for his last kind letter and should be pleased with another. I remain your very affectionate sister.

M. F. [On margins] Dadeus Sekins has married a widower with 5 children. Sister Kimble desires her love to you both.

October 7, 1837

My dear sister and brother,

Brother Joseph (Smith) came to see us a few days since for the last time previous to his going on a journey to Missouri. I believe I felt as much at parting with him as an own brother. He, Brother Rigdon, Bro. Hyrum Smith, William Smith and others are all gone on a very important business and are not expected back for some months. May the Lord have mercy upon us and guide us in their absence and preserve us here from the power of the devil and them also while absent. Indeed we all need to pray much. For as the great wheels or stone rolls forward as it is now doing with great success the grand adversary who knows he has but a very short time, will most assuredly rage with all his might.

Some important things were shown to Brother Joseph in vision previous to his going off relative to the enlargement of our borders which has indeed become indispensably necessary for the inhabitants of Zion both here and in the west are crying the cities are too strait for us give place that we may dwell. The people are crowding in from all parts and as President Rigdon said in his last discourse here they will gather and earth and hell combined cannot hinder them for gather they will. Hence the necessity of planting new stakes which they received a command to do before they left and it is expected that after they have set in order the Church in the west they will fix upon 11 new stakes before they return but this is not spoken of in public for reasons you will be aware of. If this were generally known it would probably make there way much more difficult. We had a very affecting time the last Sabbath. Our dear brethren were present and took their leave of the Church. I suppose we had not much less than 1500 persons on the congregation. Brother Rigdon received directions from the Lord in the morning as to the discourse he should deliver that day before he left us and truly it was marvelous, it was great it was glorious far beyond my power to describe. The tears flowed plentifully from Brother Josph [Joseph’s] eyes during the service. When he looked over congregation and considered what had been done and then what was still to be done he seemed to be filled with feelings indescribable. I am truly sorry that I am so unable to give you an idea of what passed. O what feelings ran through my soul while he was pouring his blessings upon all the sincere and faithful saints. How I longed to have a share in them all. Brother Rigdon’s address was upon the enlargement and future glory and purity of Zion when she arises and puts on her beautiful garments which must be before long.

As it is quite useless for me to aim an entering into any particular subject, I must just tell you how he concluded his discourse. After showing us what we have to do and what our privileges are and what our future blessedness would be he spoke out with a loud voice from the fullness of his heart, and let all the people say amen and amen. When it seemed as though all the congregation in one simultaneous voice responded with a loud amen it was the opinion of most that they had never heard the like before.