RLDS History
Volume 2
Chapter 35
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Biographical
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IN chapter 25, volume 1, we gave brief sketches of those who constituted the first quorum of Twelve organized in this dispensation. To the time of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith there were six changes. Five were expelled from the quorum; namely: Luke E. Johnson, Lyman S. Johnson, John F. Boynton, William E. McLellin, and Thomas B. Marsh, and five were selected to fill their places; namely: John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, and George A. Smith. One had been killed; namely: David W. Patten; and Lyman Wight was chosen in his place. We give short accounts of their lives and labors, in the order of their choice.
JOHN TAYLOR.
John Taylor, son of James and Agnes Taylor, was born at Milnthorpe, Westmoreland County, England, November 1, 1808. He was brought up in the Church of England, until he was fifteen years old, when he became identified with the Methodist Church, and soon after became a local preacher.
In 1828 or 1829, he emigrated to America, and resided for a short time in each of the following places: New York, Brooklyn, and Albany. He then located at Toronto, Canada, where he married Miss Leonora Cannon, daughter of Captain Cannon, of the Isle of Man.
In 1836 Parley P. Pratt visited Toronto, and John Taylor and his wife received him cordially, investigated his claims, and were baptized by him. Soon after he was ordained an elder by Elder Pratt.
When Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Thomas B Marsh
visited Canada in 1837, Elder Taylor was by them ordained a high priest.
On July 8, 1838, he, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, and Willard Richards, were designated by revelation to fill the places of the two Johnsons, McLellin, and Boynton in the Quorum of Twelve. He soon after removed to Kirtland, thence to Missouri.
December 19,1838, he was ordained an apostle, by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.
He shared in the troubles of the saints in Missouri, and took an active part in petitioning for redress. In 1839 and 1840 he accompanied his quorum in prosecuting a mission in England. His labors extended to Scotland and the Isle of Man.
He returned to America in 1841, and at the October conference of that year was appointed one of a committee to petition Congress for a redress of wrongs. In November, 1842, he became the editor of the Times and Seasons, and continued to act in that capacity until the paper was discontinued in February, 1846.
He was voluntarily in Carthage jail when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were assassinated, June 27, 1844, and was severely wounded by four balls, from which he subsequently recovered.
He was among the members of his quorum who sustained the measures of Brigham Young in 1844, and shared the fortunes of the people who followed him in their western exodus. Having remained in Utah after the pioneers left there in 1847, he was not present at the reorganization under Brigham Young which took place at Council Bluffs in December, 1847.
In October, 1880, he was chosen by the Utah people as President of their organization, to succeed Brigham Young, who died August 29,1877. In this capacity he served the remainder of his life. He died July 25, 1887, presumably at Kaysville, Utah. He was at the time in hiding to escape arrest at the hands of United States officers, as he had some time before been indicted for polygamy or unlawful cohabitation.
JOHN E. PAGE.
John E. Page was born February 25, 1799, in Trenton, Oneida County, New York. When at the age of eighteen he united with the Methodist Church. He was married July 1, 1831, to Mrs. Betsy Thomson.
He was baptized in Ohio, August 18, 1833, by Emer Harris, brother of Martin Harris; was ordained an elder by Nelson Higgins in September of the same year. His wife died October 1, 1833, leaving one small child, who died May 1, 1835. He married Lorain Stevens December 26, 1833, by whom he had four sons; viz., Jonathan, Manasseh, Ephraim, and George.
In the fall of 1835 he removed to Kirtland, Ohio.
In 1836 went on a mission to Canada, and was gone about seven months, when he returned to Kirtland for his family, and again began missionary work in Canada.
In 1838 he left Canada for Missouri with a company of saints.
During his two years service in Canada he baptized over six hundred persons.
With his company he arrived at De Witt, Carroll County, Missouri, in October, 1838. At the time the place was attacked by the mob he shared in the expulsion from that place and the sufferings incident thereto. As a result of suffering and privations he lost his wife sometime this year. He sought refuge in Far West, Missouri, only to share in the suffering which soon followed in that place.
He had previously, on July 8, 1838, been called to the apostleship, and on December 19 he was ordained an apostle at Far West, by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.
On December 26, 1838, he was married to Mary Judd, who still lives and resides at Independence, Missouri. She is now Mrs. Eaton. By her he had eight children; viz.: Excenia, Celestia Eliza, Orson Eli, Justice Enoch, Celina Ermina, Mary Emiline, Justin Ether, and Jerome E.
Early in 1839 he started with his family for Illinois, but on the way he met some members of his quorum returning to Far West to hold a meeting on the Temple Lot on April 26.
He returned with them and participated in the meeting, then proceeded to Illinois, and located at Warsaw, Hancock County.
In April, 1840, he was appointed to accompany Elder Orson Hyde to Jerusalem, and started to do so; but for some reason he did not leave America. He and Elder Hyde had some misunderstanding. Just what the nature of it was we are not informed.
Because he failed to go confidence in him was to some extent impaired, and he was not considered in full fellowship. At the April conference of 1842 Elder Page made a detailed explanation and was restored to full fellowship. He afterwards did considerable missionary work in the Eastern States, and his labors were well received, especially in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1844, after the death of President Smith, Elder Page was one of the three members of his quorum who protested against the action of the majority of the Twelve and refused to countenance their proceedings. Of this and the subsequent events of his life his widow, now Mrs. William Eaton, writes under date of September 25,1896, as follows:-
"In 1845 the Twelve called him from Pittsburg to Nauvoo, Illinois. He went to work for them, built the Tithing House across the Mississippi River, on the Iowa side. By this time he had seen and heard their erroneous teachings and practice. Publicly to a large crowd, he standing on the temple steps, proclaimed that he would not stay with them, and proved by divine books their works were evil.
"In 1846 J. Strang's claims in pamphlet were spread among the people; he accepted them-started for Wisconsin to find Strang, who made him one of his apostles. When he had been there about two years he ascertained Strang had adopted as his own the evil teachings of the Twelve in the old church and was practicing them. He [Strang] also had a secret covenant combination in his church. He in a large congregation renounced Strang and all his vile teaching and practice. He did not profess to know Strang was a prophet, but supposed he was appointed in Joseph's stead, . . . but found him an arch deceiver, self-appointed. He then worked
two years to sustain his family, and earn money enough to get away from Voree, Strang's town.
"In 1851 he lived in De Kalb, Illinois, preaching the gospel on Sunday, laboring with his hands for life's necessities through the week. He staid [stayed] there seventeen years.
"In 1863 Granville Hedrick came to see him; . . . he went [to Bloomington], staid [stayed] four months. He had the asthma when he went to Bloomington, but Hedrick's papers state he preached for him [Hedrick] and ordained him a prophet. Elder Page came home afflicted with a terrible asthma which had grown worse, and he continued to fail until he died in his own house, eight miles north of Sycamore, De Kalb County, Illinois, October 14, 1867. . . .
"Seven days before his death he selected his place of burial under a big ash tree on a beautiful hill on the north bank of the Kishwaukee River, which ran through his farm. His name was with the Hedrickites as an apostle. He said of them in his last sickness: 'I am disappointed. The Hedrickites are not doing as I expected when I joined them.'
"I always read the Saints' Herald to him. He said [to] get Elder John Landers [of the Reorganization] to preach his funeral sermon, which was done. His knowledge of the truth of the gospel never failed. He died believing in the gathering of Israel, the restitution of all things spoken of by the prophets, and that he should come forth in the first resurrection.
"MRS. MARY PAGE EATON
"77 years old; Independence, Jackson County Missouri."
WILFORD WOODRUFF.
He was the son of Aphek Woodruff. He was born at Farmington (now Avon), Hartford County, Connecticut, March 1, 1807. He assisted his father in the milling business in his youth, and at the age of twenty took charge of a flouring mill belonging to his aunt; this mill he operated for five years.
In 1832 he went with his eldest brother, Azmon, to Richland, Oswego County, New York, where they purchased a farm and sawmill and entered into business.
On December 31, 1833, he was baptized by Elder Zera Pulsipher.
On January 2,1834, he was ordained a teacher, by Elder Pulsipher. In the spring of 1834 he went to Kirtland, and accompanied Zion's camp to Missouri.
In the fall of the same year he was ordained a priest in Clay County, Missouri, and sent on a mission to Arkansas and Tennessee in company with an elder. In 1835 while on this mission he was joined by Elder Warren Parrish, who ordained Mr. Woodruff an elder, and left him in charge of the churches. He continued in that mission laboring mostly in Tennessee, having for companions D. W. Patten, Warren Parrish, A. O. Smoot, and others; and on May 31, 1836, he was ordained a seventy by Elders Patten and Parrish. In the fall of the same year he returned to Ohio.
April 13, 1837, he was married to Miss Phœbe Whitmore Carter, daughter of Ezra Carter. Soon after he departed on a mission to the East, especially to Fox Island, where he accomplished a good work. He continued in this mission, preaching sometimes on the island and sometimes on the mainland, until October, 1838, when on the 9th he started for Missouri with a company of saints numbering fifty-three. Hearing of the unsettled condition of affairs in Missouri he stopped for the winter at Rochester, Illinois.
In the spring of 1839 he removed his family to Quincy, Illinois, and from there accompanied the Twelve to Far West, to hold the memorable meeting of April 26, 1839. At this meeting he was ordained an apostle, to which office he had been called on July 8, 1838. Returning to Illinois he removed his family to Montrose, Iowa, where he left them and accompanied his quorum on their mission to England. From this mission he returned to Nauvoo in October, 1841. In February, 1842, he took charge of the business department of the Times and Seasons.
Elder Woodruff was an active man, and was busily engaged in church interests the remainder of the Prophet's life. In 1844 he supported the action of the majority of the Twelve. He was present at the reorganization under Brigham Young, at Council Bluffs, in December, 1847, and was an active participant. Since then he has shared the fortunes of the Utah people.
On April 7, 1889, he was chosen to succeed Elder John Taylor as president of the Utah organization, in which capacity he still serves at the advanced age of ninety years. He is the only man now living who held the office of apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve at the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
WILLARD RICHARDS.
Willard Richards was the son of Joseph and Rhoda Richards. He was born at Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, June 24,1804. When at the age of ten years he moved with his parents to Richmond, in the same State. Later he was engaged in the practice of medicine near Boston, and there he became acquainted with the Book of Mormon, and subsequently went to Kirtland, Ohio, in company with his brother, Dr. Levi Richards.
On December 31, 1836, he was baptized at Kirtland, Ohio, by Brigham Young; and on March 6, 1837, be was ordained an elder, by Alva Beeman. He filled a short mission to the Eastern States.
June 13, 1837, he started in company with Elders Kimball and Hyde, of the Twelve, for England, where he did faithful labor for the church, and cared for the interests of the work in England when the authorities in America could give it but little attention on account of troubles at home. April 1, 1838, he was ordained a high priest, and appointed counselor to Joseph Fielding, then president of the mission. On September 24, 1838, he was married to Miss Jennetta Richards, daughter of the Rev. John Richards.
When the Twelve arrived in England he was ordained on April 14, 1840, to the office of Apostle, to which he had been called July 8, 1838.
In 1841 he returned to America, arriving at Nauvoo, August 16. At this time and for some time after he was the secretary of the Quorum of the Twelve. He was voluntarily in jail at Carthage at the time of the cruel assassination, June 27, 1844. but escaped uninjured. Of this thrilling event he wrote an account entitled "Two Minutes in Jail." 1
1 TWO MINUTES IN JAIL.
Possibly the following events occupied near three minutes, but I think
In 1844 he sustained the action of the majority of his quorum, and at the reorganization of 1847 under Brigham Young
only about two, and have penned them for the gratification of many friends
CARTHAGE, June 27, 1844.
A shower of musket balls were thrown up the stairway against the door of the prison in the second story, followed by many rapid footsteps; while Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Mr. Taylor, and myself, who were in the front chamber, closed the door of our room against the entry at the head of the stairs, and placed ourselves against it, there being no lock on the door and no ketch that was usable. The door is a common panel, and as soon as we heard the feet at the stairs head, a ball was sent through the door, which passed between us, and showed that our enemies were desperadoes, and we must change our position.
General Joseph Smith, Mr. Taylor, and myself sprang back to the front part of the room, and General Hyrum Smith retreated two thirds across the chamber directly in front of and facing the door. A ball was sent through the door, which hit Hyrum on the side of his nose, when he fell backwards extended at length without moving his feet. From the holes in his vest (the day was warm and no one had their coats on but myself), pantaloons, drawers, and shirt, it appears evident that a ball must have been thrown from without, through the window, which entered his back, on the right side, and passing through, lodged against his watch which was in his right vest pocket, completely pulverizing the crystal and face, tearing off the hands and mashing the whole body of the watch, at the same instant the ball from the door entered his nose. .As he struck the floor he exclaimed emphatically, "I'm a dead man." Joseph looked towards him, and responded, "O dear! Brother Hyrum!" and opening the door two or three inches with his left hand, discharged one barrel of a six shooter (pistol) at random in the entry from whence a ball grazed Hyrum's breast, and entering his throat, passed into his head, while other muskets were aimed at him and some balls hit him. Joseph continued snapping his revolver, round the casing of the door into the space as before, three barrels of which missed fire, while Mr. Taylor with a walking stick stood by his side, and knocked down the bayonets and muskets, which were constantly discharging through the doorway, while I stood by him, ready to lend any assistance, with another stick, but could not come within striking distance, without going directly before the muzzle of the guns. When the revolver failed, we had no more firearms, and expecting an immediate rush of the mob, and the doorway full of muskets-half way in the room, and no hope but instant death from within, Mr. Taylor rushed into the window, which is some fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. When his body was nearly on a balance, a ball from the door within entered his leg, and a ball from without struck his watch, a patent lever, in his vest pocket, near the left breast, and smashed it in "pie," leaving the hands standing at five o'clock, sixteen minutes, and twenty-six seconds-the force of which ball threw him back on the floor, and he rolled under the bed which stood by his side, where he lay motionless; the mob from the door continuing to fire upon him, cutting away a piece of flesh from his left hip as large as a man's hand, and were hindered only by my knocking down their muzzles with a stick; while they continued to reach their guns into the room, probably left-handed, and aimed their discharge so far around as almost to reach us in the corner of the room to where we retreated and dodged, and then I recommenced the attack with my stick again.
Joseph attempted, as the last resort, to leap the same window from
he was chosen second counselor to Brigham Young. This position he retained until his death, which occurred in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 11, 1854.
GEORGE A. SMITH.
George A. Smith was a son of John Smith (brother of Patriarch Joseph Smith), and Clarissa (Lyman) Smith. He was born June 26, 1817, in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York. After some years of investigation he was baptized September 10, 1832, by Joseph H. Wakefield. In May, 1833, he moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio. In 1834 he went with Zion's Camp to Missouri, and returned to Kirtland the same year. On March 1, 1835, he was ordained a seventy, and soon after entered into the missionary field. In 1838 with his father's family he emigrated to Daviess County, Missouri. On June 28, 1838, he was chosen and ordained a member of the High Council at Adam-ondi-ahman.
In the fall of the same year he was sent in company with his cousin, Don C. Smith, on a mission to raise means among their brethren to buy out the mob in Daviess County,
whence Mr. Taylor fell, when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward, exclaiming, "O Lord my God!" As his feet went out of the window my head went in, the balls whistling all around. He fell on his left side a dead man. At this instant the cry was raised, "He's leaped the window!" and the mob on the stairs and in the entry ran out. I withdrew from the window, thinking it of no use to leap out on a hundred bayonets, then around General Smith's body. Not satisfied with this I again reached my head out of the window and watched some seconds, to see if there were any signs of life, regardless of my own, determined to see the end of him I loved.
Being fully satisfied that he was dead, with a hundred men near the body and more coming round the corner of the jail, and expecting a return to our room, I rushed towards the prison door, at the head of the stairs, and through the entry from whence the firing had proceeded, to learn if the doors into the prison were open. When near the entry, Mr. Taylor called out, "Take me." I pressed my way till I found all doors unbarred, returning instantly caught Mr. Taylor under my arm and rushed by the stairs into the dungeon, or inner prison, stretched him on the floor and covered him with a bed in such a manner as not likely to be perceived, expecting an immediate return of the mob. I said to Mr. Taylor, "This is a hard case to lay you on the floor, but if your wounds are not fatal I want you to live to tell the story." I expected to be shot the next moment and stood before the door awaiting the onset.
WILLARD RICHARDS.
-Times and Seasons vol. 5, pp. 598, 599.
according to contract; but the mob began hostilities before they returned, and though they succeeded in raising considerable means, the contract was not closed. Soon after his return he removed his father's family to Illinois.
In the spring of 1839 he returned to Far West with the Twelve; where on April 26,1839, he was ordained an apostle by them, and at once assumed his place in the Quorum of Twelve. With the quorum he went on the mission to England, where he labored about one year, returning to Nauvoo, July 5, 1841.
On the 25th of the same month he was married to Miss Bathsheba W. Bigler. In 1844 he was in harmony with Brigham Young and his measures, and shared in the exodus. In 1847 he accompanied the pioneers to Salt Lake, but returned, and was a participant in the reorganization of December, 1847, under Brigham Young, at Council Bluffs. He emigrated westward in 1849, and the remainder of his life was associated with the Utah people. He died September 1, 1876.
LYMAN WIGHT.
He was the sixth son of Levi and Sarah (Corbon) Wight. He was born May 9, 1796, at Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York. When sixteen years old he went into the United States army, then engaged in the war of 1812, as a substitute, and was stationed at Sacket's Harbor, New York. He served but a short time before he was discharged. The next year he reënlisted, and served, but we have not ascertained the length of time.
Returning from the army he removed to Henrietta, near Rochester, New York. January 5, 1823, he was married to Miss Harriet Benton, daughter of John and Sarah (Bradley) Benton, who survived him, and died a few years ago in Nebraska. She bore to him six children; viz.: Orange L., Anna C., Rosina, Lyman L., Levi L., and Loami L.
In 1826 he removed to Warrensville, Ohio, and while there in May, 1829, he was baptized by Sidney Rigdon into what was then called the Rigdonite or Campbellite faith; and while associated with that people joined with Isaac Morley,
Titus Billings, and others in what was called the "Common Stock Family," holding their property jointly.
On November 14, 1830, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by Elder P. P. Pratt, and on the 20th ordained an elder. At the June conference of 1831 he was ordained a high priest, and soon after went to Missouri in company with Elder John Murdock. His family followed him to Missouri, arriving at Independence, September 6, 1831. Providing a home for them on Big Blue River, in Jackson County, he gave his time to the ministry. In 1833 he was among those banished from the county into Clay County by the mob. Early in 1834 he and Parley P. Pratt were sent as messengers to Kirtland. Arriving there he assisted in gathering men and means for Zion's Camp. When the camp moved westward he went with Hyrum Smith through Michigan and Northern Illinois, joining the camp soon after crossing the Mississippi River, and was chosen General of the camp. July 7, 1834, he was ordained a member of the High Council of Zion, which position he held until 1837.
He was elected Colonel of the Fifty-ninth Missouri militia, receiving his commission from Governor L. W. Boggs. On June 28, 1838, he was chosen counselor to John Smith President of the Stake at Adam-ondi-ahman. In October, 1838, he was taken prisoner, and was with the Prophet and others until their escape in 1839. He was again counselor to John Smith in the High Council of Iowa.
On April 8, 1841, he was ordained an apostle to succeed David W. Patten, which position he held to the time of the martyrdom in 1844. He was a member of the Nauvoo House building committee, and in the summer of 1843 he and Bishop George Miller took charge of an expedition to get lumber in the Wisconsin pineries for the building of the temple and Nauvoo House. After the death of President Smith, Elder Wight took a decided stand against what he termed the usurpations of Brigham Young, and was one of the three in the quorum who refused to affiliate with those who assumed the Presidency of the church. He also rejected the claims of each one who claimed to be the successor
of Joseph Smith, and in 1845 led a colony to Western Texas, where he persistently maintained that the Twelve and all other officers should have remained in the places occupied by them until the son of Joseph Smith should take his father's place. In July, 1855, he wrote Cooper and Chidester, editors of the Northern Islander, published in the interests of J. J. Strang on Beaver Island, Michigan. He states:-
"Now, Mr. Editor, from what I have written you will discover that what I have done is according to my ordination and calling, having acted in my own place and stewardship, and not in the shoes of any other man. If all had done the same, I think the church would have been in a much higher state of perfection. There was authority enough left to have moved the cause of Zion on, if all the authorities of the church had stepped forward, with the many good instructions given by Bro. Joseph, and, heart and hand together, it could have been carried on in perfect good order. Every man standing in his place according to his calling and ordination would have made a firm and sound presidency. And then if one of Joseph's posterity had stepped forth and done his own work, (and not his father's,) as Joseph's was handed down from father to son by lineage, (and he finished his work,) and handed it down by lineage to his posterity, so should his posterity have done his work which the father gave him to do on earth. Then, and not till then, shall we have a happy kingdom.'
In the same letter he claims that he with Joseph Smith laid his hands upon a youth, whom Joseph blessed to be his successor. An old letter book of Elder Wight's containing this letter is now in our possession, and reads as follows:-
"Now, Mr. Editor, if you had been present when Joseph called on me shortly after we came out of jail [Liberty jail, Missouri, Ed.] to lay hands with him on the head of a youth and heard him cry aloud, 'You are my successor when I depart,' and heard the blessings poured on his head,-I say had you heard all this, and seen the tears streaming from his eyes-you would not have been led by blind fanaticism,
or a zeal without knowledge. . . . While in jail there were many things spoken by the mouth of our martyred Prophet and Patriarch, and when I see these things taking place just as they were spoken, it cheers my heart and that of the brethren and sisters in this branch also."
Lest anyone should doubt who the youth referred to was, we here insert an extract from an address of Lyman Wight, written in December, 1851. We quote from the manuscript:-
"The church mostly went from there [Kirtland, Ohio] to Missouri, where they commenced another house from which they were driven to the State of Illinois, where we were commanded to build a house or temple to the Most High God. We were to have a sufficient time to build that house, during which time our baptisms for our dead should be acceptable in the river. If we did not build within this time we were to be rejected as a church, we and our dead together. Both the temple and baptizing went very leisurely, till the temple was somewhere in building the second story, when Bro. Joseph from the stand announced the alarming declaration that baptism for our dead was no longer acceptable in the river. As much to say the time for building the temple had passed by, and both we and our dead were rejected together. Bro. Joseph then called all the councils together, and chose what he called a grand council of fifty persons, himself and counselors among the rest, as also the Twelve. More than once did he exclaim after this organization that if he should be taken out of the way the church would remain organized.
"We remained in a gloomy fearful situation for a short time when the death of Bro. Joseph took place by the hands of the mob, . . showing to us much plainer than language could tell that the church was rejected if the head was taken from it.
"The church now stands rejected together with their dead. The church being rejected now stands alienated from her God in every sense of the word.
"This being the case, what should now be done? I will here state the first thing to have been done would have been to have called the fifties together from the four quarters of
the earth, which contained all the highest authorities of the church. As you will readily see, that had not the fifty constituted the highest authorities, it would have been a species; of weakness to have ordained all the highest authorities into that number. The fifties assembled should have called on all the authorities of the church down to the laymembers from all the face of the earth, as much as was convenient, and after having taken sweet counsel together, in prayer and supplication before God, acknowledged our sins and transgressions which had caused our head to be taken from our midst; and then have called on young Joseph, and held him up before the congregation of Israel to take his father's place in the flesh! Then should he have received intelligence of our forgiveness of our sins and transgressions, and we had then went on and finished the temple according to revelations of God, and the words of his servants-then should we so have done-then should the fifty have sallied forth unto all the world, and built up according to the pattern which Bro. Joseph had given; the Twelve to have acted in two capacities, one in opening the gospel in all the world, and organizing churches; and then what would have been still greater, to have counseled in the Grand Council of heaven, in gathering in the house of Israel and establishing Zion to be thrown down no more forever. In this way the church might have moved smoothly on, and onward, until the final redemption of Zion, and the building of the great temple therein."
Elder Wight died March 30, 1858, near San Antonio, Texas.
He maintained the views herein expressed unto the end. 1
1 As further evidence that Elder Wight previously taught the same, we quote from Gospel Herald (Strang's organ) published at Voree, Wisconsin, August 31, 1848:-
"Lyman Wight seems to cherish the idea that is ignorantly held out by some others, that Joseph, the Prophet's son, will yet come up and take his father's original place in the church, as the prophet to the church: whereas there is not one single word in all the Book of Doctrine and Covenants to warrant the idea."-Prophetic Controversy, No. 2, p. 17.