Church History Matters

The immediate aftermath of the tragic murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in 1844 was marked by shock and grief within the Church, and in the weeks that followed an ecclesiastical crisis arose concerning who should be Joseph Smith’s successor as president of the Church. As it turns out, Joseph Smith had never publicly and unambiguously designated a clear successor to the presidency of the Church. The confusion arose not because Joseph had never addressed the issue directly but because he had made several statements at various times which seemed to open up multiple succession options—eight, to be exact.  

In this episode of Church History Matters, we’ll walk through the eight possible succession paths that were either explicitly laid out by Joseph Smith, or were viewed as entirely plausible based on certain interpretations of statements Joseph made or actions he took. In addition to being historical interesting, these eight plausible paths help us understand why succession in the presidency wasn’t immediately cut and dry in the minds of many Church members in 1844 and the basis on which several other branches of the Restoration exist today outside of the one initially led by Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

We are excited to announce our next series—beginning next week on Tuesday—where we will be dealing with the history surrounding succession in Church leadership, beginning with the crisis of 1844 which grew out of the immediate aftermath of the tragic murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. In next week’s first episode, Casey and I will walk through no less than 8 possible succession paths that were either explicitly laid out by Joseph Smith or were viewed as entirely plausible based on certain interpretations of statements Joseph made or actions he took. It was a fun episode to record together and it really helps us to understand why succession in the presidency wasn’t immediately cut and dry in the minds of many Church members in 1844 AND to understand the basis on which several other branches of the Restoration exist, even today, outside of the one initially led by Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles out to Utah. So we hope you will join us next week as we begin what promises to be a fascinating in-depth series on Succession in the Presidency. 

Welcome to our final episode in this series where we’ve been exploring all things related to the history of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Today on Church History Matters Casey sits down with Sam Weston, a docent at the Church History Museum who has been seriously researching the martyrdom at Carthage Jail in meticulous detail for the last 15 years. They discuss the event of the attack at Carthage from something of a forensic crime scene investigation perspective—both challenging and confirming prior scholarship on the topic. 

In 1952 book entitled, The Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith, was published by N. B. Lundwall. Within its pages, among other things, Lundwall presented various stories describing how many of those who played significant roles in the persecution of Joseph Smith met with unfortunate ends in unnatural and sometimes gruesome ways, underscoring the idea of divine justice and retribution. Unfortunately, the historical credibility of most of these stories is seriously lacking since they are based on unverifiable hearsay rather than well-documented and corroborated records. These morbid tales are thus the stuff of legend and folklore rather than a robust documentary record. But they do stimulate the question: What do we know about what actually happened to those involved in the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith? Were they ever brought to justice? Did they live long lives? Did any of them meet a tragic mortal end?  

In this episode of Church History Matters, we investigate the answers to these questions based primarily in the solid historical research of Marvin S. Hill and Dallin H. Oaks.

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/   

Consider the following Carthage controversy questions: Was Governor Thomas Ford complicit in the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith? When Joseph fired back at the Carthage attackers, did he kill anyone? Also, does the fact that Joseph fired back at the mob somehow take away his status as a martyr for his religion? Did Joseph and his friends in Carthage Jail drink wine together? Also, were they not wearing their temple garments in jail? Were Joseph Smith’s last words a Masonic Cry for help? Are the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum Smith an accurate representation of them? Is John Taylor’s account of how his pocket watch was damaged during the attack accurate? Who actually wrote Doctrine & Covenants 135?

In this episode of Church History Matters we are tackling these and other “Carthage Controversies.”

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/   

It was near midnight on June 24 that Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and over a dozen members of the Nauvoo City council arrived in Carthage, Illinois to answer, for a third time, the charge of “riot” for their destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press. Although the case for this charge had already been heard and dismissed by two separate judges, Governor Thomas Ford insisted that they needed to be tried in Carthage specifically in order to prove to the general public that they were willing to be governed by law. And in response to Nauvoo leaders’ resistant fears of being tried in the extremely unsafe environment of Carthage due to the number of their enemies prowling about there, Ford “pledged his faith as Governor and the faith of the State [of Illinois] that [they] should be protected, and that he would guarrantee [their] perfect safety.” And so they had now arrived in Carthage, reluctantly throwing themselves “under the immediate protection of Governor Ford, … to trust … his word and faith for [their] preservation.” Within three days Joseph and Hyrum were dead. 

In this episode of Church History Matters, we carefully walk through a play by play from the historical record of what happened from the time Joseph, Hyrum, and the city council arrived at Carthage on June 24 under the supposed protection of Governor Ford to the time of the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum on June 27. 

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/   

In the wake of Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo City Council’s fateful decision to destroy the Nauvoo Expositor press several things unfolded in rapid succession. Charges were pressed against them for riot, brazen calls to violence against them were published in Tom Sharp’s Warsaw Signal, and Missourians began eagerly gathering to Illinois with a vow to exterminate the “Mormons;” meanwhile, Joseph wrote urgent letters to Illinois Governor Thomas Ford and US President John Tyler outlining what was unfolding and asking for their aid. Joseph had very good reason to fear for his safety and that of the saints. In an effort to diffuse the danger of the situation for all involved he and Hyrum and a few others secretly slipped away across the river intending to go either to Washington DC, the West among the native americans, or both. However,he and they ultimately decided to return to Nauvoo and to voluntarily go to Carthage—the hotbed of their enemies—to be tried for the charge of riot. 

In this episode of Church History Matters, we dive headlong into the drama that unfolded between June 10 and June 24, 1844. In particularly, we try to answer the question: Why did Joseph and Hyrum choose to go to Carthage, when it seemed that certain danger awaited them there?

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/   

The first and only publication of the Nauvoo Expositor was issued on June 7, 1844. It was an expose sheet published by seven recently excommunicated dissenters of the church in which they lay bare their grievances against Joseph Smith as a prophet and politician in the most blistering, malignant, exaggerated, and provocative ways they could invent. This move was a calculated trap set to force the hand of Joseph and those close to him to take action against the Expositor’s printing press, which would open them up to legal charges that could get him to the county seat of Carthage where he could be killed.

On this episode of Church History Matters, we take a close look at the details of that single published edition of the Nauvoo Expositor to understand just what was so inflammatory and untenable in it that Joseph and the city council determined to take action against it despite the clear risks of doing so. We also look at questions about the legality (and wisdom) of their actions.   

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/   

Six months before his death the prophet Joseph said to a group of trusted friends, “I am exposed to far greater danger from traitors among ourselves than from enemies without, … and if I can escape from the ungrateful treachery of assassins I can live as Caesar might have lived were it not for a right hand Brutus…. All the enemies upon the face of the earth may roar and exert all their power to bring about my death; but they can accomplish nothing, unless some who are among us, enjoying our society, [who] have been with us in our Councils, participated in our confidence, taken us by the hand, called us brother, [and] saluted us with a kiss, join with our enemies, turn our virtues into faults, and by falsehood and deceit, stir up their wrath and ​in​dignation against us, and bring their united vengeance upon our heads.” And then he said, “Judas was one of the Twelve Apostles … and thro​ugh his treachery, the crucifixion [of Christ] was brought about, and we have a Judas in our midst.” (source)

In this episode of Church History Matters, we discuss what we know about those trusted Church members who treacherously turned on Joseph Smith and conspired to bring about his death—one of whom, like Judas of old, was an apostle and counselor to the prophet.

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/   

The martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was among the most tragic and defining moments in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it continues to reverberate deeply in the hearts and minds of Latter-day Saints around the world. Hyrum was 44 years old and Joseph was 38 and a half when they were murdered in cold-blood in Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844. Many have read the brief account of the events of that day outlined in section 135 of the Doctrine and Covenants and wondered what more there was to know about this poignant event in our history. Like, how did they come to be incarcerated in Carthage Jail in the first place? What were the charges against them? Who had the motivations to kill Joseph Smith and why? Was Joseph betrayed by insiders or was this entirely an outside job? Who were those in the mob who actually pulled the trigger, and were they ever brought to justice? 

On this episode of Church History Matters, we begin a new series where we seek to begin pinning down answers to these and other related questions about this highly significant event. Specifically we will take a close look today at what we know about some of the external factors—especially political ones—that led to the martyrdom. 

For show notes and transcript for this and other episodes go to https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/church-history-matters-podcast/