Item Detail
-
26361
-
1
-
24
-
English
-
Transformation of the Mormon Hierarchy at Far West, Missouri
-
John Whitmer Historical Association Journal
-
2015
-
35
-
1
-
Independence, MO
-
John Whitmer Historical Association
-
62-83
-
"This article is an overview of the Mormon response to internal dissent during the Mormon period of settlement in northern Missouri, essentially reshaping the Mormon hierarchy.' The process of reigning in dissenters began in 1837 when the Missouri High Council, the bishopric and apostles Thom Marsh and David W. Patten demanded that the acting Missouri presidency, William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, make concessions and become subordinate to them. The year 1838 opened with hierarchal leaders, now out of favor with the institutional church, clinging to their membership at Far West. Their chief antagonist, Thomas Marsh, president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, chose to act as the agent of Joseph Smith in leading the attack on these men, who had sacrificed mightily to sustain the developing church. In the process, Oliver Cowdery, David and John Whitmer, W. W. Phelps, and apostle Lyman E. Johnson would be excommunicated in sensational trials in less than four months. In one of the great ironies of Mormon History, Thomas Marsh, who had enthusiastically spearheaded Joseph Smith's agenda of eliminating dissent at Far West, came to the conclusion that a militaristic spirit was threatening the church's legitimacy. His pacifist views made him out of step with Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon as the Mormons prepared to confront enemy forces--he was essentially becoming a dissenter. Marsh's breaking point came when he witnessed Mormon brethren participating in the destruction of the gentile hamlets of Gallatin and Millport in Daviess County on October 18. He determined he would no longer be a Mormon. Within a week he signed an affidavit at Richmond, Missouri, in which he described Mormons stealing and burning property of the Missourians. He also explained why he believed Joseph Smith had become a megalomaniac. These disclosures intensified conflict between the Mormons and non-Mormons and caused him to become a pariah within the Latter Day Saint community. One day following his affidavit, October 25, apostle David W. Patten was killed at the Battle of Crooked River, and Brigham Young became the president of the quorum of apostles." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
-
A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons)
A Call to Arms : The 1838 Defense of Northern Missouri
A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume One, 1830-1847
A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri from 1836 to 1839
David Whitmer : His Evolving Beliefs and Recollections
Documents Containing the Correspondence, Orders, &c. In Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons
Elder's Journal
Fanny Alger Smith Custer : Mormonism's First Plural Wife?
Far West Record : Minutes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1844
Fire and Sword : A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri, 1836-39
Hearken, O Ye People : The Historical Setting for Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Period II : From the Manuscript History of Brigham Young and Other Original Documents
'I Have Sinned against Heaven, and Am Unworthy of Your Confidence, but I Cannot Live without a Reconciliation' : Thomas B. Marsh Returns to the Church
Joseph Smith : Rough Stone Rolling
Kirtland Council Minute Book
Lost Apostles : Forgotten Members of Mormonism's Original Quorum of Twelve
Lyman E. Johnson : Forgotten Apostle
Scattering of the Saints : Schism within Mormonism
Sidney Rigdon : A Portrait of Religious Excess
The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri
The Heavens Resound : A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830-1838
The Journey of a People : The Era of Restoration, 1820 to 1844
The Mormon Hierarchy : Origins of Power
Wilford Woodruff's Journals