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Appendix 3: Orson Hyde, Statement about Quorum of the Twelve, circa Late March 1845

Source Note

Orson Hyde, Statement, [, Hancock Co., IL, ca. late Mar. 1845]; handwriting of ; docket in handwriting of ; two pages; Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878, CHL.
Single leaf measuring 12⅜ × 8 inches (31 × 20 cm). The document was folded for filing and docketed: “March 1844 | Declaration of the 12 apostles”. A graphite check mark appears next to the docket. The document has the same embossment, “S. FINE”, that is found in the Council of Fifty minute books.

Historical Introduction

On 25 March 1845 presented this two-page “certificate” to the Council of Fifty to document an event that he indicated had occurred in the council “in the latter part of the month of March last”—probably on 26 March 1844. At the March 1845 meeting, Hyde “read a certificate which he had wrote for publication concerning prest. Joseph Smith appointing the Twelve to take the responsibility of leading the church.” Hyde intended this account to be published as part of a history that he was preparing on . A former counselor to JS in the First Presidency, Rigdon was excommunicated 8 September 1844 in a public trial in which Hyde played a prominent role. Hyde continued to publicly oppose Rigdon, and by March 1845 he had begun writing a detailed account of Rigdon’s course. Presumably was aware of this when at the 22 March 1845 meeting of the Council of Fifty he proposed that Hyde “publish in pamphlet form the whole history of Sidney Rigdon for the few years past as a farewel to Rigdonism.” In the next meeting of the council, Hyde submitted this certificate to the council in advance of placing it in that history.
At ’s trial in September 1844, spoke both as a witness against the claims and actions of Rigdon and in favor of the authority and commission of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of which he was a member, to lead the church following the murders of JS and . Speaking of the Twelve, Hyde referenced “a charge [that] has been laid upon us” by JS, and then recounted that after JS had prepared them over a period of months, he announced to them that “on your shoulders will the responsibility of leading this people rest, for the Lord is going to let me rest a while.” Hyde wrote the following document to serve as a more extensive and more formal statement of JS’s instructions and the charge he gave the Twelve Apostles shortly before his death.
’s draft is undated and unsigned because when the document was discussed on 25 March 1845, rejected the idea of publishing a certificate attesting to the authority of the Twelve. He instructed Hyde to “write his farewell to Rigdonism and let the Twelve alone. He dont care whether the world know the authority and power of the Twelve or not, when the time comes they shall feel our power and we shall not try to prove it to them.”
The document was, as ’s comment suggests, an effort by to emphasize the authority of the apostles. But because the declaration was never finished or signed, it is not clear from the document alone whom Hyde expected to sign it. The final paragraph slips into a voice as if it were written by and intended to be signed by the apostles, which may explain a later clerical notation that identifies it as a “March 1844 | Declaration of the 12 Apostles.” Similarly, ’s minutes of a 30 September 1855 meeting in Young’s office during which the certificate was discussed refers to it as “purporting to be a declaration of the Twelve Apostles, in the hand writing of O. Hyde.”
However, the beginning of the document and discussions about the document both in 1845 and in 1855 suggest that it was intended to be signed by others as well. The first paragraph notes that in addition to members of the Quorum of the Twelve named as present on that occasion, attendees included “many others who were of the quorum of high Priests to which we ourselves belong.” On 25 March 1845 asked the council members which of them had been present when JS “laid the responsibility of leading the church on the Twelve.” Later in the meeting he said his purpose in presenting the document to the council was “to find out how many of those here were present at the time it was done, and who can sign it as witnesses.” Had he intended the statement to be signed only by the apostles present on that day in March 1844, he could have consulted them in any of their frequent quorum meetings. Hyde brought the document to the council seeking other “witnesses” who could attest to what JS had said in that March council about the Twelve. The conversation about the document on 30 September 1855 confirms this intention. Reviewing the statement with , , , and others, remembered that Hyde “wanted & other Hi[gh] Priests who were present; to sign it.” All were members of the council on 26 March 1844 and likely present that day and therefore could have signed.
The reason and the others discussed the document on 30 September 1855 was to determine if it should be inserted into JS’s multivolume history, which had been completed up to the point where this document about a late March 1844 meeting was relevant. Young seemed as indifferent to the certificate in 1855 as he had been in 1845: “I don’t see that it adds or diminishes.” , who likely was not at the meeting in 1844 when JS “charged” the apostles, saw the certificate statement mainly as further proof of JS’s premonitions of death: “I did not see the necessity of it in the History, there is plenty said, where he foretells his death.” Conversation then drifted to their shock at JS’s death despite his having forewarned them. “I had no idea of him going to die,” said Young, to which Smith responded, “I look back now with astonishment to think I could not see it then.” Only spoke to the content of the document itself, indicating that he did not remember “all those statements in connection,” presumably meaning that he did not recall JS making all of them in the late March 1844 meeting of the Council of Fifty. Had the certificate document been signed and dated, it might have been included in the history, but in its unfinished state it was refiled and forgotten.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Editorial Note preceding Council of Fifty, “Record,” 26 Mar. 1844.

  2. [2]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 Mar. 1845.

  3. [3]

    Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 8 Sept. 1844; and “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1844, 5:647–655; “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1844, 5:660–667; and “Conclusion of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1844, 5:685–687.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 22 Mar. 1845. According to the minutes, Hyde responded to this proposal by suggesting that the history of Rigdon ought to also be published in the Nauvoo newspapers, “or at least so much of it as he has already written.”

  5. [5]

    “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1844, 5:650–651.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [6]

    Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 Mar. 1845.

  7. [7]

    Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 30 Sept. 1855.

  8. [8]

    Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 30 Sept. 1855.

  9. [9]

    Bernhisel, Rich, and Spencer are mentioned in the 26 March 1844 minutes. No roll exists to confirm the attendance of Cahoon and Snow, but Snow was present for meetings held both before and after 26 March and likely attended on that day too. (Council of Fifty, “Record,” 21 and 26 Mar. 1844; 4 Apr. 1844.)

  10. [10]

    Robert L. Campbell, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to J. L. Smith, 30 Sept. 1855, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 261; George A. Smith, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to “Editor of the Mormon,” 30 Sept. 1855, Historian’s Office, Letterpress Copybooks, vol. 1, p. 276.

  11. [11]

    Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 30 Sept. 1855. Although Woodruff may have disagreed with some of the details in Hyde’s document (or at least that they were said on that specific occasion), he many times spoke or wrote about JS’s “charge” to the apostles and recounted statements made by JS that are similar to those reported by Hyde. (See, for example, Wilford Woodruff to “the Church of Jesus Christ,” 11 Oct. 1844, Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:698–700; Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 16 Sept. 1877, 19:226; and Wilford Woodruff, Testimony, 21 Sept. 1883, CHL.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–1886.

Page [2]

will know what it is to be bound with chains and with fetters for this cause sake. God knows I pity you and feel for you; but if you are called to lay down your lives, die like men, and pass immediately beyond your <​the​> reach of your enemies. After they have killed you, they can harm you no more. Should you have to walk right into danger and the jaws of death, fear no evil; Jesus Christ has died before you.
After the appointment was made, and The Twelve received confirmed by the holy anointing under the hands of Joseph and , Joseph continued his speech unto them, saying, while he walked the floor and threw back the collar of his coat upon his shoulders, “I roll the burthen and responsibility of leading this church off from my shoulders on to yours. Now, round up your shoulders and stand under it like men; for the Lords is going to let me rest an a while.” Never shall we forget his feelings or his words on this occasion. After he had thus spoken, he continued to walk the floor, saying: “Since I have rolled the burthen off from my shoulders, I feel as light as a cork:— I feel that I am free. I thank my God for this deliverance.”
We gave our testimony on the 8th. of September last before a special Conference in this , at which was tried and excommunicated from the church; and altho’ we declared it then in the presence of many thousand people, we now feel it a pleasure in reducing it to writing, and freely give our names to the world in confirmation of the above statements; and further, that Joseph Smith did declare that he had conferred upon the Twelve every key and every power that he ever held himself before God. This our testimony we expect to meet in a coming day when all parties will know that we have told the truth and have not lied, so help us God. [p. [2]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Appendix 3: Orson Hyde, Statement about Quorum of the Twelve, circa Late March 1845
ID #
10316
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
Handwriting on This Page
  • Orson Hyde

Footnotes

  1. [2]

    Young objected to this assertion about an anointing when the document was read and discussed in the 25 March 1845 session of the council. (See Council of Fifty, “Record,” 25 Mar. 1845.)

  2. [3]

    For accounts of the trial, see Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 8 Sept. 1844; “Trial of Elder Rigdon,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1844, 5:647–655; “Continuation of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1844, 5:660–667; and “Conclusion of Elder Rigdon’s Trial,” Times and Seasons, 15 Oct. 1844, 5:685–687.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

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