Mormon History, Aug 8, 1844

-- Aug 8, 1844
--8-- I attended a meeting of all the authorities of the Church at Nauvoo, when the Twelve Apostles were sustained as the [First] Presidency of the Church, and we organized and set in order the Church as far as was necessary for the furtherance and prosperity of the kingdom, as recorded in the Church History.

My wife Mary Ann has borne to me six children, viz:

Joseph Angell Young, October 14, 1834, Kirtland, Geaugh County, Ohio.

Mary Ann Young, December 18, 1836, Kirtland, Geaugh County, Ohio. (And died August 21, 1843)

Brigham Young, December 18, 1836, Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio.

Alice Young, September 4, 1839, Montrose, Iowa.

Luna Caroline Young, August 1, 1842, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.

John Willard Young, October 1, 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.

This ends the Manuscript History of Brigham Young as published in volumes 25 and 26 of Millennial Star.

At the special meeting of the Church held in Nauvoo on August 8, 1844, the Quorum of the Twelve was unanimously sustained as the Presidency of the Church. (This was ratified by the unanimous vote of the Church General Conference on October 6, 1844.) As president of that quorum Brigham Young became the leading official of the Church; and, consequently, the Manuscript History of Brigham Young became the history of the Church. The Manuscript History of Brigham Young from August 9, 1844 to February 28, 1846 can be found in Documentary History of the Church, Volume 7 pages 247-603. (1)

[Brigham Young Sermon] Of Brigham Young as President of the Church, I will again bear as a faithful testimony that I do know and bear record that upon the head of Brigham Young as chief, with the Apostleship in full, was by the voice of the Prophet Joseph, in my hearing laid the full responsibility of bearing off the kingdom of God to all the world. And I do further bear this testimony, faithful and true, to the Church and to all the world, that at a conference of the whole Church, at Nauvoo, subsequent to the Prophet's death and return of the absent Apostles, that I sat in the assembly near to President Rigdon, closely attentive to his appeal to the conference to recognize and sustain his claim as "Guardian for the Church." And I was, perhaps to a degree, forgetful of what I knew to be the rights and duties of the apostleship, and as he closed his address and sat down my back was partly turned to the seats occupied by Apostle Brigham Young and other Apostles, when suddenly,
and as from Heaven, I heard the voice of the Prophet Joseph, that thrilled my whole being, and quickly turning around I saw in the transfiguration of Brigham Young, the tall straight and portly form of the Prophet Joseph Smith, clothed in a sheen of light, covering him to his feet; and I heard the real and perfect voice of the Prophet, even to the whistle, as in years past, caused by the loss of a tooth said to have been broken out by the mob at Hyrum. This view, or vision, although but for seconds, was to me as vivid and real as the glare of lightening or the voice I saw and heard in the transfiguration, that for years I dared not tell what was given me of the Lord to see. But when in later years I did publicly bear this testimony, I found that others had testified to having seen and heard the same. But to what proportion of the congregation that were present, I could never know. But I do know this, my testimony, is true. Diary of George Miller--A Mormon Bishop and his Son
p 52 (commentary)

On the return of the twelve a public meeting was called. The apostles and Sidney Rigdon were on the stand; Brigham Young acting as principle speaker. Sidney urged his pretensions as a kind of guardian or temporary leader. Young made a loud and long harangue, and as I has always taken him to be a blunderbuss in speaking, --and, on this occasion, to me apparently more so--for the life of me I could not see any point in the course of his remarks other than a wish to overturn Sidney Rigdon's pretensions. As this meeting was a pretty general conference of the elders, the twelve assumed a temporary leadership, which was pretty generally conceded to them, as they were the quorum next in authority to the prophet and presidency of the whole church. N. K. Whitney and myself were put in nomination as trustees in trust for the Church, instead of Joseph Smith, deceased, and were voted in by acclamation and acknowledged as such by all present.

There was a good deal of speaking from the stand. The principle speaker, however, was Brigham Young. I must confess that all the proceedings at this time were anarchy and boisterous confusion, as it appeared to me, and I felt, indeed, as one who had lost a friend. [Benjamin F. Johnson to George S. Gibbs pp 21-22 of 25 pages (commentary)] (2)

Brigham Young: Transfigured into form and voice of Joseph Smith Jr. 8 Aug. 1844, and sustained with other apostles as church presidency (3)

Sidney Rigdon: Offer to be church's guardian rejected by conference 8 Aug. 1844, but! sustained as counselor to Quorum of Twelve (3)

A special Nauvoo conference sustains the Twelve as the acting church presidency. Some years later report witnessing a transfiguration of Brigham Young into the image of Joseph Smith. Brigham Young writes of this day: " Sidney Rigdon took his position in a wagon, about two rods in front of the stand, and harangued the saints for about one and a half hours" Council of Fifty member and Presiding Bishop George Miller writes that Brigham Young's performance was a "long and loud harangue." (4)


Footnotes:
1 - Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1801-1844, ed. Elden Jay Watson (Salt Lake City: Smith Secretarial Service, 1968).
2 - Elden J. Watson, ed. Brigham Young Addresses, 1801-1877: A Chronological Compilation of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1971)
3 - Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 6, Biographical Sketches of General Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power
4 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com


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