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  2. Local Church Officers, February 1838–August 1839

Local Church Officers

Within a few years after the church’s organization, and , Ohio, became the two approved places for church members to gather. In 1834 JS organized the presidencies and in (the church in Missouri) and the Kirtland of Zion. In Kirtland, where the members of the resided, the First Presidency served as the presidency of the stake. By the end of 1837, the First Presidency was planning to move from Kirtland to . Before they moved, they appointed a presidency for the Kirtland stake and emphasized their own role as the presidency over the entire church. Before the First Presidency arrived in Far West, the church there deposed the Zion presidency and appointed two of the resident apostles to serve as presidents pro tempore until the arrival of the First Presidency. After arriving, the First Presidency retained the new Zion presidency and reiterated the First Presidency’s role of overseeing the entire church.
In the months after the First Presidency moved to , most of the Saints also made the journey, as directed in a revelation JS dictated in January 1838. Several hundred of the migrating Saints were directed to settle at , where JS established a stake. In 1839, after the Saints were forcibly expelled from , they relocated to , Illinois, and across the in , Iowa Territory; these areas were organized into stakes by the end of the year.
Throughout the upheaval and displacement in 1838 and 1839, the church essentially maintained a pattern of two communities approved for Mormon settlement. Many of the same people served as the leaders in these gathering centers. For example, JS appointed and as members of the presidency and later appointed Smith the president of and directed Marks to preside over the church in . In May 1839, Marks was appointed president of the church in , and later that year was appointed president of the church in .
 
Kirtland Stake
The church organization at , Ohio, began disintegrating in late 1837, when several leaders dissented from the course that JS and other leaders pursued. The Kirtland further dissolved in 1838 after most loyal Latter-day Saints followed the to . Although a few leaders stayed behind to oversee stake matters and some of the other leaders were replaced, the last recorded action of the occurred in April 1838. It appears that the Kirtland presidency dissolved after left in October 1838. In May 1839, members at a general conference of the church voted that Kirtland be again considered “a stake of Zion,” and was appointed to preside. Because of widespread emigration and the lack of records, the changing leadership of the stake can be tracked only in part.
On 3 September 1837, ten men were sustained as members of the high council. The council continued to function through at least April 1838, but by that time nearly half of the council members had left for or had become members of the Kirtland presidency. As there are no extant minutes of council meetings in 1838, there is no evidence that additional counselors were called to replace those who left for Missouri.
Presidency
President Counselors
(appointed January 1838; departed October 1838) (appointed January 1838; departed 5 April 1838)
(appointed 4 May 1839; certified 6 May 1839) (appointed January 1838; departed circa March 1838)
[Hugh?] Cole (appointed by 22 July 1838)
Hiram Kellogg (appointed by 22 July 1838)
 
High Council
Counselors
(in by April 1838)
(in by October 1839)
(departed circa late April 1838)
(departed after August 1838)
(appointed president over , 4 May 1839)
(in by December 1838)
(departed circa late April 1838)
(departed for 16 November 1837)
(in by late summer 1838)
(departed circa late April 1838)
 
Bishop
(departed fall 1838)
 
President of the High Priests Quorum
(appointed 15 January 1836; departed between 12 January and 7 May 1838)
Hiram Kellogg (appointed by 10 June 1838)
 
Presidency of the Elders Quorum
President
(appointed between 22 January and 26 February 1838; released 17 June 1838)
(appointed 10 June 1838)
First Counselor
(appointed before 26 February 1838; appointed president 10 June 1838)
Hezekiah Fisk (appointed 8 July 1838; departed before summer 1839)
Counselor (unknown whether first or second)
(appointed 26 February 1838; departed 5 July 1838)
Second Counselor
Lahasa Hollister (appointed 8 July 1838)
 
Zion
In 1834, was appointed president of the church in (), with and as assistant presidents. In early February 1838, the presidency members were removed from office by a “general assembly” of the church, and resident apostles and were appointed presidents pro tempore. When Phelps and John Whitmer were assistants to David Whitmer, they were also called presidents. Similarly, the minutes of a 10 February 1838 council meeting designate both Marsh and Patten as “Presidents, pro. tempor,” but it was probably understood that Marsh, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was the preeminent president and Patten was his assistant. On 6 April, a few weeks after JS and apostle arrived in (the center of Zion in 1838), the church in Zion appointed Marsh “President pro tempore of the Church in Zion,” with Patten and Young as “his assistant presidents.” Marsh, Patten, and Young were the three most senior apostles. On 8 July 1838, JS dictated a revelation that appointed , who was then in , to preside over the Saints in Far West. Marks, however, did not arrive in Missouri prior to the armed conflict with other Missourians that erupted in fall 1838 and was therefore never ordained to the position. In late October 1838, during the height of the conflict, Marsh defected and Patten was killed, leaving only Young in the presidency. On 16 January 1839, Young met with the Zion for the last time on record, presumably because on the same day, the wrote a letter directing the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to take charge of the church since “the gathering of necessity [had] stopt.” The Missouri Saints were emigrating from the state, and the organization of Zion was being dissolved. Shortly thereafter, the high council was effectively replaced by a committee directing the evacuation effort, further indicating that the usual church leadership structure in Zion was being disbanded.
The high council consisted of twelve high counselors. , as the oldest member of the council, was designated its president in 1836 and continued in this role until being released on 6 October 1838. On 12 April 1838, the council clarified that the president was “to receive charges and give notice to the defendant, also, to call the Council together and organize them.” The president of the high council presided at council meetings except when a member of the Zion presidency or JS was present and presided. As counselors moved away from , they were released and other men were called in their stead. Clerk was also replaced because of dissension, which ultimately led to his excommunication. Substitutes also served frequently in the place of permanent counselors who were unavailable. When Murdock was released because he had moved to to help establish a new Mormon settlement there, was appointed to the council and may have been designated president because he was the oldest high counselor. After the Saints were driven from De Witt, Murdock rejoined the high council. The last recorded meeting of the Zion high council occurred on 16 January 1839.
, who had been president of the quorum of in , followed JS in migrating to . In October 1839, he was sustained as president of the quorum in at a general church conference in , Illinois, suggesting that he replaced after arriving in Far West, possibly between 6 and 8 July 1838. Smith served a fund-raising mission from September to December 1838.
By 15 March 1838, Bishop received authorization from the high council to organize the Aaronic, or lesser, priesthood quorums in . As bishop, Partridge had authority to preside over the priests quorum. Additionally, as in 1836, a member of the quorum may have been appointed as a president of the quorum. Whereas extant records identify the president of the teachers quorum, extant sources do not name the president of the deacons quorum.
 
Presidency
7 July 1834–9 February 1838 10 February–6 April 1838 6 April–circa 20 October 1838 25 October 1838–16 January 1839
President Presidents pro Tempore President pro Tempore Acting President
(possible served as an assistant to Marsh)
Assistant Presidents Assistant Presidents
 
High Council
By 7 November 1837 6 April 1838 7 April 18386 October 183813 December 183816 January 1838
President President PresidentPresidentPresidentPresident
???
Counselors Counselors CounselorsCounselorsCounselorsCounselors
ClerkClerkClerkClerkClerkClerk
 
Bishopric
Bishop
(appointed February 1831; sustained 7 November 1837)
Counselors
(appointed 3 June 1831; sustained 7 November 1837)
(appointed 1 August 1837; sustained 7 November 1837)
Keeper of the Lord’s Storehouse
(appointed 22 May 1837; disaffected October 1838)
 
Other Known Melchizedek Priesthood Leaders
Patriarch
(appointed 7 November 1837)
Presidency of High Priests Quorum
, president (appointed by 20 August 1837)
?, president (possibly appointed between 6 and 8 July 1838)
, counselor (date of appointment unknown; until 6 October 1838)
President of Elders Quorum
Harvey Green (appointed between 20 August 1837–not after 6 October 1838)
(appointed 6 October 1838)
 
Other Known Aaronic Priesthood Leaders
President of Priests Quorum
President of Teachers Quorum
(appointed 15 March 1838)
 
Licensing Officers
6 December 1837–10 February 1838 10 February 1838–8 April 1838
Chairman Chairman
(possibly)
Chairman pro Tempore
Clerk Clerk
(possibly)
Clerk pro Tempore
Recording Clerk
 
Other Officers
Clerk and Recorder
(appointed 6 April 1838)
Recorder of Patriarchal Blessings
(appointed 6 December 1837; excommunicated 12 April 1838)
(appointed spring 1838; appointment rescinded 16 January 1839)
 
Adam-ondi-Ahman Stake
As , Missouri, filled with Latter-day Saints, immigration was steered northward to , Daviess County, Missouri, where a was organized on 28 June 1838. Because stake records are not extant, little is known regarding leadership changes before the stake was dissolved in mid-November 1838, when the state militia forcibly evacuated the Latter-day Saints from the .
Presidency
President
First Counselor
Second Counselor
 
High Council
John Lemon (excommunicated 10 August 1838)
Isaac Perry
 
Bishop pro Tempore
 
De Witt Stake
On 23 June 1838, and , two members of the , purchased half of the lots in the town plat of , Carroll County, Missouri, under the direction of the high council and JS. Shortly afterward, Hinkle and Murdock relocated there with their families. Church member later reported that the intended to make De Witt “the fourth ‘Stake of Zion,’” after , , and . On 17 September, JS and wrote a letter stating that De Witt had been recently appointed a . Though designated as a stake, De Witt was apparently never formally organized with a presidency, high council, bishopric, or other stake officers. Charles H. Hales, a Latter-day Saint living in De Witt, later wrote that George M. Hinkle served as the “president of the ” at De Witt.
 
Removal and Settlement Committees
Of the several ad hoc committees established throughout the period covered in this volume, two were especially important: (1) the committee that supervised the evacuation of the Latter-day Saints from and (2) the committee that helped the Saints resettle in . These committees served as interim organizations for the church after the Saints were forced from their homes in Missouri and before they established new settlements in Illinois.
 
Removal Committee (29 January–14 April 1839)
29 January 1839 1 February 1839
 
Settlement Committee (circa January 1839–circa March 1839)
(became sick and never served)
 
Commerce
Following the Saints’ expulsion from in spring 1839, they regrouped in . After JS escaped from state custody and arrived in Illinois in April 1839, he began to reorganize the Saints at (later ), Illinois, and across the river in . On 6 May 1839, members at a church conference appointed a president and bishop—the two essential positions of organization—for the church members in Commerce. Commerce was formally organized as a stake in October 1839.
President
Bishop
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