Tag: Doctrine and Covenants

I had remembered that Willard Richards was present and unhurt at the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum but I hadn’t known that he was a cousin to Brigham Young and also a counselor in the first presidency while Brigham was the president of the church.

Like so many I’ve already noted, Wilford Woodruff endured and served faithfully for his whole life once he received the gospel. The thing I find interesting today is that in some ways the most valuable thing that he did for the church was completely unrelated to his prominent callings – including being president of the…

I don’t see any reasons offered for why John E. Page became disaffected with Joseph Smith and later the main body of saints following Brigham Young. I do see the pattern whereby he gains a position of prominence and later chooses to shirk his responsibilities in that position. It is interesting to know that he…

John Taylor is the only prophet of the church so far who was born outside the United States. He was called with the others to fill vacancies in the quorum of the twelve less than three years after joining the church. He served faithfully through the trials of Missouri, the martyrdom of Joseph Smith (where…

Oliver Granger was a licensed preacher among the Methodists. Reading that reminded me of how many preachers joined the church in its formative years. Brother Granger was among those who remained faithful although he was asking the few who remained in Kirkland after the saints left. He died on Kirkland in 1841 when Nauvoo was…

In a story that I was previously unaware of, Joseph Smith declared the he had no confidence in Sidney Rigdon and encouraged the members at general conference to not sustain him but William Marks supported Sidney and the members sustained him anyway. With the members ignoring his counsel and a first presidency that he no…

I would imagine that Joseph Smith would have loved to have a church filled with men like Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young who endured faithfully in the gospel through every trial. I knew that Heber eventually became an apostle and may even have known that he was in the First Presidency but I hadn’t…

What do you make of a man who was called to the quorum of the twelve but died before he could be ordained? Such was the case with Brother Sherman. From all I can find he was faithful after he found the church but by the time word could be sent off his call to…

John Murdock reminds me of Andrew Smith Gibbons in that he was constantly serving and being called to serve in new fields of labor. In John Murdock’s car he was even serving missions while his children were living with other families after the death of his wife. If I were him I would probably be…

Reynolds Cahoon is one of those rare figures in early church history who doesn’t seem to have any significant highs t lows in his performance. He wasn’t an apostle or notable missionary not was he excommunicated. He followed Brigham Young after the church split and was faithful until his death in Utah a few years…