[Hemidakota]

Last part-7

The excluded members of the Council of Fifty were Alpheus Cutler, Isaac Morley, Orson Spencer, Joseph Young, Cornelius P. Lott, John Smith, John M. Bernhisel, William W. Phelps, and John D. Lee (see the Heber C. kimball Journal, 11 December 1845). The published account in HC, 7:543-44 is quite abbreviated and does not indicate that these subordinate members of the Council of Fifty, though present, were uninvited to the council meeting of Church authorities about the letter.

George Miller to James J. Strang, 1 July 1855, published in Northern Islander, 20 September 1855.

Original draft of letter from Orson Hyde, George A. Smith, and Ezra T. Benson at Carbunca, Council Bluffs, 27 March 1849, to Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards in Church Archives; Minutes of Pottawattamie High Council show the preparations for this trial of Lucien Woodworth and Peter Haws, but blank pages were left in the record books for the minutes to be copied for the actual trials.

Franklin D. Richards Journal, 1 April, 10 April 1880; Junius F. Wells Diary, 9 April, 10 April 1880.

Franklin D. Richards Journal, 4 October, 11 October 1882.

The best analysis of the millennial context of the LDS Kingdom of God is Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom.

Joseph F. Smith draft Journal entry, 12 October 1880. In his journal entry for 8 April 1881 concerning new members of the Council of Fifty, Franklin D. Richards referred to "charge obligation & password."

Franklin D. Richards Journal, 24 June 1882.

Lee, Confessions, p. 173; Benjamin F. Johnson, I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs, Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, ed. Dean R. Zimmerman (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1976), pp. 31-32. Cf. William Clayton Journal statements of 1844 membership in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fn. 25.

Counselors in the Presiding Bishopric were not admitted to the Council of Fifty until the 1880s, by which time Jesse C. Little had resigned his office as counselor. The absence from 1844 to 1884 of a majority of the First Council of the Seventy and of Patriarch John Smith (b. 1832) from membership in the Council of Fifty can be understood in terms of their diminished status within the LDS hierarchy. References to their status can be found in the author's "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932" (M.A. thesis, University of Utah, 1973), p. 277, and "The Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932: An American Elite," passim.

This revelation was given shortly after the 27 June meeting of the Council of Fifty adjourned (see Annie Taylor Hyde Notebook, p. 80; Franklin D. Richards Journal, 27 June 1882). This revelation was officially adopted at the next meeting of the Council of Fifty (see Franklin D. Richards Journal, 10 October 1882).

Examples were Apostles Franklin D. Richards, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Moses Thatcher, and John W. Taylor, Presiding Bishop's Councelor John Q. Cannon, and Presidents of the Seventy William W. Taylor and Seymour B. Young.

Brigham Young in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool, England: F. D. Richards, et al, 1854-1886), 2:317.

"History of Brigham Young," LDS Millennial Star 26 (21 May 1864): 328.

Hansen, Quest for Empire, pp. 61-63.

Mark J. Baird and Rhea A. Baird, Reminiscences of John W. Woolley and Lorin C. Woolley, 4 vols. (Draper, Utah: n.p., n.d.), 3:9

Biographical sketches at the end of this article, and William Clayton Journal entries for members of the Council of Fifty, cited in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fns. 20, 21, and 25.

HC, 6:279, 576; Illinois Executive Record, 1843-1847, MS, 4:208, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois.

HC, 6:405, 412, 488-90, 500, 554, 576; introduction of Philippians D. Jordan to Bonney's The Banditti of the Prairies (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1963), pp. vii-xxi.

HC, 5:210, 246, 6:386; Uriah Brown to Brigham Young, 3 November 1845, Young Papers, Church Archives; miscellaneous minutes of 25 August and 13 September 1851.

Hansen, Quest for Empire, pp. 128, 131, 135-37; Clark, "The Kingdom of God," p. 145.

Exceptions to this occurred when the man received Church discipline during one of the periods in which there were no Council of Fifty meetings and then died before the Council met to drop him.

The situations of these men in relation to the Church and the Kingdom are discussed in Hansen, Quest for Empire, pp. 94-96; Rupert J. Fletcher and Daisy Whiting Fletcher, Alpheus Cutler and the Church of Jesus Christ (Independence, Mo.: The Church of Jesus Christ, 1974); Philippians C. Wightman, "The Life and Contributions of Lyman Wight" (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971); fns. 51-52 of this article.

See discussion below, beginning fn. 90.

See examples in HC, 7:439, and Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle, 1:81, 82, 87, 89.

Fletcher, Alpheus Cutler, p. 53; William W. Blair Diary, 13 March 1863, Research Library and Archives of The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Independence, Missouri.

HC, 6:333; Joseph Smith Journal, 14 April 1844.

Franklin D. Richards Journal, 10 October 1882, 10 April 1883, 8 October 1884.

Ibid., 23 June 1882.

This committee of the 1880s is undoubtedly the actual source for the mythical "Council of Seven Friends" which Lorin C. Woolley invented and others have used as the self-perpetuating authority structure for continuing polygamy in defiance of LDS Church authority. For a detailed summary of polygamist/schismatic claims concerning the "Council of Seven Friends," see Lynn L. Bishop and Steven L. Bishop, The Keys of the Priesthood Illustrated (Draper, Utah; Review and Preview Publishers, 1971), pp. 61-75, 116-58, 279-88.

HC, 6:263; Manuscript History of the Church, 13 March 1844; William Clayton Journal, 13 March 1844, referred to in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fns. 21 and 25. The published "History of Brigham Young," LDS Millennial Star 26 (21 May 1864): 328, gives the names of the historian, clerk, and standing chairman appointed for the Council of Fifty, but it changes the date of appointment to 11 March 1844. Manuscript records indicate that this switching of date from 13 March was in error as regards the officers named.

Manuscript History of the Church, 23 January 1867; Brigham Young Jr. Journal, 23 January 1867; miscellaneous minutes, 23 January 1867.

William Clayton Journal, 10 March-13 March 1844, referred to in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fns. 19 and 21; HC, 6:263; Manuscript History of the Church, 13 March 1844, "History of Brigham Young," LDS Millennial Star 26 (21 May 1864): 328 gives the appointment but inaccurately changes the date to 11 March 1844

Junius F. Wells Journal, 10 April 1880; Joseph F. Smith Journal, 10 April 1880.

Ibid.

Thomas Bullock Journal, 6 December-23 December 1848, Church Archives. Cf. John D. Lee Journal for same period in Books and Cleland, A Mormon Chronicle, 1:80-83.

Miscellaneous minutes, 5 April and 24 June 1882; and Franklin D. Richards Journal, 24 June 1882, Church Archives.

William Clayton Journal, cited in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fn. 24; Wilford Woodruff Journal, 26 November 1857; Franklin D. Richards Journal, 16 March 1880, 20 March 1884; L. John Nuttall 1879-1881 Letter Book, pp. 168, 178, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

William Clayton Journal, 10-13 March 1844, referred to in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fns. 19 and 21; "History of Brigham Young," LDS Millennial Star 26 (21 May 1864): 328; Manuscript History of the Church, 9 February 1849; John D. Lee Journal, 5 April 1849; as published in Cleland and Brooks, A Mormon Chronicle 1:104; Joseph F. Smith Journal, 10 April 1880; Junius F. Wells Journal, 10 April 1880.

Throughout the available documents on the Council of Fifty, meetings were adjourned either to a specific meeting date or sine die; and in either case were subject to the call of the "President" or "Chairman."

William Clayton Journal, 11 April 1844, 1 January 1845, quoted in Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fns. 21 and 22.

William Marks to "Beloved Brethren," 15 June 1853, published in Zion's Harbinger and Baneemy's Organ 3(July 1853): 53. See also the earlier reports with nearly identical wording for which William Marks was probably the source: Upper Mississippian and Rock Island Republican, 2 November 1844; George T.M. Davis, An Authentic Account of the Massacre of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, and Hyrum Smith, His Brother, Together with a Brief History of the Rise and Progress of Mormonism, And All the Circumstances Which Led to Their Death (St. Louis, Mo.: Chambers & Knapp, 1844), p. 7; Zion's Harbinger 2 (January 1852): 3. Also, see Reuben Miller, James J. Strang, Weighed in the Balance of Truth, and Found Wanting (Burlington, Wisc.: n.p., 1846), p. 12.

Gordon C. Thomasson, "Foolsmate," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 6 (Autumn-Winter 1971): 148-51. The temple ceremony to which Thomasson refers was received by Joseph Smith on 28 September 1843, six months prior to the theocratic ceremony mentioned in William Clayton's journal (see Wilford Woodruff's Historian's Private Journal, entry for 26 February 1867, Church Archives).

Annie Taylor Hyde Notebook, p. 64.

Abraham H. Cannon Journal, 2 December 1895. Abraham H. Cannon was George Q. Cannon's son.

Manuscript in Franklin D. Richards Miscellaneous Papers, Church Archives, Franklin D. Richards Journal, 4 February 1885, reads: "At 8. p.m. attended Council at Endowment House where we had prayers consecrated oil, and Prest. Jno Taylor was anointed[K[ing].[P[riest].[R[uler]. of[C[hurch].[Z[ion]. &[K[ingdom]."

"That Declaration," Salt Lake Tribune, 5 May 1885. Earlier references to this ceremony by the Salt Lake Tribune appeared in articles "Is Mormonism Treason?" (8 March 1885) and "They Talk It Over" (10 March 1885). Apostle John Henry Smith commented on the newspaper reports of this ceremony in a letter to his kinsman and counselor in the First Presidency, Joseph F. Smith (John Henry Smith to J. Mack [pseudonym for Joseph F. Smith], 28 August 1885, in John Henry Smith 1884-1894 Letter Book, pp. 434-35, George A. Smith Family Papers, Marriott Library, University of Utah).

Journal of Discourses, 5:219 (discourse delivered 6 September 1856). Andrew Cahoon, an apostate Mormon who was a son of one of the original members of the Council of Fifty, testified in 1889 that Brigham Young had proclaimed himself as king to the 1847 pioneers in Utah (see "Testimony of Andrew Cahoon," Deseret Evening News, 14 November 1889). The apostate William Smith wrote: "The people of Salt Lake govern their church by a secret lodge of 50 men. It is in this lodge that Brigham Young is crowned as a King, and is there seated upon a throne prepared for him" (see Melchizedek and Aaronic Herald, 1 [February 1850]: 1).

John W. Taylor to Joseph F. Smith, 17 February 1911, Church Archives.

For other discussions of the symbolic role of the LDS Prophet-King, see Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, pp. 556-67; Melodie Moench, "Joseph Smith: Prophet, Priest, and King," Task Papers in LDS History, No. 25 (Salt Lake City: Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1978).

For other discussions of the symbolic role of the LDS Prophet-King, see Andrus, Doctrines of the Kingdom, pp. 556-67; Melodie Moench, "Joseph Smith: Prophet, Priest, and King," Task Papers in LDS History, No. 25 (Salt Lake City: Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1878).

Upper Mississippian, 2 November 1844; Davis, An Authentic Account, p. 7.

Hosea Stout Diary, 13 January 1846, published in Brooks, On the Mormon Frontier, 1:105. Hosea Stout did not become a member of the Council of Fifty until 1867.

Deseret News, 17 June 1857; Wilford Woodruff Journal, 26 November 1857.

"History of Brigham Young," 11 March, 19 March 1844, in Deseret News, 24 March 1858 and LDS Millennial Star 26 (21 May 1864): 328.

Examples are quoted in HC, 7:381-82; Andrus, Joseph Smith and World Government, pp. 4, 5, 9; Salt Lake City Seventeenth Ward Relief Society Minutes, 1868-1884 Book, pp. 345-46.

Deseret Evening News, 28 November 1877; Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901-1936), 1:290, 368.

Heber J. Grant Letter Book Journal, 25 October 1887, Church Archives.

John W. Taylor to Joseph F. Smith, 17 February 1911; John Henry Smith Journal, 18 February 1911.

"Instructions given to Elder Joseph F. Smith Jr., at the Salt Lake Temple, April 7th, 1910, immediately prior to his receiving ordination as an Apostle," Smith Papers, Church Archives.

Heber J. Grant Journal, 3 January 1932. This should disprove any rumors about other persons who allegedly were members of the Council of Fifty but who lived beyond 1931.

Johnson, I Knew the Prophets, p. 31.

Johnson, "A Life Review," MS, p. 96: Minutes of the Nauvoo High Council, 30 November 1844, p. 7, Church Archives.

Franklin D. Richards Journal, 16 March 1880.

Joseph F. Smith Journal, 10 April 1880.

Allen, "One Man's Nauvoo," fn. 24.

All names and other data have been collated from numerous personal diaries, miscellaneous manuscripts and biographies in various locations. The overlapping of these sources is sufficient to justify confidence that the list of members in this article is complete. Contrary to the list of council of Fifty members in Hansen's Quest for Empire, pp. 227-28, John Fielding and John Scott were not members of the Council. Hansen's list also fails to include thirty-eight verified members of the Council of Fifty.