Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Thomas B. Marsh, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Thomas B. Marsh, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Thomas B. Marsh
(1800–66)
Thomas B. Marsh, photograph, Church History Library, MS 12377.
Thomas B. Marsh was born in Acton, Massachusetts. In 1820 he married Elizabeth Godkin. He and his family moved to Palmyra, New York, by September 1830, when he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and ordained an elder. In 1831 they moved with the Saints to Kirtland, Ohio, where he was ordained a high priest. After being called by revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 52:22; 56:5; 75:31), he subsequently served missions to Missouri and to the eastern United States. He and his family moved to Missouri in 1832. In 1834 Marsh was appointed a member of the Zion high council in Clay County, Missouri. The following year, he was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and was sustained president of that quorum.
When the Doctrine and Covenants was published in 1835, Marsh and other members of the Quorum of the Twelve added their testimony that the book was “given by the inspiration of God” (Doctrine and Covenants Introduction). Two revelations in the book were directed specifically to Marsh, counseling him personally and as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve (Doctrine and Covenants 31; 112).
Marsh withdrew from the Church in 1838 and was excommunicated in 1839. In 1857, he was rebaptized and migrated to Utah Territory.
References in the Doctrine and Covenants