Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: William Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
William Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
William Smith
(1811–93)
William Smith, ca. 1862, photograph, Church History Library, PH 1706.
A younger brother of Joseph Smith Jr., William Smith was born in Royalton, Vermont. He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 and was ordained a teacher later that year. He moved to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831. In 1832 he was ordained an elder and served a mission to Pennsylvania. In 1833 he attended the School of the Prophets, married Caroline Grant, and was ordained a high priest. He participated in the Camp of Israel expedition to Missouri in 1834 and was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1835. Three years later, he moved to Missouri. William was disfellowshipped in May 1839 but was restored to the Quorum of the Twelve later that month. In the early 1840s, in Nauvoo, Illinois, he edited the city newspaper Wasp, held civic offices, and was a member of the Council of Fifty. In 1845, his wife died, he was ordained Patriarch to the Church, he married Mary Jane Rollins, and he was excommunicated from the Church. Thereafter, he affiliated with various churches that had broken from the Church.
References in the Doctrine and Covenants