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  2. General Church Officers, October 1835–January 1838

General Church Officers, October 1835–January 1838

The following charts list the general leadership of the Church of the Latter Day Saints between October 1835 and January 1838. Many of the charts reflect important changes to these organizations during this period.
 
Church Presidency
The general church presidency, or presidency of the high priesthood, was the presiding body of the church. JS was ordained president of the high priesthood on 25 January 1832; six weeks later, and were selected and ordained “councillers of the ministry of the presidency of th[e] high Pristhood.” Following Gause’s excommunication in December 1832, was appointed to replace him. In an 18 March 1833 meeting, JS ordained Rigdon and Williams as “equal with him in holding the Keys of the Kingdom and also to the Presidency of the high Priest hood.” On 5 and 6 December 1834, , , and were ordained as assistant presidents in the presidency of the high priesthood.
JS, , , , , and constituted the presidency of the high priesthood during the majority of the period from October 1835 to January 1838. Even though was ordained as the ranking assistant president to JS in December 1834, JS, Rigdon, and Williams were considered first presidents, constituting the First Presidency.
In a 7 November 1837 general assembly meeting held in , Missouri, JS nominated to continue as his counselor in the First Presidency, but the nomination was objected to by four men, including of the . After some discussion, nominated to take Williams’s place in the First Presidency, and those gathered at the meeting unanimously approved the nomination. The assistant counselors, who had been approved at a 3 September 1837 reorganization conference in , Ohio, were not presented at this Far West meeting but retained their positions.
6 December 1834 16 January 1836 3 September 1837 7 November 1837
President President First Presidency First Presidency
Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr. Joseph Smith Jr.
Assistant Presidents Assistant Presidents
Assistant Counselors Assistant Counselors
 
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized on 14 February 1835. JS initially referred to the quorum as a “travelling high council” with responsibility to “preside over all the churches of the saints . . . where there is no presidency established.” In a 16 January 1836 meeting, JS explained to quorum members that their authority in the church was “next to” the church presidency. The composition of the quorum remained the same until the end of December 1837, when and were excommunicated from the church. and were appointed to replace them shortly thereafter, though they were not officially ordained to the Quorum of the Twelve until December 1838. Quorum members are listed in order of seniority. For original quorum members, seniority was determined based on age; thereafter, new members were ordered based on ordination date. was actually a year older than , but Patten died in 1838 before the error was corrected.
14 February 1835 31 January 1838
 
Patriarch
was ordained patriarch in December 1834 and began giving patriarchal blessings to members of the church that month.
December 1834
 
Presidents of the Seventy
In late February and early March 1835, JS and other church leaders appointed a number of men to serve as “seventies.” JS’s spring 1835 “Instruction on Priesthood” indicated, “The seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the twelve . . . in building up the church and regulating all the affairs of the same, in all nations”; the instruction also specified that the Quorum of the Seventy was “called to preach the gospel, and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and in all the world.”
Unlike other ecclesiastical organizations presided over by a president and two counselors, the Quorum of the Seventy was led by seven presidents. It appears that the first seven presidents were appointed between 28 February and 1 March 1835. In April 1837, JS determined that the practice of appointing as leaders of the Seventy was “wrong, and not according to the order of heaven.” Six of the seven presidents were asked to join the high priests quorum, and new presidents were appointed in their stead on 6 April 1837. One of the six removed, , was in at the time, and when he returned to , he informed church leaders that he had not in fact been a high priest and should not have been removed. As a result, was asked to join the high priests quorum and Levi Hancock was reinstated to his former position on 3 September 1837. On 13 January 1838, was excommunicated, along with several other members of the Quorum of the Seventy, for “rising up in rebellion against the church.” Gaylord was removed as a president of the Seventy on 6 February 1838 and replaced by .
28 February–1 March 1835 6 April 1837 3 September 1837 6 February 1838
 
First Quorum of the Seventy
Between 28 February and 1 March 1835, JS and other church leaders appointed forty-four men to serve in the Quorum of the Seventy and designated seven of them as presidents of the quorum; the rest of the quorum was appointed during the next year. The first comprehensive list of quorum members appeared in a broadside published circa April 1836. All of the men appointed to the quorum had participated in the 1834 expedition. During summer and fall 1835, many of the Seventy left to preach in surrounding states. Though the composition of the quorum remained largely the same from early 1835 to early 1838, four members were moved to the and replaced in April 1837, and in 1837 and 1838, seven men were removed for apostasy and for “rising up in rebellion.” On 6 February 1838, the presidents of the Seventy appointed new members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy to replace those who had been excommunicated.
The charts for the various Quorums of the Seventy list the members in alphabetical order, except that new members are listed in the place of the men they succeeded.
By circa April 1836 6 February 1838
Henry Beaman Henry Beaman
Libbeus Coons Libbeus Coons
David Evans Sherman Gilbert
Levi Gifford Levi Gifford
True Gliddon True Gliddon
Michael Griffith Michael Griffith
Levi Nickerson
Jesse Huntsman
Elias Hutchings Elias Hutchings
Charles Kelly Charles Kelly
Elias Wells
Justus Morse
Darwin Richardson Darwin Richardson
James Thompson
Henry Shibley Henry Shibley
William Carpenter
Daniel Stevens Daniel Stevens
Hiram Stratton
 
Second Quorum of the Seventy
Shortly after calling the and designating men as seventies in February and March 1835, JS told a grand council of church officers, “If the first Seventy are all occupied, and there is a call for more laborers it will be the duty of the seven presidents of the first seventy to call and ordain other Seventy and send them forth to labor, in the vineyard until if need be they set a part apart seven times Seventy.” At least one individual, Sherman Gilbert, was told in an August 1835 blessing that he would be “numbered with the 2d 70,” but the Second Quorum of the Seventy was not officially organized until early February 1836. Its seventy members were selected primarily from the newly organized . The quorum remained relatively stable through early 1838, with nearly three-quarters of quorum members remaining the same. Four quorum members—, , , and —were selected as presidents of the Seventy on 6 April 1837. was appointed to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in late December 1837. Also in late December 1837 or early January 1838, five men were removed for “rising up in rebellion,” and seven members were moved to the First Quorum of the Seventy to replace those men who had moved to the high priests quorum or the presidency of the Seventy or who had been excommunicated. On 6 February 1838, the presidents of the Seventy appointed new members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy to replace those who had been removed.
8–11 February 1836 6 February 1838
Frederick Vanleuven
William Carpenter Lorenzo Wells
Giles Cook Alanson Pettingall
Robert Culvertson Robert Culvertson
Stephen Shumway
James Dayley James Dayley
Daniel Bowen
Garland Meeks
Benjamin Sweat
Sherman Gilbert
Benjamin Webber
Joshua Grant Joshua Grant
John Herritt John Herritt
Edmund Marvin Edmund Marvin
Joel McWithy Joel McWithy
Dana Jacobs
Levi Nickerson Otis Shumway
Ebenezer Page Ebenezer Page
Samuel Phelps Samuel Phelps
William Redfield William Redfield
Elijah Reed Elijah Reed
Almon Sherman Almon Sherman
Stephen Starks Stephen Starks
Arial Stephens Arial Stephens
William Terney William Terney
Charles Thompson Charles Thompson
Chauncey Webb Chauncey Webb
Edmund Webb Edmund Webb
Levi Woodruff Levi Woodruff
 
Third Quorum of the Seventy
The first twenty-seven members of the Third Quorum of the Seventy were ordained on 20 December 1836; other members were ordained over the succeeding months. By 3 May 1837, approximately forty-nine men had been ordained to the quorum. Two members of the quorum, and , were ordained to the presidency of the Seventy on 6 April 1837. Nine others were moved to the First or Second Quorums of the Seventy in 1837 or early 1838 to replace those men who had moved to other quorums or been excommunicated. Their replacements were not specified by February 1838 in extant records.
The table below lists known members of the Third Quorum of the Seventy during the period covered in this volume. Blank spaces in the second column reflect apparent vacancies in the quorum.
By 3 May 1837 6 February 1838
Blake Baldwin Blake Baldwin
Daniel Bowen
Willard Fisher Willard Fisher
Benjamin Gifford Benjamin Gifford
John Goodson John Goodson
Joel Haskins Joel Haskins
James Holman James Holman
Daniel Jackson Daniel Jackson
Dana Jacobs
Elam Meacham Elam Meacham
Garland Meeks
John Olney John Olney
Amos Orton
Alanson Pettingall
William Presley William Presley
Enoch Sanborn Enoch Sanborn
Otis Shumway
Stephen Shumway
Abraham O. Smoot Abraham O. Smoot
James Snow James Snow
Benjamin Sweat
James Thompson
Frederick Vanleuven
Lorenzo Wells
Charles Wightman Charles Wightman
Levi Wilder Levi Wilder
Abraham Wood Abraham Wood
 
Other Seventies (Quorum Unknown)
Church records document several other individuals who were appointed as seventies, but those records do not indicate the quorum to which they were assigned. Below is a list of those individuals, ordered by date of ordination.
March 1835–February 1838
Joseph Winchester
George Rose
David Nobleman
Jeremiah Willey
Henry Stevens
Dominicus Carter
Samuel Parker
Amos Jackson
Lewis Eager
Russell Potter
David Dixon
Benjamin Ellsworth
Cheney Van Buren
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