The draft of Young’s manuscript history states that the excommunication of Pratt and ordination of Lyman on 20 August 1842 occurred “according to the Prophet’s direction” after Young and others had “reported to the Prophet that we [the apostles] had labored with Bro: Orson diligently in a spirit of meekness forbearance & long suffering” for several days. The three apostles present when Lyman was ordained an apostle were Young, Kimball, and George A. Smith. (Historian’s Office, Brigham Young History Drafts, 63–64; see also “History of Brigham Young,” Deseret News [Salt Lake City], 17 Mar. 1858, 9.)

Historian’s Office. Brigham Young History Drafts, 1856–1858. CHL. CR 100 475, box 1, fd. 5.

Deseret News. Salt Lake City. 1850–.

Young earlier blamed Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt for Orson Pratt’s struggles. In a July 1842 letter to Parley P. Pratt, Young wrote that Orson was “in trubble in consequence of his wife, hir feelings are so rought up that he dos not know whether his wife is wrong, or whether Josephs testmony and others are wrong. . . . We will not let Br Orson goe away from us he is to good a man to have a woman destroy him.” His reference to David here presumably referred to the friendship between the biblical David and Jonathan. According to 2 Samuel, when David learned that Jonathan had been killed, he lamented, “Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” Using the same analogy of David and Jonathan, JS had recently referred to himself as “David” in a letter to William Clayton. (Brigham Young, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, 17 July 1842, CHL; 2 Samuel 1:26; Letter to William Clayton, 7 Oct. 1842.)

Young, Brigham. Letter, Nauvoo, IL, to Parley P. Pratt, Liverpool, England, 17 July 1842. CHL. MS 14291.

There are no contemporaneous accounts from Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt or Orson Pratt regarding an alleged marriage proposal from JS. In his published letters against the church, John C. Bennett claimed that JS had attempted on four separate occasions to convince Sarah to become his plural wife while Orson was serving a mission in the British Isles. As he did in this 20 January meeting, however, JS denied these claims. In 1886 Sarah made similar though more extreme allegations in an interview with Wilhelm Ritter von Wymetal, which he included in a book attacking the church. (“Further Mormon Developments!! 2d Letter from Gen. Bennett,” Sangamo Journal [Springfield, IL], 15 July 1842, [2]; Von Wymetal, Joseph Smith the Prophet, 1:61–63.)

Sangamo Journal. Springfield, IL. 1831–1847.

Von Wymetal, Wilhelm [W. Wyl, pseud.]. Joseph Smith the Prophet: His Family and His Friends; A Study Based on Facts and Documents. Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing, 1886.

In her hostile account of her time as a Latter-day Saint, Mary Ettie Coray Smith, a neighbor of the Pratts, stated that the rumors of JS’s interest in Sarah Marinda Bates Pratt as well as of her affair with John C. Bennett were true and claimed to have witnessed JS catching the two in adultery. (Green, Fifteen Years among the Mormons, 31; see also Historical Introduction to Account of Meeting, 15 July 1842; and Affidavits and Certificates [Nauvoo, IL: 1842], copy at CHL.)

Green, Nelson Winch. Fifteen Years among the Mormons: Being the Narrative of Mrs. Mary Ettie V. Smith, Late of the Great Salt Lake City. . . . New York: H. Dayton, 1859.

Affidavits and Certificates, Disproving the Statements and Affidavits Contained in John C. Bennett’s Letters. Nauvoo Aug. 31, 1842. [Nauvoo, IL: 1842]. Copy at CHL.

Although it is unclear to which office JS was referring here, Wilford Woodruff recorded in his journal that Lyman “was taken in to the first Presidency” as a result of this meeting. On 4 February 1843, JS met with Lyman to inform him of the decisions of the 20 January meeting and stated that “he had concluded to make Amasa councillr to the fir[s]t Presidency.” Although there is no record of Lyman being ordained or sustained to a position in the First Presidency, evidence suggests he was subsequently considered a member of the presidency. In April 1843, he addressed a special conference of the church—with his remarks subsequently published in full by the Times and Seasons—and at a July 1843 conference, Richards listed Lyman’s name alongside those of JS’s other counselors, Sidney Rigdon and William Law. On 1 October 1843, Lyman may have been anointed a counselor to JS in the presidency of the quorum that administered and participated in temple ordinances. After JS’s death, Lyman was recognized as having been a counselor in the First Presidency by those present at an 8 August 1844 meeting to choose a leader for the church. Lyman was sustained at that meeting as a counselor to the Twelve and at the October 1844 conference as “one of the Twelve, just in the same relationship as he [was] sustained to the first presidency.” (Woodruff, Journal, 19 [20] Jan. 1843; JS, Journal, 4 Feb. and 9 Apr. 1843; “A Discourse,” Times and Seasons, 1 June 1843, 4:218–220; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 3 July 1843; “Special Meeting,” Times and Seasons, 2 Sept. 1844, 5:637–638; Clayton, Journal, 8 Aug. 1844; Woodruff, Journal, 8 Aug. 1844; “October Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:692.)

Woodruff, Wilford. Journals, 1833–1898. Wilford Woodruff, Journals and Papers, 1828–1898. CHL. MS 1352.

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

This is likely a referring to Orson Pratt rather than to Orson Hyde.