Between the ages of 12 and 15, Smith briefly attended Moor's Charity School on the campus of Dartmouth College while his family lived in nearby Lebanon, New Hampshire.[2]
Church service
Smith was a close advisor and confidant to his brother Joseph as the latter produced the Book of Mormon and established the Church of Christ.[3] In June 1829, Smith was baptized in Seneca Lake, New York. He was one of the Eight Witnesses who swore to the reality of a set of golden plates inscribed with the Book of Mormon. He also said he saw the angel Moroni.[4] When the Church of Christ was organized on April 6, 1830, six men signed their names as charter members; at the age of 30, Hyrum Smith was the oldest of the six. Smith served as presiding officer of a church branch in Colesville, New York, and was one of the first Latter Day Saint missionaries in the surrounding area.
As the church headquarters and membership moved west, Smith and his family relocated. In 1831, he established a home in Kirtland, Ohio. During his residence there, he served as foreman of the quarry providing stone for the Kirtland Temple. Between 1831 and 1833, he served proselyting missions to Missouri and Ohio. In 1834, under the direction of Joseph Smith, he recruited members for a militia, Zion's Camp, and traveled with the group to the aid of the Latter Day Saints in Missouri. He was appointed Second Counselor in the church's First Presidency in November 1837. In 1838 and 1839, Hyrum, Joseph and three other church leaders shared a jail cell in Liberty, Missouri, while awaiting trial.
After relocating to Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith became the church's Presiding Patriarch, a position first held by his father, Joseph Smith Sr. He also replaced Oliver Cowdery as Assistant President of the Church; in this capacity, Smith acted as President of the Church in Joseph's absence and was designated to be Joseph's successor if he were killed or incapacitated. Although Hyrum Smith was never explicitly ordained to the priesthood office of apostle, "his appointment as assistant president may have included such authority".[5]
Hyrum (left) with brother Joseph (right) in the 1840s.
When warned of possible danger, Joseph urged Hyrum Smith and his family to flee to Cincinnati, Ohio. Hyrum refused and, in 1844, traveled with Joseph to Carthage, Illinois, where both were charged with riot and treason. Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and Willard Richards were held awaiting trial in a jail in Carthage. On June 27, 1844, the building was attacked by a mob of between sixty and two hundred men. While attempting to barricade the door to prevent the mob from entering, Hyrum was shot in the face on the left side of the nose. After staggering back, another ball fired through the window struck him in the back, passed through his body, and struck his watch in his vest pocket.[6] As Hyrum Smith fell to the floor, he exclaimed, "I am a dead man," as he died.[7] Taylor was struck by several bullets but survived with the help of Richards. Joseph was hit by at least two shots, exclaimed "O Lord, My God,"[7] and fell through a second-story window to the ground where he was shot again.
Because of his position as Assistant President of the Church, it is likely that Smith would have succeeded Joseph and become the next president of the church had he outlived his brother.
Statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois
Political involvement
Smith was a member of the Nauvoo City Council. At the time of his death, Smith was an independent candidate for the Illinois state legislature.[8]
Wives and children
On 2 November 1826, in Manchester, New York, he married Jerusha Barden (1805–1837). They had six children together.
Lovina Smith (16 September 1827 – 8 October 1876), who married Lorin Walker[9]
In August 1843, he married and was sealed to two plural wives: Mercy Fielding Thompson, widow of Robert B. Thompson and sister to Hyrum's wife Mary; and Catherine Phillips.[11]
^Cowdery was excommunicated on April 12, 1838. Smith was ordained an apostle and replaced Cowdery as Assistant President of the Church almost three years later.
^Van Wagoner, Richard S. (2016). Natural Born Seer: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1805–1830. Smith-Pettit Foundation. pp. 31–32, 55.
^In 1838, the church was renamed the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".
^Gary James Bergera, "Hyrum Smith" in W. Paul Reeve and Ardis E. Parshall (eds.), Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, California, ABC-Clio, 2010) pp. 182–84 at 183.
