Family Background

1800. February 9: Born in Tunbridge, Vermont, he was an older brother of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Apostle William Smith, first cousin to Apostle George A. Smith, and third cousin to Oliver Cowdery.

When he was eleven and Joseph seven, Joseph suffered a serious leg infection. "Hyrum," recalled his mother, "sat beside him almost day and night, for some considerable length of time, holding the affected part of Joseph's leg in his hands and pressing it between them, so that his afflicted brother might be enabled to endure the pain which was so excruciating that he was scarcely able to bear it."

He married Jerusha Barden in 1826; they had six children. Jerusha died October 13, 1837, eleven days after giving birth.

Two months later, Hyrum married Mary Fielding, by whom he had two children, Joseph Fielding and Martha Ann. In 1843 he married Mary's sister Mercy Fielding Thompson, Catherine Phillips, and Lydia Dibble Granger.

Promised by his brother Joseph that "his children shall be many and his posterity numerous, and they will rise up and call him blessed," Hyrum had a son (John) who became patriarch to the Church, another (Joseph F.) who became sixth president of the Church, and a grandson (Joseph Fielding) who became tenth president of the Church. All patriarchs of the Church since 1855 have been descendants of Hyrum Smith.

Early Church Leader

1829. June 29: Baptized by Joseph Smith in Seneca Lake, New York. He later became one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon.

1830. April 6: At thirty, Hyrum was the oldest of the original six members of the Church. David Whitmer was twenty-five; Joseph Smith, twenty-four; Oliver Cowdery, twenty-three; Samuel H. Smith, twenty-two; and Peter Whitmer, Jr., twenty.

1831. Shortly after arriving in Kirtland, Hyrum Smith was called on a mission to Independence, Missouri, where he attended the dedication of the temple site August 9.

1833. June 5: Following two short missions to Ohio with Orson Hyde and Reynolds Cahoon, Smith, as chairman of the building committee, dug a foundation trench for the Kirtland Temple. He acted as foreman in the temple stone quarry and later served as chairman of the Nauvoo Temple building committee.

1834. Served as Joseph Smith's bodyguard in Zion's Camp, where both were struck by cholera which "seized us like the talons of a hawk." Fourteen men died of the malady.

Counselor to the Prophet

1834. December 6: Hyrum and Joseph Smith, Sr., were ordained assistant presidents to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

1835. In Kirtland Joseph and William Smith debated the question, "Was it necessary for God to reveal Himself to mankind in order for their happiness?" When the debate was awarded to Joseph, six-foot-six William attacked the Prophet and Jared Carter. The following Saturday, Hyrum delivered a letter of apology for William. "I pray in my heart," wrote Joseph, "that all brethren were like unto my beloved Hyrum, who possesses the mildness of a lamb, and the integrity of a Job, and in short, the meekness and humility of Christ; and I love him with that love that is stronger than death."

1837. November 7: Sustained as second counselor in the First Presidency after the excommunication of Frederick G. Williams. The Prophet would often ask, "What shall we do, Hyrum?" After obtaining his brother's judgment, Joseph usually concurred: "That is good enough."

Prisoner

1838. October 31: Joseph and Hyrum Smith and other leaders were arrested in Far West, Missouri, for "treason, murder, arson, larceny, theft, and stealing." They were taken to Independence for trial while the rest of the Saints were driven from the state under the threat of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs's extermination order.

November 28: After three weeks chained in a Richmond, Missouri, log cabin, the Smiths and five other prisoners were taken to the jail in Liberty. "Poison was administered to us three or four times. The effect it had upon our system was that it vomited us almost to death, and then we would lie some two or three days in a torpid stupid state, not even caring or wishing for life."

1839. April 16: The prisoners were allowed to escape en route to Boone County on a change of venue. Hyrum's seven-year-old son John later recalled his father returned with "a full beard, his hair was long, and he was riding a small bay horse."

Church Patriarch and Associate President

1840. September 14: On his deathbed, presiding Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr., ordained Hyrum his successor.

1841. January 19: A revelation confirmed Smith's appointment as patriarch to the Church and appointed him a "prophet, seer, and revelator unto my church, as well as my servant Joseph; that he may act in concert also with my servant who shall show unto him the keys whereby he may ask and receive, and be crowned with the same blessings and glory, and honour, and priesthood, and gifts of the priesthood, that once were put upon him that was my servant Oliver Cowdery."

In a public meeting, July 16, 1843, the Prophet "said I would not prophesy any more, and proposed Hyrum to hold the office of prophet to the Church, as it was his by birthright. I am going to have a reformation, and the Saints must regard Hyrum, for he has the authority, that I might be Priest of the Most High God."

Plural Marriage Opponent

1843. In the controversy over John C. Bennett's lurid allegations of spiritual wifery at Nauvoo and the denials of Joseph Smith and others, Hyrum condemned polygamy and declared he would never believe in plural marriage unless God gave a revelation sanctioning it.

July 12: Joseph Smith dictated the revelation now known as section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Converted, Hyrum presented the revelation to the Nauvoo high council in August, performed plural marriages for the Prophet and others, and married plural wives himself.

1844. June 23: Hyrum, Joseph, Willard Richards, and Porter Rockwell rowed across the Mississippi River into Iowa to escape lawmen trying to arrest the Prophet for ordering the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. "I advised my brother Hyrum to take his family on the next steamboat and go to Cincinnati. Hyrum replied, 'Joseph, I can't leave you.' Whereupon I said to the company present, 'I wish I could get Hyrum out of the way, so that he may live to avenge my blood.'"

Entreated to return to Nauvoo, Hyrum, who wished to attend his daughter's wedding, responded, "Let us go back and put our trust in God and we shall not be harmed. The Lord is in it. If we have to die, we will be reconciled to our fate."

June 27: Martyred at forty-four with his brother the Prophet in Carthage Jail. Four bullets struck Hyrum; as he fell to the floor, he exclaimed, "I am a dead man."

October: Brigham Young told the April conference of the Church, "Did Joseph ordain any man to take his place? He did. Who was it? It was Hyrum. But Hyrum fell a martyr before Joseph did."

Joseph and Hyrum, who had never been separated for more than six months during their lives, were buried together in the unfinished basement of the Nauvoo House. Later they were moved across the street behind the Smith family homestead. The Reorganized Church located and verified the gravesites in 1928.

Sources
Corbett, Pearson H. Hyrum Smith: Patriarch. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1963.
History of the Church, 1:466; 2:294-297, 335-343; 3:419-428; 5:107.
Independence, Missouri. RLDS Church Archives. Minutes of First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Quinn, D. Michael. "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932: A Prosopographical Study·" Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1973.
Roberts, B. H. Comprehensive History 2:162, 6:527-530.
Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Brigham Young Papers.
Smith, Hyrum M., and Sjodahl, Janne M. Doctrine and Covenants Commentary. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1951.
Smith, Joseph Fielding. Essentials in Church History. 26th ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1973.
Smith, Lucy. Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations. Liverpool/London: Published for Orson Pratt by S. W. Richards, 1853.
Times and Seasons, 3:799.