W. W. Phelps

W. W. Phelps (1792-1872)

W. W. Phelps was a publisher and pioneer. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.

Family Background

1792. February 17: Born William Wines Phelps in Hanover, New Jersey. His complicated marital history began in 1815, when he married Sally Waterman; they had ten children.

1847. Married three women while on a trip to Saint Louis, but the marriages were later annulled by Brigham Young.

1848. Married a twenty-one-year-old "Sarah," thirty-five years his junior. Brigham Young refused to grant her request for a divorce in 1849, and after a stormy period of adjustment, the couple apparently worked out their differences; Sarah gave birth to a son in 1861.

Phelps married a third wife, "Harriet H." of Philadelphia, about 1855.

First Mormon Publisher

1830. Phelps was a prominent New York editor of several anti-Mason newspapers, including the Western Courier, Lake Light, and Ontario Phoenix Three days after the organization of the Church, he bought a copy of the Book of Mormon from Parley P. Pratt and read all night. "I always believed the scriptures, and believed that there was such a sacred thing as pure religion; but I never believed that any of the sects of the day had it. … I rejoiced that there was something coming to point the right way to heaven."

1831. Phelps moved his family to Kirtland, Ohio, where he was baptized June 16. Three days later he left for Missouri with Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris, Edward Partridge, and others "to seek the land of Zion. … When that goodly land was consecrated, we kneeled together; when the first house was raised I helped carry the first log."

Joseph Smith called Phelps to be the Church printer in Independence, Missouri, authorizing him to "review and prepare such revelations as shall be deemed proper for publication" in the Book of Commandments. Phelps was also directed to correct and print the hymns selected by Emma Smith, and publish the Church newspaper, the Evening and Morning Star.

1833. July: A Phelps editorial in the Star, intended "to prevent any misunderstanding among the churches abroad respecting free people of color," was viewed by Missourians as an "invitation to free people of color to settle in Jackson County!"

Phelps tried to placate slaveholders in a special edition of the Star. "Our intention was not only to stop free people of color from emigrating to this state, but to prevent them from being admitted as members of the church."

The clarification was too late. The Missourians demanded that Mormons stop publishing the Star and leave "within a reasonable time." When Church leaders, including Phelps, refused, the "old settlers" stormed the printing office, threw Sally Phelps and her children into the street, destroyed the press, scattered pages of the uncompleted Book of Commandments, and pulled down the walls of the building.

George A. Smith could not recommend Phelps to the Prophet as editor to reissue the Star. "I told him that I considered Phelps the sixth part of an editor, and that was the satirist. When it came to the cool direction necessarily entrusted to an editor in the control of public opinion—the soothing of enmity, he was deficient, and would always make more enemies than friends; but for my part, if I were able, I would be willing to pay Phelps for editing a paper, providing no body else should have the privilege of reading it but myself. Joseph laughed heartily—said I had the thing just right. Said he, 'Brother Phelps makes such a severe use of language as to make enemies all the time.'" Oliver Cowdery was chosen editor.

Poet

1836. Phelps's "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning," written for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, so impressed Joseph Smith that he asked for it to be printed "on white satin" for the event. In all, Phelps penned lyrics for twenty-nine of the ninety-one hymns Emma Smith selected for the Church's first hymn book. His lyrics include: "Gently Raise the Sacred Strain," "Redeemer of Israel," "O God, the Eternal Father," … "Earth with Her Ten Thousand Flowers," and "Praise to the Man" (written after Joseph Smith's death).

Excommunication and Readmission

1838. When Zion's Camp, of which Phelps was a member, failed to "redeem Zion" in 1834, the Prophet advised, "the land should not be sold, but be held by the Saints, until the Lord in His wisdom shall open a way for your return."

But the presidency of the "Church of Christ in Missouri"—W. W. Phelps and John and David Whitmer—ignored the counsel and tried to sell their abandoned lands. In February, 1838, a stake conference rejected their presidency, and when they refused to attend a March 10 hearing before the high council, they were excommunicated for "wickedness by endeavoring to palm themselves off upon the Church as her Presidents."

Two months later the excommunicated dissidents received a long letter from Sidney Rigdon and eighty-three other Mormons, advising that "there is but one decree for you, which is depart, depart, or else a more fatal calamity shall befall you." Phelps, who had intended to stay in Far West, departed.

July 8: Joseph Smith received a revelation respecting Phelps and former First Presidency member Frederick G. Williams: "If they will be saved, let them be ordained as Elders." Phelps ignored the invitation, making no overtures to the Prophet for nearly two years.

1840. When Phelps finally requested readmission to the Church, Joseph Smith responded:

Come on, dear brother, since the war is past,
or friends at first, are friends again at last.

1847. Phelps married three women in Saint Louis without Church permission. On December 6 the Twelve voted that "W. W. Phelps be cut off from the Church for violating the laws of the priesthood in having women that do not belong to him & committing adultery with them."

Pioneer Judge Hosea Stout noted, "It appeared that Phelps had while East last summer got some new ideas into three young women & they had consented to become his wives & got Jacobs [Henry B.] to marry them to him in St. Louis and he lived with them as such all the way to this place. After a long and tedious hearing of the matter which was altogether their own admissions, President Young decided that Phelps had committed adultery every time that he had laid with one of them." He was rebaptized in 1848.

Toastmaster

1844. While living in Nauvoo, W. W. Phelps came to be recognized as a supreme toastmaster. New Years Day, 1845, he made a memorable toasting of the Twelve by giving each a descriptive sobriquet:

Brigham Young—"Lion of the Lord"
Heber C. Kimball—"Herald of Grace"
Parley P. Pratt—"Archer of Paradise"
Orson Hyde—"Olive Branch of Israel"
Willard Richards—"Keeper of Rolls"
John Taylor—"Champion of Right"
William Smith—"Patriarchal Jacob Staff'
Wilford Woodruff—"Banner of the Gospel"
George A. Smith—"Entablature of Truth"
Orson Pratt—"Gauge of Philosophy"
John E. Page—"Sundial"
Lyman Wight—"Wild Ram of the Mountain"

Eulogizer of Joseph Smith

1844. June 29:W. W. Phelps addressed the nearly ten thousand persons gathered to pay final respects to Joseph and Hyrum Smith two days after their murder. In his lengthy sermon at this memorial service, Phelps predicted: "Be assured, brethren and sisters, this desperate 'smite' of our foes to stop the onward cause of Mormonism, will increase its spread and prosperity an hundred fold ... The priesthood remains unharmed. … The 'Twelve' (most now absent) … when they return will turn the 'mantle' [p.209] and step into the 'shoes' of the 'Prophet, priest and King' of Israel." Phelps's hymn, "Praise to the Man," is a eulogy of continuing popularity in the Church.

Versatile Pioneer

A charter member of the Council of Fifty in 1844, Phelps served as a Nauvoo city councilman, assisted in drafting the constitution of the "State of Deseret" in 1849, and worked in the Utah legislature as Speaker of the House. In 1851 he served as "topographic engineer" with Parley P. Pratt's exploring expedition to the south to "study the land for the site of possible settlements and for a road toward the sea." That same year, he was sworn into office as "counsillor and attorney at law and solicitor in chauncery," and became superintendent of metereological observations of the Territory of Deseret, furnishing the Deseret News with weather and astronomical observations. But he was perhaps most noted in Utah for his convincing portrayal of Satan in the endowment ceremony in the Salt Lake Endowment House on Temple Square.

Death

1872. March 6: W. W. Phelps died at the age of eighty. Oliver B. Huntington recorded, "Before Brother Phelps died he lost all his judgment, lost all his mind, reason, consciousness and all sense. He knew nothing, not even his name, nor how to eat, thus being unable to taste of anything, not even death. His mind gradually dwindled, withered and dried up."

Phelps was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. His epitaph, a poem called "Eternalism," had been written by him for Brigham Young:

There is no end to matter
There is no end to space
There is no end to spirit
There is no end to race
There is no end to glory
There is no end to love
There is no end to being
There is no death above.

Sources
Bowen, Waiter Dean. "The Versatile W. W. Phelps: Mormon Writer, Educator, and Pioneer." Master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1958.
Brooks, Juanita, ed. On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout. 2 vols. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press/Utah Historical Society, 1964.
Esshom, Frank. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah. Salt Lake City: Utah Pioneers Book Publishing Company, 1915.
History, of the Church, 1:390-391, 4:164, 5:390, 6:477, 7:268.
Jennings, Warren A. "Factors in the Destruction of the Mormon Press in Missouri: 1833." Utah Historical Quarterly 35 (Winter 1967): 57-76.
Jenson, Andrew. Church Chronology. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1899.
_____. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Historical Company, 1901-1936.
Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. W. W. Phelps Papers.
_____. Brigham Young Papers.
Times and Seasons, 5:765.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Family Background 1792. February 17: Born William Wines Phelps in Hanover, New Jersey. His complicated marital history began in 1815, when he married Sally Waterman; they had ten children. 1847. Married three women while on a trip to Saint Louis, but the marriages were later annulled by Brigham Young. 1848. Married a twenty-one-year-old "Sarah," thirty-five years his junior. Brigham Young refused to grant her request for a divorce in 1849, and after a stormy period of adjustment, the couple apparently worked out their differences; Sarah gave birth to a son in 1861. Phelps married a third wife, "Harriet H." of Philadelphia, about 1855. First Mormon Publisher 1830. Phelps was a prominent New York editor of several anti-Mason newspapers, including the Western Courier, Lake Light, and Ontario Phoenix Three days after the organization of the Church, he bought a copy of the Book of Mormon from Parley P. Pratt and read all night. "I always believed the scriptures, and believed that there was such a sacred thing as pure religion; but I never believed that any of the sects of the day had it. … I rejoiced that there was something coming to point the right way to heaven." 1831. Phelps moved his family to Kirtland, Ohio, where he was baptized June 16. Three days later he left for Missouri with Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris, Edward Partridge, and others "to seek the land of Zion. … When that goodly land was consecrated, we kneeled together; when the first house was raised I helped carry the first log." Joseph Smith called Phelps to be the Church printer in Independence, Missouri, authorizing him to "review and prepare such revelations as shall be deemed proper for publication" in the Book of Commandments. Phelps was also directed to correct and print the hymns selected by Emma Smith, and publish the Church newspaper, the Evening and Morning Star. 1833. July: A Phelps editorial in the Star, intended "to prevent any misunderstanding among the churches abroad respecting free people of color," was viewed by Missourians as an "invitation to free people of color to settle in Jackson County!" Phelps tried to placate slaveholders in a special edition of the Star. "Our intention was not only to stop free people of color from emigrating to this state, but to prevent them from being admitted as members of the church." The clarification was too late. The Missourians demanded that Mormons stop publishing the Star and leave "within a reasonable time." When Church leaders, including Phelps, refused, the "old settlers" stormed the printing office, threw Sally Phelps and her children into the street, destroyed the press, scattered pages of the uncompleted Book of Commandments, and pulled down the walls of the building. George A. Smith could not recommend Phelps to the Prophet as editor to reissue the Star. "I told him that I considered Phelps the sixth part of an editor, and that was the satirist. When it came to the cool direction necessarily entrusted to an editor in the control of public opinion—the soothing of enmity, he was deficient, and would always make more enemies than friends; but for my part, if I were able, I would be willing to pay Phelps for editing a paper, providing no body else should have the privilege of reading it but myself. Joseph laughed heartily—said I had the thing just right. Said he, 'Brother Phelps makes such a severe use of language as to make enemies all the time.'" Oliver Cowdery was chosen editor. Poet 1836. Phelps's "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning," written for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, so impressed Joseph Smith that he asked for it to be printed "on white satin" for the event. In all, Phelps penned lyrics for twenty-nine of the ninety-one hymns Emma Smith selected for the Church's first hymn book. His lyrics include: "Gently Raise the Sacred Strain," "Redeemer of Israel," "O God, the Eternal Father," … "Earth with Her Ten Thousand Flowers," and "Praise to the Man" (written after Joseph Smith's death). Excommunication and Readmission 1838. When Zion's Camp, of which Phelps was a member, failed to "redeem Zion" in 1834, the Prophet advised, "the land should not be sold, but be held by the Saints, until the Lord in His wisdom shall open a way for your return." But the presidency of the "Church of Christ in Missouri"—W. W. Phelps and John and David Whitmer—ignored the counsel and tried to sell their abandoned lands. In February, 1838, a stake conference rejected their presidency, and when they refused to attend a March 10 hearing before the high council, they were excommunicated for "wickedness by endeavoring to palm themselves off upon the Church as her Presidents." Two months later the excommunicated dissidents received a long letter from Sidney Rigdon and eighty-three other Mormons, advising that "there is but one decree for you, which is depart, depart, or else a more fatal calamity shall befall you." Phelps, who had intended to stay in Far West, departed. July 8: Joseph Smith received a revelation respecting Phelps and former First Presidency member Frederick G. Williams: "If they will be saved, let them be ordained as Elders." Phelps ignored the invitation, making no overtures to the Prophet for nearly two years. 1840. When Phelps finally requested readmission to the Church, Joseph Smith responded: Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, or friends at first, are friends again at last. 1847. Phelps married three women in Saint Louis without Church permission. On December 6 the Twelve voted that "W. W. Phelps be cut off from the Church for violating the laws of the priesthood in having women that do not belong to him & committing adultery with them." Pioneer Judge Hosea Stout noted, "It appeared that Phelps had while East last summer got some new ideas into three young women & they had consented to become his wives & got Jacobs [Henry B.] to marry them to him in St. Louis and he lived with them as such all the way to this place. After a long and tedious hearing of the matter which was altogether their own admissions, President Young decided that Phelps had committed adultery every time that he had laid with one of them." He was rebaptized in 1848. Toastmaster 1844. While living in Nauvoo, W. W. Phelps came to be recognized as a supreme toastmaster. New Years Day, 1845, he made a memorable toasting of the Twelve by giving each a descriptive sobriquet: Brigham Young—"Lion of the Lord" Heber C. Kimball—"Herald of Grace" Parley P. Pratt—"Archer of Paradise" Orson Hyde—"Olive Branch of Israel" Willard Richards—"Keeper of Rolls" John Taylor—"Champion of Right" William Smith—"Patriarchal Jacob Staff' Wilford Woodruff—"Banner of the Gospel" George A. Smith—"Entablature of Truth" Orson Pratt—"Gauge of Philosophy" John E. Page—"Sundial" Lyman Wight—"Wild Ram of the Mountain" Eulogizer of Joseph Smith 1844. June 29:W. W. Phelps addressed the nearly ten thousand persons gathered to pay final respects to Joseph and Hyrum Smith two days after their murder. In his lengthy sermon at this memorial service, Phelps predicted: "Be assured, brethren and sisters, this desperate 'smite' of our foes to stop the onward cause of Mormonism, will increase its spread and prosperity an hundred fold ... The priesthood remains unharmed. … The 'Twelve' (most now absent) … when they return will turn the 'mantle' [p.209] and step into the 'shoes' of the 'Prophet, priest and King' of Israel." Phelps's hymn, "Praise to the Man," is a eulogy of continuing popularity in the Church. Versatile Pioneer A charter member of the Council of Fifty in 1844, Phelps served as a Nauvoo city councilman, assisted in drafting the constitution of the "State of Deseret" in 1849, and worked in the Utah legislature as Speaker of the House. In 1851 he served as "topographic engineer" with Parley P. Pratt's exploring expedition to the south to "study the land for the site of possible settlements and for a road toward the sea." That same year, he was sworn into office as "counsillor and attorney at law and solicitor in chauncery," and became superintendent of metereological observations of the Territory of Deseret, furnishing the Deseret News with weather and astronomical observations. But he was perhaps most noted in Utah for his convincing portrayal of Satan in the endowment ceremony in the Salt Lake Endowment House on Temple Square. Death 1872. March 6: W. W. Phelps died at the age of eighty. Oliver B. Huntington recorded, "Before Brother Phelps died he lost all his judgment, lost all his mind, reason, consciousness and all sense. He knew nothing, not even his name, nor how to eat, thus being unable to taste of anything, not even death. His mind gradually dwindled, withered and dried up." Phelps was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. His epitaph, a poem called "Eternalism," had been written by him for Brigham Young: There is no end to matter There is no end to space There is no end to spirit There is no end to race There is no end to glory There is no end to love There is no end to being There is no death above. Sources Bowen, Waiter Dean. "The Versatile W. W. Phelps: Mormon Writer, Educator, and Pioneer." Master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1958. Brooks, Juanita, ed. On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout. 2 vols. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press/Utah Historical Society, 1964. Esshom, Frank. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah. Salt Lake City: Utah Pioneers Book Publishing Company, 1915. History, of the Church, 1:390-391, 4:164, 5:390, 6:477, 7:268. Jennings, Warren A. "Factors in the Destruction of the Mormon Press in Missouri: 1833." Utah Historical Quarterly 35 (Winter 1967): 57-76. Jenson, Andrew. Church Chronology. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1899. _____. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. 4 vols. Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Historical Company, 1901-1936. Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. W. W. Phelps Papers. _____. Brigham Young Papers. Times and Seasons, 5:765.