8 July 1834
Joseph Smith ordains David Whitmer as a conditional successor
At a conference in Clay County, Missouri, Joseph Smith ordained David Whitmer 'to be a leader or a prophet to this church.' The ordination was conditional — on Joseph's not living to God himself. In 1847 Martin Harris, Leonard Rich and Calvin Beebe signed a joint statement recalling that Joseph said the time had come to appoint his successor and that 'David Whitmer is the man.' Five months later, on 5 December 1834, Joseph ordained Oliver Cowdery Assistant President of the High Priesthood, an office Cowdery understood to rank him first among the assistants, ahead of Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams.
Disputed Whether the ordination was contingent and later superseded, or a standing appointment, was argued between the Utah church and the Whitmer-McLellin Church of Christ from 1847 on.
28 March 1835
A revelation makes the Twelve 'equal in authority' to the First Presidency
The revelation now printed as Doctrine and Covenants 107 declared the Quorum of the Twelve equal in authority and power to the First Presidency. The same revelation said as much of the First Quorum of the Seventy and of the combined stake high councils, which is why the text supported more than one reading in 1844.
Disputed The Twelve read the clause as making them the presiding body when the Presidency dissolved; Rigdon's paper read it as leaving the First Presidency indispensable.
19 January 1841
Hyrum Smith given Oliver Cowdery's place
A revelation directed that Hyrum Smith take 'the office of priesthood and patriarch, which was appointed unto him by his father, by blessing and also by right,' and appointed him 'a prophet, and a seer, and a revelator unto my church, as well as my servant Joseph,' crowned with the priesthood and gifts once put upon Oliver Cowdery.
17 January 1844
The date on a document that does not exist
A manuscript blessing dated this day, purporting to appoint Joseph Smith III 'my successor to the Presidency of the High Priesthood,' surfaced in 1981 and was traded between the LDS and RLDS archives. It was later established to be a forgery by Mark Hofmann. The date is listed here because scholarship written between 1981 and 1985 treats it as genuine.
Disputed Quinn's 1982 analysis in Dialogue was built on this document; the forgery was exposed after the 1985 Salt Lake bombings.
11 March 1844
The Council of Fifty is organized
Joseph Smith convened, over his Red Brick Store, the body that became known as the Council of Fifty — a civil and political council concerned with the Kingdom of God, distinct from the church's ecclesiastical structure. William Clayton kept the minutes.
26 March 1844
The 'last charge' to the Twelvehinge
At a Council of Fifty meeting Joseph Smith is remembered to have told the assembled men that his work was nearly done and that he was rolling the burden of the kingdom off his own shoulders onto theirs, telling them to round up their shoulders and bear it. The words are known from later recollections — Orson Hyde's 1869 address, Benjamin F. Johnson, Wilford Woodruff, Dennison Lott Harris — and from a declaration the Twelve drafted in late 1844 or early 1845. Clayton's 1844 minutes record only 'instructions pertaining to the kingdom of God.'
Why this is a hingeThis is the single act on which the Twelve's whole claim to have received Joseph's authority rests, and it is not recorded in any contemporaneous minute.
Disputed Faithful scholarship treats the charge as well attested by many independent later witnesses; critics note that no 1844 document records it and that Brigham Young tabled Orson Hyde's written account when it was presented in March 1845.
18 June 1844
Rigdon leaves for Pittsburgh; a letter is later dated to this day
The Rigdon family boarded the steamer Osprey for Pittsburgh, sent there partly to establish residency for the vice-presidential ticket and partly, according to Joseph Smith's diary, to get Rigdon out of danger. James J. Strang would later publish a letter dated the same day in which Joseph appointed him to plant a stake in Wisconsin and, Strangites held, named him successor. Strang further claimed that on 27 June, the day of the martyrdom, an angel ordained him a prophet, seer, revelator and translator, and that the letter reached him by mail on 9 July.
Disputed Strang's Letter of Appointment is regarded as a forgery by LDS and most academic historians; Strangites regard it as genuine, and even among Strang's own family its wording was read as appointing him only over the Voree stake.
27 June 1844
Joseph and Hyrum Smith are killed at Carthagehinge
A mob drawn largely from the disbanded Warsaw militia stormed Carthage Jail in the late afternoon. Hyrum was shot first; Joseph was killed at the window. John Taylor was badly wounded and Willard Richards was unhurt. They were the only two apostles in Illinois — the rest were in the eastern states campaigning for Joseph's presidential run.
Why this is a hingeTwo of the three men with the strongest formal claims died in the same room, and the quorum that would inherit the church was scattered across a thousand miles.
12 July 1844
Clayton records a designation of Samuel H. Smith
William Clayton recorded that Joseph had said that if he and Hyrum were taken away, his brother Samuel H. Smith should be his successor. Newel K. Whitney used the note to argue against making William Marks trustee-in-trust. Samuel died on 30 July, aged thirty-six, after being chased from Carthage.
Disputed The Clayton Nauvoo journals in this corpus are unverified transcripts; the entry is reported here only as quoted in Dialogue and in Saints.
3–4 August 1844
Sidney Rigdon returns to Nauvoo
Rigdon arrived from Pittsburgh, declined a request from Willard Richards, Parley P. Pratt and George A. Smith to meet with them, and preached at Sunday services instead. He told the Saints it was the Lord's wish that a guardian be appointed to build up the church to Joseph, and asked William Marks to call a special assembly. Marks announced it for the morning of 8 August.
Disputed Accounts date the arrival to 3 or 4 August; Newell and Avery place Brigham Young's arrival at 6 August, by which time Rigdon was already claiming authority.
7 August 1844
The confrontation in the Seventies Hall
With nine apostles now in Nauvoo, Brigham Young convened the Twelve, the Nauvoo High Council and the high priests and asked Rigdon to state his case. Rigdon described a Pittsburgh manifestation shown to his mind rather than an open vision: no man could be Joseph's successor, and he would continue to speak for the dead prophet until Joseph descended and ordained him. Young replied that he did not care who led the church of God if God said so, but that he must know God said so, and that he had the keys and means of knowing.
8 August 1844 (morning)
Rigdon speaks in the grove
Thousands gathered in the grove near the temple. Rigdon stood in a wagon with his back to a steady wind and spoke for more than an hour, arguing that every man would stand in his own place and calling, that Joseph and Hyrum held their authority through eternity, and that authority remained in the church as Joseph had organized it. Thomas Bullock took the sermon down in Taylor shorthand; it was not deciphered until the twenty-first century. Brigham Young then called the congregation back for the afternoon.
8 August 1844 (afternoon)
The Saints vote for the Twelvehinge
The quorums took their places as in a solemn assembly. Brigham Young told the congregation that the Quorum of the Twelve held the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world and that no man could put another between the Twelve and the prophet Joseph. He asked whether the Saints wanted a guardian, a prophet or a spokesman; the church's own report says not a hand was raised. On the motion to sustain the Twelve, Woodruff later wrote, 'At once there was a sea of hands, a universal vote; a contrary vote was called and not a hand was raised in a congregation of about fifteen thousand Saints.'
Why this is a hingeFor the only time in the movement's history, the leadership of the church was settled by a show of hands.
Disputed Van Wagoner reads the vote as a political victory won by an organized quorum over a sick and rambling rival; Jorgensen and Addams read it as the congregation recognizing a spiritual witness.
15 August 1844
Brigham Young's epistle: no one fills Joseph's place
In an epistle to the Saints Young wrote, 'Let no man presume for a moment that his place will be filled by another; for, remember, he stands in his own place and always will.' He did not, in this or any other 1844 document, refer to a transfiguration.
2 September 1844
Times and Seasons answers the world, and cuts off Strang
The Nauvoo paper acknowledged that 'great excitement prevails throughout the world to know who shall be the successor of Joseph Smith,' and reported that the 8 August special conference had carried, without a dissenting voice, that the Twelve should preside over the whole church. The same issue carried a notice cutting off James J. Strang and Aaron Smith for circulating a purported revelation of 18 June 1844 and trying to establish a stake called Voree.
8 September 1844
Sidney Rigdon is tried and excommunicatedhinge
Before a congregation the Nauvoo Neighbor reported at six to seven thousand, Brigham Young laid out what he called Rigdon's secret plan to divide the church, and testified that Rigdon had ordained men prophets, priests and kings at private meetings. Rigdon was in St. Louis and did not attend. Bishop Newel K. Whitney and the high council voted to cut him off; W. W. Phelps moved that he be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until he repents. About ten hands were raised for Rigdon. Two days later he left for Pittsburgh.
Why this is a hingeThis is the moment the crisis stopped being a contest inside one church and became a schism.
Disputed Rigdon's paper answered that the Twelve had determined to supplant him before the church ever acted, so the trial ratified a decision already made.
6–8 October 1844
The October conference sustains the Twelve by name
The general conference upheld Brigham Young as president of the Quorum of the Twelve and, in the words of Phelps's motion as printed, as of the first presidency of the church, then sustained each apostle in turn by unanimous vote. The conference also organized high priests and presiding officers over districts across the union under the direction of the Twelve.
15 October 1844
Rigdon's own paper begins in Pittsburgh
Within a month of reaching Pittsburgh, Rigdon had organized a church with himself as First President and launched the Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, reusing the name of the old Kirtland organ. Its first number carried his signed statement to the public and letters describing conditions in Nauvoo. Over the next two years it argued the succession case in print, branch resolutions and all.
December 1844
William Marks repudiates Rigdon in print
Marks published a notice in the Times and Seasons saying that after mature and candid deliberation he was convinced Rigdon's claims to the presidency were not founded in truth, that he had been deceived by specious pretences, and that the Twelve were the proper persons to lead the church. He warned everyone under his influence against Rigdon's pretended visions and revelations.
January 1845
Rigdon turns on Joseph Smith
Rigdon stopped emphasizing his own guardianship and began accusing Joseph Smith of having been a fallen prophet, principally over plural marriage. About forty per cent of the Philadelphia branch was excommunicated between September 1844 and 1847, most for rejecting apostolic succession; a number of those converts signed for Rigdon, then for Strang, then rejected Strang too.
February 1845
The first printed 'mantle' languagehinge
Wilford Woodruff's address to the officers and members in the British Islands appeared in the Millennial Star. Of the 8 August meeting he wrote: 'It was evident to the Saints that the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon him, the road that he pointed out could be seen so plainly, that none need err therein.' He described no transfiguration, no change of voice and no vision.
Why this is a hingeThis is the earliest surviving published use of the mantle image, and it is a metaphor about clarity of teaching rather than a report of a miracle.
Disputed Believing writers read it as an oblique reference to the manifestation; Van Wagoner and Harper read it as evidence that no manifestation was being claimed in 1845.
24 May 1845
William Smith ordained Presiding Patriarch, then breaks
The Twelve ordained William Smith Presiding Patriarch. He spent the summer arguing that the office carried a right to lead, wrote to the Times and Seasons emphasizing that he was the only surviving son of Joseph Smith Sr., and in October published a pamphlet charging that Brigham Young privately conceded 'little Joseph' was the rightful heir but thought it imprudent to say so. He was cut off, and later allied with Strang and then with Lyman Wight.
13 September 1845
The Voree plates
Four of Strang's followers, digging where he directed under a tree at Voree, Wisconsin, unearthed three small brass plates covered with an alphabetical and pictorial record. Strang translated them within days and published them with witness statements. Martin Harris, three Whitmers, Hiram Page, William Smith and Lucy Mack Smith all followed Strang for a time.
December 1845 – February 1846
The Nauvoo temple endowments
The Twelve opened the attic of the unfinished temple and administered the endowment to about five thousand Saints in a matter of weeks, alongside roughly thirteen hundred sealings. Brigham Young later said the only reason for tarrying in Nauvoo as long as they did was to give the brethren those blessings.
4 February 1846
The exodus begins
The first wagons crossed the Mississippi into Iowa Territory and camped at Sugar Creek. Lyman Wight had already taken his pine company toward Texas. Emma Smith stayed. So did most of those who would eventually form the Reorganization.
5 December 1847
The First Presidency is reorganized at Winter Quartershinge
At Orson Hyde's home on the Missouri, nine of the Twelve sustained Brigham Young as President of the Church with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as counselors. A log tabernacle was thrown up at Kanesville so a conference could ratify it. Orson Pratt argued systematically against the change; John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt, both in the Salt Lake Valley, were also opposed, as was Lyman Wight. Had the full quorum been present, historians have argued, it might not have happened.
Why this is a hingeThe three-and-a-half-year apostolic interregnum ended here, and the precedent set in obscurity on the Missouri still governs how the Church chooses a president.
Disputed The Church's account presents this as restoring the proper order; Quinn and Lyman emphasize that it was contested inside the quorum and carried by an incomplete body.
3 December 1848
Lyman Wight disfellowshipped
The Twelve had blessed Wight's Texas venture on 12 August 1844 but grew uneasy about his intentions. They disfellowshipped him pending further information; he answered with a pamphlet arguing that Joseph had given him his mission personally and through the Grand Council, and that no one but God or Joseph could revoke it. His colony at Zodiac lasted until 1858.
19 July 1857
The first public 'transfiguration' claim
Albert Carrington told a large gathering that he could not tell Brigham Young from Joseph Smith when Young spoke at the stand in Nauvoo. Brigham Young then said that somebody had passed a finger over Carrington's eyes and that he could see no one but Joseph speaking. Wilford Woodruff bore a similar public testimony in April 1872, and dozens of written accounts followed from the 1880s to the 1900s.
Disputed Jorgensen's appendix of about 129 accounts is offered as cumulative evidence of a real event; Van Wagoner and Harper argue the thirteen-year silence is the point.
6 April 1860
Joseph Smith III is ordained at Amboyhinge
At twenty-seven, after fifteen years of refusing, Joseph Smith III travelled with his mother Emma to the April conference of the 'New Organization' at Amboy, Illinois, and was ordained President of the High Priesthood. The body soon dropped 'New Organization' and took the 1838 name, later adding 'Reorganized.' It rejected plural marriage and, over the following two decades, most of the other Nauvoo innovations.
Why this is a hingeThe lineal claim, which had been available since 1844 and unclaimable while the heir was a boy, finally produced an institution — and a permanent second reading of the whole Restoration.
Disputed The Reorganization held that presidency descends in Joseph Smith's line; the Utah church held that the keys were with the Twelve and that Joseph III's own 1893 testimony denied he had been ordained by his father.
March 1981 – 1987
A blessing document appears, and turns out to be forged
The Church Historical Department announced the acquisition of a manuscript blessing of Joseph Smith III said to have come through a descendant of Thomas Bullock; it was traded to the RLDS Church. Scholars reworked the succession question around it. Jerald and Sandra Tanner questioned the provenance in 1984; after the 1985 Salt Lake bombings it was established that Mark Hofmann had made it.
