“Elder William Smith having been cut off from the Quorum of the Twelve for apostasy, on the Sunday following, several letters & a pamphlet having been read, showing he had turned away from the truth; on motion, it was unanimously resolved by the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the said William Smith be cut off from said church, and left in the hands of God.” — Willard Richards¹

William Smith, born in 1811, was the younger brother of Joseph Smith. He was baptized in 1830 and moved to Kirtland, Ohio the following year. He participated in Zion’s Camp and was later ordained an apostle in 1835.² In May 1839 he was disfellowshipped from the Church and removed from the Quorum of the Twelve, but was reinstated the same month. He later edited the Wasp newspaper, served in the Illinois House of Representatives, and was a member of the Council of Fifty.³ In 1845, following the death of his wife, William was ordained as the Church’s patriarch.³ However, his relationship with Church leadership deteriorated after Joseph’s death. On October 12, 1845, William Smith was excommunicated. Around this time he compared Brigham Young to the Roman Emperor Nero. Shortly after, he aligned himself with James J. Strang, who claimed to be Joseph Smith’s rightful successor, and was ordained an apostle and patriarch in Strang’s movement.³ He was excommunicated from the Strangites in 1847 and briefly joined Lyman Wight’s movement, where he was recognized as a prophet by the Wightites in 1849.^3,4 In 1857, William accused Brigham Young of having killed his brother Samuel Smith with poison.⁵ After participating in the American Civil War, William joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1878.³

1. “Notice,” Times and Seasons, November 1, 1845, catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org

2. “William Smith,” churchofjesuschrist.org

3. “Smith, William B.,” josephsmithpapers.org

4. Melvin C. Johnson, Polygamy on the Pedernales: Lyman Wight's Mormon Village in Antebellum Texas, 126, jstor.org

5. William Smith, “Mormonism,” New York Daily Tribune, 28 May 1857, loc.gov