Lucy Mack Smith - Succession Crisis

Succession Crisis

It was perhaps inevitable that there would be a crisis of leadership in Nauvoo in 1844. Although it is generally assumed that the church carried on in the tradition of its founder, in reality its basic organization shifted during this period of transition. Leonard J. Arrington has noted that "the conditions under which Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles assumed leadership assured a hierarchical structure designed along authoritarian lines. . . . The theophanous works of Joseph Smith were canonized into doctrine, and the doctrine and organizational structure became more dogmatic and inflexible" ("Intellectual,"18).

Lucy Mack Smith, it appears, was a tenuous link between these two phases of the church's history. She became a symbol of continuity, assuming greater importance at that time because of the strained relationship between Brigham Young and Joseph's widow, Emma. Hosea Stout noted in his diary on February 23, 1845, that Lucy spoke at a church meeting. All present were deeply moved as she spoke "with the most feeling and heartbroken manner" of "the trials and troubles she had passed through in establishing the Church of Christ and the persecutions and afflictions which her sons & husband had passed through" (1:23). Lucy also asked permission to speak at the October 1845 general conference in Nauvoo. After she had recited the sufferings of her family on behalf of the church, she asked if they considered her a mother in Israel. Brigham Young made it the formal conferring of a title by saying: "All who consider Mother Smith as a mother in Israel, signify by saying 'yes.' One universal 'yes' rang throughout" (HC 7:470-47 1).

Lucy did not comment about the difficulties she encountered with church leaders during the transitional period—troubles which, without doubt, were exacerbated by her son, William—but they are suggested in the few letters and second-hand accounts that have survived (Quaife, 246-48).

James Strang published a statement allegedly signed by William Smith, Lucy Mack Smith, and three of Joseph's sisters, certifying that "the Smith family do believe in the appointment of J. J. Strang" as Joseph's successor. However, Lucy Mack Smith addressed the saints at the October 1844 general conference and stated that she hoped all her children would accompany the saints to the West, and if they did she would go. Brigham Young then said: "We have extended the helping hand to Mother Smith. She has the best carriage in the city, and, while she lives, shall ride in it when and where she pleases" (Millennial Star, Vol. VII, p. 23).

Whether Lucy shifted her support from Brigham Young to Strang in the year following that October Conference is a matter of debate. This is certain in that she never made it to Utah, instead she stayed with her daughter-in-law, Emma, and other family members (notably Joseph Smith III, David Hyrum Smith, Alexander Hale Smith, and Frederick G.W. Smith) in Nauvoo until her death in the summer of 1856.