Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde (January 8, 1805 – November 28, 1878) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was born in Oxford, Connecticut. He was raised in nearby Derby, Connecticut, under the care of Nathan Wheeler. In 1819, when he was just 14 years of age, he walked from Connecticut to Kirtland, Ohio to care for a piece of property Wheeler had purchased. While employed as a retail clerk in Kirtland, Hyde became involved with the Reformed Baptist Society, also called Campbellites, through the preaching of Sidney Rigdon.
Church membership and service
When Oliver Cowdery and other Latter Day Saint missionaries preached in Kirtland in late 1830, Hyde spoke publicly against the "Mormon Bible." However, when his former minister, Sidney Rigdon joined the church, Hyde investigated the claims of the missionaries, and was baptized by Rigdon on October 30, 1831. He was called on a succession of missions for the church, serving with Hyrum Smith, Samuel Smith, and John Gould. He marched with Zion's Camp in 1834. Hyde was ordained an apostle on February 15, 1835 as one of the original twelve. He was fifth in seniority. An apostolic mission with Heber C. Kimball to Great Britain in 1837 to 1838 was successful in bringing thousands of converts to the faith.
Upon returning from Britain, during a period of persecution and internal dissension, Hyde wrote that he felt God was no longer with the church. He left the church in October 19, 1838 with Thomas B. Marsh. Marsh explained the reasons for their dissent in an affidavit which he and Hyde signed on October 24, 1838 in Richmond, Missouri. These included their contention that the Mormons had organized into a company known as the Danites, "who have taken an oath to support the heads of the church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong" and that Mormon and Danite vigilantes had burned and looted non-Mormon settlements in Daviess County, Missouri (Document, p. 57). Marsh and Hyde also claimed that Joseph Smith planned to "to take the State, & he professes to his people to intend taking the U.S. & ultimately the whole world."
The testimony of Marsh and Hyde added to the panic in northwestern Missouri and contributed to subsequent events in the Mormon War. Because a Mormon attack was believed imminent, a unit of the state militia from Ray County, Missouri was dispatched to patrol the border between Ray and Mormon Caldwell County, Missouri to the north. On October 25, 1838, reports reached Mormons in Far West that this state militia unit was a "mob" and had kidnapped several Mormons. The Mormons formed an armed rescue party and attacked the militia in what became known as the Battle of Crooked River. Although only one non-Mormon was killed on the Missourian side, initial reports held that half the unit had been wiped out. The Mormons suffered more casualties: Gideon Carter died in the battle and David W. Patten and Patrick Obanion died from wounds they received in the battle (Baugh, p. 106). This attack on the state militia, coupled with the earlier expulsion of non-Mormons from Daviess County led Missouri's governor to respond with force. On 27 October he called out 2,500 state militia to put down what he perceived as a Mormon rebellion and signed what became known as the "Extermination Order" (Baugh, pp. 108–09).
Because he had signed the Richmond affidavit with Marsh, Hyde was disfellowshipped (disciplined, but not removed from membership) in 1838. On May 4, 1839, a Church conference in Quincy, Illinois voted to remove Orson Hyde and William Smith from the work of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The leadership of the church invited the two to explain their actions. On June 27, Hyde returned to the church and publicly explained himself, asking to be restored. The fall conference, October 6 to 8, 1839, voted to restore both Hyde and William Smith as apostles.
Orson Hyde left church activity, and thus the quorum, on October 19, 1838. When dealing with seniority in the council in 1875, long after the Death of Joseph Smith, Jr., Brigham Young ruled that, if a council member had been disciplined and removed from the council, his seniority was based on the date of readmission. By this ruling, in June 1875, both Hyde and Apostle Orson Pratt were moved down in council seniority. So, when Hyde repented in 1839, he effectively joined the quorum as a new member. As a result of this ruling, John Taylor rather than Orson Hyde succeeded Brigham Young as President of the Church.
One of Hyde's most significant missions was a call to preach in Jerusalem. From April 1841 to December 1842, he proselyted in Palestine. On October 24, 1841 on the Mount of Olives, Orson Hyde dedicated Palestine for the gathering of the Jews. He traveled home through Europe, stopping in Germany to produce the first LDS pamphlets in that language.
After the death of Joseph Smith, when the majority of the LDS people left Nauvoo for the Iowa Territory, Hyde was asked to stay behind and oversee the completion and dedication of the Nauvoo Temple in 1846. Hyde returned to England to preside over the British mission from 1846 to 1847. Orson Hyde was then placed in charge of the Camps of Israel in the Midwest in 1848. He remained in Council Bluffs, Iowa until 1852. During the settlement of Utah, Brigham Young called Hyde to lead settlement groups to Carson Valley, Nevada and the Sanpete-Sevier District in Utah.
Orson Hyde married Nancy Mirinda Johnson, in Kirtland, Ohio, on September 4, 1834. He practiced plural marriage and had eight additional wives. He fathered 32 children. He died on November 28, 1878, and was succeeded in the apostleship by Moses Thatcher. He is buried at Spring City, Utah, Sanpete County, Utah.
References
- Allen, James B. and Leonard, Glen M. The Story of the Latter-day Saints. Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, UT, 1976. ISBN 0-87747-594-6.
- Baugh, Alexander L. , A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, BYU Studies, 2000.
- Document Containing the Correspondence, Orders &c. in Relation to the Disturbances with the Mormons; And the Evidence Given Before the Hon. Austin A. King, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of the State of Missouri, at the Court-House in Richmond, in a Criminal Court of Inquiry, Begun November 12 1838, on the Trial of Joseph Smith, Jr., and Others, for High Treason and Other Crimes Against the State. Fayette, Missouri, 1841, complete text.
- Ludlow, Daniel H., A Companion to Your Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, UT, 1978. ISBN 1-57345-224-6.
- Ludlow, Daniel H., Editor. Church History, Selections From the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, UT, 1992. ISBN 0-87579-924-8.
