7 Joseph Smith’s Departure and Subsequent Temple History, 1837–1890

Economics and Opposition

Perhaps the most intractable problem facing the Mormon community at Kirtland was finances. Even before the temple walls began to rise, Joseph Smith found himself unable to meet the Church’s financial obligations— a situation that worsened as expenses on the building mounted (D&C 104:78–85). In fact, according to family history, a request for one thousand dollars accompanied the call asking Artemus Millett to go work on the temple.¹

In 1833 responsibility for the finances of the temple construction was turned over to a building committee composed of Hyrum Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, and Jared Carter (see D&C 94). The committee expanded in the winter of 1835–1836 to include Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and William Smith. The scarcity of funds was a constant strain on these men and caused friction among Church leaders.²

The finances of the temple are difficult to separate from other accounts since temple workers drew needed goods from Joseph Smith’s store without exchanging currency and, during the initial phases of construction, the United Firm was in place. Ira Ames’s complaint that the temple account books were “complete Confusion” when he took them over suggests that the builders of the temple never really knew what it cost either.³

Temple construction was financed by small individual donations from the impoverished Saints and also by a few larger donations. Vienna Jaques came to the rescue early on by donating fourteen hundred dollars when a note for the temple lot came due.⁴ Far more significant were John Tanner’s donation of thirteen thousand dollars to the temple committee and a loan reportedly made to Joseph Smith for thirty thousand dollars. He probably did not receive repayment.⁵ Although few members of the Church of the Latter-day Saints had the amounts of money donated by Artemus Millett, John Tanner, and Vienna Jaques, their relative level of sacrifice was similar.

Despite these and other donations, Joseph Smith had to borrow heavily, not only for the temple structure itself, but also to purchase land in Zion that could be settled by incoming converts.⁶ With the recent completion of the Ohio Canal, land prices in the area were rapidly increasing, and Joseph Smith—as well as his creditors—expected continuing increases in prices. In this expanding economy, large sums of money were tied up in land, but little capital was available for investment. Joseph and his associates attempted to establish a bank called the Kirtland Safety Society Bank in order to provide a local currency and source of credit. When the state legislature rejected his application for a charter, Joseph opened the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company.⁷ He apparently felt that the loyalty of his followers would prevent runs on this “bank,” runs that might topple the undercapitalized venture. Insufficient sums of “hard money,” reports of embezzlement of funds by some of the directors, and the Panic of 1837, which resulted in dropping land values, caused the entire enterprise to collapse.

Opposition to Joseph Smith and his followers had been constant ever since their arrival in the Kirtland area, but once it became obvious that Joseph Smith would never be able to pay his creditors, everyone left holding the worthless Kirtland Bank scrip (signed by Joseph himself) had cause for holding a personal grudge against him—and this group included many Mormons. As most property was purchased on time, creditors often waited until just before payments were due to demand payment on other IOUs (which circulated much like bank notes) signed or cosigned by the debtors. Hepzibah Richards wrote, “They level upon persons who have signed for others just when they can make the most trouble, take their property and sell it for a trifle. The printing office has been attached with all its contents. . . . Last week on Monday the printing office was sold at auction into the hands of dissenters.”⁸

As financial failures and foreclosures swept through the community, emotions escalated, and attempts were made to replace Joseph Smith as President. Warren Parrish, one of the Kirtland Bank directors who had been accused of issuing bank notes without authorization, led an opposition group that regularly disrupted meetings in the temple. In one of the more colorful skirmishes, Parrish and his cohorts interrupted a Sunday-morning speaker and then fled, brandishing pistols and bowie knives:⁹

Many in the congregation, especially women and children, were terribly frightened—some tried to escape from the confusion by jumping out of the windows. Amid screams and shrieks, the policemen, in ejecting the belligerents, knocked down a stovepipe, which fell helter-skelter among the people; but although bowie-knives and pistols were wrested from their owners, and thrown hither and thither to prevent disastrous results, no one was hurt, and after a short, but terrible scene to be enacted in a Temple of God, order was restored, and the services of the day proceeded as usual.¹⁰

While this commotion was going on inside, other “men jump[ed] out of the windows, them that had chicken[’]s hearts.”¹¹ On another occasion, one of Parrish’s group rushed the pulpits by running across the tops of the pews but was quickly hustled out of the temple.¹² As the physical manifestation of the Mormon faith, the temple was a natural setting and symbol for conflicts within the group.

Of course, these incidents of violence in the temple should not overshadow the role it continued to play in the religious life of the Saints living there. For example, Mary Fielding Smith writes about a “quiet comfortable waiting upon god in his House,” and others reported similar experiences.¹³ However, as these attacks became more numerous, prominent Mormon leaders who defended Joseph Smith received threats and were compelled to leave Kirtland.¹⁴ Finally, to avoid harassment from creditors and disgruntled Church members alike, Joseph Smith and his associate Sidney Rigdon left for Missouri by night on January 12, 1838.¹⁵ Far from obtaining safety, however, in the following year they and the other Saints in Missouri suffered violence that exceeded anything experienced in Kirtland. Considering the far-reaching implications of the Church’s financial troubles, the sacrifices made to build the temple were hard indeed.

Departure of the Saints

Kirtland had always been considered only a temporary gathering place, and with the removal of the Prophet to Missouri, many of those who had remained faithful to him decided to leave Kirtland and join him there. Meetings were held in the temple planning a mass migration, and after an attempt by dissenters to burn down the temple on May 22, these efforts were redoubled.¹⁶ On July 6, 1838—coincidentally two days following a cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new temple in Missouri—515 persons left for Far West.¹⁷ Later in the same month, a broadside was printed announcing the establishment of a new school occupying the temple building:

WESTERN RESERVE TEACHER’S SEMINARY AND KIRTLAND INSTITUTE

The Mormons of Kirtland, Geauga County Ohio, having broken up, and nearly all removed to the State of Missouri, it has been thought expedient to establish an institution of learning in the place, and thus occupy buildings which would otherwise remain comparatively useless. For this purpose, the use of their large and commodious Temple, has been secured for five years from the 1st Sept. 1838. In this edifice we have a single room sufficiently large to seat well, two hundred students. . . . NELSON SLATER, Principal. Kirtland, July 25, 1838.¹⁸

The broadside is not completely accurate, since a substantial number of Mormons did remain in Kirtland although they prudently kept a low profile. Presumably, the promise of income generated by the five-year lease kept creditors at bay, while the school continued the pattern set by the Kirtland High School, which had met earlier in the temple.

With the departure of most of the Saints from Kirtland, it is unclear if weekly worship services in the temple continued and, if they did, who might have officiated at them. Before long, however, opposition to the Saints must have waned, for by May 1839, Church members living in the eastern states were encouraged to settle in Kirtland, and a presiding authority was sent to oversee the group. Over one hundred members of the Church lived in Kirtland in 1840,¹⁹ and the following year, this number swelled to about five hundred, partly due to the arrival of English converts who did not have sufficient money to continue on to Nauvoo, Illinois. The community in Kirtland made plans to publish a newspaper, prepared the temple for a bell, and made capital investments in industrial enterprises.²⁰ However, in October of that year, Hyrum Smith wrote to the group in Kirtland instructing them to gather with the main body of Saints in Nauvoo. Most of the new arrivals, who had no ties to the area, followed this instruction, but established citizens with economic interests were slower to leave.

Ownership Issue

In 1844, with the murder of Joseph Smith by an armed mob in Carthage, Illinois, came a crisis in leadership over the Church. Both Sidney Rigdon, once a counselor in the presidency of the Church, and Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, claimed the right to succeed Joseph Smith. In a dramatic meeting in Nauvoo, each put forth his claim. The majority of the Saints supported Brigham Young.²¹ Although this settled the matter for most of the Saints in Nauvoo, such was not the case in Kirtland. While in Kirtland, Brigham Young had staunchly defended Joseph Smith against dissenters,²² and many still harbored feelings of animosity toward Brigham. Such feelings would have made it difficult for any of them to return to fellowship.

Parallel to the issue of who was going to lead the Church was the issue of who owned the temple. The original title to the temple, along with the titles to most Church property, was in Joseph Smith’s name. Determining who rightfully owned such property was no simple matter, with Brigham Young seeking to keep property in the name of the Church and Emma Hale Smith seeking to preserve some financial security for her family. Reuben McBride, who earlier had been given the power of attorney to act in Joseph Smith’s name, continued to oversee Church property in Kirtland and following Joseph’s death reported to Brigham Young. Apparently Brigham Young was anxious about maintaining legal ownership of the temple for the Church, for in July 1845, McBride informed Brigham that “there has been no suit instituted against the Church property nor no prospect of it.”²³

McBride also reported that Sidney Rigdon had been preaching in the temple as part of an attempt to win over former followers of Joseph Smith and gain control of the temple. No large following materialized, and Sidney Rigdon’s attempt to lead the Church remained unsuccessful. Ownership of the temple remained uncontested for another couple of months.²⁴

The small Mormon community in Kirtland that maintained allegiance to the Twelve finally lost control of the temple in the fall of 1845. Perhaps encouraged by the Council of the Twelve’s vote to abandon the United States and move to the Rocky Mountains or by reports of the unchecked burning of Mormon homes in Hancock County, Illinois, Jacob Bump and others wrested the temple away from the group. McBride reported that Bump and his followers were “the leaders of the rioters; they had broken into the House of the Lord, and taken possession of it, and were trying to take possession of the Church farm.”²⁵ However, absorbed in preparations for the westward trek and still trying to finish the temple in Nauvoo, Church leaders could do little to respond to the take-over in Kirtland.

In April 1846, just prior to the dedication and subsequent abandonment of the Nauvoo Temple, Church leaders discussed if it “would not be better to sell the Temple at Nauvoo and also the Temple and church property at Kirtland, Ohio, and with the proceeds assist the Saints to emigrate westward.”²⁶ This must have been a most difficult decision, for nearly all the Church leaders had sacrificed heavily to build the Kirtland Temple. Nevertheless, the council, under the direction of the pragmatic Brigham Young,

decided that the trustees might sell the Temples at Nauvoo and Kirtland, Ohio, and all other property of the Church and help the poor saints to move westward. The council considered that the Temple would be of no benefit to the saints, if they could not possess their private dwellings, and when the time should come that they should return and redeem their inheritances they would then redeem the Temple also; that a sale would secure it from unjust claims, mobs, fire and so forth, more effectually than for the Church to retain it in their hands.²⁷

The wisdom of this approach was borne out a few years later when the abandoned Nauvoo Temple was torched by an arsonist; the Kirtland Temple has survived its many vicissitudes precisely because someone in Kirtland has always possessed and occupied the structure, be it by squatter’s rights or legal entitlement.

On October 7, 1846, Almon Babbitt was instructed to sell Church property in Nauvoo and Kirtland. He apparently spent the fall trying to dispose of properties in Nauvoo and then left for Kirtland in January 1847.²⁸ He was reported to have sold the temple for $10,000.²⁹ However, Jacob Bump had taken possession of the keys of the temple in 1845, and his group had merged with William E. McLellin’s Church of Christ in 1846. Without the LDS Church having control over the temple, Babbitt could not have concluded the sale. It was likely this attempted sale that prompted the Church to file a title to the temple in the names of several trustees-in-trust (recorded in Painesville, Ohio).³⁰ But as often happens, possession apparently took precedence and the title had little effect, for the sale was never concluded.

McLellin, a former Apostle who had served under Joseph Smith,³¹ directed this group in Kirtland for another two years. Then a group led by James Brewster controlled the temple until 1851, although in 1850 a traveling photographer reported that the temple was empty and unused.³² Perhaps the small size of these groups made it advantageous for them to meet in private homes instead of in the temple. Finally, a group led by Zadoc Brooks, who claimed succession to Joseph Smith, held services in the temple throughout the late 1850s.³³ This last group eventually dissolved, with many former members joining the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A small RLDS congregation began meeting in the temple in 1860.³⁴

RLDS Ownership

With the establishment of the RLDS congregation, efforts to maintain the temple began in earnest. By 1860 the roof had been in service for thirty-five years and apparently had developed a number of leaks. A new roof was installed that summer, the exterior woodwork was painted, and the small congregation “promise[d] to restore the ancient splendor of the building.” To supplement the RLDS resources, the Kirtland community contributed towards the renovation.³⁵ Their support in part probably reflects the community’s use of the structure for occasional public assemblies. Despite this help, full renovation of the interior of the structure was beyond the resources of the small congregation; instead, only the worship space in the lower court was repaired and maintained for Sunday services.³⁶

When the Lake County Probate Court liquidated Joseph Smith’s properties in 1862 to pay off his old debts, his large land holdings were purchased by a businessman who quickly sold the temple to Russell Huntley for $150.³⁷ Huntley had joined the Mormon church in the 1840s and had affiliated with Brooks’s group in the 1850s, so he was familiar with the building and its historical importance.³⁸ One hundred fifty dollars was an extremely low price for a building that had just received a new roof and coat of paint, and it may reflect the fact that Huntley was one of the townspeople who had contributed generously for the repairs. In any event, Huntley had little chance of making a profit from the building. He offered the temple for sale for two thousand dollars (the approximate value of the recent repairs), touting it as a potential town hall, but the offer was rejected by the township trustees.³⁹ Unable to sell the building, Huntley continued to rent it to the local RLDS congregation for use as a meetinghouse. After joining the RLDS Church, Huntley sold the temple to Joseph Smith III and an associate, Mark Forscutt, for $150 in 1873.⁴⁰

Joseph Smith III, who was considered by members of the Reorganization to be the successor to his father, Joseph Smith Jr., hoped to resell the temple to pay off debts acquired in personal business.⁴¹ He came to Kirtland in 1875 to conclude the sale of the temple to the township for use as a school and town hall. But this time the impediment was not balky trustees but the lack of clear title. The deed that Joseph Smith III and Forscutt held to the temple was a quitclaim deed and not a full legal title. The trustees wanted to purchase only with a full legal title in the name of the RLDS Church. When Joseph Smith III tried to obtain such a deed, the financial officer of the RLDS Church refused to issue it, feeling that the temple should belong to members of the church as a whole.⁴²

The RLDS Church’s subsequent attempts to obtain a clear title resulted in a legal suit against the LDS Church and several individuals. The timing of the suit coincided with the uproar concerning the LDS practice of polygamy and virtually ensured a judgment in favor of the RLDS Church, which repudiated the practice.⁴³ Even if the RLDS Church had not obtained clear title in the 1880 decision, the passage of the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862, which required the LDS Church to forfeit all property in excess of fifty thousand dollars, and the subsequent Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887, which called on the attorney general to execute the 1862 act, would likely have resulted in the title being transferred to the RLDS Church.⁴⁴

RLDS Functions in the Temple

With the temple securely in the hands of the RLDS Church, members E. L. and Cassie Kelley moved to Kirtland to direct ecclesiastical affairs and the renovation of the building. One of their challenges was to convince the townspeople of Kirtland that the temple was a religious structure and not just a community center. Especially attractive to the town was the large upper court, which during these years did not contain fixed pews. The room was apparently used for a variety of community events. In 1874 the Grand Army of the Republic staged a memorial service in the lower court, followed by a banquet in the upper court. The large rooms, and even the “curiously wrought seats once occupied by the great modern false prophet and his apostles,” suited their needs.⁴⁵

Even when most civic events were diverted to an adjacent building owned by the RLDS Church and referred to as “the Hall,” the Kelleys had difficulty accommodating the wishes of the town and retaining the religious decorum appropriate to the temple. For instance, while her husband was away on church business, Cassie Kelley was asked for permission to use the temple grounds for a dance. She related:

The Captain came . . . and told me how they were making great preparations to have a grand time. Every thing would be in the best of style and guards would be out on duty to see that no roughs were allowed on the grounds. . . . so I let them use the Hall to dance in. I saw it was going to do us more injury to refuse under the circumstances.⁴⁶

The primacy of the temple’s religious mission at last became evident when the RLDS Church held important conferences there in 1883, 1887, 1891, 1896, and 1904.⁴⁷ During the 1920s and 1930s, week-long camp meetings held on the temple grounds, called temple reunions, became a prominent part of RLDS culture. Although regular Sunday services are no longer held in the temple, the numerous visitors to the temple attest to its important place in the religious life of members of both the RLDS and LDS Churches.