Child Prophet: The Curious Case Of John Willard Young, A Mormon Apostle

[KevinG]

Stop the personal comments and stick to the topic.

 

Yes ma'am...  

[CMZ]

And, does the present determination the proper route invalidate what was done in the past?

 

Not really, especially since it's always been the most senior apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve who has become the president, so there's nothing really to invalidate.

[CMZ]

That's the thing. The way some are approaching it, as if it was just a lack of communication between God and his prophet, carries with it the understanding it was a mistake or it was something that should not have been done. How do we know know it was a mistake? Maybe different isn't wrong? The way they did it back then was right, the way we are doing it now is right, and in a hundred years the way the prophetess decides to do it will be right also.

 

Uh, no. I have been typing all my comments rather quickly and without the time to fully explain them all. Nothing I have said should inspire a lack of confidence though. What I have been getting at is that at times when it didn't really matter and wasn't much of an issue (i.e., prophet alive and kicking fairly good and not at death's door) then it didn't matter too much what someone may have thought of how succession should work. But when circumstances pressed a clear decision then I do believe that the decisions that were made were the proper decisions AND made under the inspiration of Almighty God AND that they helped the Church finally arrive, step by step, at the proper manner of succession. It could be that some future circumstance may necessitate further clarification... maybe. But if that's the case there will be a senior apostle around to receive revelation on how to handle it (yes, I am aware that there is provision made for what to do if for some reason we are left with no living apostle).

Edited September 30, 2015 by CMZ

[Avatar4321]

Wasn't JW supposed to be doing some work in the east for the church? I can't remember

[longview]

Was Oliver Cowdery a member of the quorum of the 12 at the time of Joseph's death?

No. He was excommunicated in 1838. Joseph Smith was martyred in 1844.  Besides Oliver was 2nd Elder to the church (JS was 1st Elder).

 

This thread is about Williard Young and has evolved into a discussion on what was viewed as a proper succession route to being the prophet.

In your opening post you presented this quote:

" . . . On that occasion, President Brigham Young ordained John Willard’s two older brothers, Joseph Angell and Brigham Jr., to be apostles as well, and set all three of his sons apart to be “Assistant Counselors to the President.”

"Asst. counselors to the President" sounds a lot like "Assistants to the Twelve" that were in use back in the 60's that were later reconstituted into an expanded First Quorum of the Seventy. BY may have called his sons to be asst. counselors as a personal expediency, not intended as formal part of church government.

[Avatar4321]

Oliver was ordained to the sponsorship the same time Joseph was.

Not sure if he was ever restored to it after His baptism though

[Bob Crockett]

Wasn't JW supposed to be doing some work in the east for the church? I can't remember

 JW was not a believer.  He was a member of the First Presidency and was pretty capable with railroad and business interests when the Church needed him most.  He also was a lobbyist.

 

Brigham Young had some very capable sons who served the Church well in their way and JW was one of them.  Brigham Young also had a son who went to West Point and became a Brigadier General in the Army.

 

JW's son was involved in a notorious suicide in NY at about the time of JW's departure from the church. 

 

And then there's Angus Young, lead guitarist for AC/DC.

[jkwilliams]

JW was not a believer.  He was a member of the First Presidency and was pretty capable with railroad and business interests when the Church needed him most.  He also was a lobbyist.

 

Brigham Young had some very capable sons who served the Church well in their way and JW was one of them.  Brigham Young also had a son who went to West Point and became a Brigadier General in the Army.

 

JW's son was involved in a notorious suicide in NY at about the time of JW's departure from the church. 

 

And then there's Angus Young, lead guitarist for AC/DC.

Don't forget his Canadian descendant, Neil.

[ALarson]

 JW's son was involved in a notorious suicide in NY at about the time of JW's departure from the church. 

From what I read, this was a murder.  John W. Young's son (Hooper Young) claimed that another man killed the prostitute (Anna Pulitzer) but then plead guilty to 2nd degree murder.  He was sentenced to hard labor for the duration of his natural life.  He served the sentence in Sing Sing prison for 20 years and then was paroled. The murder took place in John's apartment while he was out of the country.

 

Here's what Ardis E. Parshall found with her research on this:

 On the night of Sept. 16, Hooper convinced Mrs. Pulitzer to return to that room with him. Without money to pay for her services, he plied her with beer spiked with chloral hydrate – “knockout drops” – until she passed out on his bed and apparently stopped breathing. A panicked Hooper, believing she was dead, began to dismember the body so he could hide it in a trunk. Ironically, a coroner would later determine that she had not died from the drug, but had instead bled to death under Hooper’s knife.

 

Hooper rented the rig that would soon be traced to him, disposed of the body in that New Jersey canal, shipped the bloody trunk with Mrs. Pulitzer’s effects inside to a non-existent Chicago address, and, dressed as a tramp, disappeared into the night. When the police broke into the apartment there was no sign of Hooper, but there was plenty of evidence of the murder. There was also a notebook in Hooper’s handwriting, a list of Biblical scriptures headed by the phrase “Blood Atonement.”

 

http://www.keepapitchinin.org/archives/hooper-youngs-murder-of-anna-pulitzer/

Edited October 1, 2015 by ALarson