George Miller (Latter Day Saints) - Succession Crisis and Break With Brigham Young

Succession Crisis and Break With Brigham Young

Upon hearing about the death of Joseph Smith, Miller returned to Nauvoo. A succession crisis ensued whereby a variety of men vied for the leadership of the Latter Day Saints. The majority of Latter Day Saints accepted the leadership of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve, and Miller provided luke-warm support for this decision. Because he was one of two bishops in the church, Miller was appointed by Young to be a legal trustee-in-trust for the church on 9 August 1844, Miller was sustained as the president of Nauvoo high priests quorum and the "Second Bishop of the Church" on 7 October 1844.

In 1845, Miller submitted to Young a proposal to construct a building for the high priests quorum in Nauvoo. Young, who by then had plans to lead the Latter Day Saints away from Nauvoo, rejected Miller's plan outright. This signalled the start of cool relations between Miller and Young which eventually led to Miller's abandonment of the organization led by Young. Although Miller left Nauvoo under Young's instructions in 1846 and came as far as Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Miller informed Young in January 1847 that he would not follow him to the Salt Lake Valley, as Young had planned. Rather, Miller accepted the leadership claims of Apostle Lyman Wight and emigrated with Wight and his followers to the Republic of Texas. Brigham Young disfellowshipped Miller from the church on 3 December 1848, but he was never formally excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.