Lineal Succession (Latter Day Saints) - The Office of Church President

The Office of Church President

During his lifetime Joseph Smith Jr. held the offices of Prophet, President of the Church, President of the First Presidency, President of the High Priesthood, and Trustee-in-Trust for the Church. At the time of Joseph's assassination in 1844, most Latter Day Saints agreed that his brother, Hyrum Smith, would have been chosen successor, had he not also been assassinated. Another likely successor was Samuel Harrison Smith, another brother, who died under questionable circumstances less than one month later. A few asserted that the remaining Smith brother, William, should become Church President, and William for a time made that claim and gathered a small faction of followers around him.

Many Latter Day Saints believed that a son of Joseph Smith Jr. should be the successor to the church presidency. Several prominent leaders asserted that a patriarchal blessing given to the eldest son, Joseph Smith III, designated the boy to succeed his father. However, at the time of his father's death, Joseph III was only 11 years old.

As a result, many leaders arose who either argued against lineal succession or suggested that the Church would have to wait for Joseph Smith III to mature. The largest group, led by Brigham Young, were proponents of a system whereby the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles would succeed to the Church Presidency. This system of Apostolic succession continues in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Other Latter Day Saints living in the Midwest continued to support lineal succession and in 1860, they invited Joseph Smith III to become President of what would later be called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, known today as Community of Christ. This Church continued to appoint Presidents who were patrilineal descendants of Joseph Smith, Jr. until 1996, when President Wallace B. Smith (a great-grandson of the Latter Day Saint founder) designated W. Grant McMurray (who was not a descendant) as his successor. Abandonment outside of lineal succession was a factor that caused a recent schism and foundation of several small Latter Day Saint churches, including the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which accepted Frederick Niels Larsen, a grandson of Frederick M. Smith through his daughter Lois, as its Prophet-President.