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Source: Church History Vol. 3 Chapter 18 Page: 345 (~1863-1864)

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345 CHAPTER 18.

IN preceding chapters we have spoken of different factions springing out of the original church soon after the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, among others, that body led by a majority of the Quorum of the Twelve who went west with a colony into what now is known as Salt Lake Valley, Utah, where they rebaptized and reordained each other, and also rebaptized those who were with them. A part of them then returned to Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they formed what they called a reorganization of the church, elevating Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards to the Presidency.

There is no record of which we are aware that these three men received any special ordination to the positions they then assumed. They were simply selected, first by four members of their quorum (as it existed at the death of Joseph Smith) aside from themselves, and then by about one thousand members of the church, according to their own estimate, which is too large when we consider the building occupied. Brigham Young said it was a "capacious log house, sixty by forty feet inside, and will seat one thousand persons." (Millennial Star, vol. 10, p. 114.) This would necessitate seating them in a space averaging two and two fifths square feet to each person. According to usual rules of computation the building would seat about six hundred persons.

That these men received no ordination to these positions is evident from the fact that no record was made of it, and

(page 345)

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