| 35 In a publication issued by authority of William Smith some time before the April conference at Palestine, Illinois, in 1851, it is stated that William Smith, Joseph Wood, Aaron Hook, and two of the Twelve resided at Palestine, Illinois two of the Twelve at Voree, Wisconsin; and Lyman Wight, and eight of the Twelve in Texas; but that they were all expected to attend the conference to be held at Palestine in April, 1851. Those who were with Lyman Wight in Texas did not respond to the call. Whether the others did or not, we are not informed.
LYMAN WIGHT.
The next movement that we shall mention was that under Lyman Wight, another member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Some have represented him as being a claimant for the position of President of the Church as the successor of Joseph Smith, but this is a mistake. He led a colony to Texas, which continued an organization until and after his death in 1858. He never represented this as the church, but only as a branch of the church. He claimed that he was assigned a mission to Texas by Joseph Smith, and that he was there to prosecute that mission; but claimed no other authority than that which he held by virtue of his ordination to the apostleship and as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. He, like William Smith, maintained that "young Joseph" was the legal successor of his father by virtue of the law of lineage; and he further testified, as shown in his biography, that he was present and laid his hands, with President Smith, on the head of a "youth" who was blessed as the successor of Joseph Smith, and that it was then predicted that he was to occupy that office. (See this work, vol. 2, p. 789.)
Lyman Wight lived and died an honorable man, respected well by those who knew him best. The only thing that can be urged against his character is that about 1845 or 1846 he entered into the practice of polygamy, but we have seen no record of any teaching of his upon the subject.
On the occasion of his death the Galveston News, then as now the leading paper of Texas, published the following:-
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