| 655 "Unfortunately for me, poverty has been my lot ever since I was called to the ministry; and it has been through much tribulation that I have had to labor in the vineyard since that."-Times and Seasons, vol. 2, p. 252.
In the winter of 1842-43 he was a member of the Illinois Legislature elected from Hancock County, and his service, so far as we have learned, gave general satisfaction.
After the death of his brothers, William Smith never fully agreed with Brigham Young and his colleagues; yet he submitted to be ordained, under their hands, to the office of Patriarch to succeed his brother Hyrum, but without relinquishing his position as a member of the quorum of Twelve. Subsequently, however, he refused to affiliate with them, renounced their claims to the Presidency, and announced his claim to preside over the church temporarily as the guardian of the eldest son of his brother Joseph, who, he contended, was the rightful successor. He had some following for a time, but the organization that he effected gradually declined, and was finally disrupted. After many moves he finally settled at Elkader, Iowa, where he resided many years.
On April 9, 1878, on his request and by action of General Conference, he was received into the Reorganization on his original baptism, and the next day by the same authority his name was enrolled with the High Priests' Quorum. After reuniting with the church he did some missionary work, but his age prevented him from being very active. A certain inaccurate historian has written that he officiated as Patriarch in the Reorganized Church, but this is a mistake. He was connected with the High Priests' Quorum until his death, which occurred November 13, 1893, at his home in Osterdock, Clayton County, Iowa.
THOMAS B. MARSH.
Thomas B. Marsh was the eleventh apostle chosen, but in the final arrangement he was the first. He was born in Acton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, November 1, 1799. The family removed to New Hampshire, and when he was fourteen years of age he left home and went to Vermont, thence to Albany, New York; and then to New York City.
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