Monday, June 27, 2016 – Commemoration of the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum

The Commemoration program of the Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum was today. It was 172 years ago today that a mob of about 200 men stormed the Carthage jail and killed the Prophet and his brother.

Sis. Johnson and I helped set up over 270 chairs for the audience. Last year the attendees of the Martyrdom Program were estimated to be about 400. If we have 400 attend today, there well be a lot of people standing because there simply will not be enough chairs for everyone.

Well . . . So much for estimates! The crowd was huge. Far more people attended today’s program than were ever expected. Sis. Johnson & I brought out two chairs from our house but I gave up mine so Sis. Metcalf would have a seat. Since I was already standing during the program, I made my way all the way around the crowd of people and did a count of the attendees. I came up with the total number at the program to be 916! That is over double the expected attendance.

Elder John Taylor, who miraculously survived Carthage, wrote an account of the event and a eulogy to the Prophet, which are found in D&C 135. “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it” (v. 3).

He added that the names of Joseph and Hyrum Smith “will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world” (v. 6).

The martyrdom, he said, fulfilled an important spiritual purpose: Joseph “lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!” (v. 3). (Institute Student Manuel: Church History in the Fullness of Times, chp 22, The Martyrdom)