William Appleby: His Vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith (1845) and a Life of Faithful Testimony

William Appleby (1811–1907) was a self-educated convert who became a leading elder, missionary, and eventually a president in the First Council of the Seventy. Baptized September 21, 1840, in the New Jersey pine barrens, he had hesitated for fear that learned men would think him a fool; his mother counseled him, 'If you feel it to be your duty to be baptized, go and do it never mind the school.' Appleby bore faithful testimony throughout the East, trusted the Lord for his health, and wrote pamphlets defending the Restoration.

In September 1845, during the succession crisis after the Martyrdom, he received a vision in which he saw the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, 'with tears rolling down his cheeks,' counseled him about the importance of the latter-day work and told him to 'never find any fault, or lift a hand against the Servants of God.' Appleby felt he understood the vision when he heard of William Smith's excommunication; it kept him faithful to the Twelve. He headed west in 1849, served missions back East, and remained steadfast—'The Lord Stood by me,' he said—all his days.