Testimony of the Mantle of Joseph Smith Falling Upon Brigham Young
Published October 16, 2026 at 12:07 AM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
Mary Thompson Richards and Nanny L. Richards, both present at the meeting in Nauvoo after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, testified that they witnessed the mantle of the Prophet Joseph Smith fall upon Brigham Young, observing that his voice, look, and gestures became those of Joseph the Prophet, confirming his status as the legal successor.
According to research conducted by Lynne W. Jorgensen, at least 101 written testimonies of the mantle experience have been identified, including 57 firsthand accounts. Brigham Young himself, in an account dated August 8, 1844, described his experience during the meeting as being filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, stating: 'I arose and spocke to the people. my hart was swolen with composion toards them and by the power of the Holy Gost even the spirit of the Prophets I was enabled to comfort the harts of the Saints.'
In Their Own Words
“I arose and spocke to the people. my hart was swolen with composion toards them and by the power of the Holy Gost even the spirit of the Prophets I was enabled to comfort the harts of the Saints. in the afternoon a corden to my request the people assembld by thousands[.] I lade before them the order of the church and the Power of the Preasthood. after a long and laboras talk of a bout two ours in the open air with the wind blowing, the church was of one hart and one mind[.] they wanted the twelve to lead the church as Br Joseph had dun in his day. — Brigham Young journal, August 8, 1844, in The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham, BYU Studies 36:4”
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 8 no. 10 (July 1897). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/9990 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 (Second Edition), BYU Studies https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/opening-the-heavens/documents-of-testimonies-of-the-mantle-experience Additional sources (periodical research): Lynne W. Jorgensen, 'The Mantle of the Prophet Joseph Passes to Brother Brigham: A Collective Spiritual Witness,' BYU Studies Quarterly 36, no. 4 (1996). https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-mantle-of-the-prophet-joseph-passes-to-brother-brigham-a-collective-spiritual-witness
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