View source for Lyman Wight

{{Short description|Latter Day Saint movement leader}}
{{Infobox Latter Day Saint biography
 | name                = Lyman Wight
 | image               = Lymanwight8.gif
 | birth_date          = {{Birth date|1796|05|09}}
 | birth_place         = [[Fairfield, New York|Fairfield]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
 | death_date          = {{death date and age|1858|03|31|1796|05|09}}
 | death_place         = [[Mountain Valley, Texas|Mountain Valley]], [[Texas]], United States
 | portals             = Movement
<!-- Latter Day Saint Leadership  -->
 | position_or_quorum1 = [[President of the Church|President]] of the [[Church of Christ (Wightite)|Church of Christ]]<ref>{{Citation|title=The Historical magazine, and notes and queries concerning the antiquities, history, and biography of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3sFAAAAQAAJ&q=Wightite&pg=PA85|volume=3|year=1959|publisher= C. Benjamin Richardson: Trübner & co.|location= London|page=12| access-date = July 26, 2010}}</ref>
 | called_by1          = 
 | ordination_reason1  = [[Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|Succession crisis]]
 | predecessor1        = [[Joseph Smith]]
 | successor1          = None
 | start_date1         = 1844<!-- {{start date|yyyy|mm|dd|mf=yes}} -->
 | end_date1           = 1858<!-- {{end date|yyyy|mm|dd|mf=yes}} -->
 | position_or_quorum2 = [[Quorum of the Twelve#Members of the Quorum, prior to 1844|Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]]
 | called_by2          = Joseph Smith
 | start_date2         = {{start date|1841|04|08}}
 | end_date2           = {{end date|1848|12|03}}
 | end_reason2         = Excommunicated for apostasy
 | position_or_quorum3 = [[Latter Day Saint]] [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]]
 | called_by3          = Joseph Smith
 | start_date3         = {{start date|1841|04|08}}
 | ordination_reason3  = Replenishing Quorum of the Twelve<ref>The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had not had twelve members since September 3, 1837, when [[Luke Johnson (Mormon)|Luke S. Johnson]], [[John F. Boynton]], and [[Lyman E. Johnson]] were disfellowshipped and removed from the Quorum. Since that time, [[William E. McLellin]] and [[Thomas B. Marsh]] had been excommunicated and removed from the Quorum; [[David W. Patten]] had been killed; and [[John Taylor (Latter Day Saints)|John Taylor]], [[John E. Page]], [[Wilford Woodruff]], [[George A. Smith]], and [[Willard Richards]] had been added to the Quorum. Wight's addition to the Quorum brought the membership in the Quorum of the Twelve to twelve members again.</ref>
 | end_date3           = {{end date|1848|12|03}}
 | end_reason3         = Excommunicated for apostasy
 | reorganization3     = [[Charles C. Rich]], [[Lorenzo Snow]], [[Erastus Snow]], and [[Franklin D. Richards (Mormon apostle)|Franklin D. Richards]] ordained<ref>Four new apostles were ordained to bring the Quorum to twelve members after Wight's excommunication and the reorganization of the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] under [[Brigham Young]].</ref>
 | list_notes          = After the death of Joseph Smith, Wight felt compelled to follow the orders Joseph Smith had given him to found a safe haven for the Latter-day Saints in the [[Republic of Texas]]. Brigham Young tried to get Wight and his group to join the main body of Mormonism, in Utah, several times, but Wight refused each time. Wight was eventually excommunicated in December 1848.
}}
'''Lyman Wight''' (May 9, 1796 – March 31, 1858) was an early leader in the [[Latter Day Saint movement]]. He was the leader of the Latter Day Saints in [[Daviess County, Missouri]], in 1838. In 1841, he was ordained a member of the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]]. After the [[death of Joseph Smith]] resulted in a [[Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|succession crisis]], Wight led his own break-off group of Latter Day Saints to [[Texas]], where they created a settlement. While in Texas, Wight broke with the main body of the [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|group]] led by [[Brigham Young]]. Wight was ordained [[President of the Church|president]] of his own church, but he later sided with the claims of [[William Smith (Latter Day Saints)|William Smith]], and eventually of [[Joseph Smith III]]. After his death, most of the "'''Wightites'''" (as members of this church were called) joined with the [[Community of Christ|Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]] (RLDS Church).

==Early life==
[[File:Harriett Wight.jpg|125px|thumbnail|left|Harriet (Benton) Wight]]
Lyman Wight was born to Levi Wight and Sarah Corton on May 9, 1796, in [[Fairfield, New York]]. He fought in the [[War of 1812]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=McCune|first=George M.|title=Personalities in the Doctrine and Covenant and Joseph Smith–History|publisher=Hawkes Publishing, Inc.|year=1991|isbn=0890365180|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|pages=153|oclc=25553656}}</ref> On January 5, 1823, he married Harriet Benton in [[Henrietta, New York]]. Sometime around 1826, Wight moved to [[Warrensville Township, Ohio]], and was baptized into the Reformed Baptist (later Disciples of Christ or Campbellite) faith by [[Sidney Rigdon]] in May 1829. In February 1830, Wight united with [[Isaac Morley]] and others in forming a common stock utopian society in [[Kirtland, Ohio]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} He eventually married four wives and had eleven children.<ref name=":0" />

==Service in the church==
Wight was baptized a member of the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] by [[Oliver Cowdery]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} on November 14, 1830. He was ordained to the high priesthood in June 1831 by Joseph Smith Jr. and was tasked with traveling from Kirtland to [[Missouri]] with [[John Corrill]], preaching along the way.<ref name=":0" /> He also ordained Joseph Smith Jr., Joseph Smith Sr., Sidney Rigdon, and many others at this time to the high priesthood.<ref>Minutes, circa 3–4 June 1831, p. 4, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 14, 2024, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-circa-3-4-june-1831/2#12275061506993720967.</ref> He stated he had seen Jesus Christ.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Volume 1: July 1828-June 1831|year=2014|isbn=978-1-60907-577-4|pages=323|last1=Jessee|first1=Dean C.|last2=MacKay|first2=Michael Hubbard|last3=Esplin|first3=Ronald K.|last4=Bushman|first4=Richard L.|last5=Dirkmaat|first5=Gerrit John|last6=Underwood|first6=Grant|last7=Grow|first7=Matthew J.|publisher=Church Historian's Press }}</ref> Shortly afterwards, Wight went to Missouri, and later [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], to preach, where he baptized over 100 people.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} Wight served eleven [[Mission (LDS Church)|missions]] as a member of the church.<ref name=":0" />

===Jackson County conflict and Zion's Camp===
With many of his converts, Wight went to settle in [[Independence, Missouri]], to build the "[[City of Zion (Mormonism)|City of Zion]]". The [[Mormons]] in [[Jackson County, Missouri|Jackson County]] were at odds with their non-Mormon neighbors, who resorted to vigilantism to drive the church from the county.

On July 23, 1833, Wight signed an agreement with the vigilantes which specified that the Latter Day Saints would leave Jackson County by 1834. The Saints were driven out anyway into neighboring [[Clay County, Missouri|Clay County]]. The church membership called on several elders to go up to Kirtland to tell Joseph Smith about the events. When the elders refused, Wight stepped forward to make the journey, despite his wife being ill with a three-day-old child and only three days of food. [[Parley P. Pratt]] volunteered to go with Wight.

Wight and Pratt arrived in [[Kirtland, Ohio]], on February 22, 1834. Two days later, they testified about the conflict in Missouri to the newly formed [[presiding high council|high council]]. This led to the organization of [[Zion's Camp]]. Smith sent out men, two by two, to recruit volunteers. Wight left on April 21 with [[Hyrum Smith]] to recruit from the northwestern United States. Recruitment was difficult, as many people did not want to leave their homes to defend others in Missouri. Smith and Wight recruited about twenty individuals, including [[Hosea Stout]], who was not a church member at the time but was impressed with their preaching. They met with the main company on June 8 at the [[Salt River (Missouri)|Salt River]] in Missouri, bringing the total to 207 men, 11 women, 11 children, and 25 wagons.

Wight tolerated the conditions of the company—including the eating of moldy and rancid food—under the promises from Joseph Smith that they would not be afflicted by it. After a 900-mile march, the members of the camp reached Missouri where they were smitten with [[cholera]]. They were then discharged without having accomplished their goal of returning the Latter Day Saints to Jackson County. At the end of Zion's Camp, Wight wrote up the discharge orders, and remained in Missouri according to Smith's request.

===Itinerant preaching===
For the remainder of 1834, Wight worked making bricks in Missouri, and built a large brick house for Colonel Arthur of Clay County, employing several others, including [[Wilford Woodruff]].

In 1835, Wight was encouraged to travel to the [[Kirtland Temple|temple at Kirtland]]. While on the journey, he preached. He stopped by [[Richmond, Indiana]]. He knew that people in the area were antagonistic towards the Mormons, yet he made an appointment to preach at the courthouse. At the appointed time, he went to the courthouse. People with tar and feathers filled the room, ready to lynch him. The event is described thus:
<blockquote>He preached about two hours, reproving them most severely for their meanness, wickedness and mobocratic spirit. At the close of the meeting he said, "If there is a gentleman in this congregation, I wish he would invite me to stay with him overnight." Whereupon, a gentleman stepped forward and tendered him an invitation, which he willingly accepted. His host said, "Mr Wight, it is astonishing how you have become so well acquainted with the people here, for you have described them very correctly." He was kindly entertained and furnished with money in the morning to aid him on his journey.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jenson |first1=Andrew |title=Latter-day Saint biographical encyclopedia: a compilation of biographical sketches of prominent men and women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |date=1901 |publisher=The Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |page=94 |edition=Vol. I |url=https://archive.org/stream/latterdaysaintbi01bjens#page/94 |access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref></blockquote>

===Mormon leader in Daviess County===
[[File:Lyman Wight Home.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|{{center|Residence of Lyman Wight at Adam-ondi-Ahman in 1838 (lean-to on the end of building is not part of the original residence)}}]]

Staying the winter in Kirtland, Wight set out to return to Missouri in 1836. In 1837, apostle [[David W. Patten]] accused him of teaching false doctrine, for which he was tried before the high council in [[Far West, Missouri|Far West]]. Being found guilty, Wight made the necessary acknowledgments and apologies.

Settling near the [[Grand River (Missouri)|Grand River]] in [[Daviess County, Missouri]], on about February 1, 1838, Wight built a house and later a ferry which became known as "Wight's Ferry". On May 19, 1838, Joseph Smith paid a visit to Wight's home and ferry. It was from his house that Smith received a [[revelation (Latter Day Saints)|revelation]] about [[Adam-ondi-Ahman]] and foretold the future gathering there.

On June 28, 1838, at a conference of local church members, Smith organized a [[stake (Latter Day Saints)|stake]] at Adam-ondi-Ahman, with his uncle [[John Smith (uncle of Joseph Smith)|John Smith]] as president, with [[Reynolds Cahoon]] and Wight as counselors. With the organization, members began settling in the area, including new members and refugees from Kirtland.

Wight had also become a Colonel in the 50th regiment of the Missouri Regiment, in the state militia, under the command of General H. G. Parks. By end of June, he was also head of the [[Danite]] organization in Daviess County. Between his several roles, Wight became the preeminent leader of the Latter Day Saints in the county.

===The Mormon War===
In the summer of 1838, the troubles of the [[Mormon War (1838)|Mormon War]] began with events on the [[Mormon War (1838)#Gallatin Election Day Battle|Gallatin Election Day Battle]]. In response, Wight armed over 150 men at this time to defend the Latter Day Saints in Daviess County. Wight was accused, along with Joseph Smith, of organizing an army and threatening and harassing various old settlers of the county. Smith and Wight agreed to be tried in order to ease the tensions in the area. On September 7, 1838, they were presented before Judge [[Austin A. King]], who ordered them to stand trial before the circuit court on bail of $500.

After the trial, emotions did not abate on either side. The Mormons and non-Mormons in Daviess County engaged in non-fatal conflicts. Non-Mormon vigilantes from other counties came to the county and began to harass the Latter Day Saints in outlying areas, burning their homes and looting their property. Refugees began pouring into Adam-ondi-Ahman, seeking protection. The Mormon response was to call up armed volunteers from [[Caldwell County, Missouri|Caldwell County]]. Combining with the Daviess men, the Mormons split into three groups and raided the chief non-Mormon settlements. Wight led the raid on Millport. The old settlers and their families fled and Wight and his men looted their property and burned their homes to the ground.<ref>Baugh, pp.&nbsp;86–87.</ref>

Following these actions, the [[Battle of Crooked River]] took place. Smith advised every church member to go to Adam-ondi-Ahman or Far West for protection and strength. When Far West fell under siege after the [[Missouri Executive Order 44]], Wight organized members in Adam-ondi-Ahman to assist them. No battle took place, however, as Wight and the other Mormon leaders were arrested by the state militia and the Mormon militia subsequently surrendered.

While in custody of the state troops, Wight endured the mockery and vulgarity of the troops, lying in the ground in the rain. A court martial which might have led to Wight's execution was averted by General [[Alexander William Doniphan]] of [[Clay County, Missouri|Clay County]], who challenged the legality of any such court. Instead, Wight and the other leaders were tried in the civil courts. Wight and other leaders were allowed to escape from jail during their transfer to [[Boone County, Missouri|Boone County]] on April 6, 1839.

===Nauvoo era===
Wight was ordained an [[apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostle]] of the church by Smith on April 8, 1841, to replace Patten, who had died in the Battle of Crooked River in 1838. Wight and [[George Miller (Latter Day Saints)|George Miller]] became co-responsible for a common-stock, religious cooperative company/church mill and logging town in the wilderness of Wisconsin. Much lumber for the [[Nauvoo Temple]] and the [[Nauvoo House]] were floated down the Mississippi River from the several Mormon mills in the area.

==Succession crisis and Wightite colony==

===Split with the LDS Church===
During the [[succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|succession crisis]] after Smith's death, Wight felt compelled to follow the orders Smith had given him to found a safe haven for the Latter Day Saints in the [[Republic of Texas]]. Brigham Young attempted several times to persuade Wight to join the main body of Latter-day Saints, which he had organized as [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] in the [[Alta California]] area of [[Mexico]], which would become the [[Utah Territory]] in 1850. However, Wight refused each time.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}} He rejected Young as a prophet.<ref name=":0" /> Wight was eventually [[Church membership council|excommunicated]] by Young on December 3, 1848;<ref>{{Harvnb|Johnson|2006|p=122}}</ref> his most prominent follower, [[Bishop (Latter Day Saints)|Bishop]] [[George Miller (Latter Day Saints)|George Miller]], was also disfellowshipped.

===Zodiac, Texas===
Wight moved his group of Latter Day Saints to the Republic of Texas and he would eventually found several communities on the central Texas frontier. Wight's followers built the first Latter Day Saint [[Temple (Latter Day Saints)|temple]] west of the Mississippi. The temple was built in [[Zodiac, Texas]],{{sfn|Johnson|2006|p=125}} about three miles from [[Fredericksburg, Texas|Fredericksburg]]. [[Sealing (Latter Day Saints)|Sealings]], [[Ordination#Latter Day Saint movement|ordinations]], [[washing and anointing]]s, and [[Law of adoption (Mormonism)|adoptions]] were performed in this temple by the Wightites.

The only remaining material infrastructure of the colony is the Mormon Mill cemetery near Hamilton Creek, about fifty miles east by north of Fredericksburg.

===President of the Church of Christ (Wightite)===
Wight would later recognize William Smith as the president of the [[William Smith (Mormonism)#Later involvement with Latter Day Saint groups|Latter Day Saints]] for a short time and served as a counselor in Smith's short-lived [[First Presidency]]. After 1849, Wight wrote and stated that he believed the prophetic mantle of church leadership should fall on the shoulders of Joseph Smith's sons. By then, Wight had rejected Brigham Young, William Smith, and [[James Strang]] as pretenders to be Smith's successor. In 1851, after the [[Pedernales River]] overflowed its banks and destroyed Zodiac, the Wightite colonists moved to [[Burnet County, Texas|Burnet County]], establishing [[Mormon Mill, Burnet County, Texas|Mormon Mill]].

==Death==
Wight died on March 31, 1858, in [[Mountain Valley, Texas]] at the age of 61. He had been experiencing [[epileptic spasms]].<ref name=":0" /> Wight had been living in Texas with a small remnant of his colony. His group had been traveling to Jackson County, Missouri, where he wished to rejoin the remainder of the [[:Category:Josephite denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|mid-western Latter Day Saints]]. He was buried in his [[temple robes]] at the Mormon cemetery at Zodiac, which no longer exists. After Wight's death, most of his followers became members of the RLDS Church (renamed the Community of Christ in 2001), led by Joseph Smith III.

==See also==
*[[Castell, Texas]]
*[[WIKTIONARY:Castellite|Castellite]]s

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{citation |author-link= Alexander L. Baugh |last= Baugh |first= Alexander L. |title= A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri |place= Provo, Utah |publisher= [[BYU Studies]] |year= 2000 |isbn= 0842524703 |oclc= 45456708 }}
*{{citation |last= Johnson |first= Melvin C. |url= http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/43/ |title= Polygamy On The Pedernales: Lyman Wight's Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas, 1845 to 1858 |place= Logan, Utah |publisher= [[Utah State University Press]] |year= 2006 |isbn= 0-87421-627-3 |lccn= 2005035650 |oclc= 62728463 }}
*{{citation |last= Van Wagenen |first= Michael |title= The Texas Republic and the Mormon Kingdom of God |place= College Station |publisher= Texas A&M University Press |year= 2002 |isbn= 1-58544-184-8 |lccn= 2001006772 |oclc= 48475601 }}
*[http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/lyman-wight Biography] of Lyman Wight, The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed May 10, 2012)
*Laughlin, David L., [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/1422 David L. Laughlin Research Files], (MSS 2327), L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Wight|first=Jermy Benton|title=The Wild Ram of the Mountain: The Story of Lyman Wight|year=1996|publisher=J.B. Wight|isbn=978-0-9651163-7-4}}

==External resources==
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070821151325/http://www.gapages.com/wightl1.htm Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Lyman Wight]}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070706063301/http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/saints/lymanwight.htm#wight Lyman Wight, "Saints Without Haloes"], [[Leonard J. Arrington]] and [[Davis Bitton]]. [[Signature Books]].
* [http://www.io.com/~xeke/mormons2.htm Lyman Wight's Mormon Colony in Texas] excerpt from "Mormon Trails" chapter in ''Hill Country'' travel guide by Richard Zelade (2001).  Accessed online August 6, 2007.
*[http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/archival_objects/6298 Davis Bitton papers on Lyman Wight, 1849-1996], [[L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library|L. Tom Perry Special Collections]]
*[http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/7586 Lyman Wight records of baptisms for the dead], L. Tom Perry Special Collections

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|[[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]] titles<br><small>Later renamed: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1844)</small>}}
{{succession box
| title= [[Quorum of the Twelve|Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]]
| years= April 8, 1841 – 3 December 1848
| before=[[Willard Richards]]
| after= [[Amasa M. Lyman]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{LDSApostles}}
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{{LDS sects/Additional Latter Day Saint sects}}
{{Community of Christ}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wight, Lyman}}
[[Category:1796 births]]
[[Category:1838 Mormon War]]
[[Category:1858 deaths]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saint leaders]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saint missionaries]]
[[Category:Apostles (LDS Church)]]
[[Category:Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)]]
[[Category:Converts to Mormonism from Restoration Movement denominations]]
[[Category:Danites]]
[[Category:Doctrine and Covenants people]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saint leaders]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saint movement in Texas]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Texas]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Texas]]