Hyrum Smith: A Life of Integrity

by Jeffrey S. O'Driscoll

In this welcome biography, author Jeffrey S. O’Driscoll paints an intimate portrait of Hyrum Smith, an exemplary disciple who stood by his prophet-brother through the glorious and trying days of the early restored Church. At Joseph’s side during dark months of confinement in Liberty Jail, Nauvoo’s rise to fame, and the martyrdom at Carthage, Hyrum was “as firm as the pillars of heaven.” Hyrum A Life of Integrity reveals the heart of this Church patriarch and assistant president through the words of those who knew him best and through the inspiring, unassuming sermon that was his life. Relying on painstaking research, the author helps us appreciate the character and invaluable contributions of this devoted husband, father, Church leader, and friend. Most important, we learn why the Lord said of Hyrum, “I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart.”

Table of Contents
Illustrations
Maps
Preface
Acknowledgments
“Joseph, I Can't Leave You”
“Remarkable for His Tenderness and Sympathy”
“Be Patient Until You Shall Accomplish It”
“Thy Duty Is Unto the Church Forever”
“All I Have Is the Lord's”
“Of One Heart and of One Mind"
“He Then Took the Flag . . . and Gave the Word to Move Forward”
“The Lord's House Built by His Commandment”
“The Meekness and Humility of Christ"
“The Burden of All the Churches”
“A Friend to the Prophet”
“As Firm as the Pillars of Heaven”
“To Bind Up the Broken Hearted”
“The Man of God, Fired with Heavenly Holy Zeal”
“As Honest as an Angel"
“I Have a Big Soul”
“A Monument of Greatness, Even in Death”
“The Integrity of His Heart”
Appendix A — The Teachings of Hyrum Smith
Appendix B — A Brief Chronology of the Life of Hyrum 1800-1844
Bibliography
Index

Genres: Religion, Biography, Nonfiction, Lds, History

444 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Jeffrey S. O’Driscoll, who earned his M.D. at the University of Utah, serves as chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. He has delivered papers at the Sperry and Book of Mormon Symposiums at Brigham Young University and has served on the Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society Writing Committee. Brother O’Driscoll served as an ordinance worker in the Salt Lake Temple for nearly fifteen years and has held numerous Church callings. He and his wife, Sheila, are the parents of five children.

Source: Deseret Book

Reviews

[Marren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three stars isn't a rating of the subject, just the way the content was presented. I found parts of this book difficult to follow because there were so many people and events discussed. It would have helped if the author had included reminders when referring back to something from a few chapters prior. To be fair, there are a lot of people causing intertwining events, which can get pretty complicated. Also, the book had fairly emotional language, which I'm generally not a fan of for nonfiction.

A plus, despite the emotional language, the author nearly always cited primary sources when discussing events and presenting quotes.

[Sherry Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually, I helped Jeff prepare this book for publication, so I'm not objective any longer about it as a read, but I loved working on it. Deseret Book asked him to organize it along the lines of McCullough's John Adam--a fairly daunting task. That changed the format considerably from an Hebraic almost mystical treatise of Hyrum's spiritual experiences and nature to a chronological format in a contemporary style. Hyrum is so little known that this book is a considerable effort to present him in relation to his more well known brother, and still differentiating them.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me so long to read because I just could not get into it. The names, dates, and places were travel-log-esque. (Boring) The last few chapters were more narrative and engaging, but mostly I felt like every known detail of Hyrum’s life was trying to be included, and it was not for the benefit of me getting to know Hyrum better.

[David Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book and learn quite a bit about Hyrum Smith. To learn of his love for his brother Joseph and all he went through with and for him was impressive. He loved his brother and the Lord and was faithful to the end.

[Kim Woodbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because Hyrum Smith is one of my ancestors, I loved learning more about him in this book. But I think anyone would enjoy reading this - it is thoroughly researched and well written and provides interesting insight into the life of this remarkable man.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked seeing early Church History from the perspective of where Hyrum was. He had in the middle of everything, helping with the establishment of the Church. I read this on my family's Church History bus trip.

[Terry Earley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am glad I read this one since I enjoy LDS Church history, especially when a book examines individuals such as this biography.

Still, there is relatively little material on Hyrum, since he spent much of his time in his brother Joseph's shadow. This book attempted to cover every scrap and as a result, tended to often get bogged down in the telling.

Hyrum played an important role which is seldom appreciated because he was so quietly competent and reliable. I did like learning about his practice of nearly always taking the side of pleading for mercy for even the most difficult apostates. he was successful in mediating many disputes. His most famous failure though was pleading for mercy in the case of Sidney Rigdon.

Like Brigham and Heber, Wandle acknowledged that this was not a one-day effort by the Patriarch. "Hyrum was a merciful man, he had labored with Sidney for months to reform and fill his place by the side of Joseph as he should do according to his station as counselor, and he pleaded before the conference for Sidney." Ultimately, Joseph said he was willing to let Sidney retain his station, provided he would magnify his office and conduct himself in all honesty, righteousness and integrity. But, Joseph added, "I have no confidence in him judging from the past, and if you do not cast him off now the time will come when you will wish you had have done it."

William Marks motioned that Sidney be retained in the First Presidency. Hyrum seconded the motion, which the conference then passed. Joseph's response was chilling. He arose and said, "I have thrown him off my shoulders, and you have again put him on me. You may carry him, but I will not."

Joseph was proven right when, after their deaths, Sidney tried to seize control of the Church as "Guardian".

This book did fill some gaps for me. I do know and appreciate Hyrum better.

[Malinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of this book. I appreciated learning more about this wonderful man but I felt like the 403 page book could have been edited down to just a handful of chapters. I didn't appreciate all of the fluff and passages of scripture that the author applied here and there without any real reason. I found the chapters talking about his missionary service especially tedious as the author made sure to mention nearly every meal that Hyrum had and every place he slept. That being said, I did feel like I got a better picture of the character of Hyrum and loved learning little things here an there that made me appreciate him even more. For example, I had no idea that Hyrum Smith went away to school in his youth on a scholarship because he was gifted and that for a while he was a teacher. Anyway, there were some gems in there but not enough meat for me to recommend it to anyone.

[Layne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thankful that this book exists. Most of us know very little about Hyrum Smith. He certainly was a man of great character.

The book is more factual than story-like. If you are expecting something similar to what David McCullough has done with his books, like John Adams, you will be disappointed. I felt like this was more of a history of the church with Hyrum's life woven into it. I was hoping that it would be a bit more of the history of Hyrum Smith with the history of the Church in the background. Obviously the two are interwoven, but when I finished the book I didn't feel like I really "knew" Hyrum Smith. Yes, I knew more about him, but I don't feel like this book explored who Hyrum really was.

Overall I am very pleased that I read the book and would recommend it to anyone seeking to know more about him.

[Suzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book supports a comment made by Elder M. Russell Ballard: "It is an error to put Joseph as a stand-alone figure. In Joseph's greatest hours of need, Hyrum was there." The relationship between Joseph and Hyrum was beautiful, and Hyrum was always there for Joseph. He truly was one of the noble and great ones, and a man of great integrity. This book helped me learn many things about the Smiths and deepened my love and appreciation for them.
Read again, April 2014.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always had a special respect and admiration for Hyrum Smith and I enjoyed learning more about him. I appreciate the author's attempt to focus on Hyrum without repeating all of Church history, but sometimes it couldn't be avoided. I did learn some interesting things I had not known before, but by the last chapter (which was a repeat of Hyrum's teachings arranged topically) I was just impatient to be done with it.

[Nicola Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I studied the Doctrine and Covenants this year as well as some in depth church history and then I read this book. I really enjoyed all the detail and depth that it had. I was captivated by another view point of this period in history and looking at the Prophet Joseph through new eyes as well. I think that if you really want to know as much as you can about Hyrum, his family, and his life, then this is the book for you.

[Mariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hyrum is an amazing example to me. But, I wasn't fond of this book. I was rather disappointed. It was more of a chronilogical review of numerous events that happened in his life. I was hoping for it to be some well-written, spiritual happenings. But, it felt like reading a timeline. It didn't help me to feel more aquainted with Hyrum or sense any spiritual value in the book.

[Tmillet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched biography of Hyrum Smith. One of the very few long biographies that I've finished in hardcopy form, (as opposed to audiobook). Gives a good account of his doings and work in the church; dates, places, original documents all seem to be well researched. I kind of felt like I knew a lot of what Hyrum did in his life but not a lot of who he was after finishing this book.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always had a soft spot for Hyrum, but this book just made that spot softer than ice cream in Death Valley. It follows his life chronologically with chapters that alternate between simple events and analysis on his character and its development. Hyrum truly had the meekness and humility of Christ, as Joseph said of him.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoy reading about Joseph Smith, this book on Hyrum was just as enjoyable.
i have had the joy in meeting one of Hyrums grandsons...well one of his great great great grandsons. when we spoke each time and he told me of his mighty grandfather i knew how amazing Hyrum was. this is a good book for your collection.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how many times I've tried to read this book over the last couple of years. I love reading biographies of early church leaders, but I can't get through this. I've only made it 1/3 way through. This is so dry. I had really hoped for more, and I would have loved to read more into the life of this immortal man. I hope to try again later.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a cover to cover quick read for me. There are few books written about Hyrum Smith so I intend to keep reading, but I am going to buy my own copy for my collection and it will be a continuous read book. I've enjoyed it so far, interesting to read about what happened to Hyrum, he was treasured by Joseph, they were the closest of friends. Good to find this book.

[AH · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the subject matter of this book very much, but the way the book was written and organized made it a bit difficult to get through. There's a lot of long sections of dates and times and places, but not as much about "who" Hyrum actually was. But I still did enjoy this very much and would recommend it to anyone interested in Hyrum Smith and Church history.

[Edith Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were a lot of things in this book that was new to me. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of this man, but after reading the book I was surprised how much I learned about his dedication and devotion to his family and friends.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was well researched, but there were places where the author made inferences about how the subject felt or what he was or went thinking when it just isn't possible to know. The book repeats itself needlessly, but this was not so off-putting as the previous problem.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well written and had many stories about the life of the brother of a prophet, but did not quite give us a glimps of his personality and who he was as a person.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the example of Hyrum and learned a lot about his character from this book. But, I did struggle with the style and fromat of the book.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely worth reading; Hyrum's life strengthens my testimony of Joseph; perhaps not a great biography but it might be difficult to really know Hyrum based on existing materials.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am glad to know Hyrum Smith better, but wish this bio felt more organized & well-written.

[Jason Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much focus is always put on Joseph Smith (and deservedly so) that his faithful brother Hyrum often gets forgotten in LDS Church history. I enjoyed learning more about the character, teachings, and life of Hyrum and loved how faithful he was to his brother and to the Church!