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Latter Day Saint movement leader

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, 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 group led by Brigham Young. Wight was ordained president of his own church, but he later sided with the claims of 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 Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church).

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. 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. He eventually married four wives and had eleven children. Shortly afterwards, Wight went to Missouri, and later Cincinnati, Ohio, to preach, where he baptized over 100 people. Wight served eleven missions as a member of the church.</blockquote>

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. Being found guilty, Wight made the necessary acknowledgments and apologies. Settling near the 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 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 at Adam ondi Ahman, with his uncle 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.

In the summer of 1838, the troubles of the Mormon War began with events on the 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. 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. 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, 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 on April 6, 1839.

Wight was ordained an 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 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.

During the 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. He rejected Young as a prophet. his most prominent follower, Bishop George Miller, was also disfellowshipped.

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 west of the Mississippi. The temple was built in Zodiac, Texas, about three miles from Fredericksburg. Sealings, ordinations, washing and anointings, and 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.

Wight would later recognize William Smith as the president of the 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, establishing Mormon Mill.

Wight died on March 31, 1858, in Mountain Valley, Texas at the age of 61. He had been experiencing epileptic spasms. 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 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.

Grampa Bill's G. A. Pages: Lyman Wight
Lyman Wight, "Saints Without Haloes", Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton. Signature Books. 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. Davis Bitton papers on Lyman Wight, 1849 1996, L. Tom Perry Special Collections
Lyman Wight records of baptisms for the dead, L. Tom Perry Special Collections