Thomas B. Marsh’s falling away
and return to the Church:
For a time, President Marsh followed
the counsel he had received. He worked to strengthen the Church and sustain
Joseph Smith. However, he soon returned to his contentious feelings about the
way the Church was led. These feelings combined with concerns about conflicts
between disobedient and aggressive Church members and their neighbors in
Missouri. In September 1838, while he was beset by this spirit of apostasy, his
wife, Elizabeth, became involved in a dispute. She and another woman, both
members of the Church, had agreed to regularly exchange milk to have enough to
make cheese, but Sister Marsh was accused of violating her agreement by keeping
the part of the milk that was richest in cream. The matter was brought before
Church leaders more than once. It was even brought before the First Presidency.
Each time, it was decided that Sister Marsh was at fault. President Marsh was
angry and unsatisfied with these decisions (see George A. Smith,
“Discourse,” Deseret News, Apr. 16, 1856, 44).
While this situation did not lead him
to leave the Church, it compounded with his other frustrations. He became
increasingly critical of other Church leaders, and he eventually turned against
the Saints. He later recalled, “I became jealous of the Prophet . . .
and overlooked everything that was right, and spent all my time in looking for
the evil” (“Remarks,” Deseret News, Sept. 16, 1857, 220).
In October 1838, Thomas B. Marsh
swore before a magistrate that Joseph Smith and the Latter-day Saints were
hostile toward the state of Missouri. This affidavit contributed to the
government issuing an extermination order that resulted in the expulsion of
more than 15,000 Saints from their homes in Missouri.
Eighteen years after Thomas B.
Marsh left the Church, he humbly wrote a letter to President Heber C.
Kimball of the First Presidency, asking for forgiveness and permission to
rejoin the Church. He explained what he had learned through his mistakes: “The
Lord could get along very well without me and He has lost nothing by my falling
out of the ranks; But O what have I lost?!” (Thomas B. Marsh letter to
Heber C. Kimball, May 5, 1857, Brigham Young Collection, Church History
Library, as quoted in Kay
