Early Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Vilate Kimball wrote to her husband, Heber C. Kimball, then on a Church mission in England: "Father Smith has died since I last wrote. he ordai[ned] his son Hiram to be a Patriarch, and pronounced great blessing upon all his children before he died." In the LDS Church, patriarchal blessings offer comfort to individuals and foretell possible future accomplishments. The blessings are pronounced in the form of a prayer by an ordained patriarch (an office in the church's lay priesthood). The Bible describes the Old Testament patriarch Jacob (Israel) blessing his twelve sons regarding their futures (see Gen. 49). In LDS procedure, drawing on Old Testament precedent, the patriarch rests his hands upon the individualxs head, eyes shut while speaking without forethought regarding what to say. In most cases, the blessing identifies the recipient's spiritual heritage and lineage as a member of one of the twelve tribes of Israel and thus heir to the blessings Israel bestowed upon his sons. The promises and counsel contained in one's patriarchal blessing--prophetic insight into the individual's life and future--are said to be contingent upon the person's worthiness. A patriarchal blessing is given only once in a person's lifetime. Contained in this volume are 755 blessings from 1833 through 1845 delivered by the church's first oracles, Joseph Smith Sr., Joseph Smith Jr., Hyrum Smith, and William Smith. Prominent in these blessings is the promise that the reciepeints will live to witness the Second Coming, together with other period-specific expectations and doctrinally based beliefs. The compilation is an indispensible source of early Mormon intellectual history, as well as a valuable resource for historians, biographers, and genealogists.