180 years ago today - 1840 14 Sept.

On his deathbed, Joseph Smith, Sr., ordains his son Hyrum as Presiding Patriarch. This would be the last instance of patrilineal ordination which the hierarchy accepted for the office of patriarch. More than a decade later Young would reject a similar ordination by Presiding Patriarch John Smith for his son George A.

[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]