It seems strange there are currently no Smiths in the quorum of the 12 any more. Joseph Fielding Smith had several children quite late in life. Perhaps a grandchild of JFS could make the grade. Maybe not. There are also no Youngs. Could I be wrong. is this on purpose? The 15 are mostly all related since they have to have the literal blood of Jesus running through their veins.

M. Russell Ballard is descended from Hyrum Smith.

They might be running out of Smiths through the paternal lines that bear the last name "Smith". But are tens of thousands of them running around Utah and Arizona if we are talking about people who could claim them through any one of several different lines.

Isn't Holland related to the Smiths?

I think he's a descendant of George Q. Cannon through his mother. I don't know about any Smith connection.

Perhaps not by name, but many of the GA's are related through blood and marriage. D. Michael Quinn has a whole chapter on Mormon nepotism in his "Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power". Most members are shocked to find out how widespread the appointment of close relatives to important lifetime positions really is.

If any up and coming Smith is like Joseph Fielding and his SIL Bruce R. McConkie, I hope they never make the cut. Joseph Fielding, "the keeper of the records", was one of the biggest liers the church has every produced. He made "Lying for the Lord" an art form!

Probably exactly why they aren't keen to trot out a Smith off-spring and put him in charge these days. They know Joseph Smith is a hiss and a byword in the civilized world. Prophesy fulfilled right there y'all. Suck it.

Wait. Nephi was talking about the Jews. My bad.

Even more quizzical is the lack of Youngs in the MORmON elite leadership. I mean does not the state of Utah belong to Young and his legacy , or at least it used to, and MORmON God knows there is a ton of Youngs around in Utah feeling fully entitled to take over THE church again ........OH, that's right. Brigham was such an ASSpostHOLE when it came to running THE church, his personal affairs were so intertwined with that of THE church's that there was an epic legal spat between Brigham Youngs estate and THE church after Young was deceased. Things were so bitter as LD$ Inc tried to reclaim / extricate its churchin' resources from Young's estate that many MORmON church leaders never wanted to see another Young in charge of any church affairs again....... kind of the same way that LD$ Inc leadership feels about Gordon BS Hinckley right now.

Brigham ordained 3 of his sons Apostles, but Snow, Cannon and Joseph F. Smith shut the door on any of them becoming Corporate Sole. That seemed to effectively shut the door on any future Youngs rising to the top of the heap as well.

It is indeed quizzical when you think of how many offspring BY had that none of them made the cut. The rest of the leadership must have had a gut full of BY's tyrannical reign.

I need to read Extensions of Power....sounds fun.

Brigham's grandson, Dilworth Young, made it to the First Council of Seventy (seven men, just like today's presidency of the Seventy.) He was burning with desire to become a apostle, but after being passed over twenty or thirty times he burned with jealousy, resentment, and hatred.

He was the meanest church authority I've ever heard, which gave me some idea of what Brigham was like on a bad day. For Dilworth, every day was bad.

They squeezed the Youngs out early and fast. Wow.

Love you way you phrased that sentence Historischer...burned first with desire, then jealousy, resentment and hatred.

That's pure religion right there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descendants_of_Brigham_Young

Fascinating stuff :)

yup, that is exactly the thing that I am talking about.

That strain of longing to have control over the MORmON corporate empire and kingDUMB again along with the resentment (contempt) over having that control so intently denied to their family still runs deep in the MANY descendants of tyrant Brigham Young even today.