Speaking of events during the presidency of Lorenzo Snow, Joseph Fielding Smith, in his biography of his father, Joseph F. Smith, wrote the following, describing important decisions regarding apostolic seniority:
President Franklin D. Richards of the Council of the Twelve Apostles died Dec. 9, 1899, in Ogden. This left that council without a president. The matter of filling this position was considered by the Presidency. President Smith records the following:
Saturday, March 31, 19,, Presidents Snow, Cannon and I had a confidential talk together, introduced by President Cannon, relative to the choosing of a President of the Twelve. President Snow said: “It is President Cannon’s right to stand at the head of the Twelve, but if he did he would have to resign his counselorship in the Presidency,” and plainly intimated that he could do so if he chose. He then said to President Cannon: “If you and I were not here it would be the right of Brother Joseph F. Smith to stand where I am now, and if I were not here, it would be yours right now.” President Cannon expressed his desire to possess and enjoy every right that belonged to him but suggested that matters go along for the present as they are and that the Presidency meet with the twelve and take the lead.
Brigham’s (Brigham Young, Jr.) position in the quorum was talked over and President Snow favored and practically decided that Brigham Young—ranked next to me in the council of Apostles. This decided the question, as it was decided by President John Taylor.
April 5, 1900, at the meeting of the First Presidency and Apostles in the Temple, this matter was presented by President Snow and fully considered. President Smith says:
We met with the eleven Apostles and partook of the Sacrament, Brigham Young blessed the emblems. It was unanimously decided that the acceptance of a member into the council or quorum of the Twelve fixed his rank or position in the Apostleship. That the Apostles took precedence from the date they entered the quorum. Thus today, President Snow is the senior Apostle. President George Q. anon next, myself next, Brigham Young next, Francis M. Lyman next, and so on to the last one received into the quorum. In the case of the death of President Snow, President Cannon surviving him, would succeed to the Presidency, and so on according to the seniority in the Apostleship of the Twelve; that ordination to the Apostleship under the hands of any Apostle other than to fill a vacancy in the quorum and authorized by the General Authorities of the Church did not count in precedence; that if the First Presidency were dissolved by the death of the President, his counselors having been ordained Apostles in the Quorum of the twelve would resume their places in the quorum, according to the seniority of their ordination in that quorum. This important ruling settles a long unsettled point, and is most timely.
Presidents Cannon and Smith attended the Oneida Stake Conference in May, 1900. Tuesday, May 29th, a Priesthood meeting was held and in the course of his remarks, President Cannon explained why Brigham Young was not sustained as President of the Council of the Twelve Apostle: it was, he said, “because there were three senior Apostles before him. President Snow did not care to part with the next Senior Apostle, as his counsellor, to take the Presidency of the Twelve. Therefore Brigham Young was the acting senior Apostle pro tem. I followed about 30 minutes showing the relative authority of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles and the Seventies. The true order of the Priesthood and organization of the Church is a First Presidency of three High Priests; then the Council of Apostles, then Seventies, etc. The Twelve have no right to preside over the Church except in the absence of the First Presidency, nor have the Seventies, while the Presidency or Twelve exist. Neither is it the prerogative of either the Twelve or the Seventy to preside over the Church except in the absence of the Presidency, and then only to reorganize the Presidency.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Life of Joseph F. Smith [Salt Lake City: The Deseret News Press, 1938], 310-11, emphasis added)
Commenting on this event, Hoyt Brewster wrote:
The timeliness of this decision is reflected in the fact that President Cannon passed away one year and one week after this decision had been reached (April 12, 1901), which placed Joseph F. Smith as the next senior apostle to the President of the Church. On October 6, 1901, Joseph F. Smith was sustained as the first counselor in the First Presidency, with Rudger Clawson as second counselor to President Snow. Four days later Lorenzo Snow died, and Joseph F. Smith became the senior apostle, one position ahead of Brigham Young, Jr.
On 17 October, 1901, one week after the death of President Snow, Joseph F. Smith was sustained as the sixth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was the first one to come to this position after having served as a counselor in the First Presidency, but, as was the case with each of his predecessors, he was the recognized senior apostle on earth. (Hoyt W. Brewster, Jr. Prophets, Priesthood Keys and Succession [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991], 89)
