Eldred Gee Smith was the patriarch to the Church from 1947 to 1979.
Here’s a person who came to me
for her Patriarchal Blessing who told me that her father was of Arabian and
German extraction. Her mother was Mexican, French and Spanish. In this case I
told the individual—and this is an example of a lot of questions I get asked—I told
this individual that if her father came for a blessing he could be pronounced
of Judah; her mother, if she came for a blessing, could be pronounced of Manasseh;
yet I pronounced their daughter of Ephraim, and people say, “Well, how is that
possible?” You see, you’re talking about genealogy and lineage and so forth. Well,
in the father’s line there’s a mixture of Judah and Ephraim and on both sides
of the parents; but there’s also Judah and Manasseh on the parent’s side. So
the father could be pronounced either of Judah or of Ephraim, and I pronounced
the daughter of Ephraim and any of the children could have been any one of the
three.
Now this wasn’t so difficult, but
this other one is a little bit different. The father was of Portugal, Spanish, Indian
and Hawaiian mixture; his wife was a Hawaiian and Chinese. Their daughter
married a husband who was Scotch and Portuguese mixture. Then what would the
children be> You get all kinds of combinations and mixtures. We are all mixtures.
There is no such thing, so far as I have been able to determine, as any one of
us being just one lineage and no other mixture in our genealogy at all. As far
as genealogy is concerned, or as far as blood line is concerned. So it is the
right of the Patriarch to declare which line through which the blessings will
come. In other words, he’s giving blessings; he’s not declaring lineage by
terms of just genealogy. He’s declaring lineage in terms of blessing. You go to
a Patriarch to get a blessing. If you can get that distinction it will help you
understand. (Eldred G. Smith, “Patriarch Blessings,” L.D.S. Student Association,
January 17, 1964, p. 3)
