W. W. Phelps (Mormon)

Born in Hanover Township, New Jersey, his father, Enon Phelps, and mother, Mehitable Goldsmith, moved the family to Homer, New York, in 1800. Phelps was a descendant of the Puritan leader William Phelps.[2] As a child, Phelps attended public schools, and as a young man, he traveled to Ohio, but soon returned to Homer, where he began publishing the Western Courier.

On April 28, 1815, he married Stella Waterman (later called Sally). He next moved to Trumansburgh, Tompkins County, New York, where in 1823 he founded the Lake Light. In 1827, he relocated to Canandaigua, New York, where he began publishing and edited the anti-Masonic newspaper Ontario Phoenix through 1828. Phelps was described by Dean Jessee as "one of [the] founders" of the anti-Masonic movement in New York.[2]^:650–651

Self well educated as a young man, Phelps wanted to seek the office lieutenant governor of New York.[3] He purchased a copy of the Book of Mormon on April 9, 1830—just three days after the church was organized as the Church of Christ.[4][5] Phelps met Smith on December 24, 1830, and was convinced he was a prophet. On April 29, 1831, Phelps was imprisoned at Lyons, New York, by a "couple of Presbyterian traders, for a small debt, for the purpose, as I was informed, of 'keeping me from joining the Mormons.'"[6]

Phelps visited Kirtland in 1831, was baptized on June 10, 1831, and established a print house in Independence, Missouri, where he published the Evening and Morning Star. On July 20, 1833, while working to publish the church's Book of Commandments, a mob of vigilantes attacked Phelps's home, seized the printing materials, destroyed many papers, destroyed the press, and threw his family and furniture out of doors.[7][8]

Phelps was present near Jackson County, Missouri, on July 17, 1831, when, according to Phelps's later testimony, Smith received the first revelation about plural marriage.[9]

In the early part of 1835, Phelps and his son, Waterman, were called to Kirtland arriving on May 16th 1835 and departing on 9 April 1836.[10] They resided with Smith's family temporarily and joined a committee appointed to compile the Doctrine and Covenants. About this time, Phelps subscribed US$500 toward the erection of the Kirtland Temple. Phelps was the author of eleven popular early Latter Day Saint hymns. In Kirtland, he helped print the first Latter Day Saint hymnal in 1835, which included "The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning", which was sung at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. He was also instrumental in printing the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.

In late June or early July 1835, Egyptian papyri were acquired by Joseph Smith and Phelps began assisting with the translation of what would become the Book of Abraham.[10]

From 1834 to 1838, Phelps was a counselor to David Whitmer in the presidency of the church in Missouri and in that capacity he helped found the town of Far West, Missouri. Phelps was called before the High Council on March 10, 1838 when he was accused of profiting from Far West land deals and reneging on a US$2,000 subscription to "the house of the Lord" that was not paid. On March 10, 1838, he was excommunicated from the church. In June 1838, Phelps, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and Lyman E. Johnson were warned out of Far West "or a more fatal calamity shall befall you."[11]

Unlike Cowdery and the Whitmers, Phelps remained in Far West after "the dissenters" were warned to leave in June 1838. He appears to have had a short-lived détente with the church leadership, and on July 8, 1838, Smith received a revelation saying that Phelps and fellow dissenter, Frederick G. Williams, could be ordained as elders and serve missions abroad. At the time of the Mormon surrender of Far West, Phelps was one of the Mormon negotiators.[12] But during the Richmond hearings of November 1838, Phelps was one of several who bore witness against Smith and other leaders, aiding in their imprisonment in Missouri until April 1839.[13] This led to his excommunication in Quincy on March 17, 1839.[12] In June 1840, Phelps pleaded for forgiveness in a letter to Smith. Smith replied with an offer of full fellowship, and ended with a variant of Charles Wesley's couplet, "'Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first are friends again at last.'"[14][15][16]

Phelps served a brief mission in the eastern United States in 1841. Phelps moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, where on August 27, 1841, he replaced Robert B. Thompson (who had died) as Smith's clerk. Beginning in February 1843, Phelps became the ghostwriter of many of Smith's important written works of the Nauvoo period, including "General Joseph Smith's Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys" of November 1843; Smith's theodemocratic presidential platform of January 1844; and "The Voice of Innocence", which was presented to and unanimously approved by the Relief Society in February 1844 to rebut claims of polygamy in Nauvoo arising out of Orsimus Bostwick's lawsuit accusing Hyrum Smith of polygamy and other sexual misconduct with the women of Nauvoo.[17]

Phelps was endowed on December 9, 1843,[18] received his "second anointing" promising him godhood on February 2, 1844,[19] and was also made a member of the Council of Fifty.[20] In Nauvoo, Phelps spoke out in favor of the destruction of an opposition newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor. He believed that the city charter gave the church leaders power to declare the newspaper a nuisance. Shortly afterwards, the press and type were carried into the street and destroyed.[21] Phelps was summoned to be tried a witness at the treason hearing of Smith at Carthage, Illinois.

During the succession crisis in 1844, Phelps sided with Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve. He was excommunicated for the third time on December 9, 1847, for entering into an unauthorized polygamous marriage, but was rebaptized two days later.[22] Phelps took part in the Mormon Exodus across the Great Plains and settled in Salt Lake City in 1849. He served a mission in southern Utah Territory (as counselor to Parley P. Pratt) from November 1849 to February 1850. There he served in the Utah territorial legislature and on the board of regents for the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah).[23] Phelps died on March 7, 1872, in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory and is buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery.[24]

Phelps' grave marker. The back is inscribed with the words "There is no end to matter/There is no end to space/There is no end to spirit/There is no end to race. There is no end to glory/There is no end to love/There is no end to being/There is no death above," from the hymn "If You Could Hie to Kolob".

Phelps is probably best known for his legacy of Mormon hymns, many of which appear in the current edition of the LDS Church's hymnal.[25]

• Adam-ondi-Ahman*
• Come, All Ye Saints of Zion*
• Come, All Ye Saints Who Dwell on Earth*
• Come, Let Us Sing an Evening Hymn*
• Gently Raise the Sacred Strain*
• Glorious Things Are Sung of Zion
• Hosanna Anthem
• If You Could Hie to Kolob
• Now Let Us Rejoice*
• Now We'll Sing with One Accord*
• O God, the Eternal Father*
• Praise to the Man
• The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning*
• We're Not Ashamed to Own Our Lord*

Phelps also reworded popular hymns turning them into uniquely Latter Day Saint hymns.

• Joy to the World! the Lord will Come*
• Redeemer of Israel*

* Included in the first Latter Day Saint hymnal in 1835.

• 1843 polygamy revelation
• LDS fiction

• Anderson, Devery S.; Bergera, James, eds. (2005). Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845: A Documentary History. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-186-4. OCLC 57965858. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013..
• Smith, Lucy (2001). "Biographical Summaries of Named Individuals". In Anderson, Lavina Fielding (ed.). Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. pp. 851–852. ISBN 1-56085-137-6. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
• "Minute Book 2, Page 107". The Joseph Smith Papers. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
• Brown, Samuel (Winter 2008). "The Translator and the Ghostwriter: Joseph Smith and W. W. Phelps". Journal of Mormon History. 34 (1): 26–62. ISSN 0094-7342. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
• LeSueur, Stephen C. (1987). The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. pp. 20, 40, 51, 175–77, 259. ISBN 0826206263.
• Bowen, Walter Dean (1958). The Versatile W.W. Phelps—Mormon Writer, Educator, and Pioneer (M.S.). Brigham Young University..
• Church Historian's Office journal, 1844–1879, Volume 9, November 15, 1847 – March 25, 1848, pg. 25. Volume 9, pg. 25

Wikisource has original works written by or about: W. W. Phelps

• William Wines Phelps papers, Vault MSS 810, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
• Transcription of above W.W. Phelps papers
• W. W. Phelps at Find a Grave
• Works by W. W. Phelps at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)