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The Kirtland Safety Society was a financial institution meant to help solve some of the financial problems the Saints faced in Kirtland, Ohio. It was a great idea. The only problem was that it totally flopped. People lost a lot of money, and many lost confidence in Joseph’s prophetic calling. In this episode, Dave talks about why things went south with the Safety Society, and what it means about Joseph Smith’s claims to be a prophet of God.
Transcript of this episode and possibly additional notes on our website: [COIMNG SOON!]
Most in-depth research I’ve seen on this subject: https://bit.ly/2JbsUKG
Timeline of KSS events: https://bit.ly/3biLQmK
Another good summary of this topic (BYU): https://bit.ly/2UBmARV
Latter-day Saint Q & A video on this subject: https://bit.ly/2JdV4oh
Was the Kirtland Safety Society Antibanking Company legal?: https://bit.ly/2UgCwtL
Dispelling myths about the Safety Society & Joseph Smith: https://bit.ly/2UMnRWz
The Church’s “gospel topics” essay on this subject: https://bit.ly/33Kpw2P
The Kirtland Safety Society and the Fraud of Grandison Newell: A Legal Examination: https://bit.ly/3akkr3Q
An awesome 28-minute video from the Church on this subject: https://bit.ly/2vRh8SI
Warren Parrish embezzlement suspicion sources: https://bit.ly/39nbUvn
Addressing additional questions about the KSS: https://bit.ly/39m4rwG
Notes:
-After the KSS was unable to obtain a charter, the Saints bought controlling stock in a Michigan bank that was chartered, and hoped to make KSS somewhat of a branch of that other bank. Unfortunately, the Panic of 1837 temporarily shut down that other bank. More info: https://bit.ly/2JbsUKG
-While never convicted, it is highly likely that a man named Warren Parrish was embezzling funds from the KSS. “He had the handling of large sums of money, and it was soon discovered, that after the money was counted and laid away, and come to be used and counted again, that there was always a part of it missing; this being the case, repeatedly, and those who owned it, knowing that there was no other person but Parrish who had access to it, suspicion of necessity fixed itself on him” (Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:408) More sources/info here: https://bit.ly/39nbUvn
-A year after apostatizing, Warren Parrish (hostile to Joseph) claimed that Joseph, “declared that the audible voice of God instructed him to establish a Banking-Anti-Banking Institution…”
Wilford Woodruff recorded a slightly different story in his journal on the day in 1837 it actually happened. He said that Joseph “had received that morning the Word of the Lord upon the Subject of the Kirtland Safety Society. He was alone in a room by himself & he had not ownly the voice of the Spirit upon the Subject but even an audable voice. He did not tell us at that time what the LORD said upon the subject but remarked that if we would give heed to the Commandments the Lord had given this morning all would be well.”
In other words, according to Woodruff, God had apparently given Joseph some instructions, and the success of the bank would depend on whether or not those instructions were followed. There’s pretty good evidence to suggest that those instructions were not followed very well.
-Joseph Smith invested more money in the KSS than 85% of other investors. As the prospects of the bank looked bleak, he responded by investing more of his own money, hoping to help keep it afloat. The KSS was not a scheme to help Joseph “get rich quick.”
-In February 1837, members tried to depose Joseph Smith as their leader. According to Wilford Woodruff, “He stood in the midst of the congregation of the Saints, where I beheld President Joseph Smith Junior, arise in the stand and for several hours address the Saints, in the power of God. He had been absent from Kirtland on business, though not half as long as Moses was on the Mount, and many were against him, as the Israelites were against Moses. But when he arose in the power of God in their midst, as Moses did anciently, they were put to silence, for the complainers saw he stood in the power of the Prophet.”
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