Joseph Smith Jr. was killed on June 27, 1844. According to the law of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the next Prophet of the church was required to be appointed by him in order to be received as a legitimate successor. This principle was given to Joseph Smith Jr. by revelation:

And this ye shall know assuredly, that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in me. But verily, verily I say unto you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be through him, for if it be taken from him he shall not have power, except to appoint another in his stead;
and this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations, or commandments; and this I give unto you, that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me. For verily I say unto you, that he that is ordained of me, shall come in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before, to teach those revelations which you have received, and shall receive through him whom I have appointed. (RLDS D&C 43:1b-2c; LDS D&C 43:3-7)

The following testimonies are eyewitness accounts showing that Joseph Smith Jr.'s son, Joseph Smith III, was the one who was appointed to be his successor.

Lyman Wight, who was with Joseph Jr. in the Liberty Jail.

Lyman Wight wrote the following in July 1855 to the editor of the Northern Islander, a paper published in the interests of James J. Strang:

"Now, Mr. Editor, if you had been present when Joseph called on me shortly after we came out of jail [Liberty jail] to lay hands with him on the head of a youth and heard him cry aloud, 'You are my successor when I depart,' and heard the blessings poured on his head,-I say had you heard all this, and seen the tears streaming from his eyes-you would not have been led by blind fanaticism, or a zeal without knowledge. . . . While in jail there were many things spoken by the mouth of our martyred Prophet and Patriarch, and when I see these things taking place [Reorganization of the church] just as they were spoken, it cheers my heart and that of the brethren and sisters in this branch also."
(From letter book of Lyman Wight, now in possession of the RLDS Church. Quoted in History of the RLDS Church, 2:789-790)

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Testimony of Joseph Smith III.

Joseph Smith III testified on several occasions of this event, as well as other times when his father, Joseph Smith Jr., designated him to be the successor to the Presidency of the church. The following was written on October 1, 1868:

"In Liberty jail the promise and blessing of a life of usefulness to the cause of truth was pronounced upon our head by lips tainted by dungeon damps, and by the Spirit confirmed through attesting witnesses. This blessing has by some been called an ordination, from the usual predilection to confound names and terms. The blessing which marked Moses as the deliverer from Egyptian bondage was not that which Jethro pronounced upon his head.

Subsequent to our baptism in 1843, upon two occasions was the same blessing confirmed by Joseph Smith, once in the council room in the brick store on the banks of the Mississippi, of which we have not a doubt there are witnesses who would confirm the present testimony; once, in the last interview Joseph Smith held with his family before he left Nauvoo to his death. A public attestation of the same blessing was made from the stand in the grove in Nauvoo, some time prior to the murder in Carthage." (Saints Herald 14:105, History of the RLDS Church, 3:506-507)

During the Temple Lot court case in the 1890's Joseph Smith III testified under oath:

"About my selection by my father to be his successor in office, I remember of being called in his office, or into a room adjoining his office, and receiving the laying on of hands, and a prophetic blessing or setting apart, whatever it may be called. I remember that, and also remember that just before his departure for Carthage, with a number of others, I was called into a room in the Mansion House, and there again received the laying on of hands, and the blessing. I was also present at a meeting in the grove near the temple, and I remember my father laying his hands on my head, and saying to the people that this was his successor, or was to be his successor....
"No, sir, I did not state that I was ordained by my father; I did not make that statement. I was not ordained by my father as his successor; according to my understanding of the word 'ordain', I was not. I was blessed by him and designated, well in a sense chosen, and the word 'ordain' could not be applied in any other sense than by the act of pointing out or indicating only, and he indicated or designated me as his successor." (Complainant's Abstract, pp. 40, 41, 79)

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Elder James Whitehead

Elder Whitehead served as one of the Prophet Joseph Smith's personal secretaries from 1842 to Joseph's death. In the Temple Lot suit, Mr. Whitehead testifed under oath:

"'I recollect a meeting that was held in the winter of 1843, at Nauvoo, Illinois, prior to Joseph Smith´s death, at which the appointment was made by him, Joseph Smith, of his successor. His son Joseph was selected as his successor. Joseph Smith did the talking. There were present Joseph and Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, and some others who also spoke on the subject; there were twenty-five I suppose at the meeting....
"'I became a member of the Reorganized Church at Alton, Illinois; ... and the reason I became a member was because I knew that Joseph Smith was the right man to lead that church; I knew he had been ordained and set apart by his father as his successor in office....
"'I did not become a member earlier, because Joseph Smith was a boy about twelve(12) years old when he was ordained, and he was not to take his place as the President of the Church until the Lord called him; and he did not become president until 1860..' (Complainents Abstract of Pleading and Evidence, pp. 27, 28, 31, 33)

"Mr. Whitehead further testified to the fact that the church did take action as a body and agreed to the appointment of Joseph Smith III as the successor to his father without a negative vote being cast. He estimated that there were three thousand present on that occasion. He said a record was kept, but that it was taken to Salt Lake City." (cited in "Succession in Presidency and Authority" by Russell Ralston)

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John H Carter, former member of the Nauvoo High Council

Also in the Temple Lot suit John H. Carter, member of the LDS Church, testified:

"I am living in Utah County, about three miles from Provo City, on what is called Provo Bench. That is in Utah Territory. I came here the third of October, 1850..........I held an elder's license in the original church, and held a high priest's license and belonged to the High Council....
"I was a member of the church at the time Joseph Smith was killed, and was there when Brigham Young took the lead, and was in the meeting when he was nominated and voted in, and so on up to his death- the death of Brigham Young....
"I was present at a meeting in the City of Nauvoo, in the State of Illinois, at which something was said or done about the successor of Joseph Smith....
"Joseph Smith came on the stand leading his son, young Joseph, and they sat him down on a bench at the prophet's right hand, and Joseph got up and began to preach and talk to the people, and the question he said was asked by somebody, "If Joseph Smith should be killed or die, who would be his successor?' And he turned around and said, pointing to his son, 'There is the successor,' and he went on and said, 'My work is pretty nearly done,' and that is about all he said in regard to his son. He said in answer to a question that was asked as to who should be his successor in case he should be killed or die, and he pointed to his son, young Joseph, who was sitting there at his side, and said he; 'There is your leader." ...
"I have always believed that ever since I heard Joseph say the words I have stated, .... and I believe it today just as strongly as I ever did, and it was under that belief that I followed President Young west." (Complainents Abstract, pp. 179-181)

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Affidavit of Sophia Cook, member of the LDS Church:

"With no other motive than that the truth may be known by all men to whom this affirmation may come, I, Mrs. Sophia K. Cook, do hereby solemnly swear that I was born near Pontiac, Michigan, July 28, 1828. I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Missouri, in my girlhood, my parents having previously united with that church; that I am now a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, though I do not indorse polygamy; that I was present in a meeting held in a bowery in Nauvoo, Illinois, the date of which, to the best of my recollection, was the spring or summer of 1843 or 1844; I was sitting west from the speaker's stand, only a few feet; at this meeting I heard Joseph Smith, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, say, in substance: "I have often been asked who would succeed me as the prophet to the church; he is here in the stand." He then turned and led his son, Joseph, before the audience and said: "My son, Joseph, will be your next prophet." Approximately, I should say there were several hundred people present at this meeting."

Sophia K. Cook

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of September, A.D. 1900.
John U. Buchi
Notory Public"

(History of the RLDS Church, 5:508; quoted from Saints Herald 47:622; Zion's Ensign Sept. 20, 1900, p. 8)

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John H. Thomas, in the Temple Lot case:

"The spring conference was held on the 6th of April [1847]. At that conference the main question at issue was, that none of Joseph Smith's family was along. At that time we understood and believed, as we do today, that ... Young Joseph, should be the successor of his father. We understood that would be the case, and all attempts by Brigham Young to get any of his [Joseph's] family to accompany him were failures. Brigham had offered inducements...but they would not go." (Complainants Abstract, p. 255)

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Heber C. Kimball - June 29, 1856 - preached in the Bowery, Salt Lake City:

"At present the Prophet Joseph's boys lay apparently in a state of slumber, every thing seems to be perfectly calm with them, but by and bye God will wake them up, and they will roar like the thunders of mount Sinai."
(Journal of Discourses, vol. 4 pg. 6)

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Brigham Young - June 3, 1860 - preached in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City:

" What of Joseph Smith's family? What of his boys? I have prayed from the beginning for sister Emma for the whole family. There is not a man in this Church that has entertained better feelings towards them. Joseph said to me, "God will take care of my children when I am taken." They are in the hands of God, and when they make their appearance before this people, full of his power, there are none but what will say--"Amen! we are ready to receive you."

The brethren testify that brother Brigham is brother Joseph's legal successor. You never heard me say so. I say that I am a good hand to keep the dogs and wolves out of the flock. I do not care a groat who rises up. I do not think anything about being Joseph's successor. That is nothing that concerns me."
(Journal of Discourses, vol 8 pg. 69)

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