Doctrine and Covenants 114, though brief, plays the important role of commemorating the valiant labors of David W. Patten. Elder David Patten was baptized into the Church by his brother, John, on June 17, 1832.¹ David soon proved himself to be a gifted missionary, noted for his faith in several remarkable healings. According to Abraham O. Smoot and Wilford Woodruff, contemporary missionaries with David, “neither knew an instance in which David’s petition for the sick was not answered.”² One of David’s earliest converts, Lorenzo Snow, wrote, “What impressed me most was his absolute sincerity, his earnestness and his spiritual power.”³

In 1835, Patten was selected to serve as one of the original Apostles of this dispensation. Since all of the Apostles received their call around the same time, seniority in the quorum was determined by age. Thomas B. Marsh misremembered his own date of birth (something not uncommon at the time) and was chosen to serve as President of the Quorum of the Twelve. Research carried out by scholars in the twentieth century revealed that Patten was born on November 17, 1799, while Marsh was born on November 1, 1800. Marsh mistakenly believed his birthday was in 1799. The mistake was never discovered in Patten’s lifetime, but if Church leaders had been in possession of all the facts at the time the Quorum of the Twelve was called, David W. Patten would have been ordained as the first President of the Quorum of the Twelve in this dispensation.⁴

Elder Patten apparently suffered one serious break with Joseph Smith during the financial crisis in Kirtland in 1837. Patten arrived in Kirtland when the crisis was at its height. The Apostles initially met with Brigham Young, who intended to explain the problem while absolving Joseph Smith of any guilt. However, Patten went on to meet with Warren Parrish, his brother-in-law and one of the primary leaders of the insurgency against Joseph Smith’s leadership. After listening to Parrish and others, David confronted the Prophet. Years later, Wilford Woodruff related the incident as he had heard it from Brigham Young: “He [Brigham Young] said that David Patten & T. B. Marsh came to Kirtland in the fall of 1837. He said as soon as [possible] I got Marsh to go to Joseph, but Patten would go to W. Parrish. He got his mind prejudiced & when he went to see Joseph[,] David in[sult?]ed Joseph & Joseph slapped him in the face & kicked him out of the yard. This done [sic] David good.”⁵ Apparently, David and Joseph reconciled after this incident. There are no further mentions of Patten’s apostasy from the time.⁶

Following the collapse of the Church in Kirtland, Patten relocated to Missouri, where Doctrine and Covenants 114 was received on his behalf. One of Patten’s biographer’s connected this revelation (D&C 114) to a conversation reported by Wilford Woodruff: “David made known to the Prophet that he has asked the Lord to let him die the death of a martyr, at which the Prophet, greatly moved, expressed extreme sorrow, ‘for,’ he said to David, ‘when a man of your faith asks the Lord for anything, he generally gets it.’”⁷

Several months later Elder Patten led a contingent of the Far West militia to rescue three hostages held by the Missouri militia. Elder Patten’s company discovered the encampment of the hostile militia but came under fire from fortified positions. We do not know who fired first, but it quickly became clear that the Missourians held a strategic advantage in their positions of cover. Realizing his men were completely exposed to enemy fire, Patten ordered a charge directly into the enemy positions. His militia rescued the hostages and routed the Missourians. When the smoke cleared, one Missourian was dead, but the Saints fared worse—a non–Latter-day Saint guide and two members of the militia were fatally wounded, including Elder Patten.⁸

On his deathbed, perhaps thinking of the recent apostasy of several Apostles, Patten reaffirmed his testimony of the gospel and his faith in eternal life. Speaking to his childless wife, Phoebe Ann, he said, “Whatever you do else, O, do not deny the faith!” A few minutes before his death, he prayed, “Father I ask thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, that thou wouldst release my spirit and receive it unto thyself.” He then turned to the men surrounding his bed and said, “Brethren, you have held me by your faith, but do give me up and let me go I beseech you.” Patten died a few moments later. At Patten’s funeral held the following day, Joseph Smith remarked, “There lies a man that has done just as he said he would—he has laid down his life for his friends.”⁸

1. David Lyman Patten, biography, JSP.

2. Lycurgus W. Wilson, The Life of David W. Patten, 1904, 7.

3. Lorenzo Snow, preface to The Life of David W. Patten: The First Apostolic Martyr, by Lycurgus A. Wilson, 1900.

4. Minutes and Discourse, 2 May 1835, as Reported by William E. McLellin–A, p. 187, fn. 3, JSP.

5. See Letter, Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten to Parley P. Pratt, 10 May 1837, Letterbook 2, p. 62, JSP.

6. L. Todd Dudley, “All but Two: The Disaffection of Ten of the Original Twelve Modern Apostles,” Honor’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1994, 28–31.

7. Lycurgus A. Wilson, The Life of David W. Patten, 53.

8. Alexander L. Baugh, “War of Extermination,” in The Mormon Wars, 2014, 59-60.

9. Wilson, The Life of David W. Patten, 70–71. Material from this note was previously published in Casey Paul Griffiths and Mary Jane Woodger, 50 Relics of the Restoration, 2021.