Digging into Theodore Turley: Divine Gift – Part 10

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Text from Theodore Turley: Divine Gift

By Reuben T. Judd

Theodore was deeply saddened when a mob killed Joseph Smith in the summer of 1844.

Joseph Smith once taught that “Friendship is like Brother Turley in his blacksmith shop welding iron to iron; it unites the human family with its happy influence.” When asked later about Joseph’s death, Theodore said that he had lost the best friend he ever had.

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Commentary on Sources

By Mary Ann Clements

Joseph Smith’s friendship quote

Joseph Smith talked about friendship in a sermon at Nauvoo on 23 July 1843. The wording used in the children’s book comes from the official history of the church, written about a decade later: “Friendship is like brother Turley in his blacksmith shop welding iron to iron; it unites the human family with its happy influence.”¹

The original scribbled note by Willard Richards in Joseph Smith’s journal simply states, “fredship [friendship] like Bro Tulys [Theodore Turley’s] Blacksmith shop.” ²

Theodore’s 1855 letter about the death of Joseph Smith

In the mid-1850s, church leaders compiled an official history of Joseph Smith and the church. They reached out to those who had known Joseph Smith personally in Nauvoo and asked for their accounts of events leading up to his death in 1844. Theodore Turley, who lived in San Bernardino at the time, sent his response to Hosea Stout in a letter dated 28 October 1855.³

Theodore said that the subject of Joseph Smith’s death “causes me to morne [mourn],” adding that “time canot era[s]e from my Memory or blunt the edge of its keen dartes into my whole Systom.” He declared, “The Wourld alone [h]as not lost a Friend[,] But I myselfe have lost the Best friend I ever had upon the Earth in Joseph Smith.” See Theodore’s 1855 Letter to Hosea Stout: A Testimony of Joseph Smith.

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1. History, 1838–1856, volume E-1 [1 July 1843–30 April 1844], page 1681, Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-e-1-1-july-1843-30-april-1844/51 : accessed 28 April 2025). See also “History of Joseph Smith,” The Deseret News, 28 January 1857, page 1, column 2; imaged, Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-of-joseph-smith/512 : accessed 28 April 2025).
2. Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844, page 13, Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-december-1842-june-1844-book-3-15-july-1843-29-february-1844/19 : accessed 28 April 2025).
3. Letter from Theodore Turley to Hosea Stout, 28 October 1855, Joseph Smith history documents, 1839-1860, CR 100 396, Church History Library (https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1177cc3b-d4cb-4897-b2ba-08def6399c3b/0/0 : accessed 28 April 2025).