Page "Evangelist (Latter Day Saints)" Paragraph 2

In 1833, Joseph Smith, Jr. introduced the new office of Patriarch, to which he ordained his father.

The elder Smith was given the " keys of the patriarchal Priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth ", the same power said to be held by the Biblical Patriarchs, which included the power to give blessings upon one's posterity.

The elder Smith, however, was also called to give Patriarchal blessings to the fatherless within the church, and the church as a whole, a calling he passed onto his eldest surviving son Hyrum Smith prior to his death.

Hyrum himself was killed in 1844 along with Joseph, resulting in a Succession crisis that broke the Latter Day Saint movement into several smaller denominations.