Albert Carrington
Born: 8 January 1813
Called to Quorum of the Twelve: 3 July 1870
Called as Counselor in the First Presidency: 8 June 1873
Released from First Presidency: 29 August 1877
Ex-communicated: 7 November 1885
Re-Baptized: 1 November 1887
Died: 19 September 1889
Called to Quorum of the Twelve: 3 July 1870
Called as Counselor in the First Presidency: 8 June 1873
Released from First Presidency: 29 August 1877
Ex-communicated: 7 November 1885
Re-Baptized: 1 November 1887
Died: 19 September 1889
Biographical Articles
Jenson, Andrew. "Carrington, Albert." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. pg. 126-127.
CARRINGTON, Albert, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles from 1870 to 1885, was born Jan. 8, 1813, in Royalton, Windsor county. Vermont. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1833, and for two or three years subsequently taught school and studied law in Pennsylvania. From that State he removed to Wisconsin, where he engaged in lead mining until 1844. In July, 1841, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Wiota, Wis., being baptized by Wm. O. Clark, and on the abandonment of his business in 1844 gathered to Nauvoo. This was at the very crisis of the troubles then occurring there, and just previous to the martyrdom of the
Prophet. He was with the Saints in their exodus, crossing the Mississippi river with his family, Feb. 9, 1846, that being one of the first to start for the Rocky Mountains. From the camp on Sugar creek he went to Council Bluffs and was the following year a member of the Pioneers, who went to Great Salt Lake valley. At the organization of the Wards of Salt Lake City, in February, 1849, Elder Carrington was
chosen as second counselor to Bishop Heywood of Ward No. 17, which position he held for about six years. When the provisional State of Deseret was organized, he was elected assessor and collector. He also acted as the first clerk of the High Council in the Salt Lake Stake of Zion. He served as a member of Capt. Stansbury's party which surveyed Great Salt Lake, and was editor of the "Deseret News" from 1854 to 1859 and from 1863 to 1867. After the organization of Utah Territory he was repeatedly elected a member of the legislative council until 1868, when he was sent to England to preside over the European Mission. After his return to Utah in 1870 he was (July 3, 1870) ordained one of the Twelve Apostles, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ezra T. Benson. Later he presided three times over the European Mission, namely 1871-73, 1875-77 and 1880-82. From April, 1873, until Pres. Young's death he acted as assistant counselor to the President of the Church, and for more than twenty years he was Pres. Brigham Young's secretary, and having been appointed one of the administrators of Pres. Young's estate, he labored in that capacity, after the President's death, until all the business connected with the estate was settled and the many difficulties adjusted. For refusing to comply with Judge Boreman's unjust demands, he was imprisoned in the Utah Penitentiary from the 4th to the 28th of August, 1879, together with Geo. Q. Cannon and Brigham Young, jun. Some years before his death he fell into transgression, which, when it came to light, resulted in his excommunication from the Church November 7, 1885. This action was taken by the quorum of the Apostles, after a thorough examination of his case. Albert Carrington died in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 19, 1889. Some time previous to his demise he was permitted to renew his covenant by baptism; and thus he died as a member of the Church. (See also "Historical Record," Vol. 7, p. 243.)
CARRINGTON, Albert, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles from 1870 to 1885, was born Jan. 8, 1813, in Royalton, Windsor county. Vermont. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1833, and for two or three years subsequently taught school and studied law in Pennsylvania. From that State he removed to Wisconsin, where he engaged in lead mining until 1844. In July, 1841, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Wiota, Wis., being baptized by Wm. O. Clark, and on the abandonment of his business in 1844 gathered to Nauvoo. This was at the very crisis of the troubles then occurring there, and just previous to the martyrdom of the
Prophet. He was with the Saints in their exodus, crossing the Mississippi river with his family, Feb. 9, 1846, that being one of the first to start for the Rocky Mountains. From the camp on Sugar creek he went to Council Bluffs and was the following year a member of the Pioneers, who went to Great Salt Lake valley. At the organization of the Wards of Salt Lake City, in February, 1849, Elder Carrington was
chosen as second counselor to Bishop Heywood of Ward No. 17, which position he held for about six years. When the provisional State of Deseret was organized, he was elected assessor and collector. He also acted as the first clerk of the High Council in the Salt Lake Stake of Zion. He served as a member of Capt. Stansbury's party which surveyed Great Salt Lake, and was editor of the "Deseret News" from 1854 to 1859 and from 1863 to 1867. After the organization of Utah Territory he was repeatedly elected a member of the legislative council until 1868, when he was sent to England to preside over the European Mission. After his return to Utah in 1870 he was (July 3, 1870) ordained one of the Twelve Apostles, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ezra T. Benson. Later he presided three times over the European Mission, namely 1871-73, 1875-77 and 1880-82. From April, 1873, until Pres. Young's death he acted as assistant counselor to the President of the Church, and for more than twenty years he was Pres. Brigham Young's secretary, and having been appointed one of the administrators of Pres. Young's estate, he labored in that capacity, after the President's death, until all the business connected with the estate was settled and the many difficulties adjusted. For refusing to comply with Judge Boreman's unjust demands, he was imprisoned in the Utah Penitentiary from the 4th to the 28th of August, 1879, together with Geo. Q. Cannon and Brigham Young, jun. Some years before his death he fell into transgression, which, when it came to light, resulted in his excommunication from the Church November 7, 1885. This action was taken by the quorum of the Apostles, after a thorough examination of his case. Albert Carrington died in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 19, 1889. Some time previous to his demise he was permitted to renew his covenant by baptism; and thus he died as a member of the Church. (See also "Historical Record," Vol. 7, p. 243.)
Jenson, Andrew. "Carrington, Albert." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. pg. 313, 695.
CARRINGTON, Albert, president of the British Mission from 1868 to 1870, from 1871 to 1873, from 1875 to 1877 and from 1880 to 1882, died in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 19, 1889. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 126.)
CARRINGTON, Albert, one of the original pioneers of Utah, was born Jan. 8, 1813, at Royalton, Windsor Co., Vermont, a son of Daniel and Isabella Carrington. He received a college education and joined the Church in Wisconsin in 1841, After his arrival in Great Salt Lake Valley he held office in the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret and in the territorial government of Utah. He was one of the early editors of the "Deseret News," and on July 3, 1870, was set apart as a member of the Apostles Quorum, which position he held until Nov. 7, 1885, when, on account of transgression, he was for a time, disfellowshipped. He, however, was permitted to renew his covenants by baptism previous to his demise on Sept. 19, 1889. (Bio. Ency., Vol. 1. p. 126.)
CARRINGTON, Albert, president of the British Mission from 1868 to 1870, from 1871 to 1873, from 1875 to 1877 and from 1880 to 1882, died in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 19, 1889. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 126.)
CARRINGTON, Albert, one of the original pioneers of Utah, was born Jan. 8, 1813, at Royalton, Windsor Co., Vermont, a son of Daniel and Isabella Carrington. He received a college education and joined the Church in Wisconsin in 1841, After his arrival in Great Salt Lake Valley he held office in the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret and in the territorial government of Utah. He was one of the early editors of the "Deseret News," and on July 3, 1870, was set apart as a member of the Apostles Quorum, which position he held until Nov. 7, 1885, when, on account of transgression, he was for a time, disfellowshipped. He, however, was permitted to renew his covenants by baptism previous to his demise on Sept. 19, 1889. (Bio. Ency., Vol. 1. p. 126.)
Albert Carrington
“...Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
-Luke 22:40
-Luke 22:40
Ordained: 3 July 1870 at age 57 by Brigham Young
Excommunicated: 7 November 1885
Re-baptized: 1887
Biography
Albert Carrington was born 8 January 1813 in Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont to Daniel Van Carrington and Isabella Bowman. Little is known about his early life other than the fact that he received an above-average education. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1833 and taught school and studied law in Pennsylvania.
He later moved to Wisconsin where he was involved in lead mining. He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there in 1841 and married Rhoda Maria Woods the following year. He abandoned his business in Wisconsin in 1844 and moved to join the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, arriving shortly before the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Elder Carrington described himself as one who “was naturally more prone to reflection than to speaking; yet he was happy in aiding, so far as he could, to promote the interests of the kingdom of God.” (Carrington, The Deseret News 1859, 249)
Elder Carrington had a strong testimony of the divinity of the calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
He knew for himself that the work we were engaged in was true. That Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the living God and that Brigham Young was his legal successor and also a prophet of the living God and the contradiction of all the world would not invalidate those great truths. He also spoke of the founding of the work of the latter days by the Prophet Joseph Smith, showing that the Lord undoubtedly operated through him. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1872, 294)
Brother Carrington was involved in the exodus from Nauvoo, being in one of the first groups to cross the Mississippi River. He unfortunately lost three of his four children in the exodus. He was in one of the lead groups to enter the Great Salt Lake, and subsequently returned to bring his family to the Rocky Mountains in 1848.
Even after being persecuted along with his fellow saints, he said “he had no bitter feelings against his persecutors as he believed they did it in their ignorance.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1870, 722)
Around this time, but at an undocumented date, Albert married Mary Ann Rock, having been one of the few members asked to practice plural marriage before it was announced to the body of the Church a few years later.
At the organization of Salt Lake City into wards in 1849, Brother Carrington was chosen as second counselor to Bishop Heywood of ward number 17, a position he held for six years. When the Provisional State of Deseret was organized, he was elected assessor and collector, as well as first clerk of the high council in the Salt Lake Stake.
He spoke a couple of times in General Conference in the capacity of assessor and collector before his call to the Twelve. In October 1861, he was called upon to read an address calling upon the bishops to use their best efforts to husband the tithing in their hands to allow the maximum amount possible to go toward the building of the temple. (Carrington, The Deseret News 1861, 186)
Brother Carrington served twice as editor of the Deseret News, first occupying the position in March 1854, following the death of Willard Richards. He served in this capacity until March 1859, yet returned as editor once more from 1863 until 1867.
After the organization of Utah Territory, he was repeatedly elected a member of the council until 1868 when he was sent to England to preside over the European Mission, succeeding Apostle Franklin D. Richards. He returned to Utah the summer of 1870, only days before his call as one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 3 July 1870, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Elder Ezra T. Benson.
The following year, in April 1871, he was called to serve as Church Historian, replacing Apostle George A. Smith at that position. He served in this capacity until May of 1874, being replaced by Apostle Orson Pratt.
Simultaneous to his call as Church Historian, he was called to serve again as President of the European Mission from 1871 to 1873. His main duty, besides supervising the preaching of the gospel, was to prepare the Saints to gather to Zion. This topic occupied his mind often and he encouraged those with means to support the poor desiring to immigrate to Utah.
In 1873, Elder Carrington was called to serve as assistant counselor to President Brigham Young, along with Lorenzo Snow, Brigham Young, Jr., John W. Young, and George Q. Cannon. He also served as Brigham Young’s personal secretary.
He was called to serve as President of the European Mission a third time in 1875 to 1877, again using his talents with money to help the European saints immigrate to Utah.
Elder Carrington enjoyed the trust and intimacy of President Young for as long as they knew each other. The following anecdote told by Brigham Young illustrates the intimacy of their friendship: “It is the best looking of anything in the world when Brother Carrington sees his wife in her new calico dress. 'You look just as you did when I courted you.'” (Volume 19 1877, 66-76)
Upon the death of President Brigham Young in 1877, Elder Carrington, Elder George Q. Cannon, and his son, Elder Brigham Young, Jr., served as executors of the vast Young estate. Rumors abounded that the estate was worth many millions of dollars. It took several months of dedication, but the three executors came to the conclusion that the estate was worth about $1,626,000. Much of the property was actually church property, over a million dollars worth, and thus would not be going to Brigham Young's progeny. This so disappointed some of the heirs of Brigham Young's estate, that they filed a complaint against the executors. The anti-Mormon judge, Jacob S. Boreman, ruled in favor of the heirs and held the executors in contempt of court. Elders Cannon, Young and Carrington spent three weeks in the Utah Territorial Penitentiary before the Territorial Supreme Court reversed the decision. The Church then decided to grant the heirs an additional $75,000 to settle the case.
In 1880, Elder Carrington was called to serve as President of the European Mission for the fourth time, making him one of the longest-serving Presidents of the European mission, a total of eight years.
Elder Carrington was accused of unseemly conduct by the largely anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune, being a rival paper of the Deseret News, of which Elder Carrington had been editor. The First Presidency found that there was some truth to the accusations and brought Elder Carrington before them in a disciplinary court. The Deseret News published this account of it:
Charges having been preferred against Albert Carrington, a full and patient hearing was had before the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, when the following decision was unanimously adopted: “That Albert Carrington be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the crimes of lewd and lascivious conduct and adultery.” (Excommunicated 1885)
It was signed by all members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. He was excommunicated on 7 November 1885. This was the only publication from the Church on the subject.
Two years after his excommunication, he was re-baptized and died a member of the church on 19 September 1889 following a four-year paralysis from two strokes.
Quotes
When Elder Carrington spoke, he spoke about things he knew the most about. He spoke many times about the Perpetual Emigration Fund as well as other practical issues such as money, law, materialism, and a few times about purity and humility.
After having served as President of the European Mission for so long, Elder Carrington spent a good deal of time and energy trying to bring the poverty-struck saints across the plains. He spoke several times to the recipients of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and pled with them to repay their loans to allow more European converts the opportunity to gather to Utah.
There were many Saints in Europe who would like and who deserve to be gathered. A great deal of care should, however, be exercised in assisting the poor. The last financial report from Liverpool showed that that Office was not in possession of any means; therefore he wished it to be understood that all letters sent from here to that Office asking the Mission to help out their relatives and promising that they would pay when they could, would receive no attention whatever – unless some means was supplied from some other source no help could be rendered. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1871, 306)
Materialism was something that never much interested Elder Carrington. He said,
I tried once, for a very brief period to obtain the spirit of greed of gain, but at the end of that time was so disgusted and exhausted that I gladly gave it up. I feel to pity my brethren who are giving way to this spirit. I never have feared the days of poverty so much as those of prosperity. Kindness is more seductive than persecution, and when from an evil source is much more dangerous. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1883, 309)
Greed of gain is an abomination in the sight of God, and the quintessence of selfishness. No person impregnated with this feeling can live acceptably in the sight of Jehovah. It is our duty to build each other up not only spiritually, but also financially. If all were doing that, our course would be much more acceptable to God than it now is. We should live, let live and help to live. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1884, 706-707)
Elder Carrington was a compassionate man, who sincerely cared about the welfare of every man, even those who had done him evil. He said he felt that “it will be a day of sorrow and mourning; that it will be painful even to hear the report of the going forth of the wise and just judgments of our Father upon the heads of the wicked—those of our fellow beings who have preferred to do evil.” (Carrington 1880, 97)
He proclaimed that, “He had no desire but to go where he was sent and where he could do the most good.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1871, 306)
He was a humble man who felt that all men should understand that they can do nothing without God. He “delivered a discourse on the object of the existence of man on the earth showing the foolishness of men who take credit to themselves for the discovery and development of principles which had been in existence throughout all eternity.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1871, 291)
Being a very learned man, he was someone who understood the law better than most of his fellow apostles. He spoke on “the political position of the people of this Territory, showing that congress could not be constitutionally sustained in the position it assumed toward them.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1870, 722)
Over time, Elder Carrington's concept of law began to shift. Instead of focusing on the constitutionality of a law, he began to measure everything by the laws of God. He said,
What is crime? Simply a transgression of the law, human or divine. What is law? It is, or should be, a rule of order founded in justice, for the benefit of those to whom it may apply. Now, so far as we are concerned in regard to law, we are under divine law, the Gospel, the grand plan of salvation – a law that is perfect, plain and simple as well as just, and applicable to the whole human family at all times, and in this we should rejoice. But we are also under human laws as well, we pertain to a number of what are termed human governments, subject, in a greater or less degree, to man-made institutions, and are they perfect? No. (Volume 17 1874, 165-168)
Now, then, with regard to these matters that we are immediately passing through – the attempted enforcement of laws that are not constitutional and, through not being constitutional, that are not valid, and consequently of no force or effect whatever, in justice, what are we going to do about it? I trust that we will … endure meekly and patiently all things... (Volume 17 1874, 165-168)
Despite his own transgressions, he seemed to understand the principles of the gospel very well. He said, “There is no slavery but in sin, and no freedom save in doing that which is right, so there is no happiness but in doing the will of God.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1883, 309)
He pled with the saints to purify their hearts.
We must labor to eradicate from ourselves all that is degrading and live according to the decrees of our kind, wise Father in the Heavens. But there are some who seem to prefer their own secret will and their own course according to their own skill in very great blindness and foolishness. But it is the duty of the latter-day saints to be guided by the revelations of God that they may overcome and inherit the glory of the righteous. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1880, 692)
Elder George Q. Cannon said of him:
Perhaps it is not too much to say that no man in the Church has had better advantages in many respects for the time he has been a member than has Albert Carrington. He was a college graduate, and he joined the Church at a time when men possessing such advantages were not so common as now. He came here with the Pioneers, and his education enabled him to take a prominent part in public affairs. President Young showed him great confidence, and their association was long and intimate. He cannot, therefore, plead ignorance as an excuse for his wrong-doing. The acts for which he has been dealt with were the deliberate violations on his part of principles and laws which he has heard taught by the lips of inspiration ever since he gathered with the Saints, and in direct conflict with every example which he has seen on the part of the leaders of Israel. (Cannon 1885, 360)
Conclusion
What kind of man was Albert Carrington? He was a man with many good qualities. He loved the people. He gave a lot of effort to bring his fellow saints across the plains to gather to Utah. He bore no malice against those who had wronged him. He was a great administrator. He served in the Territory legislature. He was an executor of Brigham Young's estate. He understood the law. Yet, he felt himself an exception to the law and fell. He was not a perfect man. Yet he was a good man.
The greatest lesson we can take from Elder Carrington's story was taught so eloquently by George Q. Cannon: “The Church has been taught from the beginning that no amount of talent, no number of gifts, no eminence in the Priesthood were sufficient to save a man, or to keep him in the Church, without personal purity.” (Cannon 1885, 360)
There is an unfortunate silence on the subject of Elder Carrington's re-baptism, and while it is impossible to know how he felt or what road led him to return to Church activity (even though he would never again serve as an Apostle), it was a gratifyingly short process. Two years after being excommunicated for sexual sins, Elder Carrington was able to show that he had completely repented and had his blessings restored. This is indicative of his dedication to the Lord and his desire to be obedient.
Ancestral File. n.d. FamilySearch. Accessed March 24, 2015. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:M4ZB-W1X.
Anderson, Scott. 1884. "Disenthralled." The Salt Lake Tribune, September 25: 3.
Cannon, George Q. 1885. "Editorial Thoughts." The Juvenile Instructor, December 1: 380.
Carrington, Albert. 1880. Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Printing and Publishing Establishment. 97.
—. 1859. The Deseret News, October 12: 249.
—. 1861. The Deseret News, October 23: 186.
—. 1870. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, November 15: 722.
—. 1871. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, May 16: 306.
—. 1871. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, May 9: 291.
—. 1872. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, May 7: 294.
—. 1880. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, November 1: 691-692.
—. 1883. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, May 14: 309-310.
—. 1884. The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, November 10: 706-707.
2003. Church History in the Fulness of Times, Student Manual. Salt Lake City: Church Educational System Curriculum.
Jenson, Andrew. 1899. Church Chronology. A Record of Important Events. Second Edition. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News.
1956. Our Prophets and Principles: Writings on Our Articles of Faith and Prophets Who Made Them Live. Salt Lake City: Instructor.
The Deseret News. 1885. "Excommunicated." November 18: 696.
The Deseret Weekly. 1889. "Albert Carrington." September 28: 435-436.
Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849-1949. n.d. "Albert Carrington, 19 Sep 1889." FamilySearch. Management and Archives. Accessed March 24, 2015. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQHK-7MG.
1874. "Volume 17." In The Complete Journal of Discourses: Latter-Day Saint Reference Edition.
1877. "Volume 19." In The Complete Journal of Discourses: Latter-Day Saint Reference Edition.
Excommunicated: 7 November 1885
Re-baptized: 1887
Biography
Albert Carrington was born 8 January 1813 in Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont to Daniel Van Carrington and Isabella Bowman. Little is known about his early life other than the fact that he received an above-average education. He graduated Dartmouth College in 1833 and taught school and studied law in Pennsylvania.
He later moved to Wisconsin where he was involved in lead mining. He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there in 1841 and married Rhoda Maria Woods the following year. He abandoned his business in Wisconsin in 1844 and moved to join the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, arriving shortly before the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Elder Carrington described himself as one who “was naturally more prone to reflection than to speaking; yet he was happy in aiding, so far as he could, to promote the interests of the kingdom of God.” (Carrington, The Deseret News 1859, 249)
Elder Carrington had a strong testimony of the divinity of the calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
He knew for himself that the work we were engaged in was true. That Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the living God and that Brigham Young was his legal successor and also a prophet of the living God and the contradiction of all the world would not invalidate those great truths. He also spoke of the founding of the work of the latter days by the Prophet Joseph Smith, showing that the Lord undoubtedly operated through him. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1872, 294)
Brother Carrington was involved in the exodus from Nauvoo, being in one of the first groups to cross the Mississippi River. He unfortunately lost three of his four children in the exodus. He was in one of the lead groups to enter the Great Salt Lake, and subsequently returned to bring his family to the Rocky Mountains in 1848.
Even after being persecuted along with his fellow saints, he said “he had no bitter feelings against his persecutors as he believed they did it in their ignorance.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1870, 722)
Around this time, but at an undocumented date, Albert married Mary Ann Rock, having been one of the few members asked to practice plural marriage before it was announced to the body of the Church a few years later.
At the organization of Salt Lake City into wards in 1849, Brother Carrington was chosen as second counselor to Bishop Heywood of ward number 17, a position he held for six years. When the Provisional State of Deseret was organized, he was elected assessor and collector, as well as first clerk of the high council in the Salt Lake Stake.
He spoke a couple of times in General Conference in the capacity of assessor and collector before his call to the Twelve. In October 1861, he was called upon to read an address calling upon the bishops to use their best efforts to husband the tithing in their hands to allow the maximum amount possible to go toward the building of the temple. (Carrington, The Deseret News 1861, 186)
Brother Carrington served twice as editor of the Deseret News, first occupying the position in March 1854, following the death of Willard Richards. He served in this capacity until March 1859, yet returned as editor once more from 1863 until 1867.
After the organization of Utah Territory, he was repeatedly elected a member of the council until 1868 when he was sent to England to preside over the European Mission, succeeding Apostle Franklin D. Richards. He returned to Utah the summer of 1870, only days before his call as one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 3 July 1870, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Elder Ezra T. Benson.
The following year, in April 1871, he was called to serve as Church Historian, replacing Apostle George A. Smith at that position. He served in this capacity until May of 1874, being replaced by Apostle Orson Pratt.
Simultaneous to his call as Church Historian, he was called to serve again as President of the European Mission from 1871 to 1873. His main duty, besides supervising the preaching of the gospel, was to prepare the Saints to gather to Zion. This topic occupied his mind often and he encouraged those with means to support the poor desiring to immigrate to Utah.
In 1873, Elder Carrington was called to serve as assistant counselor to President Brigham Young, along with Lorenzo Snow, Brigham Young, Jr., John W. Young, and George Q. Cannon. He also served as Brigham Young’s personal secretary.
He was called to serve as President of the European Mission a third time in 1875 to 1877, again using his talents with money to help the European saints immigrate to Utah.
Elder Carrington enjoyed the trust and intimacy of President Young for as long as they knew each other. The following anecdote told by Brigham Young illustrates the intimacy of their friendship: “It is the best looking of anything in the world when Brother Carrington sees his wife in her new calico dress. 'You look just as you did when I courted you.'” (Volume 19 1877, 66-76)
Upon the death of President Brigham Young in 1877, Elder Carrington, Elder George Q. Cannon, and his son, Elder Brigham Young, Jr., served as executors of the vast Young estate. Rumors abounded that the estate was worth many millions of dollars. It took several months of dedication, but the three executors came to the conclusion that the estate was worth about $1,626,000. Much of the property was actually church property, over a million dollars worth, and thus would not be going to Brigham Young's progeny. This so disappointed some of the heirs of Brigham Young's estate, that they filed a complaint against the executors. The anti-Mormon judge, Jacob S. Boreman, ruled in favor of the heirs and held the executors in contempt of court. Elders Cannon, Young and Carrington spent three weeks in the Utah Territorial Penitentiary before the Territorial Supreme Court reversed the decision. The Church then decided to grant the heirs an additional $75,000 to settle the case.
In 1880, Elder Carrington was called to serve as President of the European Mission for the fourth time, making him one of the longest-serving Presidents of the European mission, a total of eight years.
Elder Carrington was accused of unseemly conduct by the largely anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune, being a rival paper of the Deseret News, of which Elder Carrington had been editor. The First Presidency found that there was some truth to the accusations and brought Elder Carrington before them in a disciplinary court. The Deseret News published this account of it:
Charges having been preferred against Albert Carrington, a full and patient hearing was had before the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, when the following decision was unanimously adopted: “That Albert Carrington be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the crimes of lewd and lascivious conduct and adultery.” (Excommunicated 1885)
It was signed by all members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. He was excommunicated on 7 November 1885. This was the only publication from the Church on the subject.
Two years after his excommunication, he was re-baptized and died a member of the church on 19 September 1889 following a four-year paralysis from two strokes.
Quotes
When Elder Carrington spoke, he spoke about things he knew the most about. He spoke many times about the Perpetual Emigration Fund as well as other practical issues such as money, law, materialism, and a few times about purity and humility.
After having served as President of the European Mission for so long, Elder Carrington spent a good deal of time and energy trying to bring the poverty-struck saints across the plains. He spoke several times to the recipients of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and pled with them to repay their loans to allow more European converts the opportunity to gather to Utah.
There were many Saints in Europe who would like and who deserve to be gathered. A great deal of care should, however, be exercised in assisting the poor. The last financial report from Liverpool showed that that Office was not in possession of any means; therefore he wished it to be understood that all letters sent from here to that Office asking the Mission to help out their relatives and promising that they would pay when they could, would receive no attention whatever – unless some means was supplied from some other source no help could be rendered. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1871, 306)
Materialism was something that never much interested Elder Carrington. He said,
I tried once, for a very brief period to obtain the spirit of greed of gain, but at the end of that time was so disgusted and exhausted that I gladly gave it up. I feel to pity my brethren who are giving way to this spirit. I never have feared the days of poverty so much as those of prosperity. Kindness is more seductive than persecution, and when from an evil source is much more dangerous. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1883, 309)
Greed of gain is an abomination in the sight of God, and the quintessence of selfishness. No person impregnated with this feeling can live acceptably in the sight of Jehovah. It is our duty to build each other up not only spiritually, but also financially. If all were doing that, our course would be much more acceptable to God than it now is. We should live, let live and help to live. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1884, 706-707)
Elder Carrington was a compassionate man, who sincerely cared about the welfare of every man, even those who had done him evil. He said he felt that “it will be a day of sorrow and mourning; that it will be painful even to hear the report of the going forth of the wise and just judgments of our Father upon the heads of the wicked—those of our fellow beings who have preferred to do evil.” (Carrington 1880, 97)
He proclaimed that, “He had no desire but to go where he was sent and where he could do the most good.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1871, 306)
He was a humble man who felt that all men should understand that they can do nothing without God. He “delivered a discourse on the object of the existence of man on the earth showing the foolishness of men who take credit to themselves for the discovery and development of principles which had been in existence throughout all eternity.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1871, 291)
Being a very learned man, he was someone who understood the law better than most of his fellow apostles. He spoke on “the political position of the people of this Territory, showing that congress could not be constitutionally sustained in the position it assumed toward them.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1870, 722)
Over time, Elder Carrington's concept of law began to shift. Instead of focusing on the constitutionality of a law, he began to measure everything by the laws of God. He said,
What is crime? Simply a transgression of the law, human or divine. What is law? It is, or should be, a rule of order founded in justice, for the benefit of those to whom it may apply. Now, so far as we are concerned in regard to law, we are under divine law, the Gospel, the grand plan of salvation – a law that is perfect, plain and simple as well as just, and applicable to the whole human family at all times, and in this we should rejoice. But we are also under human laws as well, we pertain to a number of what are termed human governments, subject, in a greater or less degree, to man-made institutions, and are they perfect? No. (Volume 17 1874, 165-168)
Now, then, with regard to these matters that we are immediately passing through – the attempted enforcement of laws that are not constitutional and, through not being constitutional, that are not valid, and consequently of no force or effect whatever, in justice, what are we going to do about it? I trust that we will … endure meekly and patiently all things... (Volume 17 1874, 165-168)
Despite his own transgressions, he seemed to understand the principles of the gospel very well. He said, “There is no slavery but in sin, and no freedom save in doing that which is right, so there is no happiness but in doing the will of God.” (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1883, 309)
He pled with the saints to purify their hearts.
We must labor to eradicate from ourselves all that is degrading and live according to the decrees of our kind, wise Father in the Heavens. But there are some who seem to prefer their own secret will and their own course according to their own skill in very great blindness and foolishness. But it is the duty of the latter-day saints to be guided by the revelations of God that they may overcome and inherit the glory of the righteous. (Carrington, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 1880, 692)
Elder George Q. Cannon said of him:
Perhaps it is not too much to say that no man in the Church has had better advantages in many respects for the time he has been a member than has Albert Carrington. He was a college graduate, and he joined the Church at a time when men possessing such advantages were not so common as now. He came here with the Pioneers, and his education enabled him to take a prominent part in public affairs. President Young showed him great confidence, and their association was long and intimate. He cannot, therefore, plead ignorance as an excuse for his wrong-doing. The acts for which he has been dealt with were the deliberate violations on his part of principles and laws which he has heard taught by the lips of inspiration ever since he gathered with the Saints, and in direct conflict with every example which he has seen on the part of the leaders of Israel. (Cannon 1885, 360)
Conclusion
What kind of man was Albert Carrington? He was a man with many good qualities. He loved the people. He gave a lot of effort to bring his fellow saints across the plains to gather to Utah. He bore no malice against those who had wronged him. He was a great administrator. He served in the Territory legislature. He was an executor of Brigham Young's estate. He understood the law. Yet, he felt himself an exception to the law and fell. He was not a perfect man. Yet he was a good man.
The greatest lesson we can take from Elder Carrington's story was taught so eloquently by George Q. Cannon: “The Church has been taught from the beginning that no amount of talent, no number of gifts, no eminence in the Priesthood were sufficient to save a man, or to keep him in the Church, without personal purity.” (Cannon 1885, 360)
There is an unfortunate silence on the subject of Elder Carrington's re-baptism, and while it is impossible to know how he felt or what road led him to return to Church activity (even though he would never again serve as an Apostle), it was a gratifyingly short process. Two years after being excommunicated for sexual sins, Elder Carrington was able to show that he had completely repented and had his blessings restored. This is indicative of his dedication to the Lord and his desire to be obedient.
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