Bishop Edward Partridge died Wednesday, May 27, 1840, in Nauvoo, in the forty-sixth year of his age. He was the first bishop of the Church, having been called to that position by revelation in 1831. He was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, August 27, 1793. His daughter Harriet Pamela, aged nineteen years, preceded her father to the grave by eleven days. They were victims of the Missouri persecutions, and were among those who suffered privations and exposure in the mobbings and expulsion in the winter of 1838-9. Others who likewise laid down their lives about this time were John Young, father of President Brigham Young, Seymour Brunson and James Mulholland, the Prophet's secretary. Each of these brethren died shortly after the settlement of the Saints in Illinois. John Young was a veteran of the Revolution. He had been driven from his home in Missouri and died in his seventy-seventh year, a martyr to his religion, for his death was caused by his sufferings in the cruel persecution. Seymour Brunson died August 10, 1840. He was a man of strong character, and had taken an active part in the Church almost from the beginning, serving in various councils. He it was who entered charges against Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer at the time of their excommunication. He died in his forty-first year and was at the time a member of the high council in the Nauvoo Stake. James Mulholland died in November, 1839, aged thirty-five years. He was a man of excellent education and was a faithful elder in the Church. Death of Patriarch Joseph Smith Another victim of Missouri persecution was the Patriarch Joseph Smith, who died in Nauvoo, September 14, 1840. He was the first person who received the Prophet's testimony after the appearance of the angel, and was always true to the mission of his son. He moved to Kirtland in 1831, where he was ordained patriarch and an assistant counselor to the Prophet in the Presidency of the High Priesthood, December 18, 1833. He served as a member of the first high council in 1834. During the persecutions in Kirtland, in 1837, he was made a prisoner by the apostate enemies of the Church, but gained his liberty and made his way to Far West in 1838. From here he was again driven by enemies under the exterminating order of the infamous Lilburn W. Boggs. In midwinter he made his way to Quincy, and later in the spring of 1839, to Commerce, where he made his home. He was six feet two inches tall, and well proportioned. His ordinary weight was about two hundred pounds. He was a very strong, active man, but the exposure he suffered during the expulsion from Missouri, brought on consumption, from which he died. His funeral services were held September 15, 1840, Elder Robert B. Thompson delivering the discourse. More Trouble from Missouri