Thus the testimony of James Whitehead is worthless. John S. Carter said the Prophet chose his son at a public meeting in Nauvoo on a Sunday, "not long before Joseph was killed." (True Succession, page 48). Yet none of the people knew of this. Nothing was said of it during the trouble with Sidney Rigdon. And William Marks, president of the Nauvoo Stake, would most likely be present at the public meetings held on Sundays in Nauvoo. Yet he supported the claim of Sidney Rigdon to be the guardian when the latter declared that there could be no successor. It is a little strange that such an appointment could be made at a public meeting and all the people--just a few months later--be ignorant of it. Where were the people the day this public meeting was held? How much easier it would have been for Sidney Rigdon to have said, August 8, 1844: "I want to be appointed 'Guardian' until young Joseph grows up," instead of declaring that no successor could be appointed! How easy it would have been for Lyman Wight to have said, "I was present when Joseph blessed his son in Liberty prison, as his successor," or for James Whitehead and John S. Carter to have declared that young Joseph had been ordained as his father's successor in a public meeting in Nauvoo shortly before the martyrdom, and thus have reminded the people of it. How strange that such an important occurrence should slip the minds of the entire people on such a vital occasion? But they did not think of it. The truth is it was an afterthought on the part of these men. Another thing which is peculiar: There were too many "appointments" and "ordinations" of this "successor" which makes the thing look suspicious. It is hardly reasonable to suppose that the Prophet, "appointed," "blessed," and "ordained" his son to this office every few days. If such a thing had taken place it would have been done in the proper way and manner in the presence of the presiding officers of the Church and a proper record of it would have been made and filed away. But the records of the Church are silent and it is quite significant that Lyman Wight, James Whitehead, John S. Carter and even Joseph of the "Reorganization" himself had "forgotten" this "appointing" or "ordination" at the most critical moment for it to have been mentioned--August 8, 1844.