The First Council of the Seventy, comprised of the first seven presidents of the First Quorum of Seventy, was organized on February 28, 1835, at Kirtland, Ohio, by Joseph Smith in response to revelation regarding the organization of priesthood offices. Later, when it was determined that five high priests had been ordained seventies, the First Council was reorganized in April 1837, using only priesthood members who were seventies (HC 2:476).
    As outlined in Doctrine and Covenants 107:93-98, the Seventy "should have seven presidents to preside over them, chosen out of the number of the seventy." Other seventies could be called as needed, but the first seven presidents (First Council of the Seventy) were to preside over all the additional seventies as well as the First Quorum.
    Through the years the role of the First Council of the Seventy and their specific function as General Authorities have been modified in such areas as the seventy's missionary role, their ability to preside and ordain, and their position as "especial witnesses" (Madsen, pp. 299-300).
    By 1936 the various seventies quorums scattered throughout the Church were placed under stake supervision. In 1961 members of the First Council of Seventy were ordained high priests with their primary calling being missionaries, but they also had the authority to act as administrators and direct the affairs of the Church in various parts of the world, under the direction of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
    On October 3, 1975, the First Quorum of the Seventy was reconstituted as an entity, and on October 1, 1976, the members of the First Council of the Seventy and the Assistants to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were released and added to the First Quorum of the Seventy. A new presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy was sustained. Additional men were selected to be members of the First Quorum and to act as General Authorities to assist in the expanded functions of Church leadership (Ensign 6 [Nov. 1976]:9-10).
    In 1984 Gordon B. Hinckley, counselor in the First Presidency, announced that in order to infuse "new talent and a much widened opportunity for men of ability and faith to serve" as General Authorities, new members of the First Quorum were to be called to act for a period of three to five years (CR, Apr. 1984, p. 4). This policy was redefined on April 1, 1989, when the Second Quorum of Seventy was organized, comprised of men who would be called to serve for a period of five years (CR, Apr. 1989, p. 22). President Hinckley later indicated that members of the First Quorum would serve until "factors of age and health" made them candidates for emeritus status (Ensign 20 [Jan. 1990]:10). The leaders of the Seventy were identified as the "Presidency of the Seventy."
    Members of the First Council of Seventy were not sustained as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators.

Hazen Aldrich (1835-1837)
Joseph Young (1835-1881)
Levi W. Hancock (1835-1837, 1837-1882)
Leonard Rich (1835-1837)
Zebedee Coltrin (1835-1837)
Lyman R. Sherman (1835-1837)
Sylvester Smith (1835-1837)
John Gould (1837-1837)
James Foster (1837-1841)
Daniel S. Miles (1837-1845)
Josiah Butterfield (1837-1844)
Salmon Gee (1837-1838)
John Gaylord (1837-1838)
Henry Harriman (1838-1891)
Zera Pulsipher (1838-1862)
Roger Orton (1845-1845) (sustained but never set apart)
Albert P. Rockwood (1845-1879)
Benjamin L. Clapp (1845-1859)
Jedediah M. Grant (1845-1854)
Horace S. Eldredge (1854-1888)
Jacob Gates (1860-1892)
John Van Cott (1862-1883)
William W. Taylor (1880-1884)
Abraham H. Cannon (1882-1889)
Theodore B. Lewis (1882-1882)  (sustained but never set apart)
Seymour B. Young (1882-1924)
Christian D. Fjelsted (1884-1905)
John Morgan (1884-1894)
Brigham H. Roberts (1888-1933)
George Reynolds (1890-1909)
J. Golden Kimball (1892-1938)
Rulon S. Wells (1893-1941)
Edward Stevenson (1894-1897)
Joseph W. McMurrin (1897-1932)
Charles H. Hart (1906-1934)
Levi E. Young (1909-1963)
Rey L. Pratt (1925-1931)
Antoine R. Ivins (1931-1967)
Samuel O. Bennion (1933-1945)
John H. Taylor (1933-1946)
Rufus K. Hardy (1934-1945)
Richard L. Evans (1938-1953)
Oscar A. Kirkham (1941-1958)
S. Dilworth Young (1945-1975)
Milton R. Hunter (1945-1975)
Bruce R. McConkie (1946-1972)
Marion D. Hanks (1953-1968)
A. Theodore Tuttle (1958-1975)
Paul H. Dunn (1964-1975)
Hartman Rector, Jr. (1968-1975)
Loren C. Dunn (1968-1975)
Rex D. Pinegar (1972-1975)
Gene R. Cook (1975-1975)