The role was equated by Joseph Smith with Biblical patriarchs from Adam to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it was expected that the office would descend through lineal succession from father to son.
This precedent was set when Hyrum Smith, Joseph's brother, became the second Presiding Patriarch because he was the eldest surviving son of the first Presiding Patriarch, Joseph Smith Sr.
When the office was given to Hyrum, he was given "keys of the patriarchal priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth, even the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
When a Presiding Patriarch has existed, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has sustained the person as a prophet, seer, and revelator.
However, E. Gary Smith, the eldest son of the final patriarch, Eldred G. Smith, rejected this explanation, suggesting instead that the dissolution of the office was the inevitable result of longstanding tensions rising from the incompatibility of a hereditary position with the broader church hierarchy based in "office charisma," consistent with the Weberian model of bureaucracy.