90 years ago today - Jun 30, 1928

The death of ex-governor John C. Cutler from a self-inflicted gunshot. He declined the First Presidency's call in 1887 to become a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. The Bishopric's second counselor now describes Cutler as "one of the Church Officers," apparently because he has been an auditor of the general church funds. Utah's chief executive from 1905 to 1909, Cutler is the only Utah governor to commit suicide.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

120 years ago today - Jun 30, 1898; Thursday

The following case was presented by Elder Lyman: Sidney R. Burton, an apostate, died out of the Church, and is supposed to have committed suicide, though this is uncertain. He left a wife and children in the Church. His widow now desired permission to have his Temple work done (He had not received his endowments) and be sealed to him. Brother Lyman favored the granting of the request, as it might be the means of her holding her children together. Elder Young took the opposite view, holding that such leniency might be regarded by them as a licence and do them more harm than good. Pres[ident]. Smith thought it a waste of time as well as an improper proceeding to seal a woman to such a man. He believed in giving a woman the largest liberty possible in such a case, and would even strain a point by granting her request; but at the same time he would advise her against it. Pres[ident]. Snow agreed with Pres[ident]. Smith. Pres[ident]. Woodruff thought that we should not defile our Temples and altars by acting in such cases, but leave them in the hands of the Lord. Brother Lyman agreed with the views of the other brethren, but thought that as there had been so much leniency shown in such cases of late, he would satisfy Sister Burton's feelings by bringing the matter before the Council. It was finally decided that the case be laid over for further inquiry. ...

[Source: First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]

125 years ago today - Jun 30, 1893

Apostle Heber J Grant, in New York seeking a loan for the church receives a letter from Second Counselor Joseph F. Smith: "This is the end of the month and not a dollar to pay anybody with not even Pres[iden]t Woodruff and the Twelve. We have sent out or caused to be sent, circulars to the Presidents of Stakes to dispose of anything on hand in their stakes, in the shape of stock-produce or other property, cheap for cash and send the same to us at once. There is nothing doing-no tithing coming in-or means stirring and everybody seems paralized as well as business."

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

145 years ago today - Jun 30, 1873 (Monday)

Salt Lake City was first lighted with gas.

[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

160 years ago today - Jun 30, 1858

The announcement was made in Provo that all who wished to return to Salt Lake City were at liberty to do so. [Salt Lake had been vacated as Johnston's army approached.]

[Source: Hale, Van, Mormon Miscellaneous, Utah War Chronology, http://www.mormonmiscellaneous.com/utahwar/id2.html]

175 years ago today - Jun 30, 1843

Joseph Smith returns to Nauvoo. He learns of Hyrum's sealing of Parley and Mary Ann Pratt and cancels the ordinance, instructing Hyrum that he had no authority to perform the marriage.

[Source: Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]

175 years ago today - Jun 30, 1843

Joseph and the company arrive in Nauvoo triumphantly about noon [from his arrest]. The whole town turns out to give them a hero's welcome, including a brass band, cannon fire, a line of decorated carriages, and streets lined with cheering people. Joseph has a feast at his home with fifty friends. He seats Reynolds and Wilson [who had arrested him] at the head of the table. The Nauvoo Municipal Court convenes that afternoon, and Reynolds is forced to turn over his prisoner, Joseph, to the city marshal. At 5 P.M., 10,000 people assemble at the grove to listen to Joseph's tale of the adventure. Joseph exuberantly states, "I feel as strong as a giant. I pulled sticks with men coming along, and I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up, and I continued to pull mentally, until I pulled Missouri to Nauvoo. . . . Thank God, I am now a prisoner in the hands of the municipal court of Nauvoo, and not in the hands of Missourians. . . . But before I willbear this unhallowed persecution any longer - before I will be dragged away again among my enemies for trial, I will spill the last drop of blood in my veins, and will see all my enemies in hell! To bear it any longer would be a sin." ["I wish the lawyer who says we have no powers in Nauvoo may be choked to death on his own words. Don't employ lawyers, or pay them money for their knowledge, for I have learnt they don't know anything. I know more than they all. . . . You speak of lawyers; I am a lawyer too, but the Almighty God has taught me the principle of law; . . ."] He claims that the Nauvoo court has power to free him, and while he is speaking, Reynolds and Wilson leave for Carthage, threatening to raise a militia to again arrest him.

[Source: Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

10 years ago today - 6/29/2008

Letter read in most California wards and branches while gay pride day parades were underway. Local LDS leaders (temple presidency members, mission presidents) act as spokesmen (no spokeswomen in NorCal) with CA media. The letter was addressed to "General Authorities, Area Seventies, and the following in California: Stake and Mission Presidents; Bishops and Branch Presidents." Some wards and branches in other states heard the letter read over the pulpit as well, and some California congregations heard the letter on a different day due to local scheduling requirements. Some bishops remind members that there may be press attention or protests resulting from the letter, and that members should conduct themselves with dignity and Christ-like love. [The letter states in part: "We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman."]

[Source: Mormons for Marriage: A Prop 8 Timeline, http://mormonsformarriage.com/?page_id=68]

25 years ago today - Jun 29, 1993

The government of Mexico formally registered the LDS Church, grant-ing it all the rights of a religious organization, including the right to own property.

[Source: Church News: Historical Chronology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/58765/Historical-chronology-of-The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-day-Saints.html]

40 years ago today - Jun 29, 1978-Thursday

[Leonard Arrington]
James [Allen] ... told us he has learned the nature of the manifestation in the temple that led Church officials to refer to the "revelation" on the Priesthood. He said he learned this information from [religion professor] George Pace [... who ...] learned it from Elder Bruce McConkie...// ... During that prayer there also appeared some of the past presidents of the Church as witnesses that they approved. [For more info, see http://www.todayinmormonhistory.com/2018/06/40-years-ago-today-jun-27-1978-tuesday.html] ...// So this was the nature of the manifestation. If I ever hear more of this, I shall of course place it in my diary for the benefit of future historians. ...

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

120 years ago today - Jun 29, 1898

[Heber J. Grant]
I feel to thank the Lord that Jos. Hyrum Grant Jr. is now a sane man, and it is one of the marvels of life that his is so seeing that he was once in the asylum, but he was healed by the power of God in fulfillment of a promise made to his father by apostle John W. Taylor.

[Source: The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]

145 years ago today - Jun 29, 1873

First Counselor George Q. Cannon preaches: "The temptations that we are exposed to are the result, in a great degree, of the false organization of society. I believe there are thousands of men in the Christian world, who are adulterers to-day, who would not be adulterers if they knew more and could practice the system of marriage which God has revealed."

Brigham Young follows him and preaches: "Brother George Q. Cannon says the sisters have borne a great deal. So they have, but if they could only stand in the shoes of their husbands who are good, true and faithful, they would know that they are by no means free from perplexities. Just fancy a man with two, three, or half a dozen of his beloved wives catching him on one side, and before he can take three steps more, catching him on the other, and "I want this," "I want that," and "this is not right," and "that is not right," and so on; their minds just pulled to pieces. I say if the hair is spared on their heads they may consider that they have got blessed good wives. I have as many wives as many other men, and I keep my hair yet."

90 years ago today - Jun 28, 1928

President Heber J. Grant wrote to a mission president in 1928 that there was " no rule in the Church " that only priesthood bearers could carry the sacrament to the congregation after it was blessed.

[Source: Heber J Grant Letterbook, LDS Archives, as quoted at http://ordainwomen.org/quotes. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.]

175 years ago today - Jun 28, 1843

[Nauvoo Neighbor]
... Story: "Free Masons" -- Editorial -- Worshipful Master Mr. H. Smith laid the Corner Stone while Mr. J. Taylor offered the oration during the Masonic Temple Corner Stone Celebration. ...

- Announcement: Kinderhook Plates Facsimile -- Editorial -- A Facsimile of the Kinderhook Plates is announced for sale at the printing office. Price: 12.5 Cents each, or one Dollar per dozen. ...

[Source: http://boap.org/LDS/Nauvoo-Neighbor]

180 years ago today - Jun 28, 1838

Adam-ondi-Ahman is formed into a stake and thus a gathering place for members of the church. It is the third stake established in the church.

[Source: Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]

190 years ago today - Circa Jun 28, 1828

Joseph Smith withdraws from the Harmony (PA) Methodist class ...

[Source: Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]

205 years ago today - 1813. June 28

Orrin Porter Rockwell was born in Belcher, Massachusetts. By 1830 the Rockwells were living one mile from Joseph Smith's family in Manchester, New York. Porter was baptized shortly after the Church was organized. His 1832 marriage to Luana Beebe ended in separation ten years later, and he married Mary Ann Neff, Christine Olsen, and a Mrs. Davis. He was the father of fourteen children.

[Source: Van Wagoner, Richard and Walker, Steven C., A Book of Mormons, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

25 years ago today - Jun 27,1993

Counselor Gordon B. Hinckley dedicates former Hotel Utah as new Joseph Smith Memorial Building to serve primarily as additional office space for LDS central bureaucracy. Its large theatres also begin showing devotional film, "Legacy" (about Mormon pioneers), scripted by Academy award-winner Keith Merrill according to Hinckley's instruction: "I want them to leave the theatre crying."

[Source: Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Appendix 5, Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1848-1996, http://amzn.to/extensions-power]

35 years ago today - Jun 27, 1983-Monday

[Leonard Arrington]
When we came to SLC in 1972, I operated under the assumption that Church leaders talked things through, then agreed, and then supported the programs and policies thus decided upon. I found out that this was not necessarily or always the case. I discovered a number of instances in which church leaders agreed upon a policy and then one or more of the Twelve immediately began to sabotage it. ... within a year [after approval of the Church History department], Elders [Boyd K.] Packer and [Mark E.] Petersen immediately began to fight against us and the program. Examples: We were instructed by President [Harold B.] Lee not to submit anything to Correlation-that we were the Correlation Committee for our work. But when we published Brigham Young's Letters to His Sons, edited by Dean Jessee, Elder Packer wrote to the First Presidency with criticisms of it, and has been criticizing it ever since. In particular, the mention of one of BY's sons taking drugs and BY cautioning his son Brigham Junior not to smoke on his mission. Elder Petersen began to undermine us by circulating that scurrilous paper of Steve Marshall ["The New Mormon History"], without even talking to any of us. Elder Packer's letters to the First Presidency about our sesquicentennial history project, leading eventually to its discontinuance. Elder Petersen cancelling the review of The Mormon Experience to appear in the Church News. Elders Benson and Petersen refusing a second printing of Story of the Latter-day Saints. Canceling Friends of Church History.

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

40 years ago today - Jun 27, 1978-Tuesday

[Leonard Arrington]
Notes on a conversation between [Ensign editor] Jay Todd, 26 June 1978, and Joseph Fielding McConkie, reported by Jay Todd, combined with notes on a conversation between Oscar McConkie and Jay Todd, 27 June 1978. (Material by JFM in parentheses.) [[At the family gathering, apostle Bruce R. McConkie discussed how the decision to grant blacks the priesthood was reached. ... Some of the content was later repudiated by apostle Gordon B. Hinckley, who said: "There was not the sound 'as of a rushing mighty wind,' there were not 'cloven tongues like as of fire' as there had been on the Day of Pentecost. ... But the voice of the Spirit whispered with certainty into our minds." President Kimball went so far as to instruct McConkie to "revise" his public comments "to avoid possible misunderstanding" about an alleged "audible voice speaking specific words."... ]]

Subject: The circumstances of the revelation to grant the priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church, discussed "last week" at a family gathering by Elder Bruce R. McConkie.

The First Presidency had been interested in the topic for years, President [Spencer W.] Kimball especially, and "had felt a message coming through." Last June several of the apostles were invited to submit memos on various implications of the question-historical, medical, sociological, doctrinal, etc., among them Elders [apostle] Packer, Monson, and McConkie. The First Presidency had made the question a matter of formal prayer in the [Salt Lake] temple a number of times and had received no revelation, no answer. (JFM had not been present at the family gathering but had contacted his father in a phone conversation later and apparently received the same information and the addition of some other details. He said, at this point, that at one meeting-unclear whether it was all the Twelve or just the First Presidency-that someone commented, "The former presidents of the Church are here," and President Kimball confirmed it. On a second occasion, one of the men said, "President So-and-So is here," and President Kimball again confirmed that impression.)

On 1 June 1978, the General Authorities in town, including the patriarch, presiding bishopric, and seventies, held their joint meeting in the temple. It was an "average meeting, neither better nor worse than they usually had" but at the end, President Kimball did an unusual thing. He asked the Twelve to return, which had never occurred before in BRM's experience. Ezra Taft Benson was already out of earshot and had to be fetched back.

President Kimball then reviewed the situation, told the feelings of the First Presidency, explained what they'd been doing for the past times, and asked for responses. BRM, in an unusual breach of protocol, immediately arose and delivered a ten-minute lecture on why the blacks must receive the priesthood before the Millennium. He was followed by Boyd K. Packer, who spoke for ten minutes, bringing up different but equally persuasive reasons, and then by Elder Monson. The remaining General Authorities present except two (Elder Petersen and Elder Stapley were not present but in South America and ill, respectively) all spoke extemporaneously and gave their strong reasons. All took totally different points, and all were highly persuasive. President Kimball asked Howard W. Hunter and the other apostle who had not spoken to respond, and they responded very positively. They did not bring up new arguments, simply expressed agreement.

President Kimball then said that as a First Presidency they had prayed many times and had received no answer. He had also prayed many times in the temple alone and had received no answer. "We are all united in feeling; we are going to get an answer-yes or no." He must have felt assured of that by the Spirit. In his humble way, he asked, "Would you mind if I were mouth for this prayer?" They entered into the true order of prayer [a prayer circle], and as President Kimball began praying, "The Lord took over and directed his requests. It was obvious that it was an inspired prayer from the language." Up to that point (apparently prayers had been offered with the Council of the Twelve before or Elder McConkie would not have been able to report this) President Kimball's language had been very circumspect: "Would it be proper for us to ask this question?" Now he was direct, communicating on a different level.

At the end of that prayer, a Pentecostal experience occurred. All thirteen experienced and saw "just the way it was at Kirtland." BRM used that phrase several times in answering specific questions put to him by family members. The rushing of a great wind? "Just like Kirtland." Angelic choirs? "Just like Kirtland." Cloven tongues of fire? (Elder McConkie reportedly said that during this experience he came to understand, for the first time, just what was meant by "cloven tongues of fire." LJA.) "Just like Kirtland." Visitors from across the veil? "Just like Kirtland." They had "an incredible experience." No matter how his family phrased the question, he [Bruce R. McConkie] refused to say who had come from the other side. One family phrased a question about the presidents of the Church, that he sidestepped; and his sister, who had started to write down their names, began crossing them out. He stopped her: "I didn't say they didn't come, May. I just said I wasn't telling." (JFM reported that Joseph Smith had come to instruct them in the doctrine and that a great portion of the time was taken up with matters "pertaining to futurity and the course of the Church in the future," not related to the priesthood issue directly.)

By the end (no indication of how long it lasted), everyone was weeping.

BRM: "President Kimball has had many, many revelations. He is the preeminent seer since Joseph [Smith]. And he said it was the greatest spiritual experience of his life." Marion G. Romney has had many revelations, and Ezra Taft Benson has seen many, many visions. All agreed that it surpassed any previous experience. When BRM was called as a General Authority he had an "incredible experience" that he has shared with family members but forbidden them to tell. His sister, who had asked four years ago if anything had equaled it and had been told no, asked him to compare the two. "There was no comparison," he said.

Did they see the same things? If it was "just like Kirtland" they saw and reported different things and concurred in the seeing.

President Kimball's grandfather came [appeared] to him at the time he was called [to be a church apostle]. He had the experience of seeing his posterity as yet unborn down through the generations. [And yet] he said that this was the "preeminent religious experience of his life."

All were weeping and embracing at the end. President Kimball went around the room and embraced every man there. The Twelve normally have their own meeting afterward, but were "unable to continue." They were completely overcome. President Kimball collected his counselors, though, and said, "We have work too," and held the First Presidency meeting, going through a complete agenda.

A family member asked BRM: "Why did you all see it? Why didn't just President Kimball receive it and you receive confirmation of it?" He answered, "Because it will take all thirteen to witness of it in the kinds of changes that will have to take place."

Nothing happened for a week, then at the Thursday temple meeting on June 8, they discussed how to announce it. Some wanted to wait until October conference, others for the mission presidents' seminar the following week. BRM argued strongly for immediate release for two reasons: it'll leak, and "we have to beat Satan. He'll do something between now and then to make it appear that we're being forced into it." This course was adopted. Both Elder McConkie and Elder Packer were asked to submit drafts of the announcement. [When] Elder Packer told Elder McConkie that "they chose your draft[,]" Elder McConkie said, "It was the First Presidency's letter."

On June 9, the other General Authorities were asked to come to an early meeting, fasting, to the temple. President Kimball told them the decision and asked for responses. Franklin D. Richards spoke first as senior president of the quorum [of the Seventy], followed by BRM again giving an impassioned extemporaneous lecture on the relevant scriptures, and by President Romney: "I have a confession to make. Whenever we've discussed this question, I've assured President Kimball that I would support him fully, but if the decision had been left to me, I would have felt that we've always had that policy and we would stick to it no matter what the opposition. I have now changed my position 180 degrees. I am not just a supporter of this decision. I am an advocate." Every one of the Seventies spoke. According to Dean Larsen, they voiced approval to a man. Marion D. Hanks was reported so overcome that he could not speak.

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

115 years ago today - Jun 27, 1903

Incorporation of W. H. Groves Latter-day Hospital, with Presiding Bishop as president. Opened on 1 Jan. 1905, LDS Hospital is first in the church's hospital system.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

130 years ago today - Jun 27, 1888

[James E. Talmage]
Talmage delivers an evolution-themed lecture titled "Nature and Nature's God" in Springville. In his journal Talmage writes the following:

In the evening according to previous appointment, I went to Springville to lecture there under the auspices of the Improvement Associations, on the subject of "Nature and Nature's God." I have been requested by the Springville people, since before the time of the accident to my eye, that I should speak in that place on "Evolution" as a partial offset to the tendency of certain atheistical doctrine there through the teachings of a certain Dr. York. The subject was treated tonight according to my poor ability under the title first above named.

[Source: MSS 229, James E. Talmage Journal; Chronology of the Life and Work of James E. Talmage, J. Trevor Antley, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MJsHY83JZL_n6CjWq11y1trT_CVXMMXAx2uYOWAwn0c/edit#heading=h.2zfdaoa]

150 years ago today - Jun 27, 1868

President Brigham Young'-spoke. Bro. Pratt made a confession of his error in printing Mother Lucy Smith's book [History of Joseph Smith by his Mother] without first consulting Pres. young

[Source: Journal History of the Church, Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints DVD 2 (2002), in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

175 years ago today - Jun 27, 1843

Vilate Kimball writes to her husband Heber C. Kimball: "I have had a visit from brother Parley [Pratt] and his wife, they are truly converted it appears that J[oseph] has taught him some principles and told him his privilege, and even appointed one for him. I dare not tell you who it is, you would be astonished and I guess some tried. She has been to me for council. I told her I did not wish to advise in such matters. Sister [Mary Ann] Pratt has been rageing against these things. She told me herself that the devil had been in her until within a few days past. She said the Lord had shown her it was all right. She wants Parley to go ahead, says she will do all in her power to help him; they are so ingagued I fear they will run to[o] fast. They ask me many questions on principle. I told them I did not know much and I rather they would go to those that had authority to teach." The "appointed one" was Elizabeth Brotherton, the sister of Martha Brotherton, who, had refused Brigham Young's offer of plural marriage (after being locked in a room) and gone public on the subject.

160 years ago today - Jun 27, 1858

[Brigham Young]
... said I am sorry for the Armey [which had passed through an abandoned Salt Lake the day before] & have thought of sending word for the Brethren in Great Salt Lake City for the brethren to sell vegitables to them. I have also had it in my heart when peace is esstablished to take all the Cattle Horses and Mules which we have taken from the army and return them to the officers. In speaking of the moving of the people out of G. S. L. City is there evil in the City and I the Lord have not done it? Is our movement an evil? No it is for our good.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

65 years ago today - Jun 26, 1953

[Marion G. Romney]
... It was concluded to recommend to the Board the adoption of the recommendation of the Executive Committee (a) that the consolidated system be known as 'The University of Deseret,' and (b) that for the present the University of Deseret will be administered by the president of the B.Y.U. ...

[Source: The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015, Appendix 2, The Diaries of Marion G. Romney, 1941-1961, Abridged]

70 years ago today - Jun 26, 1948

General Mark W. Clark presides at a military memorial service at Garland, Utah, for four LDS brothers killed as servicemen during a six-month period of World War II: Clyde, LeRoy, and twins Rolon and Rulon Borgstrom. American families are given a small service-flag (with a gold star in the center) to display in the window of the home for their son/daughter killed in the war, and Borgstrom "Gold Star Mother" displays a flag with four stars. A Roman Catholic family suffers a similar tragedy when five Sullivan brothers die on the day their U.S. ship is torpedoed in World War II.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

160 years ago today - Jun 26, 1858

The Army marched through Salt Lake City which they found had been abandoned by the Mormons. They passed through Salt Lake City and camped on the west side of the Jordan river. It subsequently marched to Cedar Valley, and there located Camp Floyd, about forty miles from the city where they remained until the outbreak of the Civil War.

The war ended in a compromise with both sides somewhat disappointed. Brigham Young did not want the army in the territory. Numerous sources establish that the army was anxious to fight and kill Mormons to assert complete suppression. President Buchanan's pardon eliminated trials and executions for treason of Brigham Young and other Mormons for which some had hopeful anticipation.

[Source: Hale, Van, Mormon Miscellaneous, Utah War Chronology, http://www.mormonmiscellaneous.com/utahwar/id2.html]

165 years ago today - Jun 26, 1853

Jonathan Golden Kimball, LDS Church general authority, is best known as one of the most colorful and humorous folk heroes in Mormon history. Born 26 June 1853 in Salt Lake City to Christeen Golden and Heber C. Kimball, J. Golden was part of the first generation of Mormons to be born in Utah after the move west in 1847, and as one of sixty-five children fathered by Heber C. Kimball, he knew the workings of pioneer Utah and Mormon polygamy firsthand.

[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: J. Golden Kimball, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

175 years ago today - Jun 26, 1843

[Wilford Woodruff]
Their was several Natives of the Potawate-mys [that went] through Nauvoo. Called to see the Nauvoo House & Temple. Wanted to talk. Had no interpeter that could interpet much. They spoke about their great father great spirit &c. They manifested a desire to see the Temple & the city. Said they were hungry. I took them home & fed them. Gave them some trinklets &c.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

40 years ago today - Jun 25, 1978

Marcus Helvecio Martins and his father receive the priesthood and are ordained elders in Brazil. The son receives an unsolicited missionary calling from the First Presidency. Although he and his fiancée have already mailed invitations for their upcoming marriage, they cancel the wedding, and in August, Marcus H. Martins becomes the first full-time missionary of black African descent. His father becomes a general authority in 1990.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

45 years ago today - Jun 25, 1973-Monday

[Leonard Arrington]
Throughout the history of the Church there has been a continuous tension between two interpretations or applications of Mormonism: (1) Mormonism as a group phenomenon-corporate Mormonism-group salvation and exaltation-community of Saints-Kingdom of God; (2) Mormonism as a personal religion intent upon saving the individual and helping him with his problems.

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

105 years ago today - Jun 25, 1913

[Joseph F. Smith presidency to David Halls]
During the early history of the Church, as well as the early settlement of Utah, second blessings [anointings] were adminsitered only to those chosen by the president of the Church, and this continued all through the administration of President Brigham Young, but later the authority [was] vested in the stake presidents to recommend to the First Presidency such men presided over by [the stake presidents and] deemed worthy by them to receive the second anointing, this for the reason that the Church had increased in numbers so that it had become a matter of impossibility for the President of the Church to be personally acquainted with every man suitable and worthy to be thus honored. [It is suggested that] men [be recommended] whose faith has never been shaken, whose integrity to the Lord and his servants has been beyond question, men who have been valiant for the truth, men who have defended the servants of the Lord and never betrayed them, men who have done what they could, whether in preaching or in working to help their file leaders to build up Zion, and who are ever ready and willing to labor in the interests of Zion at home or abroad, and who are in harmony with[,] and [who] sustain by their faith and prayers and good works[,] the First Presidency and general authorities of the Church, and those immediately presiding over them, and the same with respect to the character of their wives.

[Source: Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, and Charles W. Penrose to David Halls, June 25, 1913, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

115 years ago today - Thursday, Jun 25, 1903

[Rudger Clawson]
Pres. A. W. Ivins wrote from Mexico, regarding the proper form to be used in confirming applicants for membership in the church. ... He discouraged the idea of giving a patriarchal blessing in connection with this ordinance....

Elder Woodruff attended the Malad Stake Conference last Sunday at Malad City, and while there dedicated the new meeting house that has been in course of erection for a number of years. There are some people living there who withdrew from the church at the time the Idaho test oath was put into force as a matter of policy and have never returned to the church.

[Source: Stan Larson (editor), A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic diaries of Rudger Clawson, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1993, http://bit.ly/rudgerclawson]

130 years ago today - Jun 25, 1888

[Daniel H. Wells to Joseph F. Smith]
Already-married Esther Dutcher Smith bore a son she named "Joseph" on 21 September 1844, sometime after she was "sealed to Joseph the Prophet in the days of Nauvoo, before he died. Joseph's martyrdom on 27 June 1844 occurred when she was six-months pregnant. Daniel H. Wells wrote that Esther "nearly broke his heart by telling him [her legal husband] of it, and expressing her intention of adhering to that relationship" with Joseph Smith. This showed that she was sealed at Nauvoo without the knowledge of her legal husband, a faithful Mormon there. Even though Esther's husband eventually "got to feeling better over it"--seven years after Joseph's death --and "had her sealed to him, and to himself for time,"

[Source: "Daniel H. Wells, Letter to Joseph F. Smith, June 25, 1888, MS 1325, Box 16, fd. 9, LDS Church History Library, in Turley, Selected Collections, Vol. 1, DVD #29" in "Evidence For The Sexual Side of Joseph Smith's Polygamy," Comments by D. Michael Quinn on Session #2A "Reconsidering Joseph Smith's Marital Practices," Mormon History Association's Annual Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 29 June 2012 (unabbreviated version, revised during July)]

185 years ago today - Jun 25, 1833

[Sidney Rigdon]
We have not found the Book of Jasher, nor any other of the lost books mentioned in the Bible as yet; nor will we obtain them at present. Respecting the Apocrypha, the Lord said to us that there were many things in it which were true, and there were many things in it which were not true, and to those who desire it, should be given by the Spirit to know the true from the false.

Zombre [John Johnson] has been received as a member of the [United] firm, by commandment, and has just come to Kirtland to live; as soon as we get a power of attorney signed agreeably to law, for Alam [Edward Partridge] we will forward it to him, and will immediately expect one from that part of the firm to Ahashdah [Newel K. Whitney], signed in the same manner. ...

Kirtland, the stake of Zion, is strengthening continually. When the enemies look at her they wag their heads and march along. We anticipate the day when the enemies will have fled away and be far from us.

You will remember that the power of agency [deeding consecrated property] must be signed by the wives as well as the husbands, and the wives must be examined in the matter separate and apart from the husbands, the same as signing a deed, and a specification to that effect inserted at the bottom, by the justice before whom such acknowledgment is made, otherwise the power of attorney will be of none effect. ...

[Source: Letter by Sidney Rigdon on behalf of First Presidency, 1833-June 25-DHC 1:362-364, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]

185 years ago today - Jun 25, 1833

Joseph Smith describes the future temple of the city of Zion [Independence, Missouri] as a complex of twenty-four temples, three each designated for deacons, teachers, priests, the presidency of Lesser Priesthood, elders, high priests, bishops, and the presidency of the High Priesthood. He also gives the the layout of the city of Zion which becomes the master plan for Mormon settlements from Kirtland, Ohio, to San Bernardino, California, and from Canada to Mexico.

190 years ago today - Circa Jun 25, 1828

Joseph Jr. joins a Methodist class in Harmony for three days. According to Joseph and Hiel Lewis, Joseph Smith joined on a Wednesday afternoon in June 1828 ... his involvement with the Methodists would have likely followed the death of his infant son on 15 June... It is also possible ... that this event actually occurred in early July after Smith's return from Manchester when he had learned of the loss of the translation manuscript.

[Source: Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]

40 years ago today - Jun 24, 1978-Saturday

[Leonard Arrington]
Yesterday morning a group of thirteen research historians toiled up the slopes of Ensign Peak, north of Salt Lake City. ... Reaching the peak at 10 a.m., we unfurled the flag of the Kingdom, a copy of one which flew on Temple Square at the time of the death of Brigham Young which had been made by Jan Quinn (wife of Mike). ... [Ron Walker] pointed out the times when endowment services were performed there; and also Brigham Young's vision of the peak as he crossed the Plains in 1847 and of the angel (Joseph Smith) pointing due south where the city should be laid out and a temple erected. [[This refers to an account given on June 20, 1869, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle by apostle George A. Smith, alleging that twenty-four years earlier in the Nauvoo temple Brigham Young had been visited by the deceased Joseph Smith and shown Ensign Peak in vision.]] ... And indeed Main Street is due south of the peak. ... The flag has twelve stripes, representing the twelve tribes of Israel; a circle of twelve stars, representing the twelve apostles; and a central star representing the Prophet or President. We then sang "High On The Mountain Top, A Banner is Unfurled." ...

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

70 years ago today - Jun 24, 1948

[J. Reuben Clark]
Checked with Dr. Sperry that there were no salacious or erotic stories in Joseph Smith's scriptures; the Book of Mormon.

[Source: The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]

115 years ago today - Wednesday, Jun 24, 1903

[Rudger Clawson]
At 2:30 p.m. attended a meeting of the general board of education of the church. During the meeting I called attention to the importance of the study of the science of life, which I thought was being neglected in our schools. It seemed to me, I said, that [more] of [the] young people should receive instruction in relation to love, courtship, and marriage, and should be warned against self-abuse and kindred evils. Many of the young people acquire the habit of self-abuse without knowing its baneful effect upon the health.

Supt. Jos. M. Tanner stated that arrangements had been made in the B. Y. College, Logan, the B. Y. Academy, Provo, and the Latter-day Saints University, Salt Lake, for instructions upon these important subjects, but nothing had been done as yet for the stake academies, though the matter would receive attention as early as possible.

Pres. [Joseph F.] Smith remarked that everything possible should be done to impart proper instructions to the young regarding the science of life and also to correct any immoral habits they may have contracted.

[Source: Stan Larson (editor), A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic diaries of Rudger Clawson, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1993, http://bit.ly/rudgerclawson]

135 years ago today - Jun 24, 1883

Parowan 1st Ward membership record and stake history records: "Sister Ellen Banks Wife of Wm Banks was ordained & Set Apart to administer to the Sick in the capacity of Midwifery & all other kinds of Sicknesses By Apostle Francis M. Lyman." Hers is the first entry in a list of "Special Ordinations." Ten other entries (1883-1886) are for men to various priesthood offices.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

150 years ago today - Jun 24, 1868 (Wednesday)

The packet ship Constitution, the last sailing vessel which brought any large company of Saints across the Atlantic, sailed from Liverpool, England, with 457 British, Swiss and German Saints, in charge of Harvey H. Cluff. It arrived at New York Aug. 5th, and the immigrants continued by rail to Benton.

[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

175 years ago today - Jun 24, 1843

[Joseph Smith Diary]
Saturday, June 24th Celebration of St. Johns [Day] in Nauvoo Laying the corner stone of the Masonic Temple on Main St[reet]. [Hyrum Smith, Worshipful Master of lodge of ancient York Masons, would preside over the event.]

[Source: Faulring, Scott (ed.), An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith Diary, 1843, http://amzn.to/jsdiaries]

175 years ago today - Jun 24, 1843

Cyrus Walker arrives and tells Joseph he will help him in exchange for Joseph's vote in the upcoming election. When Joseph promises, Walker says to Stephen Markham, "I am now sure of my election, as Joseph Smith has promised me his vote, and I am going to defend him." ... Cyrus Walker sends Lee County Sheriff Campbell to stay the night with Joseph and protect him from abuse ... [At election time, Joseph would vote for Walker, but suggest to the saints they vote for another candidate.]

[Source: Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

180 years ago today - Jun 24, 1838

[Wilford Woodruff]
... in the evening we Prayed with Sister Hannah Woodruff who was bound by the enemy [devil].

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

10 years ago today - 6/23/2008

LDS Church contributes $19,715.08 for legal services to ProtectMarriage.com. ...

Meridian Magazine's Maurine Proctor writes an article soliciting volunteers to support the "protect marriage amendment" in accordance with a "new letter that will be read over the pulpit to California congregations".

[Source: http://www.meridianmagazine.com/familyleadernetwork/ 080627marriageprint.html; Mormons for Marriage: A Prop 8 Timeline, http://mormonsformarriage.com/?page_id=68]

35 years ago today - Jun 23, 1983-Thursday

[Leonard Arrington]
I learned yesterday that [correlation head] Roy Doxey telephoned [assistant historian] James Allen's bishop and asked some questions about his church loyalty and activity. ...

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

40 years ago today - Jun 23, 1978

Joseph Freeman, Jr., 26, the first black man to gain the priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, went in the Salt Lake Temple with his wife and 5 sons for sacred ordinances. Thomas S. Monson, member of the church's Quorum of Twelve Apostles, conducted the marriage and sealing ordinances. This event shows that blacks not only are able to gain the priesthood, but are able to interracially marry in the temple with the church's blessing.

[Source: Salt Lake Tribune, June 24, 1978; Wikipedia, 20th Century (Mormonism), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century_(Mormonism)]

45 years ago today - Jun 23, 1973

Mormon golfer Johnny Miller wins the U.S. Open.

125 years ago today - Jun 23, 1893

[Wilford Woodruff]
It has been the rule in [the] Logan Temple not to allow any person who had not been married under the covenant to officiate at the marriage alt[a]r in behalf of the dead. This rule, he said was wrong and must not be acted upon in the future. The reception of the endowment enabled a person to act in behalf of the dead in any of the ordin ances in the house of the Lord, except the highest [second anointing].

[Source: Wilford Woodruff, Special Meeting of the Workers of the St. George Temple, temple annex, June 23, 1893 , typed excerpt in Buerger Papers, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

175 years ago today - Jun 23, 1843. Friday.

[William Clayton]
This A.M. President Joseph took me and conversed considerable concerning some delicate matters. Said [Emma] wanted to lay a snare for me [probably regarding polygamy]. He told me last night of this and said he had felt troubled. He said [Emma] had treated him coldly and badly since I came...and he knew she was disposed to be revenged on him for some things. She thought that if he would indulge himself [with additional wives] she would too. He cautioned me very kindly for which I felt thankful.

He said [Robert] Thompson professed great friendship for him but he gave away to temptation and he had to die. Also Brother [Newel] Knight he gave him one but he went to loose conduct and he could not save him. Also B[righam] Y[oung] had transgressed his covenant and he pled with the Lord to spare him this end and he did so, otherwise he would have died. B[righam] denied having transgressed. He said if I would do right by him and abide his council he would save my life while he lived. I feel desirous to do right and would rather die than loose my interest in the celestial kingdom...

[Source: George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle; The Journals of William Clayton, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1995, http://bit.ly/WilliamClayton]

175 years ago today - Jun 23, 1843 (Friday)

Joseph Smith was arrested and brutally treated by Joseph H. Reynolds, sheriff of Jackson Co., Mo., and Constable Harmon T. Wilson, of Carthage, Ill., without legal process, and only through interference of friends at Dixon saved from being kidnapped and taken to Missouri.

[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

185 years ago today - Jun 23, 1833 (Sunday)

Doctor P. Hurlburt ... was excommunicated from the Church for adultery. [Hurlburt would collect affidavits about Smith family treasure seeking that would be published by Eber D. Howe as the first anti-Mormon book, Mormonism Unvailed.]

[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

30 years ago today - Jun 22, 1988

At a Taylorsville, Utah, Regional Fireside Paul H. Dunn tells of a conversation with baseball great Mickey Mantle when the two of them participated in a celebrity golf tournament: ""ARE you telling me there is baseball in heaven?" Mickey Mantle asks Dunn, "If there isn't, I don't want to go," is the response Dunn tells audiences he gave Mantle.

Addam Swapp writes a nine-page letter from his jail cell justifying his bombing of The Kamas, Utah, LDS stake center. The letter ends: "For these and other reasons, the Lord did command me to blow up the Mormon church building. I did not do what I did out of hatred or malice towards these people. Me and my family pray for them continually. We have only wanted to be left alone." Prior to Swapp's bombing of the stake center and the stand-off where police officer Fred House is killed by Swapp's brother, Baura Kale had discussed religion with Addam Swapp and his father and had concluded that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. Baura was also a Shotokan Karate student under Fred House.

50 years ago today - Jun 22, 1968

BYU's president receives a "confidential draft" by Terry Warner, professor of philosophy and religion, that "freedom of speech as it is known today is a secular concept and has no place of any kind at the BYU."

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

55 years ago today - Jun 22, 1963

Hugh B. Brown ordained First Counselor, N. Eldon Tanner Second Counselor to President David O. McKay.

[Source: Wikipedia, Chronology of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_Quorum_of_the_Twelve_Apostles_(LDS_Church)]

85 years ago today - Jun 22, 1933

The First Presidency and apostles decide that "the Church as an organization could not take part in the campaign for the repeal of the 18th Amendment since this [is] a partisan political question. It [is] hoped however that all L.D.S. would vote against repeal [of national Prohibition]." Thirty-five years later, the LDS hierarchy reverses this decision and participates actively in a campaign against liquor-by-the-drink in Utah as a "moral issue."

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

110 years ago today - Jun 22, 1908

Patriarchal Blessing of Walter S. Young by William Halls ... You shall see the redemption of Zion and the coming of the Lord, and see peace established in the earth. ...

[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]

150 years ago today - Jun 21, 1868

[Heber C. Kimball]
His brusque, undiplomatic, and unsophisticated ways were no longer in style as Utah became increasingly less isolated from mainstream American life. He lived long enough to endure what he considered to be a maneuvering to reduce his influence. He died on 21 June 1868 from a subdural hematoma occasioned by being thrown from his wagon by a lunging horse.

[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Heber C. Kimball, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

155 years ago today - Jun 22, 1863

[Brigham Young]
Ownly once in my life has my head acked. This was when Joseph was killed, was martered. In parting with Fathers Mothers, wives & Children is no Comparison to it. When I feel as though the top of my head was Coming off then I think sumthing is the matter. I felt this way for Many days.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

160 years ago today - Jun 22, 1858

[Wilford Woodruff]
Brother Enoch Beese arived in Provo this morning with several others direct from the States. ...

The people in the states are now for Stoping the [Utah] war. The Current is strong against [the] President of the United States [Buchanan]. Evry thing which he touches is a Curse to him. Our prayers have been answered in his behalf. He is devided in all his Councils and troubled by night & day and all good sense & Judgment is taking away from him. The times are worse in the United States than have been known for many years. ...

The Brethren called at kirtland. Martin Harris had reorganized the Church in this place with 6 members. Appointed Wm. Smith their Leader Prophet Seer & Revelator. In few days Harris drove Wm. Smith out of the place & damned him to Hell.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

170 years ago today - Jun 22, 1848

[Hosea Stout]
Drizzling day. Went on about 18 miles and carrelled on the high dry prairie come three miles from the River. Had to use the Bois de vache or Buffalo chips for fuel which were damp which made rather an unfavorable impression on our women relative to being entirely confined to them before we get to our journeys end.

[Source: Diaries of Hosea Stout]

180 years ago today - Jun 22, 1838

[Wilford Woodruff]
I had an interview with Aunt Hannah Woodruff at Adna Harts. She was in a distressed situation being possessed with a devel & bound fast in his chains. I conversed & prayed with her.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

70 years ago today - Jun 21, 1948

[J. Reuben Clark]
Mark Petersen called again about the question box in the News, which has come to be a very popular column; they try to keep away from the mysteries; will answer only things that can be answered by the Church History and Book of Instructions for Stake Presidents, and a good Bible dictionary, even if they had to write their own questions. Pres. Clark said he had spoken to Pres. [George Albert] Smith, and without any suggested attitude on his part, Pres. Smith indicated he thought it was a pretty dangerous thing, and repeated it the other day: Pres. Clark has not had opportunity [to] talk with Pres. McKay, but he feels reasonably sure he would feel much the same way because the First Presidency have so many question coming up they have to side step. Bro. Petersen asked if Pres. Clark would feel better if they dropped it and Pres. Clark said, no, they have a good idea, what he is fearful of is religious questions, and suggested that in view of what Pres. Smith said, they confine their religious questions very narrowly, and for the present at any rate do not discuss any doctrine question. Bro. Petersen said they would do that. ...

[Source: The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]

75 years ago today - Jun 21, 1943

Rudger Clawson dies. George Albert Smith becomes President of the Quorum.

[Source: Wikipedia, Chronology of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_Quorum_of_the_Twelve_Apostles_(LDS_Church)]

135 years ago today - Jun 21, 1883

[Wilford Woodruff]
21 I was awakened this morning about 12.30 with the ringing of a fire Bell. I steped to the window and saw a large fire East of me near By. I Called up the family & Dressed and while putting on my hat ready to go out and Standing By my East window An Iron waggon standing in H. B. Clawsons waggon yard with 800 lb of Powder Exploded which filled the air with Iron timber & fire brands which flung fire over the Block and saw Clawsons waggon yard & Buildings all in flames. Also the Council House[,] Savages & others were soon on fire.

I vary soon saw the Big Tabernacle start to blaze on the East side of the Roof. Soon an opening was made through the gates and a Man was got on the top of the Roof of the Tabernacle with a Bucket of water. Allthough He was 40 feet above the fire he flung the water and it struck square into the fire and put it mostly out. He still Called for water but I Could find No buckets. I ran home got a Bucket & key & opened the west door & Carried a Bucket of water to the spot but when I got there the Hose had arived & poured water onto the Roof.

I went Back into the Street and I found the Explosion of the Gunpowder had Broaken out nearly all the Glass of all the surrounding Buildings. I found all the doors & windows of the Musium Broaken in and the dry grass East of the Musium on fire. With the Assistance of Brother L J Nuttall & others we put it out And I placed a guard over the building and its Contents. It burned down Clawson Esstablishment[,] Council House [the first public building in Salt Lake,] Savages Art Gallery[,] Sorrenson & Co. & several others. The damage was laid at $75 to $100,000. It was Estimated that $20,000 dollars worth of Glass was broaken out By the Explosion. The Valley House & my own house [was] badly damaged.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

140 years ago today - Jun 21, 1878

Deseret News editorial in defense of giving Orrin Porter Rockwell a church funeral: "At his death he was under indictment for the killing of some persons by the name of Aiken, in Juab county, over twenty years ago... He was reported honorable in all his dealings, true to his friends and his word, firm in the faith of the gospel, and feared only by cattle-thieves and mobocrats and their supporters."

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

175 years ago today - Jun 21, 1843

[Nauvoo Neighbor newspaper]
Story: Masonic Corner Stone Laying -- Editorial -- The stone is to be laid on June 24, 1843, and a dinner and oration will be held after the ceremony. The text of two "Anthems" to be sung at the ceremony is printed.

[Source: http://boap.org/LDS/Nauvoo-Neighbor]

Jun 20, 1983

FORBES magazine notes that in recent years at least ten separate swindles have been uncovered in Utah involving more than 9,000 people (1 percent of Utah's adults) and losses are estimated at more than $200 million. In asking itself "why?" the magazine described Utah as "fertile soil for swindles" because of excessive trust among LDS members: "Most of those bilked are Mormons, and the bilkers, too, profess to be upstanding members of the church and use church connections"

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

Jun 20, 1893

[Abraham H. Cannon]
At 2 o'clock I went to the races with Joseph F. Smith, John Q. and Chas. H. Wilcken. They were very good. In the 2:20 trot six horses were entered, but the purse of $1,000 was won by Ottinger in three straight heats.

[Source: Abraham H. Cannon (Author), Edward Leo Lyman (Editor), Candid Insights of a Mormon Apostle: The Diaries of Abraham H. Cannon, 1889-1895, Signature Books]

120 years ago today - Jun 19, 1898

Second Counselor Joseph F. Smith preaches strongly that Mormons should not patronize Church-owned Saltair resort on Sunday even though it is open on Sundays.

180 years ago today - (Tue) Jun 19, 1838

Sidney Rigdon preached and called upon the LDS "Gideonites" to "drive out the dissenters." Joseph Smith spoke of a new Church organization plan, saying that any who criticized the heads of the Church should be driven over the prairies like deer by a pack of hounds. This Rigdon speech is often confused with his so-called "Salt Sermon" of July 4th.

[Source: Broadhurst, Dale R., Mormon Chronology, http://olivercowdery.com/history/morchrn2.htm]

150 years ago today - Jun 19, 1868

--Ground was broken in Weber Canyon, on the U. P. Railroad.

[Source: Richards, Franklin Dewey and Little, James A., Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, Church Chronology, Ch.66, p.306, http://www.amazon.com/Compendium-Doctrines-Gospel-ebook/dp/B002LTY4Z0?ie=UTF8tag=mormonchronic-20link_code=btlcamp=213689creative=392969]

40 years ago today - Jun 18, 1978-Sunday

[Leonard Arrington]
For a part of the trip, Gil [Warner] was able to sit next to Brother Packer. Gil asked him if he could share some of the experiences which led up to the announcement of the revelation on the priesthood for blacks. Brother Packer said he could share part of the experience, part of it he could not share. Brother Packer said President [Spencer W.] Kimball had felt it necessary to petition the Lord on this matter. And so, for the past two months he has gone daily to an upper room in the temple to pray specifically for that purpose. On the morning of Thursday, June 1, he decided to share some of his impressions with the Twelve [apostles]. He asked them, in advance, to fast for the purpose. He and they then spent some time discussing the problem in its various aspects. At a certain point in the discussion, President Kimball then asked if he might give a prayer on behalf of the group. So he went to the altar and prayed earnestly to the Lord. At a certain point in the prayer, Elder Packer stated, all present became aware of what the decision must be. He did not say what happened; this is no doubt the part which he was forbidden to tell. But there was some kind of manifestation, presumably which was plain to all those present. As Brother Packer referred to this he sobbed-something which he does not commonly do. Obviously, it was a tender experience. President Kimball finished the prayer. Then Elder [Ezra Taft] Benson said: "We all are aware of what has happened. Now what should we do about it?" President [Marion G.] Romney spoke up and said, "Let's take a week to formulate a statement to announce it to the other general authorities and to the Church." So in the subsequent week the statement which appeared in the papers was drawn up. Presumably it was read to the Twelve in their June 8 meeting. It was then read to all the general authorities. The authorities were then asked to comment on it, one by one. When every single one of them indicated their approval, it was then announced to the media, and to the Church as a whole. [[The announcement was later published in the LDS Doctrine 32 Covenants as "Of- ficial Declaration 2." It states that God "heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple."]] In the Priesthood meeting, when Brother Warner had finished telling this, Bill Pulsipher said that on the morning of June 9 he was meeting in a board of directors meeting with Elder Paul Dunn. Elder Dunn was late for the meeting, and as he came in, it was obvious that he had been crying. He then took a few moments to tell the group what had taken place. He emphasized that all at the meeting of the general authorities were certain that this was a revelation from the Lord. ...

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

45 years ago today - Jun 18, 1973-Monday

[Leonard Arrington]
Michael Quinn came in this afternoon to say that he had received a definite offer from the graduate school at Yale University ..... We all agreed that it is desirable for him and for us that he pursue the Ph.D. at Yale. It will add prestige to our division and department and will put him in line some day to become Assistant Church Historian. ...

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

85 years ago today - Jun 18, 1933

Nazi Party newspaper in Berlin publishes "Juden und Mormonen," which chritcizes Germans for belonging to LDS church which has "always been very friendly with Jews."

Church Section of the Deseret News, prints "official First Presidency statement" by J. Reuben Clark on John Taylor's 1886 revelation on polygamy: "the archives of the Church contain no such revelation; nor any evidence justifying a belief that any such revelation was ever given. From the personal knowledge of some of us, from the uniform and common recollection of the presiding quorums of the Church, from the absence in the Church Archives of any evidence whatsoever justifying any belief that such a revelation was given, we are justified in affirming that no such revelation exists." Clark's statement proves to be incorrect on virtually every point. Though church leaders did not have the original revelation, they owned the copy which John W. Taylor had given Wilford Woodruff in 1887. Furthermore, Heber J. Grant was in attendance at the 22 February 1911 Quorum of the Twelve meeting when the 1886 revelation was discussed and entered into the minutes.

115 years ago today - Jun 18, 1903

[Joseph F. Smith letter]
From the inquiries you make in relation to recommending for [a] second anointing, we take it for granted that you yourself have not received your second blessings. If we are correct we suggest that you receive these blessings in your own behalf before recommending others to receive them, and we extend the same invitation to your counselors. Please therefore make out recommends in favor of yourself and wife or wives, and the same for your counselors and their wives, and we will take pleasure in signing them.

[Source: Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund to Alonzo A. Hinckley, June 18, 1903, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

115 years ago today - Jun 18, 1903; Thursday

The subject of plural marriage was touched upon by President Smith, he bearing testimony to the fact that it was revealed to the Church and practiced by Joseph Smith; also that the endowments as given today, were revealed to the Prophet Joseph. These things, the speaker said, were also testified to by others, and particularly by Sister Bathsheba W. Smith, who said that she was a living witness of these things, she having received her endowments under the administration of the Prophet Joseph himself. ...

[Source: First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]

130 years ago today - Jun 18, 1888

[Marriner W. Merrill]
My son Marriner was released from the penitentiary today. Came home, met a grand reception, 140 persons took supper with him.

[Source: Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

130 years ago today - Jun 18, 1888

L. John Nuttall records: "It was a very warm day today. I have felt warm all through me and heavily oppressed. I was forced to take off my garments-they being woollen were too warm. I did not feel able to work. . . . I walked out this evening. Mrs. Caine let me have a pair of Bro. Caines light garments which I put on."

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

175 years ago today - Jun 18, 1843, Sunday

[William Clayton]
On the night of June 18, 1843, Clayton was visiting at the home of a Sister Booth, along with Ruth and her sister, Margaret {who had only recently become his first plural wife}. Suddenly William F. Cahoon rushed in, telling Clayton that Hyrum Smith wanted to see him at the temple immediately. Another writ was out for Joseph's arrest, but he was away with his wife and family, visiting Emma's sister, Elizabeth Wasson, who lived near Dixon. Clayton rushed to the temple where Hyrum met him and asked him to ride to Dixon immediately to warn Joseph. Clayton borrowed $120 for the trip, persuaded Stephen markham to go with him, and rode swiftly out of town at midnight on Joseph Smith's favorite horse, Joe Duncan. The two riders covered the 190 miles in sixty-four hours, with very little rest along the way. It is not suprising that Joe Duncan was do jaded at the end of the trip that he could not be ridden for several days.

[Source: Fillerup, Robert C., compiler; William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings, A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries]

180 years ago today - Jun 18, 1838

Hyrum and Uncle John Smith, Sampson Avard, and 83 other Mormons sign an ultimatum directed at Oliver Cowdery, David and John Whitmer, Lyman E. Johnson, and William W. Phelps, warning them to leave the county immediately lest a "fatal calamity shall befall you."

[Source: Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]

35 years ago today - Jun 17, 1983-Friday

[Leonard Arrington]
Statement submitted to 43rd edition of Who's Who:

A religious historian must be tenacious in preserving his bilinguality; he must attempt to speak with authority and excellence in addressing his professional colleagues in the language of scholarship and, in the language of faith seek to provide his fellow-communicants with another experience, another soul, new understandings of life. [[Arrington is musing over the contradictory, irreconcilable expectations of him, not that he actually sent this for submission in the Who's Who bibliographic dictionary.]]

[Source: Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]

40 years ago today - Jun 17,1978

Church News headline "Interracial Marriage Discouraged" in same issue which announces authorization of priesthood for those of black African descent. Sources at church headquarters indicate that Apostle Mark E. Petersen requires this emphasis.

[Source: Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Appendix 5, Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1848-1996, http://amzn.to/extensions-power]

85 years ago today - Jun 17, 1933

The First Presidency issues its most comprehensive and legalistic statement against post-Manifesto plural marriage and specifically denies the legitimacy of claims that John Taylor had an 1886 revelation on plural marriage. This statement causes a final break between the church and its Fundamentalists, who soon become true schismatics.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]

110 years ago today - Jun 17, 1908

[Minutes of the Seventies]
[Seymour B. Young speaking:] Thursday, the 11th, agreeable with instructions from the First Council of the Seventy placed before the Presidency of the Church the physical and mental condition of Brother George Reynolds, giving reasons why the First Council thought he ought to be sent to the Sanitarium of Portland, Oregon, the Presidency of the Church approved of his being sent and made necessary arrangements for transportation and one-half of his expenses while at the Sanitarium.

[Source: Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015, Appendix 1: Minutes of the Seventies, 1837-1933, Excerpts]

115 years ago today - Jun 17, 1903; Friday

[Council of 70]
The General Secretary presented a condensed report of all the non-tithe payers in the Seventies Quorums of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints during the year 1901-02.

There are 143 Quorums

Twenty Quorums reported having no non-tithe payers.

Two Quorums failed to report.

No. non-tithe payers a/c neglect and carelessness,277

" " " " " indebtedness, 21

" " " " " Sickness and physical

disqualifications 30

" " " " " poverty, 83

" " " " " unbelief in tithing, 27

Missionaries returned home and were in debt, 18

No. that do not like manner of disbursing tithing, 10

No. of non-tithe payers disgruntled because of difficulties

existing between them and local Stake officers, 9

Bro[ther]. [B. H.] Roberts moved that the report be filed, Carried.

[Source: Excerpt from the Minutes of the First Council of the Seventy]

135 years ago today - Jun 17, 1883

Erastus Snow reported that the angel accused the Prophet of "being neglectful in the discharges of his duties [regarding polygamy]" and spoke "of Joseph having to plead on his knees before the Angel for his Life."

[Source: Erastus Snow quoted in A. Karl Larson and Katherine Miles Larson, Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 2 Volumes, Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah, 1980, 2:611, entry for June 17, 1883, at Exploring Mormonism: Polygamy Timeline, http://www.exploringmormonism.com/polygamy-timeline/]

175 years ago today - Jun 17, 1843

[Heber C. Kimball]
Elder Snow and my self had a preshious time. On the 17[th] our minds were opened on things pertaining to our furture State. Sush as laying a good foundation fore here after and to do all things in view of Eternity. Fore all things that are only done [for] time will desolve when the body does. Tharefore our works will be veign [vain]. I feel a great Zeal this morning to press my way forward and have all things made shure fore time. O God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ of Nasreth wilth Thou fore give me all the sins that I have ever done since I have come here on this Thy foot stool, and let my heart be pure in Thy sight and my hands clean all the days I shall live in this probation, that my feet may never slip, that I may be filled with Zeal and that acording to /the/ knowledg and that knowledg that proceeds from the Father keep Thy servent from Evry veign thing, and as-sist me to be true to The[e] and to all that love Thy name that treacherry may never have a place in my heart or ever be known among my posturity. Let peas beat down upon my dear Vilate that sorrow may pass away, and pease take the seat. Let Health be and abide with them and all that belongs to me. Even so Amen.

[Source: Kimball, Stanley B. ed, On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball]

180 years ago today - Jun 17, 1838

[John D. Lee]
Lee and his wife were baptized on 17 June 1838 after meeting Joseph Smith for the first time. The experience of baptism was powerful enough to cause him to dedicate his life to the Mormon Church. As part of the work of building up the Kingdom of God, Lee eventually married eighteen more women and fathered sixty children. Lee became a member of the Danites, a secret fraternal order that was pledged to defend the rights of Mormons.

[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: John D. Lee, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

180 years ago today - Jun 17, 1838

First Counselor Sidney Rigdon preaches his "Salt Sermon" as a warning against dissenters at Far West. Quoting the fifth chapter of Matthew ("Ye are the salt of the earth. If the salt has lost its savor, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men." Matt 5:13) he explains when men embrace the gospel and afterward lose their faith, it is the duty of the Saints to trample them under their feet and calls on the people to rise en masse and rid the country of such a nuisance. Rigdon explains, "when a county, or body of people have individuals among them with whom they do not wish to associate and a public expression is taken against their remaining among them and such individuals do not remove, it is the principle of republicanism itself that gives that community a right to expel them forcibly and no law will prevent it."

175 years ago today - Jun 16, 1843

At night, Judge James Adams of Springfield sends an urgent message to Nauvoo that Gov. Ford plans to issue a writ to take Joseph back to Missouri, based on the requisition from the Missouri governor.

[Source: Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

50 years ago today - Jun 15, 1968

One of Ezra Taft Benson's 1968 talks on government was published by the influential periodical Vital Speeches of the Day. It was republished in an academic journal.

[Source: Benson, "The Proper Role of Government," Vital Speeches 24 (15 June 1968): 514-20, also reprinted in Agricultural Engineering 49 (Aug. 1968): 469-71. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]

140 years ago today - Jun 15, 1878

[Wilford Woodruff]
I had a vary strange vision Copied in the office to day of a Desolating sickness which Covered the whole land.

A Vision

Salt Lake City, Night of Dec 16, 1877

I [ ] went to bed at my usual hour half past nine oclok. I had been reading the Revelations in the French Language. My mind was Calm, more so than usual if possible to be so. I Composed myself for sleep but Could not sleep. I felt a strange stupor Come over me and apparently became partially unconscious. Still I was not asleep, nor awake With a strange far away dreamy feelings.

The first I recognized was that I was in the Tabernacle at Ogden sitting on the back seat in the Cornor for fear they would Call upon me to Preach which after singing the second time, they did by Calling me to the Stand.

I arose to speak and said I did not Know that I had any thing special to say Except to bear my Testimony to the Truth of the Latter Day work when all at once it seemed as though I was lifted out of myself, and I said "yes I have sumthing to Say, it is this--some of my brethren present have been asking me what is Coming to pass, what is the wind blowing up. I will answer you right here what is Coming to pass shortly.

I was immediately in Salt Lake City wandering about the streets in all parts of the City and On the door of every house I found a badge of mourning, and I Could not find a house but what was in mourning. I passed by my own house and saw the same sign there, and asked "Is that me that is dead?" Sumthing gave me answer "No youll live through it all."

It seemed strange to me that I saw no person [on] the street in my wandering about through the City. They seemed to be in their houses with their Sick and Dead. I saw no funeral possession, or any thing of that kind, but the City looked vary Still and quiet as though the people were praying and had Controll of the desease what ever it was.

I then looked in all directions over the Territory, East west North and South, and I found the same mourning in every place throughout the Land. The next I knew I was Just this side of Omaha. It seemed as though I was above the Earth, looking down to it as I passed along on my way East and I saw the roads full of people principally women with just what they Could Carry in bundles on their backs travelling to the mountains on foot. And I wondered how they Could get there, with nothing but a small pack upon their backs. It was remarkable to me that there were so few men among them. It did not seem as though the Cars were running. The rails looked rusty, and the road abandoned, And I have no conception how I travelled myself.

As I looked down upon the people I Continued Eastward through Omaha and Council Bluffs which were full of disease, and women every whare. The States of Missouri and Illinois were in turmoil and Strife, Men killing each other, and women joining in the fight, family against family Cutting each other to pieces in the most horrid manner.

The next I saw was Washington, and I found the City a Desolation, The white House Empty, the Halls of Congress the same Every thing in ruins. The people seemed to have fled from the City and left it to take Care of itself.

I was next in the City of Baltimore and in the square whare the Monument of 1812 Stands, in front of St Charles and other Hotels I saw the Dead piled up so high as to fill the square. I saw Mothers Cut the throats of their own Children for the sake of their blood, which they drank from their veins, to quench their thirst and then lie down and die. The waters of the Chesapeake and of the City were so stagnant and such a stench arose from them on account of the putrefaction of Dead bodies that the vary smell Caused Death and that was singular again I saw no men except they were dead, lying in the streets, and vary few women, and they were Crazy mad, and in a dying Condition. Every whare I went I beheld the same all over the City, And it was horrible, beyound description to look at.

I thought this must be the End. But No I was seemingly in Philadelphia and there every thing was Still. No living soul was to be seen to greet me, and it seemed as though the whole City was without an inhabitant. In arch and Chestnut Street and in fact Every whare I went the putrifaction of the Dead bodies Caused such a stench that it was Impossible for any Creature to Exhist alive, nor did I see any living thing in the City.

I next found myself in Broad way New York and here it seemed the people had done their best to overcome the Disease. But in wandering down Broadway I saw the bodies of Beautiful women lying stone dead, and others in a dying Condition on the side walk. I saw men Crawl out of the Cellars and rob the dead bodies of the valuables they had on and before they Could return to their coverts in the cellars they themselves would roll over a time or two and die in agony. On some of the back streets I saw Mothers kill their own Children and Eat raw flesh and then in a few minuts die themselves. Whareever I went I saw the same scenes of Horror and Desolation rapine and Death. No Horses or Carriages, No busses or Street Cars, but Death and Destruction every whare.

I then went to the Grand Central Park and looking back I saw a fire Start and just at that moment a mighty East wind sprang up and Carried the flames west over the City, and it burned untill there was not a single building left Standing whole Even down to the wharfs. And the shiping all seemed to be burned and swallowed up in the Common destruction and left Nothing but a Desolation whare the great City was a short time before. The Stench from the bodies that were burning was so great that it was Carried a great distance across the Hudson River and bay, and thus spread disease and death whareever the flames penetrated. I Cannot paint in words the Horror that seemed to Encompass me around. It was beyound description or thought of man to Conceive.

I supposed this was the End but I was here given to understand, that the same horror was being enacted all over the Country, North South East and West, that few were left alive. Still there were some.

Immediately after I seemed to be standing on the west bank of the Missouri River opposite the City of Independance but I saw no City. I saw the whole States of Missouri & Illinois and part of Iowa were a Complete wilderness with no living human being in them. I then saw a short distance from the river Twelve men dressed in the robes of the Temple Standing in a square or nearly so. I understood it respresented the Twelve gates of the New Jerrusalem, and they were with hands uplifted Consecrating the ground and laying the Corner Stones. I saw myriads of Angels hovering over them and around about them and also an immens pillar of a Cloud over them and I heard the singing of the most beautif[ul] music the words "Now is esstablished the Kingdom of our God and his Christ and He shall reign forever and Ever, and the Kingdom shall never be Thrown down for the Saints have overcome." And I saw people Coming from the River and different places a long way off to help build the Temple, and it seemed that the Hosts of the angels also helped to get the material to build the Temple. And I saw some Come who wore their Temple Clothing Robs to help build the Temple and the City and all the time I saw the great pillar of Cloud hovering over the place.

Instantly I found I was in the Tabernacle at Ogden yet I Could see the building going on and got quite animated in Calling to the people in the Tabernacle to listen to the beautiful music that the Angels were Making. I Called to them to look at the Angels as the House seemed to be full of them and they were saying the same words that I heard Before "Now is the Kingdom of Our God Esstablished forever & Ever." And then a voice said "Now shall Come to pass that which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet "That seven women shall take hold of one man saying &c.

At this time I seemed to Stagger back from the pulpit & F D Richards and some one els Caught me and prevented me from falling when I requested Brother Richards to apologise to the audience for me because I stoped so adruptly and tell them I had not fainted but was exhausted. I rolled over in my bed and heard the City Hall Clock Strike Twelve.

[The author was astrologer John Steele]

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

145 years ago today - Jun 15, 1873

[James E. Talmage]
During my eleventh year, in the Spring of 1873, I was stricken with a very severe illness; and, as my parents afterward informed me, my life appeared to be near its close. My father associated this illness with the fact that my baptism into the Church had been deferred beyond the time at which it should have been attended to. At that time Father was president of the Hungerford and Ramsbury branch of the Church.

As Father afterward told me, he made solemn covenant with the Lord that if my life should be spared he would lose no time in having me baptized after my recovery. ... Because of possible interference by persecutors of the Latter-day Saints it was necessary that baptisms be attended to only in the night-time. ...

On June 15, 1873, my father and Elijah Gilbert left our house shortly before midnight, traversed the Kennet bridge back and forth, looked around the neighborhood, and returned to the house telling us that all seemed clear, and that Ellen [also age 11] and I were to prepare to enter the water. In the interest of caution they went out once more, and returned with the same report. Ellen and I accompanied Father and Brother Elijah to the place selected in the mill race for our immersion.

I was to be baptized first. As Father stood in the water and took my hand, I being on the bank with Ellen and her brother, we were veritably horror-stricken by a combined shriek, yell, scream, howl -- I know not how to describe the awful noise -- such as none of us had ever heard. It seemed to be a combination of every fiendish ejaculation we could conceive of. I remember how I trembled at the awful manifestation, which had about it the sharpness and volume of a thunderclap followed by an angry roar, which died away as a hopeless groan.

... Father, who was also trembling, as were the others, then asked me if I was too frightened to be baptized; I was too much terrified to speak, so I answered by stepping into the water. I was baptized, and Ellen Gilbert was baptized immediately afterward. ...

[Source: CHL MSS 18191, fd. 1, Chronology of the Life and Work of James E. Talmage, J. Trevor Antley, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MJsHY83JZL_n6CjWq11y1trT_CVXMMXAx2uYOWAwn0c/edit#heading=h.2zfdaoa]

155 years ago today - Jun 15, 1863

Brigham Young writes to several Indian chiefs: "We have been informed that you have determined to take up the war hatchet, and to kill the whites who are peaceably traveling across the country; . . . It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. I have always been your friend and have endeavored to do you good, and you must abide my command."

190 years ago today - Jun 15, 1828

Emma Smith gives birth, but her infant son dies the same day . The Smiths named their infant Alvin . Sophia Lewis, who was present at the birth, says the infant was "still-born and very much deformed".

[Source: Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]

70 years ago today - Jun 14, 1948

[John A. Widtsoe]
... the Lord made the earth and in the making He may have done many things not according to my particular opinion, but whatever He did He had a right to do. If He chose to place man-like beings upon the earth before the days of Adam, I really have no right to find fault with that any more than with the placing on the earth of the great variety of life which we know lived there. There is nothing definite in the scriptures or in modern revelation as to the age of the earth. Personally, I take discoveries relative to hat subject at face value, and set aside for later consideration the theories of men. Often there are contradictory theories in men's interpretations of facts. I have often said, as you say in your letter, that Adam was no doubt upon this earth long before it had reached the condition to permit a Garden of Eden to be planted, for he was one of those, who under God's command, organized the earth. Neither am I upset over the statement that Adam's was the first flesh upon the earth, because it seems from the context and from common sense, for that matter, that that means the first flesh of Adam's kind. There is so much connected with these matter that we do not understand that I am willing to take what little we know of a factual nature without offering any interpretations that may mislead others.

[Source: John A. Widtsoe, Letter to Albert R. Lyman, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]

95 years ago today - Jun 14, 1923

[First Presidency to Stake and Temple Presidents]
After careful and prayerful consideration it was unanimously decided that the following modifications may be permitted, and a garment of the following style be worn by those Church members who wish to adopt it, namely: (1) Sleeve to elbow. (2) Leg just below knee. (3) Buttons instead of strings. (4) Collar eliminated. (5) Crotch closed. It may be observed that no fixed pattern of Temple garment has ever been given ...

[Source: Heber J. Grant, Charles W. Penrose, and Anthony W. Ivins to Stake and Temple Presidents, June 14, 1923, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

105 years ago today - Jun 14, 1913

[George F. Gibbs to John W. Hart]
President [Joseph F.] Smith invites you with your wife to come to the temple to receive your second blessings. If you prefer to go to Logan, please let the president know and he will send you the usual recommend. These blessings are administered on Fridays in the Salt Lake temple.

[Source: George F. Gibbs to John W. Hart, June 14, 1913, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

145 years ago today - Jun 14, 1873

The DESERET NEWS publishes a sermon by Brigham Young chiding the saints for doubting his Adam-God doctrine: "How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me-namely that Adam is our Father and God. . . . Our Father Adam helped to make this earth. . . . He brought one of his wives with him. . . . Then he said, 'I want my children who are in the spirit world to come and live here. I once dwelt upon an earth something like this, in a mortal state. I was faithful. I received my crown and exaltation. . . . I want my children that were born to me in the spirit world to come here and take tabernacles of flesh that their spirits may have a house, a tabernacle, or a dwelling place as mine has,' and where is the mystery?" The sermon is published again four days later in the weekend edition.

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

190 years ago today - Jun 14, 1828

Joseph Smith completes 116 pages (foolscap-size) of translation from the gold plates (the book of Lehi), with Martin Harris transcribing with a blanket stretched between them. Martin Harris repeatedly asks Joseph Smith to borrow the transcript. Smith refuses twice but relents (by revelation) on the third request but makes Harris agree to a covenant to show only his family. Harris brings the 116 page translation from the gold plates back to Palmyra and shows them to his wife, Lucy Harris, but he loses the transcripts (says they were stolen). Lucy Harris is suspected of hiding or destroying them.

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

35 years ago today - Jun 13, 1983.

President Gordon B. Hinckley, speaking at graduation exercises at BYU-Hawaii, comments: "We have those critics who appear to wish to cull out of a vast panorama of information those items that demean and belittle some of the men and women of the past who worked so hard in laying the foundation of this great cause. . . . They are savoring a pickle, rather than eating a delicious and satisfying dinner of several courses."

[Source: Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1]

55 years ago today - Jun 13, 1963

President David O. McKay sets apart Ernest J. Wilkins as the president of the Language Training Mission (LTM), the forerunner of the Missionary Training Center (MTC). Spanish and Portuguese language missionaries attend as early as June 16, with German (1964), Navajo and French (1967), and Italian (1969) added later.

115 years ago today - Jun 13, 1903

In Mexico, Anthony W. Ivins performs a plural marriage ceremony for William A. Morton who has been sent to Ivins for this purpose by President Joseph F. Smith.

155 years ago today - Jun 13, 1863

Orson Pratt Jr. [son of Apostle Orson Pratt] writes to Brigham Young to refuse a mission call he had previously accepted: "During your recent visit to St. George, I informed you of the change that had taken place in my religious views, thinking that, in such a case, you would not insist on my undertaking the mission assigned me. You received me kindly and gave me what I have no doubt you considered good fatherly advice. I was much affected during the interview and hastily made a promise which, subsequent reflection convinces me it is not my duty to perform. . . . Should any thing hereafter occur to convince me that my present decision is unwise I shall be ready to revoke it." Pratt's "change . . . in my religious views" was that he did not consider Joseph Smith a prophet nor the LDS church true.

175 years ago today - 13 June-Jul 1, 1843

State officials in league with a Missouri sheriff and an Illinois constable conspire to arrest the Prophet at the home of his wife's relatives in Dixon Township, Illinois, intending to whisk him away to Missouri; his friends foil the plan, and the Prophet wins release in the courts.

[Source: Highlights in the Prophet's Life, Ensign, June 1994]

115 years ago today - 115 years ago - Friday, Jun 12, 1903

Sister Bathsheba W. Smith responded and said in substance. Pres. Smith has spoken the truth. I know that the endowments now given are the same as given by Joseph Smith, the prophet. He used to instruct us and tell us many things in relation thereunto and also with respect to our duty. I know that he was a true prophet and that he revealed the endowments and they did not come from Brigham Young. I know that he never taught a wrong principle, and if we will obey his voice. we will be saved; otherwise we cannot be. Pres. Woodruff and myself were the last to receive our endowments at his hands. Pres. Woodruff has gone and I am left. I was present at the organization of the first Relief Society by Joseph Smith. I testify that the principle of plural marriage was not revealed to the church by Brigham Young but by the Prophet Joseph. I have lived in it and know that it is true.

Pres. Jos. F. Smith ... Condemned the too frequent use of the terms: prophet, seer, and revelator, and apostle. These are sacred terms and should not be often used.

[Source: Stan Larson (editor), A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic diaries of Rudger Clawson, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1993, http://bit.ly/rudgerclawson]

120 years ago today - 120 years ago - Jun 12, 1898

Second Counselor Joseph F. Smith preaches: "It is the command of the Lord that we shall meet together to transact the business of the Church, an important part of which is to sustain the authorities of the Church, thus renewing our covenant to uphold God's authority which He has instituted in the earth for the government of His Church. . . .The moment a spirit enters into the heart of a member to refrain from sustaining the constituted authorities of the Church, that moment he becomes possessed of a spirit which inclines to rebellion or dissension; and if he permit that spirit to take a firm root in his mind, it will eventually lead him into darkness and apostasy."

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

140 years ago today - 140 years ago - Jun 12, 1878

[Wilford Woodruff]
I Also attended the funeral of Porter Rockwell at the 14 ward school house. Joseph F Smith preached the funeral sermon. I bore Testimony.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

150 years ago today - 150 years ago - Jun 12, 1868

Without trial, William A. Hickman is excommunicated about six months after he tries to extort money from Brigham Young with the threat of publishing his crimes.

[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]