110 years ago today - Apr 13, 1906

[James Henry Martineau] Lyman Sherman joined the church in 1831, Was the first who ever spoke in tongues in this dispensation. Prest [Heber C.] Kimball told me that L. R. S. was the sweetest singer in tongues in the church, and was Joseph's "right hand man." in Missouri.

[Source: An Uncommon Common Pioneer: The Journals of James Henry Martineau 1828-1918, edited by Donald G. Godfrey XXX Rebecca S. Martineau-McCarty]

120 years ago today - Apr 13, 1896

[Brigham Young jr.] [Ephraim, Sanpete Co. Considerable excitement over action on former apostle Moses Thatcher] People think he has been reigned up now in his sickness, when the fact is he has been rebellious since the death of Pres[iden]t Jno. Taylor. He has continued to seek to thwart his brethren of the Presidency and Twelve since, he became enraged about "Bullion Beck" business. His spite against Geo[rge] Q. Cannon--and unjustly too [as] far as I know--has soured his mind Pres[iden]t Woodruff says he has sought to rule over his brethren other apostles say Moses has sought to exercise unrighteous dominion over his brethren. How we have wept and prayed over this man. He has caused more tears to flow from my eyes than all my other griefs private & public since the death of Pres[ident] Jno. Taylor. I pray for Moses--for the Lord to soften his heart. Some say he has bad advisers. He is weak now in mind & body but his rebellion began when he was in health.

[Source: Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

150 years ago today - 1866. April 13

Butch Cassidy: Born Robert LeRoy Parker in Beaver, Utah, the eldest of thirteen children. He was baptized at the age of eight. Temple work was performed in his behalf by his brother-in-law in 1945.

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

160 years ago today - Apr 13, 1856

[Orson Pratt] Our first parents through transgressing the law of God, brought death into the world, but through the death of Jesus Christ, life and immortality were introduced. The one brings into bondage; the other gives us hope of escape, of redemption, that we may come forth with the same kind of body that Adam had before the fall, a body of immortal flesh and bones.

Adam and Eve were immortal, the same as resurrected beings, but previous to their transgression they had no knowledge of good and evil.

After the redemption we will not only have the same kind of bodies that they possessed in the garden of Eden before the fall, but we will have a knowledge of good and evil through our experience.

[Source: J. D. 3:344; Discourse by Orson Pratt delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City; April 13, 1856, quoted in Quotations Dealing with the Relationship of Our First Earthly Parents to Our Heavenly Parents (1830-1978)]

50 years ago today - Apr 12, 1966

[David O. McKay] Attention was called to the application of Sister I--- R------- P----- for permission to do the sealing work in the Temple for her father, Joseph E. Robinson, and his three wives. ... Attention was also called to a ruling made by me on March 3, 1964, [that] * "in the case of polygamous marriages performed in Mexico before the Manifesto, and there [is] no official record, the work should be done again." ... I stated that if the polygamous marriage took place prior to the state ment by President Joseph F. Smith in 1904 to the effect that polygamous marriages could not be solemnized anywhere in the world, * the work could be performed for the parties concerned or the President of the Church could ratify the marriages that had been performed. It was agreed that the simpler way would be to ratify the marriages * We reversed the decision made in our meeting of March 23, 1966, and ruled that it would be inadvisable to ratify purported sealings performed for Joseph E. Robinson and three women. In giving this matter further consideration, we had in mind that were the Church to adopt the policy of ratifying polygamous marriages that took place prior to the announcement by President Joseph F. Smith in 1904 * it would let down the flood gates and descendants of many polygamous marriages performed after the Manifesto would make application for permission to have the purported sealings of their parents or grandparents ratified, and perhaps in some cases where the individuals entering into these relationships have been excommunicated from the Church, there would be individuals such as cultists and others. The former action was therefore rescinded and it was decided to notify Sister I--- R------- P----- that the case of Joseph E. Robinson and the three women referred to would have to be left in the hands of the Lord for decision by Him in the Hereafter.

[Source: David O. McKay diary, Mar. 23, Apr. 12, 1966; hyphens added to conceal the individual's identity, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

50 years ago today - April 12, 15 1966

McKay learned that his statement on communism was not to be published. Confronting the editor of the Church News, McKay said "Well it should go in. I made that statement to 85,000 Priesthood members; the press has it, and many recordings have been made of it. I think it had better go in." Hugh B. Brown and N. Elden Tanner had McKay's son Lawrence ask McKay to omit that portion.

[Source: David O. McKay diary as referenced in Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)]

95 years ago today - Apr 12, 1921

[George F. Richards] We also had an interview in my room with Sister Nellie Taylor widow of [excommunicated apostle] John W. Taylor who made quite a preachment and declared her loyalty to President Grant and after I had explained the three classes, the valient, the ne[u]tral, and the rebellious, she said that while she had felt that she sustained the authorities she now believes she was among the neutral. She hoped to be among the vali[a]nt in the future.

[Source: George F. Richards, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]

150 years ago today - Apr 12, 1866

Deseret News reports the murder of S. Newton Brassfield on 2 Apr. He legally married a plural wife of an absent Mormon missionary, and the News editorializes that "the illegally [sic] married couple would probably have been suffered to pursue their way to their own liking," except that she files for custody of her children. News also reports Brigham Young's sermon about Brassfield's murder: "Were I absent from my home [on a mission], I would rejoice to know that I had friends there to protect and guard the virtue of my household; and I would thank God for such friends."

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

155 years ago today - Apr 12, 1861

Officially, Governor Cumming was on a leave of absence, but the citizens of Utah knew that his hasty departure meant that he did not intend to return. General Albert Sidney Johnston, another leading figure in the territory, also left the area during the same period. Both men's actions were a result of events in South Carolina on 12 April 1861, when the Confederate Army attacked the federal garrison at Fort Sumter.

[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Civil War, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

170 years ago today - Apr 12, 1846

[Brigham Young] "There are men among us who are passing counterfeit money and have done it all the time since we left Nauvoo, and there men among who will steal and these things must be stopped. When we once get properly situated so where every man will have plenty, there will no more need to Steal and if a man does steal when he has no need, the law will be put in force. Some plead our suffering from our enemies and say they are justified in stealing from our enemies because they have robbed us, but suppose we suffer much to take this course, what effect will it have, it will destroy the Kingdom of God and from this time fourth I caution the brethren to watch those who pass counterfeit money and when they find them we will take care of them, and let them go to the Gentiles to bring destruction upon us. There are men who eat at my and feed their teams on my corn and the first opportunity pass a counterfeit bill to bring a mob upon us I want a stop put to this business. The United States are a perfect set of bogus themselves from the President down to the hog whiper in the street, and if a pure principle were come to them they would never cease their operation till they made bogus of it. ... "

[Source: Journal History of the Church, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

50 years ago today - Apr 11, 1966

The son of a previous First Presidency counselor publicly called Ezra Taft Benson "the most divisive influence in the church today."

[Source: H. Grant Ivins, "Most Divisive Influence," Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Apr. 1966,18. His father was Anthony W. Ivins, First Presidency counselor from 1921 to 1934. 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.]

105 years ago today - Apr 11, 1911

Replying to Senator Reed Smoot's urgent appeal for an official statement on post-Manifesto polygamy, President [Joseph F.] Smith wired: "If the President inquire about new polygamy, tell him the truth, tell him that Prest. Cannon was the first to conceive the idea that the Church could consistently countenance polygamy beyond confines of the republic where there was no law against it, and consequently he authorized the solemnization of plural marriages in Mexico and Canada after manifesto of 1890, and the men occupying presiding positions who became polygamists since the manifesto married in good faith under those circumstances. This being the case could we consistently be expected to humiliate them by releasing them?"

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

115 years ago today - Apr 11, 1901

The Daughters of Utah Pioneers was organized April 11, 1901 under the leadership of Annie M. Taylor Hyde (daughter of John Taylor) in Salt Lake City. Forty-six women, all of pioneer decent, gathered at her home for the first meeting. At the meeting she stated that she ". . .felt deeply impressed with the importance and desirability of the children of pioneers becoming associated together, in some kind of organization which would have for its object the cementing together in the bonds of friendship and love the descendants" of the early pioneers.

[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

115 years ago today - Thursday, Apr 11, 1901

Pres. Snow said ... that the church would be relieved of its financial embarrassment, but the land of Zion could only be sanctified to the saints by the proper observance of this law [of tithihg].

[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]

115 years ago today - Thursday, Apr 11, 1901

At Eleven a.m. Presidents Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith joined us [the apostles]. We agreed to a Rule that we would rise and address the Presiding officer.

[Source: Jean Bickmore White (editor), Church, State, and Politics: The Diaries of John Henry Smith, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1990, http://bit.ly/johnhenrysmith]

140 years ago today - Apr 11, 1876

Stake president and future apostle Francis M. Lyman spends the day studying Buddhism and Confucianism. Four days later he studies Hindu philosophy for half-day.

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

155 years ago today - Apr 11, 1861

The President [Brigham Young] had some conversation with Pres- [ident] D.H. Wells about the Signs of the times. They were speaking of the Spirit of Secession that prevails in California. The President remarked the Lord will first disunite them. He could not establish his Kingdom while they were united together, so he separates them. ... This Nation continued the President will become like the Toes of the Image, and the toes will be ground first, then the ankles and so on. -- Salt Lake City

[Source: Brigham Young Office Journals, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

160 years ago today - Apr 11, 1856

[Heber C. Kimball marriage] wife #42. Elizabeth Doty (Cravath Murray Brown), 1808-1889. Mother of Helen Mar's sister-wife, time only.

[Source: Hatch, Charles M. and Compton, Todd M. editors, 'A Widow's Tale: 1884-1896 Diary of Helen Mar Kimball Whitney' p. 37]

175 years ago today - Apr 11, 1841

Joseph Smith and Rigdon rebaptize each other for remission of sins and "renewal of covenants." Church leaders would promote rebaptism for all members during a religious reformation beginning May 1842. In the future, four temples would perform 7,788 baptisms for renewal of covenants from 1877 through 1893. This ordinance would be officially discontinued in 1922.

[Source: Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]

20 years ago today - Apr 10, 1996

Mormon investors announce they are purchasing Southern Virginia College (SVC), four months after it loses accreditation as a two-year school and one month before its closing, to turn it into a Mormon school without official sponsorship by LDS headquarters. The likely success of this unprecedented idea is indicated by its announcement in the Church News and choice of David Ferrel as the college's new president. He is a senior employee of recently appointed general authority Richard B. Wirthlin who formally endorses the school. Having arranged for LDS congressmen to pressure the accrediting association to reconsider its decision, the newly installed Mormon trustees announce that SVC will be a four-year college with a starting freshman class of 400 students who meet the same standards of conduct and entrance requirements as at BYU.

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