The last Relief Society meeting in Nauvoo is held. The Relief Society doesn't officially meet for ten years. Emma says "if thier ever was any authourity on the Earth she had it— and had yet." She has the sisters vote to sustain Joseph Smith's "Voice of Innocence," which promoted sexual fidelity, and that she wanted "to examin the conduct of their Leaders of this Society— that you may sit in judgement on their heads". Some of the leadership of the society were secretly married to her husband Joseph.
John Taylor later gave the reason that Joseph's wife Emma "made use of the position she held [Relief society president] to try to pervert the minds of the sisters in relation to [plural marriage]."
185 years ago today - Mar 16, 1839
[Wilford Woodruff]
.... I Concluded to go & spent the night with Brother Hale & we had an interesting time together in talking about our travels together upon the Islands of the Sea & also Br Hale gave me an account of his sufferings & those of his family & all the Saints in Missouri during the past winter. For they have suffered much from the inhaditants of Missouri who have turned mob with Governour Bogs at their head. They came upon the Saints from time to time in battle aray. They shot the Saints down like wild beasts & butcherd others in cool blood &nocked the brains out of some after they [had] taken them prisioners. The soldiers shot down the cattle cows & hogs of the Saints for the purpose of destroying them.
The Saints at times stood in their own defence & some of their enemies fell befor them & In consequence of which the Governour Issued orders for the final extermination of the Saints out of the State & sent a general after his own heart to execute his orders forthwith ...
Elder David W. Patten one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Chosen to bear the keys of this last kingdom was one of the marters of the persecution in Missouri in the winter of 1838 he sealed his testimony with his Blood. He died strong in that faith that he had boldly declared through the U.S.A. for the last 7 years of his life &c.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
.... I Concluded to go & spent the night with Brother Hale & we had an interesting time together in talking about our travels together upon the Islands of the Sea & also Br Hale gave me an account of his sufferings & those of his family & all the Saints in Missouri during the past winter. For they have suffered much from the inhaditants of Missouri who have turned mob with Governour Bogs at their head. They came upon the Saints from time to time in battle aray. They shot the Saints down like wild beasts & butcherd others in cool blood &nocked the brains out of some after they [had] taken them prisioners. The soldiers shot down the cattle cows & hogs of the Saints for the purpose of destroying them.
The Saints at times stood in their own defence & some of their enemies fell befor them & In consequence of which the Governour Issued orders for the final extermination of the Saints out of the State & sent a general after his own heart to execute his orders forthwith ...
Elder David W. Patten one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Chosen to bear the keys of this last kingdom was one of the marters of the persecution in Missouri in the winter of 1838 he sealed his testimony with his Blood. He died strong in that faith that he had boldly declared through the U.S.A. for the last 7 years of his life &c.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
15 years ago today - Mar 15, 2009
HBO TV program "Big Love," about a Mormon Fundamentalist plural family, shows a dramatization of LDS temple Endowment ceremony. Photos of actors in Temple robes are printed in TV guide concerning the program. "Tokens" and veil ceremony are shown in detail.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
45 years ago today - Mar 15, 1979-Thursday
[Leonard Arrington]
Alice Smith telephoned this afternoon to say that she had changed her mind about the advice she gave me a month or so ago. At that time she had said that women's affairs in the Church in general and the Relief Society in particular were in such a bad state that she did not think it would be desirable to write a history of the Relief Society at this time. It would be too negative. Alice says that she has changed her mind. She thinks women's affairs in the Church have been down for three or four years but she thinks the pendulum has swung the other way. She had received some confidential information which she cannot reveal to me yet but will later, which suggests that things are on the up in women's affairs. ...
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
Alice Smith telephoned this afternoon to say that she had changed her mind about the advice she gave me a month or so ago. At that time she had said that women's affairs in the Church in general and the Relief Society in particular were in such a bad state that she did not think it would be desirable to write a history of the Relief Society at this time. It would be too negative. Alice says that she has changed her mind. She thinks women's affairs in the Church have been down for three or four years but she thinks the pendulum has swung the other way. She had received some confidential information which she cannot reveal to me yet but will later, which suggests that things are on the up in women's affairs. ...
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
70 years ago today - Mar 15, 1954
O. Meredith Wilson is appointed as president of the University of Oregon. Other Mormons appointed as university presidents outside of the intermountain states are Vern O. Knudsen (UCLA, 1959), G. Homer Durham (Arizona State University, 1960), O. Meredith Wilson (University of Minnesota, 1960), Stanford Cazier (California State University at Chico, 1971), E. Gordon Gee (West Virginia University, 1981), David P. Gardner (University of California system, 1984), E. Gordon Gee (University of Colorado, 1985; Ohio State University, 1990), V. Lane Rawlins (Memphis State University, 1990).
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
75 years ago today - Mar 15, 1949
Thirty-one-year-old Harold Brown arrives in Buenos Aires as the new president of the Argentina Mission. He is a former FBI agent with experience as a U.S. Vice-Consul in Uruguay. Suspicious Argentine authorities arrest him temporarily on 9 Sept. This is the beginning of strategic church assignments given to Mormons with training in U.S. intelligence and security services.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
90 years ago today - Mar 15, 1934
[Heber J. Grant]
Had a splendid night's sleep and awoke at 4:45. After my usual forty-five minutes of exercises in bed, which I take nearly every day of my life ... Talked some letters to my dictaphone before getting out of bed.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
Had a splendid night's sleep and awoke at 4:45. After my usual forty-five minutes of exercises in bed, which I take nearly every day of my life ... Talked some letters to my dictaphone before getting out of bed.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
135 years ago today - Mar 15, 1889
[Franklin D. Richards]
Apostle John W. Taylor is wrestling with an article for publication in the News'-making acknowledgments for his outlandish talk [that polygamy would not be abandoned] in Nephi [Utah] at conference on 3d inst.
[Franklin D. Richards Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
Apostle John W. Taylor is wrestling with an article for publication in the News'-making acknowledgments for his outlandish talk [that polygamy would not be abandoned] in Nephi [Utah] at conference on 3d inst.
[Franklin D. Richards Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
180 years ago today - Mar 15, 1844
Joseph H. Jackson, R. D. Foster, William and Wilson Law, and Chauncy Higbee hold secret meetings opposing Joseph Smith.
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
180 years ago today - Mar 15, 1844
Hyrum Smith, in TIMES AND SEASONS, publicly rebukes the Saints in China Creek, Hancock County: "some of your elders say, that a man having a certain priesthood, may have as many wives as he pleases, and that doctrine is taught here: I say unto you that that man teaches false doctrine, for there is no such doctrine taught here; neither is there any such thing practiced here. And any man that is found teaching privately or publicly any such doctrine, is culpable, and will stand a chance to be brought before the High Council, and lose his license and membership also: therefore he had better beware what he is about."
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
195 years ago today - about Sunday, Mar 15, 1829
Translation of the Book of Mosiah is complete.
[Watson, Elden, Approximate Book of Mormon Translation Timeline, http://www.eldenwatson.net/BoM.htm]
[Watson, Elden, Approximate Book of Mormon Translation Timeline, http://www.eldenwatson.net/BoM.htm]
195 years ago today - Circa mid-March 1829
Lucy Harris brings suit against Joseph Jr. at Lyons (NY), during which Martin Harris and others testify. Case dismissed.
[Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]
[Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]
115 years ago today - Mar 14, 1909; Sunday
I attended the regular conference of the Salt Lake Stake, and spoke 50 minutes, principally on Prohibition ... Some of my remarks were rather caustic with reference to the attitude of the federal officials, and their fight against prohibition.
[Heber J. Grant, Diary]
[Heber J. Grant, Diary]
125 years ago today - Mar 14, 1899; Tuesday
The First Presidency received a call from Sisters Elmina S. Taylor and Maria Y. Dougall, who bore letters from Sister Susa Young Gates, informing them that Mrs. May Wright Sewall, President of the National Woman's Council of America, had invited Sister Gates to become a delegate to the Quinquennial International Council of Women, to be held in London [England] next June. Sister Gates and Sisters Taylor and Dougall as well, desired to know the mind of the Presidency upon this point. They felt that Sister Gates should accept the appointment. The subject assigned her is the same on which she spoke at the Trans-Mississippi Council of Women, namely, Household Economics, and because of the able manner in which she handled it on that occasion, Mrs. Sewall wanted her to speak upon it at the London Council. ...
Sister Anna, a Sandwich Island girl, who went to Washington [D.C.] with other sisters to attend the Council of Women, called and thanked the Presidency for sending her. She brought a message from Queen Lil- ex-monarch of Hawaii, who wished her to say to the Presidency that her presence and her speech in the Council had done more good for the Sandwich Island people than anything else on that occasion.
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
Sister Anna, a Sandwich Island girl, who went to Washington [D.C.] with other sisters to attend the Council of Women, called and thanked the Presidency for sending her. She brought a message from Queen Lil- ex-monarch of Hawaii, who wished her to say to the Presidency that her presence and her speech in the Council had done more good for the Sandwich Island people than anything else on that occasion.
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
145 years ago today - Mar 14, 1879
[Wilford Woodruff]
14 We drove to Lees Ferry and Crossed. I here left Br Johnson who was the ferryman and at home. We then Crossed the Mountain Called Lees Back bone which we named the Hogs Back. It was the worst hill Ridge or Mountain that I Ever attempted to Cross with a team and waggon on Earth. We had 4 Horses on a waggon of 1,500 lb weight and for two rods we Could ownly gain from 4 inches to 24 with all the power of the horses & two men rolling at the hind wheels and going Down on the other side was still more Steep rocky and sandy which would make it much worse than going up on the North side.
I visited the Great Colorado for the first time in my life whare I went to the River. I found it runing between two Stone walls some 2,000 feet high perpendicular. The river itself looked small being such distance from the top of the Earth. We drove to the Navajos Spring watered our horses and drove mile and Camped. 16 M.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
14 We drove to Lees Ferry and Crossed. I here left Br Johnson who was the ferryman and at home. We then Crossed the Mountain Called Lees Back bone which we named the Hogs Back. It was the worst hill Ridge or Mountain that I Ever attempted to Cross with a team and waggon on Earth. We had 4 Horses on a waggon of 1,500 lb weight and for two rods we Could ownly gain from 4 inches to 24 with all the power of the horses & two men rolling at the hind wheels and going Down on the other side was still more Steep rocky and sandy which would make it much worse than going up on the North side.
I visited the Great Colorado for the first time in my life whare I went to the River. I found it runing between two Stone walls some 2,000 feet high perpendicular. The river itself looked small being such distance from the top of the Earth. We drove to the Navajos Spring watered our horses and drove mile and Camped. 16 M.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
180 years ago today - Mar 14, 1844
Lucian Woodworth a member of the Council of Fifty and Nauvoo House architect, is dispatched to Austin, Texas to begin negotiations with the Texas government over a place for Mormons to relocate.
180 years ago today - Mar 14, 1844 - Thursday
[Council of Fifty]
This day the council was together all day again, and the same subjects continued in discussion: as previously. The name of the council was discussed and the Lord was pleased to give the following Revelation; "Verily thus saith the Lord, this is the name by which you shall be called, The Kingdom of God and his Laws, with the keys and power thereof, and judgement in the hands of his servants.
Ahman Christ."
This was read to the council and a vote taken whether the members would adopt that as their name. the vote was unanimous in the affirmative. When this was given there was a general feeling of joy and gratitude ran through the brethren, every heart was satisfied and we had a season of rejoicing before the Lord. It was considered wisdom to burn the minutes in consequence of treachery and plots of designing men.—
[Joseph Smith Papers: Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844-January 1846]
This day the council was together all day again, and the same subjects continued in discussion: as previously. The name of the council was discussed and the Lord was pleased to give the following Revelation; "Verily thus saith the Lord, this is the name by which you shall be called, The Kingdom of God and his Laws, with the keys and power thereof, and judgement in the hands of his servants.
Ahman Christ."
This was read to the council and a vote taken whether the members would adopt that as their name. the vote was unanimous in the affirmative. When this was given there was a general feeling of joy and gratitude ran through the brethren, every heart was satisfied and we had a season of rejoicing before the Lord. It was considered wisdom to burn the minutes in consequence of treachery and plots of designing men.—
[Joseph Smith Papers: Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844-January 1846]
180 years ago today - Thursday, Mar 14, 1844
[Benjamin F. Johnson]
About this time was organized his private council of Fifty,-the embryo kingdom of God upon the earth-an organization distinct from the Church, a nucleus of popular government which will exist for all people when heathen are given [up] for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as a possession "to Him whose right it is to reign"; a government formed of representatives from every nation, principality or tribe upon the earth; a government of God for the people and by the people, in which man will be taught to know his origin and to govern himself, which will continue through the millennial period as the outer wall or government around the inner temple of priesthood, until all are come to the knowledge of God.
[Benjamin F. Johnson autobiography, 87, as quoted in Jedediah S. Rogers (editor), The Council of Fifty: A Documentary History, Signature Books (2014)]
About this time was organized his private council of Fifty,-the embryo kingdom of God upon the earth-an organization distinct from the Church, a nucleus of popular government which will exist for all people when heathen are given [up] for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as a possession "to Him whose right it is to reign"; a government formed of representatives from every nation, principality or tribe upon the earth; a government of God for the people and by the people, in which man will be taught to know his origin and to govern himself, which will continue through the millennial period as the outer wall or government around the inner temple of priesthood, until all are come to the knowledge of God.
[Benjamin F. Johnson autobiography, 87, as quoted in Jedediah S. Rogers (editor), The Council of Fifty: A Documentary History, Signature Books (2014)]
45 years ago today - Mar 13, 1979-Tuesday
[Leonard Arrington]
Reflections on Dedicatory Service at Logan Temple
... No blacks that I could see, but a few Indians and Japanese.
... As many women as men here in the Priesthood Room.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
Reflections on Dedicatory Service at Logan Temple
... No blacks that I could see, but a few Indians and Japanese.
... As many women as men here in the Priesthood Room.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
135 years ago today - Mar 13, 1889
At the First Presidency residence, Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, Franklin D. Richards, John Henry Smith, Moses Thatcher, and Heber J. Grant met to reprimand John W. Taylor for making public remarks that polygamy was not a dead issue and would not be abandoned. Confronted by Wilford Woodruff, Taylor insists that anyone who claimed that polygamy was not mandatory misunderstood the principle. Taylor makes a number of other accusations, but under pressure from colleagues he eventually agrees to make things right. In light of recent federal legislation the church was trying to eliminate public acknowledgment of new plural marriages. President Wilford Woodruff and counselor George Q. Cannon visits the Utah Territorial Penitentiary, "There were over 100 of the Saints there including a Dozon Bishops. They all looked Clean & Comfortable for a Prision."
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