Some rank-and-file Mormons threatened to picket Benson's farewell talk at the LDS tabernacle in Logan, Utah, because his remarks "will most likely be an attempt to again build up the John Birch Society." When stake leaders "became skittish" about letting him use the tabernacle for this talk, Benson said he would "hold the meeting in a tent, if need be."
["Group Decides Against Picketing Benson Talk," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 3 Dec. 1963, A-7; Dew, Ezra Taft Benson, 372-73. 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.]
80 years ago today - Dec 3, 1943
[J. Reuben Clark]
[Regarding Apostle Lyman's extra-marital relationship] I told Bro. Hardy I was still not satisfied that we knew all about the situation. I still could not wipe out the "new polygamy" idea.
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
[Regarding Apostle Lyman's extra-marital relationship] I told Bro. Hardy I was still not satisfied that we knew all about the situation. I still could not wipe out the "new polygamy" idea.
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
125 years ago today - Dec 03, 1898
The first issues of the Latter-day Saints' Southern Star, a weekly Church periodical, is published in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
135 years ago today - Dec 3, 1888
[Brigham Young Jr.]
Left home before daylight, repaired to the Gardo House. Met Bro[ther]. Jos[eph]. F. S[mith]. Our quorum meets at 10 a.m. A very unpleasant meeting this has been; but I was thankful to witness the brethren tone down when reprimanded by our president. How the adversary creeps in, through selfishness he seeks to mould the brethren to his will.
[Brigham Young Jr., Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
Left home before daylight, repaired to the Gardo House. Met Bro[ther]. Jos[eph]. F. S[mith]. Our quorum meets at 10 a.m. A very unpleasant meeting this has been; but I was thankful to witness the brethren tone down when reprimanded by our president. How the adversary creeps in, through selfishness he seeks to mould the brethren to his will.
[Brigham Young Jr., Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
175 years ago today - Dec 3, 1848
[Hosea Stout]
In a letter from George A. Smith we learn that on the 4th of July last the people of Nauvoo borrowed a cannon from Carthage to celebrate the day & that night it left & was only tracked to the river where no doubt it passed through the cerimonies of immersion & he thought it would be wending its way west in search of new adventures. ...
A Proclamation was read from [apostle] Lyman Wight & Bishop George Miller, Calling on all the people to geather to them on the Rio Colerado about 75 miles from Austin Texas. [Joseph Smith had charged Wight with finding an area for the saints to settle in Texas.] It is a long document & contains some foul insinuations against the Twelve. It breaths a dishonest, low, and mean, Spirit and was recieved as such by the saints both here & at the Bluffs
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmore & W. E. Mc[.] Lelland were trying to raise up the kingdom again. also William Smith. But the "Sound of their grinding is low"They are all waiting for the Twelve & Presidncy to fall.
After the news was read the case of Lyman [Wight] was taken up and he & all who were with him were cut off from the church as the Saints at the Bluffs also done at the conference.
In the evening I went to the Council. ... The president [Brigham Young] explained the object of the exploring expidition now being raise. which was to look out a good place to locate a settlement on the gulf & California & a road from thence to this place.
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
In a letter from George A. Smith we learn that on the 4th of July last the people of Nauvoo borrowed a cannon from Carthage to celebrate the day & that night it left & was only tracked to the river where no doubt it passed through the cerimonies of immersion & he thought it would be wending its way west in search of new adventures. ...
A Proclamation was read from [apostle] Lyman Wight & Bishop George Miller, Calling on all the people to geather to them on the Rio Colerado about 75 miles from Austin Texas. [Joseph Smith had charged Wight with finding an area for the saints to settle in Texas.] It is a long document & contains some foul insinuations against the Twelve. It breaths a dishonest, low, and mean, Spirit and was recieved as such by the saints both here & at the Bluffs
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmore & W. E. Mc[.] Lelland were trying to raise up the kingdom again. also William Smith. But the "Sound of their grinding is low"They are all waiting for the Twelve & Presidncy to fall.
After the news was read the case of Lyman [Wight] was taken up and he & all who were with him were cut off from the church as the Saints at the Bluffs also done at the conference.
In the evening I went to the Council. ... The president [Brigham Young] explained the object of the exploring expidition now being raise. which was to look out a good place to locate a settlement on the gulf & California & a road from thence to this place.
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
180 years ago today - Dec 3, 1843
[Anointed Quorum]
Sunday prayer circle meeting at noon in the upper "assembly room" of Joseph Smith's store where "all [were] present except Hyrum & his wife," and Emma Smith attended even though she "had been unwell during the night." Instead of ordinances, this was a political meeting: "The fore part of the day was taken up on the Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys. It was read by W. W. Phelps & [was] consecrated & dedicated unto God by the quorum."
[I believe this is the first time women participated in priesthood quorum decision making/ business.]
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Signature Books, 1994, Appendex: Meetings and Initiations of the Anointed Quorum, 1842-45, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
Sunday prayer circle meeting at noon in the upper "assembly room" of Joseph Smith's store where "all [were] present except Hyrum & his wife," and Emma Smith attended even though she "had been unwell during the night." Instead of ordinances, this was a political meeting: "The fore part of the day was taken up on the Appeal to the Green Mountain Boys. It was read by W. W. Phelps & [was] consecrated & dedicated unto God by the quorum."
[I believe this is the first time women participated in priesthood quorum decision making/ business.]
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Signature Books, 1994, Appendex: Meetings and Initiations of the Anointed Quorum, 1842-45, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
180 years ago today - Dec 2, 1843
[William Clayton]
A.M. at the Temple Office. Bro Cutler called me aside & gave me to understand that Cahoon was fully bent on having revenge on my head. It appears he is trying to excite the stone cutters against me & I know no cause except it be because I have opposed his dishonesty & told him of it. I now realise my situation more sensibly than I ever did in my life. I might have the privilege of being received into the quorum of anointing but Cahoon has got there and through private pique he is resolved to deprive me of that privilege. that added to Emmas determination to be revenged sink my mind & fills me with agony, but I yet believe that innocence will finally triumph & I shall be prospered. As to any accusation which may be brought against me by the stone cutters my conscience is at peace. I am at the defiance of all or any man & am willing to be proved I wrote a long letter to J. on the subject.
[The Nauvoo Diaries of William Clayton, 1842-1846, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
A.M. at the Temple Office. Bro Cutler called me aside & gave me to understand that Cahoon was fully bent on having revenge on my head. It appears he is trying to excite the stone cutters against me & I know no cause except it be because I have opposed his dishonesty & told him of it. I now realise my situation more sensibly than I ever did in my life. I might have the privilege of being received into the quorum of anointing but Cahoon has got there and through private pique he is resolved to deprive me of that privilege. that added to Emmas determination to be revenged sink my mind & fills me with agony, but I yet believe that innocence will finally triumph & I shall be prospered. As to any accusation which may be brought against me by the stone cutters my conscience is at peace. I am at the defiance of all or any man & am willing to be proved I wrote a long letter to J. on the subject.
[The Nauvoo Diaries of William Clayton, 1842-1846, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
180 years ago today - Dec 2, 1843
Brigham recorded his dream in which he, his legal wife, and the Prophet were traveling in a covered carriage: "Br Joseph Smith sat on the Back Seat with my wife [--] he whispered to hir [her--] Sead [said] it was wright [right] if she was a mind to [--] nothing more past [passed] betwen [sic] them." Then, in the dream, she disappears and is next seen as a corpse in a hearse.
During a meeting of Church President Wilford Woodruff with the apostles in the Salt Lake Temple on 25 June 1896, there was a discussion about "certain trials or tests to which Prests. B. Young and Jno. Taylor were put by Prest. Joseph the Prophet in Nauvoo, as the plurality & Eternity of the M. [Marriage] covenant was being revealed. Also what Emma was commanded to abstain from, and O. Hyde's trial also." Young's dream in December 1843 apparently referred to the Prophet's "test" of asking for Brigham's wife to become Joseph's.
[Brigham Young 1840-44 journal; Franklin D. Richards journal, 25 June 1896, LDS Church History Library; "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)]
During a meeting of Church President Wilford Woodruff with the apostles in the Salt Lake Temple on 25 June 1896, there was a discussion about "certain trials or tests to which Prests. B. Young and Jno. Taylor were put by Prest. Joseph the Prophet in Nauvoo, as the plurality & Eternity of the M. [Marriage] covenant was being revealed. Also what Emma was commanded to abstain from, and O. Hyde's trial also." Young's dream in December 1843 apparently referred to the Prophet's "test" of asking for Brigham's wife to become Joseph's.
[Brigham Young 1840-44 journal; Franklin D. Richards journal, 25 June 1896, LDS Church History Library; "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)]
180 years ago today - Dec 2, 1843
The first endowments for women and more for men are conducted. During this month, there are several hostile incidents: Missourians kidnap a Mormon on a four-year-old horse-stealing charge and take him across the state line. A Mormon living on the prairie is stabbed and robbed. A Mormon's house is burned near Ramus.
[Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books, http://bit.ly/lucys-book]
[Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books, http://bit.ly/lucys-book]
190 years ago today - Dec 2, 1833
[Peter Ingersoll]
"I picked up a small stone and was careless tossing it from one hand to the other. ' No, said the old man, it is of great worth; and upon this I gave it to him. ' He then put the stone which I had given him, into his hat, and stooping forward, he bowed and made sundry maneuvers, quite similar to those of a stool pigeon. At length he took down his hat, and being very much exhausted, said, in a faint voice, "if you knew what I had seen, you would believe."
[Peter Ingersoll affidavit, 2 December 183, as quoted in A Topical Guide of Treasure-Seeking Rituals From the American Northeast during the 18th and 19th Centuries, Compiled by Joseph T. Antley (2010)]
"I picked up a small stone and was careless tossing it from one hand to the other. ' No, said the old man, it is of great worth; and upon this I gave it to him. ' He then put the stone which I had given him, into his hat, and stooping forward, he bowed and made sundry maneuvers, quite similar to those of a stool pigeon. At length he took down his hat, and being very much exhausted, said, in a faint voice, "if you knew what I had seen, you would believe."
[Peter Ingersoll affidavit, 2 December 183, as quoted in A Topical Guide of Treasure-Seeking Rituals From the American Northeast during the 18th and 19th Centuries, Compiled by Joseph T. Antley (2010)]
45 years ago today - Dec 1, 1978-Friday
[Leonard Arrington]
I meant to record earlier that Senator Orrin Hatch told me on one occasion in general conference that he had studied under Kent Fielding at BYU and that as a part of the "enlightening" process under Dr. Fielding, he had read quite a number of anti-Mormon books. The end result of doing this was to realize the superficiality of most of these and to increase his testimony of the gospel. [[Hatch graduated from BYU in history in 1959 when R. Kent Fielding had been on the faculty already for seven years but had completed his PhD from the University of Indiana only two years earlier. His emphasis was LDS history.]]
Also wanted to record what Earl Olson had told me earlier, that there are two seerstones in the Joseph Fielding Smith safe which is in the vault of the First Presidency. Earl is not certain about these seerstones; he thinks one of them belonged to Hiram Page, and one of them may very well have belonged to the Prophet Joseph [Smith]. He says one is kind of a clear geode, and the other is a chocolate color with specks. I have a vague memory that he said that they were about the size of a hen's egg.
Somebody told me the other day that they had been reading some correspondence and that they found evidence of a disagreement between David O. McKay and Joseph Fielding Smith on an important matter of Church doctrine. This is the question of whether a person in the hereafter can advance from one kingdom to another. According to this source, David O. McKay said yes, a person may advance from one kingdom to another in the next world; Joseph Fielding Smith said no, he or she will be restricted to whatever kingdom they are assigned to.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
I meant to record earlier that Senator Orrin Hatch told me on one occasion in general conference that he had studied under Kent Fielding at BYU and that as a part of the "enlightening" process under Dr. Fielding, he had read quite a number of anti-Mormon books. The end result of doing this was to realize the superficiality of most of these and to increase his testimony of the gospel. [[Hatch graduated from BYU in history in 1959 when R. Kent Fielding had been on the faculty already for seven years but had completed his PhD from the University of Indiana only two years earlier. His emphasis was LDS history.]]
Also wanted to record what Earl Olson had told me earlier, that there are two seerstones in the Joseph Fielding Smith safe which is in the vault of the First Presidency. Earl is not certain about these seerstones; he thinks one of them belonged to Hiram Page, and one of them may very well have belonged to the Prophet Joseph [Smith]. He says one is kind of a clear geode, and the other is a chocolate color with specks. I have a vague memory that he said that they were about the size of a hen's egg.
Somebody told me the other day that they had been reading some correspondence and that they found evidence of a disagreement between David O. McKay and Joseph Fielding Smith on an important matter of Church doctrine. This is the question of whether a person in the hereafter can advance from one kingdom to another. According to this source, David O. McKay said yes, a person may advance from one kingdom to another in the next world; Joseph Fielding Smith said no, he or she will be restricted to whatever kingdom they are assigned to.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
70 years ago today - Dec 1, 1953
[J. Reuben Clark]
Yesterday (November 30, 1953): I got in touch with Brother Ivor Sharp and asked him to get in touch with Rosel Hyde, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, in order that I might talk to him regarding the establishing of an international short-wave station. ...
He said he assumed that as to any station which we might set up, we would be willing to devote part of the time to something beside proselyting, give cultural programs, and what not. I told him I thought we would, or course, be willing to do that.
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
Yesterday (November 30, 1953): I got in touch with Brother Ivor Sharp and asked him to get in touch with Rosel Hyde, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, in order that I might talk to him regarding the establishing of an international short-wave station. ...
He said he assumed that as to any station which we might set up, we would be willing to devote part of the time to something beside proselyting, give cultural programs, and what not. I told him I thought we would, or course, be willing to do that.
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
125 years ago today - Thursday, Dec 1, 1898
[John Henry Smith]
It was decided to Issue a half Million of bonds at 6 percent for Eleven years, and fifty thousand dollars to be placed as a sinking fund each year after the first year.
[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]
It was decided to Issue a half Million of bonds at 6 percent for Eleven years, and fifty thousand dollars to be placed as a sinking fund each year after the first year.
[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]
125 years ago today - Dec 1, 1898
The first Circular of Instructions on tithing settlement issued by the new First Presidency-Lorenzo Snow, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith. It was issued five months before Lorenzo Snow received the revelation on tithing.
[1898-December 1-Circular of Instructions, Church Historian's Library, Salt Lake City, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
[1898-December 1-Circular of Instructions, Church Historian's Library, Salt Lake City, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
150 years ago today - Dec 1, 1873 (Monday)
Notwithstanding Geo. R. Maxwell's protest, Geo. Q. Cannon was permitted to take his seat in Congress.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
180 years ago today - Dec 1, 1843
Joseph Smith's manuscript diary makes first mention of the Nauvoo Mansion's bar room. Joseph Smith III later reminisced that his father set up a fully-stocked bar with Orrin Porter Rockwell as bartender.
[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]
[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]
185 years ago today - Dec 1, 1838
Joseph begins his stay in Liberty jail, which lasts almost six months. The jail is 22 feet square, with walls four feet thick. The food is filthy, and at one time the guards boast that they have fed the prisoners human flesh. At another point the prisoners are fed poison. However, some exciting things also occur during their prison stay. Parley P. Pratt writes poetry and a history of his life; Lyman Wight is blessed several times by Joseph and learns many things "yet unknown to the Church." George A. Smith is called to the apostleship; Brigham Young and others receive instructions about moving the Saints to Illinois; Joseph reveals several of the most important sections of the D&C.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
40 years ago today - Nov 30, 1983-Wednesday
[Leonard Arrington]
I had a chance to talk with Milt Backman, author of The Heavens Resound, the Ohio experience of the church. ... Milt says the manuscript that was published was essentially the way he submitted it, except that the Deseret Book people insisted that he leave out all references to polygamy in Kirtland [Ohio]. Deseret Book told him they had no objection to including it. But they had so much difficulty in getting approval of church authorities to include mention of polygamy in Nauvoo in the footnotes to Dean Jessee's book that they were sure they would never get approval to include mention of its practice in Kirtland. So all references to polygamy in Kirtland were deleted by Deseret Book.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
I had a chance to talk with Milt Backman, author of The Heavens Resound, the Ohio experience of the church. ... Milt says the manuscript that was published was essentially the way he submitted it, except that the Deseret Book people insisted that he leave out all references to polygamy in Kirtland [Ohio]. Deseret Book told him they had no objection to including it. But they had so much difficulty in getting approval of church authorities to include mention of polygamy in Nauvoo in the footnotes to Dean Jessee's book that they were sure they would never get approval to include mention of its practice in Kirtland. So all references to polygamy in Kirtland were deleted by Deseret Book.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
50 years ago today - Nov 30, 1973
In response to U.S. President Richard Nixon's request to conserve energy during the energy crisis, the Church announces that Christmas lights on Temple Square will not be turned on this year.
165 years ago today - Nov 30, 1858
[Wilford Woodruff]
We Called upon the Presidet [Brigham Young]. We were informed that the Court was trying to get him to appear as a witness on the morrow. It was expected that there was a plan laid to kill him But God will ward off the Blow. ...
I spent the evening with the President & the Committee on the Deseret Alphabet. We laboured till near 11 oclok on the word Rule. The brethren Could not agree upon the sound of it. Most of the Company wanted it <rool> others want it <riool> [in Deseret].
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
We Called upon the Presidet [Brigham Young]. We were informed that the Court was trying to get him to appear as a witness on the morrow. It was expected that there was a plan laid to kill him But God will ward off the Blow. ...
I spent the evening with the President & the Committee on the Deseret Alphabet. We laboured till near 11 oclok on the word Rule. The brethren Could not agree upon the sound of it. Most of the Company wanted it <rool> others want it <riool> [in Deseret].
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
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