[President Heber J. Grant] Brother Olsen, who is connected with the Segolite Company, called and I went to lunch with him. He called again later in the afternoon and said that Parker Robison had quit patronizing him, also Z.C.M.I. and the Utah Hotel, and that all of his Gentile friends stay with him and say that he has the finest product. He also says that the L.D.S. Hospital is discontinuing (sic) its use, but several other people also testify that they have never found anything so good. He is very much disappointed.
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
170 years ago today - 170 years - Jan 17, 1845 (Friday)
The ship Palmyra sailed from Liverpool, England, with a company of Saints, under the direction of Amos Fielding, bound for Nauvoo.
[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
15 years ago today - Jan 16, 2000
President Gordon B. Hinckley releases a statement that is read in every Latter-Day Saint congregation in California that urges members to "redouble their efforts" to pass Prop. 22 a law stating "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." Prop 22 passed.
[Source: Timeline of Mormon Thinking About Homosexuality, http://rationalfaiths.com/timeline-of-mormon-thinking-about-homosexuality/]
[Source: Timeline of Mormon Thinking About Homosexuality, http://rationalfaiths.com/timeline-of-mormon-thinking-about-homosexuality/]
95 years ago today - Jan 16, 1920
The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution goes into effect, prohibiting the manufacture, production, and sale of alcohol. President Heber J. Grant, a fervent supporter of the amendment, believes it is divinely mandated because it outlaws items forbidden by the Word of Wisdom.
115 years ago today - Jan 16, 1900; Tuesday
Presidents [Lorenzo] Snow, [George Q.] Cannon and [Joseph F.] Smith were at the office as usual.
Elder John Henry Smith and Bishop Hiram B. Clawson were in the office and stated that they would leave for Washington [D.C.] tomorrow (Wednesday, 17th) for the purpose of imparting to some of the leading men of the nation, chiefly of the Republican party, information in regard to conditions in Utah with a view of preventing any move being made looking to a constitutional amendment on the subject of polygamy. Also to endeavor to influence Congress to create a new circuit court, the circuit to consist of the intermountain states. ...
[Source: First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
Elder John Henry Smith and Bishop Hiram B. Clawson were in the office and stated that they would leave for Washington [D.C.] tomorrow (Wednesday, 17th) for the purpose of imparting to some of the leading men of the nation, chiefly of the Republican party, information in regard to conditions in Utah with a view of preventing any move being made looking to a constitutional amendment on the subject of polygamy. Also to endeavor to influence Congress to create a new circuit court, the circuit to consist of the intermountain states. ...
[Source: First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
120 years ago today - Jan 16, 1895
[Heber J. Grant] Spent the evening at Emily's. I will be a happy man when the time comes that I can live with her as a husband and not have to simply call and spend a few hours, and never stop over night at her home.
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
170 years ago today - Jan 16, 1845
Brigham Young (aged 43) marriage to Mary Pierce (1821-1847) (aged 25) first marriage
[Source: Wikipedia, List of Brigham Young's Wives, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives]
[Source: Wikipedia, List of Brigham Young's Wives, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives]
170 years ago today - Jan 16, 1845
Brigham Young (aged 43) marriage to Margaret Pierce (1823-1907) (aged 22) widow of Morris Whitesides sealed to Morris Whitesides for eternity and Young for time; 1 child
[Source: Wikipedia, List of Brigham Young's Wives, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives]
[Source: Wikipedia, List of Brigham Young's Wives, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives]
185 years ago today - Jan 16, 1830
[Joseph Smith, Sr., and Martin Harris, Agreement Regarding Sale of Book of Mormon] I hereby agree that Martin Harris shall have an equal privilege with me & my friends of selling the Book of Mormon of the Edition now printing by Egbert B Grandin until enough of them shall be sold to pay for the printing of the same or until such times as the said Grandin shall be paid for the printing the aforesaid Books or copies[.]
{...The wording of the agreement indicates that as of 16 January 1830 Harris anticipated that the sale of the books would fully pay off his $3,000 mortgage to Grandin, and that the surplus would go to Joseph Sr. and friends. However, the lack of sales would eventually force Harris to sell about 151 acres of land to Thomas Lakey. ...}
[Source: Joseph Smith, Sr., and Martin Harris, Agreement Regarding Sale of Book of Mormon, 16 January 1830, Simon Gratz Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Joseph Smith, Sr., And Martin Harris Agreement]
{...The wording of the agreement indicates that as of 16 January 1830 Harris anticipated that the sale of the books would fully pay off his $3,000 mortgage to Grandin, and that the surplus would go to Joseph Sr. and friends. However, the lack of sales would eventually force Harris to sell about 151 acres of land to Thomas Lakey. ...}
[Source: Joseph Smith, Sr., and Martin Harris, Agreement Regarding Sale of Book of Mormon, 16 January 1830, Simon Gratz Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Joseph Smith, Sr., And Martin Harris Agreement]
Jan 15, 1980
[Gary] C[arlson]:38 What happened in these early days [late 1950s], really when we started working with Brother [Hugh B.] Brown, is that they asked us to look at some basic concepts. We worked with the people in the Genealogical Society and did what [we] thought were some very simple calculations such as estimating how many people have been born on the earth. Some estimates were around seventy billion. At the time we were doing about one million endowments per year in the temples. One million goes into seventy billion an awful lot of times. We made some charts and some fancy overheads and so on to try to explain to the Brethren and help them understand that the numbers get very large, if you assume we need to do the genealogical work for everybody, not knowing who is going to accept and who isn't. I still have some of those charts and they may be in some of those papers that I've passed on to you. The figures showed that if the Church kept on growing the way it was, then every adult member of the Church could spend eight hours a day in the temple seven days a week all of his life and we would never come up to the rate of new births in the world. Even if we were all in the temple all day, we'd still be falling behind. We must have made a half a dozen presentations to various groups trying to just get that idea across, that the numbers were big and we needed computers to process the data and get the job done. Some of the Brethren thought we were tampering with doctrine. They were very nervous about our interferences. ...There was a lot of discussion and I know that some of the Brethren thought we were a bunch of heretics. Again we kept saying, "We don't want to impinge on doctrine. We just want to help you understand the problems, from a data processing standpoint, and the implications for physical processes that have to be faced sooner or later."...
[Source: Gary Carlson oral history, Jan. 15, 1980; pp. 8; 10; 20; 25; excerpt in Buerger Papers as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
[Source: Gary Carlson oral history, Jan. 15, 1980; pp. 8; 10; 20; 25; excerpt in Buerger Papers as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
45 years ago today - Jan 15, 1970
Salt Lake Tribune publishes statement from David O. McKay's son who verifies accuracy of following statement LDS president made to philosophy professor Sterling M. McMurrin in 1958: "There is no doctrine in this Church and there never was a doctrine in this Church to the effect that the Negroes are under any kind of a divine curse."
50 years ago today - Jan 15, 1965
Reed Benson ... published full page ads in Idaho of Apostle Benson's endorsement of the [right-wing] John Birch Society.
[Source: Jack Anderson, "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel," Washington Post, 15 Jan. 1965, B-13. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.]
[Source: Jack Anderson, "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel," Washington Post, 15 Jan. 1965, B-13. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.]
90 years ago today - Jan 15, 1925
Excommunication of Lorin C. Woolley for "pernicious lying," rather than for any specific activities as Fundamentalist leader.
105 years ago today - Jan 15, 1910
[Joseph F. Smith, Letter to Anthony W. Ivins] It has been reported to us that Elder Miles A. Romney has recently come from Mexico to you for the purpose of contracting a marriage with a young woman named Emily Burrell, and that he did procure a license here and did marry her, notwithstanding the fact that he already has a numerous family in Mexico.
As you are about to leave for our colonies in Mexico, we wish you to inquire into this matter, and if you find the facts to be as stated, it will be in order for you to instruct the local authorities to deal with Brother Romney on his fellowship in the Church, for violating the published declarations of the authorities of the Church on the question of plural marriage.
[Source: Joseph F. Smith, Letter to Anthony W. Ivins, 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]
As you are about to leave for our colonies in Mexico, we wish you to inquire into this matter, and if you find the facts to be as stated, it will be in order for you to instruct the local authorities to deal with Brother Romney on his fellowship in the Church, for violating the published declarations of the authorities of the Church on the question of plural marriage.
[Source: Joseph F. Smith, Letter to Anthony W. Ivins, 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]
135 years ago today - Thursday, Jan. 15th 1880
[Abraham H. Cannon] ... About 8.30 a number of the saints, with some more persons to be baptized, came to Bro. Postel's; we had prayer, spoke a few words to them, and then went down to the Rhine river, to attend to the baptism. Bro. Enz entered the water and baptized eight persons; one old lady, Sister Buchmiller, was very much affected by the coldness of the water, but after I had administered to her, she became better; ... while on the way back, it commenced to snow. ...
[Source: Abraham H. Cannon Mission Journal]
[Source: Abraham H. Cannon Mission Journal]
170 years ago today - 1845 15 Jan.
A Mormon woman writes that "there is all ready ten hundred thousand of the lamanites baptized into the Church and thay are waiting verry impatient to avenge the blood of Joseph and Hirum. We have to keep men among them to keep them back or thay would [have] ben here before this time."
[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]
[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]
170 years ago today - Jan 15, 1845
Brigham Young (aged 43) marriage to Mary Ann Clark (1816-?) (aged 28) previously married to - Powers (unknown if she was widowed, divorced, or separated) divorced June 1851
[Source: Wikipedia, List of Brigham Young's Wives, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives]
[Source: Wikipedia, List of Brigham Young's Wives, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young%27s_wives]
55 years ago today - Thu Jan 14, 1960
[David O. McKay] Was engaged in the meeting of the First Presidency. Among matters discussed at this meeting were the following: Elder Mark E. Petersen's proposed editorial on books by General Authorities. A draft of a proposed editorial for the Improvement Era, prepared by Elder Mark E. Petersen, on the subject of selecting good books, and upon the approval of the publication of books by the First Presidency, was read. After consideration it was decided that the general statement, without the reference to "Mormon Doctrine" and "Ancient America and the Book of Mormon," which should be handled separately, would be a suitable editorial on the subject of selecting good books. Further action on the matter of publishing a statement relating to the approval of books by the First Presidency was deferred awaiting consideration of the subject by me with President Joseph Fielding Smith.
[Source: McKay, David O., Office Journal]
[Source: McKay, David O., Office Journal]
70 years ago today - Jan 14, 1945
[Spencer W. Kimball] [Int St. George, Utah:] Coming home we heard some interesting stories as also going down. Bro. Kirkham of his being called by his good old friend Emmeline B. Wells to her room where she lived at the Hotel Utah. 'Oscar, go get Heber to come to administer to me.' Pres. Grant was occupied and could not come but sent J. Golden Kimball back with Oscar to take care of the ordinance. As they entered the room she said: 'Well, is that the best you could do?' with some disgust. J. Golden walked up to the bed and some what showing in his voice that he was irate. 'Do you want a blessing from the Lord?' 'Yes. Of course I do!' she said. 'Well, shut up,' he said 'or I won't give it to you.'
[Source: Spencer W. Kimball 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]
[Source: Spencer W. Kimball 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]
95 years ago today - Jan. 14, Fri. [1920]
[James E. Talmage] In addition to other committee work I attended an afternoon session of the Book of Mormon committee, at which preliminary arrangements were made for hearing some of the proponents of different views on Book of Mormon geography. Many varied and conflicting views concerning the location of Book of Mormon lands have been advocated amongst our people; and not a few maps have been put out. With all precautions taken to make plain the fact that these maps have been intended as suggestive presentations only, we find some people accepting one map and others another as authoritative. The matter was brought before the council through the receipt of a communication from Elder Joel Ricks of Logan, who several years ago published a map, of which over 6000 have been disposed of. Brother Ricks and several other good brethren have voiced a sort of complaint that they have had no opportunity to present their views, with the fullness they desire, before the Church authorities. The entire matter was referred to the Book of Mormon committee; and today appointments were made for the beginning of the series of hearings.
[Source: James E. Talmage Journal, Transcription reproduced by Trevor Antley, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University]
[Source: James E. Talmage Journal, Transcription reproduced by Trevor Antley, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University]
115 years ago today - Sunday, Jan 14, 1900
[Joseph F. Smith] "The judgments of God upon the nations. The hand of the Lord as seen in the Spanish-American war and the English-Boer war."
[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]
[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 - Jan 14, 1885
[Interview of David Whitmer] 1 [Q]--Do you know that the plates seen with the Angel (on the table) were real metal, did you touch them? Ans We did not touch nor handle the plates. 2 Q--Was the table literal wood? or was the whole a vision such as often occurs in dreams &c? Ans--The table had the appearence of literal wood as shown in the vision, in the glory of God. 3 Q--Did you see the Urim and Thummim, what was it? Ans--I saw the "Interpreters" in the holy [vision] [.] They looked like whitish stones p[ut in the] rim of a bow, looked like spectacles only much larger. ... [p. 1] ... 9. Q. Who was the Angel that showed the plates to you and Cowdery, and have these plates been seen since? Ans--I do not know as no name was given. I have never seen the plates since. ... [p. 1, back] ... 13. Q.--Were you present when Joseph Smith received the revelation commanding him and Oliver Cowdery to ordain each other to the Melchisedek Priesthood, if so, where was it and how? Ans--No I was not--neither did I ever hear of such a thing as an angel ordaining them until I got into Ohio about the year 1834--or later. 14. Q. Can you tell why that Joseph and Oliver were ordained to the lesser Priesthood by the hand of an Angel but in receiving the Higher they ordained each other? Ans--I moved Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to my fathers house in Fayette[,] Seneca County[,] New York, from Harmony, Penn. in the year 1829, on our way I conversed freely with them [p. 2] upon this great work they were bringing about, and Oliver stated to me in Josephs presence that they had baptized each other seeking by that to fulfill the command--And after our arrival at fathers sometime in June 1829. Joseph ordained Oliver Cowdery to be an Elder, and Oliver ordained Joseph to be an Elder in the Church of Christ. <<and during that year Joseph both baptized and ordained me an elder in the church of Christ.>> Also, during this year the translation of the Book of Mormon was finished, And we preached preached, baptized and ordained some as Elders, And upon the Sixth day of April 1830, six Elders together with some fifty or sixty (as near as I recollect) of the members met together to effect an organization. I never heard that an Angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic priesthood until the year 1834[,] 5. or 6--in Ohio. my information from Joseph and Oliver upon this matter being as I have stated, and that they were commanded so to do by revealment through Joseph. I do not believe that John the Baptist ever ordained Joseph and Oliver as stated and believed by some. I regard that as an error, a misconception. [p. 2, back] ... 19. [Q] Were the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated in Joseph Smiths possession while translating and seen and handled by several different persons, if not, where were they? Ans--I do not know. 20. Q. Did Joseph use his "peep stone" to finish up the translation? if so why? Ans--He used a stone called a "Seers stone," the "Interpreters" having been taken away from him because of transgression. 21. Q. Had you seen the plates at anytime before the Angel showed them to you? Ans--No. [p. 3, back] ... 25. Q. Were you present during any of the time of translation, if so, state how it was done. Ans--The "Interpreters" were taken from Joseph after he allowed Martin Harris to carry away the 116 pages of Ms [manuscript]--of the Book of Mormon as a punishment, but he was allowed to go on and translate by the use of a "Seers stone" which he had, and which he placed in a hat into which he buried his face, stating to me and others that the original Character[s] appeared upon parchment and under it the translation in english, which [enabled him] to read it readily. While Brother Whitmer was too feeble to write much, being unable to write the answers to the foregoing 25 questions in person--Yet it was with his consent and in his presence that I wrote them and corrected them, as they appear here. Jan. 21--1885.
[s] Z H. Gurley
[Source: "Copy--Questions asked of David Whitmer at his home in Richmond[,] Ray County[,] Mo--Jan 14--1885. relating to Book of Mormon, and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S. by Elder Z[enas] H. Gurley," Zenas Gurley Collection, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: David Whitmer Interview With Zenas H. Gurley]
[s] Z H. Gurley
[Source: "Copy--Questions asked of David Whitmer at his home in Richmond[,] Ray County[,] Mo--Jan 14--1885. relating to Book of Mormon, and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S. by Elder Z[enas] H. Gurley," Zenas Gurley Collection, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: David Whitmer Interview With Zenas H. Gurley]
130 years ago today - Jan 14, 1885
[Wilford Woodruff] We are living in Perilous times. No man who obeys the Patriarchal Law of Marriage is safe. I am informed that officers are after me. I spent the day in the 17 ward. ... I Called at my house in the Evening with G Teasdale & got some things and spent the night in the 17 ward.
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
155 years ago today - Jan 14, 1860
[Brigham Young] The Pres. said no doubt they have applied to Joseph Smith, son of the Prophet, to take his place as his right and Joseph will answer them as he did on a further occasion to a like request that if the Lord wanted him no doubt he would reveal himself as he did to [his] father (the Prophet). -- Salt Lake City
[Source: Brigham Young Office Journals, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.; Archives, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.; New Mormon Studies CD-ROM as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[Source: Brigham Young Office Journals, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.; Archives, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.; New Mormon Studies CD-ROM as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
170 years ago today - Jan 14, 1845
[Patriarchal Blessing of Jesse N. Smith] ... I pray my Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus to preserve thy life and health, even unto the coming of the Saviour ... Angels shall be thy constant companions and thou shalt often converse with them; they shall defend thee from all dangers, heal thy sickness and beat back the power of the destroyer. ... And if thou wilt seek after knowledge, and be sober-minded, thou shalt be like Mormon of old, and shalt be a mighty man in the ministry and a mighty warrior. Thou shalt handle the sword of Laban with such power as to put ten thousand of thine enemies to flight with the help of thy brother. Thy name shall be terrible among thine enemies. ... Thou shalt live to see Israel gathered from the four corners of the earth, to see all the enemies of the Lord swept from off the face of the earth, and cleansed from wickedness, and the Saviour stand upon it; and thou shalt stand in His presence. ...
[Source: Typescript, Michael Marquardt papers]
[Source: Typescript, Michael Marquardt papers]
80 years ago today - Jan 13, 1935
[President Heber J. Grant] Brother [John] Nicholson felt so outraged on account of being in the penitentiary, althought (sic) a poor man, he decided to mortgage his home and pay the fine rather than spend thirty days there. He remarked he would rather be shot than to go back to the penitentiary. Brother Francis M. Lyman rather enjoyed his rest in the penitentiary. He took it as a big joke. Over his cell was a sign: 'Teeth extracted with pleasure and pain.'
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
125 years ago today - Jan 13, 1890 (Monday)
Idaho's admission as a State and the test oath were argued in the U.S. Senate Committee on Territories. The argument was continued the following day, when "Mormons" were heard.
John W. Stewart, of Vermont, introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to disfranchise all "Mormons."
[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
John W. Stewart, of Vermont, introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to disfranchise all "Mormons."
[Source: Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
145 years ago today - Jan 13, 1870
General mass meeting of the ladies of Salt Lake City, to protest against the passage of the Cullom bill.
[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]
[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]
175 years ago today - (Mon) Jan 13, 1840
About this time Smith reportedly informed Pratt about the principle of polygamy. [Benjamin] Winchester later recalled that Smith was engaged in an illicit affair with a female member, while staying in Philadelphia.
[Source: Broadhurst, Dale R., Mormon Chronology, http://olivercowdery.com/history/morchrn2.htm]
[Source: Broadhurst, Dale R., Mormon Chronology, http://olivercowdery.com/history/morchrn2.htm]
185 years ago today - Jan 13, 1830
In Abner Cole's weekly Palmyra Reflector, he continues to print Chapter 1 of the First Book of Nephi from the Book of Mormon.
[Source: Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]
[Source: Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]
65 years ago today - Jan 12, 1950
[George Albert Smith] left SLC to stay at Laguna Beach "to rest my nerves" and returned on Feb 27, 1950 - worked on Church matters while there
[Source: Journals of George Albert Smith]
[Source: Journals of George Albert Smith]
120 years ago today - Jan 12, 1895
Benjamin Johnson states that Joseph "put off" polgyamy and waited until an "angel with a drawn sword" came to him.
[Source: Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review, Mesa, Arizona: 21^st Century Printing, 1992, reprint, 95-96; see also Zina Huntington quoted in "Joseph, the Prophet, His Life and Mission as Viewed by Intimate Acquaintances," Salt Lake Herald Church and Farm Supplement, January 12, 1895, 212 as quoted at Exploring Mormonism: Polygamy Timeline, http://www.exploringmormonism.com/polygamy-timeline/]
[Source: Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review, Mesa, Arizona: 21^st Century Printing, 1992, reprint, 95-96; see also Zina Huntington quoted in "Joseph, the Prophet, His Life and Mission as Viewed by Intimate Acquaintances," Salt Lake Herald Church and Farm Supplement, January 12, 1895, 212 as quoted at Exploring Mormonism: Polygamy Timeline, http://www.exploringmormonism.com/polygamy-timeline/]
120 years ago today - Saturday, Jan 12, 1895
[John Henry Smith] H. J. Grant is inclined to believe that he and his brother B. F. Grant has made a rich find of gold in San Louis Valley, Colo.
[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]
[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]
150 years ago today - Jan 12, 1865
[Heber C. Kimball] In the evening of January 12, 1865 I was told by the Lord that I should not be removed from their places [his position in the first presidency]. That Daniel H. Wells [of the 1st presidency], Albert Carrington [future apostle], Jos. A. Young [future apostle] and others were among that number. In the name of the Lord I predict that this will come true.
[Source: "H. C. Kimball Memorandum" book, On the Potters Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, Stanley B. Kimball, editor, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: "H. C. Kimball Memorandum" book, On the Potters Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball, Stanley B. Kimball, editor, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
170 years ago today - Jan 12, 1845. Sunday.
[William Clayton] At the Council Hall. Elder H. C. Kimball preached. He used many figures to illustrate his ideas amongst the rest when speaking of the unwillingness of the saints to abide the laws of exaltation. He said that the church was like a swarm of Bees, who when they want to increase the king and queen go and seek a new location and when they have found it they come back to the hive and persuade the young folks out but as soon as they begin to fly the old women and young women run with their old tin Kettles and pans and cow Bells, ti[n]kling to drown the voice of the king and throw them into a confusion and prevent their enlargement. Just so with the saints when any seem disposed to enlarge their kingdom and godhead the old women and young women run with their old kettles and pans and cow Bells to drown the sound of the leaders and throw the saints into confusion and keep them shut up in their old traditions. After he got through, O[rson] Pratt added an idea on the extent and magnitude of the planetary system and the beautiful adaptation to the enlargement of the saints. It was a very interesting meeting.
...Evening met with the first quorum at Parleys. Joseph Young and his wife were annointed with the second ordinance. D[iantha, his new 16-year-old bride] was at my house when I got home and tarried with us all night.
[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://amzn.to/william-clayton]
...Evening met with the first quorum at Parleys. Joseph Young and his wife were annointed with the second ordinance. D[iantha, his new 16-year-old bride] was at my house when I got home and tarried with us all night.
[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://amzn.to/william-clayton]
115 years ago today - 115 years ago - Jan 11, 1900
[First Presidency & Quorum of Twelve Minutes] ... President Cannon ... believed that greater power and gifts would be given to the Apostles, and that this would increase until they should met face to face with the Savior himself. He felt that the day was not far distant when the Savior would meet with His Apostles and instruct them; and that they should prepare for the great events which were coming upon the earth. He knew the Savior was near to us, and that the day would come when the Apostles would be greatly honored of him; and that judgment would be given to the Twelve, as it was given to His Apostles who were with Him in Jerusalem. President Cannon said too, referring to the enemies of Zion, that the predictions concerning them and the wicked generally would be brought about; the Lord would literally burn them up; and the Saints would go on from victory to victory until we should finally triumph. In closing, President Cannon, addressed himself to President Snow. ... President Cannon held that no one Apostle should undertake to give counsel affecting the interests or well-being of the community; but on the contrary such counsel should be the combined wisdom of as many of the Apostles as could be got together, with the President at their head. This was a critical time, and we needed all the light we could get, and the only safe way to get it, in his opinion, was through the presiding head.
... Before dispersing and immediately following the prayer Elder John Henry Smith asked President Snow if he thought it was wise for the brethren to speak from the public stand on the principle of plural marriage. President Snow answered that the subject should be let alone and that there was too much being said about it already.
This suggested to President Snow the following: Without reference to anyone present, he said, that there were brethren who still seemed to have the idea that it was possible under his administration to obtain a plural wife and have her sealed to him. He authorized and requested the brethren present to correct this impression wherever they find it. He said emphatically that it could not be done.
President Cannon moved that this be accepted as the mind and will of the Lord. Seconded by Brother Lyman and carried unanimously. ...
[Source: First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
... Before dispersing and immediately following the prayer Elder John Henry Smith asked President Snow if he thought it was wise for the brethren to speak from the public stand on the principle of plural marriage. President Snow answered that the subject should be let alone and that there was too much being said about it already.
This suggested to President Snow the following: Without reference to anyone present, he said, that there were brethren who still seemed to have the idea that it was possible under his administration to obtain a plural wife and have her sealed to him. He authorized and requested the brethren present to correct this impression wherever they find it. He said emphatically that it could not be done.
President Cannon moved that this be accepted as the mind and will of the Lord. Seconded by Brother Lyman and carried unanimously. ...
[Source: First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
115 years ago today - 115 years ago - Thursday, Jan 11, 1900
[Apostle Rudger Clawson] ... The tables were then set for the sacrament, and Pres. B. Young, Jr, was mouth in blessing the bread and wine, after which the brethren partook freely of the same. Before the brethren withdrew from the table, Pres. Cannon by request made brief remarks. Said he felt it was a great honor to be associated with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. Felt that we ought to be devoted to the work of the Lord. Said that we were at the threshold of great events and that the time was not far distant, when the Savior would make himself known to us—would converse with and instruct us concerning our duties. ...
[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]
[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 - 115 years ago - Jan 11, 1900
[Apostle Brigham Young Jr.] Met in Temple at 10. Spoke for 20 m[inutes]. conversation general. One assertion I made while talking That "when the saints received U[nited]. O[rder]. and lived it then will God restore to us the law of celestial marriage." Presidency came at 11 o clock after much talking arranging Con[ference]. & business.
[Source: Brigham Young Jr., Diary]
[Source: Brigham Young Jr., Diary]
115 years ago today - 115 years ago - Jan 11, 1900
[Apostle Abraham Owen Woodruff] ... We partook of the bread and wine, emblems of our Master's body and blood. After the Lord's supper Pres[iden]t. [Lorenzo] Snow said: so far as I am concerned no plural marriages can be entered into anywhere: in Mexico or elsewhere. John Henry Smith made a speach [sic] in absolute discouragement of the practice anywhere. Pres[iden]t. [George Q.] Cannon moved we accept Pres[iden]t. Snow's words as the "word of the Lord". It was seconded and again without any chance to express our feelings and judgment were forced to sustain a motion that some of us were opposed to or be out of harmony with our brethren. I felt forced to sustain this motion and that is why I did it, knowing that if it were not right the responsibility would not rest on me. I absolutely know that a number of the brethren, among them John W. Taylor, Geo[rge]. Teasdale and M[atthias]. F. Cowley entertained feelings in harmony with my own. I owe my exist[e]nce to the princip[le] of Polygamy and I have some intense feelings regarding the sustaining of that principle. I am indebted to that principle for my life and any time my Father wants my life to defend that principle (and those who practice it in righteousness) God being my helper it is at his command.
Pres[iden]t. Brigham Young [Jr.] came to my desk at the close and said, "Bro[ther]. Woodruff I want to tell you that the time is not far distant when the question of Polygamy will be changed and practiced again." I said I will hold you responsible for that remark Bro[ther]. Young. He answered: "You may!" Apostle M[arriner]. W[ood]. Merrill in yesterday's meeting prophesied that "the time will never come in the church when polygamist children will not be born." I pray God to give me light on this matter as I feel almost sick about it. I want to and intend to be loyal to my Chief.
[Source: Abraham Owen Woodruff, Diary]
Pres[iden]t. Brigham Young [Jr.] came to my desk at the close and said, "Bro[ther]. Woodruff I want to tell you that the time is not far distant when the question of Polygamy will be changed and practiced again." I said I will hold you responsible for that remark Bro[ther]. Young. He answered: "You may!" Apostle M[arriner]. W[ood]. Merrill in yesterday's meeting prophesied that "the time will never come in the church when polygamist children will not be born." I pray God to give me light on this matter as I feel almost sick about it. I want to and intend to be loyal to my Chief.
[Source: Abraham Owen Woodruff, Diary]
135 years ago today - 135 years ago - Jan 11, 1880
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff] I find quite a large Number of fine Children among the Saints in Arizona named Wilford. But I am not the father of any of them but am what may be Called the God Father of some of them if blessing them would make me so. And to day I was Called upon to Bless a son of Lot and Allice Ann Richards Smith and He was named Wilford Woodruff Smith.
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
5 years ago today - 1/11-27/2010
[Same-Sex Marriage] Perry v. Schwarzenegger opening arguments presented in Federal Courthouse in San Francisco. Although the trial was not broadcast, several livebloggers covered the case and official court transcripts were released daily. Court testimony revealed Mormons were heavily involved in the campaign providing both volunteers and money. Additionally, testimony confirmed that Gary Lawrence and Mark Jansson are LDS.
[Source: Mormons for Marriage: A Prop 8 Timeline, http://mormonsformarriage.com/?page_id=68]
[Source: Mormons for Marriage: A Prop 8 Timeline, http://mormonsformarriage.com/?page_id=68]
10 years ago today - Jan 11, 2005
First-ever global leadership training meeting is transmitted by satellite in 56 languages to more than 97 percent of the Church's priesthood leaders.
[Source: Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984]
[Source: Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984]
120 years ago today - Jan 11, 1895
[Apostle Heber J. Grant] Called at the President's office and had a chat with Pres[iden]ts Woodruff and Smith at the request of the brethren I told them of our meeting in the Temple yesterday and of the statement of Bro[ther] Thatcher that he had not made the remarks which had been attributed to him in the Paris Post and that he was going to write and have them make a correction.
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
110 years ago today - Jan 10, 1905
It affords us much pleasure to hand you herewith a recommend for yourself and wife to the Manti Temple to receive your Second Anointing. We feel that your devotion and service to the Church merits this special favor, and we are sure that you will appreciate it. However, should there be any reason why you cannot avail yourself of this blessing, kindly return the recommend to me. You may visit the Temple for this purpose at any time, but it would not be well to delay it very long. You will, of course, understand that this should not be made a matter of conversation.
[Source: Lewis Anderson to Lars M. C. Christensen, Jan. 10, 1905, copy in Buerger Papers as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
[Source: Lewis Anderson to Lars M. C. Christensen, Jan. 10, 1905, copy in Buerger Papers as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
115 years ago today - Jan 10, 1900; Wednesday
[Continuation of apostles' quarterly meeting, John Henry Smith speaking:] Endorsed all that had been said by Brother [Marriner Wood] Merrill regarding plural marriage. President Brigham Young [Jr.] said that he did not believe to exceed 10 per cent of the people had ever accepted and practiced the principle of plural marriage. This principle had come to President Joseph Smith with a drawn sword commanding him to practice it and he felt that when President Wilford Woodruff received the revelation of the Manifesto stopping the practice of plural marriage, it was on account of the necessity of preserving the 90 per cent who had failed to receive the principle.
[Source: Heber J. Grant, Diary]
[Source: Heber J. Grant, Diary]
120 years ago today - Jan 10, 1895
[Francis M. Lyman] [Council] Pres[ident] Snow made a few remarks upon the case of Bro[ther]s Merrill and Thatcher. The later was late coming in ... At 1:15 commenced the case by bro[ther] A. H. Cannon reading the papers in the case. Bro[ther] Moses was reported in the Paris Idaho Post as saying that "Over in Cash Valley a prominent man an Apostle, got on the stand and said the Presidency of the Church wanted the people to vote a certain way. He was tried for it and had to confess his wrong. The eyes of all Israel were on that case" Bro[ther] Merrill felt it was a thrust at him. Bro[ther] Moses denied saying it. We then concluded he should write and publish a denial of it. All agreed to it but bro[ther]s Moses, Taylor and Cannon. The Latter two took strong ground against it and claimed the Presidency were prejudiced against bro[ther] Moses and were pursuant him. This gave bro[ther] Moses much encouragement. He stood up and lectured us, and told how Pres[ident] Young was jealous of Orson Pratt. Said the Lord knew it would not answer for him to have a strong body. All the brethren spoke upon the subject. Bro[ther] Moses made counter charges against bro[ther] Merrill for the way he brought the case and manifested much bitterness. Bro[ther] Moses concluded to write what was desired. He adjourned till 11 A.M. next Thursday.
[Source: Excerpts of Apostle Francis M. Lyman Diaries, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Excerpts of Apostle Francis M. Lyman Diaries, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
125 years ago today - Jan 10, 1890
[President Wilford Woodruff] ... We also Met with the Brethren & Architect and discussed the Subject of Heating the [Salt Lake] Temple whether with Hot water or with Steam. ...
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
135 years ago today - Jan 10, 1880
[Patriarchal Blessing of Martha Cox ] ... You will become a prophetess, and the glory of the Highest will rest abundantly upon you. You will go with your husband to the Center State of Zion, for there will be your inheritance. You will have prepared for you a mansion that will be very great, and in that you will see the Lamb of God, and, will talk with him face to face, and a part of His glory will rest abundantly upon you. Your children will witness and receive a part of that glory. And strangers from a far country will visit you and your posterity, and they will eat and drink with you and will tell you many things. They will hand you a roll of your dead, and in that will be the name of your dead & theirs. You will go with your husband and children into the Temple of the Lord, and there you will accomplish a great and mighty work for your dead for they are crying for help to day to redeem them out of their prison, for the Gospel of the Lamb of God has been preached to them. ...
You will witness the return of the ten tribes from the North. You will see John the beloved disciple of Jesus, and you will receive a word f comfort from him. And his glory will be round about you, and when your eyes behold him, you will know him by name. ... You will wait patiently for the coming of the Son of Man and will see Him and His Saints with Him for you will be caught up to meet them and return with them to that great feast the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. You will sit down at the table with your family and partake of its rich bounties. There you will see the Lamb of God in His Glory and you will receive a part of His likeness. And I bless you in your body that it may become strong to accomplish this work with an eye single to His Glory. I seal you up to eternal life, and upon your head a crown of Glory that will never fade away, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
[Source: Patriarchal Blessing of Martha Cox by William G. Perkins]
You will witness the return of the ten tribes from the North. You will see John the beloved disciple of Jesus, and you will receive a word f comfort from him. And his glory will be round about you, and when your eyes behold him, you will know him by name. ... You will wait patiently for the coming of the Son of Man and will see Him and His Saints with Him for you will be caught up to meet them and return with them to that great feast the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. You will sit down at the table with your family and partake of its rich bounties. There you will see the Lamb of God in His Glory and you will receive a part of His likeness. And I bless you in your body that it may become strong to accomplish this work with an eye single to His Glory. I seal you up to eternal life, and upon your head a crown of Glory that will never fade away, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
[Source: Patriarchal Blessing of Martha Cox by William G. Perkins]
145 years ago today - Jan 10, 1870
This is a great day in Utah. Some Twelve or Fifteen thousand of the Inhabitants of the City of salt Lake & surrounding Country of Men women & children assembled around the Rail Road Depo to Celibrate the Building of the Utah Central Rail Road & to see the last rail laid & the last spike driven By President Brigham Young. This rail Road was Built By the Hard labouring Men of the Latter Day Saints from Ogden to Salt Lake City about 40 Miles distant. There were preset in the Assembly the Bands of Music from the City, Camp Duglass Band & many others. There were present on the Stand the first Presidency the Twelve Apostles, The officers of the Union & Central Pacific Rail Road & of the Utah Central Rail Road with Many invited guest including the officers of Camp Duglass.
The last spike was driven By President Young. A large steel Mallet was used on the occasion made By Mr James Lawson. It was Elegantly Cha[-]ed on the top. There was Engraved a Beehive surmounted By the inscription Holiness to the Lord. Underneath the Beehive were the letters U.C.R.R. ...
Just Before the Ceremony of laying the last rail Commenced, the sun, which during the whole day, had Been Completely Concealed By Clouds burst forth with unclouded Brilliancy as if determined to Enhance the general Joy By his genial rays. After the performance of the Ceremony which took place about 9 minuts past 2 oclok a salute of 37 guns /was given/ one for Each mile of the road when Capt Croxall's Brass Band burst forth with their Enlivening strains after which the following Prayer was offered By Elder Wilford Woodruff:
O, God ... We dedicate this Rail Road unto thee, the Lord our God. We pray that thy Blessings may rest upon it...
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
The last spike was driven By President Young. A large steel Mallet was used on the occasion made By Mr James Lawson. It was Elegantly Cha[-]ed on the top. There was Engraved a Beehive surmounted By the inscription Holiness to the Lord. Underneath the Beehive were the letters U.C.R.R. ...
Just Before the Ceremony of laying the last rail Commenced, the sun, which during the whole day, had Been Completely Concealed By Clouds burst forth with unclouded Brilliancy as if determined to Enhance the general Joy By his genial rays. After the performance of the Ceremony which took place about 9 minuts past 2 oclok a salute of 37 guns /was given/ one for Each mile of the road when Capt Croxall's Brass Band burst forth with their Enlivening strains after which the following Prayer was offered By Elder Wilford Woodruff:
O, God ... We dedicate this Rail Road unto thee, the Lord our God. We pray that thy Blessings may rest upon it...
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
115 years ago today - Jan 9, 1900
[Quarterly meeting of Apostles] Elder Marriner W. Merrill ... stated that although we had been prevented from practicing plural marriage because of the laws of our country, nevertheless this principle was true and had come from God; expressed a desire to be true to the Church, and true to his family; said he would desire to be true to the Church, and true to his family; said he would sooner rot in prison than to go back on anyone of his family. He said there was quite a feeling among some of the Saints that the Church had gone back on the principle of plural marriage; said this was not true and that the day would never come that the Church would repudiate this principle. The Lord, however had allowed it to be temporarily suspended to preserve the liberties of the Saints.
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
115 years ago today - Tuesday, Jan 9, 1900
Apostle M. W. Merrill ... In speaking of the principle of plural marriage, said it had come to stay in some form or another. ...
[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]
[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 - Jan 9, 1895
[Apostle] Marriner W. Merrill Expressed his regrets because of the little differences which existed between him and [Apostle] Moses [Thatcher]. He had no feelings against brother Moses not in the least.
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
135 years ago today - Jan 9,1880
Apostle Orson Pratt writes to his children that city of New Jerusalem will be constructed by Apr 1950.
[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]
[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]
145 years ago today - Jan 9, 1870
[Wilford Woodruff] Now in our day God has revealed unto us the Patriarchal order of Marriage & has said if we do not obey it we shall be damned. Congress has said if [we] do obey it we shall be damned. Now which shall we obey God or Congress? For it is God & Congress for it. The assembly shouted in By acclimation we will obey God.
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
155 years ago today - Jan 9, 1860
President Young Conversed upon the Subject of Slavery in the Territory ...
President Young said if men Could live above the Earth they would not be so sick. He said if he was to build a House in that Country to live in again He would build it on arches so that air Could have a Free Circulation under it. He said He had herd of a house built in that way in New Orleans whare all were healthy who lived in it.
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
President Young said if men Could live above the Earth they would not be so sick. He said if he was to build a House in that Country to live in again He would build it on arches so that air Could have a Free Circulation under it. He said He had herd of a house built in that way in New Orleans whare all were healthy who lived in it.
[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 - Jan 9, 1845
Thirty-year-old William Clayton writes of his fifth wife, Diantha Farr, on their the day of their wedding which occurred at Diantha's parent's house, "The question was asked of everyone present, did they freely give her up, and they all signified their willingness by saying they had no objections. There was Present Winslow Farr her father and his wife. . . .She [Diantha] was born in the town of Charleston Orleans County State of Vermont on the twelfth of Oct 1828 making her 16 years old last Oct."
50 years ago today - Jan 8, 1965
Secretary to the First Presidency Joseph L. Anderson writes in answer to a question by a Mormon "regarding the drinking of Sanka Coffee": "I am directed to tell you that the drinking of a beverage made from the coffee bean, from which all caffeine and deleterious drugs have been removed, is not regarded as a violation of the Word of Wisdom."
55 years ago today - Jan 7-8,1960
First Presidency decides that Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine "must not be re-published, as it is full of errors and misstatements, and it is most unfortunate that it has received such wide circulation." They are exasperated that McConkie and his publisher released the book without pre-publication publicity or notifying First Presidency. Even his father-in-law, senior apostle, Joseph Fielding Smith, "did not know anything about it until it was published." This is McConkie's way to avoid repetition of Presidency's stopping his pre-announced Sound Doctrine three years earlier. Committee of two apostles (Mark E. Petersen and Marion G. Romney) report that McConkie's Mormon Doctrine contains 1,067 doctrinal errors. For example, page 493 said: "Those who falsely and erroneously suppose that God is progressing in knowledge and gaining new truths cannot exercise sufficient faith in him to gain salvation until they divest themselves of their false beliefs." However, McConkie is affirming doctrine of omniscience officially condemned by previous First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1865. In announcing their decision to the Twelve on 28 Jan 1960, First Presidency says there should be no revised edition of Mormon Doctrine. Presidency reverses initial decision on 7 Jan. "that the book should be officially repudiated."
[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]
[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]
115 years ago today - Jan 8, 1900
Snow issues his Manifesto
the Church has positively abandoned the practice of polygamy, or the solemnization of plural marriages, in this and every other State; and no member or officer thereof has any authority whatever to perform such plural marriages or enter into such relations. Nor does the Church advise or encourage unlawful cohabitation on the part of any of its members.
If, therefore, any member disobeys the law, either as to polygamy or unlawful cohabitation, he must bear his own burden, or in other words be answerable to the tribunals of the land for his own action pertaining thereto.
In 1911, the 1st Presidency put this on equal footing with the 1890 and 1904 Manifestos. ( Quinn, LDS p 70-71 )
[Source: Tungate, Mel, Mormon Polygamy, http://www.tungate.com/polygamy.htm]
the Church has positively abandoned the practice of polygamy, or the solemnization of plural marriages, in this and every other State; and no member or officer thereof has any authority whatever to perform such plural marriages or enter into such relations. Nor does the Church advise or encourage unlawful cohabitation on the part of any of its members.
If, therefore, any member disobeys the law, either as to polygamy or unlawful cohabitation, he must bear his own burden, or in other words be answerable to the tribunals of the land for his own action pertaining thereto.
In 1911, the 1st Presidency put this on equal footing with the 1890 and 1904 Manifestos. ( Quinn, LDS p 70-71 )
[Source: Tungate, Mel, Mormon Polygamy, http://www.tungate.com/polygamy.htm]
135 years ago today - Jan 8, 1880
LDS political newspaper "Salt Lake Herald" reports George Q. Cannon's interview with pro-Mormon Omaha "Herald," in part "Polygamous marriages have ceased entirely so far as I know." In fact, in Endowment House alone, 107 men married polygamously in 1879 and 136 in 1880, most performed by general authorities.
150 years ago today - Jan 8, 1865
Brigham Young; Remarks delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City; January 8, 1865.
No mortal man has ever seen God in His glory at any time and lived. We may have seen the Lord and angels many times, and did not know it. I will be satisfied with seeing and associating with His children whom I now behold, for there is not a son or daughter of Adam and Eve before me today but what is the offspring of that God we worship. He is our Heavenly Father; He is also our God, and the Maker and upholder of all things in heaven and on earth.
[Source: J. D. 11:41 -- Quotations Dealing with the Relationship of Our First Earthy Parents to Our Heavenly Parents (1830-1978)]
No mortal man has ever seen God in His glory at any time and lived. We may have seen the Lord and angels many times, and did not know it. I will be satisfied with seeing and associating with His children whom I now behold, for there is not a son or daughter of Adam and Eve before me today but what is the offspring of that God we worship. He is our Heavenly Father; He is also our God, and the Maker and upholder of all things in heaven and on earth.
[Source: J. D. 11:41 -- Quotations Dealing with the Relationship of Our First Earthy Parents to Our Heavenly Parents (1830-1978)]
155 years ago today - Jan 8, 1860
Pres. Young, D.H. Wells and A. Carrington discussed Orson Pratt sermon about worshipping attributes and not persons. The President said [if] that is the case then my attributes that we worship, and not floating attributes. Pres. Young also discussed the gradation of intelligences from the most intelligent to the zoophites. -- Salt Lake City [Brigham Young Office Journals, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan.; Archives, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.; New Mormon Studies CD-ROM]
[Source: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[Source: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
170 years ago today - Jan 8, 1845
Meeting of the Richards and Young families am President Brigham Young said, in substance:
... It is but a little more than that time when Father Smith, the Goddards, Richards, Youngs and Kimballs were all in one family - as it were. We are all relations. It is only three generations back that Brother Joseph Smith's family were related to this family. ... I will first set in order before these relations the true order of the Kingdom of God and how the families hereafter will be organized; you have heard Joseph say that the people did not know him; he had his eyes on the relation to blood-relations. Some have supposed that he meant spirit, but it was the blood-relation. This is it that he referred to. His descent from Joseph that was sold in to Egypt was direct, and the blood was pure in him. That is why the Lord chose him and we are pure when this blood - strain from Ephraim comes down pure. The decrees of the Almighty will be exalted - that blood which was in him was pure and he had the sole right and lawful power, as he was the legal heir to the blood that has been on the earth and has come down through a pure lineage. The union of various ancestors kept that blood pure. There is a great deal the people do not understand, and many of the Latter-day Saints have to learn all about it. In all the Kingdoms of the World you will find that there will be only one King, and all will be governed as one family, every man will preside over his own family. We will have to work out some of the impurities. There is a great deal that I have to say and the brethren will have patience. Mother Smith is here - she is our Mother, we hold her in a three-fold bond, for we hold her by blood, by the spirit, and by the Gospel. We are connected together. The human family will find out who are the saviors of the Earth. The world knew nothing of the office of saviors upon Mount Zion. If Joseph Smith is not the man on whom the Keys of the Kingdom rest, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for our Salvation. If I teach my family correct principles and show them the way of Salvation I am in a sense their savior. There is the same blood of Ephraim running in the veins of this family - and I know who has the blood and the Priesthood to carry the keys to the world. The decree of the Almighty is so pure that it would seem like blunders in the eyes of the world; but the keys will rest upon the Prophet and there is no power on earth or in hell to take it from him. This is a subject relating to the baptism for the dead. We will tell you when the temple is finished how to redeem your dead. I want to tell you now don't be scared, don't be frightened, at what I tell you. The Church does not understand the doctrine that Joseph taught - yet it is plain as the sun at noonday - the order of redeeming our relatives originated in the Kingdom of Heaven. If our progenitors had kept their records as the Jews anciently did they would be able to tell exactly where they came from -- and see where they run down in one straight line. We have hundreds ready to be baptized for the dead. Nauvoo, Illinois
... If our Grand Father Goddard is permitted to rule as King and Priest over his posterity, and the posterity are raised up as kings and priests to rule over their posterity, our Grand-Fathers Goddard would call together a numerous host. I will show you the order of the Kingdom as regards my own family; one of my sons is placed here, another there, another there, and so on. Yet I should be their ruler, savior, dictator, and governor. They would have an innumerable posterity but all would join in harmony with my counsel; I should console, comfort, and advise them all. You and your children will rise up and administer unto your children, and you will rule over your posterity, and they may get up in tens, hundreds, thousands, and millions. Yet all will finally join with Adam who will be the King of all; Seth comes next; Seth rules under his father and over all; so this process will never end. This is the order of the Kingdom of Heaven, that men should rise up as Kings and Priests of God. We must have posterity to rule over. ...
I'll tell you about old Israel; do you know what the curse was upon Israel for? It was for mixing their seed with the Gentile races about them. I have received a promise that is to remain with me, and the same will be upon you and upon your children. I would tell you children that inasmuch as you have received this promise, and then if you mix your blood with others I will curse you, and in relation to the Priesthood, you would be cursed, or condemned. For your children, in such mixed unions, would be high-minded and stiff necked. The nations have wandered in darkness for centuries. If they had not mixed their blood, the Priesthood would never have been taken from them. ... that is what Joseph meant the Lord had regard to: and He made promises to the seed of Abraham which He would have fulfilled if it had not been mixed with the Gentiles. Ephraim is the character who has the pure blood of promise in him. ... Those who have the right will redeem the nations of the Earth. The people who had the right to the Priesthood lost it, and the Lord has brought it forth in this our day. We shall redeem our friends and all the house of Esau will be saved by proxy, by the Priesthood. ... Suppose a man and woman want to redeem their friends; perhaps they have lived without the Gospel; the man would be baptized for his father and the woman for her mother; and if the husband has the power of the Priesthood they are jointly baptized he for the father she for the mother--he is then washed for the father, she for the mother--he holding the Priesthood redeems the father and mother of the woman. Again for his father and mother--she receives the anointing for the woman, and he for the man. Then they stand as proxy to be sealed up to all eternity and then they will go through the ordinances in the same way. Then they are sealed up in the same way for others--we shall have Father Smith with his grey locks. Joseph, Hyrum, Samuel, all will stand in their order, and we shall be priests and rulers to all eternity. Let my walk and my life speak for myself. The joy of the Lord is a great deal more than any one realizes unless he has partaken thereof. I have now given you text enough for weeks.
[Source: Elden J. Watson, ed. Brigham Young Addresses, 1801-1877: A Chronological Compilation of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1971)]
... It is but a little more than that time when Father Smith, the Goddards, Richards, Youngs and Kimballs were all in one family - as it were. We are all relations. It is only three generations back that Brother Joseph Smith's family were related to this family. ... I will first set in order before these relations the true order of the Kingdom of God and how the families hereafter will be organized; you have heard Joseph say that the people did not know him; he had his eyes on the relation to blood-relations. Some have supposed that he meant spirit, but it was the blood-relation. This is it that he referred to. His descent from Joseph that was sold in to Egypt was direct, and the blood was pure in him. That is why the Lord chose him and we are pure when this blood - strain from Ephraim comes down pure. The decrees of the Almighty will be exalted - that blood which was in him was pure and he had the sole right and lawful power, as he was the legal heir to the blood that has been on the earth and has come down through a pure lineage. The union of various ancestors kept that blood pure. There is a great deal the people do not understand, and many of the Latter-day Saints have to learn all about it. In all the Kingdoms of the World you will find that there will be only one King, and all will be governed as one family, every man will preside over his own family. We will have to work out some of the impurities. There is a great deal that I have to say and the brethren will have patience. Mother Smith is here - she is our Mother, we hold her in a three-fold bond, for we hold her by blood, by the spirit, and by the Gospel. We are connected together. The human family will find out who are the saviors of the Earth. The world knew nothing of the office of saviors upon Mount Zion. If Joseph Smith is not the man on whom the Keys of the Kingdom rest, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for our Salvation. If I teach my family correct principles and show them the way of Salvation I am in a sense their savior. There is the same blood of Ephraim running in the veins of this family - and I know who has the blood and the Priesthood to carry the keys to the world. The decree of the Almighty is so pure that it would seem like blunders in the eyes of the world; but the keys will rest upon the Prophet and there is no power on earth or in hell to take it from him. This is a subject relating to the baptism for the dead. We will tell you when the temple is finished how to redeem your dead. I want to tell you now don't be scared, don't be frightened, at what I tell you. The Church does not understand the doctrine that Joseph taught - yet it is plain as the sun at noonday - the order of redeeming our relatives originated in the Kingdom of Heaven. If our progenitors had kept their records as the Jews anciently did they would be able to tell exactly where they came from -- and see where they run down in one straight line. We have hundreds ready to be baptized for the dead. Nauvoo, Illinois
... If our Grand Father Goddard is permitted to rule as King and Priest over his posterity, and the posterity are raised up as kings and priests to rule over their posterity, our Grand-Fathers Goddard would call together a numerous host. I will show you the order of the Kingdom as regards my own family; one of my sons is placed here, another there, another there, and so on. Yet I should be their ruler, savior, dictator, and governor. They would have an innumerable posterity but all would join in harmony with my counsel; I should console, comfort, and advise them all. You and your children will rise up and administer unto your children, and you will rule over your posterity, and they may get up in tens, hundreds, thousands, and millions. Yet all will finally join with Adam who will be the King of all; Seth comes next; Seth rules under his father and over all; so this process will never end. This is the order of the Kingdom of Heaven, that men should rise up as Kings and Priests of God. We must have posterity to rule over. ...
I'll tell you about old Israel; do you know what the curse was upon Israel for? It was for mixing their seed with the Gentile races about them. I have received a promise that is to remain with me, and the same will be upon you and upon your children. I would tell you children that inasmuch as you have received this promise, and then if you mix your blood with others I will curse you, and in relation to the Priesthood, you would be cursed, or condemned. For your children, in such mixed unions, would be high-minded and stiff necked. The nations have wandered in darkness for centuries. If they had not mixed their blood, the Priesthood would never have been taken from them. ... that is what Joseph meant the Lord had regard to: and He made promises to the seed of Abraham which He would have fulfilled if it had not been mixed with the Gentiles. Ephraim is the character who has the pure blood of promise in him. ... Those who have the right will redeem the nations of the Earth. The people who had the right to the Priesthood lost it, and the Lord has brought it forth in this our day. We shall redeem our friends and all the house of Esau will be saved by proxy, by the Priesthood. ... Suppose a man and woman want to redeem their friends; perhaps they have lived without the Gospel; the man would be baptized for his father and the woman for her mother; and if the husband has the power of the Priesthood they are jointly baptized he for the father she for the mother--he is then washed for the father, she for the mother--he holding the Priesthood redeems the father and mother of the woman. Again for his father and mother--she receives the anointing for the woman, and he for the man. Then they stand as proxy to be sealed up to all eternity and then they will go through the ordinances in the same way. Then they are sealed up in the same way for others--we shall have Father Smith with his grey locks. Joseph, Hyrum, Samuel, all will stand in their order, and we shall be priests and rulers to all eternity. Let my walk and my life speak for myself. The joy of the Lord is a great deal more than any one realizes unless he has partaken thereof. I have now given you text enough for weeks.
[Source: Elden J. Watson, ed. Brigham Young Addresses, 1801-1877: A Chronological Compilation of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1971)]
Note:
This year's Relief Society/Priesthood manual covers the teachings of #EzraTaftBenson. In conjunction with this year's topic, I've assembled a lengthy chronology of the life of Ezra Taft Benson - a very dynamic and driven person who lived a fascinating life. I hope you'll consider subscribing via email, rss, or Facebook, and spend 3 to 5 minutes each day reading a bit more of Ezra Taft Benson's fascinating and varied life (http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com).
[Source: note]
[Source: note]
175 years ago today - Jan 7, 1840
At the beginning of a proselytizing meeting in Massachusetts "three sons of sectarian deacons" throw sulpher on a hot stove. After opening doors and windows to air out the building Brigham Young and George A. Smith continue their meeting.
1 year ago - Jan 7, 2014
[Same-sex Marriage] The Utah Attorney General's office extends its deadline interested parties to apply to be outside counsel on the state's same-sex marriage case in order to increase competition among the applicants.
[Source: Herald Extra, "LDS Church: No gay marriages in meetinghouses", http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lds-church-no-gay-marriages-in-meetinghouses/article_9115817b-5e81-5e2f-b1e7-692843870e5d.html]
[Source: Herald Extra, "LDS Church: No gay marriages in meetinghouses", http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lds-church-no-gay-marriages-in-meetinghouses/article_9115817b-5e81-5e2f-b1e7-692843870e5d.html]
170 years ago today - Tuesday, January 7th, 1845
[Apostle John Taylor] Attended to various business in forenoon.
In evening attended the Mechanic's Association meeting.
[Source: 'The John Taylor Nauvoo journal, January 1845-September 1845,' BYU Studies 23:3 (1983) edited by Dean C. Jessee]
In evening attended the Mechanic's Association meeting.
[Source: 'The John Taylor Nauvoo journal, January 1845-September 1845,' BYU Studies 23:3 (1983) edited by Dean C. Jessee]
1 year ago - Jan 6, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court grants Utah's request for stay on Judge Shelby's ruling halting same-sex marriages in Utah.
[Source: Herald Extra, "LDS Church: No gay marriages in meetinghouses", http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lds-church-no-gay-marriages-in-meetinghouses/article_9115817b-5e81-5e2f-b1e7-692843870e5d.html]
[Source: Herald Extra, "LDS Church: No gay marriages in meetinghouses", http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lds-church-no-gay-marriages-in-meetinghouses/article_9115817b-5e81-5e2f-b1e7-692843870e5d.html]
65 years ago today - Jan 6, 1950
[George F. Richards] ... I went to the Temple by appointment, and administered Second blessings to three of the general authorities and their wives, Elders Eldred G. Smith,12 Milton R. Hunter and B[isho]p Thorp[e] B. Isaacson. Bro[ther] T[horpe] B. Isaacson stood as proxy for Samuel F. Ball who is dead & Betsy Hollings Richards for Adena Christena Anderson Ball.
[Source: George F. Richards diary, Jan. 6, 1950 as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
[Source: George F. Richards diary, Jan. 6, 1950 as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
65 years ago today - Jan 6, 1950
[Henry D. Moyle] 8 am. conference with Pres. McKay & Joseph Wirthlin on purchase of large acreage in Florida.
[The church has continued to acquire land in Flordia, recently purchasing a large tract of land (2% of Flordia). Much of this land is timber and ranch land].
[Source: Henry D. Moyle 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]
[The church has continued to acquire land in Flordia, recently purchasing a large tract of land (2% of Flordia). Much of this land is timber and ranch land].
[Source: Henry D. Moyle 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]
130 years ago today - Jan 6, 1885
[Wilford Woodruff] I went into the Temple and had Sylvester Low & Hugh Roberts & Mary Owen Roberts Adopted into my family.
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[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 - Jan 6, 1870
[Wilford Woodruff] A Bill is Before Congress to deprive the Latter Day Saints of keeping the Commandments of God. The Lord has Revealed the Law on the Patriarchal order of Marriage & the Lord says we shall be damned if we do not obey it & Congress says we shall be damned if we do. So it is the Lord & Congress for it. I would rather obey the Lord than Congress.
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[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 - Jan 6, 1845
[Brigham Young] The great strength in the High Priests quorum, an almighty strength. The Seventies were frightened when he proposed to them to build a little one story hall that would cost a few hundred dollars, but the High Priests can build a large hall without difficulty'- In favor of having such a hall built and are willing to do something for it themselves, and not merely look on and see their brethren built it'- Now if you will go and finish off the upper story of the temple you will have a place in which you can receive your washing and anointings and endowments. Would it not cost less to do this, than to build a hall from the start? (Yes, Yes, from all parts of the congregation.) Well then, go to work and finish off the upper room, and then you can get your endowment, and your priesthood. -- Nauvoo, Illinois
[Source: High Priest Minutes as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[Source: High Priest Minutes as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
115 years ago today - Friday, Jan 5, 1900
[Apostle John Henry Smith] I read a letter today to Orson which establishes the fact that O. F. Whitney is mixed up with C. W. Stayner in the baby Resurrection Theory. The letter was signed by Nephi.
[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]
[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]
120 years ago today - Jan 5, 1895
[Apostle Marriner W. Merrill] Saturday. I am in the Temple today attending to Temple business and waiting to attend the Temple lecture, which will be given today by my son Joseph at 2 p. m. There were 76 students present. Had an excellent lecture on alchemy. [Merrill was the Logan temple president]
[Source: Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
155 years ago today - Jan 5, 1860
[Brigham Young] Angels are those beings who have been on an earth like this, and have passed through the same ordeals that we are now passing through. They have kept their first estate far enough to preserve themselves in the Priesthood. They did not so violate the law of the Priesthood and condemn themselves to the sin against the Holy Ghost as to be finally lost. They are not crowned with the celestial ones. They are persons who have lived upon an earth, but did not magnify the Priesthood in that high degree that many others have done who have become Gods, even the sons of God. Human beings that pertain to this world, who do not magnify or are not capable of magnifying their high calling in the Priesthood and receive crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives, will also, when they again receive their bodies, become angels and will receive a glory. They are single, without families or kingdoms to reign over. All the difference between men and angels is, men are passing through the
[Source: Journal of Discourses 9:102 as quoted at WikiQuotes: Brigham Young, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brigham_Young]
[Source: Journal of Discourses 9:102 as quoted at WikiQuotes: Brigham Young, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brigham_Young]
170 years ago today - Jan 5, 1845
[Brigham Young] I went to the stand and addressed the saints on the necessity of having more order and putting down iniquity, and exhorted the brethren to rise up en masse, and put down the thieving, swearing, gambling, bogusmaking, retailing spirituous liquors, bad-houses, and all abominations practiced in our midst by our enemies, who, after they could not live among us any longer would go out to the world and publish that these things were practiced by us. I severely rebuked the civil authorities of the city for their want of energy in the discharge of their duty, and censured parents and guardians for not keeping their children from prowling round the streets at night; and remarked that if we did not as a people uproot such things, they would uproot us, and we would have to leave before we had done the things the Lord had commanded us to do. -- Nauvoo, Illinois
[Source: History of the Church. 7 Vols. B. H. Roberts, ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, Co., 1902. 7:350 as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[Source: History of the Church. 7 Vols. B. H. Roberts, ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, Co., 1902. 7:350 as quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
110 years ago today - Jan 4, 1905
[James Henry Martineau] With Sister Mary Hyde White visited her Sister Zina Virginia Hyde Bull, widowed recently, who has cataract growing over her eyes and is losing her sight. She wished me to rebuke blindness and to bless her, which I did. Her sister Mary also blessed her in tongues, with the interpretation. I know Zina may be healed, through faith. She felt very happy. I enjoyed my visit very much, as I always do in visiting and blessing the sick.
[Source: An Uncommon Common Pioneer: The Journals of James Henry Martineau 1828-1918, edited by Donald G. Godfrey XXX Rebecca S. Martineau-McCarty]
[Source: An Uncommon Common Pioneer: The Journals of James Henry Martineau 1828-1918, edited by Donald G. Godfrey XXX Rebecca S. Martineau-McCarty]
110 years ago today - Jan 04, 1905
In Salt Lake City, President Joseph F. Smith dedicates the Dr. Groves Latter-day Saint Hospital, the first in what would become an important health-care network in the Intermountain West.
155 years ago today - Jan 4, 1860
[Patriarchal Blessing of Meridith Ames given by John Young ] ... In the own due time of the Lord, you shall have wives and children
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
155 years ago today - Jan 4, 1860
[Patriarchal Blessing of John Henry King given by John Young] ... the spirit of the beloved disciple, John to rest upon you the visions of the heavens open before you ...
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
155 years ago today - Jan 4, 1860
[Patriarchal Blessing of Henry Johnstone Ames given by John Young] ... Earn wives and children ... The Angel shall be with you ...
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
170 years ago today - Jan 4, 1845
[Patriarchal Blessing of James Bean] ... thou shalt baptize & lead many of the rich & the rulers to Zion with much riches & inasmuch as thou art a liberal man God shall deal liberally with thee, for thy children whom thou shalt baptize will heap riches upon thee ... The number of thy years shall be many according to the desire of thy heart, even to see Israel gathered from every part of the earth, to see the heavens unveiled & the Savior make his appearance; thou shalt have the ministering of Angels to help thee through thy ministry ...
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
[Source: Patriarchal Blessings]
95 years ago today - Jan 3, 1920
[Apostle George F. Richards] Had a conversation with President Grant and elder Ballard on present conditions with respect to violations of Church rule on plural marriages.
[Source: George F. 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]
[Source: George F. 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]
120 years ago today - Jan 3, 1895
[Apostle Francis M. Lyman] He [i.e., Wilford Woodruff] also told us he wished us at our regular meeting of our Quorum next Tuesday to give attention to a trouble existing between bro[ther] Moses Thatcher and bro[ther] Marriner W[ood]. Merrill, and gave us the correspondence in the case. Pres[ident] Cannon offered prayer. Pres[ident] Woodruff told us he never had misgivings about any can brought into the quorum of Apostles but one. That was bro[ther] [Albert] Carrington. At close of our meeting the Thatcher- Merrill correspondence was read in hearing of Pres[ident] [Lorenzo] Snow, [Brigham] Young [Jr.], [Francis M.] Lyman, [Heber J.] Grant and A[braham]. H. Cannon.
[Source: Francis M. Lyman 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]
[Source: Francis M. Lyman 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]
155 years ago today - Jan 3, 1860
[Brigham Young to Mrs Lewis] G.S.L. City,
Jan. 3, 1860
Mrs David Lewis
3d Ward, City,
Dear Sister: –
I understand that you are frequently importuned to sell your negro man Jerry, but that he is industrious and faithful, and desires to remain in this Territory. Under these circumstances I should certainly deem it most advisable for you to keep him, but should you at any time conclude otherwise and determine to sell him, ordinary kindness would require that you should sell him to some kind, faithful member of the Church, that he may have a fair opportunity for doing all the good he desires to do <or> is capable of doing. I have been told that he is about forty years old, if so, it <is> not presumed that you will, in case of his sale, ask so high a price as you might expect for a younger person. If the price is sufficiently moderate, I may conclude to purchase him and set him at liberty.
Your Bro in the Gospel
BY
[Source: Letter, Brigham Young to Mrs David Lewis (transcribed by Connell O'Donovan)]
Jan. 3, 1860
Mrs David Lewis
3d Ward, City,
Dear Sister: –
I understand that you are frequently importuned to sell your negro man Jerry, but that he is industrious and faithful, and desires to remain in this Territory. Under these circumstances I should certainly deem it most advisable for you to keep him, but should you at any time conclude otherwise and determine to sell him, ordinary kindness would require that you should sell him to some kind, faithful member of the Church, that he may have a fair opportunity for doing all the good he desires to do <or> is capable of doing. I have been told that he is about forty years old, if so, it <is> not presumed that you will, in case of his sale, ask so high a price as you might expect for a younger person. If the price is sufficiently moderate, I may conclude to purchase him and set him at liberty.
Your Bro in the Gospel
BY
[Source: Letter, Brigham Young to Mrs David Lewis (transcribed by Connell O'Donovan)]
30 years ago today - Jan 02, 1985
BYU's football team is voted number one in the United States for the 1984 season by every major poll and is named national champion, having finished the season with a perfect 13-0 record.
75 years ago today - Jan 2, 1940
[President Heber J. Grant] James White, head of the Jewish people in Salt Lake, called with Rabbi Gordon and a gentleman from the East (I have forgotten his name.) They made a long appeal for the Church to advance several hundred thousand dollars and take some notes issued by the Jewish Relief people. Brother Clark and I assured them that we could not invest Church funds in anything of that kind. They suggested that we have the Beneficial Life Insurance company buy some of their notes. I had to smile when I thought of the idea of notes without security to raise funds for Jewish relief being passed by the Insurance Commissioner as legitimate assets. As they were going out Mr. White said he would have a talk with Orval Adams about it. I thought, I'll be perfectly willing to advance anything Orval would endorse. I did not tell them so however. There is no prejudice in the heart of hearts of the Latter-day Saints people against Jews. There never has been. We believe that they will eventually accept the Gospel.
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Source: Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
145 years ago today - Jan 2, 1870
[Minutes of the Quorum of Twelve] ... Emma told Jos[eph]. she could not stand the brethren spitting & smoking in the small room where [the] school /of p[r]ophets w/ was held in Kirtland. B. Y.[: C]oming home from Miss., /my/ Bre[thren]., Jos. said, I mean to have a patriarchal blessing from [my] father, [then he] got home [and his] father got [the] familytogether. Jos[eph] said [he] want[s] bro Jos. S. present. Jos. S. ordained father as patriarch. [F]irst Jos. S. thought of it, [and] Jos S said Now I will have my family together, [then he] set his father apart. Then he got revelation to appoint [a] patriarch over [the] whole church. Bro Joel Johnson said when patriarch Jos Sen. went to /give patriarchal/ blessings after they would have bread baked /& [a] glass of/ wine. Pres[iden]t. B. Y. said [it] wont do here. [P]eople get /would/ drink too much'-
[Source: Minutes, 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]
[Source: Minutes, 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]
145 years ago today - Jan 2, 1870
[Brigham Young] I used to travel without purse or scrip, and many times I have walked till my feet were sore and the blood would run in my shoes and out of them, and fill my appointments'"go into houses, ask for something to eat, sing and talk to them, and when they would commence questioning, answer them.
[Source: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[Source: The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
185 years ago today - Jan 02, 1830
Abner Cole, editor of The Reflector, begins publishing pirated extracts from the Book of Mormon, which is in the process of being printed at the Grandin press building, the same building used by Cole to print his newspaper. This incident marks the first time Book of Mormon text appears in print.
45 years ago today - Jan 1, 1970
LDS Church adopts "Computer Age Finance System," and computerizes records of membership as of May 1. These are functions of church-owned Management Systems Corporation (MSC).
75 years ago today - Jan 01, 1940
Amy Brown Lyman is called as the eighth general president of the Relief Society, with Marcia Knowlton Howells and Donna Durrant Sorensen as counselors.
110 years ago today - Jan 1, 1905
The Dr. William H. Groves Latter-day Saints Hospital opened in Salt Lake City and was dedicated three days later, the first in the Church hospital system. In 1975 the Church divested itself of its hospitals and turned them over to a private organization.
[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]
[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]
110 years ago today - Sunday, Jan 1, 1905
[Apostle John Henry Smith] ... I went over to Giudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. I found the following Telegram
Mexico City
from T. E. Pomeroy
West Lake [code name for Apostle Matthias F. Cowley] sent for. Cant reach Juarez before Tuesday perhaps Wednesday. ...
[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]
Mexico City
from T. E. Pomeroy
West Lake [code name for Apostle Matthias F. Cowley] sent for. Cant reach Juarez before Tuesday perhaps Wednesday. ...
[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]
115 years ago today - Jan 01, 1900
Martha LaVern Watts (Parmley), later the fifth general president of the Primary Association, is born in Murray, Utah.
145 years ago today - Jan 1, 1870
The Salt Lake Tribune began as the result of a movement to oppose the political and economic policies of the Mormon Church. William S. Godbe, Elias L.T. Harrison, Edward W. Tullidge, and William H. Shearman joined forces to publish the Mormon Tribune on 1 January 1870 after the Deseret News urged church members to boycott their Utah Magazine, founded two years earlier.
[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]
[Source: Utah History Encyclopedia: Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]
170 years ago today - 1 January 1845, Wednesday
[William Clayton ] ``I have a good prospect of adding another crown [wife] to my family,'' he could say as he looked forward to 1845.
Wednesday 1st ... Reflections
... I was admitted a member of the first quorum and a member of the council of fifty. I have received two companions, received two children and buried one.
[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]
Wednesday 1st ... Reflections
... I was admitted a member of the first quorum and a member of the council of fifty. I have received two companions, received two children and buried one.
[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]
170 years ago today - January 1, 1845. Wednesday.
[William Clayton] ...The organization of the Kingdom of God on 11th March last is one important event. This organization was called the Council of Fifty or Kingdom of God, and was titled by revelation as follows. "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 judgment in the hands of his servants, Ahman Christ." In this Council was the plan arranged for supporting President Joseph Smith as a candidate for the presidency of the U.S. President Joseph was the standing chairman of the Council and myself the Clerk. In this Council was also devised the plan of establishing an emigration to Texas, and plans laid for the exaltation of a standard and ensign of truth for the nations of the earth. In this Council was the plan devised to restore the Ancients to the Knowledge of the truth and the restoration of Union and peace amongst ourselves. In this Council was President Joseph chosen our Prophet, Priest and King by Hosannas. In this Council was the principles of eternal truth rolled forth to the heavens without reserve and the hearts of the servants of God made to rejoice exceedingly. I was admitted a member of the first quorum and a member of the council of fifty. I have received two companions, received two children and buried one.
[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://amzn.to/william-clayton]
[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://amzn.to/william-clayton]
15 years ago today - Dec 31, 1999
Jerold Ottley retires from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir after a long and distinguished career as director. He is replaced by Craig Jessop, who had been an assistant director since June 5, 1995.
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