150 years ago today - 150 years ago - Jul 1, 1866

Following the regular Sunday prayer circle of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, Brigham Young "arose from his knees and took off his apron with an intention apparently of undressing. Of a sudden he stopped and exclaimed, "Hold On, should I do as I feel it? I always feel well to do as the spirit constrains me. It is in my mind to ordain Elder Joseph F. Smith to the apostleship. And to be one of my counsellors." And then called on each one of us for an expression of our feelings and we individually responded and it met our hardy approval, and we then offered up the signs of the priesthood after which Elder Joseph F. Smith, knelt upon the alter and taking off his cap we laid our hands upon him, brother Brigham being mouth and we repeated after him in the usual form. We said, "Brother Joseph F. Smith, we lay our hands upon your head in the name of Jesus Christ and by the virtue of the holy priesthood to ordain you to be an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and be a special witness to the nations of the earth and seal upon your head all the authority and power, and keys of this holy apostleship and ordain you to be a counsellor unto the first Presidency of the church and the kingdom of God upon the earth. These blessings we seal upon your head in the name of Jesus Christ by the authority of the Holy Priesthood. Amen." After the ordination, Brother Brigham said that this is the first time that any person has been ordained in this manner.-" Joseph F. Smith, although ordained an apostle, is not admitted to the Quorum until more than a year later when Amasa M. Lyman is removed. After the ordination Young "suggested to us that it would be wisdom for us to keep the fact of this ordination to ourselves." Knowledge of the secret ordination is kept even from Heber C. Kimball, Young's first counselor and Joseph F. Smith's father-in-law.