[Leonard Arrington]
This morning Jim [Allen] and Davis [Bitton] and I went down to the Board Room in the Church Administration Building to witness the news conference in which the new First Presidency were presented to national and local reporters. ... Wendell Ashton brought in the First Presidency, seated them at a table with President [Spencer W.] Kimball in the center-President [N. Eldon] Tanner on his right, President [Marion G.] Romney on his left, and Elder Ezra [Taft] Benson on President Romney's left. ...
In giving biographical information about President Romney, he mentioned that his father, George Romney, [[George S. Romney (1874-1935) presided over Ricks College for thirteen years, 1917-30. He was an uncle of George W. Romney, governor of Michigan and US presidential candidate, and like his nephew grew up in the Mormon colonies in Mexico.]] had served as president of Ricks College. It occurred to me that we ought to do an article on President Romney and his father for Idaho Yesterdays.
Wendell then introduced in turn each of the persons to say a few words. President Kimball spoke about ten minutes. He said first that it had occurred to him that there was a broad biographical representation in the First Presidency of the Church. President Tanner was from Canada, President Romney from Mexico, himself from Arizona, and Elder Benson from Idaho, and all of them had spent a great deal of time in Utah. This emphasized the international leadership of the Church. ...
President Kimball said that he had also been instrumental in establishing the radio station in Safford, KGLU. "K" stood for Kimball; "G" for his partner, whose name I didn't get; "L" for another partner, Long; "U" for Udall, anther prominent family in that region and perhaps another partner.
... President Romney began his remarks by speaking in Spanish. ... President Benson said he had always tried to be accommodating to the press and regarded the press as the only dictators that he knew. ...
[Question fro reporter:] Negroes and the priesthood. Will there be any change in that policy now or in the future? President Kimball said that "this is a matter which depends upon the Lord. We ourselves have not said [made] this policy. We are subject to the revelations of the Lord and if the Lord should dictate a change in this then it will occur." ... [Question:] Women. Will there be a change in attitude toward women? "Not too abruptly," answered President Kimball. "We believe that the ideal place for women is in the home. She has a sacred responsibility and privilege to be a partner with God in the creation of children and in bringing them up to be fine persons." ...
In the news conference of the new First Presidency, I was impressed with the extreme soberness of the brethren present. There were no smiles or no jokes. There seemed to be a gravely serious demeanor, no smiles, perhaps even a tenseness. They were overly solemn. This may have been partly a result of the occasion of President Lee's death. It may also be the result of special prayers offered in the meeting in the temple.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
70 years ago today - Dec 31, 1948
A report indicates that the total value of relief supplies sent to the Saints in Europe after World War II amounts to $1,736,000.
80 years ago today - Dec 31, 1938
[Heber J. Grant]
Joseph Fielding Smith called on me today and I handed him the letter that I dictated to him this morning. I told him of my remarks to his father at the time he, Joseph, was chosen to be an apostle, and that I was glad to welcome him into the quorum, and that I had had an impression that he would be an apostle, that I was disappointed when his brother Hyrum was chosen first. I haven't any doubt in my mind that he is the best scriptorian of the General Authorities of the Church.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
Joseph Fielding Smith called on me today and I handed him the letter that I dictated to him this morning. I told him of my remarks to his father at the time he, Joseph, was chosen to be an apostle, and that I was glad to welcome him into the quorum, and that I had had an impression that he would be an apostle, that I was disappointed when his brother Hyrum was chosen first. I haven't any doubt in my mind that he is the best scriptorian of the General Authorities of the Church.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
125 years ago today - Dec 31, 1893
... Prest. Geo. Q. Cannon then came to stand and desired to make a few remarks upon the Kingdom of God as he understood it from the Prophet Joseph Smith who had said to some of the members of the Church who were there assembled. "The Kingdom of God is a political organization and is composed both of members of the Church of Christ and those who are not members of the Church. The object of this Kingdom will be to uphold the rights and liberties of all denominations and to Sustain the Constitution of the Country."
[Diary Excerpts of Thomas A. Clawson, Signature Books Library, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
[Diary Excerpts of Thomas A. Clawson, Signature Books Library, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
125 years ago today - Dec 31, 1893
[Wilford Woodruff]
It has been a vary important year in Many respects. It has been a hard year throughout the world in financial Matters. Money hard to obtain. Their has been the Greatest Changes taken place Concerning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints during the year 1893 Ever known since its Organization.
A Bill for the Admission of Utah into the Union as A State Passed the House of Representatives with ownly 5 opposing votes.
The Mormon Quire [Choir] took the 2d Prize in the Chicago fair in Contesting against the world. W. Woodruff G Q Cannon & J F Smith as the Presidency of the Church was Received with open Arms at the Chicago fair by the Leading Men of the world. Even the Mayor & Citizens of Jackson County Entertained us in the & made us welcome And all our opponets in Utah have laid down the weapons of war And Ask for a State Government.
Our Temple is Dedicated.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
It has been a vary important year in Many respects. It has been a hard year throughout the world in financial Matters. Money hard to obtain. Their has been the Greatest Changes taken place Concerning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints during the year 1893 Ever known since its Organization.
A Bill for the Admission of Utah into the Union as A State Passed the House of Representatives with ownly 5 opposing votes.
The Mormon Quire [Choir] took the 2d Prize in the Chicago fair in Contesting against the world. W. Woodruff G Q Cannon & J F Smith as the Presidency of the Church was Received with open Arms at the Chicago fair by the Leading Men of the world. Even the Mayor & Citizens of Jackson County Entertained us in the & made us welcome And all our opponets in Utah have laid down the weapons of war And Ask for a State Government.
Our Temple is Dedicated.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
125 years ago today - Dec 31, 1893
[Heber J. Grant]
... I am thankful to be able to record that there has not seemed to be the great change in our home that most people have to endure when the wife dies. I do not know how to be thankful enough that I was the husband of more than one wife at the time that Lucy died.
I am fully convinced that the hard times will do me good by teaching me the lesson not to borrow so much money.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
... I am thankful to be able to record that there has not seemed to be the great change in our home that most people have to endure when the wife dies. I do not know how to be thankful enough that I was the husband of more than one wife at the time that Lucy died.
I am fully convinced that the hard times will do me good by teaching me the lesson not to borrow so much money.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
125 years ago today - Sunday, Dec 31, 1893
[John Henry Smith, during the 1893 recession]
My affairs at this writing are in bad fix. I owe much money and am paying no interest on it. Times are hard. Many people are without the necessities of life. My heart bleeds for my Kind. Confidence seems lacking in the breast of men everywhere in the world.
[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]
My affairs at this writing are in bad fix. I owe much money and am paying no interest on it. Times are hard. Many people are without the necessities of life. My heart bleeds for my Kind. Confidence seems lacking in the breast of men everywhere in the world.
[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]
130 years ago today - Dec 31, 1888 (Monday)
The Old Folks, widows and orphans were treated to a free entertainment at the Theatre.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
155 years ago today - Dec 31, 1863
[Wilford Woodruff]
Thus Ends the year 1863. Joseph the Prophet said whoever lived to see 1860 would live to See the Commencement of the downfall of the United States. The Union was dissolved in 1860 & Civel war Commenced which has raged Ever since & the Land is beginning to be bathed in Blood & will Continue untill the words of the Prophet will be fulfilled. It is an important age of the world, and the Events of Each year are rapidly fullfilling the words of all Prophets since the world Began.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Thus Ends the year 1863. Joseph the Prophet said whoever lived to see 1860 would live to See the Commencement of the downfall of the United States. The Union was dissolved in 1860 & Civel war Commenced which has raged Ever since & the Land is beginning to be bathed in Blood & will Continue untill the words of the Prophet will be fulfilled. It is an important age of the world, and the Events of Each year are rapidly fullfilling the words of all Prophets since the world Began.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
175 years ago today - Dec 31, 1843
Joseph writes: "At midnight, about 50 musicians and singers sang Phelps' New Year's Hymn under my window."
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
185 years ago today - 1833 Winter.
Joseph Smith's first polygamous marriage (Fanny Alger).
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
45 years ago today - Dec 30, 1973
Quorum of Twelve Apostles sustains Spencer W. Kimball as church president with N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney as counselors, and ordains President Kimball.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
45 years ago today - Dec 30, 1973-Sunday
[Leonard Arrington]
I was told this afternoon that President Kimball was a traditionalistvery conservative as to doctrine and as to procedures. A prediction was made that he would most likely choose Elders [Ezra Taft] Benson and [Mark E.] Petersen, as the senior members of the Quorum after him, to be his counselors. He has great compassion for ordinary persons and their problems, but his approach is that of a traditionalist rather than an innovator.
I was also told that Elder Kimball and Elder Benson were called at the same time. They were notified to go to church headquarters for the interview at about the same time. [[Kimball was actually notified of his call several months before Benson.]] Elder Kimball happened to arrive just 10 minutes ahead of Elder Benson, and had the first interview. Then Elder Benson. Then their names were presented in that order to the conference, and they were ordained in that order. I was told that he had heard this from Elder Benson himself. This suggests that perhaps Elder Benson feels it was an accident that he followed Elder Kimball in order of seniority. If this story is true, and if Elder Kimball is aware of or sympathetic with this feeling, then perhaps he will choose Elder Benson as a counselor. On the other hand, there will certainly be strong precedent for maintaining the same counselors that President Lee had. We'll know tomorrow at 10 a.m.
I have been amazed at the number of reports of people reading Nightfall at Nauvoo by Sam Taylor. This suggests how starved member[s] of the Church are for dramatically written historical material. It also shows their curiosity. They are not buying the seminary version of Church History. It must not be the whole story. So they are reading something that may give them the low down on what really happened.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
I was told this afternoon that President Kimball was a traditionalistvery conservative as to doctrine and as to procedures. A prediction was made that he would most likely choose Elders [Ezra Taft] Benson and [Mark E.] Petersen, as the senior members of the Quorum after him, to be his counselors. He has great compassion for ordinary persons and their problems, but his approach is that of a traditionalist rather than an innovator.
I was also told that Elder Kimball and Elder Benson were called at the same time. They were notified to go to church headquarters for the interview at about the same time. [[Kimball was actually notified of his call several months before Benson.]] Elder Kimball happened to arrive just 10 minutes ahead of Elder Benson, and had the first interview. Then Elder Benson. Then their names were presented in that order to the conference, and they were ordained in that order. I was told that he had heard this from Elder Benson himself. This suggests that perhaps Elder Benson feels it was an accident that he followed Elder Kimball in order of seniority. If this story is true, and if Elder Kimball is aware of or sympathetic with this feeling, then perhaps he will choose Elder Benson as a counselor. On the other hand, there will certainly be strong precedent for maintaining the same counselors that President Lee had. We'll know tomorrow at 10 a.m.
I have been amazed at the number of reports of people reading Nightfall at Nauvoo by Sam Taylor. This suggests how starved member[s] of the Church are for dramatically written historical material. It also shows their curiosity. They are not buying the seminary version of Church History. It must not be the whole story. So they are reading something that may give them the low down on what really happened.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
85 years ago today - Dec 30, 1933
The Salt Lake Temple receives forty thousand or more recommends annually. Since most of these are received during January, and thousands of members require the redating of their admission cards, it is no small task to maintain the readily accessible file required.
[Deseret News, Dec. 30, 1933, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
[Deseret News, Dec. 30, 1933, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
85 years ago today - Dec 30, 1933
[Heber J. Grant]
I had a talk with President Ivins and told him I was in favor of all of the General Authorities resigning as directors of the Utah Hotel, because I felt they would simply have to sell beer and it would be better for us to be out of it. He did not agree with me. We decided to call a directors meeting, however, for Tuesday to decide just what to do with regard to selling legalized beer.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
I had a talk with President Ivins and told him I was in favor of all of the General Authorities resigning as directors of the Utah Hotel, because I felt they would simply have to sell beer and it would be better for us to be out of it. He did not agree with me. We decided to call a directors meeting, however, for Tuesday to decide just what to do with regard to selling legalized beer.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
30 years ago today - Dec 29, 1988
New York Times reports that the fertility rate declined in Utah for the first time since the arrival of Mormons.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
40 years ago today - Dec 29,1978
First Presidency allows women to pray in sacrament meetings again, rescind earlier ban from Jul 1967.
[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]
[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]
50 years ago today - Dec 29, 1968
Gallup opinion poll lists David O. McKay as second most admired religious leader in America. Richard James Cushing, Roman Catholic cardinal of Boston, is most admired.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
90 years ago today - Dec 29, 1928
[Heber J. Grant]
President Hugh B. Brown called and told of meetings that were being held in which plural marriage is advocated, and that people say you cannot reach the highest glory without entering into it; that Kimball who was excommunicated from the Church was there and opened the meeting and told the Lord in his prayer that they were there in opposition to the Church and in opposition to the laws of the land, but they were there to do the will of the Lord, etc. We told him to cite all they could that were at such a meeting and make them pledge themselves to stop going or be tried for their fellowship.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
President Hugh B. Brown called and told of meetings that were being held in which plural marriage is advocated, and that people say you cannot reach the highest glory without entering into it; that Kimball who was excommunicated from the Church was there and opened the meeting and told the Lord in his prayer that they were there in opposition to the Church and in opposition to the laws of the land, but they were there to do the will of the Lord, etc. We told him to cite all they could that were at such a meeting and make them pledge themselves to stop going or be tried for their fellowship.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
120 years ago today - Dec 29, 1898 (Thursday)
Pres. Lorenzo Snow, in a telegraphic communication to the New York World, declared officially that polygamous or plural marriages ceased in Utah with the issuance of the manifesto by the late Pres. Wilford Woodruff in 1890, and that the election of Brigham H. Roberts to Congress was an entirely secular affair, with which the Church had nothing to do.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
120 years ago today - Dec 29, 1898; Thursday
Elder Lund reported information to the effect that the Governor of Aleppo had received word from Constantinople [Turkey] not to recognize the petition presented by the Saints at the former place for recognition as a religious body. The primary object in endeavoring to obtain such recognition was that our people in that country might tax themselves and have the right to circulate printed matter. The Governor of Aleppo had also received instructions to prevent the Armenian Saints from colonizing. Brother Lund thought the best thing that could be done at present was to advance a little means to enable our Armenian brethren to purchase looms and some raw material for weaving purposes, as this would make the independent of employers who had commended to boycott them on account of their religion. ...
An order was issued by the Presidency for the payment of $200, appropriated some time ago by President [Wilford] Woodruff in favor of Elder C[harles]. W. Penrose, in view of the fact that at the time of the general reduction of salaries in the Church offices, his salary was reduced a greater percentage than those of other Church employes.
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
An order was issued by the Presidency for the payment of $200, appropriated some time ago by President [Wilford] Woodruff in favor of Elder C[harles]. W. Penrose, in view of the fact that at the time of the general reduction of salaries in the Church offices, his salary was reduced a greater percentage than those of other Church employes.
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
125 years ago today - Dec 29, 1893
[Francis M. Lyman]
The next question was the purchase of $30,000 worth of coal mines in coal creek canyon. This I also strenuously opposed til Pres[ident] [Wilford] Woodruff announced it as the mind of the Lord that the purchase should be made. I then voted for it with the rest of the council. The next matter was the building of the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway to the Pacific Coast. I was in favor of building the road but opposed the use of Church funds for the purpose. I found myself off my base a little because I was not at a meeting of the council some weeks ago when it was concluded to make it a church enterprise. I found myself alone in my opposition and finally yielded to sustain the Presidency in using church funds or guaranteeing the bonds of the road as the spirit of the Lord shall prompt. It took us 7 1/41/4 hours to agree to those things. My words were almost alone in opposition and it made me tremble lest I was wrong in my feelings. I never made so many objections to propositions of the Presidency. Pres[ident] [George Q.] Cannon particularly seemed annoyed by my persistent objections. I yielded ever point to the better judgement of my brethren when I had almost exhausted their patience, though I was not converted.
[Francis M. Lyman, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
The next question was the purchase of $30,000 worth of coal mines in coal creek canyon. This I also strenuously opposed til Pres[ident] [Wilford] Woodruff announced it as the mind of the Lord that the purchase should be made. I then voted for it with the rest of the council. The next matter was the building of the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway to the Pacific Coast. I was in favor of building the road but opposed the use of Church funds for the purpose. I found myself off my base a little because I was not at a meeting of the council some weeks ago when it was concluded to make it a church enterprise. I found myself alone in my opposition and finally yielded to sustain the Presidency in using church funds or guaranteeing the bonds of the road as the spirit of the Lord shall prompt. It took us 7 1/41/4 hours to agree to those things. My words were almost alone in opposition and it made me tremble lest I was wrong in my feelings. I never made so many objections to propositions of the Presidency. Pres[ident] [George Q.] Cannon particularly seemed annoyed by my persistent objections. I yielded ever point to the better judgement of my brethren when I had almost exhausted their patience, though I was not converted.
[Francis M. Lyman, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
165 years ago today - Dec 29, 1853 (Thursday)
The so-called Spanish wall built in part around G.S.L. City this year was twelve feet high, six feet thick at the base, tapering to two feet six inches six feet from the ground, and preserving that thickness to the top. It was six miles in length.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
175 years ago today - Dec 29, 1843
At the organization of the Nauvoo police (former Danites), Smith authorizes them to kill "if need be" and says his life is endangered by "a little dough-head" and "a Brutus." First Counselor William Law assumes this refers to him. Joseph Smith pronounced a blessing on them and offered to pay twice the amount of any bribe offered to them for information about the briber.
[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; BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith, http://byustudies.byu.edu]
[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; BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith, http://byustudies.byu.edu]
185 years ago today - Dec 29, 1833
Wilford Woodruff begins recording early Latter-day Saint history in his diary for the first time upon his conversion. In these diaries, he recorded the daily events of the Church for some sixty-five years. He writes:
"I thought it was what I had long been looking for. I could not feel it my duty to leeve the house without bearing witness to the truth before the people. I opened my eyes to see, my ears to hear, my heart to understand, and my doors to entertain him who had administered to us. Brother Pulsipher continued labouring with us for several days and on the 31th of December I with my Brother—Azmon Woodruff with two yong females which had been healed by the laying on of hands went forward in baptism."
"I thought it was what I had long been looking for. I could not feel it my duty to leeve the house without bearing witness to the truth before the people. I opened my eyes to see, my ears to hear, my heart to understand, and my doors to entertain him who had administered to us. Brother Pulsipher continued labouring with us for several days and on the 31th of December I with my Brother—Azmon Woodruff with two yong females which had been healed by the laying on of hands went forward in baptism."
20 years ago today - Dec 28, 1998
A major revision of the Church Handbook of Instructions was completed. It brought priesthood and auxiliary leader guidebooks together for the first time into a two volume handbook. Previously, there had been thirty separate handbooks and publications.
[Correlation Timeline, Compiled by Lisle Brown]
[Correlation Timeline, Compiled by Lisle Brown]
45 years ago today - Dec 28, 1973-Friday
[Leonard Arrington]
Dr. Warr told some interesting things about Reed Benson [oldest son of apostle Ezra Taft Benson] while he was fixing my teeth. He was a companion to Reed in the British Mission [in 1947-49]. ...
Dr. Warr said Reed had heard when he was a student at BYU that when two people sleep together (like missionaries) [in the same bed] the smaller and weaker of the two will lose strength and vitality to the stronger of the two. And he thought that he must be losing strength to Dr. Warr, which accounted for his lack of vitality and energy to do all he wanted on his mission. So he proposed to sleep in his sleeping bag next to Dr. Warr so he wouldn't continue to lose his strength. Dr. Warr told him he wasn't sleeping next to a sleeping bag. The matter came up to President Boyer who told Dr. Warr to throw it out the window if he persisted in doing it. Dr. Warr was later telling this to one of his relatives who responded, with reference to Reed: "That elder should have known that it is always the weaker person who draws strength from the stronger!"
Reed was always wanting to do things an easier and better way, and this sometimes involved questions of mission policy and mission rules; so he was a kind of problem for the mission president. ... according to Dr. Warr, at the suggestion of President Lee and other church authorities, he has left John Birch, and is now a full-time [LDS] seminary teacher in Washington.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
Dr. Warr told some interesting things about Reed Benson [oldest son of apostle Ezra Taft Benson] while he was fixing my teeth. He was a companion to Reed in the British Mission [in 1947-49]. ...
Dr. Warr said Reed had heard when he was a student at BYU that when two people sleep together (like missionaries) [in the same bed] the smaller and weaker of the two will lose strength and vitality to the stronger of the two. And he thought that he must be losing strength to Dr. Warr, which accounted for his lack of vitality and energy to do all he wanted on his mission. So he proposed to sleep in his sleeping bag next to Dr. Warr so he wouldn't continue to lose his strength. Dr. Warr told him he wasn't sleeping next to a sleeping bag. The matter came up to President Boyer who told Dr. Warr to throw it out the window if he persisted in doing it. Dr. Warr was later telling this to one of his relatives who responded, with reference to Reed: "That elder should have known that it is always the weaker person who draws strength from the stronger!"
Reed was always wanting to do things an easier and better way, and this sometimes involved questions of mission policy and mission rules; so he was a kind of problem for the mission president. ... according to Dr. Warr, at the suggestion of President Lee and other church authorities, he has left John Birch, and is now a full-time [LDS] seminary teacher in Washington.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
80 years ago today - Dec 28, 1938
[Joseph Fielding Smith]
I attended sessions of meetings held in the assembly hall for the Institute teachers held in the assembly room on the fourth floor of the Church Office Building. I cannot say that I was very greatly edified. Too much philosophy of a worldly nature does not seem to mix well with the fundamentals of the Gospel. In my opinion many of our teachers employed in the Church School System have absorbed too much of the paganism of the world, and have accepted too readily the views of uninspired educators without regard for the revealed word of God. What to do about it I do not know. ... It is easy for one who observes to see how the Apostacy came about in the Primitive Church of Jesus Christ. Are we not traveling the same road? ... Modern theories which are so popular today just do not harmonize with the Gospel as revealed to the Prophets and it would be amusing if it were not a tragedy to see how some of our educated brethren attempted to harmonize the theories of men with the revealed word of the Lord. Thank the Lord there is still some faith left, and some members who still cherish the word of the Lord and accept the prophets. Surely the world is ripening for destruction and Satan has power and dominion over his own. ...
[Joseph Fielding Smith, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
I attended sessions of meetings held in the assembly hall for the Institute teachers held in the assembly room on the fourth floor of the Church Office Building. I cannot say that I was very greatly edified. Too much philosophy of a worldly nature does not seem to mix well with the fundamentals of the Gospel. In my opinion many of our teachers employed in the Church School System have absorbed too much of the paganism of the world, and have accepted too readily the views of uninspired educators without regard for the revealed word of God. What to do about it I do not know. ... It is easy for one who observes to see how the Apostacy came about in the Primitive Church of Jesus Christ. Are we not traveling the same road? ... Modern theories which are so popular today just do not harmonize with the Gospel as revealed to the Prophets and it would be amusing if it were not a tragedy to see how some of our educated brethren attempted to harmonize the theories of men with the revealed word of the Lord. Thank the Lord there is still some faith left, and some members who still cherish the word of the Lord and accept the prophets. Surely the world is ripening for destruction and Satan has power and dominion over his own. ...
[Joseph Fielding Smith, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
100 years ago today - Dec 28, 1918
Resumption of regular religious services following influenza epidemic
[1918-December 28-Deseret News, December 28, 1918, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
[1918-December 28-Deseret News, December 28, 1918, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
120 years ago today - Dec 28, 1898; Wednesday
Elder B. H. Roberts came to the Presidents' office and stated that he had been called upon by a special correspondent of the New York World, who had invited him to use the columns of that paper in whatever defence he might have to make against the efforts of the Presbyterians to prevent him from getting his seat in Congress. Brother Roberts said that up to this time he had studiously remained silent, but it had now become a question whether he should not take advantage of this offer to tell his side of the story. During the conversation that ensued President [Lorenzo] Snow told Brother Roberts that he regarded this as a very important matter, and felt that the Lord had design in relation to it which he would bring about. The President felt that the Lord would sustain Brother Roberts in the position he was now in, as he himself sustained him
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
125 years ago today - Dec 28, 1893
[Francis M. Lyman]
... Then Pres[ident] [George Q.] Cannon reported his trip east to raise money to build the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway. Capitalists in the East must have the church endorse the bonds if they buy them.
[Francis M. Lyman, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
... Then Pres[ident] [George Q.] Cannon reported his trip east to raise money to build the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railway. Capitalists in the East must have the church endorse the bonds if they buy them.
[Francis M. Lyman, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
170 years ago today - Dec 28, 1848
[Hosea Stout]
Meeting called this morning for the purpose of consulting the practibility of issuing Bills of credit or notes to answer for curiency for the time being as the gold dust cannot be coined for the want of crusibles at present.
The gold dust to be deposited with the President & no more than the amount to be issued in bills.which plan was agreed upon.
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
Meeting called this morning for the purpose of consulting the practibility of issuing Bills of credit or notes to answer for curiency for the time being as the gold dust cannot be coined for the want of crusibles at present.
The gold dust to be deposited with the President & no more than the amount to be issued in bills.which plan was agreed upon.
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
175 years ago today - Dec 28, 1843
[Brigham Young]
When the Temple is done I expect we shall be baptized, washed anointed ordained, & offer up the keys & signs of the priesthood for our dead that they may have a full salvation & we shall be a saviors on mount Zion acording to the Scriptures.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
When the Temple is done I expect we shall be baptized, washed anointed ordained, & offer up the keys & signs of the priesthood for our dead that they may have a full salvation & we shall be a saviors on mount Zion acording to the Scriptures.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
120 years ago today - 120 years ago - Dec 27, 1898
[James E. Talmage]
Began the reading of manuscript for a proposed theological publication; the reading was before a committee created at my request by action of the First Presidency of the Church. The history of the affair is briefly as follows:—Years ago, while I was officially connected with the Church School work, the First Presidency expressed to me their desire to have prepared a book or a series of books, suitable for use as textbooks in theological classes of the Church. This developed into a request that I write such a book ... I was appointed instructor, and the work decided upon was a series of lectures on the "Articles of Faith," the plan being that I present in lecture form the matter which would have been published as the substance of the proposed book. At my request a committee was appointed to pass upon the matter of the lectures. Twenty-two lectures were given before the class: ... Part of the matter presented to the class was published in serial form in the "Juvenile Instructor" ... For three months past I have been suffering from my baneful affliction of sleeplessness, and my nights, often extending until daybreak have been devoted to writing the matter, which is now practically completed. ... As stated, at my recent request, the First Presidency appointed a committee to hear and pass upon the matter in its present form. ...
[The Journals of James E. Talmage—Excerpts, Compiled by J. Trevor Antley, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dOE6pgN6OkBJIq-X73JGpCdt0p5b8_UdfTfLREz4uTg/]
Began the reading of manuscript for a proposed theological publication; the reading was before a committee created at my request by action of the First Presidency of the Church. The history of the affair is briefly as follows:—Years ago, while I was officially connected with the Church School work, the First Presidency expressed to me their desire to have prepared a book or a series of books, suitable for use as textbooks in theological classes of the Church. This developed into a request that I write such a book ... I was appointed instructor, and the work decided upon was a series of lectures on the "Articles of Faith," the plan being that I present in lecture form the matter which would have been published as the substance of the proposed book. At my request a committee was appointed to pass upon the matter of the lectures. Twenty-two lectures were given before the class: ... Part of the matter presented to the class was published in serial form in the "Juvenile Instructor" ... For three months past I have been suffering from my baneful affliction of sleeplessness, and my nights, often extending until daybreak have been devoted to writing the matter, which is now practically completed. ... As stated, at my recent request, the First Presidency appointed a committee to hear and pass upon the matter in its present form. ...
[The Journals of James E. Talmage—Excerpts, Compiled by J. Trevor Antley, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dOE6pgN6OkBJIq-X73JGpCdt0p5b8_UdfTfLREz4uTg/]
120 years ago today - Dec 27, 1898; Tuesday
[J. Golden Kimball]
At 7 A.M. called to see President Lorenzo Snow, at his residence #37 Canyon Road. He received me very kindly. We chatted about polygamy. Pres[ident] Snow said, if there has been any marriages since the Manifesto I do not know it, but I can assure you there will be no more until the Lord reveals it direct. Also conversed on financial condition of the Church, saying the Church owed One Million and one half. Pres[ident] Snow said it was a great trial to him, as he was not an advocate of the Church Speculating or going in debt, and they should not with his consent.
[J. Golden Kimball, Diary]
At 7 A.M. called to see President Lorenzo Snow, at his residence #37 Canyon Road. He received me very kindly. We chatted about polygamy. Pres[ident] Snow said, if there has been any marriages since the Manifesto I do not know it, but I can assure you there will be no more until the Lord reveals it direct. Also conversed on financial condition of the Church, saying the Church owed One Million and one half. Pres[ident] Snow said it was a great trial to him, as he was not an advocate of the Church Speculating or going in debt, and they should not with his consent.
[J. Golden Kimball, Diary]
125 years ago today - Dec 27, 1893
[John M. Whitaker]
At the Council meeting of the Seventies today in the Temple, a matter occurred that all present will never forget. The Council room of the Seventies is next to that of the Twelve Apostles, and just as I was finishing reading the Minutes, Apostle Francis M. Lyman president of the Twelve came in and sat down by me, and asked for the privilege, of speaking: He took the letter written to him by Brother [B. H.] Roberts wherein Brother Roberts held that the High Priests were not as high as the Seventy, and also spoke of Brother Roberts address at Loa, San Pete County [Utah] Conference of Seventies wherein Brother Roberts preached the doctrine that the Seventies hold a higher Priesthood than that of the High Priests.
'The same controversy that has been going on for weeks, and for nearly three hours Brother Lyman, preached opposite to this that the Position of the High Priests is the highest office a man can hold, and that the Seventy is World wide as a missionary, and under the directions of the Twelve Apostles, and what he Brother Lyman was saying is the word of the Lord and he asked that from this time forward Brother Roberts adhere to this doctrine. After Brother Lyman went back to the room of the Twelve, the First Council remained and discussed the matter until after 3 pm and although there was an excellent feeling, I don't believe this will settle the matter between President B. H. Roberts and President Francis M. Lyman, two strong characters, but that we will hear more from this marvelous and important matter. And unless there is a revelation, or a pronouncement from the First Presidency of the Church it will rage as it has been doing for months past and it is not a good thing. All over the Church people of different views are taking sides, and I have a ticket to a debate on this same subject in this City this coming Saturday night. I regret this wide publicity and division of sentiment on doctrines of the Church. And pray that wisdom may bring it to a speedy conclusion. It has also brought a division on the subject on church influence and this is affecting Both Democratic as well as Republican members of the Church, both taking sides as they see it. I hope to see it settled soon.
[John M. Whitaker, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
At the Council meeting of the Seventies today in the Temple, a matter occurred that all present will never forget. The Council room of the Seventies is next to that of the Twelve Apostles, and just as I was finishing reading the Minutes, Apostle Francis M. Lyman president of the Twelve came in and sat down by me, and asked for the privilege, of speaking: He took the letter written to him by Brother [B. H.] Roberts wherein Brother Roberts held that the High Priests were not as high as the Seventy, and also spoke of Brother Roberts address at Loa, San Pete County [Utah] Conference of Seventies wherein Brother Roberts preached the doctrine that the Seventies hold a higher Priesthood than that of the High Priests.
'The same controversy that has been going on for weeks, and for nearly three hours Brother Lyman, preached opposite to this that the Position of the High Priests is the highest office a man can hold, and that the Seventy is World wide as a missionary, and under the directions of the Twelve Apostles, and what he Brother Lyman was saying is the word of the Lord and he asked that from this time forward Brother Roberts adhere to this doctrine. After Brother Lyman went back to the room of the Twelve, the First Council remained and discussed the matter until after 3 pm and although there was an excellent feeling, I don't believe this will settle the matter between President B. H. Roberts and President Francis M. Lyman, two strong characters, but that we will hear more from this marvelous and important matter. And unless there is a revelation, or a pronouncement from the First Presidency of the Church it will rage as it has been doing for months past and it is not a good thing. All over the Church people of different views are taking sides, and I have a ticket to a debate on this same subject in this City this coming Saturday night. I regret this wide publicity and division of sentiment on doctrines of the Church. And pray that wisdom may bring it to a speedy conclusion. It has also brought a division on the subject on church influence and this is affecting Both Democratic as well as Republican members of the Church, both taking sides as they see it. I hope to see it settled soon.
[John M. Whitaker, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
175 years ago today - Dec 27, 1843
Church newspaper Nauvoo Neighbor advertises ale and beer from Nauvoo Brewery.
[Chronology of Mormon History, http://followtheprophets.com/chronology-of-mormon-history/]
[Chronology of Mormon History, http://followtheprophets.com/chronology-of-mormon-history/]
180 years ago today - Dec 27, 1838
Anson Call returns to Ray County to sell some property and is taken by a mob and beaten for four hours, until he escapes. ___
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
5 years ago today - Dec 26, 2013
[Same-sex Marriage]
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denies Utah's request for stay on Shelby's ruling. Utah County begins issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
[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]
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denies Utah's request for stay on Shelby's ruling. Utah County begins issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
[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]
45 years ago today - Dec 26, 1973
[Harold B. Lee]
Harold Bingham Lee was the eleventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was ordained president on 7 July 1972 and served until his death on 26 December 1973. This 538-day tenure is the shortest service by a Mormon Church president in history, this despite the fact that when he assumed the office at age seventy-three he was the youngest president of the church in nearly forty years. His major contributions to the church, as the first managing director of its welfare program and later as the organizer of the church correlation program, were made when he was still serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Lee's impressive attainments resulted partly from his personal struggles. He had to overcome critics who were jealous of his "beyond his years" abilities; he learned to control a fiery temper and a quick, action-oriented disposition which early in his life offended some people. Especially in his later years, Lee was gentle in manner, compassionate, gracious, hospitable, and thoughtful of others. He was always a gentleman, impeccably dressed. At age seventy-four he served as though in the prime of life, with a rich, full voice and characteristic vigor. His sudden death on 26 December 1973 from cardiac and lung failure stunned the entire church.
[Utah History Encyclopedia: Harold B. Lee, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]
Harold Bingham Lee was the eleventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was ordained president on 7 July 1972 and served until his death on 26 December 1973. This 538-day tenure is the shortest service by a Mormon Church president in history, this despite the fact that when he assumed the office at age seventy-three he was the youngest president of the church in nearly forty years. His major contributions to the church, as the first managing director of its welfare program and later as the organizer of the church correlation program, were made when he was still serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Lee's impressive attainments resulted partly from his personal struggles. He had to overcome critics who were jealous of his "beyond his years" abilities; he learned to control a fiery temper and a quick, action-oriented disposition which early in his life offended some people. Especially in his later years, Lee was gentle in manner, compassionate, gracious, hospitable, and thoughtful of others. He was always a gentleman, impeccably dressed. At age seventy-four he served as though in the prime of life, with a rich, full voice and characteristic vigor. His sudden death on 26 December 1973 from cardiac and lung failure stunned the entire church.
[Utah History Encyclopedia: Harold B. Lee, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]
170 years ago today - Dec 26, 1848
[Hosea Stout]
I am mostly at home trying to do without coffee which goes very hard.
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
I am mostly at home trying to do without coffee which goes very hard.
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
135 years ago today - 135 years ago - Dec 25, 1883
[Wilford Woodruff]
25 I wrote a letter to A Hinkley. I sealed 1 Couple at the Altar and I had 4 Adopted to me. I had 1 Sarah Harvey sealed to me. I was sealed for 13 Dead Couple. I Ordained Charoques Erastus to the office of a Seventy I think the first Lamanite Ever ordained to that office in this dispensation. There was 316 Baptisms to day which is Called Christmass.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
25 I wrote a letter to A Hinkley. I sealed 1 Couple at the Altar and I had 4 Adopted to me. I had 1 Sarah Harvey sealed to me. I was sealed for 13 Dead Couple. I Ordained Charoques Erastus to the office of a Seventy I think the first Lamanite Ever ordained to that office in this dispensation. There was 316 Baptisms to day which is Called Christmass.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
175 years ago today - 175 years ago - Dec 25, 1843
At one o'clock on Christmas morning, a family of English converts sings Christmas carols under Joseph's window. Joseph's family and boarders in the Mansion House are awake and listen to the music. Joseph blesses the singers. In the afternoon Joseph has 50 couples over for Christmas dinner.
During the evening a long-haired man breaks in and acts "like a Missourian." The police are called, but when Joseph sees the man, he realizes, to his "great surprise and joy untold," it is Orrin Porter Rockwell, just returned to Nauvoo from his Missouri imprisonment. Rockwell then eats and drinks and relates his Missouri experiences, after which Joseph blesses him, saying, "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, that you—Orrin Porter Rockwell—so long as you shall remain loyal and true to thy faith, need fear no enemy. Cut not thy hair and no bullet or blade can harm thee!"
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
During the evening a long-haired man breaks in and acts "like a Missourian." The police are called, but when Joseph sees the man, he realizes, to his "great surprise and joy untold," it is Orrin Porter Rockwell, just returned to Nauvoo from his Missouri imprisonment. Rockwell then eats and drinks and relates his Missouri experiences, after which Joseph blesses him, saying, "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, that you—Orrin Porter Rockwell—so long as you shall remain loyal and true to thy faith, need fear no enemy. Cut not thy hair and no bullet or blade can harm thee!"
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
180 years ago today - 180 years ago - Dec 25, 1838
Joseph's brother, Don Carlos, and cousin George A. Smith return from missions in Kentucky and Tennessee. "When nearly home they were known and pursued by the mob, which compelled them to travel one hundred miles in two days and nights. The ground at the time was slippery, and a severe northwest wind was blowing in their faces; they had but little to eat, and narrowly escaped freezing both nights."
[Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
[Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
175 years ago today - Dec 25, 1843
Amos Davis: Issued six-month license to sell merchandise 25 December 1843.
[Cook, Lyndon W., The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith]
[Cook, Lyndon W., The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith]
180 years ago today - Dec 25, 1838
Don Carlos Smith: Returned 25 December 1838.
[Cook, Lyndon W., The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith]
[Cook, Lyndon W., The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, Seventy's Mission Bookstore, Provo UT, 1985, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith]
120 years ago today - Dec 25, 1898
[Apostle Marriner W. Merrill]
Sunday. I am home with Sarah; she had her children all home today but Amos, who is in England on a mission. I went to South Farm at 8 p. m. Maria also had all her children home but Joseph, who is in Baltimore, Md.
[Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Sunday. I am home with Sarah; she had her children all home today but Amos, who is in England on a mission. I went to South Farm at 8 p. m. Maria also had all her children home but Joseph, who is in Baltimore, Md.
[Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
95 years ago today - Dec 24, 1923
Upon returning from his mission to Salt Lake, Ezra Taft Benson asked for and received a second patriarchal blessing, this time from the Church's presiding patriarch, Hyrum Gibbs Smith (1879–1932), to serve as a guidepost for his life's next stage.
[Gary James Bergera, "Ezra Taft Benson's 1921-23 Mission to England", Journal of Mormon History 35:4 (Fall 2009)]
[Gary James Bergera, "Ezra Taft Benson's 1921-23 Mission to England", Journal of Mormon History 35:4 (Fall 2009)]
115 years ago today - Thursday, Dec 24, 1903
[Rudger Clawson]
Elder Jno. H. Smith suggested that it would be wise for the apostles in visiting the stakes to confine their remarks to the preaching of the gospel rather than to refer to ministers of the gospel (?) in the world. Our enemies are watching for something to take hold of just at present.
[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]
Elder Jno. H. Smith suggested that it would be wise for the apostles in visiting the stakes to confine their remarks to the preaching of the gospel rather than to refer to ministers of the gospel (?) in the world. Our enemies are watching for something to take hold of just at present.
[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]
135 years ago today - Dec 24, 1883
[Wilford Woodruff]
I met with 28 Men Holding the Melchesedek Priesthood and I organized them into the school of the Prophets, all of which had Entered into the school of the Patriarchal order of Marriage and all agreed to keep the word of wisdom. <I washed the feet of 24 men.> We broak bread and partook of the sacramet of Bread and wine. <The washing of feet was an introductory ordinance into the school of the prophets. I also gave the salutation to the brethren as they entered the school.> We had a vary interesting day. The spirit of the Lord rested upon us.
[Text in angled brackets are coded in shorthand. Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
I met with 28 Men Holding the Melchesedek Priesthood and I organized them into the school of the Prophets, all of which had Entered into the school of the Patriarchal order of Marriage and all agreed to keep the word of wisdom. <I washed the feet of 24 men.> We broak bread and partook of the sacramet of Bread and wine. <The washing of feet was an introductory ordinance into the school of the prophets. I also gave the salutation to the brethren as they entered the school.> We had a vary interesting day. The spirit of the Lord rested upon us.
[Text in angled brackets are coded in shorthand. Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
140 years ago today - Dec 24, 1878
Mormon writes John Taylor concerning new United Order at Sunset, Arizona: "We are building a dining room and are calculating to all eat at the same table like they do at Orderville. But the rumor has come here that the Twelve counsel otherwise." He had not learned about Taylor's letter on 26 Nov. advising against "the idea of all eating at one and the same table, and like matter of lesser moment."
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
175 years ago today - Dec 24, 1843
[Helen Mar Kimball (plural wife of Joseph Smith, current age: 15)]
During the winter of 1843, there were plenty of parties and balls, and many were held at the Mansion. The last one that I attended there that winter, was on Christmas Eve. ... I had to stay at home, as my father had been warned by the Prophet to keep his daughter away from there, because of the blacklegs and certain ones of questionable character who attended there. His wife Emma had become the ruling spirit, and money had become her God. ... I felt quite sore over it ... for no girl loved dancing better than I did, and I really felt that it was too much to bear. It made the dull school still more dull, and like a wild bird I longed for the freedom that was denied me; and thought myself a much abused child, and that it was pardonable if I did murmur. I imagined that my happiness was all over, and brooded over the sad memories of sweet departed joys...
[Whitney, Helen Mar, Jeni Broberg Holzapfel, and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History, Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997]
During the winter of 1843, there were plenty of parties and balls, and many were held at the Mansion. The last one that I attended there that winter, was on Christmas Eve. ... I had to stay at home, as my father had been warned by the Prophet to keep his daughter away from there, because of the blacklegs and certain ones of questionable character who attended there. His wife Emma had become the ruling spirit, and money had become her God. ... I felt quite sore over it ... for no girl loved dancing better than I did, and I really felt that it was too much to bear. It made the dull school still more dull, and like a wild bird I longed for the freedom that was denied me; and thought myself a much abused child, and that it was pardonable if I did murmur. I imagined that my happiness was all over, and brooded over the sad memories of sweet departed joys...
[Whitney, Helen Mar, Jeni Broberg Holzapfel, and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History, Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997]
175 years ago today - Dec 24, 1843
Apostle John E. Page preaches at Boston "that England, Ireland & Scotland would again become catholic....That the pope will unite all Europe to go & fight the Jews at Jerusalem....And the world will not come to an end before 1863."
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
185 years ago today - Dec 24, 1833
[Jesse Townsend]
... He has had a stone, into which, when placed in a hat, he pretended to look and see chests of money buried in the earth. He was also a fortune-teller, and he claimed to know where stolen goods went--probably too well.
Smith flattered a few of his peculiar fraternity to engage with him in digging for money. After a while, many of these got out of patience with his false pretensions and repeated failures; and, finally, to avoid the sneers of those who had been deceived by him, he pretended that he had found, in digging alone, a wonderful curiosity, which he [p. 288] kept closely secreted. After telling different stories about it, and applying to it different names, he at length called it the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. As he was questioned on the subject from time to time, his story assumed a more uniform statement, the term finally given to the marvellous treasure being the "Golden Bible."
In the mean time, Joe visited a visionary fanatic by the name of Martin Harris, and told him he had received some golden plates of ancient records from the Lord, with a "revelation" to call on him for fifty dollars to enable him to go to Pennsylvania and translate the contents of the plates; at the same time telling Harris that the Lord had revealed to him that they (Smith and Harris) were the only honest men in the world. ... and the fifty dollars was soon put into the hands of Smith ...
... it was assumed to the uninitiated that it would be "immediate death" for any except the translators to see the plates. Poor Martin's faith was apparently strengthened by this pretension, but afterward the "command" was modified, and he claimed to have seen the plates with "spiritual eyes."
... He [Martin Harris] has whipped his wife and beaten her so cruelly and frequently, that she was obliged to seek refuge in separation. ...
[Jesse Townsend to Phineas Stiles, 24 December 1833, Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867), 288-91., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Jesse Townsend To Phineas Stiles]
... He has had a stone, into which, when placed in a hat, he pretended to look and see chests of money buried in the earth. He was also a fortune-teller, and he claimed to know where stolen goods went--probably too well.
Smith flattered a few of his peculiar fraternity to engage with him in digging for money. After a while, many of these got out of patience with his false pretensions and repeated failures; and, finally, to avoid the sneers of those who had been deceived by him, he pretended that he had found, in digging alone, a wonderful curiosity, which he [p. 288] kept closely secreted. After telling different stories about it, and applying to it different names, he at length called it the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. As he was questioned on the subject from time to time, his story assumed a more uniform statement, the term finally given to the marvellous treasure being the "Golden Bible."
In the mean time, Joe visited a visionary fanatic by the name of Martin Harris, and told him he had received some golden plates of ancient records from the Lord, with a "revelation" to call on him for fifty dollars to enable him to go to Pennsylvania and translate the contents of the plates; at the same time telling Harris that the Lord had revealed to him that they (Smith and Harris) were the only honest men in the world. ... and the fifty dollars was soon put into the hands of Smith ...
... it was assumed to the uninitiated that it would be "immediate death" for any except the translators to see the plates. Poor Martin's faith was apparently strengthened by this pretension, but afterward the "command" was modified, and he claimed to have seen the plates with "spiritual eyes."
... He [Martin Harris] has whipped his wife and beaten her so cruelly and frequently, that she was obliged to seek refuge in separation. ...
[Jesse Townsend to Phineas Stiles, 24 December 1833, Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867), 288-91., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Jesse Townsend To Phineas Stiles]
185 years ago today - Dec 24, 1833
Four aged families are driven out of Independence, Missouri. These are Revolutionary War veterans, and one was a bodyguard to George Washington.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
5 years ago today - Dec 23, 2013
[Same-sex Marriage]
The state of Utah asks the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant a stay on Shelby's ruling. Utah County Clerk/Auditor Bryan Thompson announces Utah County will not issue same-sex marriage licenses until the court of appeals rules on the request for stay.
[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]
The state of Utah asks the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant a stay on Shelby's ruling. Utah County Clerk/Auditor Bryan Thompson announces Utah County will not issue same-sex marriage licenses until the court of appeals rules on the request for stay.
[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]
55 years ago today - Dec 23, 1963
Joseph Fielding Smith wrote [to Congressman Harding]: "I am glad to report to you that it will be some time before we hear anything from Brother Benson, who is now on his way to Great Britain where I suppose he will be, at least for the next two years. When he returns I hope his blood will be purified."
[Joseph Fielding Smith to Congressman Ralph Harding, 23 Dec. 1963, photocopy in folder 2, box 4, King Papers, and in folder 22, box 5, Buerger Papers. Apostle Smith's letter was first quoted in "Ike, LDS Leaders Thank Harding For Anti-Birch, Benson Speech," Idaho State Journal, 20 Feb. 1964,1; "Ike Praises Idaho Solon For Benson Criticism," Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Feb. 1964, A-4; also Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 12. (21 Feb 1964) Newspapers printed (Joseph Fielding) Smith's caustic assessment (of 23 Dec 1963) and the Quorum of Twelve's president made a public disclaimer which actually verified the political motivations for Benson's assignment to Europe: "I meant that when he returned he would be free of all political ties." From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]
[Joseph Fielding Smith to Congressman Ralph Harding, 23 Dec. 1963, photocopy in folder 2, box 4, King Papers, and in folder 22, box 5, Buerger Papers. Apostle Smith's letter was first quoted in "Ike, LDS Leaders Thank Harding For Anti-Birch, Benson Speech," Idaho State Journal, 20 Feb. 1964,1; "Ike Praises Idaho Solon For Benson Criticism," Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Feb. 1964, A-4; also Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 12. (21 Feb 1964) Newspapers printed (Joseph Fielding) Smith's caustic assessment (of 23 Dec 1963) and the Quorum of Twelve's president made a public disclaimer which actually verified the political motivations for Benson's assignment to Europe: "I meant that when he returned he would be free of all political ties." From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]
110 years ago today - Dec 23, 1908; Wednesday
Brother Reed Smoot said ... the Smithsonian Institute would like a model of the temple and tabernacle for its own use, also photograph of leaders of the Church to be hung on the walls of the Institute.
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
120 years ago today - Friday, Dec 23, 1898
[John Henry Smith]
Joseph Smith the Prophet would have been 93 years old today. ... There were 24 persons present who knew the Prophet and 23 persons who were related to him by blood or Mariage.
[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]
Joseph Smith the Prophet would have been 93 years old today. ... There were 24 persons present who knew the Prophet and 23 persons who were related to him by blood or Mariage.
[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]
175 years ago today - Dec 23, 1843
Emma Smith supervises initiation of women into the Anointed Quorum, apparently her last meeting. She never enters the temple.
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
110 years ago today - 110 years ago - Dec 22, 1908
[First Presidency of Joseph F. Smith]
Members of relief societies are not set apart and given authority to wash and anoint sisters for their confinement, for the reason that this practice which has grown up among some of our relief societies, is not an ordinance, and because it is not an ordinance authority to act in it need not be given, and is therefore not given. Some of our relief society sisters appear to have confounded this practice with one of the temple ordinances; and because certain sisters, as temple workers, are set apart as such, relief society sisters appear to have jumped to the conclusion that they too should be authorized and set apart to wash and anoint sisters for their confinement. This is a mistake, a mistake which has arisen, as intimated, in confounding this practice with one of the ordinances of the temple. ... In thus writing we do not wish it understood that sisters may not wash and anoint for the purpose mentioned, as there is no impropriety whatever in their doing so ... no member of the Church therefore need be barred from receiving a blessing at the hands of faithful women inasmuch as she has faith enough to desire and ask that this be done in her behalf. As to the particular form of words to be used, there is none, not any more than there is for an elder to use in administering to the sick.
[First Presidency, Letter to Nephi Pratt, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
Members of relief societies are not set apart and given authority to wash and anoint sisters for their confinement, for the reason that this practice which has grown up among some of our relief societies, is not an ordinance, and because it is not an ordinance authority to act in it need not be given, and is therefore not given. Some of our relief society sisters appear to have confounded this practice with one of the temple ordinances; and because certain sisters, as temple workers, are set apart as such, relief society sisters appear to have jumped to the conclusion that they too should be authorized and set apart to wash and anoint sisters for their confinement. This is a mistake, a mistake which has arisen, as intimated, in confounding this practice with one of the ordinances of the temple. ... In thus writing we do not wish it understood that sisters may not wash and anoint for the purpose mentioned, as there is no impropriety whatever in their doing so ... no member of the Church therefore need be barred from receiving a blessing at the hands of faithful women inasmuch as she has faith enough to desire and ask that this be done in her behalf. As to the particular form of words to be used, there is none, not any more than there is for an elder to use in administering to the sick.
[First Presidency, Letter to Nephi Pratt, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
100 years ago today - Dec 22, 1918
The Church holds a special fast, to petition the Lord to end a worldwide epidemic of influenza, that had killed twenty one million people in just four months.
[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, United Kingdom, "On This Day," https://www.lds.org.uk/show_oda.php]
[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, United Kingdom, "On This Day," https://www.lds.org.uk/show_oda.php]
Members of relief societies are not set apart and given authority to wash and anoint sisters for their confinement, for the reason that this practice which has grown up among some of our relief societies, is not an ordinance, and because it is not an ordinance authority to act in it need not be given, and is therefore not given. Some of our relief society sisters appear to have confounded this practice with one of the temple ordinances; and because certain sisters, as temple workers, are set apart as such, relief society sisters appear to have jumped to the conclusion that they too should be authorized and set apart to wash and anoint sisters for their confinement. This is a mistake, a mistake which has arisen, as intimated, in confounding this practice with one of the ordinances of the temple. ... In thus writing we do not wish it understood that sisters may not wash and anoint for the purpose mentioned, as there is no impropriety whatever in their doing so ... no member of the Church therefore need be barred from receiving a blessing at the hands of faithful women inasmuch as she has faith enough to desire and ask that this be done in her behalf. As to the particular form of words to be used, there is none, not any more than there is for an elder to use in administering to the sick.
[First Presidency (Joseph F. Smith) 12-minFPLtNP]
[19081222]
[19081222]
120 years ago today - Dec 22, 1898
[Albert Chandler]
My recollection of Joseph Smith Jr. and of the first steps taken in regard to his Bible have never been printed. At the time of the printing of the Mormon Bible by Egbert B. Grandin of the Sentinel I was an apprentice in the book-bindery connected with the Sentinel office. I helped to collate and stitch the Gold Bible ...
Joseph Smith Jr., who read through the wonderful spectacles, pretended to give the scribe the exact reading of the plates, even to spelling, in which Smith was wofully deficient. Martin Harris was permitted to be in the room with the scribe, and would try the knowledge of Smith, as he told me, saying that Smith could not spell the word February, when his eyes were off the spectacles through which he pretended to work. This ignorance of Smith was proof positive to him that Smith was dependent on the spectacles for the contents of the Bible. Smith and the plates containing the original of the Mormon Bible were hid from view of the scribe and Martin Harris by a screen.
... He would call public meetings and address them himself. He was enthusiastic, and went so far as to say that God, through the Latter Day Saints, was to rule the world. I heard him make this statement, that there would never be another President of the United States elected ; that soon all temporal and spiritual power would be given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints. ... he told me that he saw the devil, in all his hideousness, on the road, just before dark, near his farm, a little north of Palmyra. ...
[Albert Chandler to William Linn, 22 December 1898, William Linn, The Story of the Mormons (New York: Macmillan Co., 1902), 48-49., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Albert Chandler To William Linn]
My recollection of Joseph Smith Jr. and of the first steps taken in regard to his Bible have never been printed. At the time of the printing of the Mormon Bible by Egbert B. Grandin of the Sentinel I was an apprentice in the book-bindery connected with the Sentinel office. I helped to collate and stitch the Gold Bible ...
Joseph Smith Jr., who read through the wonderful spectacles, pretended to give the scribe the exact reading of the plates, even to spelling, in which Smith was wofully deficient. Martin Harris was permitted to be in the room with the scribe, and would try the knowledge of Smith, as he told me, saying that Smith could not spell the word February, when his eyes were off the spectacles through which he pretended to work. This ignorance of Smith was proof positive to him that Smith was dependent on the spectacles for the contents of the Bible. Smith and the plates containing the original of the Mormon Bible were hid from view of the scribe and Martin Harris by a screen.
... He would call public meetings and address them himself. He was enthusiastic, and went so far as to say that God, through the Latter Day Saints, was to rule the world. I heard him make this statement, that there would never be another President of the United States elected ; that soon all temporal and spiritual power would be given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints. ... he told me that he saw the devil, in all his hideousness, on the road, just before dark, near his farm, a little north of Palmyra. ...
[Albert Chandler to William Linn, 22 December 1898, William Linn, The Story of the Mormons (New York: Macmillan Co., 1902), 48-49., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Albert Chandler To William Linn]
165 years ago today - Dec 22, 1853
Formation of phonetic Deseret Alphabet, which LDS leaders try to make the standard written language of Mormon Utah. The formal announcement is on 19 Jan. 1854.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
175 years ago today - Dec 22, 1843 (Friday)
David Holman's house, near Ramus, Hancock Co., Ill, was burned by the mob.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
15 years ago today - Dec 21, 2003
A Jewish group says it is considering legal action in an effort to stop the Mormon Church from posthumously baptizing many Jews, especially Holocaust victims.
[Ian Urbina, "Again, Jews Fault Mormons Over Posthumous Baptisms", New York Times; A chronicle of the Mormon-Jewish controversy; The LDS Agreement: A JewishGen InfoFile, http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ldsagree.html]
[Ian Urbina, "Again, Jews Fault Mormons Over Posthumous Baptisms", New York Times; A chronicle of the Mormon-Jewish controversy; The LDS Agreement: A JewishGen InfoFile, http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ldsagree.html]
120 years ago today - Dec 21, 1898
[Brigham Young Jr.]
Understand that 500 000 Church Bonds have been sold to our people or [blank] or home people. Pres[ident]. [Lorenzo] Snow gave me private papers to read concerning our indebtedness and moral responsibility for debts. It is a mystery to me where these millions have gone to say nothing of the 6 or 700 000 dol in come we have every year which for years has vanished like the rest. God help us, and I know he will.
[Brigham Young Jr., Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
Understand that 500 000 Church Bonds have been sold to our people or [blank] or home people. Pres[ident]. [Lorenzo] Snow gave me private papers to read concerning our indebtedness and moral responsibility for debts. It is a mystery to me where these millions have gone to say nothing of the 6 or 700 000 dol in come we have every year which for years has vanished like the rest. God help us, and I know he will.
[Brigham Young Jr., Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
130 years ago today - Dec 21, 1888
[Brigham Young Jr.]
Had conversation with Bro[ther & Apostle] F. M. Lyman on his surrendering to the Marshall and pleading guilty to living with two women as his wives. I confess that my father always taught me to never, voluntarily surrender to the enemy. Pres[iden]t Taylor charged me upon three several occasions to keep out of "their" hands, meaning the Marshall and Courts, as he also charged all the Twelve.
[Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Had conversation with Bro[ther & Apostle] F. M. Lyman on his surrendering to the Marshall and pleading guilty to living with two women as his wives. I confess that my father always taught me to never, voluntarily surrender to the enemy. Pres[iden]t Taylor charged me upon three several occasions to keep out of "their" hands, meaning the Marshall and Courts, as he also charged all the Twelve.
[Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
135 years ago today - Dec 21, 1883; Friday
[Anthony Ivins]
This morning a great excitement was created by an uprising of the people on account of the Nickel money [a new version of the nickel] which has been put in circulation by the govt. A large number of people gathered in front of the national palace where they became boisterous in their demands that the nickel money be called in. Cavelry finally charged the crowd and dispersed it but not until much damage had been done by the breaking of [street] lamps windows &c. by the infuriated mob.
[Anderson, Elizabeth Oberdick, editor, Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins: 1875-1932, Signature Books, Salt Lake City in association with the Smith-Pettit Foundation (2013) - http://bit.ly/AnthonyIvins]
This morning a great excitement was created by an uprising of the people on account of the Nickel money [a new version of the nickel] which has been put in circulation by the govt. A large number of people gathered in front of the national palace where they became boisterous in their demands that the nickel money be called in. Cavelry finally charged the crowd and dispersed it but not until much damage had been done by the breaking of [street] lamps windows &c. by the infuriated mob.
[Anderson, Elizabeth Oberdick, editor, Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins: 1875-1932, Signature Books, Salt Lake City in association with the Smith-Pettit Foundation (2013) - http://bit.ly/AnthonyIvins]
160 years ago today - winter of 1858
Freemasonry made its first organized appearance in Utah during the winter of 1858 when twenty-three officers and men of Johnston's Army, sent to quell the reported "rebellion of Mormons," sought fraternal fellowship at their inhospitable outpost of Camp Floyd near Fairfield, called "Frogtown."
[Utah History Encyclopedia: Freemasonry in Utah, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]
[Utah History Encyclopedia: Freemasonry in Utah, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]
175 years ago today - Dec 21, 1843
The city council sends to the Congress of the United States a petition that explains the abuses suffered by the Saints in Missouri and the unwillingness of the state of Illinois to protect the Saints. They therefore ask Congress to make the City of Nauvoo an independent sovereign territory, free from the control of the state of Illinois, to be governed as the Congress governs any other territory. Joseph instructs the police force to clean the streets of carrion, to stop boys from fighting in the streets, to keep children from floating on ice, and to correct anything else out of order; he also offers to build the city jail.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
5 years ago today - Dec 20, 2013
District Judge Robert Shelby rules against the state and overturns Utah's same-sex marriage ban. Same-sex couples rush to county clerk offices to obtain marriage licenses. State files for an emergency stay on Shelby's ruling and is denied.
[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]
[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]
55 years ago today - Dec 20, 1963
[U.S. Senator Frank Moss (D-Utah) to Hugh B. Brown] I read the account of Apostle Benson's speech in the Logan LDS Tabernacle in the December 15th issue of the Herald Journal. I won't comment on the contents of the speech except to say that it appears that he has not changed his position at all from that that he expressed in Los Angeles at the testimonial dinner for Robert Welch. On page 10 there is a picture of Reed Benson passing out copies of the speech of Ezra T. Benson, and on that same page the following paragraph in the article says: "Copies of Elder Benson's complete speech were available at the meeting or can be obtained by writing directly to him at the LDS Church Offices in Salt Lake City, the Apostle said." I don't know how we could be tied in more closely as a Church with the doctrines espoused by Ezra Taft Benson than by an announcement of this sort. I continue to be bombarded daily by questions and criticisms back here.
[Frank E. Moss to Hugh B. Brown, Moss Papers as referenced in Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)]
[Frank E. Moss to Hugh B. Brown, Moss Papers as referenced in Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)]
60 years ago today - Dec 20, 1958
First television broadcast of Mormon Tabernacle Choir takes place on KSL television.
[Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984]
[Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984]
100 years ago today - Dec 20, 1918
Special Fast for arrest of influenza epidemic
[1918-December 20-Deseret News, December 20, 1918; Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
[1918-December 20-Deseret News, December 20, 1918; Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
130 years ago today - Thursday, Dec 20, 1888
[John Henry Smith]
A communication [regarding amnesty] from some outside friends was read and, beginning with the youngest, each member of the twelve gave their views and we were a unite that we could not subscribe to the conditions prescribed [abandoning polygamy]. President Woodruff said all of the brethren had spoken right and had we accepted the proposition the Lord would have rejected us, as the Doctrine of celestial marriage had come to stay for all time. [Brigham Young Jr., Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards, & Heber J. Grant each record the same sentiment in their journals.]
[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]
A communication [regarding amnesty] from some outside friends was read and, beginning with the youngest, each member of the twelve gave their views and we were a unite that we could not subscribe to the conditions prescribed [abandoning polygamy]. President Woodruff said all of the brethren had spoken right and had we accepted the proposition the Lord would have rejected us, as the Doctrine of celestial marriage had come to stay for all time. [Brigham Young Jr., Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards, & Heber J. Grant each record the same sentiment in their journals.]
[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]
135 years ago today - Dec 20, 1883
[Wilford Woodruff]
20 I had an Interview with Elders Ray & Hawks and three Lamanite Elders who had Come to get their Endowment in the Temple. Their Names were Charoquis Erastus (Son in Law to the Chief Ivan Lot of the Maricopa tribe) Also Nephi Montano, & Peblo Flores. Charoquis Erastus is an Elder & a vary intelligent man. He speaks the English Spanish & several Indian tongue. He has visited New York Boston, Philadelphia, Washington & Salt Lake. He was the leading Scout under Crook in the late Apache war. He has a great desire for the Conversion of his tribe & the Pimos and wished to go and labor among them as a Missionary. The Mariacopes & Pimos number over 40,000 and all seem ready to receive the gospel. I ordained Charoquis Erastus a seventy I think the first Lamanite ordained to that office in the Church.
These Lamanites all received their Endowments. Were much pleased and deeply interested. There is also 40,000 of the Papagoes and all looking to the Latter Day Saints for Council.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
20 I had an Interview with Elders Ray & Hawks and three Lamanite Elders who had Come to get their Endowment in the Temple. Their Names were Charoquis Erastus (Son in Law to the Chief Ivan Lot of the Maricopa tribe) Also Nephi Montano, & Peblo Flores. Charoquis Erastus is an Elder & a vary intelligent man. He speaks the English Spanish & several Indian tongue. He has visited New York Boston, Philadelphia, Washington & Salt Lake. He was the leading Scout under Crook in the late Apache war. He has a great desire for the Conversion of his tribe & the Pimos and wished to go and labor among them as a Missionary. The Mariacopes & Pimos number over 40,000 and all seem ready to receive the gospel. I ordained Charoquis Erastus a seventy I think the first Lamanite ordained to that office in the Church.
These Lamanites all received their Endowments. Were much pleased and deeply interested. There is also 40,000 of the Papagoes and all looking to the Latter Day Saints for Council.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
180 years ago today - Dec 20, 1838
Emma Smith visits her husband, Joseph, in Liberty Jail, Missouri, and spends two days confined with him in the jail.
170 years ago today - Dec 20, 1848
[Wilford Woodruff]
In the midst of this order of things, the Latter Day Saints discover vast quantities of Gold at the base of the mountains of Israel in the valley of the sacramento in upper Calafornia. And not ownly the people of the United States but of other nations ketch the sound of Gold Gold & tens of thousands are rushing forward evry way in their power to get to the gold country as A Horse would rush to Battle. But the Amount of Gold, silver, Coper &c discoverd in that Country indicates that the word of the Lord spoken by Isaiah will be fulfilled, when He says that "for Brass He will bring Gold "for Iron I will bring silver, for wood brass for stones Iron, &c. Truly this is an age big with Events.
Companies Are forming in all most all parts of the United States And ships in all our ports pre-pareing to take the people to the Bay of San Francisco which is ownly 20 miles from Capt Sutters Fort whare the Mormon gold digings commenced. And It seems As though all the world thought of at the present time was to obtain gold. Though the Cholera has commenced spreading in New York once more yet the gold panic is so much greater then the fear of the Cholery that it is hardy noticed.
Among the letters which I obtained yesterday was one from O Hyde who informed me that Olever Cowdery had come back to the Church had made satisfaction And was voted to come in by the door of Baptism. He was the first man baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in this last dispensation, under the Hands of Joseph Smith the Prophet but after being out of the Church Eleven years He had now returned again. And may the Lord bless him & Keep him steadfast unto the end.
The following is A Fac similae of the Alphabet used in conveying intelligence by the magnetic telegraph:
A.- B-... C... D-.. E. F.-. G--. H .... I.. J-.-.K-.- L- M-- N-. O[..] P----- Q..-. R.-. S... T- U..- V...- W.-- X.-.. Y.. Z--- - &- -- 1.--. 2..-.. 3...-. 4....- 5--- 6...... 7--.. 8-..... 9-.-- 0- [sic]. [One line of dots and dashes not decipherable.] <Remember the [law?] [-] of [-].>
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
In the midst of this order of things, the Latter Day Saints discover vast quantities of Gold at the base of the mountains of Israel in the valley of the sacramento in upper Calafornia. And not ownly the people of the United States but of other nations ketch the sound of Gold Gold & tens of thousands are rushing forward evry way in their power to get to the gold country as A Horse would rush to Battle. But the Amount of Gold, silver, Coper &c discoverd in that Country indicates that the word of the Lord spoken by Isaiah will be fulfilled, when He says that "for Brass He will bring Gold "for Iron I will bring silver, for wood brass for stones Iron, &c. Truly this is an age big with Events.
Companies Are forming in all most all parts of the United States And ships in all our ports pre-pareing to take the people to the Bay of San Francisco which is ownly 20 miles from Capt Sutters Fort whare the Mormon gold digings commenced. And It seems As though all the world thought of at the present time was to obtain gold. Though the Cholera has commenced spreading in New York once more yet the gold panic is so much greater then the fear of the Cholery that it is hardy noticed.
Among the letters which I obtained yesterday was one from O Hyde who informed me that Olever Cowdery had come back to the Church had made satisfaction And was voted to come in by the door of Baptism. He was the first man baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in this last dispensation, under the Hands of Joseph Smith the Prophet but after being out of the Church Eleven years He had now returned again. And may the Lord bless him & Keep him steadfast unto the end.
The following is A Fac similae of the Alphabet used in conveying intelligence by the magnetic telegraph:
A.- B-... C... D-.. E. F.-. G--. H .... I.. J-.-.K-.- L- M-- N-. O[..] P----- Q..-. R.-. S... T- U..- V...- W.-- X.-.. Y.. Z--- - &- -- 1.--. 2..-.. 3...-. 4....- 5--- 6...... 7--.. 8-..... 9-.-- 0- [sic]. [One line of dots and dashes not decipherable.] <Remember the [law?] [-] of [-].>
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
185 years ago today - about (Fri) Dec 20, 1833
According to his lawyer, James A. Briggs, D. P. Hurlbut "had some trouble with the Mormons at Kirtland... and he had the prophet, Joseph Smith, arrested on a warrant of a justice of the peace for assault and battery..." If this is correct, Hurlbut probably filed his complaint against Joseph Smith with a Justice of the Peace in Painesville, several miles north of the Mormon stronghold. But according to Kirtland Justice of the Peace, John C. Dowen, "Hurlbut said he would "kill" Jo Smith. He meant he would kill Mormonism. The Mormons urged me to issue a writ against him. I did... He was brought to trial..." What probably happened was that Hurlbut and Smith brought charges against each other almost simultaneously. A combined pre-trial hearing was scheduled to take place before two Justices of the Peace in Painesville. This caused Smith to file a complaint on December 21, 1833 against Hurlbut before the Justice of the Peace in Kirtland, J. C. Dowen. A warrant for Hurlbut's arrest was issued Hurlbut appeared before the Justice of the Peace in Painesville..
[Broadhurst, Dale R., Mormon Chronology, http://olivercowdery.com/history/morchrn2.htm]
[Broadhurst, Dale R., Mormon Chronology, http://olivercowdery.com/history/morchrn2.htm]
25 years ago today - Dec 19, 1993
An LDS missionary choir sings carols in St. Peter's Basilica during the broadcast of Christmas Mass by Vatican Radio. This is the spontaneous idea of a young missionary, apparently not coordinated by LDS headquarters.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
45 years ago today - Dec 19, 1973-Wednesday
[Leonard Arrington]
I asked Brother [Wendell] Ashton if he should have a piece prepared for publication whether he had to clear it through correlation. "Heavens no," he said. "I would never submit anything we prepared to correlation. They would ruin everything," he said. I shook his hand on that proposition, and he said that he had been a member of Church Correlation Committee before and he objected to this reading for subject matter. He said the psychology is all wrong. Correlation makes so many suggested changes and it is so difficult to get certain matters through Correlation that the auxiliary leaders sponsoring manuals give up their responsibility and assume that a task is completed when it has passed Correlation. Brother Ashton said something could pass Correlation and still not be well written or stimulating or instructive or thought provoking or accomplish any of the tasks the auxiliaries wanted to accomplish in their manuals. In short, something could pass Correlation and still be dull. I shook his hand on that proposition too. I talked to him somewhat frankly about the problems we have in writing good biographies and regretted that we had not produced better biography and said that I doubted we could do very much about it as long as family members and Church officials are so sensitive about giving realistic appraisals. Sister Ashton, whom I have tended to regard as one of those in favor of close supervision and censorship, asked me why we want to employ Church people to write biographies and histories-why don't we let them be written by independent persons who can tell the story honestly. She asked me in writing history and biography if we have to consider what the Church will think. I said, "Certainly." She said, "Then your writing can never be as objective and straightforward and honest as that of someone who doesn't have to consider the wishes of the church." She said how much she enjoyed Juanita Brooks. She said if she wanted to get a straightforward account of something, she would read from Juanita instead of from the Church Historian's accounts. I said, "What is wrong with letting our own people have the freedom to write things honestly so that the members of the Church can depend on what they say?" She apparently feels that that is an impossible dream. It is peculiar to find a Church leader's wife preferring Juanita Brooks because she gives an honest account while at the same time her husband and other Church leaders are preventing the rest of us from giving the same honest account. It shows the great need we have to convince Church leaders of the necessity of writing honest history. ...
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
I asked Brother [Wendell] Ashton if he should have a piece prepared for publication whether he had to clear it through correlation. "Heavens no," he said. "I would never submit anything we prepared to correlation. They would ruin everything," he said. I shook his hand on that proposition, and he said that he had been a member of Church Correlation Committee before and he objected to this reading for subject matter. He said the psychology is all wrong. Correlation makes so many suggested changes and it is so difficult to get certain matters through Correlation that the auxiliary leaders sponsoring manuals give up their responsibility and assume that a task is completed when it has passed Correlation. Brother Ashton said something could pass Correlation and still not be well written or stimulating or instructive or thought provoking or accomplish any of the tasks the auxiliaries wanted to accomplish in their manuals. In short, something could pass Correlation and still be dull. I shook his hand on that proposition too. I talked to him somewhat frankly about the problems we have in writing good biographies and regretted that we had not produced better biography and said that I doubted we could do very much about it as long as family members and Church officials are so sensitive about giving realistic appraisals. Sister Ashton, whom I have tended to regard as one of those in favor of close supervision and censorship, asked me why we want to employ Church people to write biographies and histories-why don't we let them be written by independent persons who can tell the story honestly. She asked me in writing history and biography if we have to consider what the Church will think. I said, "Certainly." She said, "Then your writing can never be as objective and straightforward and honest as that of someone who doesn't have to consider the wishes of the church." She said how much she enjoyed Juanita Brooks. She said if she wanted to get a straightforward account of something, she would read from Juanita instead of from the Church Historian's accounts. I said, "What is wrong with letting our own people have the freedom to write things honestly so that the members of the Church can depend on what they say?" She apparently feels that that is an impossible dream. It is peculiar to find a Church leader's wife preferring Juanita Brooks because she gives an honest account while at the same time her husband and other Church leaders are preventing the rest of us from giving the same honest account. It shows the great need we have to convince Church leaders of the necessity of writing honest history. ...
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
50 years ago today - Dec 19, 1968
BYU's Daily Universe publishes an article in favor of recruiting African-American athletes. BYU's president writes: "This argues all the more in favor of our making the student newspaper an agency of our Communications Department rather than a student publication." The Universe ceases to be an independent student paper on 18 Apr. 1969, but "nothing would be announced about this new policy."
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
125 years ago today - Dec 19, 1893
[President Wilford Woodruff]
The [traditionally anti-Mormon] Liberal Party disbanded last night and to day Cease to Exist. The Clergymen of various sects met Last night & the Majority voted to no longer oppose Statehood for Utah. A great Change is manifest Concerning The Saints.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
The [traditionally anti-Mormon] Liberal Party disbanded last night and to day Cease to Exist. The Clergymen of various sects met Last night & the Majority voted to no longer oppose Statehood for Utah. A great Change is manifest Concerning The Saints.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
175 years ago today - Dec 19, 1843
[Patriarchal Blessing of Lorenzo Snow by Isaac Morley (who first entered into plural marriage on this day)] ... And it shall be thy gift and blessing to receive the Comforter even the Spirit of Truth which shall lead and guide thee into all Truth Thou hast thy gift & blessing of discernment of spirits to detect error and imbrace [embrace] truth Ask and thou shalt receive the gift and blessing of a white stone in that stone a new name written that no man knoweth save him to whom it is given. ... Prisions [Prisons] shall only cause thee to smile to see the follies of men. Power from on high shall be given thee & clear thy way before thee
Rememember [Remember] thy calling that thou art call[e]d to prune the Vineyard of the Lord in this last Dispensation ... Thou shalt ever be admired by all who are lovely & enjoy the society of Kings and Nobles. Brother Joseph shall be thy Prophet and Friend. ... and in the name of Jesus I seal the blessings of Eternal Life upon thy head Amen & Amen
[Patriarchal Blessings]
Rememember [Remember] thy calling that thou art call[e]d to prune the Vineyard of the Lord in this last Dispensation ... Thou shalt ever be admired by all who are lovely & enjoy the society of Kings and Nobles. Brother Joseph shall be thy Prophet and Friend. ... and in the name of Jesus I seal the blessings of Eternal Life upon thy head Amen & Amen
[Patriarchal Blessings]
175 years ago today - Dec 19, 1843
The 100-man detachment of the Nauvoo Legion parades near the temple for inspection in readiness against the mob possibly forming in Warsaw. One man is wounded when his own gun accidentally discharges.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
180 years ago today - Dec 19, 1838
Joseph F. Smith is born in Far West, Missouri (Nov. 13) Joseph Smith is imprisoned in Liberty Jail (Dec. 1)
[Madsen, Truman G., The Presidents of the Church]
[Madsen, Truman G., The Presidents of the Church]
180 years ago today - Dec 19, 1838
John Taylor: Appointed apostle by written revelation 8 July 1838, sustained by conference vote 6 Oct., ordained apostle 19 Dec. 1838, but not sustained as a "prophet, seer, and revelator" until 1877
John E Page: Ordained apostle 19 Dec. 1838, but never sustained as "a prophct, seer, and rcvclator"
They replaced John F. Boynton and Lyman E. Johnson, who had apostatized.
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 6, Biographical Sketches of General Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
John E Page: Ordained apostle 19 Dec. 1838, but never sustained as "a prophct, seer, and rcvclator"
They replaced John F. Boynton and Lyman E. Johnson, who had apostatized.
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 6, Biographical Sketches of General Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
180 years ago today - Dec 19, 1838
John Corrill presents a petition to the state legislature signed by Edward Partridge, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others, which explains the history of the conflict in Missouri. A Mr. Turner submits a bill calling for a full investigation of the troubles in Missouri. A huge debate develops over the problem, but eventually nothing happens. After the Saints have completely left Missouri, $2,000 in relief funds is approved for the 12,000 Saints, while $200,000 is voted to pay the state militia for the expenses in the Mormon war.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
160 years ago today - Dec 18, 1858
[Wilford Woodruff]
... I met with Lorenzo Snow F. D. Richards & Daniel Spencer for the purpose of Hearing a Statement made By Brother & Sister Hoyt Concerning their being disturbed by a Company of the Saints. The following is their Story:
On the 28th Sept at 10 oclok they had a Child born it being the first Child born unto them they having been married over 20 years. A Company of the Mormons Came & surrounded his house about 25 of them. They blew Horns & sang the most vulgar songs for about one hour then went away about an hour & returned & appeared to be more than at First. They commenced to tear things to peaces. Killed some hens made them squell opened the windows & flung the fowls onto the beds. Filled his windows with fence polls also his Chimney. Dirtied up their beds. The wind blew upon their Children. As fast as they would open the windows on one side they would shut them till they were fastened open. They poured out a Jug of vineger. They yoked up a pair of his oxen facing each other. They said the Bishop told them to go down & sereanade him till he would treat. He said the Bishop would tell him what he did say to them. He lent them a Base drum to go with.
Brother Hoyt said He had talked the matter over with Bishop Brunson & had agreed to settel it. He also read a Letter which He had written to President Young & accused Brother Brunson of trying to get one of his wives away from him. The mob shot many pistols while in their operation.
Our Horses were hitched up & I had to leave in the midst of their story. I talked with Brother Brunson & he denyed being the instigator of it.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
... I met with Lorenzo Snow F. D. Richards & Daniel Spencer for the purpose of Hearing a Statement made By Brother & Sister Hoyt Concerning their being disturbed by a Company of the Saints. The following is their Story:
On the 28th Sept at 10 oclok they had a Child born it being the first Child born unto them they having been married over 20 years. A Company of the Mormons Came & surrounded his house about 25 of them. They blew Horns & sang the most vulgar songs for about one hour then went away about an hour & returned & appeared to be more than at First. They commenced to tear things to peaces. Killed some hens made them squell opened the windows & flung the fowls onto the beds. Filled his windows with fence polls also his Chimney. Dirtied up their beds. The wind blew upon their Children. As fast as they would open the windows on one side they would shut them till they were fastened open. They poured out a Jug of vineger. They yoked up a pair of his oxen facing each other. They said the Bishop told them to go down & sereanade him till he would treat. He said the Bishop would tell him what he did say to them. He lent them a Base drum to go with.
Brother Hoyt said He had talked the matter over with Bishop Brunson & had agreed to settel it. He also read a Letter which He had written to President Young & accused Brother Brunson of trying to get one of his wives away from him. The mob shot many pistols while in their operation.
Our Horses were hitched up & I had to leave in the midst of their story. I talked with Brother Brunson & he denyed being the instigator of it.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
175 years ago today - Dec 18, 1843
A constable, King Follett, returns to Nauvoo, having gone with ten men to arrest John Elliott, a schoolmaster, on the charge of kidnapping Avery and his son. Elliott is put under a $3,000 bond. Joseph, however, pleads in Elliott's behalf for a reduction in the amount of bail. In spite of Joseph's emotional and eloquent speech, Elliott threatens Joseph's life, and Joseph charges Elliott with making threats. At this time, rumors of a warlike force gathering in Warsaw hit Nauvoo, and Joseph orders out a 100-man detachment of the Nauvoo Legion for military purposes.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
185 years ago today - 1833: 18 December
[Patriarchal Blessing]
Given by Joseph Smith, Jr.?)
"Blessed of the Lord is brother [name erased, but was probably Oliver Cowdery, who was later cut off from the church] ... he is blessed of the Lord for his constancy and steadfastness in the work of the Lord: Wherefore, he shall be blessed in his generations, and they shall never be cut off; ... He shall be blessed with the blessings that couch beneath; even the hidden things of the ancient mountains: even the records that have been hid from the first ages, from generation to generation shall he be an instrument in the hands of his God, with his brother Joseph, of translating and bringing forth to the house of Israel. And blessed upon the mountains shall his feet be, for he shall publish peace and salvation among all the Gentile nations, and lo, lo, among the Jews, also: and his name shall be had in remembrance among all nations, and it shall be said of him, This man is blessed of the Lord for he went out in search of the promised land like Abraham of old, not knowing whither he went, and the right hand of his God did protect him that he did not stop till his feet stood thereon: therefore, for this he is blessed and his posterity after him; and when men bless in Israel they shall bless, saying, The Lord bless thee as he did his servant [name erased] who sought diligently for the promised land, whereon the city of Zion should stand: the Lord bring peace and blessings upon thy house as he has upon the house of this man; for inasmuch as he has done like Abraham, in this thing, the blessings of his father--Abraham shall come upon him. Thus shall his name remain a blessing. And he shall yet do the work of an evangelist in his day; and Zion shall rejoice for the multitudes that shall flow unto her--because of him. And he shall be kept under the shadow of the wing of the Almighty, and be made a polished shaft in his quiver, and send forth by his mighty hand. He shall sit in the council of the patriarchs, with his brother Joseph and with him have part in the keys of that ministry when the Ancient of Days shall come. Behold, there is no end to the blessings and glories that shall come upon my brother [name erased] yet in his days; for he shall have part with me in the keys of the kingdom of the last days, and we shall judge this generation by our testimony: and the keys shall never be taken from us but shall vest with us for an everlasting priesthood, forever and ever. Behold, he shall be a choice lawyer in Israel both pertaining to the law of God and also the law of man, for he shall have understanding in these matters. He shall be equal in the councils of Israel, for he shall sit in the great assemblys of the house of Jacob, and by his understanding shall they be benefited. He shall also stand in the councils of nations and states, and his voice shall be heard in the midst of the most renowned among the statesmen of the world, and by his superior intelligence and great wisdom convince them of their errors: thus shall he be reverenced; for he shall be had in repute even by governors and kings, and stand in the legislatures of nations. And because of the liberality of his soul shall the poor be benefitted, and their blessings shall rest upon his head: Though his heart shall desire, above all things, to see the law of God fulfilled, yet because he is ever filled with charity he shall be quick to forgive the transgressor, when he repents. He shall be blessed with an abundance of the good things of this earth, even with houses and with lands, and in the fruit of the vine, the fruit of the olive and the fruit of the field, and in the abundance of cattle, and of horses, and of asses, and of she asses, of sheep, and of goats, of camels, dromedaries, and all swift beasts, and of chariots in abundance, with gold and with silver, with diamonds and all precious stones, with brass and with iron, and with the choice platina, and of blessings at home and abroad, and of blessings pertaining to right among the nobles of the earth, in palaces of governors and kings, and in foreign nations, and in kingdoms afar off unto the utmost parts of the earth, and they shall acknowledge his right and his authority. So shall the blessings come upon my brother [name erased] and upon his seed after him, from generation to generation, unto the latest posterity. These blessings shall come upon him according to the blessings of the prophecy of Joseph, in ancient days, which he said should come upon the Seer of the last days and the Scribe that should sit with him, and that should be ordained with him, by the hand of the angel in the bush, unto the lesser priesthood, and after receive the holy priesthood under the hands of those who had been held in reserve for a long season even those who received it under the hand of the Messiah, while he should dwell in the flesh, upon the earth, and should receive the blessings with him, even the Seer of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saith he, even Joseph of old, by his hand, even God. And he shall inherit a crown of eternal life, at the end; and while in the flesh shall stand up in Zion and assist to crown the tribes of Jacob; even so. Amen.
Oliver Cowdery, Clerk and Recorder
Given December 18, 1833, and recorded in this book October 2, 1835."
[Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Given by Joseph Smith, Jr.?)
"Blessed of the Lord is brother [name erased, but was probably Oliver Cowdery, who was later cut off from the church] ... he is blessed of the Lord for his constancy and steadfastness in the work of the Lord: Wherefore, he shall be blessed in his generations, and they shall never be cut off; ... He shall be blessed with the blessings that couch beneath; even the hidden things of the ancient mountains: even the records that have been hid from the first ages, from generation to generation shall he be an instrument in the hands of his God, with his brother Joseph, of translating and bringing forth to the house of Israel. And blessed upon the mountains shall his feet be, for he shall publish peace and salvation among all the Gentile nations, and lo, lo, among the Jews, also: and his name shall be had in remembrance among all nations, and it shall be said of him, This man is blessed of the Lord for he went out in search of the promised land like Abraham of old, not knowing whither he went, and the right hand of his God did protect him that he did not stop till his feet stood thereon: therefore, for this he is blessed and his posterity after him; and when men bless in Israel they shall bless, saying, The Lord bless thee as he did his servant [name erased] who sought diligently for the promised land, whereon the city of Zion should stand: the Lord bring peace and blessings upon thy house as he has upon the house of this man; for inasmuch as he has done like Abraham, in this thing, the blessings of his father--Abraham shall come upon him. Thus shall his name remain a blessing. And he shall yet do the work of an evangelist in his day; and Zion shall rejoice for the multitudes that shall flow unto her--because of him. And he shall be kept under the shadow of the wing of the Almighty, and be made a polished shaft in his quiver, and send forth by his mighty hand. He shall sit in the council of the patriarchs, with his brother Joseph and with him have part in the keys of that ministry when the Ancient of Days shall come. Behold, there is no end to the blessings and glories that shall come upon my brother [name erased] yet in his days; for he shall have part with me in the keys of the kingdom of the last days, and we shall judge this generation by our testimony: and the keys shall never be taken from us but shall vest with us for an everlasting priesthood, forever and ever. Behold, he shall be a choice lawyer in Israel both pertaining to the law of God and also the law of man, for he shall have understanding in these matters. He shall be equal in the councils of Israel, for he shall sit in the great assemblys of the house of Jacob, and by his understanding shall they be benefited. He shall also stand in the councils of nations and states, and his voice shall be heard in the midst of the most renowned among the statesmen of the world, and by his superior intelligence and great wisdom convince them of their errors: thus shall he be reverenced; for he shall be had in repute even by governors and kings, and stand in the legislatures of nations. And because of the liberality of his soul shall the poor be benefitted, and their blessings shall rest upon his head: Though his heart shall desire, above all things, to see the law of God fulfilled, yet because he is ever filled with charity he shall be quick to forgive the transgressor, when he repents. He shall be blessed with an abundance of the good things of this earth, even with houses and with lands, and in the fruit of the vine, the fruit of the olive and the fruit of the field, and in the abundance of cattle, and of horses, and of asses, and of she asses, of sheep, and of goats, of camels, dromedaries, and all swift beasts, and of chariots in abundance, with gold and with silver, with diamonds and all precious stones, with brass and with iron, and with the choice platina, and of blessings at home and abroad, and of blessings pertaining to right among the nobles of the earth, in palaces of governors and kings, and in foreign nations, and in kingdoms afar off unto the utmost parts of the earth, and they shall acknowledge his right and his authority. So shall the blessings come upon my brother [name erased] and upon his seed after him, from generation to generation, unto the latest posterity. These blessings shall come upon him according to the blessings of the prophecy of Joseph, in ancient days, which he said should come upon the Seer of the last days and the Scribe that should sit with him, and that should be ordained with him, by the hand of the angel in the bush, unto the lesser priesthood, and after receive the holy priesthood under the hands of those who had been held in reserve for a long season even those who received it under the hand of the Messiah, while he should dwell in the flesh, upon the earth, and should receive the blessings with him, even the Seer of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saith he, even Joseph of old, by his hand, even God. And he shall inherit a crown of eternal life, at the end; and while in the flesh shall stand up in Zion and assist to crown the tribes of Jacob; even so. Amen.
Oliver Cowdery, Clerk and Recorder
Given December 18, 1833, and recorded in this book October 2, 1835."
[Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
185 years ago today - Dec 18, 1833
Joseph Smith offers a blessing-prayer for Book of Mormon witness and "second elder" Oliver Cowdery concerning the "two evils in him that he must needs forsake." This refers to Cowdery's recent transgression of entering into a polygamous or adulterous relationship.
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power]
185 years ago today - Dec 18, 1833
Joseph Smith blessed his father, his mother, and three of his brothers during the dedication of the printing press in Kirtland. There is no mention of the Patriarchal office in Father Smith's blessing as recorded in the Prophet's journal. On 6 December 1834 Father Smith "was ordained patriarch and [assistant] president of the High Priesthood". On 9 December 1834 Father Smith pronounced patriarchal blessings on his children, which were recorded in a book in January 1835. In that same volume Oliver Cowdery included the blessings given by Joseph Smith during the 18 December 1833 meeting, but expanded on the wording of the blessings. The Prophet's blessing on his father added the words that Joseph Smith, Sr., was blessed to hold "the keys of the patriarchal Priesthood over the kingdom of God on earth, even the Church of the Latter Day Saints". Because of these words 18 December 1833 has come to regarded as the date for the origination of the office of Presiding Patriarch.
[Lisle G Brown, compiler, "Organizational Chronology of The Church of Christ, and The Church of the Latter Day Saints, 1829 - 1836"]
[Lisle G Brown, compiler, "Organizational Chronology of The Church of Christ, and The Church of the Latter Day Saints, 1829 - 1836"]
185 years ago today - Dec 18, 1833
The Kirtland press and materials are dedicated. Joseph Smith blesses his father; his brothers, Hyrum, Samuel, William, and Don Carlos; Oliver Cowdery; Frederick G. Williams; and Sidney Rigdon. Oliver records the blessings. In his blessing, he and Joseph have fulfilled the biblical Joseph's prophecy that a Seer and his Scribe would be ordained "by the hand of the angel in the bush, unto the lesser priesthood, and after receive the holy priesthood under the hands of ... those who received it under the hand of the Messiah."
[Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
[Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
185 years ago today - Dec 18, 1833
Joseph Smith saw Jehovah appear to Adam at Adam-ondi-Ahman.
[BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith, http://byustudies.byu.edu]
[BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith, http://byustudies.byu.edu]
60 years ago today - Dec 17, 1958
President David O. McKay dedicates the Church College of Hawaii campus (later known as BYU—Hawaii), in Laie, Hawaii.
65 years ago today - Dec 17, 1953
[J. Reuben Clark]
[In conversation with Ernest McKay of Ogden at 8:45 a.m. regarding the bitterness in Ogden about the possibility of the Weber College reverting to the LDS Church:] Bro. McKay: It is a terrible situation. We are in such a terrible situation. I don't know what to say and what to do. There is so much bitterness developed and everything is running rampant. I wanted to talk to somebody and get some help.
Pres. Clark: He has had this under consideration and I am sure is doing all he can.
Bro. McKay: The thing I am concerned about is if he understands the bitterness.
Pres. Clark: He has been told about it.
Bro. McKay: That is the thing that alarms us. It is something terrible. It is going beyond control ...
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
[In conversation with Ernest McKay of Ogden at 8:45 a.m. regarding the bitterness in Ogden about the possibility of the Weber College reverting to the LDS Church:] Bro. McKay: It is a terrible situation. We are in such a terrible situation. I don't know what to say and what to do. There is so much bitterness developed and everything is running rampant. I wanted to talk to somebody and get some help.
Pres. Clark: He has had this under consideration and I am sure is doing all he can.
Bro. McKay: The thing I am concerned about is if he understands the bitterness.
Pres. Clark: He has been told about it.
Bro. McKay: That is the thing that alarms us. It is something terrible. It is going beyond control ...
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
80 years ago today - Dec 17, 1938
[Heber J. Grant]
Brother George F. Richards called at the office and showed us a sample of a temple apron, which President McKay and I approved. I very much like the appearance of it. It looks more expensive than the others and yet it is cheaper. It is worked on a machine instead of by hand.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
Brother George F. Richards called at the office and showed us a sample of a temple apron, which President McKay and I approved. I very much like the appearance of it. It looks more expensive than the others and yet it is cheaper. It is worked on a machine instead of by hand.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
105 years ago today - Dec 17, 1913
The death of Joseph Smith's last surviving plural wife, Mary E. Rollins Lightner. She helped save the still-unbound Book of Commandments from the printing office set afire by a mob in 1833. She witnessed the adoption of the 1835 D&C, which prohibited polygamy, and became a secret plural wife of Joseph Smith at Nauvoo while still living with her non-Mormon husband. She moved with her husband to Utah where she also witnessed polygamy's accepted practice in Mormon society, its "underground" survival despite federal raid, its official prohibition by the 1890 Manifesto, the renewal of authorized polygamy despite official denials, the Second Manifesto and disciplining of two apostles for post-Manifesto polygamy, the general disfavor of plural marriage by "modern" Latter-day Saints, and even the early stages of Fundamentalist polygamy.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
175 years ago today - Dec 16, 1843
The Nauvoo City Council hears Joseph Smith say: "I prophecy by virtue of the Holy Priesthood vested in me [and] in the name of Jesus Christ that if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection they shall be broken up as a government and God shall damn them. There shall nothing be left of them, not even a grease spot." Congress ignores the petition.
When this was reprinted in the HC (vol. 6, 116), 18 words were omitted in order to read: `While discussing the petition to Congress, I prophesied, by virtue of the holy Priesthood vested in me, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government.* * * *' Notice how the comma after the word `government' was changed to a period in order to make it appear as if the sentence was complete."
[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; Abanes, R., "One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church," Four Walls Eight Windows: New York NY, 2002, p.467)]
When this was reprinted in the HC (vol. 6, 116), 18 words were omitted in order to read: `While discussing the petition to Congress, I prophesied, by virtue of the holy Priesthood vested in me, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, if Congress will not hear our petition and grant us protection, they shall be broken up as a government.* * * *' Notice how the comma after the word `government' was changed to a period in order to make it appear as if the sentence was complete."
[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; Abanes, R., "One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church," Four Walls Eight Windows: New York NY, 2002, p.467)]
180 years ago today - Dec 16, 1838
Joseph Smith writes [from Libery Jail] in a letter: "Was it for committing adultery that we were assailed? We are aware that that false slander has gone abroad, for it has been reiterated in our ears. These are falsehoods also.
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
185 years ago today - Dec 16, 1833
Doctrine and Covenants 101. Inhabitants of Zion brought persecution on themselves by transgression, but the Lord will remember them. He will let his sword fall in their behalf. During millennium Satan will have no power. Those born during the millennium will not die, but be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Continue to gather, purchase lands in Zion. No other gathering place. Appeal to the courts, governor, and president. If they won't restore lands, the Lord will. Don't sell property in Zion.
[Kenney, Scott; Saints Without Halos, 'Doctrine and Covenants,' http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/s/_dc.phtml]
[Kenney, Scott; Saints Without Halos, 'Doctrine and Covenants,' http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/s/_dc.phtml]
45 years ago today - Dec 15, 1973
A First Presidency statement, in response to the Middle East oil embargo, urges energy conservation and authorizes local wards and branches to hold all auxiliary meetings on a single day of the week.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
30 years ago today - Dec 15, 1988
After more than a year of confinement to a wheelchair, the Twelve's president Howard W. Hunter walks into the council room of the Salt Lake temple. Apostles stand and clap their hands, which is apparently the first occasion of applause in the temple council room.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
120 years ago today - Thursday, Dec 15, 1898
Apostle Rudger Clawson wanted to know if the authorities approved of the teachings of a certain sister by the name of Hannah Sorensen, relating particulary to "diet" and "marital relations of the sexes." Stated that she was so radical in her views upon these subjects that harm was being done among young married women in the Box Elder Stake, who had studied in her classes. Some discussion ensued, and the general opinion seemed to be that Sister Sorensen was a "frank," or in other words, an extremist.
[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]
[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]
155 years ago today - Dec 15, 1863
[Wilford Woodruff]
I spent the day in the Legislature to day we met in Joint Session and Received the Acting Govornors Message which was vary good Considering a Gentile Govornor.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
I spent the day in the Legislature to day we met in Joint Session and Received the Acting Govornors Message which was vary good Considering a Gentile Govornor.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
160 years ago today - Dec 15, 1858
In reply to man's request for divorce, "Pres. Young said that when a man married a wife he took her for better or worse, and had no right to ill use her, and if she shit in bed and laid in it until noon; he must bare it, until he gets power over her to learn her better." Young readily grants divorce to unhappy plural wives but requires husband to pay him $10 fee. Young issues 1,600 certificates of divorce for unhappy polygamous marriages. Civil divorces for monogamous marriages are even more common in pioneer Utah where courts require only statement of incompatibility.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
55 years ago today - Dec 14, 1963
"LOGAN, UTAH--Former Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson charged Friday night that the civil-rights movement in the South had been 'formatted almost entirely by the Communists.' Elder Benson, a member of the Council of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a public meeting here that the whole civil-rights movement was 'phony'.***"
[Deseret News, Dec. 14, 1963]
[Deseret News, Dec. 14, 1963]
55 years ago today - Dec 14, 1963
As for the mission call to Europe, at a church farewell on 14 December Reed Benson complained that his father had been "`stabbed' in the back." The Twelve's president [Joseph Fielding Smith] was present to hear the younger Benson's remark that his father's mission call was a back-stab.
[Wilkinson diary, 14 Dec. 1963. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]
[Wilkinson diary, 14 Dec. 1963. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]
65 years ago today - Dec 14, 1953
Brigham Young University produces its first television program, the BYU Christmas Hour. It was an annual remote broadcast run on KTVT until BYU had its own television studio.
[Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984]
[Sherry Baker: Mormon Media History Timeline: 1827-2007, http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=7984]
90 years ago today - Dec 14, 1928
[Heber J. Grant]
John M. Knight called. He had been asked to speak at the funeral of [Mormon fundementalist] John Woolley. We told him that we did not wish him to do so.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
John M. Knight called. He had been asked to speak at the funeral of [Mormon fundementalist] John Woolley. We told him that we did not wish him to do so.
[The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]
95 years ago today - Dec 14, 1923
[George F. Richards]
Called on the First Presidency and attended to some business with them. I presented to them the corrected form of [the] Ceremony for time marriage [sealings] which received their approval.
[George F. Richards diary, Dec. 14, 1923, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
Called on the First Presidency and attended to some business with them. I presented to them the corrected form of [the] Ceremony for time marriage [sealings] which received their approval.
[George F. Richards diary, Dec. 14, 1923, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
175 years ago today - Dec 14, 1843
Joseph receives a letter from Governor Ford stating that he will not call out the state militia for the general protection of Nauvoo, except on rare and very specifically defined occasions. He tells Joseph not to worry about past offenses by the state of Missouri, and says, concerning any affidavits about their wrongs in Missouri given to him by the Mormons the previous August, "I have not yet read them and probably never will." Joseph records his personal anger at Ford's letter.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
55 years ago today - Dec 13, 1963
Lamar Peterson tells Jerald and Sandra Tanner of a 1832 hand written "strange account" first vision, they begin writing about it, pressure builds to release it. Joseph Fielding Smith tapes the removed pages pages back into Joseph Smith's journal and grants access to BYU's Paul Cheesman.
[Chronology of Mormon History, http://followtheprophets.com/chronology-of-mormon-history/]
[Chronology of Mormon History, http://followtheprophets.com/chronology-of-mormon-history/]
55 years ago today - Dec 13, 1963
Ezra Taft Benson's gave a talk in Logan that was an endorsement of the Birch Society. Early in his remarks, he referred to the "Communist attack on the John Birch Society." A textual analysis also revealed that, without citing his source, 24 percent of Benson's talk quoted verbatim from the Blue Book of the John Birch Society, and another 10 percent paraphrased this publication. Benson's talk also repeated such Birch Society themes as the American civil rights movement was "phony" and actually "part of the pattern for the Communist take over of America." Benson's statements against the civil rights movement worsened the LDS church's negative public image during the 1960s.
The apostle predicted that within ten years the United States of America will be ruled by a Communist dictatorship which "will include military occupation, concentration camps, tortures, terror and all that is required to enable about 3% of the population to rule the other 97% as slaves." Benson promised such dire consequences "unless we join with those small but determined and knowledgeable patriots." He added: "Words will not stop the communists" ... " we can no longer resist the Communist conspiracy as free citizens, but can resist Communist tyranny only by themselves becoming conspirators against established government". He rallied Americans to battle Communism "even with our lives, if the time comes when we must . . . before the Godless Communist Conspiracy destroys our civilization."
[Benson, "We Must Become Alerted and Informed: An Address by Ezra Taft Benson At A Public Patriotic Meeting," Logan, Utah, 13 Dec. 1963, 2, transcript, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City; B. Delworth Gardner, N. Keith Roberts, E. Boyd Wennergren preface to an annotated typescript of Benson's "We Must Become Alerted and Informed," Utah State Historical Society. In the margins of this annotated typescript are the page numbers of the Blue Book from which Benson's talk quoted or paraphrased; "Elder Benson Links Reds to (Civil) Rights Furor," Deseret News, 14 Dec. 1963, B-5; "Communism Moving In on U.S., Benson Warns," Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Dec. 1963, 28. Compare with Ross R. Barnett, governor of Mississippi, "The Rape Of Our Constitution and Civil Rights," in the Birch Society's American Opinion 6 (Sept. 1963): 20-23; John Rousselot, "Civil Rights: Communist Betrayal Of A Good Cause," American Opinion 7 (Feb. 1964): 1-11. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]
The apostle predicted that within ten years the United States of America will be ruled by a Communist dictatorship which "will include military occupation, concentration camps, tortures, terror and all that is required to enable about 3% of the population to rule the other 97% as slaves." Benson promised such dire consequences "unless we join with those small but determined and knowledgeable patriots." He added: "Words will not stop the communists" ... " we can no longer resist the Communist conspiracy as free citizens, but can resist Communist tyranny only by themselves becoming conspirators against established government". He rallied Americans to battle Communism "even with our lives, if the time comes when we must . . . before the Godless Communist Conspiracy destroys our civilization."
[Benson, "We Must Become Alerted and Informed: An Address by Ezra Taft Benson At A Public Patriotic Meeting," Logan, Utah, 13 Dec. 1963, 2, transcript, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City; B. Delworth Gardner, N. Keith Roberts, E. Boyd Wennergren preface to an annotated typescript of Benson's "We Must Become Alerted and Informed," Utah State Historical Society. In the margins of this annotated typescript are the page numbers of the Blue Book from which Benson's talk quoted or paraphrased; "Elder Benson Links Reds to (Civil) Rights Furor," Deseret News, 14 Dec. 1963, B-5; "Communism Moving In on U.S., Benson Warns," Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Dec. 1963, 28. Compare with Ross R. Barnett, governor of Mississippi, "The Rape Of Our Constitution and Civil Rights," in the Birch Society's American Opinion 6 (Sept. 1963): 20-23; John Rousselot, "Civil Rights: Communist Betrayal Of A Good Cause," American Opinion 7 (Feb. 1964): 1-11. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]
125 years ago today - Dec 13, 1893
[Franklin D. Richards]
Wires say that the bill enabling Utah to become a state passed the House of Rep[resentative]s about 4 pm today. On my arrival learned that Utah Statehood bill passed the House today with only two votes against it one Democrat and one Republican. This is glorious news.
[Franklin D. Richards Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
Wires say that the bill enabling Utah to become a state passed the House of Rep[resentative]s about 4 pm today. On my arrival learned that Utah Statehood bill passed the House today with only two votes against it one Democrat and one Republican. This is glorious news.
[Franklin D. Richards Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
135 years ago today - Dec 13, 1883
[Wilford Woodruff]
Emma was Anointed to W Woodruff & W Woodruff for her Father Samuel Smith and He was Adopted to W Woodruff.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Emma was Anointed to W Woodruff & W Woodruff for her Father Samuel Smith and He was Adopted to W Woodruff.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
175 years ago today - Dec 13, 1843
[Nauvoo Neighbor]
Special Edition Issue
- Ordinances: "An Extra Ordinance for the Extra Case of Joseph Smith and Others" -- Joseph Smith -- Anyone who comes to arrest Joseph Smith or other citizens involved in "Missouri Difficulties" will be arrested, and if found guilty, incarcerated for life. ...
- Note: "Dinner Party" - Christmas Day -- Editorial -- Joseph Smith plans a dinner party for Christmas Day. ...
- Ordinances: "An Ordinance for the Health and Conscience of Travelers--" -- Joseph Smith -- Gives Joseph Smith the power to sell "spirits" for the "health, comfort, and convenience of such travelers."
[http://boap.org/LDS/Nauvoo-Neighbor]
Special Edition Issue
- Ordinances: "An Extra Ordinance for the Extra Case of Joseph Smith and Others" -- Joseph Smith -- Anyone who comes to arrest Joseph Smith or other citizens involved in "Missouri Difficulties" will be arrested, and if found guilty, incarcerated for life. ...
- Note: "Dinner Party" - Christmas Day -- Editorial -- Joseph Smith plans a dinner party for Christmas Day. ...
- Ordinances: "An Ordinance for the Health and Conscience of Travelers--" -- Joseph Smith -- Gives Joseph Smith the power to sell "spirits" for the "health, comfort, and convenience of such travelers."
[http://boap.org/LDS/Nauvoo-Neighbor]
175 years ago today - Dec 13, 1843
In Missouri, Orrin Porter Rockwell has been in prison for over nine months, never having had a trial. Recently, however, his mother visited him and gave him $100, with which he could afford to hire Mr. Doniphan as counsel. Within two weeks Doniphan got him into court. There being no evidence that could convict Rockwell on the charge of shooting Boggs, he was charged with breaking the Independence jail. In spite of the fact that the Missouri law states that in order to break a jail, "a man must break a lock, a door, or a wall" (and all Porter had done was to walk out when the door was open), Judge King nevertheless orders that Porter has broken jail. He is sentenced to five minutes in the county jail. He is kept there five hours while the Missouri lawmen try to bring another charge against him. Failing to do so, they finally free him at 8 P.M. on Dec. 13, 1843. Doniphan warns him not to walk in daylight or on any known road. Rockwell, having only ragged clothes and shoes,walks three or four days toward Illinois. His feet become so raw that at times he pays people 50 cents or 75 cents to carry him on their backs for several miles. After riding on horseback or walking the 150 miles, he finds a small boat in which he can cross the Mississippi to Nauvoo.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
185 years ago today - Dec 13, 1833
The first issue of the Evening and Morning Star is printed by Oliver Cowdery.
[Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books, http://bit.ly/lucys-book]
[Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books, http://bit.ly/lucys-book]
15 years ago today - Dec 12, 2003
Less than a year after the Mormon church promised, again, to stop baptizing dead Jews into its faith, the Mormons have raised concerns by buying - at 10 cents a sheet - thousands of names of dead Russian Orthodox Church members
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long collected names from government documents and other records worldwide. The names are then used in temple rituals, during which Mormon stand-ins are dunked in water to offer the dead salvation and entry to the Mormon religion.
Salt Lake City independent researcher Helen Radkey said she has found such notable non-Mormons as Adolph Hitler, Anne Frank, and even Roman Catholic popes and saints within the church's database ...
[Mark Thiessen, Associated Press, azcentral.com; A chronicle of the Mormon-Jewish controversy; The LDS Agreement: A JewishGen InfoFile, http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ldsagree.html]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long collected names from government documents and other records worldwide. The names are then used in temple rituals, during which Mormon stand-ins are dunked in water to offer the dead salvation and entry to the Mormon religion.
Salt Lake City independent researcher Helen Radkey said she has found such notable non-Mormons as Adolph Hitler, Anne Frank, and even Roman Catholic popes and saints within the church's database ...
[Mark Thiessen, Associated Press, azcentral.com; A chronicle of the Mormon-Jewish controversy; The LDS Agreement: A JewishGen InfoFile, http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ldsagree.html]
130 years ago today - Dec 12, 1888
Release of Rudger Clawson after serving three years and one month in prison, the longest any nineteenth-century Mormon is imprisoned for polygamy for unlawful cohabitation. On this same day, Idaho Legislature expels all Mormon legislators.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
175 years ago today - Dec 12, 1843
After prodding from Joseph Smith to embrace plural marriage, John Taylor is sealed to his first plural wife, Elizabeth Kaighan.
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
130 years ago today - Dec 12, 1888
Elder [Apostle] Francis M. Lyman surrendered himself to the US Marshal [Frank] Dyer this morning appeared in the 3rd Dist[rict] Court & plead guilty to the last indictment found against him [Unlawful Cohabitation]. ...
[Francis M. Lyman reports to First Presidency.] He had also been out to the penitentiary & saw Bro[ther] Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon. He purposes devoting as much of his time as possible among the saints preaching to & counseling with them. ... [Lyman was placed under a $1,500 bond].
[First Presidency Office Journal, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
[Francis M. Lyman reports to First Presidency.] He had also been out to the penitentiary & saw Bro[ther] Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon. He purposes devoting as much of his time as possible among the saints preaching to & counseling with them. ... [Lyman was placed under a $1,500 bond].
[First Presidency Office Journal, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
175 years ago today - Dec 12, 1843
Smith as Mayor of Nauvoo passes ordinance allowing him to sell alcohol from the bar in his house.
[Chronology of Mormon History, http://followtheprophets.com/chronology-of-mormon-history/]
[Chronology of Mormon History, http://followtheprophets.com/chronology-of-mormon-history/]
185 years ago today - Dec 12, 1833
A letter arrives stating that the Saints who had moved to Van Buren County will also be driven from there.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
185 years ago today - Circa Dec 11, 1833
I became acquainted with the Smith family, known as the authors of the Mormon Bible, in the year 1820. At that time, they were engaged in the money digging business, which they followed until the latter part of the season of 1827. In the year 1822, I was engaged in digging a well. I employed Alvin and Joseph Smith to assist me; the latter of whom is now known as the Mormon prophet. After digging about twenty feet below the surface of the earth, we discovered a singularly appearing stone, which excited my curiosity. I brought it to the top of the well, and as we were examining it, Joseph put it into his hat, and then his face into the top of his hat. It has been said by Smith, that he brought the stone from the well; but this is false. There was no one in the well but myself. The next morning he came to me, and wished to obtain the stone, alledging that he could see in it; but I told him I did not wish to part with it on account of its being a curiosity, but would lend it. After obtaining the stone, he began to publish abroad what wonders he could discover by looking in it, and made so much disturbance among the credulous part of [the] community, that I ordered the stone to be returned to me again. He had it in his possession about two years.--I believe, some time in 1825, Hiram Smith (brother of Joseph Smith) came to me, and wished to borrow the same stone, alledging that they wanted to accomplish some business of importance, which could not very well be done without the aid of the stone. ...
In the month of June, 1827, Joseph Smith, Sen., related to me the following story: "That some years ago, a spirit had appeared to Joseph his son, in a vision, and informed him that in a certain place there was a record on plates of gold, and that he was the person that must obtain them, and this he must do in the following manner: On the 22d of September [1823], he must repair to the place where was deposited this manuscript, dressed in black clothes, and riding a black horse with a switch tail, and demand the book in a certain name, and after obtaining it, he must go directly away, and neither lay it down nor look behind him. They accordingly fitted out Joseph with a suit of black clothes and borrowed a black horse. He repaired to the place of deposit and demanded the book, which was in a stone box, unsealed, and so near the top of the ground that he could see one end of it, and raising it up, took out the book of gold; but fearing some one might discover where he got it, he laid it down to place back the top stone, as he found it; and turning round, to his surprise there was no book in sight. He again opened the box, and in it saw the book, and attempted to take it out, but was hindered. He saw in the box something like a toad, which soon assumed the appearance of a man, and struck him on the side of his head.--Not being discouraged at trifles, he again stooped down and strove to take the book, when the spirit struck him again, and knocked him three or four rods, and hurt him prodigiously. After recovering from his fright, he enquired why he could not obtain the plates; to which the spirit made reply, because you have not obeyed your orders. He then enquired when he could have them, and was answered thus: come one year from this day, and bring with you your oldest brother, and you shall have them. This spirit, he said was the spirit of the prophet who wrote this book, and who was sent to Joseph Smith, to make known these things to him. Before the expiration of the year, his oldest brother died; which the old man said was an accidental providence!
Joseph went one year from that day [1824], to demand the book, and the spirit enquired for his brother, and he said that he was dead. The spirit then commanded him to come again, in just one year [1825], and bring a man with him. On asking who might be the man, he was answered that he would know him when he saw him.
Joseph believed that one Samuel T. Lawrence was the man alluded to by the spirit, and went with him to a singular looking hill, in Manchester, and shewed him where the treasure was. Lawrence asked him if he had ever discovered any thing with the plates of gold; he said no: he then asked him to look in his stone, to see if there was any thing with them. He looked, and said there was nothing; he told him to look again, and see if there was not a large pair of specks with the plates; he looked and soon saw a pair of spectacles, the same with which Joseph says he translated the Book of Mormon. Lawrence told him it would not be prudent to let these plates be seen for about two years, as it would make a great disturbance in the neighborhood. Not long after this, Joseph altered his mind, and said L[awrence]. was not the right man, nor had he told him the right place.
About this time he went to Harmony in Pennsylvania, and formed an acquaintance with a young lady, by the name of Emma Hale, whom he wished to marry
.--In the fall of 1826, he wanted to go to Pennsylvania to be married; but being destitute of means, he now set his wits to work, how he should raise money, and get recommendations, to procure the fair one of his choice. He went to Lawrence with the following story, as related to me by Lawrence himself. That he had discovered in Pennsylvania, on the bank of the Susquehannah River, a very rich mine of silver, and if he would go there with him, he might have a share in the profits; that it was near high water mark and that they could load it into boats and take it down the river to Philadelphia, to market. Lawrence then asked Joseph if he was not deceiving him; no, said he, for I have been there and seen it with my own eyes, and if you do not find it so when we get there, I will bind myself to be your servant for three years. By these grave and fair promises Lawrence was induced to believe something in it, and agreed to go with him. L[awrence]. soon found that Joseph was out of money, and had to bear his expenses on the way. When they got to Pennsylvania, Joseph wanted L[awrence]. to recommend him to Miss H[ale]., which he did, although he was asked to do it; but could not well get rid of it as he was in his company. L[awrence]. then wished to see the silver mine, and he and Joseph went to the river, and made search, but found nothing. Thus, Lawrence had his trouble for his pains, and returned home lighter than he went, while Joseph had got his expenses borne, and a recommendation to his girl.
Joseph's next move was to get married; the girl's parents being opposed to the match: as they happened to be from home, he took advantage of the opportunity, and went off with her and was married.
Now, being still destitute of money, he set his wits at work, how he should get back to Manchester, his place of residence; he hit upon the following plan, which succeeded very well. He went to an honest old Dutchman, by the name of Stowel, and told him that he had discovered on the bank of Black River, in the village of Watertown, Jefferson County, N.Y. a cave, in which he had found a bar of gold, as big as his leg, and about three or four feet long.--That he could not get it out alone, on account of its being fast at one end; and if he would move him to Manchester, N.Y. they would go together, and take a chisel and mallet, and get it, and Stowel should share the prize with him. Stowel moved him.
A short time after their arrival at Manchester, Stowel reminded Joseph of his promise; but he calmly replied, that he would not go, because his wife was now among strangers, and would be very lonesome if he went away. Mr. Stowel was then obliged to return without any gold, and with less money than he came.
In the fore part of September, (I believe,) 1827, the Prophet requested me to make him a chest, informing me that he designed to move back to Pennsylvania, and expecting soon to get his gold book, he wanted a chest to lock it up, giving me to understand at the same time, that if I would make the chest he would give me a share in the book. I told him my business was such that I could not make it: but if he would bring the book to me, I would lock it up for him. He said that would not do, as he was commanded to keep it two years, without letting it come to the eye of any one but himself. This commandment, however, he did not keep, for in less than two years, twelve men said they had seen it. I told him to get it and convince me of its existence, and I would make him a chest; but he said, that would not do, as he must have a chest to lock the book in, as soon as he took it out of the ground. I saw him a few days after, when he told me that I must make the chest. I told him plainly that I could not, upon which he told me that I could have no share in the book.
A few weeks after this conversation, he came to my house, and related the following story: That on the 22d of September, he arose early in the morning, and took a one horse wagon, of some one that had stayed over night at their house, without leave or license; and, together with his wife, repaired to the hill which contained the book. He left his wife in the wagon, by the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or forty rods from the road; he said he then took the book out of the ground and hid it in a tree top, and returned home. He then went to the town of Macedon to work. After about ten days, it having been suggested that some one had got his book, his wife went after him; he hired a horse, and went home in the afternoon, staid long enough to drink one cup of tea, and then went for his book, found it safe, took off his frock, wrapt it round it, put it under his arm and ran all the way home, a distance of about two miles. He said he should think it would weigh sixty pounds, and was sure it would weigh forty. On his return home, he said he was attacked by two men in the woods, and knocked them both down and made his escape, arrived safe and secured his treasure. --He then observed that if it had not been for that stone, (which he acknowledged belonged to me,) he would not have obtained the book. ... His neighbors having become disgusted with his foolish stories, he determined to go back to Pennsylvania, to avoid what he called persecution. His wits were now put to the task to contrive how he should get money to bear his expenses. He met one day in the streets of Palmyra, a rich man, whose name was Martin Harris, and addressed him thus; "I have a commandment from God to ask the first man I meet in the street to give me fifty dollars, to assist me in doing the work of the Lord by translating the Golden Bible." Martin being naturally a credulous man, hands Joseph the money. In the Spring 1829, Harris went to Pennsylvania, and on his return to Palmyra, reported that the Prophet's wife, in the month of June following would be delivered of a male child that would be able when two years old to translate the Gold Bible. Then, said he, you will see Joseph Smith, Jr. walking through the streets of Palmyra, with a Gold Bible under his arm, and having a gold breast-plate on, and a gold sword by his side. This, however, by the by, proved false.
In April, 1830, I again asked Hiram for the stone which he had borrowed of me; he told me I should not have it, for Joseph made use of it in translating his Bible. ...
Signed, WILLARD CHASE.
On the 11th December, 1833, the said Willard Chase appeared before me, and made oath that the foregoing statement to which he has subscribed his name, is true, according to his best recollection and belief.
FRED'K. SMITH,
Justice of the Peace of Wayne County.
[Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio: E. D. Howe, 1834), 240-48., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Willard Chase Statement]
In the month of June, 1827, Joseph Smith, Sen., related to me the following story: "That some years ago, a spirit had appeared to Joseph his son, in a vision, and informed him that in a certain place there was a record on plates of gold, and that he was the person that must obtain them, and this he must do in the following manner: On the 22d of September [1823], he must repair to the place where was deposited this manuscript, dressed in black clothes, and riding a black horse with a switch tail, and demand the book in a certain name, and after obtaining it, he must go directly away, and neither lay it down nor look behind him. They accordingly fitted out Joseph with a suit of black clothes and borrowed a black horse. He repaired to the place of deposit and demanded the book, which was in a stone box, unsealed, and so near the top of the ground that he could see one end of it, and raising it up, took out the book of gold; but fearing some one might discover where he got it, he laid it down to place back the top stone, as he found it; and turning round, to his surprise there was no book in sight. He again opened the box, and in it saw the book, and attempted to take it out, but was hindered. He saw in the box something like a toad, which soon assumed the appearance of a man, and struck him on the side of his head.--Not being discouraged at trifles, he again stooped down and strove to take the book, when the spirit struck him again, and knocked him three or four rods, and hurt him prodigiously. After recovering from his fright, he enquired why he could not obtain the plates; to which the spirit made reply, because you have not obeyed your orders. He then enquired when he could have them, and was answered thus: come one year from this day, and bring with you your oldest brother, and you shall have them. This spirit, he said was the spirit of the prophet who wrote this book, and who was sent to Joseph Smith, to make known these things to him. Before the expiration of the year, his oldest brother died; which the old man said was an accidental providence!
Joseph went one year from that day [1824], to demand the book, and the spirit enquired for his brother, and he said that he was dead. The spirit then commanded him to come again, in just one year [1825], and bring a man with him. On asking who might be the man, he was answered that he would know him when he saw him.
Joseph believed that one Samuel T. Lawrence was the man alluded to by the spirit, and went with him to a singular looking hill, in Manchester, and shewed him where the treasure was. Lawrence asked him if he had ever discovered any thing with the plates of gold; he said no: he then asked him to look in his stone, to see if there was any thing with them. He looked, and said there was nothing; he told him to look again, and see if there was not a large pair of specks with the plates; he looked and soon saw a pair of spectacles, the same with which Joseph says he translated the Book of Mormon. Lawrence told him it would not be prudent to let these plates be seen for about two years, as it would make a great disturbance in the neighborhood. Not long after this, Joseph altered his mind, and said L[awrence]. was not the right man, nor had he told him the right place.
About this time he went to Harmony in Pennsylvania, and formed an acquaintance with a young lady, by the name of Emma Hale, whom he wished to marry
.--In the fall of 1826, he wanted to go to Pennsylvania to be married; but being destitute of means, he now set his wits to work, how he should raise money, and get recommendations, to procure the fair one of his choice. He went to Lawrence with the following story, as related to me by Lawrence himself. That he had discovered in Pennsylvania, on the bank of the Susquehannah River, a very rich mine of silver, and if he would go there with him, he might have a share in the profits; that it was near high water mark and that they could load it into boats and take it down the river to Philadelphia, to market. Lawrence then asked Joseph if he was not deceiving him; no, said he, for I have been there and seen it with my own eyes, and if you do not find it so when we get there, I will bind myself to be your servant for three years. By these grave and fair promises Lawrence was induced to believe something in it, and agreed to go with him. L[awrence]. soon found that Joseph was out of money, and had to bear his expenses on the way. When they got to Pennsylvania, Joseph wanted L[awrence]. to recommend him to Miss H[ale]., which he did, although he was asked to do it; but could not well get rid of it as he was in his company. L[awrence]. then wished to see the silver mine, and he and Joseph went to the river, and made search, but found nothing. Thus, Lawrence had his trouble for his pains, and returned home lighter than he went, while Joseph had got his expenses borne, and a recommendation to his girl.
Joseph's next move was to get married; the girl's parents being opposed to the match: as they happened to be from home, he took advantage of the opportunity, and went off with her and was married.
Now, being still destitute of money, he set his wits at work, how he should get back to Manchester, his place of residence; he hit upon the following plan, which succeeded very well. He went to an honest old Dutchman, by the name of Stowel, and told him that he had discovered on the bank of Black River, in the village of Watertown, Jefferson County, N.Y. a cave, in which he had found a bar of gold, as big as his leg, and about three or four feet long.--That he could not get it out alone, on account of its being fast at one end; and if he would move him to Manchester, N.Y. they would go together, and take a chisel and mallet, and get it, and Stowel should share the prize with him. Stowel moved him.
A short time after their arrival at Manchester, Stowel reminded Joseph of his promise; but he calmly replied, that he would not go, because his wife was now among strangers, and would be very lonesome if he went away. Mr. Stowel was then obliged to return without any gold, and with less money than he came.
In the fore part of September, (I believe,) 1827, the Prophet requested me to make him a chest, informing me that he designed to move back to Pennsylvania, and expecting soon to get his gold book, he wanted a chest to lock it up, giving me to understand at the same time, that if I would make the chest he would give me a share in the book. I told him my business was such that I could not make it: but if he would bring the book to me, I would lock it up for him. He said that would not do, as he was commanded to keep it two years, without letting it come to the eye of any one but himself. This commandment, however, he did not keep, for in less than two years, twelve men said they had seen it. I told him to get it and convince me of its existence, and I would make him a chest; but he said, that would not do, as he must have a chest to lock the book in, as soon as he took it out of the ground. I saw him a few days after, when he told me that I must make the chest. I told him plainly that I could not, upon which he told me that I could have no share in the book.
A few weeks after this conversation, he came to my house, and related the following story: That on the 22d of September, he arose early in the morning, and took a one horse wagon, of some one that had stayed over night at their house, without leave or license; and, together with his wife, repaired to the hill which contained the book. He left his wife in the wagon, by the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or forty rods from the road; he said he then took the book out of the ground and hid it in a tree top, and returned home. He then went to the town of Macedon to work. After about ten days, it having been suggested that some one had got his book, his wife went after him; he hired a horse, and went home in the afternoon, staid long enough to drink one cup of tea, and then went for his book, found it safe, took off his frock, wrapt it round it, put it under his arm and ran all the way home, a distance of about two miles. He said he should think it would weigh sixty pounds, and was sure it would weigh forty. On his return home, he said he was attacked by two men in the woods, and knocked them both down and made his escape, arrived safe and secured his treasure. --He then observed that if it had not been for that stone, (which he acknowledged belonged to me,) he would not have obtained the book. ... His neighbors having become disgusted with his foolish stories, he determined to go back to Pennsylvania, to avoid what he called persecution. His wits were now put to the task to contrive how he should get money to bear his expenses. He met one day in the streets of Palmyra, a rich man, whose name was Martin Harris, and addressed him thus; "I have a commandment from God to ask the first man I meet in the street to give me fifty dollars, to assist me in doing the work of the Lord by translating the Golden Bible." Martin being naturally a credulous man, hands Joseph the money. In the Spring 1829, Harris went to Pennsylvania, and on his return to Palmyra, reported that the Prophet's wife, in the month of June following would be delivered of a male child that would be able when two years old to translate the Gold Bible. Then, said he, you will see Joseph Smith, Jr. walking through the streets of Palmyra, with a Gold Bible under his arm, and having a gold breast-plate on, and a gold sword by his side. This, however, by the by, proved false.
In April, 1830, I again asked Hiram for the stone which he had borrowed of me; he told me I should not have it, for Joseph made use of it in translating his Bible. ...
Signed, WILLARD CHASE.
On the 11th December, 1833, the said Willard Chase appeared before me, and made oath that the foregoing statement to which he has subscribed his name, is true, according to his best recollection and belief.
FRED'K. SMITH,
Justice of the Peace of Wayne County.
[Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio: E. D. Howe, 1834), 240-48., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Willard Chase Statement]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)