[Joseph Fielding Smith] I was in council with the quorum of the Twelve Apostles all day in the Temple where we met with Brother Matthias F. Cowley to investigate matters pertaining to him and his alleged activity in performing plural marriages. He was very frank and confessed his shortcomings in this regard answering all questions required of him and manifesting a spirit of sorrow and confessing his error in the performing of plural marriages contrary to the rule of the church. H asked for forgiveness and expressed a willingness and desire to be in harmony with the authorities of the Church. The session lasted all day, and after his departure from the meeting each of the brethren present expressed his candid views in the case. ... Seven of the brethren were in favor of showing leniency to Bro[ther]. Cowley, because of his frankness and request for forgiveness, and were of the opinion that no punishment, more than he had received should be measured out to him. President Lyman, Charles W. Penrose and Geo[rge] F. Richards were of the opinion that he should be punished by being disfellowshipped. [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]
175 years ago today - May 12, 1851
Pres. Brigham Young preached to the people on the nature and importance of the Iron County Mission, and the advantages of the brethren fulfilling it. He advised them to buy up the Lamanite children, as fast as they could, and educate them and teach them the Gospel, so that not many generations would pass [as] they would become a white and delightsome people. He remarked that the Lord could not have devised a better plan, than to have put the Saints where they were, in order to accomplish the redemption of the Lamanites. He knew that the Indians would dwindle away, but a remnant of the seed of Joseph should be saved. The President also advised the brethren to put up the logs and pickets of the forts so close that the Indians could not shoot arrows through the openings. He recommended the adoption of the Indian name Parowan for the city. -- Cedar City, Utah [Journal History of the Church, quoted from The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
130 years ago today - May 12, 1896
[Franklin D. Richards] Met Pres[iden]ts Cannon & Smith & heard Franklin express the views of exprosecutor W. Dixon concerning the present unsettled state of public opinion about our Presidency and the "new manifesto" & church discipline. [Diary Excerpts of Franklin D. Richards, 1887-1897, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
165 years ago today - May 12, 1861
Pres[ident] Young attended the Tabernacle morning and afternoon. In the afternoon [Morning] he preached a discourse, the Spirit of revolution among the nations was preparing the way for the progress of the Gospel. -- SLC Tabernacle [Brigham Young Office Journals, quote in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
150 years ago today - May 12, 1876 (Afternoon)
Concluding remarks were made by President Young. He said he did wish to have the Temple completed by next April so that our Annual Conference might be held therein. Continuing, he said opposition to God and His Kingdom is the natural result of the fall. ... If we had done as we had been told by Joseph, we would be a hundred times richer than we now are. He exhorted parents to bring up their children in the ways of the Lord. -- St. George, Utah [Journal History of the Church, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
120 years ago today - May 10, 1906
Apostle and U.S. Senator Reed Smoot writes to President Joseph F. Smith: "[Senator Beverage] said that he had just been reading your testimony in relation to the marriage of Abram H. Cannon; he did not understand how you, a member of the First Presidency of the Church, could go on a trip with A. H. Cannon and be introduced to a young lady as his wife and have them occupy the position of husband and wife toward each other, it being six years after the issuance of the Manifesto . . . and not complain of one of the Apostles so acting, and of no action being taken by the Church, unless the Church approved of new marriages or at least allowed them."
125 years ago today - May 10, 1901
President [Lorenzo] Snow today made a contract with John Hafen, the artist, for $100. per month to make a number of paintings which would become the property of the Church. [Journal History, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
195 years ago today - May 9, 1831
Joseph and Emma adopt Murdock twins (Joseph Murdock and Julia) [Proctor, Scott and Maurine Jensen, editors, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother: Revised and Enhanced]
195 years ago today - May 1831 (9 May)
[D&C 50] Section 50 ... After the departure of the Lamanite Missionaries to Missouri and before the arrival of Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio (February 1831), extreme spiritual abnormalities were manifested among new converts in the Kirtland area. ... Parley P. Pratt, an eyewitness to these events, recorded the following:. As I went forth among the different branches, some very strange spiritual operations were manifested, which were disgusting, rather than edifying. Some persons would seem to swoon away, and make unseemly gestures, and be drawn or disfigured in their countenances. Others would fall into ecstacies, and be drawn into contortions, cramps, fits, etc. Others would seem to have visions and revelations, which were not edifving, and which were not congenial to the doctrine and spirit of the gospel. In short, a false and lying spirit seemed to be creeping into the Church. To determine the nature of the spiritual workings among new converts of the Church, Elder Pratt, among others, went to Joseph Smith and asked him to inquire of the Lord concerning the matter. "After we had joined in prayer in his translating room," said Pratt, Joseph Smith "dictated in our presence" section 50. Section 50 gave instructions on the procedure of discerning "the spirits which have gone abroad in the earth." [Cook, Lyndon, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith]
115 years ago today - May 11, 1911
The Twelve vote as a compromise to deprive Matthias F. Cowley of his right to exercise his priesthood but not to disfellowship him. This resolves a two-day deadlock in which seven apostles want to give him no punishment, wheras quorum president Francis M. Lyman and two others want to disfellowship Cowley for performing plural marriage up to his 1905 resignation. Cowley regards this as a second punishment (double jeopardy) he has received for the same acts, which he insists he did by authorization of the First Presidency. [The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
140 years ago today - May 11th, 1886
[General Authority Abraham H. Cannon] "There have been two windows left out of the west end of the Salt Lake Temple through an error of the architect which will most likely necessitate the taking down of the wall for 20 ft. Order was given yesterday to stop laying stone now until a decision was reached about this matter. It is a most egregious error." [Abraham H. Cannon Journal Excerpts, http://www.amazon.com/Apostles-Record-Journals-Abraham-1889-1896/dp/B000MFD1K4]
180 years ago today - May 11, 1846
[Lucy Mac Statement] Mrs. Lucy Smith's Testimony. "Nauvoo, May 11, 1846. "My Dear Son-For so I must call you; as the church has passed through much affection, and it pains my heart that it should suffer more. The Twelve (Brighamites) have abused my son William, and trampled upon my children, and have also treated me with contempt. Now mark it, these men are not right. God has not sent them to lead this kingdom. I am satisfied that Joseph appointed James J. Strang. It is verily so. Now, Brother Reuben, I exhort you for the love you have for the truth, to hear my voice, and warn the saints concerning these things, and your reward shall be doubled in the heavenly world. This from your mother, Lucy Smith, "Mother in Israel." "This is to certify that we, the undersigned. members of the Smith family, fully accord with the sentiments expressed above. "W.J. Salisbury, "Catherine Salisbury, "Arthur Milliken, "Lucy Milliken.' [Lucy Mac Smith Statement]
215 years ago today - 1811 (after May 11)
After selling his property in Sharon, Vermont and moving to live with Smith's uncle Daniel in Royalton, Smith's maternal grandfather Solomon Mack self-publishes a booklet describing his heavenly visions and voices of the previous winter: Mack, Solomon (1811), A Narraitve [sic] of the Life of Solomon Mack, Windsor [Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]
125 years ago today - Thursday, May 9, 1901
[John Henry Smith] Joseph F. Smith and Brigham Young's allowance was fixed at five thousand per annum. H. J. Grant's was raised some. I was blest and set apart for my mission under the hands of all present. President Lorenzo Snow being Mouth, he gave me a good blessing. He gave me a good many promises. [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]
190 years ago today - May 9, 1836
John Taylor and wife, Lenora, baptized near Toronto, Canada. [Hemidakaota, "Church Chronology from 1800-2000," http://lds.net/forums/topic/10668-church-chronology-from-1800-2000-part-1/]
55 years ago today - May 9, 1971
Mary Beth Rampton, wife of the Utah Governor Calvin Rampton, gives a talk on Mother's Day at the Federal Heights Ward in Salt Lake City: "To assist myself in [talking about motherhood], I have drawn two illustrative concepts from my study of prehistory. The first is the concept of the Mother Goddess. The Heavenly Father whom we today know and love and worship is a masculine God; but it is interesting to know that the oldest deity of whom archaeologists have found evidence is feminine Mother Goddess, whose little stone and clay figurines have been found in upper Paleolithic sites over most of the world. She was the goddess of the fruitfulness of the earth and its creatures, the source of the earth's abundant life, charged with nurture. . She became, as the centuries passed, Ninhursag, the mother-goddess of the Sumerians; the Minoan mother-goddess of ancient Crete; Demeter, the earth goddess among the older Greek gods." [On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
185 years ago today - May 9, 1841. Sunday.
[William Clayton] Joseph preached on his side on baptism for the dead ... Afterwards a number was baptized both for remission of sins and for the dead. I was baptized first for myself and then for my Grandfather Thomas and Grandmother Ellen Clayton, Grandmother Mary [Critchley] and Aunt Elizabeth Beurdwood. [George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle; The Journals of William Clayton, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1995, http://bit.ly/WilliamClayton]
115 years ago today - May 9, 1911
The theory of uncreated, uncreatable, self-existent, conscious, immortal entities, having inherent agency, whose 'inherent nature makes them what they are,' is in conflict with direct revelation. ... The notion that the revelation that Christ and man, 'that which is spirit,' were 'in the beginning with God' proves the co-eternity,' of them with the Father, is self-contradictory. The very words 'in the beginning with God' signify a beginning, and the added avowal that Christ was the 'first born,' shows that His brethren had their beginning as individuals after His spirit-birth. We owe our very being to our Eternal Father, the intelligence derived from Him, our knowledge, our agency, and all our powers. This is affirmed in ancient and modern revelation and the teachings of our leaders. The assertion that 'intelligence proceeds from intelligencies' is a mistake. It proceeds from 'the presence of God' as the light of truth to the mind as well as the eyes of man. Doc. & Cov. 88: 12, 13, 49, 50. [Charles W. Penrose, 'Origin of Intelligent Beings,' ca. 1911, 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]
30 years ago today - 9 May thru 11 Jul period
[Same-Sex Marriage] Jack Hoag, co-Chair of Hawaii's Future Today (LDS organized lobbying group), made several public statements stating that Hawaii's Future Today would be endorsing and backing political candidates. Hawaiis Future Today places political ads in Hawaiis two daily newspapers at a cost of over $1,000. Representative Terrance Thom, supported in these ads, wins his reelection by 54 votes. The Senate Judiciary Chair who opposed this groups political position and was opposed by the ad lost his re-election bid. [Crapo, Richley, Chronology Of Mormon / LDS Involvement In Same-Sex Marriage Politics http://www.mormonsocialscience.org/?q=node/59]
190 years ago today - May 9, 1836
[John Taylor] Baptized by Parley P. Pratt. [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah]