Several curious tidbits that happened on this day in Mormon History
On Pioneer Day, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules Utah's ban on alcohol advertisements "irrational," saying it might be causing irreparable harm to local liquor, brewing and publishing companies.
[Harward, Randy; Utah Brewing Timeline, Salt Lake City Weekly, Aug 24, 2011]
[Wilford Woodruff]
Met in council with the Twelve in a tent on a High prairie ridge. Eleven of the quorum of the Twelve were present. We put on our robes And offered up our prayers to God. Conversed upon principle. Decided in council that no man has a right to Attend to the ordinance of sealing except the President of the Church or those who are directed by him so to do And that the ordinance should be confined to Zion or her stakes. This was the last Council we were expecting to hold Altogether before O. Hyde, P. P. Pratt & J Taylor took there departure for England.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Oliver Cowdery writes to his sister referring to polygamy as a "folly and "abomination.
[Hales, Brian C., Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013 (www.JosephSmithsPolygamy.com)]
[Leonard Arrington]
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve announced this morning that Elder Gordon B. Hinckley has been made a member of the First Presidency [3rd counselor] and that Elder Neal Maxwell has been added to the Quorum of the Twelve in his place. Presumably Elder Hinckley will handle many of the assignments which President [N. Eldon] Tanner has been handling. Apparently they want to retain President Tanner's name as a member of the Presidency. [Hinckly would be referred to as the "acting president of the church" in the press.]
This move will surely be beneficial to our Historical endeavors, particularly because Elder Hinckley is familiar with what we are doing, and because he is positive. He has a positive, favorable view on what we are doing.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley is called as third counselor in the First Presidency due to the physical weakness of Presidents Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, and Marion G. Romney. Hinckley is referred to in the press as the "acting president of the church" because Kimball, Tanner, and Romney are largely out of the public eye.
[Neal A. Maxwell is called as an apostle to replace Gordon B. Hinckley]
[Wikipedia, 20th Century (Mormonism), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century_(Mormonism)]
The question of a wife being sealed to a man who had committed suicide was discussed by the Presidency and other brethren. President Joseph F. Smith said that in his opinion people who commit suicide should be given the full benefit of doubt as to their sanity before the doors of the Temple should be closed against them. Those who take their own life wilfully of course are barred.
[Journal History, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
First counselor J. Reuben Clark recommends that the Communist candidate for U.S. president be denied use of the Salt Lake Tabernacle for a speech. He also recommends to "confidentially" advise Utah's governor to have Mormon members of the American Legion armed with "picks and ax-handles" to attend the Communist Party's rally in Liberty Park.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
Presidents George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith (President [Wilford Woodruff] being at home unwell) had an interview with Elder Marriner W[ood]. Merrill, President of the Logan Temple. Some complaint had been made in regard to the salaries of some of the Temple hands, who had been paid only half their salary during the two months vacation. It was shown that the hands did not work at all on Saturdays, but they were provided with dinner at the Temple, and that the work on Mondays was very light. Taking all things into consideration, the salaries were ample for services rendered. President Cannon said that if the brethren employed in the Recorder's office could obtain more remunerative labor they should be at liberty to make the change, and he believed that lady scribes could be obtained at an much less salary than that now paid. The conclusion was that the brethren had no good grounds of complaint.
[Journal History, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
[Charles W. Penrose]
Prof[essor] O[sborne]. J[ohn]. P[eter] Widtsoe came ... Had Talk with him on Man's Origin.
[Charles W. Penrose, Diary]
The WARSAW SIGNAL in Warsaw, Illinois: "How MILITARY these people are becoming! Every thing they say or do seems to breathe the spirit of military tactics. Their PROPHET appears, on all great occasions, in his splendid regimental dress, signs his name Lieut. General, and more titles are to be found in the Nauvoo Legion, than any one book on military tactics can produce; and now comes a public journal, the name of which is composed of two military words. Truly FIGHTING must, be a part of the creed of these Saints!"
Mary Fielding (Smith), later the wife of Hyrum Smith and mother of Joseph F. Smith, is born in Bedfordshire, England.
Because the Korean War reduced the number of young elders being called as missionaries, the First Presidency issued a call for seventies to help fill the need. Many married men subsequently served full-time missions.
[Church News: Historical Chronology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/58765/Historical-chronology-of-The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-day-Saints.html]
Chief of Salt Lake City's detectives begins sending to the First Presidency reports of surveillance and infiltration of the Communist Party in Utah.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
[Charles W. Penrose]
"Bro[ther] [David O.] McKay home with a broken leg. Bro[ther] [George F.] Gibbs read his a/c [account] of matters connected with plural marriage of Abra[ha]m H Cannon [who had just died] and Miss Hamlin which was not ordered published but to be filed and preserved."
[Charles W. Penrose 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]
A day before the Russian government passes anti-terror laws restricting most religious proselyting, the LDS Church promises to comply with these laws and designates missionaries serving in Russia as "volunteers".
[Wikipedia, 21st Century (Mormonism), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_century_(Mormonism)]
Joseph Fielding Smith: Born Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., in Salt Lake City to Julina Lambson and future Church President Joseph F. Smith. He was the grand-nephew of Joseph Smith, grandson of Church Patriarch Hyrum Smith, nephew of Church Patriarch John Smith, brother of Apostle Hyrum Mack Smith, and father-in-law of Apostle Bruce R. McConkie.
[Van Wagoner, Richard and Walker, Steven C., A Book of Mormons, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
A warrant for the arrest David W. Patten, Warren Parrish, and Wilford Woodruff is issued in Tennessee on the grounds that they have been "prophesying falsely, by saying that four persons who were baptized should receive the Holy Ghost in twenty-four hours, and that Christ should come the second time before this generation passed away." Charges dropped against Wilford since he wasn't present at the time. The other two are acquitted the next day.
[Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
A Deseret News Church Section photograph of an LDS youth conference in Germany with Apostle Joseph F. Merrill in front of the Swastika banner of the Nazi Party. This is an intentional association of visual symbols, since the 7 Aug. 1937 issue also prints a photograph of church president Heber J. Grant seated in front of a Swastika banner at an LDS meeting in Frankfurt.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
Remarks, Pres. Lorenzo Snow. ... We were born in the other life, were born children to the Lord there. In the contemplation of what we shall be in the spirit world, we should be very happy. We should be careful to do right that our consciences may not trouble us. He felt to say "God bless you all."
[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]
President Young said the captains [of the Mormon Battalion] must be fathers to their companies, and in their companies manage the whole affair by the power of the priesthood, and you will have power to preserve your lives and the lives of their companies and escape many difficulties. [He] would not be afraid to pledge his right hand that every man will return alive if they will go in the name of the Lord and pray every morning and evening in every tent. ... All the officers but three had been in the temple. Let no man be without his undergarment, and always wear a coat or vest. Keep neat and clean, teach them gentility, civility, no swearing. It must not be admitted. Insult no man. Have no conversation with the Missourians, Mexicans, or any class of people. Preach only where people want it, and then by wise men.
Impose not your principles on any people. Take your Bibles, Books of Mormon. Burn up cards. Let the officers regulate all the dances. If you come home and say the captains have managed all dancing and it will all be right to dance, etc. Card playing cannot be admitted. ... Don't lay out your money for bacon and provision on credit for your families. Elder Kimball ... God will lead you in paths and before the people, that you will get as great a name as any people since the days of Moses. Hold your tongues and mind your own business. If you are sick, you have the privilege of calling the elders and rebuking all manner of disease.
... President Young spoke ... You will have no fighting to do. Go about your business. We shall go in the Great Basin where [it] is the place to build temples. ...
[Apostle Willard Richards Journal]