85 years ago today - Oct 27, 1940

[Heber J. Grant]

.... He [J. Reuben Clark] read to me the editorial of the Salt Lake Tribune of a day or two ago, in which it referred to the Hitler hatred and the hatred in early days of Salt Lake City and intimated that they hoped that there was not going to be any recurrence of that. To my mind it was absolutely uncalled for. ...

[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

105 years ago today - Oct 27, 1920; Wednesday

Lamanite Gen[er]al Mtg. 2398 names. 1100 baptisms. 585 Endowed. 100 couple[s] sealed.

[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]

120 years ago today - Oct 27, 1905

"Had a talk with Prest. Jos F Smith and expressed my views as to the necessity of a Republican victory which views he said were quite right."

[Diary Excerpts of Thomas A. Clawson, Signature Books Library, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

135 years ago today - Oct 27, 1890

27 Monday Conference Met at 10 oclok. ... We Closed the Conference with the shout of (Hosannah to God & the Lamb) which was a vary impressive & solemn.

[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

145 years ago today - Oct 27, 1880

.... Brother John Henry Smith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Authority of the Holy Priesthood And Apostleship confered upon us we lay our hands upon your head, and we ordain you an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and as A member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And we seal upon you all the power And Authority to Administer in all the Ordinances of the House of God agreeable to this Office Even the Apostleship which is the Highest Authority Ever Confered and sealed upon the sons of men in the flesh.

And we pray God to Cloth you with the power of this Apostleship, with the power of God, That your mind may be open to Comprehend & understand your relationship to God, your relationship to your Brethren, your relationship to the Church and Kingdom of God, in relation to this world, and in relation to the responsibility which now rest upon you.

And we say unto you The Eyes of God & his Son Jesus Christ and of the Heavenly Hosts, and of Joseph Smith and the Apostles, and the Eyes of your Father who are behing the veil are upon you. And there is rejoicing in Heaven becaus you are one of the Sons of the Prophets & Apostles and have Come forth to take upon yourself the Holy Apostleship and we say unto you be humble before God and seek for the Holy spirit For you need this power to guide and direct you in this Apostleship. And inasmuch as you walk in faithfulness and humility before God and seek and obey the Council of your Brethren you will become a Mighty man in the Earth. And you shall stand in the flesh to behold the great work fullfilled and the promises of God Concerning the great last dispensation of the fulness of times.

We pray God to Cloth you with his Power, with the spirit and Power of the Holy Ghost and the Revelation of Jesus Christ which Belongs to the Apostleship which is your right to Claim which is your right to exercise, & which is your right to Enjoy. Lift up your voice as with the Sound of a trumpet long & loud as far as you have an opportunity in your day and declare the word of life & salvation unto the inhabitants of the Earth.

You are ordained unto this power. You hold the [Issu.sd?] of life & death as far as the salvation or Condemnation of the world is Concerned. You are Called to Stand in the defense of the truth and to bear your record of the Kingdom of God on the Earth and your Testimony will rise in judgment against the wicked in the day of Judgments in the day when all men will give an account of the deeds done in the body. Your words shall be a savior of life unto life to those who believe and obey, or of Death unto Death to those who reject your testimony.

Therefore we say unto you go forth in peace & the power of God to bear a record of the word of Everlasting life. And take upon you and feel in your spirit this Apostleship, and the blessings of God will attend your labors. We seal again your Evry Blessing, and evry Key and Endowment of the New and Everlasting Covenant Even the Blessing of Abraham Isaac & Jacob in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer Amen. ...

[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 - Oct 27, 1850

President Young spoke in the Bowery and urged the Saints to avoid becoming the slaves of merchants. -- SLC Bowery

[Journal History of the Church, Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints DVD 2 (2002); CA, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

180 years ago today - Oct 27, 1845

[Wilford Woodruff]

The Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles is out of press And we are now sending it to the clergy And circulating it whare we can. ...

I should judge from my feelings And intimations of the spirit of God that the endowment had comericed & that the Lord had commenced pouring out some special blessings upon the Saints in Nauvoo but time will determin whether this is the case. My soul has been much refeshed and edefyed of late in reading the Book of Mormon. The time has come for its sayings to be fulfilled.

[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 - Oct 27, 1840

Apostle Wilford Woodruff, as the officially appointed "Church Historian" recorded the following in his "Historian's Private Journal "Joseph Smith & Zina Huntington were sealed Oct. 27, 1840 by Dimick B. Huntington in Nauvoo"

[Wilford Woodruff, "Historian's Private Journal" (one volume, 1858-78), entries after 1 July 1866, LDS Church History Library, in "Evidence For The Sexual Side of Joseph Smith's Polygamy," Comments by D. Michael Quinn on Session #2A "Reconsidering Joseph Smith's Marital Practices," Mormon History Association's Annual Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 29 June 2012 (unabbreviated version, revised during July)]

190 years ago today - Oct 27, 1835

[Joseph Smith]

In the morning I was called to visit at Br[other] Samuel Smith's. His wife was confined an[d] in a verry dangerous situation. Br[other] Carloss took one of my horses and went to Chardon after Doct[or] [Frederick G.] Williams. I went out into the field and bowed before the Lord and called upon him in mighty prayer in her behalf. The word of the Lord came unto me saying, "My Servant Frederick shall come and shall have wisdom given him to deal prudently and my handma[i]den shall be delivered of a living child and be spared." He [Frederick G. Williams] come in a bout one hour after that and in the course of about 2 hours she was delivered. Thus what God had manifested to me was fulfilled every whit.

[Faulring, Scott (ed.), An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith Diary, 1835-36, http://amzn.to/jsdiaries]

30 years ago today - Oct 26, 1995

BYU's spokesman announces that university officials have accepted the explanation of mathematics professor John Milo Peterson that only "a clerical error" was involved in his claiming for twenty years that the University of Georgia had awarded him a Ph.D. degree (which would qualify him as a specialist in mathematics) rather than his actual degree of Ed.D. (which qualifies him as a specialist in educational techniques) from Utah State University. Peterson is currently a stake president and his college dean is a patriarch of that stake. As stake president, Peterson asks every applicant for priesthood ordination and temple recommends the following question: "Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?" In 1993 the national Chronicle of Higher Education noted that Peterson's annual salary was $103,000 (among BYU's top five) as full professor and director of the graduate program in mathematics.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]

175 years ago today - Oct 26, 1850 (Saturday)

At an adjourned meeting of the Seventies, held in the Bowery, G.S.L. City, it was resolved to build a hall, to be called "The Seventies' Hall of Science"; $5,200 worth of shares were subscribed for at once, each share being $25.

[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

190 years ago today - Oct 26, 1835

Joseph goes to court in Chardon to contest the case of his brother Samuel, who is accused of avoiding military duty. Joseph feels that they would have won the case if they had brought the necessary evidence, but Samuel is fined $20 and has to sell his cow. Joseph writes, "The money which they have thus unjustly taken shall be a testimony against them, and canker, and eat their flesh as fire."

[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

195 years ago today - Oct 26, 1830

A writ against Hyrum for a debt owed to Alexander McIntyre is returned; the officer failed to find either Hyrum or any attachable property.

[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]

120 years ago today - Oct 25, 1905

Public criticism of Joseph F. Smith's remarks that Father Damien of the Hawaiian leper colony was immoral before his death. The LDS church president is convinced that leprosy is contracted through sexual contact.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]

135 years ago today - Oct 25, 1890

The First Presidency publicly establishes Religion Classes, America's first experiment in separate weeday religious training for public school students. This elementary level program merges with the LDS Primary program in ay 1929. Seminaries for LDS high school students are a spin-off which lasts longer than the innovative Religion Classes.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]

165 years ago today - Oct 25, 1860 (Morning)

[Brigham Young]

Let the people make good improvements, and plant out nice orchards; and try to live here, and then you will have plenty to go back to Jackson County with. But if you pinch yourselves up and do nothing, you will be as poor as the Gentiles, and they will not have as much as a bob sled. May the Lord -- Pleasant Grove, Utah

[The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

190 years ago today - Oct 25, 1835

[Joseph Smith]

The Lord pour[e]d out his spirit and some glorious things were spoken in the gift of toungs [tongues] and interp[r]eted concerning the redemption of Zion.

[Faulring, Scott (ed.), An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith Diary, 1835-36, http://amzn.to/jsdiaries]

200 years ago today - Oct 25, 1825

The Erie Canal officially opens, transforming social and economic relationships in Ohio's Western Reserve.

[Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations: A Selective Chronology of Significant Events in Ohio's LDS History]

75 years ago today - Oct 24, 1950

[George Albert Smith]

After giving the matter consideration asked Arthur to tell my counselors, President Clark and President McKay, that it was quite all right with me for them to sign letters of the First Presidency with two signatures on most routine matters, saving only the more important and policy matters for the signature of three, thus husbanding my strength.

[George Albert Smith 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]

115 years ago today - Oct 24, 1910

[Thomas A. Clawson]

"Bro B.H. Roberts has again attacked Senator Reed Smoot through polaticks (Sic) and is a very bad thing for him."

[Diary Excerpts of Thomas A. Clawson, Signature Books Library, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

115 years ago today - Monday, Oct 24, 1910

[John Henry Smith]

Salt Lake City

The day was spent in the office. Politics is getting exceedingly hot all over the land.

The Prohibition one is burning fiercely here. My son George [Albert Smith] is gaining a little.

[Jean Bickmore White (editor), Church, State, and Politics: The Diaries of John Henry Smith, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1990, http://bit.ly/johnhenrysmith]

115 years ago today - Oct 24, 1910

[George Albert Smith]

at Grays [sanitarium], "had a bad night am very nervous."

[Journals of George Albert Smith]

125 years ago today - Oct 24, 1900; Wednesday

The Historian, Anthon H. Lund met with the Presidency for the purpose of giving a title to the History of the Church now being prepared. It was agreed on motion of President George Q. Cannon that it should be called "The History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." The history will be printed from the journals kept by the Prophet [Joseph Smith] and his clerks with notes and additions in the form of footnotes, it having been previously agreed to follow the account as recorded in the manuscripts on file in the archives of the Church, which will compose four or five volumes when published. President Cannon suggested that there be a preface written explaining that part of the work known as the "History of Joseph Smith," these being the personal writings of the Prophet or his dictations to his scribes or clerks. This was approved.

[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]

150 years ago today - Oct 24, 1875; Sunday

[Anthony Ivins]

Today being Sunday we did not travel.

[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]

165 years ago today - Oct 24, 1860

[Brigham Young]

I had a couple of teeth extracted night before last, went out of door soon after and got cold. ... I would try to keep off the jaw and teeth with all my might to prevent my teeth from aching, and then talked some two hours to the people, as hard as I could preach, and, when I would get through, feel as though I would die during the following night. ... I have suffered more than to die a thousand times over. I have felt deaths iron grasp many and many a time, but I have so far over come the grim Messenger so far ...

[The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

180 years ago today - Oct 24, 1845

[Anointed Quorum]

Male prayer circle at John Taylor's house .

[Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Signature Books, 1994, Appendex: Meetings and Initiations of the Anointed Quorum, 1842-45, http://amzn.to/origins-power]

190 years ago today - Saturday, Oct 24, 1835

[Joseph Smith]

"Mr. Goodrich and his lady called to see the ancient records. They also called at Dr. Frederick G. Williams to see the mummies." (An American Prophet's Record, p.40)

[Joseph Smith's Diary Statements Regarding Translation of His Egyptian Papyri and the Book of Abraham, Instutite for Religious Research]

30 years ago today - Oct 23, 1995

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that during a formal meeting with the Univesity of Utah's president, nine Utah legislators from Utah County (home of BYU) criticize coursework at the state campus. Utah County legislators (including several members of the appropriations committee for the University of Utah) complain about "topics being taught that are inconsistent with the beliefs of the predominant religion, particularly in the Graduate School of Social Wrok and the department of philosophy." these legislators (eight Republicans out of nine) also have "concerns about the Women's Resource Center."

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]

60 years ago today - Oct 23, 1965

After their work at the Church's pavilion at the New York World's Fair, the First Presidency appoints Irene Edwards Staples as the official hostess of the Church.

100 years ago today - Oct 23, 1925

[Heber J. Grant]

Brother Joseph J. Daynes called with a Brother Joseph L. Broadbent, and after questioning Brother Broadbent, I felt it would be a mistake for him to respond to a call to go on a mission. As near as I could judge he is more or less in sympathy with people who have entered into plural marriage since the declaration of President Smith that no more marriages should be allowed.

[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

130 years ago today - Oct 23, 1895

[Apostle Brigham Young Jr.]

Dem. Con. adjourned having issued a long address to all good Dem. to resist affiliation of Church and state. There has been no interfering with politics by church authorities, but if some does not interfere with before long I shall be surprised. Bro[ther] [Apostle Moses] Thatcher & [Seventy B. H.] Roberts have declared their intention of standing by their party. I am sorry that they have taken this stand for they have thrown up their rights sacrificed their rights to the Priesthood having trampled their first duty under their feet.

[Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

140 years ago today - Oct 23, 1885

A letter from Brother Richard Bridge was read also a written statement made by Bro John W Taylor from statements made to him by Bro Bridge. This statement accused Apostle Albert Carrington of having committed adultery with his wife before and since her marriage. Sister Bridge was housekeeper at the church offices in Liverpool (42 Islington) at the time that Albert Carrington was presiding and she claims that he then seduced her and that he was the first man that had ever had intercourse with her.

[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

190 years ago today - Oct 23, 1835

Joseph, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Hyrum Smith, John Whitmer, Sidney Rigdon, Samuel H. Smith, Frederick G. Williams, and W. W. Phelps pray for relief from debt, deliverance of Zion without bloodshed, protection from the Missourians, and the means to buy inheritances in Zion to accomplish the Lord's work there, "all this easily and without perplexity and trouble; and finally, that in the end He would save us in His celestial kingdom."

[Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]

20 years ago today - 10/22/2005

First Ex-Mormon Foundation Conference held.

[Standing for Something More: The Excommunication of Lyndon Lamborn: Appendix D, Modern True History Timeline of the LDS Church, by Lindon Lamborn, http://www.amazon.com/Standing-Something-More-Excommunication-ebook/dp/B004R1PYEK]

130 years ago today - Oct 22, 1895

[Brigham Young Jr.]

.... I am sick of the extravagant sayings & doings of both [political] parties; let us be gentlemen & christians.

[Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

145 years ago today - Oct 22, 1880

Lucy Grant (Cannon), later the fourth general president of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association (predecessor to the Young Women organization), is born in Salt Lake City, Utah.

165 years ago today - Oct 22, 1860

President Young observed no man can speak as a Mormon Elder can, no man dared to do so. there was a power that whispered to him tell them of their meanness. -- Salt Lake City

[Brigham Young Office Journals, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

180 years ago today - Oct 22, 1845

[Wilford Woodruff]

I sent one letter to Elder Dan Jones containing the first copies of the Proclamation of the Twelve Apos-ties. I ordered Twenty thousand to be printed in English. The first Copy came to me to day which I immediately sent to Capt Dan Jones to be published in the welch language.

This is the proclamation to All the Kings of World & rulers & people of All nations. May the Lord make it a blessings to All nations. This Proclamation is made by the Twelve Apostles in fulfillment of the Revelations & Commandments of God. ... This is A warning to the whole gentile world that they may be left without excuse in the day of Gods Judgment upon the nations. I thank God that I am an instrument in his hands of printing & Circulating this important Proclamation through Britain & Europe.

[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 - Oct 21, 1900

Alexander F. Macdonald performs a plural marriage in Mexico, his first since 1890. Second counselor Joseph F. Smith authorizes this without the knowledge of church president Lorenzo Snow, who later threatens to excommunicate this patriarch.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]

145 years ago today - Oct 21, 1880

[Wilford Woodruff]

Br Henry Charles Fowler Baptized my Daughter Susan C Scholes in the font for the Renewal of her Covenants and her health.

[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

165 years ago today - Oct 21, 1860 (Morning)

Bro Brigham showed how we should return to Jackson Co Mo. The Lord would open up the way before us. ... Said also that the time would come when there would not be as much as a dog to wag his tongue in all the mountains of Ephraim. And they extended from East to West, from North to South, yea [the] whole length and breadth of this vast American Continent

[Diary of Charles Lowell Walker. Andrew Karl Larson, ed. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1980, 143, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]

165 years ago today - Oct 21, 1860

Orson Hyde asked President [Brigham] Young if there would be any women in a terrestral Kingdom. President Young said I will say that man must be an heir to the Celestial Kingdom of God in order to have wives & increase in the Eternal world and in order to do this He may keep a Celestial Law.

[Wilford Woodruff, Historian's Private Journal, 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]

170 years ago today - Oct 21, 1855

[Wilford Woodruff]

Some think that we have not as much faith as we used to have. I cannot believe this. I believe we are advanceing in the kingdom of God.

Some are much tryed because all are not healed that they lay hands upon but I do not feel so. I had a Case during Conference concerning the case of Sister Baris. She was sick & I laid Hands upon her & blessed her with life & helth & went to meeting. In an hour I had word that she was dead. It did not try me. The Lord saw fit to take her & all is right.

...Shall we be in these mountains when Christ Comes? No at least head quarters will not be here. It will have to be on more ground. It will be in Jackson Co Mo. We may leave some Millions here but the Head quarters will be on More ground....

How will it be with the Lamanites? They will be the most important actors in the scene. We shall be secondly in that work. They will be so delightful & have such great knowledge of Architecture that they will be able to build up a New Jerrusalem. Then we shall go out throughout all the land to gather all the remnant of Jacob the Lamanits to come to the New Jerrusalem. What For? Why that they may be prepared to be Caught up to meet Christ in the clouds of Heaven.

[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

195 years ago today - Oct 21, 1830

Joseph translates Gen. 5:28-37, which becomes Moses 5:43-51. The translation of Genesis continues sporadically throughout the following three years.

[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]