During a visit at church headquarters the last week of February, Senator Moss found "a number of the Brethren boiling pretty good" about Benson's recent talk. These general authorities "decided that Brother Benson's Assembly Hall speech should not be printed in the Church News. This was the decision until it was found that President McKay had already approved its printing and his office had directed the Deseret News to print it."
[Reported by U.S. senator Frank E. Moss to U.S. representative Ken W. Dyal, 2 Mar. 1966, folder 5, box 184, Moss Papers. Moss wrote that this assessment was based on conversations a week earlier with "the Brethren." However, his Daily Activity Log refers to meeting with only one current general authority—Hugh B. Brown on 22 February (box 713, Moss Papers). 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.]
Today In Mormon History-fb
Several curious tidbits that happened on this day in Mormon History
115 years ago today - Feb 22, 1911
Trial of John W. Taylor before the Quorum of Apostles for some of his post-manifesto plural marriage activities. In his defense Taylor has read aloud and entered into the minutes the Sept. 27, 1886 revelation given to his father, President John Taylor. The revelation is discussed. Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith states that a he, himself, as placed the original of the revelation in the church archives. However, Heber J. Grant, who is present and participated during the trial, later, as president of the church, publicly denies the existence of this revelation claiming there is no knowledge or record of it in the church. During the trial Taylor asks that President Joseph F. Smith be called in on his behalf but the council refuses to contact President Smith. The Apostles formally excommunicate Taylor on Mar 28.
165 years ago today - Feb 22, 1861
Apostle Orson Pratt submits to the MATHEMATICAL MONTHLY (Cambridge, Massachusetts) a series of problems concerning mathematical laws relating to the origin of the solar system. He later recalls: "I prepared a series of problems relating to this subject, and forwarded the same to the editor of the Mathematical Monthly, . . . But in the consequence of the war then pending, the paper ceased its publication, and I heard nothing further from the manuscript. But as it was hastily and somewhat imperfectly prepared, it is perhaps better that it remained unpublished," In a letter to the editor of the Mathematical Monthly accompanying the articles, Pratt notes that his work was done without the aid of "any mathematical works." Pratt publishes CUBIC AND BIQUARATIC EQUATIONS and writes texts on differential calculus and determinants which he doesn't publish.
165 years ago today - Feb 22, 1861
The President [Brigham Young]] saw the foundation of the [Salt Lake] Temple was not laid even and he thought of taking some up and level it. The President observed to him that when he saw it he felt it was wrong. The B[isho]p said he wished the Pres[ident] had forcible told him so. The President said he did mention it, but men frequently have to much confidence in themselves. He further remarked he did not care about the expense of work but he wanted it laid out well and the work done properly. Pres. said he intended to have all the rocks taken up and he would get him T.O. Angel & Jesse Fox and overlook the laying of the rock, that it might be done properly. The President saw in a few hundred years some of the ancients will be here, and contrast our buildings with those that they have build. If we could see the buildings they put up before the flood we should see we had grown weaker and not wiser. -- 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]
[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 - Feb 22, 1846
At a meeting in the recently-completed Nauvoo Temple "the room was crowded and a great weight caused the new truss floor to settle nearly to its proper position. While settling, an inch-board or some light timber underneath was caught and cracked, the sound of which created great alarm in the congregation and some jumped out of the windows, smashing the glass and all before them. Philo Farnsworth smashed the northeast window while others ran out of the doors and many or those who remained jumped up and down with all their might crying Oh! Oh!! Oh!!! As though they could not settle the floor fast enough, but at the same time so agitated that they knew now what they did. . . .One man who jumped out of the window broke his arm and mashed his face, another broke his leg." Wilford Woodruff records: "I dreamed last night that there was a great Storm that killed thousands of Birds that were floating upon the water. I saw many that were not quite dead. I waided in 2 or three feet of water
& picked out many of them & put them under a goose that was sitting & they were warmed brought to life & run about lively & well."
& picked out many of them & put them under a goose that was sitting & they were warmed brought to life & run about lively & well."
190 years ago today - Feb 22, 1836
The lower room of the [Kirtland] temple is ready for painting, and Brigham Young will superintend it. The sisters meet to begin making for the temple a white canvas curtain called the veil.
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]
195 years ago today - Feb 22, 1831
Writing from Kirtland (OH), Joseph Smith instructs Martin Harris to "come as soon as you can ... bring or cause to <be> brought all the books [of Mormon] ... inform the Elders which are there that all of them who can be spared will come here without delay if possable this by commandment of the Lord ... send to Colesville and have either Hiram or Newel to come [-] immediately or both if they can be spared. You will not sell the books [of Mormon] for less than 10 Shillings".
[Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]
[Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]
30 years ago today - Feb 21, 1996
The Deseret News (with a follow-up on 28 Feb.) reports that LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley meets with Honolulu's Catholic bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo to coordinate "as part of a grass-roots coalition opposed to same-sex marriage" legalization.
[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)]]
35 years ago today - Feb 21, 1991
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE article "Dunn Story Proves Costly for Veteran Journalist" tells of how Lynn Packer lost his teaching job at BYU after breaking the story about Paul H. Dunn's false baseball and war stories.
105 years ago today - Feb 21, 1921
[James E. Talmage]
.... By further action taken on unanimous vote of the High Council the branch hitherto known as the West Tintic branch of the Tintic Stake of Zion was disorganized. Thus all semblance of Church supervision in the affairs of that unfortunate little group of people has been taken away. When, more than a year ago, reports reached the First Presidency, to the effect that the people in West Tintic had undertaken to establish the 'United Order', they to have all things in common and to abolish all private ownership, I was appointed to investigate the matter. As a result of my first visit to the Tintic Stake with this as one of my appointed duties, I reported the facts as I found them, which were briefly these: That Moses Gudmundson, who was the leader and dominating figure in the movement, denied all intention of going ahead of the Church, specifically in the matter of attempting to start a colony according to the United Order plan; that I did not believe his protestations, but on the
other hand was convinced that the people of West Tintic, then organized into an independent branch in the Tintic Stake, were being led by an evil influence. Many other investigations have followed; and we have found to our sorrow that what we saw as the inevitable development of evil unless the people placed themselves in strict harmony with the order and government of the Church, had become a reality, namely, erotic ideas and practises concerning the marital state and the sexual relation. The best I can say of the people is that they have become fanatical through the power of evil. They have made sacrifice their hobby. The eating of meat, the taking of animal life even to provide food, and many other practises common with other people have been forbidden there; while long fasts and particularly the sacrificing of comforts and wholesome desires have been held up as ideals. Now they have reached the abominable status of men sacrificing their wives to other men; and by this means
they have put themselves under the laws of Church discipline and have made themselves subject to the punishment provided for by the law of the land. The present state is one of abominable immorality. Some of the women, notably the wife of Moses Gudmundson, and the wife of Gerald Lowry, withdrew promptly from the colony rather than countenance in any degree these ungodly practices. I believe that the judgment of the High Council in these cases is just; and that others than those already tried are involved.
[James E. Talmage, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
.... By further action taken on unanimous vote of the High Council the branch hitherto known as the West Tintic branch of the Tintic Stake of Zion was disorganized. Thus all semblance of Church supervision in the affairs of that unfortunate little group of people has been taken away. When, more than a year ago, reports reached the First Presidency, to the effect that the people in West Tintic had undertaken to establish the 'United Order', they to have all things in common and to abolish all private ownership, I was appointed to investigate the matter. As a result of my first visit to the Tintic Stake with this as one of my appointed duties, I reported the facts as I found them, which were briefly these: That Moses Gudmundson, who was the leader and dominating figure in the movement, denied all intention of going ahead of the Church, specifically in the matter of attempting to start a colony according to the United Order plan; that I did not believe his protestations, but on the
other hand was convinced that the people of West Tintic, then organized into an independent branch in the Tintic Stake, were being led by an evil influence. Many other investigations have followed; and we have found to our sorrow that what we saw as the inevitable development of evil unless the people placed themselves in strict harmony with the order and government of the Church, had become a reality, namely, erotic ideas and practises concerning the marital state and the sexual relation. The best I can say of the people is that they have become fanatical through the power of evil. They have made sacrifice their hobby. The eating of meat, the taking of animal life even to provide food, and many other practises common with other people have been forbidden there; while long fasts and particularly the sacrificing of comforts and wholesome desires have been held up as ideals. Now they have reached the abominable status of men sacrificing their wives to other men; and by this means
they have put themselves under the laws of Church discipline and have made themselves subject to the punishment provided for by the law of the land. The present state is one of abominable immorality. Some of the women, notably the wife of Moses Gudmundson, and the wife of Gerald Lowry, withdrew promptly from the colony rather than countenance in any degree these ungodly practices. I believe that the judgment of the High Council in these cases is just; and that others than those already tried are involved.
[James E. Talmage, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
115 years ago today - Feb 21, 1911
[George F. Richards]
The extent to which evolution and higher criticism is gaining ground among our school teachers is something alarming. The effects of such teachings in the B[righam]. Y[oung]. U[niversity]. are indeed alarming. These style themselves the progressive element. There are those making up the conservative element and then the orthodox Mormons.
[George F. Richards, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
The extent to which evolution and higher criticism is gaining ground among our school teachers is something alarming. The effects of such teachings in the B[righam]. Y[oung]. U[niversity]. are indeed alarming. These style themselves the progressive element. There are those making up the conservative element and then the orthodox Mormons.
[George F. Richards, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
120 years ago today - Feb 21, 1906
Joseph W. Summerhays performs ceremony marrying eighteen-year-old Athelia Voila Call to thirty-two-year-old William Galley Sears (whose first wife is unable to conceive) as his second living wife. When questioned by the Quorum of Twelve Summerhays insists that he had permission from President Joseph F. Smith. Smith denies this to Reed Smoot, Apostle and U.S. Senator. Summerhays is released from all church positions but is neither disfellowshipped nor excommunicated. In Washington D.C. Senator Albert J. Hopkins of Illinois tells LDS Apostle John Henry Smith that "we [the church] should do something with our recalcitrant Elders." This refers to Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley of whom it is known that they have performed post-manifesto plural marriages. Taylor and Cowley are dropped from the Quorum of Twelve two weeks later.
125 years ago today - Feb 21, 1901 (Thursday)
The Utah legislature passed an anti-vaccination bill over the governor's veto.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
125 years ago today - Feb. 21st, 1901
[Brigham Young Jr.]
Petition had some circulation asking my wife to resign Presidency of M.I.A. I advised her to resign, which she did.
[Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Petition had some circulation asking my wife to resign Presidency of M.I.A. I advised her to resign, which she did.
[Diary of Apostle Brigham Young Jr., http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
185 years ago today - about Feb 21, 1841
Joseph Taylor remembers that Joseph Smith prophesied to his worried mother that her son John would safely return from jail within a week after having been imprisoned in Missouri for six months; he returned six days later.
[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]
190 years ago today - 1836: 21 February
[Patriarchal Blessing]
Caroline Crosby. (Given by Joseph Smith, Sen.)
"... thou also shalt see thy Redeemer come in the clouds of heaven ... Angels shall minister unto thee. And thy husband shall receive strength from thy prayers when he is absent from thee. And you shall know each others state by the Spirit when in far distant lands, and be comforted.
Thou shalt receive an inheritance in Zion, for thee and thy children. See the glory of God fill the house. Even the glory of the kingdom of heaven. And if thou desirest thou shalt bid the grave adieu, and never sleep in the dust, but rise to meet thy Redeemer at His coming
Note: After the blessings, she wrote: "The Patriarch conversed with us sometime, told us we had come together right. And when we told him our ages, and places of birth, he observed--that he thought we were both born under one planet. But merely by way of merriment. Mother Smith was in the room. She also added her blessing, or confirmed what we had already received."
[From a transcript; original in the Caroline Barnes Crosby Journal and Autobiography, 1807-82; fd 1, pg. 16, Utah State Historical Society Archives, in Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Caroline Crosby. (Given by Joseph Smith, Sen.)
"... thou also shalt see thy Redeemer come in the clouds of heaven ... Angels shall minister unto thee. And thy husband shall receive strength from thy prayers when he is absent from thee. And you shall know each others state by the Spirit when in far distant lands, and be comforted.
Thou shalt receive an inheritance in Zion, for thee and thy children. See the glory of God fill the house. Even the glory of the kingdom of heaven. And if thou desirest thou shalt bid the grave adieu, and never sleep in the dust, but rise to meet thy Redeemer at His coming
Note: After the blessings, she wrote: "The Patriarch conversed with us sometime, told us we had come together right. And when we told him our ages, and places of birth, he observed--that he thought we were both born under one planet. But merely by way of merriment. Mother Smith was in the room. She also added her blessing, or confirmed what we had already received."
[From a transcript; original in the Caroline Barnes Crosby Journal and Autobiography, 1807-82; fd 1, pg. 16, Utah State Historical Society Archives, in Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
190 years ago today - 1836: 21 February
[Patriarchal Blessing]
Jonathan Crosby Jr. (Given by Joseph Smith, Sen.)
"...Thou shalt ... have power over the winds and waves. Be wafted from place to place, by the power of God. Be caught up to the third heavens, and behold unspeakable things, whether in the body or out. Thou shalt see thy Redeemer in the flesh, and know that he lives. Angels shall minister unto thee, and protect thee from thine enemies, so that none shall be able to take thy life. And when thy mission is full here, thou shalt visit other worlds, and remain a Priest in eternity.
Thou shalt stand upon the earth till the Redeemer comes, See the end of this generation, and when the heavens rend, thou shalt rise and meet thy God in the air. And thy thousands shall be with thee. Thy family also, and thy posterity also. ... And I seal thee up unto eternal life...
[From a transcript; original in the Caroline Barnes Crosby Journal and Autobiography, 1807-82; Fd. 1, pg. 16, Utah State Historical Society Archives, in Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Jonathan Crosby Jr. (Given by Joseph Smith, Sen.)
"...Thou shalt ... have power over the winds and waves. Be wafted from place to place, by the power of God. Be caught up to the third heavens, and behold unspeakable things, whether in the body or out. Thou shalt see thy Redeemer in the flesh, and know that he lives. Angels shall minister unto thee, and protect thee from thine enemies, so that none shall be able to take thy life. And when thy mission is full here, thou shalt visit other worlds, and remain a Priest in eternity.
Thou shalt stand upon the earth till the Redeemer comes, See the end of this generation, and when the heavens rend, thou shalt rise and meet thy God in the air. And thy thousands shall be with thee. Thy family also, and thy posterity also. ... And I seal thee up unto eternal life...
[From a transcript; original in the Caroline Barnes Crosby Journal and Autobiography, 1807-82; Fd. 1, pg. 16, Utah State Historical Society Archives, in Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
195 years ago today - 1831 Feb 21
Martin Harris's note to Grandin to pay for BoM printing due
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/10ttN3vOzf2UcVhruCrvDf9pF27T0o0PP0Xj1X98tKBc/edit?fbclid=IwAR3HXLgL-X-M_c5LT2W-_F7AYqsqqaQ0yIhfNuyeFsX85irSPuEO6_Q993A]
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/10ttN3vOzf2UcVhruCrvDf9pF27T0o0PP0Xj1X98tKBc/edit?fbclid=IwAR3HXLgL-X-M_c5LT2W-_F7AYqsqqaQ0yIhfNuyeFsX85irSPuEO6_Q993A]
50 years ago today - Feb 20, 1976
Thomas Stuart Ferguson writes "...you can't set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere - because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archeology." Ferguson was a founder of the New World Archaeological Foundation at BYU in 1952 and participated in many archaeological digs in Central America searching for archaeological evidence of Book of Mormon peoples.
65 years ago today - Feb 20, 1961
President Clark ... is now a Director and Vice-Chairman of the Board of the following Church-controlled or interested corporations:
Beneficial Life
Radio service Corporation of Utah (Station KSL)
Utah Hotel Company
Utah-Idaho Sugar Company
Z.C.M.I.
Director and Vice-President of Zions Securities Corp.
Director-Emeritus-Equitable Life Assurance Society
Member of Board of Trustees: Herbert Hoover Foundation Theodore Roosevelt
Foundation
Director'American Peace Society.
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
Beneficial Life
Radio service Corporation of Utah (Station KSL)
Utah Hotel Company
Utah-Idaho Sugar Company
Z.C.M.I.
Director and Vice-President of Zions Securities Corp.
Director-Emeritus-Equitable Life Assurance Society
Member of Board of Trustees: Herbert Hoover Foundation Theodore Roosevelt
Foundation
Director'American Peace Society.
[The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]
65 years ago today - Feb 20, 1961
A staff member of the Church Historian's office writes to Presiding Patriarch Eldred G. Smith that patriarchal blessings had been given through ten of the twelve tribes of Israel, the two not mentioned being the tribes of Issachar and Asher. And fifteen other lineages had been named in blessings, including that of Cain.
105 years ago today - Feb 20, 1921
[James E. Talmage]
Complaints of wicked and dangerous teachings and practises had been made against Moses S. Gudmundson, J. Elvan Houtz and others; and the Council of the Presidency and Twelve had directed that President Clawson and I be present at the trial. ... The testimony adduced proved conclusively that these men and other residents of the West Tintic branch had been so far misled as to disregard the sanctity of the marriage obligation, as administered in the Temples, and had adopted a system of 'wifesacrifice', whereby men were required to give up their wives to other men, and this under a diabolical misinterpretation of Scripture as to the law of sacrifice requiring one to give up all he has, even wife and children.
[James E. Talmage, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
Complaints of wicked and dangerous teachings and practises had been made against Moses S. Gudmundson, J. Elvan Houtz and others; and the Council of the Presidency and Twelve had directed that President Clawson and I be present at the trial. ... The testimony adduced proved conclusively that these men and other residents of the West Tintic branch had been so far misled as to disregard the sanctity of the marriage obligation, as administered in the Temples, and had adopted a system of 'wifesacrifice', whereby men were required to give up their wives to other men, and this under a diabolical misinterpretation of Scripture as to the law of sacrifice requiring one to give up all he has, even wife and children.
[James E. Talmage, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
115 years ago today - Feb 20, 1911
The BYU Board of Trustees meets. The board, presided over by LDS church president Joseph F. Smith, "agreed that the Presidency of the Faculty should Consider the Cases of the teacher[s] in the university Henry and Jos. Peterson and R. V. Chamberlain." The three professors, who refused to change their teaching on evolution, were either fired or resigned under pressure.
120 years ago today - Feb 20, 1906
[John Henry Smith to George Alber Smith]
Since writing a few lines to you Bro[ther]. [Reed] Smoot has introduced me to some of my old friends and I have had some very pleasant conversations. They all seem to feel that we must do something to convince the public and also the Senators that we are not coniving in these later cases [of plural marriages]. One man [i.e., Theodore Roosevelt] told me that [John W.] Taylor [Matthias F.] Cowley and [Joseph M.] Tanner must be disciplined by the Church, not cast out but drooped from their positions, and that it must be done at a conference.
[John Henry Smith, Letter to George Albert Smith, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
Since writing a few lines to you Bro[ther]. [Reed] Smoot has introduced me to some of my old friends and I have had some very pleasant conversations. They all seem to feel that we must do something to convince the public and also the Senators that we are not coniving in these later cases [of plural marriages]. One man [i.e., Theodore Roosevelt] told me that [John W.] Taylor [Matthias F.] Cowley and [Joseph M.] Tanner must be disciplined by the Church, not cast out but drooped from their positions, and that it must be done at a conference.
[John Henry Smith, Letter to George Albert Smith, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
120 years ago today - Tuesday, Feb 20, 1906
[Apostle John Henry Smith]
I had breakfast with Vice President [Charles W.] Fairbanks. ... Our meal consisted of Baked apples & cream, corn cake and butter, Hominy & Cream, Fried Eggs and French fried Potatoes and Coffee.
[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]
I had breakfast with Vice President [Charles W.] Fairbanks. ... Our meal consisted of Baked apples & cream, corn cake and butter, Hominy & Cream, Fried Eggs and French fried Potatoes and Coffee.
[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 - Feb 20, 1896
Elders Reed Smoot and B[enjamin]. Cluff, Jr., accompanied by brother Willard Young and sister Susa Young Gates, called on the First Presidency, who were all at the office, and expressed satisfaction at the proposition for the B[righam]. Y[oung]. Academy to pass into the hands of the Church. Brother Young and sister Gates thought that the first thing to do was to obtain legal advice in reference to the transfer, and that this should be done before consulting the heirs of the estate of Pres[iden]t. [Brigham] Young. Brothers Cluff and Smoot were advised to consult attorneys in reference to making the change. It was agreed that there would be no necessity to change the name of the Institution, and the general opinion was that by the Church assuming control of the Academy and building up a strong Normal Department, the intention of the late Pres[iden]t. Young in reference to the Academy would be carried out with greater efficiency than ever.
[Journal History, 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]
[Journal History, 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]
175 years ago today - Feb 20, 1851
[Wilford Woodruff]
20th I spent the day in Council. Had a good time. Was Anointed & Blessed under the Hands of President Young.
[Endowment ceremony is again administered on regular basis since coming west, in such places as Brigham Young's office and upper room of Council House.]
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies; The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn]
20th I spent the day in Council. Had a good time. Was Anointed & Blessed under the Hands of President Young.
[Endowment ceremony is again administered on regular basis since coming west, in such places as Brigham Young's office and upper room of Council House.]
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies; The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn]
185 years ago today - Feb 20, 1841
The court-martial of the Nauvoo Legion, by a unanimous vote, adopts a resolution: "That no person whatever, residing within the limits of the City of Nauvoo, between the ages of 18 and 45 years, excepting such as are exempted by the laws of the United States, shall be exempt from military duty, unless exempted by a special act of this court; and the fines for neglecting or refusing to appear on the days of general parade were fixed at the following rates: for generals, $25; colonels, $20; captains, $15; lieutenants, $10; and musicians and privates, $5; and for company parade at the following rates-for commissioned officers, $5; noncommissioned officers, $3; musicians and privates, $2. The 1st and 6th of Apr, and the 3rd of Jul, were fixed upon as days for general parade for this year."
190 years ago today - Feb 20, 1836
Patriarchal Blessing of Julian Moses given by Joseph Smith, Sr. ... thou shalt not fall a prey to that monster that fell from his high standing, before the most high: ... thou shalt have visions and shalt gaze upon the heavens, and the glories thereof, and thou shalt arise up to meet Christ in the air, while the earth shall reel to and fro and be cleansed and prepared for the saints ...
[Patriarchal Blessing Book 1:53-54, in Early Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith Sr. (Author), H. Michael Marquardt (Editor), http://amzn.to/rCBHVe]
[Patriarchal Blessing Book 1:53-54, in Early Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith Sr. (Author), H. Michael Marquardt (Editor), http://amzn.to/rCBHVe]
35 years ago today - Feb 19, 1991
LDS publisher Bookcraft sends a memo to dealers who sell their books: "In view of the recent stories about Elder Paul H. Dunn and the accuracy of his books we thought it might be helpful if we provided you with some facts. We are enclosing with this letter a copy of Elder Dunn's official statement which was released after the initial story was printed. We believe this will help clarify the situation. We want to also remind you that just because something is printed in the newspaper or seen on television does not make it necessarily true. We believe that things Elder Dunn said to the Arizona Republic reporter were taken out of context and used in a way to change his original meanings. We know also that the original story and subsequent coverage have been deliberately slanted to hurt Elder Dunn and the Church. We want to call attention to the fact that after all the 'investigation,' these reports are dealing with stories that are a minuscule part of elder Dunn's writings. Bookcraft
has been and is still proud to be associated with this fine man and outstanding teacher. We intend to continue publishing his books, and there is absolutely no question of any of his books being recalled."
has been and is still proud to be associated with this fine man and outstanding teacher. We intend to continue publishing his books, and there is absolutely no question of any of his books being recalled."
45 years ago today - Feb 19, 1981
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie writes to BYU professor Eugene England: "Yes, President [Brigham Young] did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This, however, is not true [doctrine]. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel." McConkie admonishes England: "It is my province to teach to the Church what the doctrine is. It is your province to echo what I say or to remain silent."
60 years ago today - Feb 19, 1966
Ezra Taft Benson avoided the issue of American Opinion being a John Birch Society publication, nor did McKay bring it up. Instead, he repeated that "the magazine is considered a high-type magazine" on whose cover the pictures of Senator Barry Goldwater, J. Edgar Hoover, and other prominent men had appeared. Furthermore, he reminded McKay that he had given his word on the matter. Although McKay had been adamant only two days before, he now decided "that they had better go ahead with it since I had given my permission for this to be done." McKay did not tell any of his other associates that he had reversed field on the issue.
[David O. McKay diary 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)]
[David O. McKay diary 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)]
75 years ago today - Feb 19, 1951
[Letter to Bishops from First Presidency]
Dear Brethren:
It is unanimously recommended by the Presiding Bishopric, the Presidency of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association, and the Advisors to the General Mutual Improvement Board that the close cooperation of the Bishoprics of Wards, the Sunday School and the Mutual Improvement Association leaders of the Girls' Program be continued as heretofore, even though the Girls' Program is now placed under the direct supervision of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association.
... it seems not only advisable but essential that the Bishopric of each Ward hold at least two meetings each month-one with the officers and teachers of the Aaronic Priesthood, and another with the officers and teachers of the girls of corresponding age. We are informed that the meeting with the Aaronic Priesthood is already being held.
We now recommend that the Bishopric of each Ward arrange to hold a monthly meeting with the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association Presidency, and attendance secretary, Sunday School secretary, and the class leaders of the Bee Hive, Mia Maid and Junior Cleaner groups....
[1951-February 19-Original circular letter, L.D.S. Church, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
Dear Brethren:
It is unanimously recommended by the Presiding Bishopric, the Presidency of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association, and the Advisors to the General Mutual Improvement Board that the close cooperation of the Bishoprics of Wards, the Sunday School and the Mutual Improvement Association leaders of the Girls' Program be continued as heretofore, even though the Girls' Program is now placed under the direct supervision of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association.
... it seems not only advisable but essential that the Bishopric of each Ward hold at least two meetings each month-one with the officers and teachers of the Aaronic Priesthood, and another with the officers and teachers of the girls of corresponding age. We are informed that the meeting with the Aaronic Priesthood is already being held.
We now recommend that the Bishopric of each Ward arrange to hold a monthly meeting with the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association Presidency, and attendance secretary, Sunday School secretary, and the class leaders of the Bee Hive, Mia Maid and Junior Cleaner groups....
[1951-February 19-Original circular letter, L.D.S. Church, in Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]
130 years ago today - Feb 19, 1896
[J. Golden Kimball]
Attended meeting of 1st Council [of the Seventy] held at Temple. ... Bro[ther] [B. H.] Roberts wrote that he would cancell all his appointments and not meet with council again until matters, or difficulties are arranged. Talked some with Elders Wells & Fjeldsted about Roberts case and wondered if we could do him any good.
[J. Golden Kimball, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
Attended meeting of 1st Council [of the Seventy] held at Temple. ... Bro[ther] [B. H.] Roberts wrote that he would cancell all his appointments and not meet with council again until matters, or difficulties are arranged. Talked some with Elders Wells & Fjeldsted about Roberts case and wondered if we could do him any good.
[J. Golden Kimball, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
135 years ago today - Feb 19, 1891
A delegation of Mormon young women and plural wives attends the first meeting of the National Council of Women, which accepts the Relief Society as a charter member.
[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 - Feb 19, 1851
[Lorenzo Brown]
Attended meeting this evening at Israel Hoits good meeting & a good deal of talking in tongues because they could not talk in their own
[Journal of Lorenzo Brown: 1823-1900]
Attended meeting this evening at Israel Hoits good meeting & a good deal of talking in tongues because they could not talk in their own
[Journal of Lorenzo Brown: 1823-1900]
180 years ago today - Thursday, Feb 19, 1846.
[First snowstorm after pioneers leave Nauvoo] The wind blew steadily from the northwest, accompanied by snow which fell to the depth of 7 or 8 inches, but much of it thawed as it fell. The storm was unceasing and there was very little passing in or out of camp. The evening was very cold, which caused much suffering in the camp for there were many who had no tents or any comfortable place to lodge.
[Apostle Willard Richards Journal]
[Apostle Willard Richards Journal]
190 years ago today - Feb 19, 1836
Joseph Smith "conversed with Mr. [Joshua] Seixas [the Hebrew teacher] upon the subject of religion, . . ." Joseph writes in his diary, "He listened with attention and appeared interested with my remarks. I believe the Lord is striving with him by his Holy Spirit and that he will eventually embrace the new and everlasting covenant, for he is a chosen vessel unto the Lord to do his people good. But I forbear lest I get to prophesying upon his head."
60 years ago today - Feb 18, 1966
[David O. McKay] Apostle Mark E. Petersen stated that the Church Information Service had received a bill for $25 for a color photograph of McKay for the cover o f American Opinion, "which is the John Birch Society organ…. Elder Petersen said that if my picture is so published it will certainly look as though the Church is endorsing the John Birch Society. ... I said that my picture should not appear on this magazine; that the Church has nothing to do with the John Birch Society. I authorized Brother Petersen to tell Brother Benson that he had brought this matter to my attention, and had been told by me to stop the printing of my picture on this magazine; that I do not want it used in that way. I said to Brother Petersen, "You are ordered in the presence of these men to stop it." I further said that I do not want to have anything to do with the John Birch Society; that the Church has had nothing to do with it in the past, and that so far as Brother Benson is concerned, I do not
think we would hear anything more about it.
[David O. McKay diary 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)]
think we would hear anything more about it.
[David O. McKay diary 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)]
115 years ago today - Feb 18, 1911
Former apostle John W. Taylor comes into Apostle John Henry Smith's office "very much angered at president Francis M. Lyman and the Twelve. . . . He demanded an Interview with Pres[iden]t Joseph F. [Smith] and me. He was quite wild. He staid over two hours. . . . He demanded that President J. F. Smith call the Counsel of fifty to protect him from the Twelve in his violations of the law [for polygamy]." On Mar 28, 1911 John W. Taylor is excommunicated. At his excommunication trial (conducted by the Quorum of Twelve) he asks that President Joseph F. Smith be called on his behalf but the Quorum refuses.
135 years ago today - Feb 18, 1891
Brothers Willard and Richard W. Young called and submitted a draft of a deed for the proposed university. We approved of it. There was some discussion concerning the name. They both favored calling the university 'Young University'. President [Wilford] Woodruff, Brother [Francis M.] Lyman and myself thought that would be a very good name. Brothers Lorenzo Snow and Jos[eph]. F. Smith did not seem to favor that name. They thought 'Brigham Young University' would be better. Brother [Heber J.] Grant did not express himself fully, though I rather think he favored the latter. The two points in my mind which made me favor calling it the 'Young University' are that the heirs seem to desire that name, and the name 'Brigham Young' is applied already to the college at Logan [Utah] and the academy at Provo [Utah], and the tendency would be instead of calling it 'Brigham Young University,' to call it the B.Y. University.
[George Q. Cannon, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
[George Q. Cannon, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
150 years ago today - Feb 18, 1876
Sodomy or "crime against nature" becomes illegal in Utah Territory. Sodomy was defined as anal intercourse, a felony punishable by 5 years in prison. In 1907 the law changed the jail time to 23 years imprisonment. In 1923 hetero/homosexual oral sex added to sodomy statute. In 1953, sodomy is reduced from a felony to a class B misdemeanor.
[Timeline of Mormon Thinking About Homosexuality, http://rationalfaiths.com/timeline-of-mormon-thinking-about-homosexuality/]
[Timeline of Mormon Thinking About Homosexuality, http://rationalfaiths.com/timeline-of-mormon-thinking-about-homosexuality/]
175 years ago today - Feb 18, 1851
[Hosea Stout]
Went to se Major painting Parleys family group which looked splendid[.] It consisted of 7 wives & children
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
Went to se Major painting Parleys family group which looked splendid[.] It consisted of 7 wives & children
[Diaries of Hosea Stout]
180 years ago today - Feb 18, 1846
Brigham Young organizes the pioneer's camp across the river from Nauvoo: "if the brethren could not bring their minds to perfect order, they had better leave the camp and I would have no feelings against them; that after dark no man must leave camp without the countersign, nor approach the guard abruptly; that every family must call on the Lord night and morning at every tent or wagon and we shall have no confidence in the man who does not." A lost and found is set up and a system of colored flags is announced to call various leaders to come for instructions and two cannons are brought into camp. Afterwards Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and others "returned to Nauvoo . . . and met for prayer in the Temple."
180 years ago today - Feb 18, 1846
An article appears in the WARSAW SIGNAL concerning the endowment ceremony introduced in the Nauvoo Temple two months previously and says that participants in the endowment are "in a state of nudity throughout the ceremony, . . ." Two months later, in the Apr 15, 1846, issue, a woman who signs her name "Emeline" writes a response. Although "Emeline" admits that she is breaking oaths and covenants she has made in the temple by revealing the contents of the ritual, she feels justified because church authorities were "the most debased wretches" and the that endowment was "nothing less than fearful blasphemy." Nevertheless, she denies that the ceremony takes place in a state of nudity, except for an initial robing ceremony during which only women were present and states that no indecency took place between men and women since they are admitted separately. Although she admits that she did not remember many of the details of the ceremony, she describes the rooms, some of the characters,
as well as the fact that there were oaths, obligations, and penalties. February 18, 1850. While her husband, William Clayton plays with the band for a dancing party, his youngest wife Diantha, at her husband's suggestion, dances with a certain Mr. Grist, a gentile. The band, however, plays a waltz, and the sensibilities of some good Saints are shocked to see the wife of William Clayton waltzing with a gentile. News of this reaches top authorities and two days later, after Clayton has gone to work, an apostle and another elder arrive at his home and confront Diantha. They accuse her of three serious errors unbefitting a Latter-day Saint: (1) waltzing with a gentile, (2) "harboring and encouraging" gentiles in her home during the past winter," and (3) "slandering the authorities of the church to the Gentiles." That evening Clayton writes to Brigham Young: "The peace of my family is in a great degree destroyed," for the priesthood leaders had given his young wife a "very severe
chastisement."
as well as the fact that there were oaths, obligations, and penalties. February 18, 1850. While her husband, William Clayton plays with the band for a dancing party, his youngest wife Diantha, at her husband's suggestion, dances with a certain Mr. Grist, a gentile. The band, however, plays a waltz, and the sensibilities of some good Saints are shocked to see the wife of William Clayton waltzing with a gentile. News of this reaches top authorities and two days later, after Clayton has gone to work, an apostle and another elder arrive at his home and confront Diantha. They accuse her of three serious errors unbefitting a Latter-day Saint: (1) waltzing with a gentile, (2) "harboring and encouraging" gentiles in her home during the past winter," and (3) "slandering the authorities of the church to the Gentiles." That evening Clayton writes to Brigham Young: "The peace of my family is in a great degree destroyed," for the priesthood leaders had given his young wife a "very severe
chastisement."
185 years ago today - Feb 18, 1841
In England Wilford Woodruff receives a letter from his wife: "It was truly a feast to me to hear from my Dear wife [and] child . . . after being separated nearly two years from them."
45 years ago today - Feb 17, 1981-Tuesday
[Leonard Arrington]
I learned that some time ago when Ed Lyon was in Nauvoo, Elder [Howard W.] Hunter and his family came there on a Church history trip. They would read about each area as they came to it, in their hotel room at night. In the course of Ed's comments to them as they were in Nauvoo, he told them some things that are not "traditional" history as it is generally taught. One of Elder Hunter's sons said, "Dad, why are we doing this and not telling people the truth? Why is our history written like that?" Elder Hunter is reported to have responded that he regretted that it was, and that he sincerely hoped that we would do better in the future.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
I learned that some time ago when Ed Lyon was in Nauvoo, Elder [Howard W.] Hunter and his family came there on a Church history trip. They would read about each area as they came to it, in their hotel room at night. In the course of Ed's comments to them as they were in Nauvoo, he told them some things that are not "traditional" history as it is generally taught. One of Elder Hunter's sons said, "Dad, why are we doing this and not telling people the truth? Why is our history written like that?" Elder Hunter is reported to have responded that he regretted that it was, and that he sincerely hoped that we would do better in the future.
[Confessions of a Mormon historian : the diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971-1997, Gary James Bergera, editor, Signature Books, 2018]
140 years ago today - Feb 17, 1886
[Wilford Woodruff]
My abode was visited to day by 2 spotter. They did not finally search the House But they made a great Deal of Enquiry about the House but finally went off. <I was hid.>
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
My abode was visited to day by 2 spotter. They did not finally search the House But they made a great Deal of Enquiry about the House but finally went off. <I was hid.>
[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 - Feb 17, 1886
George Q. Cannon, arrested for polygamy, is released on $45,000 bail. Apostles Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor, Franklin D. Richards and John Henry Smith visit him at his home and "found him badly bruised but feeling cheerful." Cannon was "badly bruised" from jumping from a moving train in an escape attempt after being arrested.
170 years ago today - Feb 17, 1856
Brigham Young "asked Elder Orson Pratt what He thought of his preaching that intelligent beings would continue to learn to all Eternity. O. Pratt said that He believed the Gods had a knowledge at the present time of every thing that ever did exist to the endless ages of all Eternity. He believed it as much as any truth that he had ever learned in or out of this Church. President Young remarked that he had never learned that principle in the church for it was not taught in the Church for it was not true. It was fals[e] doctrin[e] For the Gods and all intelligent Beings would never cease to learn except it was the Sons of perdition they would continue to decrease until they became dissolved back into their native Element & lost their Identity." This is only one point of doctrine over which Brigham Young and Orson Pratt differed throughout their lives. In 1980, Apostle Bruce R. McConkie calls Brigham Young's doctrine that God continues to learn a "deadly heresy" and says: "[t]his is
false-utterly, totally, and completely. There is not one sliver of truth in it."
false-utterly, totally, and completely. There is not one sliver of truth in it."
170 years ago today - Feb 17, 1856
Prest Young said: if a man has many visions he is more liable to be overcome by the devil than the man that has no visions.... When this Church goes to Jackson Co. they will go from the West towards the East and not go through South America or Texas as many think. But before we go there we must live in a desolate place where gentiles can't, till we get a large company. When people leave a gathering place of the Saints to find a good country where they can live easy, they will apostatize or be driven from it. -- SLC Tabernacle
[John Pulsipher Journal, BYU. 38, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[John Pulsipher Journal, BYU. 38, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
170 years ago today - Feb 17, 1856
[Brigham Young]
When a person apostatizes, he continues to decrease until they are wilted out to nothing - My spirit in me was not a particle contaminated by the fall of Adam but in consequence of being connected with the body it must continue until it is released - The devil had not a particle of power over the spirit but if I die in my sins then he continues his power - he will destroy sin and he that hath the power of it - he will decompose it into element but not annihilated - the individuality is annihilated - The earth and the air is full of the properties of the grape. -- Salt Lake City
[Leonard J. Arrington Papers, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan. (A reference reading LJA 12-55-5, 10, means LJA Series 12, Box 55, Folder 5, page 10.) 9-13-4, 169, in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
When a person apostatizes, he continues to decrease until they are wilted out to nothing - My spirit in me was not a particle contaminated by the fall of Adam but in consequence of being connected with the body it must continue until it is released - The devil had not a particle of power over the spirit but if I die in my sins then he continues his power - he will destroy sin and he that hath the power of it - he will decompose it into element but not annihilated - the individuality is annihilated - The earth and the air is full of the properties of the grape. -- Salt Lake City
[Leonard J. Arrington Papers, Special Collections, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University, Logan. (A reference reading LJA 12-55-5, 10, means LJA Series 12, Box 55, Folder 5, page 10.) 9-13-4, 169, 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 - Feb 17, 1846
[Brigham Young] instructed the brethren to ... never to borrow without asking leave and then be sure and return the same lest your brother be vexed with you and in his anger curse you and then you will be cursed according to the power of the priesthood that a brother professes, and evil will come upon you; that all dogs in the camp should be killed if the owners would not tie them; that any man who would keep a horse in camp that had distemper should forfeit all his horses; ... He then called upon all who wanted to go with the camp to raise their right hand, and all hands were up.
[Apostle Willard Richards Journal]
[Apostle Willard Richards Journal]
185 years ago today - Feb 17, 1841
[Heber C. Kimball]
And it come to pass that we went to Barttalomy [St. Bartholomew] Hospital. We went threw one room whare we saw as menny as 20 bodies of men and wimmen Laid in diffrent Situations under diffrent stats [states] of decetion [dissection], some just brought in with thare mouths soad [sewed] up. I must confess It gave wonderfull feelings.
[Kimball, Stanley B. ed, On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball]
And it come to pass that we went to Barttalomy [St. Bartholomew] Hospital. We went threw one room whare we saw as menny as 20 bodies of men and wimmen Laid in diffrent Situations under diffrent stats [states] of decetion [dissection], some just brought in with thare mouths soad [sewed] up. I must confess It gave wonderfull feelings.
[Kimball, Stanley B. ed, On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball]
190 years ago today - 17 February 1836 - Wednesday
Wednesday the 17th attend[ed] the school and read and translated with my class as usual, and my soul delights in reading the word of the Lord in the original, and I am determined to persue the study of languages untill I shall become master of them, if I am permitted to live long enough, at any rate so long as I do live I am determined to make this my object, and with the blessing of God I shall succe[e]d to my sattisfaction,- this evening Elder Joseph Coe called to make some arangements about the Egyptian records and the mummies, he proposes to hire a room at J[ohn] Johnson s Inn and exibit them there from day to day at certain hours, that some benefit may be derived from them- I complied with his request, and only observed that they must be managed with prudence and care especially the manuscripts [[Seven months earlier, Coe loaned eight hundred dollars to help purchase the mummies and papyri, expecting to be quickly repaid from the sales of JS's translation of the papyri. With
the translation still unpublished, Coe desired to recoup his losses by exhibiting the mummies and papyri.]]
[Joseph Smith, "Sketch Book for the use of Joseph Smith, jr.," Journal, Sept. 1835-Apr. 1836]
the translation still unpublished, Coe desired to recoup his losses by exhibiting the mummies and papyri.]]
[Joseph Smith, "Sketch Book for the use of Joseph Smith, jr.," Journal, Sept. 1835-Apr. 1836]
20 years ago today - Feb 16, 2006
L A Times front page story "Bedrock of a Faith is Jolted" on fact that DNA studies show no Hebrew ancestry to Native Americans.
30 years ago today - Feb 16, 1996
[Same-Sex Marriage]
Rex E. Lee, issues a position paper arguing for the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex partners.
[Crapo, Richley, Chronology Of Mormon / LDS Involvement In Same-Sex Marriage Politics http://www.mormonsocialscience.org/?q=node/59]
Rex E. Lee, issues a position paper arguing for the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex partners.
[Crapo, Richley, Chronology Of Mormon / LDS Involvement In Same-Sex Marriage Politics http://www.mormonsocialscience.org/?q=node/59]
35 years ago today - Feb 16, 1991
Arizona Republic' publishes an analysis of decades of talks by Seventy's president Paul H. Dunn who has misrepresented his military and baseball careers in order to tell "faith-promoting" stories to LDS youth and young adults. This is based on the research of investigative reporter Lynn Packer, whose teaching employment is terminated at BYU after the story's publication. In an interview Dunn defends himself by saying that parables of Jesus are not literally true either. On 23 Oct. Dunn writes an "Open Letter to the Members of the Church," confessing his "inaccurate" sermons and "other activities inconsistent with the high and sacred office which I have held." He acknowledges that general authorities "have censured me and placed a heavy penalty upon me." In addition to receiving emeritus status in 1989, five years before its normal implementation at age seventy, the unnamed "heavy penalty" allegedly now includes Dunn's loss of LDS privileges. Without formal disfellowshipment this
would be similar to the 1911 decision concerning Matthias F. Cowley, who also had been previously released as a general authority before his added punishment.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
would be similar to the 1911 decision concerning Matthias F. Cowley, who also had been previously released as a general authority before his added punishment.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]]
35 years ago today - Feb 16, 1991
Leftist rebels in Santiago, Chile, set a Mormon chapel afire and leave pamphlets protesting the U.S.-led war against Iraq. According to the Associated Press, the attack is one of a number of attacks against U.S. and European targets in South America after the war began.
75 years ago today - Feb 16, 1951
[George Albert Smith to Arthur Haycock]
.... You know as much or more about my affairs as anybody. I am not gaining any strength, and unless the Lord takes a hand it will not be long before it is over. ... Zion's Savings Bank has been appointed my trustee, as you know, and my will provides for the division of the real estate amongst my children, share and share alike. I don't think my girls have any idea how near I have been to the other side. I haven't felt that my work was done at all.... The big automobile belongs to the Church. It isn't mine. One of my regrets is that I have been unable to organize a library and dispose of it. I don't know how I ever got here (in the hospital). They never talked to me about it. I don't like the idea of being in the hands of doctors all the time. I want to leave some of it up to the Lord. Arthur, I want you to know that I have absolute confidence in your faith and integrity and in you as a member of the Church. My family feel toward you just as I do. The Lord bless you, and many, many
thanks for your kindnesses. As long as I have the money I want to pay my own hospital expenses. I don't want the Church to do it.
['Statement Made by President George Albert Smith to His Secretary, D. Arthur Haycock, Friday, February 16, 1951, 10:15 A.M., L.D.S. Hospital, Room 703', as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
.... You know as much or more about my affairs as anybody. I am not gaining any strength, and unless the Lord takes a hand it will not be long before it is over. ... Zion's Savings Bank has been appointed my trustee, as you know, and my will provides for the division of the real estate amongst my children, share and share alike. I don't think my girls have any idea how near I have been to the other side. I haven't felt that my work was done at all.... The big automobile belongs to the Church. It isn't mine. One of my regrets is that I have been unable to organize a library and dispose of it. I don't know how I ever got here (in the hospital). They never talked to me about it. I don't like the idea of being in the hands of doctors all the time. I want to leave some of it up to the Lord. Arthur, I want you to know that I have absolute confidence in your faith and integrity and in you as a member of the Church. My family feel toward you just as I do. The Lord bless you, and many, many
thanks for your kindnesses. As long as I have the money I want to pay my own hospital expenses. I don't want the Church to do it.
['Statement Made by President George Albert Smith to His Secretary, D. Arthur Haycock, Friday, February 16, 1951, 10:15 A.M., L.D.S. Hospital, Room 703', as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
115 years ago today - Feb 16, 1911; Thursday
[John W. Taylor to Joseph F. Smith]
Beloved President:
I earnestly request that you call a meeting at your earliest convenience of all of the members of the Kingdom of God [Council of Fifty].
The rights and liberties of some of my co-religionists, my family and myself are now being unjustly attacked and trampled under foot by members of our organization, contrary to our sacred rights that we are entitled to enjoy under the provisions of our constitution.
... In the name of every thing that is sacred to the heart of man, I implore you as Prophet, President and King, to grant unto me a hearing at once, that I may more fully set forth the reasons for my grievance which the consitution of the Kingdom of God so fully guarantees to its members.
Anxiously awaiting an answer, I remain with the sentiments of the highest esteem, Your brother in the bonds of the New and Everlasting Covenant and fellow laborer in the Kingdom of God.
[signed] John W. Taylor
[Note at top of letter:] Not granted I think the demand most absurd. J[oseph]. F. S[mith].
[John W. Taylor, letter to Joseph F. Smith, and Joseph F. Smith, handwritten response, Quinn Papers, original in LDS Archives]
Beloved President:
I earnestly request that you call a meeting at your earliest convenience of all of the members of the Kingdom of God [Council of Fifty].
The rights and liberties of some of my co-religionists, my family and myself are now being unjustly attacked and trampled under foot by members of our organization, contrary to our sacred rights that we are entitled to enjoy under the provisions of our constitution.
... In the name of every thing that is sacred to the heart of man, I implore you as Prophet, President and King, to grant unto me a hearing at once, that I may more fully set forth the reasons for my grievance which the consitution of the Kingdom of God so fully guarantees to its members.
Anxiously awaiting an answer, I remain with the sentiments of the highest esteem, Your brother in the bonds of the New and Everlasting Covenant and fellow laborer in the Kingdom of God.
[signed] John W. Taylor
[Note at top of letter:] Not granted I think the demand most absurd. J[oseph]. F. S[mith].
[John W. Taylor, letter to Joseph F. Smith, and Joseph F. Smith, handwritten response, Quinn Papers, original in LDS Archives]
140 years ago today - Feb 16, 1886
[Wilford Woodruff]
It is Confirmed to day that Georg Q Cannon is arested & in the Hands of the Marshals. We are in the Midst of a National Persecution. The United States Government is making war upon the Latter Day Saints. Judgment is begining at the House of God. But if the Saints Suffer for their Religion Our Persecuters will Suffer for thir sins. Great things await this Generation. Behold the signs of the time. Watch for the Coming of the Son of Man.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
It is Confirmed to day that Georg Q Cannon is arested & in the Hands of the Marshals. We are in the Midst of a National Persecution. The United States Government is making war upon the Latter Day Saints. Judgment is begining at the House of God. But if the Saints Suffer for their Religion Our Persecuters will Suffer for thir sins. Great things await this Generation. Behold the signs of the time. Watch for the Coming of the Son of Man.
[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 - Feb 16, 1846
Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, organizes the Camp of Israel at Sugar Creek, Iowa, preparatory to the Saints' trek across the plains. The organization includes captains of tens, fifties, and hundreds.
185 years ago today - Feb 16, 1841
Wilford Woodruf writes while in England of "the awful Judgments that await the Nations. WAR WAR is [at] the door between England & America. O Lord Deliver us."
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