In your letter of June 1 you ask whether or not the Church has changed its attitude towards the playing of cards.
In reply will say that there has been no change and the advice given by President Smith, to which you refer, has been reiterated by myself and others of the General Authorities from time to time.
Card-playing is a waste of time and frequently leads to quarreling and cheating, and sometimes worse evils.
[Heber J. Grant, Letter to Anna Brown, 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]
Today In Mormon History-fb
Several curious tidbits that happened on this day in Mormon History
125 years ago today - Jun 3, 1900
[Heber J. Grant]
After meeting, Brother [Frank Y.] Taylor and I drove to South Cottonwood where we met Bishop Rawlins and I requested that he do not issue a recommend to a brother whose name I have now forgotten, who is about to move to Canada. This man recently married a young lady from the Tirteenth [sic] Ward, and he promised before going to secure an obligation which was owing a young lady also of the Thirteenth Ward, and to whom he had been engaged. Learning that he was going to Canada without making good his promise I felt that he was unworthy of a recommend and that his promise should be fulfilled before he was allowed to secure a recommend.
[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
After meeting, Brother [Frank Y.] Taylor and I drove to South Cottonwood where we met Bishop Rawlins and I requested that he do not issue a recommend to a brother whose name I have now forgotten, who is about to move to Canada. This man recently married a young lady from the Tirteenth [sic] Ward, and he promised before going to secure an obligation which was owing a young lady also of the Thirteenth Ward, and to whom he had been engaged. Learning that he was going to Canada without making good his promise I felt that he was unworthy of a recommend and that his promise should be fulfilled before he was allowed to secure a recommend.
[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
130 years ago today - Jun 3, 1895
[Apostle Francis M. Lyman]
I spoke 75 minutes upon rebaptism, Statehood and woman suffrage.
[Excerpts of Apostle Francis M. Lyman Diaries, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
I spoke 75 minutes upon rebaptism, Statehood and woman suffrage.
[Excerpts of Apostle Francis M. Lyman Diaries, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
135 years ago today - Jun 3, 1890
First Presidency sets apart John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, and John B. Fairbanks as "art missionaries" to study in France in order to paint murals in interior of Salt Lake temple. They reach Paris on Jul 24. They are joined by Edwin Evans and Herman H. Haag. Enrolled in Julian Acadamy, the art missionaries return to Salt Lake City in 1892 and complete the temple murals. They are not first formally trained Mormon artists, because C. C. A. Christensen (b. 1831) and Danquart A. Weggeland (b. 1827) borh trained at Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Contemporary with these art missionaries are three Julian Academy sculptors of Mormon background. Brigham Young's grandson Mahonri M. Young wins silver medal at Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, creates statue of Brigham Young in U. S. Capitol, and sculpts Salt Lake Temple Square monuments to Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Miracle of the Seagulls. Cyrus E. Dallin wins gold medal at Panama Exposition and sculpts Angel Moroni statue
atop Salt Lake temple and also creates pioneer monument. Least identified with his Mormon parentage of the three, Gutzon Borglum designs and sculpts Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
atop Salt Lake temple and also creates pioneer monument. Least identified with his Mormon parentage of the three, Gutzon Borglum designs and sculpts Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
135 years ago today - Jun 3, 1890
The First Presidency sets apart John Hafen, Lorus Pratt, and John B. Fairbanks as "art missionaries" to study in France in order to paint murals on the interior of the Salt Lake temple. They reach Paris on 24 July. They are joined by Edwin Evans and Herman H. Haag. Enrolled in the Julian Academy, the art missionaries return to Salt Lake City in 1892 and complete the temple murals. They are not the first formally trained Mormon artists, because C.C.A. Christensen (b. 1831) and Danquart A. Weggeland (b. 1827) both trained at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Contemporary with these art missionaries are three Julian Academy sculptors of Mormon background. Brigham Young's grandson, Mahonri M. Young, wins the silver medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, creates a statue of Brigham Young in the U.S. Capitol, and sculpts the Salt Lake Temple Square monuments to Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and the Miracle of the Seagulls. Cyrus E. Dallin wins the gold medal at
the Panama Exposition and sculpts the Angel Moroni statue atop the Salt Lake temple, and also creates the pioneer monument. Least identified with his Mormon parentage of the three, Gutzon Borglum designs and sculpts Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Mary Teasdel joins the Julian Academy in 1899. She is the first female Mormon artist whose work eventually becomes part of a collection at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
the Panama Exposition and sculpts the Angel Moroni statue atop the Salt Lake temple, and also creates the pioneer monument. Least identified with his Mormon parentage of the three, Gutzon Borglum designs and sculpts Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Mary Teasdel joins the Julian Academy in 1899. She is the first female Mormon artist whose work eventually becomes part of a collection at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
170 years ago today - Jun 3, 1855 (Evening)
Joseph prophesied that Lyman Johnson would go into the kingdom of heaven, but he has got to go to hell first, burn out and then come out. A man has got to go down, just as far as he had light.
[The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[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 - Jun 3, 1855 (Morning)
[Brigham Young]
In my fullest belief, it was the design of the Lord that Adam should partake of the forbidden fruit, and I believe that Adam knew all about it before he came to this earth. I believe there was no other way leading to thrones and dominions only for him to transgress
[The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
In my fullest belief, it was the design of the Lord that Adam should partake of the forbidden fruit, and I believe that Adam knew all about it before he came to this earth. I believe there was no other way leading to thrones and dominions only for him to transgress
[The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
185 years ago today - Jun 3, 1840
[Wilford Woodruff]
A notable miracle was wrought by faith & the power of God in the person of Sister Mary Pitt at Dymok. She had been Confined 6 years to her bed, with the spine which mostly deprived her of the use of her feet & ancles, & had not walked for 11 years ownly with the use of crutches. Elders Young Richards & Woodruff lade hands upon her & rebuked her infirmity & her ancle bones received strength & she now walks without the aid of crutch or staff.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
A notable miracle was wrought by faith & the power of God in the person of Sister Mary Pitt at Dymok. She had been Confined 6 years to her bed, with the spine which mostly deprived her of the use of her feet & ancles, & had not walked for 11 years ownly with the use of crutches. Elders Young Richards & Woodruff lade hands upon her & rebuked her infirmity & her ancle bones received strength & she now walks without the aid of crutch or staff.
[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 - Jun 2, 1880
Br Joseph Young Senr. Said he was going to lay the subject of taking the Seventies and ordaining them High Priests before the Twelve. He wished to report to them the language of Brother Brigham and of Joseph the Prophet. He (Joseph) said, You could not take a Seventy and make a High Priest of him. He referred to the case of Gladden Bishop, who was ordained from a Seventy to a High Priest by Hyrum his brother and he Br Hyrum received a severe rebuke for taking such an unwarrantable [sic] course. Said also that Brother Brigham was asked on one occasion whether he should take an Apostle and ordain him an High Priest? He answered that no reason for it. He referred to many things that were [told] him by Brigham and the Prophet Joseph Smith against the ranks of these Quorums being broken up; whose ordinations were placed upon them as special witnesses and travelling ministers to the nations of the earth and against making them local officers.
[Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015, Appendix 1: Minutes of the Seventies, 1837-1933, Excerpts]
[Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015, Appendix 1: Minutes of the Seventies, 1837-1933, Excerpts]
165 years ago today - Jun 2, 1860
In the evening Pres[ident] Joseph Young came in and had some conversation with the President [Brigham Young] upon the Science of music. The President [said] a great deal of the music now played by the world have been composed to play at whore houses, and as the virtues of Nations declined the music sinks with it. he also remarked the music compositors of the present day introduce as much discord as possible into their compositions, without actually destroying the rules of music. -- Salt Lake City
[Brigham Young Office Journals, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[Brigham Young Office Journals, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
175 years ago today - Jun 2, 1850
President Young recommended this method and for brethren to try their difficulties first in the church and not go to law until a man will not abide the decision of the church tribunals. -- Salt Lake City
[On the Mormon Frontier, the Diaries of Hosea Stout. Juanita Brooks, ed. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1964. 2:370, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
[On the Mormon Frontier, the Diaries of Hosea Stout. Juanita Brooks, ed. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1964. 2:370, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
195 years ago today - Jun 2, 1830
[Newspaper story]
"New Bible--A fellow by the name of Joseph Smith, who resides in the upper part of Susquehanna county, has been, for the last two years we are told, employed in dictating, as he says, by inspiration, a new Bible. He pretended that he had been entrusted by God with a golden bible which had been always hidden from the world. Smith would put his face into a hat in which he had a white stone, and pretend to read from it, while his coadjutor transcribed. The book purports to give an account of the "ten tribes" and strange as it may seem, there are some who have full faith in his divine commission. The book, it seems is now published."
[Cincinnati Advertiser, Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
"New Bible--A fellow by the name of Joseph Smith, who resides in the upper part of Susquehanna county, has been, for the last two years we are told, employed in dictating, as he says, by inspiration, a new Bible. He pretended that he had been entrusted by God with a golden bible which had been always hidden from the world. Smith would put his face into a hat in which he had a white stone, and pretend to read from it, while his coadjutor transcribed. The book purports to give an account of the "ten tribes" and strange as it may seem, there are some who have full faith in his divine commission. The book, it seems is now published."
[Cincinnati Advertiser, Kenney, Scott, Saints Without Halos, "Mormon History 1830-1844," http://web.archive.org/web/20120805163534/saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml]
45 years ago today - Jun 1, 1980
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie preaches at BYU against "Seven Deadly Heresies." First heresy: "There are those who say God is progressing in knowledge and is learning new truths." Second heresy is organic evolution. Fifth heresy; "There are those who say that there is progression from one kingdom to another in the eternal worlds." Sixth "Deadly Heresy" is the Adam-God doctrine preached by Brigham Young. McConkie says those who have been through the temple who believe the Adam-God doctrine "do not deserve to be saved."
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
60 years ago today - Jun 1, 1965
Apostle Richard L. Evans is elected president of Rotary International, with its 560,000 community leaders and business executives in 127 nations.
[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 )]]
75 years ago today - Jun 1, 1950
[George Albert Smith]
while in Washington, he meets with a Sister from Mesa, Arizona, who feels "that she was to be the mother of the Holy Ghost; that the Holy Ghost was to receive a mortal body and that she, as Mary of old, the mother of Jesus, had been selected to be the mother of the Holy Ghost."
[Journals of George Albert Smith]
while in Washington, he meets with a Sister from Mesa, Arizona, who feels "that she was to be the mother of the Holy Ghost; that the Holy Ghost was to receive a mortal body and that she, as Mary of old, the mother of Jesus, had been selected to be the mother of the Holy Ghost."
[Journals of George Albert Smith]
75 years ago today - Jun 1, 1950
President George Albert Smith dedicated a statue of Brigham Young at the nation's Capitol.
[Church News: Historical Chronology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/58765/Historical-chronology-of-The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-day-Saints.html]
[Church News: Historical Chronology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/58765/Historical-chronology-of-The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-day-Saints.html]
80 years ago today - Jun 1, 1945
The Improvement Era, states: "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done." This is the ward teacher's message to all members for the month. To an inquiring Unitarian minister George Albert Smith writes that "not a few members of the Church have been upset in their feelings, and General Authorities have been embarrassed" by the above statement. "Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church," he continues. However, the church president's retraction reaches one non-Mormon, while the original statement reaches the entire LDS population without a similar correction.
[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 )]]
155 years ago today - Jan 6, 1870
Women of the Salt Lake City Fifteenth Ward met to protest the Cullom Bill, proposed federal legislation designed to punish polygamists and limit the church's power. In the next three months, thousands of other Mormon women met in similar protest (or "indignation") meetings.
[Matthew J. Grow, Kate Holbrook, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Jill Mulvay Derr, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History, Chronology. https://churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/events]
[Matthew J. Grow, Kate Holbrook, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Jill Mulvay Derr, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History, Chronology. https://churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/events]
165 years ago today - Jun 1, 1860
1860 Census lists 29 slaves in Utah,
[http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/Chronology-Pertaining-to-Blacks-and-the-LDS-Church]
[http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/Chronology-Pertaining-to-Blacks-and-the-LDS-Church]
180 years ago today - Jun 1, 1845
An official "clarification" appears in the TIMES AND SEASONS defining William Smith's position as Patriarch TO the Church, not OVER the Church, an obvious restriction. William sees this as yet another attempt to undermine his position.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
180 years ago today - Jun 1, 1845
[Brigham Young Sermon]
I believe that Ghosts will haunt them [murders of Joseph & Hyrum], but Joseph will not take the pains to their haunt them in his visions and dreams, but he will send some of the meanest spirits in the eternal world.
[Leonard J. Arrington Papers, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
I believe that Ghosts will haunt them [murders of Joseph & Hyrum], but Joseph will not take the pains to their haunt them in his visions and dreams, but he will send some of the meanest spirits in the eternal world.
[Leonard J. Arrington Papers, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
195 years ago today - between 1 June and Jun 9, 1830
In Fayette, New York, Smith drafts the "Articles and Covenants of the church of Christ". Both Smith and Oliver Cowdery are described as "an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of this church". In the earliest possible reference to Smith's First Vision, it says that "after that it truly was manifested unto this first elder, that he had received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world; [b]ut after truly repenting, God ministered unto him by an holy angel...." The document refers to the new office of deacon.
[Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]
[Wikipedia: Chronology of Mormonism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Mormonism]
195 years ago today - Jun 1, 1830
The first proselytizing mission is conceived and is to be directed toward native Americans. The PALMYRA REFLECTOR calls Oliver Cowdery "the apostle to the NEPHITES." Cowdery and others of the "Lamanite mission" leave New York Oct. 1830 and preach to the Catteragus tribe in New York, the Wyandot tribe in Ohio, the Shawnee tribe in Missouri, and the Delaware tribe in what is now Kansas. Instead of native Americans, the most prominent converts of this 1830-1831 mission are Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, and Newel K. Whitney.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
195 years ago today - Jun 1, 1830
The Church held its first Conference, in Fayette, Seneca County, New York.
[Richards, Franklin Dewey and Little, James A., Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, Church Chronology, Ch.66, p.306, http://www.amazon.com/Compendium-Doctrines-Gospel-ebook/dp/B002LTY4Z0?ie=UTF8tag=mormonchronic-20link_code=btlcamp=213689creative=392969]
[Richards, Franklin Dewey and Little, James A., Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, Church Chronology, Ch.66, p.306, http://www.amazon.com/Compendium-Doctrines-Gospel-ebook/dp/B002LTY4Z0?ie=UTF8tag=mormonchronic-20link_code=btlcamp=213689creative=392969]
75 years ago today - May 31, 1950
[David O. McKay]
At the office at 7 a.m.'Busy with office affairs until 9 a.m., at which time I met with Brother Stephen L. Richards who has been appointed a member of a committee to study a plan for Priesthood insurance. I told Brother Richards that I would call Brother Virgil Smith of the Beneficial Life Insurance Company who I am sure, will be able to give some valuable advice regarding this matter. I later reached Brother Smith by telephone and asked him if he would meet with Brother Stephen L. Richards. I explained to him that for twenty or twenty-five years we have been trying to work out some plan for Priesthood insurance for the Quorums of the Church; that the Council of the First Presidency and the Twelve the other day approved of a committee's working a plan out, and approved of the committee's getting such help as will be necessary to get it on a sound basis. I told him, also, that Brother Stephen L. Richards had met with me this morning on it, and said that he would appreciate very much
receiving his advice regarding it. Brother Smith said that he would be very happy to render whatever help he could, and that he would get in touch with Brother Stephen L. Richards immediately.
[David O. McKay 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]
At the office at 7 a.m.'Busy with office affairs until 9 a.m., at which time I met with Brother Stephen L. Richards who has been appointed a member of a committee to study a plan for Priesthood insurance. I told Brother Richards that I would call Brother Virgil Smith of the Beneficial Life Insurance Company who I am sure, will be able to give some valuable advice regarding this matter. I later reached Brother Smith by telephone and asked him if he would meet with Brother Stephen L. Richards. I explained to him that for twenty or twenty-five years we have been trying to work out some plan for Priesthood insurance for the Quorums of the Church; that the Council of the First Presidency and the Twelve the other day approved of a committee's working a plan out, and approved of the committee's getting such help as will be necessary to get it on a sound basis. I told him, also, that Brother Stephen L. Richards had met with me this morning on it, and said that he would appreciate very much
receiving his advice regarding it. Brother Smith said that he would be very happy to render whatever help he could, and that he would get in touch with Brother Stephen L. Richards immediately.
[David O. McKay 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]
90 years ago today - May 31, 1935
Dr. George W. Middleton and Heber Sears ask 'the opinion of the Church regarding sterilization of criminals, incompetents, etc." Heber J. Grant replies that "the Church had taken no stand whatever on this matter up to date."
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
125 years ago today - May 31, 1900
In a meeting of the Twelve Apostles it is decided that Apostle Reed Smoot should try for a seat on the Republican National Committee.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
125 years ago today - May 31, 1900; Thursday
Brother [Heber J.] Grant reported that in visiting the Granite [Utah] Stake it was evident to him that Bishop Apollos Driggs was not a fit man to preside over the Sugar House Ward. He found that he had paid five dollars tithing last year and his clerk ten cents, and for several years previous Brother Driggs had paid no tithing at all. It looks on the face of it that by himself and clerk paying a little tithing they realized that they would escape being put on the list of non-tithe payers. ... Brother Grant stated that he had decided in his mind that Brother Driggs should be asked for his resignation ...
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]
150 years ago today - May 31, 1875
[Wilford Woodruff]
During the Evening My Brother Azmon Woodruff & his wife Elizabeth Pierce Woodruff arived at my house. I should not have been much more surprised if an Angel from Heaven had Called upon me. It had been 38 years since we had met before.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
During the Evening My Brother Azmon Woodruff & his wife Elizabeth Pierce Woodruff arived at my house. I should not have been much more surprised if an Angel from Heaven had Called upon me. It had been 38 years since we had met before.
[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 - May 31, 1845, Saturday
[William Clayton]
[Regarding the trail of the murders of Joseph & Hyrum Smith] From the testimony of brother Watt it appears the Judge Young is favorable to the mobocrats and manifests a disposition to acquit the murderers rather than bring them to justice. Calvin A. Warren also said if the prisoners were guilty of murder he himself was guilty, alleging that it was the public opinion that the Smiths ought to be killed, and public opinions make laws, and consequently it was not murder to kill the Smiths. Esqr. Browing also railed hard against the saints. In fact the whole proceedings of the court is nothing more than a farce, and it is evident there is no disposition on the part of the people to avenge the blood of the servents of God and it will yet be left for God himself to do it, in his own time and in his own way.
[Fillerup, Robert C., compiler; William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings, A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries]
[Regarding the trail of the murders of Joseph & Hyrum Smith] From the testimony of brother Watt it appears the Judge Young is favorable to the mobocrats and manifests a disposition to acquit the murderers rather than bring them to justice. Calvin A. Warren also said if the prisoners were guilty of murder he himself was guilty, alleging that it was the public opinion that the Smiths ought to be killed, and public opinions make laws, and consequently it was not murder to kill the Smiths. Esqr. Browing also railed hard against the saints. In fact the whole proceedings of the court is nothing more than a farce, and it is evident there is no disposition on the part of the people to avenge the blood of the servents of God and it will yet be left for God himself to do it, in his own time and in his own way.
[Fillerup, Robert C., compiler; William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings, A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries]
190 years ago today - May 31, 1835
[Patriarchal Blessing of George A. Smith given by John Smith]
.... thou shalt be a mighty man in the earth, even like unto Alma of old, who by faith caused prison walls to fall to the ground, that they could not hold him, and like Ammon who by the power of his words caused Kings to fall prostrate before him, and even the man who raised his sword to slay him fell dead at his feet; thou shalt preach before the wise and the learned even kings and rulers, many shall bow down before you, and some will even worship you, if you do not tell them better; thou shalt be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, in bringing thousands to the knowledge of the truth and lead them to Zion; you shall do mighty miracles in the name of the Lord, to the astonishment of all who are about you; ... Angels shall minister unto you and console you in time of trouble;
... if you desire it, you shall see the winding up scene when the Heavens shall be unveiled, and you shall see the the face of the Lord and fly to meet him in the cloud; and from this hour your mind shall begin to expand and continue so to do, until you shall comprehend all things; you shall also be healed of all thy bodily infirmities ...
[Early Patriarchal Blessing Book 1:143-144, quoted in Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith Sr. (Author), H. Michael Marquardt (Editor), http://amzn.to/rCBHVe]
.... thou shalt be a mighty man in the earth, even like unto Alma of old, who by faith caused prison walls to fall to the ground, that they could not hold him, and like Ammon who by the power of his words caused Kings to fall prostrate before him, and even the man who raised his sword to slay him fell dead at his feet; thou shalt preach before the wise and the learned even kings and rulers, many shall bow down before you, and some will even worship you, if you do not tell them better; thou shalt be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, in bringing thousands to the knowledge of the truth and lead them to Zion; you shall do mighty miracles in the name of the Lord, to the astonishment of all who are about you; ... Angels shall minister unto you and console you in time of trouble;
... if you desire it, you shall see the winding up scene when the Heavens shall be unveiled, and you shall see the the face of the Lord and fly to meet him in the cloud; and from this hour your mind shall begin to expand and continue so to do, until you shall comprehend all things; you shall also be healed of all thy bodily infirmities ...
[Early Patriarchal Blessing Book 1:143-144, quoted in Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith Sr. (Author), H. Michael Marquardt (Editor), http://amzn.to/rCBHVe]
50 years ago today - May 30, 1975
Maxine Conder is the second woman in U.S. Navy history to be promoted to admiral. In her biographical sketch for 'Who's Who in America,' Admiral Conder writes: "I am eternally grateful for my Mormon heritage."
[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 )]]
75 years ago today - May 30, 1950
[George Albert Smith]
I learned this evening that there has been a good deal of difficulty over the Brigham Young Monument dedication services. ... [political maneuvering over which senator should receive the monument is described] ... I am fearful that there was some politics involved in the matter but feel very keenly the fact that on such a sacred occasion such as the dedication of the monument to Brigham Young that any of the people from Utah would stoop to playing politics over such an event. ... Senator Watkins came up to the room after I had gone to bed and visited with Arthur and Emily and talked about the difficulty over the dedication. He is quite embarrassed and disturbed because the announcement was given to all the newspapers and was printed in papers over the country, particularly in Utah, indicating that he will receive the monument on behalf of the Senate and is at a loss to know just what he should do. I am very much disturbed over the situation.
[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]
I learned this evening that there has been a good deal of difficulty over the Brigham Young Monument dedication services. ... [political maneuvering over which senator should receive the monument is described] ... I am fearful that there was some politics involved in the matter but feel very keenly the fact that on such a sacred occasion such as the dedication of the monument to Brigham Young that any of the people from Utah would stoop to playing politics over such an event. ... Senator Watkins came up to the room after I had gone to bed and visited with Arthur and Emily and talked about the difficulty over the dedication. He is quite embarrassed and disturbed because the announcement was given to all the newspapers and was printed in papers over the country, particularly in Utah, indicating that he will receive the monument on behalf of the Senate and is at a loss to know just what he should do. I am very much disturbed over the situation.
[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]
110 years ago today - May 30, 1915
William Paul Daniels is the first black African to join the LDS church. An Elder in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Aftrica, he accepts baptism in Salt Lake City without opportunity for the LDS priesthood. He returns to Cape Town where he dies in 1936. Exactly sixty-five years after his baptism, Daniels receives his temple endowment by proxy.
[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 )]]
135 years ago today - May 30, 1890
Apostle Lorenzo Snow tells a meeting of the apostles, "I have thought of the necessity of establishing a mission in Jerusalem and to have a colony established there who should water their lands from the river Jordan."
Heber J. Grant also tells apostles that "he had never had an inspired dream in his life and that although he had always desired to see his father in a dream or vision that he had never been allowed to enjoy this great privilege." Decades later as church president, Grant often speaks publicly of an 1883 manifestation where he saw and heard a heavenly council meeting of his deceased father with Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. However, he first describes this experience to other apostles as simply "the whisperings of the spirit to him" that he was called as an apostle because of such a meeting.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
Heber J. Grant also tells apostles that "he had never had an inspired dream in his life and that although he had always desired to see his father in a dream or vision that he had never been allowed to enjoy this great privilege." Decades later as church president, Grant often speaks publicly of an 1883 manifestation where he saw and heard a heavenly council meeting of his deceased father with Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. However, he first describes this experience to other apostles as simply "the whisperings of the spirit to him" that he was called as an apostle because of such a meeting.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
135 years ago today - May 30, 1890
[John W. Taylor:] I have seen the power of God in vision. I have seen the Prophet Joseph [Smith] also Brother Brigham Young and my own father [i.e., John Taylor] since his death. I almost fear when I stop to think that I have seen the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing as I do that others who have similar manifestations have fallen away from the truth, and I am fearful lest Ifall. ...
Bro[ther] Jno. [John] H[enry]. Smith said last U[nited]. O[rder]. resembled communism too much, though present system of Cooperations would unite the people, perhaps better. I could not agree with him but said nothing. There is too much time given, to Cooperations, stocks, bonds, politics etc by leaders to please me. We are in all kinds of business interests, even the members of the Twelve represent businesses which are jealous of each other and almost readyto fight each other.
[Minutes, 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]
Bro[ther] Jno. [John] H[enry]. Smith said last U[nited]. O[rder]. resembled communism too much, though present system of Cooperations would unite the people, perhaps better. I could not agree with him but said nothing. There is too much time given, to Cooperations, stocks, bonds, politics etc by leaders to please me. We are in all kinds of business interests, even the members of the Twelve represent businesses which are jealous of each other and almost readyto fight each other.
[Minutes, 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]
180 years ago today - May 30, 1845
Nearly a year after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Patriarch Hyrum Smith, the nine defendants charged with the murder of Joseph and Hyrum are acquitted.
185 years ago today - May 30, 1840
[Wilford Woodruff]
Yes glory Hallelujah I have now got a letter from Phebe. It is the first letter I have received from her since I have been in England. Her letter contained much intelligence of Interest. She informed me she was blessed with the birth of a Son, on the morn of the 22 of March 1840 at 6 oclock. His Name is WILLFORD WOODRUFF Jr. May he be preserved blameless unto the comeing of the Lord Jesus Christ for which I will ever Pray.
One letter was from Elder Brigham Young at Manchester informing us that the first No of the Millenial Star was out of press & that the Hymn Book & Book of Mormon would soon be in tipe. One letter was from Sister Richards, & one from Elder Whitehead & their was so much glorious news in thes letters that it drove sleep from our eyes for the night & I felt more like going out into the street & shouting glory Hallelujah than any thing els. <Elder Turley is> out <of prison.>
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
Yes glory Hallelujah I have now got a letter from Phebe. It is the first letter I have received from her since I have been in England. Her letter contained much intelligence of Interest. She informed me she was blessed with the birth of a Son, on the morn of the 22 of March 1840 at 6 oclock. His Name is WILLFORD WOODRUFF Jr. May he be preserved blameless unto the comeing of the Lord Jesus Christ for which I will ever Pray.
One letter was from Elder Brigham Young at Manchester informing us that the first No of the Millenial Star was out of press & that the Hymn Book & Book of Mormon would soon be in tipe. One letter was from Sister Richards, & one from Elder Whitehead & their was so much glorious news in thes letters that it drove sleep from our eyes for the night & I felt more like going out into the street & shouting glory Hallelujah than any thing els. <Elder Turley is> out <of prison.>
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
190 years ago today - May 26, 1835
[Martin Harris]
to be the first individual to receive an inheritance in Zion
[Martin Harris Chronology, Michael Marquardt, Sunstone Symposium 2016]
to be the first individual to receive an inheritance in Zion
[Martin Harris Chronology, Michael Marquardt, Sunstone Symposium 2016]
20 years ago today - May 28, 2005
The Church News reports comments from Elder Marlin Jensen:
"[W]e're working on what I think will be the single most significant historical project of our generation: the Joseph Smith papers. With the help of scholars at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History and our own staff here, we have under way a project that will collect all of the papers of Joseph Smith's lifetime: his journals, his diaries, his correspondence, articles, notices, everything of a written nature that he generated."The result of the 10-to-15-year project, he said, will be a work of up to 35 volumes that will enhance the collective scholarship about the Prophet in that no credible historian will be able "to write about early Church history or Joseph Smith without showing a mastery of this material."
[R. Scott Lloyd, "'Historian by yearning' collects, preserves: Elder Marlin K. Jensen is historian/recorder," Church News, May 28, 2005, Z12, quoted in Joseph Smith Papers Timeline: History of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, MormonWasp Blog (defunct)]
"[W]e're working on what I think will be the single most significant historical project of our generation: the Joseph Smith papers. With the help of scholars at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History and our own staff here, we have under way a project that will collect all of the papers of Joseph Smith's lifetime: his journals, his diaries, his correspondence, articles, notices, everything of a written nature that he generated."The result of the 10-to-15-year project, he said, will be a work of up to 35 volumes that will enhance the collective scholarship about the Prophet in that no credible historian will be able "to write about early Church history or Joseph Smith without showing a mastery of this material."
[R. Scott Lloyd, "'Historian by yearning' collects, preserves: Elder Marlin K. Jensen is historian/recorder," Church News, May 28, 2005, Z12, quoted in Joseph Smith Papers Timeline: History of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, MormonWasp Blog (defunct)]
100 years ago today - May 28, 1925
[Heber J. Grant]
At 6:30 this morning I met Elder Reed Smoot. He has just returned from Los Angeles with Bishop Nibley. I told Reed that I had decided to select Brother [Charles W.] Nibley [not ordained an apostle] as my second counselor, promoting Brother [Anthony] Ivins to First Counselor, succeeding Brother Penrose.
[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
At 6:30 this morning I met Elder Reed Smoot. He has just returned from Los Angeles with Bishop Nibley. I told Reed that I had decided to select Brother [Charles W.] Nibley [not ordained an apostle] as my second counselor, promoting Brother [Anthony] Ivins to First Counselor, succeeding Brother Penrose.
[Diary of Heber J. Grant, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
165 years ago today - May 28, 1860 (Monday)
The Indians attacked the mail station at Deep Creek, Tooele Co., shot a man and stole several horses.
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]
175 years ago today - May 28, 1850
[Nauvoo Temple]
Nauvoo city officials "declared that the southern and eastern walls would soon fall down, and that to avoid any serious accident, it was better to destroy them." The walls were then razed, leaving only the west facade standing.
[Brown, Lisle (compiler), Chronology of the Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple]
Nauvoo city officials "declared that the southern and eastern walls would soon fall down, and that to avoid any serious accident, it was better to destroy them." The walls were then razed, leaving only the west facade standing.
[Brown, Lisle (compiler), Chronology of the Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple]
180 years ago today - May 28, 1845
[Heber C. Kimball]
My wife under tem[p]tation had a dream. Sau [Saw] Evels Spirrits winding strings around hur neck, but I brock them and rent them a sunder, and she was delivered.
[Kimball, Stanley B. ed, On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball]
My wife under tem[p]tation had a dream. Sau [Saw] Evels Spirrits winding strings around hur neck, but I brock them and rent them a sunder, and she was delivered.
[Kimball, Stanley B. ed, On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball]
180 years ago today - May 28, 1845, Wednesday
On Wednesday the 28th of May the first ``bent'' of the attic story of the [Nauvoo] temple was raised by the carpenters, and up to this time they continued to raise the timber works with pleasing rapidity.
Thus the work of this temple has progressed from the beginning to the present time without any serious accident except in the incident which happened at the stone quarry. The blessing of God has attended the whole progress of the work, and it has advanced beyond our most sanguine expectations. Our enemines have threatened all the time, and for the last two years we have had very little cessation from writs and other efforts of the enemy to prevent our finishing it. Many prophecies have been uttered against it; but the Saints have invariably pursued a steady course of perseverance. As the building has progressed, the Saints have increased their donations and tithings; and this Spring has exceeded all past times for liberality and donations from the brethern.
[Fillerup, Robert C., compiler; William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings, A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries]
Thus the work of this temple has progressed from the beginning to the present time without any serious accident except in the incident which happened at the stone quarry. The blessing of God has attended the whole progress of the work, and it has advanced beyond our most sanguine expectations. Our enemines have threatened all the time, and for the last two years we have had very little cessation from writs and other efforts of the enemy to prevent our finishing it. Many prophecies have been uttered against it; but the Saints have invariably pursued a steady course of perseverance. As the building has progressed, the Saints have increased their donations and tithings; and this Spring has exceeded all past times for liberality and donations from the brethern.
[Fillerup, Robert C., compiler; William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings, A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries]
195 years ago today - May 28, 1830
The Indian Removal Act was a law passed by Congress during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. It authorized the president to negotiate with the "Five Civilized Tribes" in the Southern United States for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands. It paved the way for the reluctant migration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West, an event widely known as the "Trail of Tears," a resettlement of the native population.
[Indian Removal Act]
[Indian Removal Act]
35 years ago today - May 27, 1990
Missionary Gale Stanley Critchfield, age twenty, is stabbed to death in Dublin by an eighteen-year-old Irishman who follows the missionaries to their apartment for the sole purpose of the attack. "We wonder why, when a young man is called to serve the Lord, he isn't watched over so closely [that] his life is protected," says First Presidency counselor Gordon B. Hinckley at the funeral. "We don't know why some things happen."
[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 )]]
155 years ago today - May 27, 1870
[Wilford Woodruff]
I spent most of the day drawing a waggon she[et/af?] through my grain to ketch grass hoppers. We caught many bushels but still the Earth was nearly Covered. It seems a vary hard method to save any grain this season on my farm they have Eat my wheat Barley oats & Corn & it looks as though we [will] not raise any thing. But I would rather have a grass hopper war than a gentile war.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
I spent most of the day drawing a waggon she[et/af?] through my grain to ketch grass hoppers. We caught many bushels but still the Earth was nearly Covered. It seems a vary hard method to save any grain this season on my farm they have Eat my wheat Barley oats & Corn & it looks as though we [will] not raise any thing. But I would rather have a grass hopper war than a gentile war.
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
155 years ago today - May 27, 1870
During 1869 and 1870, Latter-day Saint women developed a distinct organization for young women, the first such organization in the church's history. This organization, the Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Cooperative Retrenchment Association, was initiated in response to Brigham Young's call for simplification in meal preparation, housekeeping, and clothing. The Young Ladies' Department operated both in connection with and separately from the Relief Society.
The first young ladies' organization consisted of Brigham Young's adolescent and young adult daughters (ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-two), both married and unmarried. ...
On May 27, 1870, which should be considered the formal founding date of the young ladies' organization, Young's daughters organized themselves as the First Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Cooperative Retrenchment Association and adopted resolutions composed by Eliza R. Snow, one of Young's plural wives and an avid proponent of reform. ... The young ladies' departments soon became known as the Young Ladies' Retrenchment Association; in 1877 the organization was officially renamed the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, often abbreviated Y.L.M.I.A.
RESOLUTIONS
Adopted by the First Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Co-operative Retrenchment Association, S.L. City, organized May 27, 1870.
Resolved.—That, realizing ourselves to be wives and daughters of Apostles, Prophets and Elders of Israel, and, as such, that high responsibilities rest upon us...
Resolved.—That, inasmuch as the Saints have been commanded to gather out from Babylon and "n[o]t partake of her sins, that they receive not of her plagues," we feel that we should not condescend to imitate the pride, folly and fashions of the world...
Resolved.—That we will respect ancient and modern apostolic instructions. St. Paul exhorted Timothy to teach "the women to adorn themselves in modest apparel—not with braided hair, or gold or pearls, or costly array... Peter, also, in his first epi[s]tle, in speaking of women, says, "Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, or of putting on apprrel...
Resolved.—That, with a firm and settled determination to honor the foregoing requirements, and being deeply sensible of the sinful ambition and vanity in dress among the daughters of Zion, which are calculated to foster the pride of the world, and shut out the spirit of God from the heart, we mutually agree to exert our influence, both by precept and by example, to suppress, and to eventually eradicate these evils.
Resolved.—That, admitting variety has its charms, we know that real beauty appears to greater advantage in a plain dress than when bedizened with finery, and while we disapprobate extravagance and waste, we would not, like the Quakers, recommend a uniform, but would have each one to choose the style best adapted to her own taste and person: at the same time we shall avoid, and ignore as obsolete with us, all extremes which are opposed to good sense, or repulsive to modesty.
Resolved.—That, inasmuch as cleanliness is a characteristic of a Saint, and an imperative duty, we shall discard the dragging skirts, and, for decency's sake, those disgustingly short ones, extending no lower than the boot tops. We also regard "paniers," and whatever approximates in appearance toward the "Grecian Bend," a burlesque on the natural beauty and dignity of the human female form, and will not disgrace our persons by wearing them. And, also, as fast as it shall be expedient, we shall adopt the wearing of home-made articles, and exercise our united influence in rendering them fashionable. ...
[3.18 Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Cooperative Retrenchment Association, Resolutions, May 27, 1870, as quoted in Matthew J. Grow, Jill Derr, Carol Madsen, and Kate Holbrook, editors, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History, The Church Historian's Press, 2016, https://churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/]
The first young ladies' organization consisted of Brigham Young's adolescent and young adult daughters (ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-two), both married and unmarried. ...
On May 27, 1870, which should be considered the formal founding date of the young ladies' organization, Young's daughters organized themselves as the First Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Cooperative Retrenchment Association and adopted resolutions composed by Eliza R. Snow, one of Young's plural wives and an avid proponent of reform. ... The young ladies' departments soon became known as the Young Ladies' Retrenchment Association; in 1877 the organization was officially renamed the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, often abbreviated Y.L.M.I.A.
RESOLUTIONS
Adopted by the First Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Co-operative Retrenchment Association, S.L. City, organized May 27, 1870.
Resolved.—That, realizing ourselves to be wives and daughters of Apostles, Prophets and Elders of Israel, and, as such, that high responsibilities rest upon us...
Resolved.—That, inasmuch as the Saints have been commanded to gather out from Babylon and "n[o]t partake of her sins, that they receive not of her plagues," we feel that we should not condescend to imitate the pride, folly and fashions of the world...
Resolved.—That we will respect ancient and modern apostolic instructions. St. Paul exhorted Timothy to teach "the women to adorn themselves in modest apparel—not with braided hair, or gold or pearls, or costly array... Peter, also, in his first epi[s]tle, in speaking of women, says, "Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, or of putting on apprrel...
Resolved.—That, with a firm and settled determination to honor the foregoing requirements, and being deeply sensible of the sinful ambition and vanity in dress among the daughters of Zion, which are calculated to foster the pride of the world, and shut out the spirit of God from the heart, we mutually agree to exert our influence, both by precept and by example, to suppress, and to eventually eradicate these evils.
Resolved.—That, admitting variety has its charms, we know that real beauty appears to greater advantage in a plain dress than when bedizened with finery, and while we disapprobate extravagance and waste, we would not, like the Quakers, recommend a uniform, but would have each one to choose the style best adapted to her own taste and person: at the same time we shall avoid, and ignore as obsolete with us, all extremes which are opposed to good sense, or repulsive to modesty.
Resolved.—That, inasmuch as cleanliness is a characteristic of a Saint, and an imperative duty, we shall discard the dragging skirts, and, for decency's sake, those disgustingly short ones, extending no lower than the boot tops. We also regard "paniers," and whatever approximates in appearance toward the "Grecian Bend," a burlesque on the natural beauty and dignity of the human female form, and will not disgrace our persons by wearing them. And, also, as fast as it shall be expedient, we shall adopt the wearing of home-made articles, and exercise our united influence in rendering them fashionable. ...
[3.18 Young Ladies' Department of the Ladies' Cooperative Retrenchment Association, Resolutions, May 27, 1870, as quoted in Matthew J. Grow, Jill Derr, Carol Madsen, and Kate Holbrook, editors, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History, The Church Historian's Press, 2016, https://churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/]
170 years ago today - May 27, 1855
[Wilford Woodruff]
.... we found that nearly all the wheat crops & other vegitable were eat up by the grass hoppers through the Territory as far as we went & most of the crops & vegitables in the city gardens were also destroyed..
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
.... we found that nearly all the wheat crops & other vegitable were eat up by the grass hoppers through the Territory as far as we went & most of the crops & vegitables in the city gardens were also destroyed..
[Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
170 years ago today - May 27, 1855
[Brigham Young]
I have asked this people not to sell their grain, but to preserve it to a day of need ...
[Journal of Discourses. Liverpool, England, 1853-86. 2:279-284, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
I have asked this people not to sell their grain, but to preserve it to a day of need ...
[Journal of Discourses. Liverpool, England, 1853-86. 2:279-284, quoted in The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses]
175 years ago today - May 27, 1850
[Nauvoo Temple]
During 1849-1850 the Icarians had begun to repair the Temple, placing a series of new piers in the basement, planning on refurbishing the building for their use. On this day, as they were working, a tornado suddenly arose and toppled the north wall, leaving the east and south walls severely damaged. The workmen barely escaped with their lives, scrambling out of the ruins in stinging hail, pouring rain, thunder and lightening, all accompanied by violent winds.
[Brown, Lisle (compiler), Chronology of the Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple]
During 1849-1850 the Icarians had begun to repair the Temple, placing a series of new piers in the basement, planning on refurbishing the building for their use. On this day, as they were working, a tornado suddenly arose and toppled the north wall, leaving the east and south walls severely damaged. The workmen barely escaped with their lives, scrambling out of the ruins in stinging hail, pouring rain, thunder and lightening, all accompanied by violent winds.
[Brown, Lisle (compiler), Chronology of the Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple]
180 years ago today - May 27, 1845
Brigham Young receives "a respectful letter from Governor [Thomas] Drew in reply to our Memorial to him as governor of Arkansas; stating his inability to protect us in the state of Arkansas, and suggesting the propriety of our settling in Oregon, California, Nebraska or some other country where we will be out of the reach of our persecutors." Young's "Memorial" to Drew, sent May 1, asked, "Will it be too much to ask you to convene a special session of your State Legislature, and furnish us an asylum where we can enjoy our rights of conscience and religion unmolested?"
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
185 years ago today - May 27, 1840
In England, Parley P. Pratt issues the first number of The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, which would become the longest-running publication in the Church (1840-1970).
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