40 years ago today - Nov 5, 1985

President Spencer W. Kimball died in Salt Lake City at age 90.

[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]

65 years ago today - Nov 5, 1960

Concerning Gideon Dolo, a Fijian whose people had troubled LDS headquarters because of their negoid appearance, the Church News notes that he is "the first of his race to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. The first Fijian to receive his temple endowments. The first of his race to serve as a proselyting missionary for the Church."

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

85 years ago today - Nov 5, 1940

[President Heber J. Grant]

I listened to the election returns. Off and on during the night I do not think I slept more than three hours. I am dumbfounded to think that the people of America have returned Roosevelt to the office of President. I thought of his running for a third term would snow him under. Politics does what I said it did many years ago. I said a bad dose of politics was like the measles if it set in on a man it turned his hide yellow and made him cross-eyed.

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

130 years ago today - Nov 5, 1895

Utah's first elected state governor is LDS Heber M. Wells who serves (1896-1905). Other Mormon governors of Utah are John C. Cutler (1905-1909), William Spry (1909-17), Charles R. Mabey (1921-25), Henry H. Blood (1933-41), Herbert B. Maw (1941-49), George D. Clyde (1957-65), Calvin L. Rampton (1965-77), Scott M. Mattheson (1977-85), Norman Bangerter (1985-93), Mike Leavitt (1993-2003), Olene S. Walker (2003-05), Jon Huntsman, Jr. (2005-09), and Gary Herbert (2009- ).

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

130 years ago today - Nov 5, 1895

Despite a move to put the matter to a separate vote, supporters of women's suffrage managed to get it written into the new Utah Constitution by a comfortable majority. The new document was adopted on 5 November 1895 with a provision that "the rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this state shall enjoy equally all civil, political and religious rights and privileges."

[Utah History Encyclopedia: Sufferage, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

130 years ago today - Nov 5, 1895

[Apostle Marriner W. Merrill]

I voted the full Republican ticket, both State and City.

[Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

130 years ago today - Tuesday, Nov 5, 1895

[Apostle John Henry Smith]

I returned to Salt Lake City and went to the Polls and voted the Republican ticket straight for state, county, and city offices. I went home and went to bed. A daughter born to Josephine 20 minutes to 3 today.

[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 - Nov 5, 1895

[Apostle Franklin D. Richards]

Went with my son Charles Seco(?) of Ter. and we polled our votes with Straight Democratic Tickets

[Diary Excerpts of Franklin D. Richards, 1887-1897, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

130 years ago today - Nov 5, 1895

[Apostle Francis M. Lyman]

Election Day ... I deposited my straight Republican ticket. ... Before retiring I learned that the State ticket Republicans had won by about 30 votes. 167 voted for Statehood and 43 against it, total 200. That is a light vote for Tooele. Democrats are dejected.

[Excerpts of Apostle Francis M. Lyman Diaries, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]

195 years ago today - Circa Nov 5, 1830

This is the probable time of Joseph Sr.'s arrest and imprisonment. Lucy Smith says that Joseph Sr. was arrested on Thursday, the day following Hyrum's departure , and jailed in Canandaigua for thirty days .

[Vogel, Dan, Early Mormon Documents, Appendix B: Chronology, 1771-1831, http://amzn.to/T5nY8w]

35 years ago today - Nov 4, 1990.

Sunstone's June issue comes out about mid- October, containing a summary of news stories about the temple changes. Elbert Peck's stake president, Herbert Klopfer, informs him that Sunstone's coverage is inappropriate and confiscates Elbert's temple recommend. Daniel Rector, the publisher, has his temple recommend revoked at the same time.

[Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1]

45 years ago today - Nov 4, 1980

Florida elects Paula Hawkins as the first LDS woman to become a U.S. Senator and the first female Senator who is not a daughter or wife of a politician. She is also the first prominent LDS woman to publicly acknowledge that she was sexually abused as a child.

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

60 years ago today - Nov 4, 1965

[Council meeting] "Elder [Ezra Taft] Benson said ... that he was confident in his own mind from a study he had made of the Negro question that we are only seeing something being carried out today that was planned by the highest councils of the communist party twenty years ago, and that Martin Luther King is an agent, if not a power in the Communist party. He said that this whole thing is being directed and supported and promoted by agents of the Communist party, that the Negroes are being used in this whole question of Civil Rights, integration, etc., and that the NAACP are largely made up of men who are affiliated with from one to a dozen communist-front organizations, and he thought they would do anything in their power to embarrass the Church. Elder Benson thought we ought to be very careful what we do in the Negro field, whether it be in Nigeria, here, or any other place in the world, and he felt that so far as Brother Williams is concerned, his work in Nigeria [to establish
the church] should be terminated and he be brought home to report."

[Minutes of Council Meeting 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)]

165 years ago today - Nov 4, 1860

Capt Gibson spoke two hours & gave a vary interesting account of his mission [and] the dealings of the Lord with him. ... He had an interview with the Jappaneese Embassay and was the ownly man in America who saw them that Could Communicate with them without interpeters ...

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

165 years ago today - Nov 4, 1860 (Afternoon)

[Brigham Young]

I curse the mean skunk at Camp Floyd in the name of Jesus Christ and they shall be cursed - your sheep, colts, hogs trample upon wheat after wheat and god blessed the earth to bring it to you ...

[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 - Nov 4, 1845

[Wilford Woodruff]

I retired to rest & dreamed of being in A ship & a great storm arose And it seemed as though the ship would be swallowed up but it out lived the storm. I also Saw A large serpent which brought forth other serpents.

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

195 years ago today - Nov 4, 1830

.... -he asked Joseph [Smith, Jr.] whether he could not ascertain what his [Orson Pratt] mission was and Joseph answered that he would see. & asked Pratt and John Whitmer to go up stairs with him. and arriving there Joseph produced a small stone called a seer stone. and putting it into a hat soon commenced speaking [producing D&C 34].- Orson Pratt's recollection at David Whitmer home

[Palmyra Magic Timeline, http://www.exploringmormonism.com/palmyra-magic-timeline/]

50 years ago today - Nov 03, 1975

U.S. President Gerald Ford appoints Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft as his National Security Affairs (NSA) advisor, replacing Henry Kissinger, who had been both secretary of state and NSA advisor. Scowcroft is the first Latter-day Saint to serve in this top position. He serves again in this position under U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush (1989-93).

80 years ago today - Nov 03, 1945

President George Albert Smith meets with U.S. President Harry S. Truman in Washington, D.C., to obtain permission for the Church to send food and supplies to the Saints in war-torn Europe.

115 years ago today - Thursday, Nov 3, 1910

[John Henry Smith]

Politics is burning hot. Many dirty and unfair things are being said by both parties.

[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]

135 years ago today - Nov 3, 1890 (Monday)

A contract was signed for the erection of the first beet sugar plant in Utah, to cost $400,000.

[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

145 years ago today - Nov 3, 1880

Pres[iden]t. A. Hatch of Wasatch [Utah] Stake was criticised for his aversion to Polygamy& letting Dr Russell denounce J[oseph]. F. Smith.

[Franklin D. Richards 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]

175 years ago today - Nov 3, 1850

Fredericka Bremer wrote of a visit to Nauvoo, "We are now in sight of Nauvoo, formerly the capital of the Mormon district, and the magnificent ruin of their former temple is standing on its elevated site." .

[Brown, Lisle (compiler), Chronology of the Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the Nauvoo Temple]

190 years ago today - Nov 3, 1835

Eleven of the Twelve are chastened for not being sufficiently humble or equal in financial affairs and for criticizing William Smith.

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

190 years ago today - Nov 3, 1835

Joseph receives a revelation for the Twelve, stating that they must humble themselves and be patient with his brother William. He then dedicates the School of the Elders, promising a "glorious endowment that God has in store for the faithful."

[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

30 years ago today - Nov 2, 1995

The announcement that Presiding Bishop Merrill J. Bateman will be the new president of BYU, effective 1 Jan. He is also appointed a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Despite Bateman's Ph.D. in economics from MIT, the appointment of a general authority to BYU's helm has the appearance of guaranteeing that the LDS hierarchy will not need to deal with a vigorous advocate for academic freedom at the largest LDS campus. This is how the Chronicle of Higher Education views it. Within months Bateman is the center of national controversy over his speech to BYU students against moral relativism, the published version of which lifts numerous phrases (without quotation marks) from a recently published article by neo-conservative scholar Gertrude Himmelfarb. She is cited (with quotation marks) for only one sentence and phrase of many that Bateman's speech/article interweaves with slight changes in a manner familiar to anyone who has read plagarized papers by freshman students. Bateman
publicly apologizes to Himmelfarb and insists that the controversy is about "one" misplaced quotation mark, yet the public image remains that BYU's president participates in the "moral relativism" he condemns.

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

105 years ago today - Nov 2, 1920

[Heber J. Grant]

My wife and I went and voted. When I came to look over the ticket that I had checked I found that I had voted for nine more Republicans than I had Democrats. It is amusing for me to pose as a Democrat, and when I come to vote at our State elections and National elections divide my vote for a larger number of Republicans than Democrats. I always go over the ticket and try to pick out the best men without regard to which party they belong.

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

135 years ago today - Nov 2, 1890

[Abraham H. Cannon]

In relation to S[amuel] F. Ball who desires to go to Mexico and get a fourth wife, Father [George Q. Cannon] said it could not be done, as such things had ceased to occur even there. One young man who recently had this privilege, came back and allowed the knowledge of it to go out, and thus put the Church in danger. Father feels, as I do, that it is best to entirely cease the performance of such marriages for the present and thus make the brethren more appreciative of present blessings. ...

[Abraham H. Cannon (Author), Edward Leo Lyman (Editor), Candid Insights of a Mormon Apostle: The Diaries of Abraham H. Cannon, 1889-1895, Signature Books]

140 years ago today - Monday, Nov 2, 1885

[John Henry Smith]

Bro. F. D. Richards told Bro. M. Thatcher and I that a charge of adultery had been made against Bro. [apostle] Albert Cartington.

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

190 years ago today - Nov 2, 1835

Plastering and the hard finishing on the outside of the [Kirtland] temple have begun. Joseph is busy setting up the School of the Elders. He goes with Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, and Frederick G. Williams to Willoughby College to hear a Dr. Piexotto lecture on physics. They learn that he will come to Kirtland to teach Hebrew.

[Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

30 years ago today - Nov 1, 1995

Five BYU professors submit an officially-commissioned, four-year study of LDS applicants for freshmen admission (1971-88). Findings show that active Mormons who attend BYU "even for only one semester" have significantly higher rates of temple marriage, tithing payment, and belief in LDS doctrines than Mormons who attend other colleges. Although survey participants are age twenty-six to mid-forties, 20 percent "of the marriage respondents in both groups remianed childless." BYU's spokesperson says that the executive committee of the Board of Trustees decides to suppress this report because "we already get a lot of pressure about admission to BYU and release of this study would only make that worse." Since 1973 the enrollment limit of 27,000 means that "only a small and shrinking minority of Mormon youth," can attend BYU. No spokesperson at LDS headquarters or at BYU comments on the evidence of long-term birth-control by married couples who are actively LDS. Despite contrary
statements of BYU's spokesperson and sources at church headquarters, BYU president Bateman denies in February 1996 that the board has made any decision about circulating this study's findings.

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

50 years ago today - Nov 1, 1975

A Church News article about Kathy Devine, an LDS shotputter and Olympic aspirant who criticizes those who "think all girls should be out baking cookies somewhere."

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

125 years ago today - Nov 1, 1900; Thursday

Went to my Temple meeting. Pres[iden]t. [Lorenzo] Snow said he did not know how it would be done but Plural Marriage will again be returned. "I am just sure of it" he said. Went to Pres[iden]t. [Joseph F.] Smith with a matter to decide.

[Abraham Owen Woodruff, Diary]

130 years ago today - Nov 1, 1895

[Thomas A. Clawson Diary]

"The Political Matter and things the politicians are using to influence voters are shaking Zion to the center and I fear that apostacy is stalking abroad among the Saints. The Democrats are trying to drag the First Presidency into Politics by saying they are using their influence &c. and I am very sorry to see many of our brethren are talking loudly against the Lord's Anointed in consequence thereof."

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

130 years ago today - Nov 1, 1895

[Brigham Young Jr.]

Politics are running high. O. W. Powers is running the Democratic Party and seems to have perfectly pulled the wool over our brethrens eyes. I am almost convinced that Moses Thatcher is gone over to the enemy; poor fellow. I am sorry but alas my confidence in that splendid man is entirely or, almost entirely gone. God help him. Powers is the chief scoundrel in Utah. Wicked, unscrupulous, bold, perfect master of political wire pulling, good judge of human nature and a faithful servant of the devil if he is not the Lucifer himself.

[Brigham Young Jr. 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]

135 years ago today - Nov 1, 1890

President Woodruff told Salt Lake City's 14th Ward: '... the Prophet went to the home of President Taylor, and said to him, "Brother John, I want Leonora["] ... it is said [that] John Taylor never answered the prophet, turned away and walked the floor all night, but the next morning, went to the home of the Prophet's [sic] and said to him, ["]Brother Joseph, if God wants Leonora[,] He can have her.["] That was all the prophet was after ... and said to him, ["]Brother Taylor, I don't want your wife, I just wanted to know where you stood.["]'

[John M. Whitaker typed and edited journals, 1: 242 (1 November 1890), Special Collections, Marriott Library, quoted in "Evidence For The Sexual Side of Joseph Smith's Polygamy," Comments by D. Michael Quinn on Session #2A "Reconsidering Joseph Smith's Marital Practices," Mormon History Association's Annual Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 29 June 2012 (unabbreviated version, revised during July)]

135 years ago today - Nov 1, 1890

Date for which U.S. President William Henry Harrison's amnesty declaration for LDS polygamists does not cover "unlawful cohabitation." According to Harrison's proclamation no Mormon polygamists will be prosecuted for illegal cohabitation committed before this date if they refrain from such cohabitation after this date.

[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

135 years ago today - Nov 1, 1890 (Saturday)

Evan Stephens succeeded Ebenezer Beesley as leader of the Tabernacle choir, Salt Lake City.

[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

140 years ago today - Sunday, Nov 1, 1885

[John Henry Smith]

Logan

This makes thirty-eight meetings I have attended in two weeks.

[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]

175 years ago today - Nov 1, 1850

John Taylor advertises in the MILLENIAL STAR death-mask busts of Joseph and Hyrum Smith: "I procured casts taken from their faces immediately after their death. I had also the various drawings with me, which had been made while they were living."

[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

185 years ago today - Nov 1, 1840

Notice in "Times and Seasons:" ". . . It is requested that all those who have been endowed with a poetical genius, whose muse has not been altogether idle, will feel enough interest in a work of this kind, to immediately forward all choice, newly composed or revised hymns. In designating those who arc endowed with Poetical genius, we do not intend to exclude others; we mean all who have good hymns that will cheer the heart of the righteous man, to send them as soon as practicable directed to Mrs. Emma Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois. POST PAID."

[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

190 years ago today - Nov 1, 1835

[General History]

Joseph Smith reaffirms "official" anti-abolitionist position,

[http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/Chronology-Pertaining-to-Blacks-and-the-LDS-Church]

200 years ago today - Nov 1, 1825

Joseph Smith Jr. and his father Joseph Smith Sr. sign "Articles of Agreement" concerning the seeking of a lost Spanish silver mine near Josiah Stowall's property in Harmony Pennsylvania. Stowall had heard of Joseph Smith's ability to see hidden treasures and brought him 150 miles from Palmyra, New York to help locate the fabled treasure. No money was ever found and Joseph was later tried and convicted as a "disorderly person" for his "glass looking" activities with Stowall. However it was in Harmony that Joseph met Emma Hale, his future wife.

[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

30 years ago today - 10/31/1995

A letter from Loren C. Dunn to Neal A. Maxwell discusses the need for immediate fundraising ($500,000) to begin in Hawaii in order to address forthcoming same-sex marriage legislation.

[Mormons for Marriage: A Prop 8 Timeline, http://mormonsformarriage.com/?page_id=68]

40 years ago today - Oct 31, 1985

Mark Hofmann released from LDS Hospital [after accidently blowing himself up with a bomb]. Later in the day he is charged with illegal possession of a machine gun. He pleads innocent and posts $50,000 bail. A Daniel Boone letter (1775) is sold at a Sotheby's auction for $29,000. The letter was a Hofmann creation. Sotheby's later buys letter back.

[Whittaker, David J., The Hofmann Maze, A Book Review Essay with a Chronology and Bibliography of the Hofmann Case, BYU Studies Vol. 29, No. 1, pg.80,]

130 years ago today - Oct 31, 1895

[President Wilford Woodruff]

31 I met the Twelve in the Temple & Attended to what business we had. We still have trouble with Debts And the Political Elements are full of Darkness and lies. /<[---].>/ I never saw such a time in politics in this Church as to day. President Cannon has to Explain in a Card what He said at a Conference at Brigham City. F. M Lyman accused.

[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 - Oct 31, 1870

At the death of Utah's governor J. Wilson Schaffer, Apostle Joseph F. Smith writes: "Thank God! He was a low, debauched, vulgar, senseless, ignorant cur, and the Lord be praised that his vile, despicable existence has terminated."

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

180 years ago today - Oct 31, 1845. Friday.

[William Clayton]

....Evening met the Twelve and others at Elder Taylors for prayer. The subject of the United States endeavoring to prevent our removal West by taking out U.S. writs for the Council of Fifty was talked over and plans devised to defeat them in case they undertake to do it.

[George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle; The Journals of William Clayton, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1995, http://bit.ly/WilliamClayton]

180 years ago today - Oct 31, 1845

Brigham Young records in his journal: "I received a letter from Charles A. Lovell, Mass., Oct 20th recommending us as a community to remove to California. Another from Thomas J. Farnhaus, New York, Oct 20th, on the same subject. Also one from Edward Warren, Boston, Oct 22nd portraying the Bay of San Francisco and country round as one well adapted for our location in the west."

[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

180 years ago today - Oct 31, 1845

The Quorum of the Twelve were beginning negotiations for the sale of Church property in Nauvoo to "outside" interests. Judge Ralston of Quincy, Illinois, had suggested that the Quorum invite officials of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Nauvoo with a view of prospective purchase of the Mormon properties. The Roman Catholic Church did subsequently purchase some of the L.D.S. properties which aided the Mormons in their move West.

[Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)]

190 years ago today - (Sat) Oct 31, 1835

William Smith confronted his brother Joseph, accusing him of always carrying out his planned course, "whether right or wrong." William tried to justify his "treating the authority of the Presidency with contempt." He then resigned his eldership in the Church and made public exclamations against his brother Joseph.

[LDS Church History Vol II, pp. 296-297; cf. Frost statement, in Broadhurst, Dale R., Mormon Chronology, http://olivercowdery.com/history/morchrn2.htm]

195 years ago today - Oct 31, 1830

The first sermon on what would later be known as Mormonism was delivered in Ohio to a Sunday congregation at the Mentor Disciples of Christ church.

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

85 years ago today - Oct 30, 1940

[Heber J. Grant]

Then President Clark ... said he had talked with some of the political men who believed if the Church were to sign as a body of the leading officials in favor of defeating Roosevelt it would do more harm than good in creating ill will, and maybe not get any more votes; so I suppose that temporarily at least I will abandon my pet desire to have the Presidency, the Twelve, the Seventies and the Presiding Bishopric publish a card that we hope and pray that Roosevelt will be defeated.

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

115 years ago today - Oct 30, 1910; Sunday

Cache [Utah] Confer[ence]. Large assembly. [Francis M.] Lyman preached on Bogus plural marriage.

[Charles W. Penrose, Diary]

125 years ago today - Oct 30, 1900; Tuesday

Mr. Richard C. Evans and Mr. Peter Anderson, ministers of the "Reorganized" church [who did not believe Joseph Smith practiced polygamy, nor some Nauvoo doctrines] who are at present stationed in North-western Missouri, called and had a long interview with President [Lorenzo] Snow in regard to plural marriage and other doctrines of the Church. President Snow gave them his personal testimony of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith to himself on the subject of plural marriage. They expressed themselves as very well pleased with their visit while in the city.

[First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes]

140 years ago today - Oct 30, 1885

[Heber J. Grant]

Bro Lyman and I had a long talk this afternoon regarding what a sad and terrible thing the affair with Bro Carrington [excommunicated member Twelve for adultry] was. We considered it especially unfortunate coming just at this time when our enemies were so hard at work enforcing the provisions of the Edmunds Law and so many of our brethren were suffering in penitentiaries for having kept God's commandments and entered into His law by marrying more than [one] wife.

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

145 years ago today - Oct 30, 1880 (Saturday)

Gordon S. Bills and another Elder were mobbed in Lawrence County, Ky.

[Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

180 years ago today - Oct 30, 1845

[Wilford Woodruff in England]

I recieved A Neighbor & N. York Messenger speaking of the mob in Hancock County Illinois against the Saints. Said that the gentile mob had burned about 105 of the buildings of the Saints And that the Saints had taken up arms against the mob according to the laws & commands of God & officers of the Land. Three or four of the mob had been killed, And the rest wer fleeing to Missouri & other counties of Illinois.

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