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120 years ago today - Jun 13, 1906

2026-06-13T21:25:02.652-06:00

[Charles Penrose to Reed Smoot]

Excitement over removals, etc. has died out, but would you believe it, there are still efforts put forth to obtain consent to forbidden marriages.

[Charles W. Penrose, Letter to Reed Smoot, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]

125 years ago today - Thursday, Jun 13, 1901

2026-06-13T21:24:56.849-06:00

[Rudger Clawson]

... I referred to the matter of non-tithe-payers and felt that some action should be taken relative to those who bear the priesthood, as by experience I had been led to believe that those who rejected the law of tithing, or failed to honor it, were indifferent, generally, to their duties in the church. The question was pretty fully discussed, and though no formal action was taken, it seemed to be the mind of the brethren that while it would be unwise and injudicious at present to relieve men of their priesthood, who failed to observe the law of tithing, it would certainly be proper to call for the resignation of non-tithe-payers, who were officiating in various prominent positions in the church.

[Stan Larson (editor), A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic diaries of Rudger Clawson, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1993, http://bit.ly/rudgerclawson]

125 years ago today - Jun 13, 1901

2026-06-13T21:24:50.933-06:00

[Marriner W. Merrill]

I attended meeting with the First Presidency and seven of the Apostles. It was decided to ordain High Councilmen as High Priests and set them apart as High Councilmen; also decided that it be the rule in the Church for those administering the sacrament, for only one to kneel when asking the blessing on the bread and water, as in our circumstances the whole congregation cannot kneel.

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

145 years ago today - Jun 13, 1881

2026-06-13T06:01:12.871-06:00

David Whitmer writes to the KANSAS CITY JOURNAL to correct some items in a recently-published interview: "I did not say that Smith used 'two small stones' as stated nor did I call the stone 'interpreters.' I stated that 'he used one stone (not two) and called it a sun stone.' . . .My statement was and is that in translating he put the stone in his hat and putting his face in the hat so as to exclude the light and that the light and characters appeared in the hat together with the interpretation which he uttered and was written by the scribe and which was tested at the time as stated." [On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

150 years ago today - Jun 13, 1876 (Tuesday)

2026-06-13T06:00:32.303-06:00

The case of George Reynolds, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary under the anti-bigamy law, was argued before the Supreme Court of the Territory, on appeal. [Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology]

60 years ago today - Jun 11, 1966

2026-06-11T18:25:22.098-06:00

Mark E. Littman and Joel Izatt of the Hansen Planetarium assist artists Sydney E. King and V. Russell Capson in their efforts to place the stars in the heavens on a mural on the rotunda ceiling above where the Christus will be placed in the North Visitors' Center on Temple Square. The stars are painted to appear as they would have on April 6, 1830, the day the Church was organized.

130 years ago today - Jun 11, 1896; Thursday

2026-06-11T18:23:21.259-06:00

At 11 am attended prayer circle in the temple. ... I brought up the question of our people joining the third or Populist party, and when the brethren who spoke on the matter expressed themselves that it was a mistake for the brethren to join the Populist party, yet they did not feel that it would be wise to make a public declaration to this effect as it might be considered an interference by the church in political matters. [Heber J. Grant, Diary]

145 years ago today - Jun 11, 1881

2026-06-11T18:22:40.912-06:00

[Heber J. Grant] Bro [Lysander] Gee told me that he had known Oliver Cowdery personally & that to his knowledge Cowdrey had committed adultry before he lost his faith' It strengthens my faith to learn that even the leading men of the Church cannot commit sin & remain in the Church, unless they repent. [The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015]

150 years ago today - Jun 11, 1876

2026-06-11T18:22:00.376-06:00

Br Brigham spoke on a variety of subjects. Said that those who made the greatest howl against Polygamy were whores and whoremongers and those filled with lust and of unclean hearts. Said as to the Mountain Meadow Massacre, if he had not been foiled by Judge Cradlebaugh and other federal officials, He would have hung every guilty person concerned in the bloody deed. Spoke of the building of temples showing that a man would gain riches faster working for the Lord and trusting in him, than all the men could make who were hunting after, and working in mines. Urged the Brethren to labor diligently on the Temple to have it completed by the 15th of next Sept. -- St. George, Utah [Men in congregation are involved in the massaccre, and by arrangement several testify against John D. Lee.] [Diary of Charles Lowell Walker. Andrew Karl Larson, ed. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1980. 427, 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]

180 years ago today - Jun 11, 1846

2026-06-11T18:20:40.347-06:00

William Smith goes to Voree where his apostolic ordination is accepted and where he is ordained Patriarch of the church. He plans to build a house for Lucy on a contributed lot. He writes again, saying God has confirmed James Strang's position [as Joseph Smith's successor] by revelation. [Anderson, Lavina Fielding, Editor, Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, 2001, Signature Books, http://bit.ly/lucys-book]

65 years ago today - Jun 10, 1961

2026-06-10T13:12:34.321-06:00

[J. Reuben Clark] Dictation'Ideas by J. R. C. I recall a very sage remark made by Dr. Brimhall, formerly President of the Brigham Young University: There are two occasions in a man's lifetime when it becometh a man to say little: One is at the beginning of his service when he is yet to prove himself, and the other is at the end of his service when he has made his record. Memo by J R C on above: At the beginning a man has little but hope and aspiration and what ability and determination as he may bring to his service; the other is that at the end of his service when his record is made, it speaks for itself. [The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015]

185 years ago today - Jun 10, 1841

2026-06-10T13:10:34.751-06:00

Monmouth, Illinois. On a technicality, Judge Stephen A. Douglas ruled that that Joseph Smith's writ was illegal and discharged him from the arrest warrant. [BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith, http://byustudies.byu.edu]

20 years ago today - Jun 9, 2006

2026-06-09T06:04:36.162-06:00

Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple: Ground was broken in a small ceremony on 12 September 2009 after a new site was selected. Previously ground had been broken on 9 June 2007 by Spencer V. Jones, excavation was halted because of opposition from Tegucigalpa city officials and citizens, who felt the temple would overshadow and block the view of the Catholic Our Lady of Suyapa Basilica on adjacent land. After negotioations failed to resolve the issue, the church announced on Wednesday, 28 January 2009, that out of respect for the city officials and citizens, the church would relocate the temple. [Wikipedia, List of Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_temples_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints#List_of_temples]

115 years ago today - Jun 9, 1911

2026-06-09T06:03:15.726-06:00

The Hotel Utah was built as a cooperative effort by the business and ecclesiastical leaders of the Salt Lake community to bring everyone together. It succeeded. Shares in the venture were sold and the hotel's prominent location on the corner of South Temple and Main Street, previously the site of the Bishop's Tithing Office and the Deseret News, was donated by the LDS Church. After two years of construction and a $2 million price tag, the Hotel opened 9 June 1911 "in a blaze of splendor" with a grand party for 500 of Utah's notables. [Utah History Encyclopedia: Hotel Utah, http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/]

165 years ago today - Jun 9, 1861

2026-06-09T06:02:34.963-06:00

President Brigham Young gave a very interesting historical sketch of his late visit to the extreme southern settlements of the Territory and interspersed his remarks with suitable instructions on the practicability of the brethren producing their own sugar, tobacco, wine, cotton cloth, etc., in the south. -- SLC Bowery [Deseret News, in 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 9, 1841

2026-06-09T06:01:55.078-06:00

[A] trial is held to see if Illinois should send Joseph back to Missouri. The actions of the young prosecuting attorney are so outrageous that the judge is forced to silence him. By the time Joseph's attorney, Mr. Browning, finishes his sad tale of the Saints being driven from Missouri and walking on bloody bare feet across the snow to Illinois, Judge Douglas himself is in tears. [Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]

190 years ago today - Jun 9, 1836

2026-06-09T06:01:15.267-06:00

[After some sermons] Elder Patten arose bound the Law & Scealed the testimony & Prophesied upon the heads of some of the ungodly People who were Present. ... Elder Patten was filled with the Power of God. Numbers were healed of sickeness. [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 - June 1831 (on or before 19 June)

2026-06-09T06:00:35.228-06:00

Section 53, 54, 55 & 56 are received about this time, relating to land, travels to Missouri and missionary work.

175 years ago today - Jun 8, 1851

2026-06-08T06:01:14.885-06:00

While he was alive, Joseph Smith married the wife of Simeon Dagget Carter in Nauvoo. Lydia Kenyon Carter was listed as "Lydia Smith [--] wd of Joseph Smith (Prophet)," when she was sealed to James Goff on 8 June 1851. Born in 1799, she was 44-years-old (menopausal) when she became one of the Prophet's polygamous widows, after which Reynolds Cahoon sealed her as a polygamous wife to Heber C. Kimball on the same day the apostle sealed Cahoon to his first polygamous wife. The latter two had also married before the Prophet's death. Legally married to Simeon D. Carter since 1818, Lydia (mother of their three children) resided with him in Nauvoo and Utah --despite her marriages to Smith, Kimball, and Goff. [Endowment House Record Book (1851-1854), Entry 65, for marriage of "Lydia Smith" (born on 11 December 1800) to James Goff on 8 June 1851 (Film 183,393--not available to the general public), LDS Family History Library, but with typescript available to the public in Quinns Research Files, Beinecke Library; Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 74; Kenney, Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, 6: 305 (12 December 1866), referenced 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)]

170 years ago today - Jun 7, 1856

2026-06-07T20:03:18.751-06:00

The LATTER DAY SAINTS MILLENIAL STAR published in London, says Mormon missionaries in South Africa avoid contact with the Kaffir and Fingoe populations because they had "too much of the blood of Cain in them, for the Gospel to have much effect on their dark spirits." [On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]

180 years ago today - Jun 7, 1846

2026-06-07T20:02:38.434-06:00

[Brigham Young] "I can safely prophesy that we will not cross the mountains this season, and that is what many of the brethren wish, they would rather go to hell than be left behind. I instructed the sisters to keep themselves and tents clean, and not to dictate those over them, it was their duty to raise all the children they could lawfully, and rear them up in the name of the Lord, watching over them and keeping them from playing with ungodly children, or from falling into danger, or exposing themselves to sickness; and when they have raised them up to deliver them over to their father's charge. Instead of meddling with their husband's business, they should be careful of his feelings, and seek his interest, and men should be kind and affectionate to their wives, not abusing or exposing them to hardships." [Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1846- 1847. Elden J. Watson, ed. Salt Lake City: Smith Secretarial Service, 1971.:179-180]

185 years ago today - Jun 7, 1841

2026-06-07T20:01:57.606-06:00

Nauvoo, Illinois. Joseph Smith started very early for his court hearing in Monmouth, Illinois, a 75-mile journey, accompanied by Sheriff Thomas King, the arresting officer from Adams County, [BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith, http://byustudies.byu.edu]

195 years ago today - Jun 7, 1831

2026-06-07T20:01:17.410-06:00

Doctrine and Covenants 52: Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, to the elders of the Church, at Kirtland, Ohio, June 7, 1831. HC 1: 175-179. A conference had been held at Kirtland, beginning on the 3rd, and closing on the 6th of June. At this conference the first distinctive ordinations to the office of high priest were made, and certain manifestations of false and deceiving spirits were discerned and rebuked. [Doctrine and Covenants, http://amzn.to/DoctrineandCovenants]

195 years ago today - Jun 7, 1831 (6 June)

2026-06-07T20:00:37.513-06:00

[D&C 52] The revelation directed fourteen pairs of elders, including Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, to travel to Independence, Missouri. The missionaries were to "preach by the way" and to hold a conference upon their arrival. There was great interest in the Missouri mission since the New Jerusalem was to be identified. Joseph Smith and those traveling with him left Kirtland on 19 June 1831 and arrived in Independence in mid-July. ... The mission calls in verses 22 and 32 were later revoked. [Cook, Lyndon, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants, http://amzn.to/RevelationsofJosephSmith]

185 years ago today - Jun 4, 1841

2026-06-04T08:03:15.338-06:00

Joseph calls at the home of Governor Carlin in Quincy, Ill. The governor shows him great courtesy, and doesn't mention that Missouri has asked him to turn Joseph over to them. Within a few hours of Joseph's leaving the governor's mansion, Carlin sends a posse of law officers to capture him and turn him over to the Missouri authorities. [Conkling, Christopher J., Joseph Smith Chronology]