751-1000


751.   Lumber for the Temple [Nauvoo] came as a result of labor in the pine forests in Wisconsin. From 1841 to 1843, forty-four work crews harvested more than 1.5 million board feet (one board foot is 1” x 8” x 12”) of lumber and 200,000 shingles, which were floated downstream as rafts, usually several hundred feet in length and width. The trip took a week, sometimes two.
Joseph Holbrook, Autobiography, typescript, Harold B .Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Special Collections, pg. 58.

752.   Parley P. Pratt writes the following:
   “I was at the Utah Lake last week, and of all the fisheries I ever saw, that exceeds all. I saw thousands caught by hand, both by Indians and whites. I could buy a hundred, which would each weigh a pound, for a piece of tobacco as large as my finger. They simply put their hand into the stream, and throw them out as fast as they can pick them up. Five thousand barrels of fish might be secured there annually, just as well as less.”
Millennial Star, Nov. 15, 1849, pg. 343.

   753.   They raised sugar cane and had a molasses mill on the bench land farm. This mill was one of the first in Bountiful. Youngsters came from miles around with their pails to get the skimmings to make candy.
Selections from the autobiographies of Mary Isabella Hales, Charles Henry Hales, Stephen Hales and from the biography of Harriet Hales in Kenneth Glyn Hales, comp. and ed., Windows: A Mormon Family (Skyline Printing, 1985).


754.   The following from the journal of Wilford Woodruff:
   On the 24th of March, after traveling some ten miles through mud, I was taken lame with a sharp pain in my knee. I sat down on a log.
   My companion, who was anxious to get to his home in Kirtland, left me sitting in an alligator swamp. I did not see him again for two years. I knelt down in the mud and prayed, and the Lord healed me, and I went on my way rejoicing.
The Leaves From My Journal, Preston Nibley, comp.,(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 22.

  755.   From the life of Joseph Fielding:   Monday, 26 [January 1846], our four children were washed, anointed and sealed to Joseph and Hannah Fielding. And we (Joseph and Hannah) were sealed to Hyrum Smith for time and eternity by Elders Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. [Footnote 88: Since Joseph and Hannah's four children were born to them before their marriage was sealed by the power of the holy priesthood, it was, according to Mormon doctrine, necessary for their children to be sealed to them for eternity as if they had been born under the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These blessings pronounced by the priesthood were not promised by ministers nor civil authorities authorized to perform marriages."] [Footnote 89: "As Joseph and Hannah's children needed to be sealed to their parents, so also Joseph and Hannah needed to be sealed to `parents' who were worthy of the sealing ordinances. Since Joseph's parents were not members of the Church, he elected to be sealed to Hyrum Smith, his brother-in-law and deceased Patriarch to the Church. The `Law of Adoption' that operated to establish the Patriarchal Order was intended to connect all families who would be exalted in the Celestial Kingdom back to Adam, the first man."]
Joseph Fielding, Diary (1843-1846), Church Archives in "They Might Have Known That He Was Not a Fallen Prophet"--The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph Fielding," transcribed and edited by Andrew F. Ehat, BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979).


   756.   The Census of 1850 reported 26 Negro slaves in Utah and the 1860 Census 29; some have questioned those figures. Slavery was legal in Utah as a result of the Compromise of 1850, which brought California into the Union as a free state while allowing Utah and New Mexico territories the option of deciding the issue by "popular sovereignty." Some Mormon pioneers from the South had brought African-American slaves with them when they migrated west. Some freed their slaves in Utah; others who went on to California had to emancipate them there. The Mormon church had no official doctrine for or against slaveholding, and leaders were ambivalent. In 1836 Joseph Smith wrote that masters should treat slaves humanely and that slaves owed their owners obedience. During his presidential campaign in 1844, however, he came out for abolition.
Ronald G. Coleman, "Blacks in Utah History: An Unknown Legacy," in The Peoples of Utah, ed. Helen Z. Papanikolas (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1976); Dennis L. Lythgoe, "Negro Slavery in Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 39 (1971)

    757.   It is recorded in the American Cyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica, that I, David Whitmer, have denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to the divinity of the Book of Mormon; and that the other two witnesses, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, denied their testimony to that Book. I will say once more to all mankind, that I have never at any time denied that testimony or any part thereof. I also testify to the world, that neither Oliver Cowdery or Martin Harris ever at any time denied their testimony. They both died reaffirming the truth of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. I was present at the death bed of Oliver Cowdery, and his last words were, “Brother David, be true to your testimony to the Book of Mormon.” He died here in Richmond, Mo., on March 3rd, 1850. Many witnesses yet live in Richmond, who will testify to the truth of these facts, as well as to the good character of Oliver Cowdery.
     The very powers of darkness have combined against the Book of Mormon, to prove that it is not the word of God, and this should go to prove to men of spiritual understanding, that the Book is true. . . .
     Besides other false statements that are in the two encyclopedias above mentioned is the old story of the Spaulding manuscript. That is, that one Solomon Spaulding who died in Amity, Penn., in 1816, had written a romance, the scene of which was among the ancient Indians who lived in this country. That Spaulding died before he published his romance, and that Sidney Rigdon got hold of the manuscript in a printing office and copied it; that subsequently the manuscript was returned to Solomon Spaulding; That thirteen years after the death of Spaulding, in 1829, Rigdon became associated with Joseph Smith, who read the Spaulding manuscript from behind a blanket to Oliver Cowdery, his amanuensis, who wrote it down. Hence the origin of the Book of Mormon. This is what I claimed by the enemies of the book: Satan had to concoct some plan to account for the origin of that book.
     I will say that all who desire to investigate the Spaulding manuscript story will not be obliged to go very far before they will see the entire falsity of that claim. I testify to the world that I am an eye-witness to the translation of the greater part of the Book of Mormon. Part of it was translated in my father’s house in Fayette, Seneca County, N.Y. . . .
     When the Spaulding story was made known to believers in the book, they called for the Spaulding manuscript, but it could not be found; but recently, thanks to the Lord, the original manuscript has been found and identified. It has been placed in the library of Oberlin college, Oberlin, Ohio, for public inspection. All who has doubts about it being the original Spaulding manuscript, can satisfy themselves by visiting Oberlin and examining the proofs.
     The manuscript is in the hands of those who are not believers in the Book of Mormon. They have kindly allowed the believers in the book to publish a copy of the manuscript, with the proofs that it is the manuscript of Solomon Spaulding. There is no similarity whatever between it and the Book of Mormon. Anyone who investigates this question will see that the Spaulding manuscript story is a fabrication concocted by the enemies of the Book of Mormon, in order to account for the origin of that book.
     Neither Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris or myself ever met Sidney Rigdon until after the Book of Mormon was in print. I know this of my own personal knowledge, being with Joseph Smith, in Seneca County, N.Y., in the winter of 1830, when Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge came from Kirtland, Ohio, to see Joseph Smith, and where Rigdon and Partridge saw Joseph Smith for the first time in their lives.
     The Spaulding manuscript story is a myth; there being no direct testimony on record in regard to Rigdon’s connection with the manuscript of Solomon Spaulding.
Unpublished Revelations of the Prophets and Presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Vol. II (Salt Lake City, Utah: Collier’s Publishing Company, 1993), 124-26

     758.   In 1945, Fawn Brodie completely demolished the Spaulding manuscript myth and made it absolutely clear that anyone who wanted to fully understand Joseph Smith would have to come to terms with his “golden bible.”
“The Prophet Puzzle: Suggestions Leading Toward a More Comprehensive Interpretation of Joseph Smith,” Jan Shipps, Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 1, 1974, 10.

759.   The following incident occurred at the St. George Temple dedication.
     The following from Wilford Woodruff:
   On the 27th of March, I arrived at Memphis, weary and hungry. I went to the best tavern in the place, kept by Mr. Josiah Jackson. I told him I was a stranger, and had no money. I asked him if he would keep me over night.
   He inquired of me what my business was.
   I told him I was a preacher of the gospel.
   He laughed and said that I did not look much like a preacher.
   I did not blame him, as all the preachers he had ever been acquainted with rode on fine horses or in fine carriages, clothed in broadcloth, and had large salaries, and would see this whole world sink to perdition before they would wade through one hundred and seventy miles of mud to save the people.
The Leaves From My Journal, Preston Nibley, comp.,(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 22.

  760.   It was a common saying among the inhabitants of the surrounding country, that, if the “Mormons” could live here (Commerce, later Nauvoo), they could live anywhere. It truly was a most unhealthy spot, filled with ponds and stagnant waters, left by the overflowing of the Mississippi River, afflicting all the neighborhood with fevers and agues.
Autobiography of Benjamin Brown, http://www.boap.org/

761. The following from Anson Call before he became a member of the Church:
   Their preaching [LDS elders] created much excitement in our town but had little effect for nearly three years. It was a constant annoyance to my feelings. I became dissatisfied with all denominations and myself. In the elders’ passing through our country, they frequently stopped at my house, and in discussing with them the principles of the gospel, they would cuff me about like an old pair of boots. I came to the conclusion that the reason for my being handled so easily was because I did not understand the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
Autobiography of Anson Call, Typescript, HBLL; htpp://www.boap.org/

762.  Again, the following from Anson Call:
   We reached St. Louis in eight days. Here we saw some poor faithless Saints, something like spider webs set to catch flies. They came to us with fair words as our best friends, but their council was that of enemies, but did not prevail to stay any of our company, except two. Most of them had been to Nauvoo but had not faith enough to live there.
Joseph Fielding, Diary (1843-1846), Church Archives in "They Might Have Known That He Was Not a Fallen Prophet"--The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph Fielding," transcribed and edited by Andrew F. Ehat, BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979).

   763.   But when Elder Lyman Wight came home from Washington where he and Elder Kimball had gone on the business of Joseph's election as president, he began to exclaim against the governor, calling him a little pusillanimous devil, and said that Joseph was pleading with God for his damnation, said curse the temple, and represented matters as though Nauvoo was of no importance any longer. And as Joseph had given Bishop George Miller the liberty to locate the Black River Company, i.e., those men who had been cutting pine for the temple, according to their discretion. He [Lyman Wight] got them and what he could besides with all the means he could muster and left this place and went up the river to locate there. He seemed to consider that we were too corrupt for them to keep the commandments of God amongst us. This is stated by one of his party. His conduct was contrary to the mind of the rest of the Twelve and was reproved by them. He left us and took all he could of men and means just at a time when it was necessary to stand firmly together. But at the conference several bore witness to his excellent properties and he was continued in his place as one of the Twelve in Brother David Patten's stead. James Emmett also led off a small party. I know not whither. These with Rigdon's party besides other individuals, has caused some to say that Nauvoo has had a mighty puke and it is the bad stuff that is thrown up.
Joseph Fielding, Diary (1843-1846), Church Archives in "They Might Have Known That He Was Not a Fallen Prophet"--The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph Fielding," transcribed and edited by Andrew F. Ehat, BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979).  

764.  The following statement by Alanson Ripley is in reference to the incident when Church leaders were turned into the hands of the mob at Far West, Missouri:
   The mob forced them immediately into their camp, and the treatment that they received there, would make the blood thirsty savage of the wilderness blush, or the wandering Arab hide his face in shame.
Times and Seasons, Vol. 1. No. 3, Commerce, Illinois, January, 1840.

765.   The Salt Lake Tribune, which was not always necessarily friendly to the Church, referred to the United Order as the United Order of Euchre.
New Views of Mormon History, Edited by Davis Bitton and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher (Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press, 1987), 93.

766.   When somewhere about twenty years old, I joined the Methodist Church. My mother was also a Methodist, but I did not remain one long, not more than two or three years. The doctrine of eternal punishment was too horrible to contemplate. Still, I thought the Bible taught it, and thus, like a great many others, that one principle came very near causing me to reject the Bible entirely and turn an infidel. But the idea of an eternal sleep of annihilation filled my mind with despair, and I banished the thought from my heart and prayed almost unceasingly night and day for the Lord to give me a testimony that there was a God and a hereafter.
   While in this unhappy state of mind I was taken sick. The doctor and all my friends pronounced me in the consumption. Of course, I thought my days were numbered. One night between sundown and dark I was laying on the bed in the bedroom pondering on my condition, thinking I would soon have to prove the realities of a future existence, when all in a moment I was enshrouded in a clear, white light and was enwrapped in a heavenly vision. A glimpse of the beauties of eternity were presented to my view, and a personage so lovely that description fails to convey an idea of the celestial beauty. The face was so clear and transparent and the features so perfect and angelic. Clothed in a pure white robe such as I have seen in latter days, she appeared quite a little distance from me at first and seemed to glide rather than walk as she approached me. She came within a few steps of me and as she looked at me she smiled such a sweet heavenly smile and passed on.
   Immediately the scene vanished but left me so serene and happy that I seemed as though in a new state of existence. Every doubt and fear in regard to God and a hereafter was entirely obliterated and a heavenly calm and peace seemed to pervade my whole system. Still I thought I was surely going to die but death had lost all terrors. I interpreted the vision as a sure premonition of my death and with-all to dispel my fears in regard to the future, but instead of dying I began to recover and when I became sensible that I was really getting well I was quite disappointed, for I had anticipated with a great amount of satisfaction the happy change.
   Although so many long years have rolled between and so many sore trials, hardships, and scenes of retrospection of the past, that scene is still clear and vivid as though of recent date. It is so indelibly stamped on the tablets of my memory that neither time nor changes can efface it. And even now at this late period of my existence when life seems trembling on the brink of the grave and the tired spirit seems almost ready to take its flight and bid farewell to the old worn out casket, I look back on that peculiar incident, that token of Divine approbation, and it is like a bright oasis in my dreary existence. I reflect upon it with a great degree of sublime satisfaction. It strengthens and cheers me in my gloomy and desponding moments.
Autobiography of Eliza Dana Gibbs, Typescript, UHI; htpp://www.boap.org/


767.   In October of 1913, William E. Hall, later a World War II pilot and U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor recipient (1943) for helping sink an enemy aircraft carrier and managing to land his aircraft safely, all while seriously injured, is born in Storrs, Utah.
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel et al., On This Day In The Church (Salt Lake City: Eagle Gate, 2000), 212.

768.   The following is from John Corrill explaining the beliefs of the Church. John and his family left the Church during the stormy Missouri years.
In matters of war, they hold it a duty to strive for peace, and not resent an injury, but bear patiently at first, second, and third time; but they are not bound to receive or bear the fourth, but may resist to the uttermost in their own defense, and in putting down their enemies.
John Corrill, A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons, Including an Account of their Doctrine and Discipline, with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church) (St. Louis, n.p., 1839).

769.   The following is from the speech given to the Mormon Battalion by Brigham Young just as the battalion is preparing to leave.
   They also instructed us to treat all men with kindness and never take that which did not belong to us, even from our worst enemies, not even in time of war if we could possibly prevent it; and in case we should come in contact with our enemies and be successful, we should treat prisoners with kindness and never take life when it could be avoided.
Daniel Tyler, A Concise History of the March of the Mormon Battalion (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Press, 1885), 128-129.

770.  I often used to be sent as a missionary to bring back a thief, while on many expeditions to the Indians. And the thief always seemed to be willing to come back. We seemed to have some reformation now and then when the people would get a streak of wanting to do better; and they would come for us to do baptizing. One cold day I baptized three hundred Indians.
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; http://www.boap.org/

771.   The first known baptism in Alaska was on 25 June 1902, when Edward G. Cannon Baptized K. N. Winnie in the Bering Sea near Nome.
Patricia B. Jasper and Beverly M. Blasongame, eds. A Gathering of Saints in Alaska (Salt Lake City: Hiller Industries, 1983); Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 15.

772.   Phoebe Woodruff experienced hardship when her and her husband Wilford traveled from Scarborough, Maine to Quincy, Illinios to join with the rest of the Saints during the fall of 1837. It was on this journey when she gave birth to a baby and Phoebe herself became very ill.
   It was here her spirit apparently left her body, but the faith and prayers of her husband and friends brought her back to life. She related after her recovery that she saw her body as in death and was given her choice of being released from this earth or to trials and tribulations she would be called upon to pass through. She chose to return to this earth, resulting in her being able to continue the journey to Quincy, Illinois, where her husband decided to settle.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Chronicles of Courage (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:120.

773.   Hosea Stout was the first Chief of Police in Nauvoo. Mosiah was seven-years old at the time of this incident.
   “I often associated with Hosea Stout--he would often take me in his arms and say he had chosen me for his body-guard; but I would tell him I wanted to be a body-guard for the Prophet.”
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S;
 http://www.boap.org/

774.   We know that Joseph Smith had a number of body guards. Such men as Porter Rockwell, Hyrum Smith, and Green Flake come to mind. Obviously Levi Hancock also was a body guard.
   Sometimes after our annual conference, the Prophet and others brought oil to our house to be consecrated! And it was my father's fortune to be kind to the poor, to preach the gospel, to guard the Prophet, and to work on the temple.
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; http://www.boap.org/

775.   A Brother by the name of Dwight Harding also acted as a body guard to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Kathryn H. Burrell, “Pioneers of Faith, Courage, and Endurance.” Chronicles of Courage: Daughters of Utah Pioneers (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:80.

776.   Mosiah Hancock shares the following experience with Brigham Young:
In the summer of 1862, President Brigham Young came through Dixie. The people were so glad to see him that they took every means in their power to make everything as comfortable for him as possible. I remember too, when he stopped at Harrisberg at the time Dr. Pridy Meeks, my brother-in-law, and I, with our families were living in willow rooms that joined. The President stopped with us. He sat at the head of the table and had me sit down at his right. The President, when everything was ready, asked a blessing, then all began to eat. He asked for some buttermilk; then crumbed some bread in it and began to eat. He conversed freely on the situation of the Saints in the mountains, and said that he dreaded the time when the Saints would become popular with the world; for he had seen in sorrow, in a dream, or in dreams, this people clothed in the fashions of Babylon and drinking in the spirit of Babylon until one could hardly tell a Saint from a black-leg. And he felt like shouting, "To your tents, Oh Israel!" because it was the only thing that could keep the people pure. "I know that my families court the ways of the world too much," said he, "And our hope lies in the Lamanites. I hope that you brethren who labor among the Indians will be kind to them. Remember that someday they will take their position as the rightful heir to the principles of life and salvation, for they never will give up the principles of this Gospel. Many of this people for the sake of riches and popularity, will sell themselves for that which will canker their souls and lead them down to misery and despair. It would be better for them to dwell in wigwams among the Indians than to dwell with the gentiles and miss the glories which God wishes them to obtain. I wish my families would see the point and come forth before it is too late. For oh, I can see a tendency in my families to hug the moth-eaten customs of Babylon to their bosoms. This is far more hurtful to them than the deadly viper; for the poisons of the viper can be healed by the power of God, but the customs of Babylon will be hard to get rid of."
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; htpp://www.boap.org/

777.  We are familiar with the story of how when Brigham Young preached in Nauvoo shortly after Joseph Smith’s death that he appeared and sounded just like the Prophet Joseph. Apparently this occurred on more than one occasion:
   Tonight it rained and thundered quite hard. We have had quite a dry time thus far on our journey. The next morning was September 1, 1846, and we proceeded on our way. We came near the ferry on the Mississippi River. Brother Brigham and Lorenzo Young met us there. They crossed the river to meet us. I was pleased to see President Brigham Young after not seeing him for seven months. He looked very much like Brother Joseph, the Seer, so much so that at first sight I thought he was the Prophet Joseph.
Autobiography of Joseph Grafton Hovey, Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, BYU.

778.   Again, the following from the autobiography of Joseph Grafton Hovey details the large heart of Brigham Young:
President Brigham administered to my wife who was very sick. She felt some better. The next morning we started across the ferry. About 11 o'clock, I took a severe attack of ague and fever. I shook from head to foot. We tied our cattle to the side of the flat boat and swam them across the river. Brother Brigham asked if he should drive my team to camp and have my wife and Joseph and our little babe ride in his buggy wagon and let Brother Lorenzo drive them. We had about 14 miles to go to reach camp. We arrived at the camp of the Saints about sundown. I had a very hot fever and my wife Martha was so sick she could not sit up. My son Joseph was also very sick. Brother Young took us in his tent. Truly I felt to thank my Heavenly Father for his kindness and mercy in sparing our lives and also that I had the opportunity again of beholding my brethren and the grand spectacle of beholding the Camp of Israel on a prairie far from her nativity. I feel very thankful to Brother Brigham for his kindness in taking my tent and in meeting us. Truly I shall always remember it, for the prophet of the Lord to drive my tent was an example of service to me. It reminded me of what Jesus said, "Whosoever shall be great among you let him be your minister; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but minister." I hope that I may always do likewise.
Autobiography of Joseph Grafton Hovey, Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, BYU.


779.   The Church funds Brigham Young University today, but who funded the school in the 1890s?
The Utah Stake and tuition payments.
Brian Q. Cannon, “Shaping BYU,” BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 2, 2009, 13.   

780.   Just how large was Far West, Missouri?
150 homes
Four dry goods stores
Three family groceries
Several Blacksmith shops
Two hotels
One Printing Shop
A large school house that served both as a church and courthouse
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), 116-117.

781.   After the Saints were forced to flee Missouri, and after Adam-ondi-Ahman was sold off to Sashel Woods (a minister instrumental in the persecution of the Saints) and his son-in-laws Jon Cravens and Thomas Calloway, what was the new name of the town?
Cravensville
Cravensville, Missouri, Plat Records, Church History Library

782.   During the 1870s there were the regular meeting houses which were constructed for Sunday worship, but also separate buildings built for the local Relief Society funded by the Relief Society itself.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 288.

783.   Pioneer homes have been known to double for other enterprises, for instance Sally Randall states that her parlor became a paint shop for the wagons prior to the Saints leaving Nauvoo and Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith tells how her home in Salt Lake City doubled as the Church Historian Office.
Kenneth and Audrey Godfrey, Jill Mulvay Derr, Woman’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 120-121.

784.   Apparently, at one time, there were two Brigham City’s. We are all familiar with Brigham City, Utah, but did you know that in February 1876, Peter Isaacson was called to settle Brigham City, Arizona. A few years after its establishment, the colony was abandoned.
Chronicles of Courage, Lesson Committee comp., (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 2:48.

785.   Before Idaho Falls received the official name of Idaho Falls it was known as Eagle Rock.
Chronicles of Courage, Lesson Committee comp., (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 2:59.

786.   The first branch of the Church on the Australian continent was established as early as 1844, but it wasn’t until 1904 that the first meetinghouse, the Gibbon Street Chapel, was erected in Brisbane.
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), x.

     787.   The first Latter-day Saints in the country [Argentina] were German immigrants who arrived following the close of World War I. Wilhelm Friedrichs and Emile Hoppe were eager to share the gospel with the German community in their new homeland. They published newspaper articles, held meetings in their homes, and soon had a number of people interested in the Church. They reported their efforts to the general authorities in Utah and requested that elders be sent to baptize these converts.
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 43.

788.  The following from the journal of Mary Jane Tanner:
   Monday December 24th, 1877-I have been very busy all day. I took the buggy about noon and drove around giving a few invitations for dinner tomorrow. I called at the Hall where the Christmas tree was being arranged but as my assistance was not needed Sister Harding and I went to the Second Ward Assembly Rooms to look at their Christmas Tree. It was very pretty but not so expensive as ours. I came home and helped to prepare supper as Maria was busy cooking and churning. We all went to the Exhibition in the evening. The tree was very nice and proved a success. All the children had nice presents. My little girls had shell boxes. Bertrand had a pocket book and knife, and Lewis a horse on wheels.
Tuesday December 25th, 1877-Christmas is over at last. The day so eagerly anticipated by the little folks. Owing to the decoration of the tree Santa Claus had but little for their stockings. There were some cakes and apples and little prize boxes, and some trifles that Bessie had made for her brothers and sister. Bessie had a nice wax doll and Bertrand a pair of skates. I sent the buggy for Mother Billings and Sisters Tyrel and Merit, some of those invited to dinner, I did not care to invite those who had friends and good cheer at home, but remembered the poor and the lonely. About ten o’clock the band serenaded us. It commenced snowing about that time and the snow fell all day. The children were disappointed for they wanted a run, but they made their playhouse upstairs. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed ourselves until night when we sent the old people home with a covered carriage it was snowing so fast. I went with Myron to a ball at the Academy Hall. We enjoyed the music and dancing until eleven o’clock when we came home thoroughly tired and glad to close the day and sleep until the beams of another day should call us to life and action.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Woman’s Voices-An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints: 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 312-313.

  789.   The American Party was an anti-Mormon organization founded in 1904 by a group of Utah citizens including Frank S. Cannon and Thomas Kearns (both of whom had served in the U.S. Senate). The party ran several candidates in the 1904 Utah State election but was soundly defeated in a tri-party race. Cannon and Kearns then devoted all their energies to the 1905 Salt Lake City municipal election. In that contest the American Party candidates won the race for mayor and a majority of the seats on the city council. The party dominated Salt Lake City government from 1905 to 1911. It elected Ezra Thompson as mayor in 1905. He was followed by John S. Bransford for the next two terms. The American Party was finally swept out of office in 1911 when a nonpartisan, commission form of government was brought into being.
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 23.

790.     As early as 1829 the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon had been instructed to seek out twelve apostles, but only at the urging of Joseph Smith did they finally accomplish this important task. After receiving proper authority from the First Presidency, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris ordained nine of the twelve on February 14 and 15, 1835, and the other three were ordained later.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 90.

791.   In reference to Church government in 1835:
The Seventy were to assist the apostles . . . and sometimes were even called the “seventy apostles.”
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 91.

792.     Monday, February 17, [1845], the Saints in Nauvoo were all called together. [The] weather [was] pleasant. The object of the meeting was made known by W.W. Phelps. It was to organize the temporal affairs of the Church. Twelve men were chosen [and] called the living constitution. These twelve chose three of the Twelve Apostles; John Taylor, George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman to preside over the temporal affairs of all the Church. Those men were appointed by the Church without a dissenting voice. Able addresses were delivered by the Twelve on the temporal affairs of the Church. [They] urged the necessity of becoming one in feeling and in action in temporal things as well as spiritual.
Autobiography of William Huntington, Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

793.   The fore bearer of the Young Men’s and Young Woman’s organizations of today was the Mutual Improvement Association. The fore bearer of the Mutual Improvement Association was the Young Ladies Society or the Retrenchment Society formed by Brigham Young in 1869.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 288.

794.     I was baptized on April 10, 1842, by John Taylor, one of the apostles of the Prophet. I was baptized in a river at the end of a road which ran into it [This could have been any number of streets and the Mississippi River]. There I shed my old shirt; and donned a calico one, and a pair of jeans!
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; http://www.boap.org/

  795.   Of the $52,251.44 recorded debt of Joseph and the Committee (this is in reference to the Temple Committee), $47,062.83 was paid. There were no defrauded creditors, but rather paid creditors, 90% of whose claims were satisfied in a reasonably prompt time frame. And that payment came largely after the Saints had abandoned Kirtland and the Symbol of their sacrifice, the Temple.”
Gordon A. Madsen, “The Impact of Litigation against Joseph Smith and Others on the Kirtland Economy” (presented at the Mormon Historical society 2005, Killington ,Vermont), 17, copy in author’s possession.
796.     At this time I was in a dream, a young cow, standing in my potato patch munching a hill of potatoes which she had evidently pulled up. The roots with potatoes on were hanging down. I was impressed with my dream and hastened in the morning to visit my patch. When I reached it sure enough in the midst of the patch with her face toward me stood the identical cow that I saw in my dream, munching a hill of potatoes. Her standing position, size, color, shape of horns, the green tips in her mouth and roots hanging with white potatoes on them just as I had seen in my dream. I looked upon this dream as providential, since but for the dream, all the potatoes would have disappeared, and I would not have known whether that land would grow potatoes or not. This might have made me unwilling to try again but now I knew and went ahead.
Journal of John M. Horner; http://www.boap.org/

797.   Lorenzo Snow relates the following while serving a mission in Ohio in 1837:
   One night Lorenzo had a dream of falling into the hands of a mob. The following evening Lorenzo was visiting with friends when two young, well dressed men asked him to come and preach to them and others at a nearby school house. Lorenzo shares the following:
   After a little hesitation on my part, they began to urgently request my acceptance of their invitation. . . . and I told them that I could not comply with their wishes. When they were convinced that I was immovable, . . . they not only manifested disappointment, but were exceedingly angry.
   The next day I learned that they told the truth so far as a congregated audience waiting my appearance. . . . but the object was entirely different from that reported by the young men—it corresponded precisely with my dream.
Snow, Eliza R., The Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Co., 1884), 17.

798.   In those days drawing pictures in school was not allowed. School teachers had the right to whip children for that as well as other offenses. I remember some teachers beating their pupils unmercifully for even minor offenses.
One day a boy sitting in a desk behind me raised his hand and said, “Brother Hancock, Tora has made a picture of a little boy on her slate.” I was called up front and the one whack that father gave me on the hand with his heavy ruler was awful. I was thankful that he didn’t hit me more than once.
Autobiography of Martha M. Hancock; http//www.boap.org/

799.   The School of the Prophets opened in January of 1833 but was disrupted in April. When it reopened in the fall of 1834 it had been divided into the Elder’s School for theological training and the Kirtland School for temporal education. “Lectures on Faith,” a series of lessons subsequently published with the Doctrine and Covenants between 1835 and 1921, was a basic text for missionaries. Burdick’s Arithmetic, Kirkham’s Grammar, and Olney’s Geography guided nearly one hundred students in the secular division, where they were also tutored in the rudiments of penmanship by William E. McLellin. Both schools met during the winter of 1835-36 with increased enrollment and with new evening grammar classes. Beginning in late November the school sponsored a seven-week Hebrew class taught by Joshua Seixas of Hudson, Ohio. The classwork for both schools moved into the temple in January 1835 and a second term of Hebrew commenced. In November 1837 the Kirtland High School assumed the general education curriculum pioneered by the Kirtland School.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 107.

  800.   Eliza R. Snow is referred to as “Zion’s Poetess,” largely due to the fact she wrote over 500 poems during her life time. She was twenty-one years old when her first poem appeared under a pseudonym in a frontier Ohio newspaper and eight weeks away from her death at the age of eighty-three when her last poem appeared in the Mormon Woman’s Exponent.
Edited by Jill Mulvay Derr and Karen Lynn Davidson, “Eliza R. Snow’s Poetry,” BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 3, 2009, 131.

801.   When Eliza R. Snow died, the New York Times noted the demise of “the Mormon Poetess. . . one of the central figures of the Mormon galaxy.”
“The Mormon Poetess Dead,” New York Times, 6 December 1887.

    802.    Again from Mary Jane Tanner’s journal dated April 7th, 1878:
             Weather warm and windy. I am tired and stupid. The children have gone to Sunday School and the house is quiet. I should like to lie down and get a nap but I must go to Bro. Lydiards and see when he is coming to finish the wash house.
             Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 322.


            803.   The following from the life of Peter Isaacson:
            In February of 1876, Peter left for what was to be known as Brigham City [Arizona], a United Order settlement on the Colorado River. Travel proceeded rather smoothly until they reached Panguitch, where they encountered four feet of snow on the Buckskin Mountains, and with mules had to be yoked to one wagon to cross the mountains. The cold was sever, then mud from the melting snow greeted the part before they reached dry roads. The Colorado River, of course, was a real obstacle.
             Peter made a second trip to Utah for a load of grain from his own bin after crops failed in the new settlement. After the fort was built and the camp prepared, he returned to Ephraim to bring his wife and children back to Arizona, his third trip since they joined the United Order.
             Peter was superintendent of all the farms and served as first counselor to Bishop George Lake. He was ordained a high priest by Erastus Snow on September 23, 1878, at Sunset, Arizona.  The Saints worked tirelessly but couldn’t build a permanent dam there on the Colorado River, so Brigham City, Arizona, was abandoned. Church authorities advised the Saints to move on to St. Johns, which Peter’s family did after having lived in Brigham City only five years.
             Peter’s family settled north of St. Johns at a place called the meadows where he served as a bishop. Again the Saints were organized in the United Order. They cleared greasewood from the land, hauled posts to fence their land, then divided the land into five-acre lots. Logs were hauled from the mountains, and one by one houses were built—some with two rooms, some with just one room. The first winter in the Meadows was very difficult, with Saints and cattle nearly starving. Peter’s family was more fortunate than some because they would not kill their cow, as many had done, thus they at least had milk and butter to nourish them. When spring came, the first gardens were planted, then at harvest time all families enjoyed corn, squash, and beans. As time went by, the men were able to fence in the big fields of wild hay which they harvested each year. Their herds of cattle increased and good meat was enjoyed.
             When the Isaacson’s only daughter, Maria, married and moved back to Utah, Martha missed her so much that she prevailed upon Peter to take her home to Ephraim. This he did, but he returned to Arizona to fill his calling as bishop. Two years later President David L. Udall released Peter from that mission and told him his place was with his wife. Eventually the settlement was abandoned. After sixteen years in Arizona, Peter returned home to finish the house he had begun in Ephraim.
             Chronicles of Courage, Lesson Committee comp., (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 2:48-49.

804.   Joseph Smith, apparently recognizing Wight’s (Lyman Wight) passion and promise, ordained him the first high priest of the Church in 1831.
Melvin C. Johnson, Polygamy on the Pedernales: Lyman Wight’s Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas, 1845 to 1858 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2006)

805.   Tim Evans arrived with a load of merchandise at David Eccles’ general merchandise store in Scofield, Utah, sometime in the 1880s. Eccles’ chain of Utah stores was the beginning of a large financial institution that was to become known as First Security Bank.
Douglas F. Tobler and Nelson B. Wadsworth, The History Of The Mormons In Photographs And Text: 1830 To The Present (New York: St. Martins Press, 1987), 174

806.   The first student newspaper published in Utah was in 1891 and titled the B.Y.A. Student.
Eugene L. Roberts and Mrs. Eldon Reed Cluff, “Benjamin Cluff Jr., Scholar, Educational Administrator, and Explorer: Second Principal of the Brigham Young Academy and First President of Brigham Young University; A Study of the Life and Labors of One of Utah’s First School Administrators,” unpublished typescript (1947), 219.

807.   The first missionary tract published by the Church was Parley P. Pratt’s A Voice of Warning in 1837.
Kenneth and Audrey Godfrey, Jill Mulvay Derr, Woman’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 24.

   808.   In 1860, Franklin [Idaho], situated about one and one-half miles north of the boundary line between Idaho and Utah, was settled by Latter-day Saints and led by Franklin D. Richards. This was the first permanent Anglo-Saxon settlement in the state of Idaho (Fort Lemhi on the Salmon River was settled in June of 1855 but was abandon three years later.).
Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 353.

809.   Latter-day Saints are noted for their dance and music festivals. When was the first music festival in the Church?
May 30th and 31st, 1890 held in Salt Lake City at the Tabernacle.
Contributor, Junius F. Wells, ed., Salt Lake City, July 1890, 354-355.

810.   April 7, 1890: The first General Conference of the Relief Society was held in Salt Lake City.
April 7, 1890 Deseret News

811.   June 9, 1890: The first stock exchange in Utah, the Salt Lake Stock exchange opened with one-hundred members.
June 9, 1890 Deseret News

812.   In June of 1850, the first edition of the Deseret News, the Church newspaper, is published in Salt Lake City.
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel et al., On This Day In The Church (Salt Lake City: Eagle Gate, 2000), 118.
813.   The first ship to sail English Saints to America was the Britannia on June 6, 1840. This group of Saints was organized by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and led by Elder John Moon.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 160.

814.   Who was the first woman medical doctor in Utah?
Romania B. Pratt graduated from Philadelphia’s Woman’s Medical College in 1877.
 Chronicles of Courage: Daughters of Utah Pioneers (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:172.

815.   The following is in reference to President Ezra Taft Benson:
   Ezra’s Church service included being a stake president in Boise, Idaho, and then the first stake president in the nation’s capital, for which he would be called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 94.

816.   The following is in reference to the first few years of the Church:
For over two years the general government of the Church consisted simply of conferences of elders that convened every three months.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 88.

817. The following from the journal of Phyllis Hardie Ferguson, who crossed the plains in the McArthur Company, on her recollections of them catching the Ellsworth Company. To understand this fact story you must know that Brother Ellsworth was extremely competitive and did all in his power to stay ahead of the McArthur Company. Just know that after the McArthur Company had their fun, they backed off and let the Ellsworth Company enter Salt Lake City first regardless of the fact that the McArthur Company had left Winter Quarters much later than the Ellsworth Company and could have easily beaten them to the Salt Lake Valley:
   When it became quite dark we reached the top of a high hill, where by Captain McArthur’s instructions we left the handcarts, and quietly walked down towards the blazing camp fires. Just before we reached the Ellsworth company, we all began to shout, “Hurrah for the handcarts!”
   Captain Ellsworth, thinking it was the overland mail coach, in which was Franklin D. Richards, the returning president of the European mission, and others who were expected, hurriedly called out the band to give them glad welcome. Imagine his chagrin when he discovered that his welcome was given to the Scotch handcart company, who had overtaken him!
David Roberts, Devils Gate (New York City: Simon and Schuster, 2008), 109-110.

818.   The following is a mission experience of Orson Hyde while on a mission with Parley P. Pratt in Canada:
   At one meeting a learned Presbyterian priest came in just at the close, and bade us a challenge for debate. We, at first, declined, saying that we had all the labor we could attend to without debate. But nothing would answer the priest but debate. We then said, debate it should be. Accordingly, time and place were agreed upon, and also the terms and conditions. Before the debate came off, Elder Pratt was called home as a witness in a case at law, and left me to meet the champion alone. The time arrived, and about one acre of people assembled in a grove, wagons arranged for pulpits opposite each other, and presently the priest came with some less than a mule-load of books, pamphlets and newspapers, containing all the slang of an unbelieving world. The meeting was duly opened by prayer. All things being ready, the battle began by a volley of grape and canister from my battery, which was returned with vigor and determined zeal. Alternate cannonading, half hour each, continued until dinner was announced. An armistice was proclaimed, and the parties enjoyed a good dinner with their respective friends.
   After two hours, the forces were again drawn up in battle array. The enemy’s fire soon became less and less spirited, until, at length, under a well directed and murderous fire from the long `eighteens’ with which Zion’s fortress is ever mounted—to wit: the Spirit of God—the enemy raised his hand to heaven and exclaimed, with affected contempt, `Abominable! I have heard enough of such stuff.’ I immediately rejoined, `Gentlemen and ladies, I should consider it highly dishonorable to continue to beat my antagonist after he has cried enough,’ so I waived the subject. The priest did not appear to think half so much of his scurrilous books, pamphlets and newspapers, when he was gathering them up to take away, as when he brought them upon the stand. Their virtue fled like chaff before the wind. About forty persons were baptized into the Church in that place (Scarborough) immediately after the debate. Jenkins was the name of the priest. It is highly probably that he has never since challenged a `Mormon’ preacher for debate.
The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 26 (1864):742-44, 760-61, 774-76, 790-92.


819.   The following incident is from the life of pioneer George Albert Goodrich as told by his daughter, Leona Goodrich Manwaring:
   When Elmer talked to Father about marrying me, he answered him in a humorous vein, giving him a mathematical formula, saying: “If you do that, you’re going to spoil my program. Right now, the way things stand my family consists of 16 boys and 16 girls; 11 boys living and 11 girls living; 5 boys dead and 5 girls dead; 7 boys married and 7 girls married; 4 boys single and 4 girls single; 2 boys courting and 2 girls courting. But go ahead; someone else will probably come along and even it up again.”
Chronicles of Courage, Lesson Committee comp., (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 2:55-56.


820.   How many hymns were in the first hymnal printed in 1835?
90
Frederick G. Williams, “Singing the Word of God,” BYU Studies 48, no. 3, 2009, 61.


821.   Isaac Watt’s “Joy to the World,” was titled “The Second Coming of the Savior” in the Church’s first hymnal.
The Evening and Morning Star 7 (December 1832).

822.   How many printings has there been of the Church’s hymn book and what were the years of the printings?
There have been 30 printings.
1835, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1844 (Liverpool), 1849, 1851, 1854, 1856, 1863, 1869, 1871 (Salt Lake City), 1871 (Liverpool), 1877, 1881, 1883, 1884, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1894, 1897, 1899, 1905, 1912, 1927, 1948, 1950, 1985.
Frederick G. Williams, “Singing the Word of God,” BYU Studies 48, no. 3, 2009, 70.

823.   How many hymns did Parley P. Pratt write? The following from his journal:
He stated that in the 1840 hymnal “nearly fifty of my original hymns and songs, composed expressly for the book, and most of them written during the press of duties which then crowd upon me.”
Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, revised and enhanced edition, ed. Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 373.

824.   What are the top five hymns sung during meetings from 1830-1838?
Adam-ondi-Ahman (By far the most popular hymn during those years)
The Spirit of God
Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
Now Let Us Rejoice
How Firm a Foundation
Michael Hicks, “What Hymns Early Mormons Sang and How They Sang Them,” BYU Studies 47, no. 1 (2008), 98.

   825.   The first hymn book was listed by sections. Some such sections were “Farewell hymns,” “Morning hymns,” and “Evening hymns.” Interestingly these morning and evening hymns were not to be sung at church, but rather for home use to be sung as families first thing in the morning and before the family retired for the evening. There were only six morning and six evening hymns, indicating, most likely, that one hymn was to be sung each morning and evening of the week.
Michael Hicks, “What Hymns Early Mormons Sang and How They Sang Them,” BYU Studies 47, no. 1 (2008), 99.

826.   The words to the song, “O Say What Is Truth,” did not start as a song. It was John Jaques that penned the following words:
Then say; what is truth? ‘Tis the last and the first,
For the limits of time it steps o’er.
Though the heavens depart and the earth’s fountains burst,
Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst,
Eternal, unchanged, evermore.

These words first appeared on a missionary tract in Great Britain by Franklin D. Richards, President of the European Mission. With time, these words were eventually set to music.
Heidi Swinton and Lee Groberg, SweetWater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications Inc., 2006), 70.

  827.   I will mention a horrid murder was committed in Iowa about 20 miles west of us on the night of the 10th of this month [May]. Three men entered the house of a Pennsylvania Dutchman in the dead of night. Their object: to take from the man of [the] house, 25 hundred dollars the old man had in his possession. A battle ensued. The robbers were defeated in their attempt to get the money. The old man was stabbed to the heart [and] died instantly. A young man was badly wounded. [It] is hoped [he] will recover. The murderers, it is supposed fled to Nauvoo Saturday night. The same night as the murder. [The] next day [the murderers] were arrested by the brethren. [They] have since been delivered into the hands of the Sheriff of Iowa, Lee County where court was in session.
Autobiography of William Huntington, Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

  828.   Walker’s Grand Opera House in Salt Lake City was destroyed by fire in the night between the 3rd and the 4th. A number of smaller fires in the city destroyed considerable property, the cause being carelessness in using combustible articles in celebrating the Fourth of July.
July 4, 1890 Deseret News

829.  The next day I celebrated Pioneer Day and was assigned the Banner of Judah to carry. I was well fitted to take any honors or anything. My hair was as black as the slow, and I had made the leap forward and backward of many feet so that I was not a dude. I could lift my end of weight with anyone.
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; http://www.boap.org/

830.   In May of 1922, President Heber J. Grant dedicates KZN (later known as KSL), the Deseret News radio station, and speaks on the station’s first broadcast.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Church in the Fulness of Times (Salt Lake City: Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1993), 507.

831.   Some more to the story of the miracle of the quails:
   “. . . as they got over the river where the poor Saints were in great numbers. Here also the Lord sent upon them as it were a shower of quails. They came in vast flocks. Many came into the houses where the Saints were, settled on the tables, and the floor and even on their laps, so that they caught as many as they pleased.”
Joseph Fielding, Diary (1843-1846), Church Archives in "They Might Have Known That He Was Not a Fallen Prophet"--The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph Fielding," transcribed and edited by Andrew F. Ehat, BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979).

832.   Most have heard the story of “Father” John Tanner and how he gave his all to the church whenever asked. If it wasn’t for Brother Tanner the Kirtland Temple would have gone into foreclosure. He gave of his riches until he was as penniless as any of his Nauvoo neighbors. The same can also be said of Thomas Tennant:
  Well-to-do land owner Thomas Tennant, Esquire, sold his Midlands estate for 27,000 pounds, millions by today’s measure, to bolster the empty coffers of the emigrating fund. He, age forty-six, his wife Jane, age twenty-six, and their one-year-old son Thomas made the journey in the Hodgett Wagon Train. His caravan included four wagons and a carriage.
Thomas never did see the Salt Lake Valley. At Devils Gate, Wyoming, just one month shy from the Valley, he passed away.
Heidi Swinton and Lee Groberg, SweetWater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications Inc., 2006), 14.


833. Just how serious was the inflation during the Kirtland years of the Church?
In the 1830’s, building lots in Kirtland jumped from $50 an acre to $2000, and outside of town land prices rose from $10 an acre to $150.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 120.

834.   The following is in reference to the first British Mission. The following individuals were sent; Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards, also Elders Fielding, Russell, Goodson and Snyder from Canada:
   The missionaries left Kirtland in mid-June almost destitute, though friends and relatives gave them small amounts of money, which, together with sixty dollars in Kirtland Safety Society notes that John Goodson was able to exchange with a New York broker, provided money to purchase passage on the ship Garrick. The fare was eighteen dollars apiece, and they had to supply their own provisions. They arrived penniless at the port of Liverpool on July 20, 1837, yet by the end of their mission they had made friends and attained a success many would have thought impossible.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 127.

835.   James Woodruff, son of Wilford Woodruff, and his wife Fanny enjoyed mingling with the other young couples in Salt Lake City at the Social Hall or the Theater. If money was scarce, a nice basket of produce was acceptable as the price of admission.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Chronicles of Courage (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:125.

   836.   Following the Turkish massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I, the Church held a special fast on 23 January 1920, raising $115,000 to help the many homeless and starving Armenian children.
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 48.

837.   Just how close of friends were Joseph Smith Jr. and Alexander Doniphan, the non-member lawyer/militia General?
They were close enough that Joseph and Emma named their son born June 2, 1838, Alexander.
Buddy Youngreen, “Joseph and Emma: A Slide-Film Presentation,” BYU Studies 14, no. 2 (1974), 208.

838.   Two names of individuals interested in stealing the plates from Joseph Smith in 1827 was Sally Chase, “a local clairvoyant” and her brother Willard, a “Methodist class-leader.” Sally claimed that she had a peepstone that could tell her where “Joe Smith kept his gold bible hid.”
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 46.

839.   We have all heard the name Professor Charles Anthon and how his statement that he cannot read a seal book fulfills bible prophecy. What might be one reason Martin Harris sought Professor Anthon out?
He was a prolific scholar and had produced at least one book a year for over thirty years and had a profound influence on the study of the classics in the United States.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 47.

840.   Who was the town of Kirtland, Ohio named after?
Turhand Kirtland who was a land speculator in the early 1800’s and bought up the land at present day Kirtland, Ohio.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 73.

841.   Early excommunicated member Doctor Philastus Hurlbut who wrote Mormonism Unvailed [sic] was not a Doctor, but it was his actual given name.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 80.


842.   Ellen Sanders Kimball, the wife of Heber C. Kimball, is not her real name. This name was actually given to her after her parents immigrated to America. She was born in Norway in 1824. Her father’s name was Ysten Sondrason, a farmer. Her mother’s name was Aasa. Ellen’s full title in Norwegian was Aagaata Ysten Dater Bake which when interpreted, means Aagaata, Ysten’s daughter of the Bake farm.
Chronicles of Courage, Lesson Committee comp., (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 2:156.

843.   What was the name of the organization that provided religious instruction, starting in 1890, for elementary school aged children and then assimilated by the primary in 1929?
The Religion Class Association
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 66.

844.     President Samuel O. Bennion, mission president of the Central States Mission witnessed the exhumation of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s bodies from their burial site in Nauvoo in 1928. Of this experience he wrote, “I could hardly keep back the tears.”
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 92.


   845.   The number of convert baptisms in North America by the end of 1837, prior to the first British mission, was over 16,000. Realize that just seven short years earlier in June of 1830 there was only 6 members.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 83.

846.   Fall of 1833:
   In addition, Church leaders ended their policy of passive resistance and counseled the Saints to arm themselves for the defense of their families and homes. A delegation to Clay County purchased power and lead, and Church officials announced on October 20 their intent to defend themselves against any physical attack.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 96.

847.   These were our possessions and prospects when the first wave of money panic struck California, and swept over America with such disastrous results, from 1853 to 1859. It is said that during two months in 1857, in New York, discounts at the banks fell off $24,000,000 and deposits $40,000,000; interest went up 36 per cent per annum and there were six thousand failures, involving an indebtedness of $300,000,000. Yet how small are these sums when compared with the direct and indirect losses suffered by the whole people during those years of panic! The breaking up of business, the depreciation of property, the enforced idleness of labor and machinery, and the check to enterprise, all combined to make up a loss impossible to compute, not counting the heartache and mental anguish arising from loss of business and homes.

Men of families, wealth and enterprise, were driven from their homes and reduced to poverty and in consequence, on the Pacific coast, self destruction was resorted to, to end their misery. Some poisoned themselves some shot themselves, some went crazy, all of which was brought on the people by our private currency system.

This loss cannot be measured by dollars and cents, no power but the Supreme can weigh the sufferings of the human heart. Upon the first appearance of panic on the Pacific cost, business began to shrink, property decreased rapidly in value, money withdrew from circulation, depositors withdrew their money from the banks, business failures were frequent, larger interest was exacted for the use of money, more property was demanded as security for a given sum, laborers were turned adrift by the thousands, some becoming tramps; two or more families of the less fortunate were compelled to occupy one house in the towns, which before was hardly thought ample for one, and to get along with scant clothing and still scantier food. At the same time thousands of tons of farm products were never sent to market, for there was no sale; good potatoes were ten cents per bushel, but there were no ten cents. All this happened in the Golden State of California, in 1854, where millions of gold and silver were dug from its mines every month. Most, or all of it was sent to San Francisco as soon as produced, and tons of it were hoarded in banks, treasury vaults, napkins, old bonnets, and other places, though swift to keep money, after drawing it from the banks. Gold was gloated over and worshiped. A man with a few hundred dollars in gold coin was independent, while the owner of scores of thousands of property was poverty stricken, and permitted it to be sold for taxes, and in some cases never redeemed it. Some with ready money held it for purchasing properties at the depreciated rates for which it was sold by the sheriff, and money could not be borrowed on real estate, however good the title.
Journal of John M. Horner; http://www.boap.org/

848.   The following incident takes place during the early Nauvoo years of the Church:
   “This summer Brother Joseph came home, and we went up to his place to see him. As I glanced on his table and beheld a beautiful boiled corn on the cob, I thought ‘Oh, what a grand sight!’ The corn seemed to be of the King Phillip variety of yellow flint. Brother Joseph asked his father to return thanks on the food, and Father Smith took up an ear of corn in his right hand holding it between his thumb and forefinger, and said, ‘Oh, God, the Eternal Father, we thank thee for this corn, and pray in the name of Jesus Christ to bless it to the strengthening of our bodies, and the strengthening of our stomachs till Thou can provide something better; which we ask of Thee in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.’ Tears were streaming down his cheeks, and I thought it a repast of the most excellent type.”
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; htpp://www.boap.org/

849.   The only apostle to be ordained outside the confines of the United States was Willard Richards on April 14, 1840 at Preston, England. Those who placed their hands on his head were Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and John Taylor.
The Church News, August 9, 1958.

850.   Following the Smoot hearings, two Apostles, John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley, submitted their resignations from the Quorum of the Twelve. It was widely known that they had performed more than a few plural marriages after the Manifesto was issued. Their resignations from the Twelve did much to symbolize that plural marriage had indeed ended. Six years later John W. Taylor was excommunicated from the Church because he had married another plural wife after his resignation. Elder Cowley, although never reinstated as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, remained faithful to the Church. In the 1930s he served a mission to England. One of his sons, Matthew Cowley, who had served as a mission president in New Zealand, was later called as an Apostle.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History In The Fulness Of Times (Salt Lake City: Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1993), 470.

This incident occurred when David O. McKay was a young missionary serving in Scotland:
851.   At an unusually spiritual missionary conference two years later in Glasgow, Scotland, James L. McMurrin, counselor in the mission presidency, turned to Elder David O. McKay and said, “If you will keep the faith you will yet sit in the leading councils of the church.
Francis M. Gibbons, David O. McKay: Apostle to the World, Prophet of God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1986), 50.

852.   The following from Wilford Woodruff:
   “I seldom ever heard Brother Joseph or the Twelve preach or teach any principle but what I felt as uneasy as a fish out of water until I had written it. Then I felt right. I could write a sermon of Joseph’s a week after it was delivered almost word for word, and after it was written, it was taken from me or from my mind. This was a gift from God unto me, and I have kept a journal of almost every day of my life for the last twenty-four years.”
Daughter of Utah Pioneers, Chronicle of Courage (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:93-94.

853.   The following refers to Brigham Young:
   He promoted and practiced physical activities. To make that possible, he put a gymnasium in his Utah home and encourage his children to exercise. He believed play should be where members could “enjoy the Spirit of the Lord.”
Jessie L. Embry, “Spiritualized Recreation,” BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 3, 2009, 97.

854.   President Brigham Young believed a 24 hour day should be broken down as follows:
“Eight hours work, eight hours sleep, and eight hours recreation.”
Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (New York: Macmillan, 1930), 251.

 855. The Relief Society was disbanded in 1844 and was not revived again until 1867 although there were some meetings during this time period by various wards as the following fact from the life of Mary S. Campbell alludes to:
Mary joined the Cedar City Female Benevolent Society on February 4, 1857.
This Female Benevolent Society was later renamed the Relief Society.
Cedar City Ward, Parowan Stake, Relief Society Minute Book, 1856-1875 and 1892, February 4, 1857, Church History Library.

856.   It was the Relief Society that founded the Deseret Hospital in 1882.
Kenneth and Audrey Godfrey, Jill Mulvay Derr, Woman’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 18.


857.   From the life of William Huntington:  The Church, myself and family all in prosperity up to April 16th, 1843. This day, April 16th, 1843, came to hand some resolutions which I passed some time with myself on account of accumulating habits I had for a long time, been slave to. In common with others in July 1827, [I] resolved that I would not drink any more strong drink. In July 1831, [I] resolved that I would not drink any more hot drinks. In January 1832, [I] resolved that I would not use cider, strong beer, wines or anything of an intoxicating nature. In February 1832, [I] resolved that I would not use any more tobacco. This day I can of a truth say all those resolutions have been strictly adhered to by myself up to this date, April 16th, 1843.
Autobiography of William Huntington, Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

858.   On October 3, 1918, the day before General Conference, Joseph F. Smith received what would become Section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This section describes what happens to the spirit after it departs this life. With as much death as Joseph F. Smith had experienced in his life time, plus the millions of deaths around the world as a result of World War I and the Spanish Influenza, it really is not surprising that he had pondered endlessly on this subject. The question could be asked, just how much death had Joseph F. experienced in his life time?
He was five-years old when his father, Hyrum Smith, was shot and killed at Carthage Jail.
His mother died when he was thirteen.
In 1915 his wife, Sarah Richards Smith passed away.
Later in 1915, his twenty-five year old daughter, Zina Greenwell, died leaving a three-year old child.
By 1918, only one of his four sisters was still alive.
Of his forty-four children, from five different wives, thirteen had passed away.
On January 23, 1918 his oldest son, and Apostle, Hyrum Mack Smith died.
September 24, 1918, Hyrum Mack’s widow, Ida Bowman Smith died of heart failure just six days after giving birth.
Nine million war dead during the First World War
The flu pandemic took the lives of 675,000 in the United States from 1917-1918.
George S. Tate, “The Great World of the Spirits of the Dead,” BYU Studies Vol. 46, no. 1 (2007), 10-11, 33.

859.   The following from Orson Pratt:   Soon after our return to Kirtland, I was sent on another mission, in company with Brother Samuel H. Smith, a younger brother of the Prophet, who was a man slow of speech and unlearned, yet a man of good faith and extreme integrity.
“The History of Orson Pratt [1805-1842], Millennial Star, 26 (1864), 742-44, 760-61, 774-76, 790-92.

860.   The following from John Corrill:   I searched the scriptures again to see if God had ever concealed or hid up his word, or commanded his servants to do so for a wise purpose. I always thought before, that we had all the scripture that we ever should have, and that the Bible was complete; but on searching the scriptures, I found to my surprise, that they, in many instances, refer to books for information that they do not contain; nor are they anywhere to be found,--such as the Book of Jasher, of the wars of the Lord--of Nathan the Prophet--of Shemaiah the Prophet, of Goed the Seer, and of Iddo the Seer, etc.--(1 Chron. xxix. 29; 2 Chron. ix. 29, and xii. 15.) and many others which I need not mention at this time. This satisfied me at once, that there was much of the word of God that we had not got, and still are referred to it for further information; therefore, the scriptures are not complete without it. Neither could the knowledge of God cover the earth as waters do the sea, without receiving more knowledge or revelation from God. I also found that Habakkuk, (ii. 2, 3,) was commanded to write the vision and make it plain upon tables; for, at the end of the appointed time, it should speak and not lie, and though it tarry, yet we must wait for it, for surely it would come. And Daniel, (xii. 4, 9,) was commanded to shut up the words and seal the book, which was to remain so till the time of the end. And John, the Revelator, was commanded to seal up the words of the seven thunders. And old King David declares, that truth shall spring out of the earth, (Ps. lxxxv. 11) Isaiah, (xxix. 11, 12,) said that all their visions should become the words of a sealed book, that should be delivered to the learned to be read, but they not being able, it should be read by the unlearned, whereupon the Lord would proceed to do a marvelous work, etc. And Ezekiel, (xxxvii. 15-21,) plainly shows, that two records should be written, one for the house of Judah and his companions, and another for the house of Joseph and his companions, and these two records should be brought together for the purpose of bringing about the gathering of all the tribes of Israel, etc.
John Corrill, A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Commonly Called Mormons, Including an Account of their Doctrine and Discipline, with the Reasons of the Author for Leaving the Church) (St. Louis, n.p., 1839)

  861. Agents for the Perpetual Emigration Fund tried to charter entire ships, or if they couldn’t do this at least section off a part of a ship for the Mormon emigrants. Quite often these groups would be led by returning missionaries and the group would be split into wards (the various languages being one of the prerequisite for a ward division), with as many as twelve wards on the larger ships.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices-An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints: 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 200.


862.   One of the things Joseph Smith Sr. did to provide income for his family was teach singing lesson. The following from the journal of William Smith:
Father “was a teacher of music by note to a considerable extent.”
William Smith, “Notes Written on ‘Chambers’ Life of Joseph Smith’” (ca. 1875), in Early Mormon Documents, comp. and ed. Dan Vogel, 5 vols. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996), 1:487.

   863.   Some people reported that the Smiths were lazy and irresponsible, nevertheless, one neighbor, Orlando Saunders said, “They have all worked for me many a day; they were very good people. Young Joe (as we called him then) has worked for me, and he was a good worker; they all were.”
Saints’ Herald 28 (1881): 165.

864.   The Presbyterian church attendance policy in 1830:
On March 29, 1830, one week before the organization of the Church, Lucy, Hyrum, and Samuel were suspended from the Presbyterian church for non attendance.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 39.

865.   The life of Joseph Smith Jr. was foreshadowed through the life of his fifth great-grandfather, the Reverend John Lothrop. Listen to the following:
   He [John Lothrop] was a young minister of the Church of England, happily married, with beautiful children. He labored faithfully until in his conscience he could no longer approve the things he must teach. He resigned his position, left the church, and in 1623 became pastor of the first Independent Church of London.
   For righteousness’ sake, persecution raged against him and his little bland of devoted followers. They were forced to meet secretly to escape the anger of the opposing bishop. One day as they met in worship, they were discovered by agents of the bishop, who suddenly invaded their meeting place, seized forty-two of their number, and sent them in fetters to the old clink prison in Newgate. Finally, all were released but Mr. Lothrop. He was deemed too dangerous to be set at liberty.
   During these months of his imprisonment, a fatal sickness had seized upon his wife, and she was about to die. Upon his urgent entreaty, the bishop consented for him to visit his dying wife if he would promise to return. He reached home in time to give her his blessing, and she passed away. True to his promise he returned to prison.
   His poor orphaned children wandered about in helpless misery until someone suggested they appeal to the bishop at Lambeth. One can picture the mournful procession as they came before him and made known their plight. “Please sir,” they cried piteously, “release our father or we too will die.” The bishop’s heart softened and was touched with pity, and he granted to John Lothrop his freedom if he would promise to leave the country and never return.
   Gathering round him his children and thirty-two members of his congregation, he sailed to America. Settling in New England, where he was warmly welcomed, he soon became one of the great Puritan religious leaders of his day. No pastor was more loved by his people, and none had a greater influence for good. He fearlessly proclaimed views far in advance of his time.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Chronicles of Courage (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:94-95.

866.   In 1908, the Ensign Stake, of Salt Lake City formed the first [Basketball] league, with the Twentieth Ward triumphing over the Eighteenth Ward 28 to 23 in the first championship game.
Jessie L. Embry, “Spiritual Recreation,” BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 3, 2009, 98.

867.   In 1923, eight Salt Lake Valley wards took part in what became the all-church tournament.
Jessie L. Embry, “Spiritual Recreation,” BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 3, 2009, 99.

868.   We have all heard how Brigham Young is Steve Young’s (BYU and San Francisco Quarterback) great-great-grandfather.  What might be less known, is Robbie Bosco’s (BYU and Green Bay Packer Quarterback) great-great-grandfather is Wilford Woodruff.
Mike Littwin, The Sporting News, 1985


869.   The following from the journal of Rebecca Elizabeth Mace:
   1896 Opened auspiciously for Utah and its inhabitants. On the 4th [of] January 1896 President Cleveland issued a Proclamation admitting Utah into the Sisterhood of States. As soon as the message was received 2 oc. PM Guns were fired, Flag hoisted, Bands played, Shouts of joy arose from the heart and lips of all, with ringing of bells and everything which could be used to sound a note of joy was brought into requisition. . . . never had all Utah joined in such hilarious rejoicing.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 339.

870.   Mary Jane Tanner records the following in her journal:
Tuesday January 22, 1878-There are 181 children belonging to the Sunday School of our Ward.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Woman’s Voices-An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints: 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 315.


   871.   In December 1849 Richard Ballantyne called some 50 children to his home in Salt Lake City and held the first Sunday School. The meetings included singing, prayers, lessons, recitations, catechisms, and even examination days to assure the material was properly learned. Soon other schools were begun in Utah, and the organization was later formalized. A monument at First West and Third South Streets in Salt Lake City marks the spot of those early cabin meetings.
Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 73.

872.   Rebecca Mace provides this interesting insight on May 26th, 1896:
   Visited the 7th and 8th district alone. We are gathering carpet rags to make a carpet for the St. George Temple. It will require 100 yds from the Kanab stake as its proportion.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 393.


873.   In her journal of March 25th, 1889, Nancy Abigail Clement Williams writes of visiting some of the brethren serving jail sentences for polygamy. She refers to the prison in an interesting manner:
At 11 we were escorted into Uncle Sam’s boarding house.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 362.

874.   Charles Dickens said the following after observing a shipload of Mormons at Liverpool getting ready for the voyage to Zion:
   The Mormon ship is a family under strong and accepted discipline with every provision for comfort, decorum, and internally peace. I went on board their ship to bear testimony against them if they deserved it, as I fully believed they would; to my great astonishment, they did not deserve it. . . . Some remarkable influence had produced a remarkable result with better-known influences have often missed.
Charles Dickens, The Uncommercial Traveler, 1861, 445-446.

875.   Joseph Smith once said of William E. McLellin (one of the original Quorum of the Twelve, but also an apostate) that he was a man “having more learning than sense.”
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 78.

876.   This is in reference to the hunger that the handcart companies faced:
“You felt as if you could almost eat a rusty nail or gnaw a file.”- John Jacques
Heidi Swinton and Lee Groberg, SweetWater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications Inc., 2006), 69.

877.   Referring to filling the government’s request for 500 men in the Mormon Battalion, Brigham Young said that a battalion must be raised if it took the authorities and the women to fill it up.
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Chronicles of Courage (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1991), 2:122.

878.   From the life of Mosiah Hancock:   January 1, 1864, found me out of debt. My oxen were again wanted, and I let them go again after the poor. In the fall, only one of them came to me; the other was lame and was left at Beaver. I gladly let my team go to bring the Saints to Zion while I spaded my land to raise a crop. Again my tithing was canceled for the use of them. I knew not where I could find my steers, I was in need of them very much. About one half of my cattle were missing, but no man had a better crop than I.
Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, Typescript, BYU-S; htpp://www.boap.org/

879.   These plates were seven inches wide by eight inches in length, and were of the thickness of plates of tin; and when piled one above the other, they were altogether about four inches thick; and they were put together on the back by three silver rings, so that they would open like a book. The two stones set in a bow of silver were about two inches in diameter, perfectly round, and about five-eighths of an inch thick at the centre; but not so thick at the edges where they came into the bow. They were joined by a round bar of silver, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and about four inches long, which, with the two stones, would make eight inches. The stones were white, like polished marble, with a few gray streaks. I never dared to look into them by placing them in the hat, because Moses said that "no man could see God and live," and we could see anything we wished by looking into them; and I could not keep the desire to see God out of my mind. And beside, we had a command to let no man look into them, except by the command of God, lest he should "look aught and perish." These plates were usually kept in a cherry box made for that purpose, in the possession of Joseph and myself. The plates were kept from the sight of the world, and no one, save Oliver Cowdery, myself, Joseph Smith, Jr., and David Whitmer, ever saw them. Before the Lord showed the plates to me, Joseph wished me to see them. But I refused, unless the Lord should do it.
“Mormonism--II," Tiffany's Monthly 5 (August 1859): 163-70.

880.   Here are a few facts as the result of what has been termed the Utah War, Mormon War, Buchanan’s Blunder, Utah Expedition, Mormon Rebellion, or whatever you want to call it:
1.      For years Camp Floyd, Utah, near Salt Lake City, was the nation’s largest army garrison;
2.      The confrontation was so costly that it virtually bankrupted the U.S. Treasury and devastated Utah’s economy;
3.      The conflict’s financing forced the resignation of the secretary of war, John B. Floyd;
4.      The citizens’ move south—an effort to flee the approaching army—put thirty thousand Mormon refugees on the road from northern Utah to Provo and perhaps beyond;
5.      Brigham Young and scores of others were indicted by a federal grand jury for treason;
6.      The Mountain Meadows massacre alone, the conflict’s greatest atrocity, was one of the worst incidents of organized mass murder against unarmed civilians in the nation’s history.
William P. MacKinnon, “Full of Courage.” BYU Studies, Volume 48, Number 4, 2009, pg. 93-94.

881.   The following from the life of early pioneer James Ririe:
   “At Camp Floyd wagon covers were sold cheap. That army coming in was the greatest blessing Utah could have had at that time. The very ropes that they brought to hang the Mormons with, for they had a wagonload of rope for that purpose, were sold cheap.”
Chronicles of Courage, Lesson Committee comp., (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 2:65.

882.   From the journal of Emmeline B. Wells on Thursday August 27, 1874 we learn the name of the fore runner to visiting teaching:
Little Lou’s twelfth birthday. I was taken very sick in the morning continued very bad all day long. I suffered the most agonizing pain got a little easier towards evening. The Lady teachers called. . . .
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 295.

883.   President David O. McKay in company with Hugh J. Cannon relates the following incident which occurred on a trip to the Hawaiian Islands in 1921. President McKay is reminiscing on this situation that had happened thirty-four years earlier:
   So we came up here, and this is where I was [pointing to a spot where a pepper tree had been], and as we looked at an old frame house that stood there then, he said, “That is probably the old chapel.” It seemed to me it was over in the distance. Nothing else was here. We said “Well, probably that is the place. We are probably standing on the spot upon which your father, George Q. Cannon, and Judge Napela addressed those people.” We became very much impressed with the surroundings, association, and spiritual significance of the occasion; as we had been also with the manifestations we had had on our trip to the Orient and thus far in Hawaii. I said, “I think we should have a word of prayer”. . . .
   I offered the prayer. We all had our eyes closed, and it was a very inspirational gathering. As we started to walk away at the conclusion of the prayer, Brother Keola Kailimai took Brother E. Wesley Smith to the side and very earnestly began talking to him in Hawaiian. As we walked along, the rest of us dropped back. They continued walking, and Brother Kailimai very seriously told in Hawaiian what he had seen during the prayer. They stopped right over there [pointing a short distance away] and Brother E. Wesley Smith said, “Brother McKay, do you know what Brother Kailimai had told me?” I answered, “No.” “Brother Kailimai said that while you were praying, and we all had our eyes closed, he saw two men who he thought were Hugh J. Cannon and E. Wesley Smith step out of the line in front of us and shake hands with someone, and he wondered why Brother Cannon and Brother Smith were shaking hands while we were praying. He opened his eyes and there stood those two men still in line, with their eyes closed just as they had been. He quickly closed his eyes because he knew he had seen a vision.”
   “Now Brother Hugh J. Cannon greatly resembled Brother George Q. Cannon, his father, I spoke during the trip of his resemblance. Of course, E. Wesley Smith had the Smith attribute just as President Joseph Fielding Smith had it. Naturally, Brother Keola Kailimai would think that these two men were there. I said, “I think it was George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, two former missionaries to Hawaii, whom that spiritual-minded man saw.”
   We walked a few steps farther and I said, “Brother Kailimai, I don’t understand the significance of your vision, but I do know that the veil between us and those former missionaries was very thin.” Brother Hugh J. Cannon who was by my side, with tears rolling down his cheeks, said “Brother McKay, there was no veil.”
David O. McKay, Cherished Experiences. Rev. and enl Compiled by Clare Middlemiss (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976), 115-116.

884.   Elder Marriner W. Merrill was shown that his son passed through the veil of death in order to labor with his kindred dead:
   On one occasion soon after the death of his son, as he was returning to his home, he was in his carriage so deeply lost in thought about his son that he was quite oblivious to things about him. He suddenly came into a state of awareness when his horse stopped in the road. As he looked up, his son stood in the road beside him. His son spoke to him and said, “Father, you are mourning my departure unduly. You are over concerned about my family (his son left a large family of small children) and their welfare. I have much work to do and your grieving gives me much concern. I am in a position to render effective service to my family. You should take comfort, for you know there is much work to be done here and it was necessary for me to be called. You know that the Lord doeth all things well.” So saying, the son departed.
Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1972), 43.

885.   When the First World War broke out in 1914, and while he was serving as the European Mission President, Hyrum Mack Smith (son of President Joseph F. Smith) was arrested for a short time while traveling through Germany on suspicion of spying for the British.
Deseret Evening News, September 8, 1914, 1 and 3.

886.   The following is in reference to World War I:
   Since Utah was still the home of most Latter-day Saints, the response of its citizens reflected the attitude of the Saints in general toward the war. A total of 24,382 men enlisted, far exceeding the state’s quota. Six of President Joseph F. Smith’s own sons served in the military forces. The Red Cross asked for $350,000 for aid from Utah and received $520,000. When the government began to sell liberty bonds, the people of Utah were given the quota of $6,500,000; instead they purchased bonds worth $9,400,000. The Church, as an institution, participated officially by purchasing $850,000 in liberty bonds. In addition, auxiliary organizations purchased bonds from their own funds amounting to nearly $600,000; and women of the Relief Society actively participated with the Red Cross.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History In The Fulness Of Times (Salt Lake City: Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1993), 492.

887.   George Albert Smith relates the following while on his mission to the Southern States in 1892:
    Late one evening in a pitch-dark night, Elder Stout and I were traveling along a high precipice. . . . Our mode of travel of necessity was very halting. We walked almost with a shuffle, feeling each foot of ground as we advanced, with one hand extended toward the wall of the mountain. I left the wall of the mountain, which had acted as a guide and a steadying force. After I had taken a few steps away I felt impressed to stop immediately, that something was wrong. I called to Elder Stout and he answered me. The direction from which his voice came indicated I was on the wrong trail, so I backed up until I reached the wall of the mountain and again proceeded foreward. . .[While we were climbing a fence], my little suitcase popped open and the contents were scattered around. In the dark I felt around for them and was quite convinced I had recovered practically everything. We arrived safely at our destination about eleven o’clock at night. I soon discovered I had lost my comb and brush, and the next morning we returned to the scene of my accident. I recovered my property and while there my curiosity was stimulated to see what had happened the night before when I had lost my way in the dark. As missionaries, we wore hob-nails in the bottoms of our shoes to make them last longer, so that I could easily follow our tracks in the soft dirt. I retraced my steps to the point where my tracks left and wandered to the edge of a deep precipice. Just one more step and I would have fallen over into the river and been drowned, I felt very ill when I realized how close I had come to death. I was also very grateful to my Heavenly Father for protecting me.
Hartshorn, Leon R., comp. Classic Stories from the Lives of Our Prophets (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1975), 242-243.

888.   In a letter to her husband, George A. Smith, on October 2, 1842, Bathsheba Smith states the following:
   George Albert was sick last Saturday and Sunday. He had quite a fever. I was very uneasy about him. I was afraid he was going to have the fever. I took him to the font and had him baptized and since then he has not had any fever. He is about well now. Looks a little pale. I anointed him with oil a good may times and washed his little body with whisky and water which was burning with fever but it did not do the good I wanted it should.
See Zora Smith Jarvis comp., Ancestry Biography and Family of George A. Smith (Provo, Utah: Zora Smith Jarvis, 1962).

889.   The following from the journal of Patty Bartlett Sessions:
March 17, 1847 . . . . Mr. Sessions and I went and laid hands on the widow Holmans step daughter. She was healed.
The Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, comp. Earl T. Sessions (Bountiful, Utah: Carr Printing Co., 1967).

890.   Again, from Patty Sessions journal of May 29th, 1847:
   Packed 186 pounds of pork for the mountains. I then went to collect some debts. Got nothing. Then went to a meeting to Eliza Beamans with many of the sisters. Sisters Young and Whitney laid their hands upon my head and predicted many things that I should be blessed with that I should live to stand in a temple yet to be built and Joseph [Smith] would be there. I should see him and there I should officiate from my labors should then be done in order and they should be great and I should be blessed and by many and there I should bless many and many should be brought unto me saying your hands were the first that handled me bless me after I had blessed them their mothers would rise and bless me for they would be brought to me by Joseph himself for he loved little children and he would bring my little ones to me and my heart was filled with joy and rejoicing.
The Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, comp. Earl T. Sessions (Bountiful, Utah: Carr Printing Co., 1967).

891.   The following from the journal of Patty Sessions of June 1, 1847:
   Sister E. R. Snow is here. The girls wash some for her. She lines Carlos hat. We had a feast in the afternoon at Sister Millers. There we blessed and got blessed. I blessed Sister Christen by laying my hands upon her head and the Lord spoke through me to her great and marvelous things. At the close I thought I must ask a blessing at Sister Kimball’s hand but it came to me that I must first bless her and show Heber’s girls the Order that duty called them to perform to get many blessings from her upon them. I obeyed. Laid my hands upon her head although it was a great cross and the power of God came upon me. I spoke great and marvelous things to her. She was filled to the overflowing. She arose and blessed the Lord and called down a blessing on us and all that pertained to her. Sister Hess fell on her knees and claimed a blessing at my hands. I then blessed her. Sister Chase claimed a blessing of Sister Kimball. She blessed her with me. She spoke great things to her. The power of God was poured out upon us. E. R. snow was there and with many others. Thank the Lord.
The Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, comp. Earl T. Sessions (Bountiful, Utah: Carr Printing Co., 1967).

892.   Patty Sessions shares the following from her journal:
   Fair weather. We expect to start tomorrow for the mountains. I called to Sarah Anns this evening with E. R. Snow. Sisters Whitney and Kimball came in. We had a good time. Things were given to us that we were not to tell of but to ponder them in our hearts and profit thereby. Before we went down there E. Beaman, Eliza or Emily Partridge, Zina Jacobs came here laid their hands on my head blessed me and so did E. R. Snow. Thank the Lord.
The Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, comp. Earl T. Sessions (Bountiful, Utah: Carr Printing Co., 1967).

893.   The following from the journal of Julina Lambson Smith of February 14th, 1886:
   Sister Coles came to be administered to. She has a large lump growing in her Opu [stomach or womb]. It pains her considerably. Sister Young anointed the affected part, and Jos. Albert with some of the other Elders administered to her.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr, Women’s Voices: An Untold History of The Latter-day Saints 1830-1900 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1982), 354.

894.   Intemperance was an important social issue in Ohio and many other places in Jacksonian America, and the Mormon solution eventually played an important role in setting the Latter-day Saints apart as a distinctive people. By 1833, the year the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom was given, the temperance movement in America had five thousand local societies claiming over a million members. Temperance articles were regular fare in the public press. Diet, too, was receiving considerable attention, with stress on fruits, vegetables, and moderation in eating meat. Warnings against the use of tobacco also were beginning to appear.
The Owenites (a communitarian group) and the Campbellites had endorsed the temperance movement, and the Kirtland Temperance Society had been organized since October 1830. The society closed the local distillery, first by refusing to sell it grain and then, when the distillers imported grain, by pooling resources to purchase the business. A distillery at Mentor closed at the same time. Even though some Saints belonged to the society, critics complained of lack of Mormon support, and the society folded in October 1835.
James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 104-105.

895.   At the first conference of the Church on June 9, 1830 there were three priests in attendance. Listed they were, Joseph Smith Sr. 59; Hyrum Smith, 30; and Martin Harris, 47.
William G. Hartley, “From Men to Boys: LDS Aaronic Priesthood Offices 1829-1996.” Journal of Mormon History 22 (Spring 1996), 80-136; Lee A. Palmer, Aaronic Priesthood through the Centuries (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1964).

896.   The average age of those in the Nauvoo Priest quorum was 29.
 William G. Hartley, “From Men to Boys: LDS Aaronic Priesthood Offices 1829-1996.” Journal of Mormon History 22 (Spring 1996), 80-136; Lee A. Palmer, Aaronic Priesthood through the Centuries (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1964).

897.   William Paul Daniels was one of the first people of African descent to receive the gospel in Africa. He was born 28 August 1864 in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and served for 16 years as a deacon in the Dutch Reformed Church before being taught by the missionaries in 1913. Deeply impressed with the gospel message, he traveled with two of his sons to Utah in 1915 to observe Church members and more thoroughly study the gospel. During this eight-month visit, Brother Daniels was baptized. Prior to returning to South Africa, he received counsel from Elder David O. McKay of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who told him: “Don’t’ worry, Brother Daniels. If you don’t hold the priesthood on earth, you will hold it in heaven.” He also received a blessing from President Joseph F. Smith, which meant a great deal to him throughout his life.
   After Brother Daniels returned home he lived as a faithful Latter-day Saint, but the social atmosphere at the time made it difficult for his family to participate in Church meetings or activities. They usually held church in their home, and each Monday evening they studied Jesus the Christ. They called their family gatherings the “Branch of Love.”
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 274.

898.   The following from the autobiography of William Leany (The Grandfather is Isaac Leany) and the story takes place in Kentucky:
   Grandfather told of an interesting occurrence while on the old homestead. He said there were spots of soil so rich that the grain would grow tall and rank, falling before it could ripen. Many fragments of human bones were found in these places. One day he picked up a man's thigh bone, so long that when placed under his chin he could hardly reach the end with his fingers. In the Book of Mormon, speaking of those few that were left at the last great battle, it is said they were large and mighty men, as to the strength of men.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ILeany.html

899.   During the years 1860-1870 and even later, reports circulated concerning the existence of a strange animal in the waters of Bear Lake (On the border of Idaho and Utah), which became known as the Bear Lake Monster. It was supposed to be very large, with ears or bunches on the side of its head about the size of a pint cup, and it was said to be capable of spouting water from its nose or mouth. Some said it remained stationary in the water, while others asserted it could swim with incredible speed.
   A party of ten young people returning to Paris from Fish Haven reported that they were suddenly attracted by the peculiar motion of the waves in Bear Lake quite a distance out. Thomas Slight, one of the group, said he distinctly saw the animal, which was of a brownish color, and he supposed it to be about forty feet in length. It was going south, and all agreed that it was moving very fast.
   Around 1892 it was reported that an English tourist had seen a monster in Utah Lake resembling a sea serpent. At other times the animal or other animals of like shape and characteristics were reported to have been seen even in Great Salt Lake where no life would possibly exist. All of these reports are a matter of conjecture, since none of these creatures have ever been washed ashore or seen at close enough range to give verification to the stories.
Chronicles of Courage, Compiled by Lesson Committee (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 256.

900. In the 1860’s a group of over 400 former Latter-day Saints followed Joseph Morris, an English convert who claimed to have received revelations affirming that he had been reincarnated with the spirit of Moses and was the seventh angel of the book of Revelation. He claimed that he was not to form a new church but to preside over and set straight the LDS Church, whose leaders had gone astray.
   The Morrisites established a colony at Kington Fort in Weber County, Utah. Morris claimed that the Lord would take care of them, so they did not have to plant crops nor pay debts. Some members defected. Three defecting Morrisite men were kidnapped and returned to Kington Fort. The government issued writs that were destroyed by Morris. Finally, Frank Fuller, the acting Governor of Utah Territory, sent a posse of 250 men with deputy marshal Robert T. Burton, a faithful Latter-day Saint, to make arrests. A three-day siege followed, in which Morris was killed. Burton later faced indictments but was cleared. The convicted members of the Morrisites were all pardoned by the anti-Mormon Governor Stephen S. Harding. The Morrisite movement ended soon thereafter.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 795-96.

901.   James Jesse Strang was a persuasive writer and speaker who challenged the authority of the Twelve Apostles after the death of Joseph Smith. Strang claimed that Joseph had appointed him as his successor in a letter written 18 June 1844, that an angel had anointed him to lead the Church, and that he had found and translated an ancient record entitled “The Book of the Law of the Lord.” About three thousand people left the Church and followed Strang, including William Smith, John E. Page, William Marks, and George J. Adams. After moving his church from Voree, Wisconsin, to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, Strang who had been crowned a “king” by his followers, was shot and killed by disaffected members of his group on 9 July 1856.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1195.

902.   The following from the journal of Heber C. Kimball dated September 12, 1837 during their first British mission:
   About Sept. 12th, Brother Snider returned from the north, where he had traveled in company with brother [Isaac] Russell. They met with considerable opposition and had baptized 30 and others were investigating. After spending a few days with us, he and brother [John] Goodson (who had returned from his mission to Bedford) took their leave of us and started for America on the 5th of October, brother Goodson pretending to have business of importance which called him home. He had over 200 Books of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, which he refused to let me have (although I proffered to pay him the money for them on my return), he carried them back to America and burnt them, from which time he left the Church.
"Extract from the Journal of Heber C. Kimball," Times and Seasons 2 (1841); 6 (1845)

903.   I mentioned in an earlier volume about the old odometer that was used on the Mormon Trail and just how accurate it was. I was amazed to find that there were actually two odometers. The first one, and the one that we are familiar with, was built by Appleton M. Harmon and measured the distance from the North Platte to the Salt Lake Valley during the summer of 1847. The second odometer was built by William A. King and measured from the Salt Lake Valley back to Winter Quarters on the return journey during the fall of that year.
William Clayton, William Clayton’s Journal, (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1921), 152-53; Orson Pratt, The Orson Pratt Journals Edited by Elden Jay Watson (Salt Lake City: Elden Jay Watson, 1975), 391-92; Norman E. Wright, “The Mormon Pioneer Odometers.” BYU Studies 30 (Fall 1997), 82-115.

             904.   The following is an account of Brigham Young both sounding and appearing like Joseph Smith. All are familiar with this conference; however, what is interesting is Joseph Smith’s appearance to W. W. Phelps:
On Thursday, August the 8th [1844], I attended a special conference in Nauvoo. Elder Rigdon addressed the assembly in the forenoon. Elder Rigdon sought, as he expressed it, the guardianship of the Church, but it was plainly manifest that the Spirit of the Lord had withdrawn from him, and that he sought that which did not belong to him. From the time the saints were driven from Missouri he had evidently been on the background, and had not walked up to his station, and on one occasion I heard Joseph Smith say that he had carried Elder Rigdon on his back long enough, and then turning to the Twelve said that if they did not help him at that time in shaking him off, the time would come when they would have it to do, and that without his, Joseph's assistance. And on Thursday, the 8th of August, was this saying of the Prophet brought home with weight to my mind.
In the afternoon President Brigham Young came upon the stand and addressed the vast multitude of anxious listeners as follows: "For the first time the Twelve walk up to the stand in their place, we have walked by sight and not by faith. The Church had had the privilege of coming to Joseph and of receiving, but now he has stepped to the other side of the veil. He loved the Church even unto death, and laid down his life for it." President Young then asked the following questions: "Do you want to choose a person to lead you into the Kingdom, if so manifest it." All were silent. "If there is any person present that wishes to draw away party after them let them rise." But no one rose. "I have wanted," said President Young, "to fast thirty days, and to clothe my house in mourning, but it seems that the saints are determined to drive business. They are not willing to wait and let everything come in its place, but business must be driven, and as it falls to my lot to speak, I shall speak in plainness. Do you want President Rigdon to take Joseph's place, if so take him. Here are the Twelve. Have my knees ever faltered, have these hands ever slackened?" "No," and "No," said voices from all directions. "The Twelve hold the keys and are in authority equal with the First President when the first is absent. Do you want to choose a trustee in trust to take Joseph's place, if so the Twelve must ordain him, for the power rests in them, and in them alone, the Church cannot do it."
"The Almighty with all his train are working in cooperation with us. Then," said he. "Let us pursue a proper course. Joseph has laid an almighty foundation, and we will rear thereupon an almighty building." The President remarked that the Devil had to work faster than he ever had done to kill Saints faster than we would make them. He then showed the propriety of having a bishop to stand in his place as he never had done, and take charge of all the financial concerns, while the Apostles and Elders attend to ministering the word, etc. And then [he, Brigham Young] said that if Elder Rigdon wanted to be a spokesman for Joseph, let him go to the other side of the veil. "Who" said he, "ever heard of such a thing as a person on one side of the veil acting as a spokesman for a person on the other side." The President further stated that no person could stand between Joseph and the Twelve. And then turning to the people, said it was their place to rise up and help roll on the Kingdom. "But let us not undertake anything new, let us follow the law and not undertake to divide the priesthood one hair."
Elders P. P. Pratt and Amasa Lyman made some very appropriate remarks, confirming what President Young had said. Elder Lyman said that he had as good a right to lay claim to Joseph's place as had Elder Rigdon but that the thought had never entered his heart. His desires and determinations were to stand by the Twelve.
Elder W. W. Phelps also made some very comforting remarks. Said that Joseph was not in a situation that he could not visit the Saints. He then related a dream. Said that he saw Joseph the second night after his death, and that he looked as natural as life, and bore the same self-commanding look. Elder Phelps thought the kingdom appeared to be on wheels, and Joseph asked him why he did not speak to the drivers and have them go ahead with it. He asked Joseph if the kingdom was on wheels, and he said "yes", and told him to drive ahead. Elder Phelps then spoke to the drivers and they drove ahead. He saw the kingdom move around the temple. Joseph spoke to him as they came round and said, "You see it moves and receives no harm. Now drive across the river into Iowa." Brother Phelps replied that if they did that they would be obliged to cross Devil Creek. "Never mind Devil Creek," said Joseph, "drive ahead."
President Young again arose and spoke concerning the endowments of the elders. Said that if they did not get them in the temple, they should have them if they had to receive them in the wilderness, for the devil could not cheat them out of them. He then called upon the Saints to know if they would receive the Twelve and let them stand in their place as the First Presidency of the Church in the absence of Joseph. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative. On this day it was plainly manifest that the mantle of Joseph had rested upon President Young. The voice of the same spirit by which he, Joseph, spake was this day sounded in our ears, so much so that I once, unthoughtedly, raised my head to see if it was not actually Joseph addressing the assembly. The assembly was dismissed by President Young after being blessed in the name of the Lord.
             Private Journal of William Hyde, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/WHyde.html

905.   The following from the autobiography of Charles Lamb in reference to the Battle of Nauvoo:
   After the Twelve left, we was very much harassed, driving our brethren from their homes, burning their houses, stealing their cattle, made it hard for some. I asked if I could go away and work. Almon W. Babbett [Babbitt] said no, we want you to help guard the city and temple. I said no more but done the best I could. At length, realizing we must try and protect ourselves the best we could, set to work. I worked hard at the steamboat shaft we found by the river to make [a] cannon. Brother Bull, a somewhat of a gunsmith, and some others drilled holes and put crossbars and then rim metal to fill up the . . . They answered a good purpose and done good execution, so said the mob after the fight. William Gheen had one, Bolander had one, he was a Methodist Preacher, Hathaway had one, but when the fight waxed hot, ran away and left it his men with him. I got some boys to take hold of it. Rufus Allen was one.
   We had them mounted on the four wheels of wagons. Bolander was stationed not far from where President Wells lived. The mob was coming in force down that street. He was somewhat put about. He not been able to fix it to his notion until they were pretty near when he called right, ready, fire. It was done cutting a road right through them which made them run and scatter. They was heard to say for God’s sake, take your dead with you. At this Bolander raised up his hands and said the God of Israel had a hand in that, which made the boys laugh realizing he was a Methodist and did not believe in the God of Israel. We called him a new citizen as he had brought some of the brethren out. There was fifty that run away led by one Rupshaw; he calling to the men to run for the Nauvoo Temple. I called to them to stop, but no go. Curtis C. Bolton was the one who kept the act and all we could make out that stood firm was 74. I talked with him several times after he came to the valley, but I am getting away from my history.
   On Sunday night was our last fight. We had lead, scraps of iron from the blacksmith’s shop that we charged the S.S. with. On this night I got some small chains, fastening a ball at each end and one in the middle, and it being dark secreted them on elevated ground up Mullholland Street where we had a good chance to rake the enemy. We had the two pieces and let them go taking the mob fires for a mark. President Wells was by us when we fired them off. The mob said afterwards to me that we tore their wagon covers and tents to pieces. The next morning they sent in a flag of truce. A council was held and we promised to vacate the city in three days.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Charles-Lambert.html


906.   While other Bible versions may be easier to read than the King James Version, in doctrinal matters latter-day revelation supports the King James Version in preference to other English translations. All of the presidents of the Church, beginning with the Prophet Joseph Smith, have supported the King James Version by encouraging its continued use in the Church.
“First Presidency Statement on the King James Version of the Bible.” Ensign 22 (August 1992), 80.

907.   Eleven years was the average length of service for a nineteenth-century Utah bishop. Dale F. Beecher, “The Office of Bishop.” Dialogue 15 (Winter 1982): 103-15; Donald G. Pace, “Community Leadership on the Mormon Frontier: Mormon Bishops and the Political, Economic, and Social Development before Statehood.” Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1983.

908.   How many body guards did Joseph Smith have?
Twelve, listed they are Orin Porter Rockwell, James Emmett, Levi Hancock, Hyrum Smith, Green Flake, Joseph Bates Noble, John D. Lee (John was executed for his part in the Mountain Meadow Massacre), James Allred, John Lemon Sr., Thomas Charlesworth, Isaac Haight, and Dwight Harding.
(Twelve) Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 332.

909.   Brigham Young University:   The famous white-painted “Y” on the mountainside east of the campus, symbolizing the growing vitality and student spirit of the school, appeared in 1906, the same year that bachelor degrees were first conferred.
Ernest L. Wilkinson, ed. Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred years. 4 vols. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1975-76).

910.   In 1875 Brigham Young had an enrollment of 29 students. It is now the third largest private university with over 32,000 students; only the University of Southern California and New York University are larger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_United_States_university_campuses_by_enrollment; Alma P. Burton, Karl G. Maeser: Mormon Educator (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1953); Douglas F. Tobler, “Karl G. Maeser’s German Background, 1828-1856: The Making of Zion’s Teacher.” BYU Studies 17 (Winter 1977), 155-75.

911.   Hampton Beatie, in 1849, along with six other Latter-day Saints, built the first white settlement in Nevada in the Carson Valley. This settlement became known as Mormon Station and would supply the needs for many gold seekers.
Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia. 4 vols. 1901-36. Reprint. (Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971), 3:577.

912.   The Church has had five Church office buildings since entering the Salt Lake Valley. Listed they are:
1.      In 1848 Daniel H. Wells constructed the first building. It was 18 feet by 12 feet. The location is not known, but it was the headquarters for the church over the next two years.
2.      The Brigham Young home served as the Church Office Building from 1850-1852. This was also known as the Mansion House or White House.
3.      In 1852, Truman O. Angell constructed what is known as the President’s Office which joined the Lion House and the Beehive House. This office was used for 65 years during the Presidencies of Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith.
4.      Still in use today by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, the Church Administration Building was completed in 1917, measuring 140 feet by 75 feet.
5.      The Church Office Building completed in 1972 and 28 stories high.
There you have it, 216 square feet to 683,000 square feet.
Prior to Salt Lake City there were two other Church office buildings, the Kirtland Temple and the second floor of Joseph Smith’s Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois.
“The New General Church Office Building.” Ensign 3 (January 1973): 139-43.

913.   Of the 500 Mormon settlements that were established in the 1800’s, how many exist today?
420
       Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 228.

      914.   At the time of Joseph Smith, the hill known as Cumorah was well recognized, however, in 1898 the U.S. Geological Survey referred to the hill as “Mormon Hill.” It wasn’t until 1952 that the named was changed back to “Hill Cumorah.”
      Rex C. Reeve Jr. and Richard O. Cowan. “The Hill Called Cumorah.” In New York. Edited by Larry C. Porter, Milton V. Backman Jr., and Susan Easton Black. Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History series (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1992), 71-79.

      915.   Utah has the second highest population of Icelandic descendants outside of Iceland, with Spanish Fork, Utah having the oldest settlement of Icelanders in America.
      Byron T. Geslison, “The Icelandic Settlement in Utah.” Submitted to the Utah State Historical Society, 16 August 1992; Tod Harris, ”Gospel Touches Remote Iceland.” Church News, 6 August 1994, 6, 12.

   916.   The first mission home built in Salt Lake City was a remodeled home just north of the Beehive House and dedicated February 3, 1925. This mission home could house 100 missionaries. An adjoining home was purchased in 1926, then to a former hotel on North Main Street during Church expansion in the 1950’s. The mission home was finally moved to a remodeled elementary school across from the existing Church Office Building and used to its closure in 1978 when all missionaries were sent to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.
       LeRoi C. Snow, “The Missionary Home.” Improvement Era 31 (May 1928): 552-54.

       917.   The Mississippi Saints who desired to go west with the vanguard company of Saints, but ultimately could not find them, wintered 250 miles south of Pueblo, Colorado where they were met by three groups of the Mormon Battalion. This settlement became known as Mormon Town.
       Kate B. Carter, comp. Our Pioneer Heritage. Vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958-77), 421-76.


      918.   The first Primary Children’s Hospital was a 35-bed facility built across from Temple Square in 1922.
      Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 951.

      919.   When gold was discovered in the Sierra foothills in January of 1848, the Saints that settled in San Francisco exited for the gold fields. Newly arrived Chinese settlers took up residency in the Saints abandoned shelters forming what is known today as San Francisco’s Chinatown.
       Richard O. Cowan and William E. Homer, California Saints: A 150-Year Legacy in the Golden State. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1996).

   920.   In 1843 it was decided to build a Seventies Hall in Nauvoo. During construction a tornado leveled the walls. Brigham Young convinced the Seventies to re-build, but this time make the walls one brick thicker. At the completion of the Hall it housed a library on the upper floor along with a museum of “curiosities” brought to Nauvoo by returning missionaries. After the Saints left Nauvoo for the west the Seventies Hall was used as a Presbyterian meetinghouse and latter a school.
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffrey Cottle. Old Mormon Nauvoo and Southeastern Iowa: Historic Photographs and Guide. 2d ed. (Santa Anna, Calif: Fieldbrook Productions, 1991), 131-32.

921.   The community of Snowflake, Arizona is named for Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake and not for the frozen precipitation from the sky.
Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, 4 vols. 1901-36. Reprint, (Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971), 1:103-15; Andrew Karl Larsen, Erastus Snow: The Life of a Missionary and Pioneer for the Early Mormon Church (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1971).

922.   Willard Richard’s octagon house, or “potato heap,” doubled as a post office and as a sacred center where Brigham Young solemnized several celestial marriages “in the wilderness.”
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1349.

923.   The following from the journal of Zadoc Kapp Judd:
   They had got a wagon which was about one day's distance. They proposed to me, that if I would go and get the wagon, I should be allowed wages for my time at the rate of one hundred dollars per day, which should be allowed on my share of the outfit they were getting up for our journey homeward. I got the wagon and brought it safe to them.
   I must tell you why wages were counted one hundred dollars per day. A man would take his little Indian basket or common milk pan, go to the place where gold was found, fill it with dirt containing gold, take it to the river, sink it up until the dirt was all washed away, then empty the contents of the pan on to a plate, or any tight dish, fill his pan with dirt and gold again and go through the same process of washing the dirt away, and emptying it on to the pile in the plate. When a quantity of this kind had accumulated, it was put into a smaller dish and a spoonful or two of quicksilver added to it. The quicksilver would gather all the gold and the refuse was then thrown away. Quicksilver and gold were then put into a little buckskin sack, the sack was twisted up and wrung and the quicksilver would run through like water through cloth, leaving all the gold in the buckskin sack, and the quicksilver could be used again for an indefinite number of times. In this way a man would gather a hundred dollars worth of gold, or more, in a day.
Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd (1827-1907), Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZJudd.html

924.   In the Journal of Discourses, George Q. Cannon taught that Columbus’s discovery of America “was a preparatory work for the establishment of the kingdom of God. This Church and kingdom could not have been established on the earth if [Columbus’s] work had not been performed (JD, 14:155). In fact, Columbus was one of the men for whom Wilford Woodruff performed ordinances in the St. George Temple (JD, 19:229).
Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-86), 14: 155; 19:229.
925.   As the Saints fled west, they relied heavily on wool production, occasionally getting “wool” from buffalo or even dogs.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1142.

926.   In the winter of 1831, Ezra Booth, a Methodist minister, procured a copy of the Book of Mormon and brought it to my father's house. They sat up all night reading it, and were very much exercised over it. As soon as they heard that Joseph Smith had arrived in Kirtland, Mr. Booth and wife and my father and mother went immediately to see him. They were convinced and baptized before they returned. They invited the prophet and Elder Rigdon to accompany them home, which they did, and preached several times to crowded congregations, baptizing quite a number.
Marinda M. [N] Hyde, Autobiography (1818-1868), Cited in Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (New York, 1877); http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/NHyde.html

927.   The following from the autobiography of Benjamin F. Johnson:
   About this time we began to hear more about the "Golden Bible" that had been found by "Joe Smith" the "money digger," etc., etc. My elder brother, David, having gone to visit Joel H. [Johnson] in Amherst, Ohio, had remained there until the next season, in the spring of which the first elders, going from Kirtland to Missouri, stopped and raised up a large branch of the Church into which both of my brothers were baptized. Previous to this, rumors had come from Ohio of the spread of what was called "Campbellism," a new sect, of which Sidney Rigdon was then the chief apostle, and through fear that my brothers would become deluded by the new doctrines, my mother had written a letter of caution to them, which was soon answered to say that they had both joined the "Mormonites" (then so called), believers in the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon or "Golden Bible." This news came upon us almost as a horror and a disgrace. The first news was soon followed by the Book of Mormon, accompanied by a lengthy explanation, on the receipt of which my mother, brother Seth, sister Nancy, and Lyman R. Sherman, with some of the neighbors, all devoted to religion, would meet together secretly to read the Book of Mormon and accompanying letter, or perhaps to deplore the delusion into which my brothers had fallen. But their reading soon led to marveling at the simplicity and purity of what they read, and at the spirit which accompanied it, bearing witness to its truth. After a few days of secrecy I was permitted to meet with them, to hear it read, being then 13 years of age; and in listening, a feeling of the most intense anxiety came over me to learn more. It seemed as if I must hear it all before I could be satisfied; and the principle of faith began to spring up in my heart to believe it. This was in the early fall of 1831. Now a bright hope began to arise in my heart that there really was a living prophet on the earth, and my greatest fear was that it would not prove true.
Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (Independence, Missouri: Zion's Printing and Publishing Co., 1947), 7-107.

928.   The following is the conversion of Heber C. Kimball:
   As soon as I heard them I was convinced that they taught the truth, and that I had only received a part of the ordinances under the Baptist Church. I also saw and heard the gifts of the spirit manifested by the elders, for they spoke in tongues and interpreted, which tended to strengthen my faith. Brigham Young and myself were constrained, by the Spirit, to bear testimony of the truth, and when we did this, the power of God rested upon us.
   On a certain occasion, while going to hear the elders, I passed the house of my brother, Solomon, and enquired of him if he had seen them, he answered he had, and had heard them pray, and prayed with them. I asked what he thought of them, he replied, "They are full of the Holy Ghost religion." I told him I was going to see them, he said, "Go."
   Brother Brigham Young afterwards prophesied that my brother Solomon would yet believe the work and embrace it, and would lay hold of me, and wonder why I had come into possession of such great knowledge.
   The family of John Young, Sen., of five sons, five daughters, and two sons-in-law, John P. Greene and Joel Sanford, had moved into Mendon a few years previously. They had the same principles in their breasts which I had in mine; truth was what we wanted and would have, and truth we did receive; for the Lord granted us testimony upon testimony of the truth of gospel.
   Upon one occasion Father John Young, Brigham Young, Joseph Young and myself gathered together to get some wood for Phinehas H. Young. We were pondering upon those things which had been told us by the elders, and upon the Saints gathering to Zion, and the glory of God shone upon us, and we saw the gathering of the Saints to Zion, and the glory that would rest with them and many more things connected with that great event, such as the sufferings and persecutions which would come upon the people of God, and the calamities and judgments which would come upon the world.
   These things caused such great joy to spring up in our bosoms, that we were hardly able to contain ourselves; and we did shout aloud, Hosannah to God and the Lamb.
   These things increased our desires to hear. I took my horses and sleigh and started for Pennsylvania; Brigham and Phinehas Young and their wives went along with me. We stayed with the Church there about six days, attended their meetings, heard them speak in tongues, interpret and prophecy, which truly caused us to rejoice and praise the Lord. We returned confirmed in the truth, and bore testimony of that which we seen and heard, to our friends and neighbors.
   April 14th, 1832, Brigham Young went forward and was baptized by Eleazer Miller, and the next day, or the day following, Alpheus Gifford came into my shop while I was forming a vessel upon the wheel, and while conversing with me upon the subject of this work, I said, "Brother Alpheus, I am ready to go forward and be baptized." I jumped up, pulled off my apron, washed my hands and started with him with my sleeves rolled up to my shoulders, and went the distance of one mile where he baptized me in a small stream in the woods. After I was baptized I kneeled down and he laid his hands upon my head and confirmed me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and said unto me, "In the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the holy priesthood receive ye the Holy Ghost," and before I got up off my knees, he wanted to ordain me an elder but I plead with him not to do it, as I felt myself unworthy of such a calling, and such an office.
   In about two weeks, my wife, Vilate [Kimball], was baptized by brother, Joseph Young, with several others in a small stream close to my house, and we numbered about thirty in that Branch, viz.:-
John Young, Sen., and Mary his wife.
Brigham Young and Miriam his wife.
Phinihas H. Young and Clarrissa his wife.
Joseph Young.
Lorenzo D. Young and Persis his wife.
John P. Greene and Rhoda his wife, and their children.
Joel Sanford and Louiza his wife.
William Stilson and Susan his wife.
Fanny Young
Isaac Flummerfeli and his wife with their children.
Ira Bond and his wife Charlotte.
Heber C. Kimball and Vilate his wife.
Rufus Parks.
John Morton and Betsey his wife.
Nathan Tomlinson and his wife.
Israel Barlow, with his mother, brother and sisters.
   Under the ordinances of baptism and laying on of hands, I received the Holy Ghost, as the disciples did in ancient days, which was like a consuming fire, and I was clothed in my right mind, although the people called me crazy. I continued in this way for many months, and it seemed as though my flesh would consume away. At the same time the scriptures were unfolded to my mind in such a wonderful manner it appeared to me, at times, as if I had formerly been familiar with them.
"Extract from the Journal of Heber C. Kimball," Times and Seasons 2 (1841); 6 (1845)

929.   The following from the Autobiography of Charles Lamb sharing his
 Conversion while living in England:
   At this time I was much persecuted for my religious views, as I did not believe in any of the sects and creeds, they not being in accordance with the scriptures as I understood them. I fasted and prayed for the gifts and blessings and the faith once delivered to the Saints, even went so far as to agree with a companion that we would baptize each other. I desired to know what to do and was so impressed to go East that I exclaimed, I will Lord. When I told mother, she cried and felt bad, but I started. The first day I walked about 25 miles. The next day I got to Grinsborough.
   There was a new church incourse of erection. There was an old mate of mine there who made a great fuss when he saw me as did some others. The foreman wanted to know who I was. When Luke Harvey told him I was the best workman in England, they wanted me to stay, but I told them I would think about it. In the course of the evening I was told that Mr. Baker of Sleaford was just commencing a new hall for Squire Peacock at North Rosby, and that settled me. I told those with me that was where I was going. I got there in the evening and the next morning I went to the Hall there and met Mr. Baker’s son. I told him I was come to work if they wanted me. He thought I was joking but when he found I was earnest, wished me to take hold. I had no tools but the men proposed to furnish me all I wanted, so I commenced. I was soon placed in charge. I wrote home for tools which was sent. There I received a letter from William Watson Stone Cutter and Carver who worked with me at Lord Howden’s, stating that the Lord had again restored the Gospel and that he had been baptized.
   I had a vision that prepared me for this, but the joy I was full of thanksgiving. I wrote immediately to know where to go to find some had been so blessed. An answer came stating there had been a branch organized at Louth, Lincolnshire about three weeks. This was about forty miles from where I then was. I soon up and went there. It being Saturday the market day, I being a stranger did not know where to go. I met a man selling milk and asked if he knew such a people as Latter Day Saints or Mormons. He looked at me a strange look exclaiming, why they pretend to raise the dead and work miracles. If you belong to that class I will have nothing to do with you. The next was a respectable looking man, a butcher, which proved to be a Methodist Preacher. We had quite a discussion in the market place. I had the best of it and he said I was far too learned for him, but wished me to dine with him. The next day, Sunday, directing me to a temperance house where I would find some of those I was seeking.
   B. Atkins, now living in Tooele, well remembers my visit to Louth. There was about eight members at that time, but no Elder, but I enjoyed that meeting. I wished them to send the first Elder that came and I would get a chapel to speak in and provide for his wants. Brother Henry Ceuerdon came and this was about the 1st of July 1843. I was pleased to see him and as I was alone asked would he share my bed or would be choose to be by himself. He preferred to stay with me. When we retired I waited for him to make a move, he waiting for me; so we said our prayers to ourselves. In the morning I told him if he would come down at 7 o’clock I would wish to be baptized. We was at the time making seven days per week. He came and says he, I have not preached to you yet. I told him if he had got the authority, I wished to be baptized. After some talk and prayer, he baptized me. Before leaving me he said he could not leave me until he had ordained me a priest. I felt well.
   I was talking to the game keeper when he told me he believed in the principals. I remember us two going to the woods to pray. A few days after this an occurrence took place I must relate. I had got the "Voice of Warning" for the game keeper to read. While reading it one evening his wife, a stout, well built woman with red hair accosted him, thus Tom, he told her to be quiet and not bother him. She retaliated saying, if that Latter-day devil was here they would have plenty to say. He told her to let me alone and angry words was exchanged, when he was not suspecting, she knocked him over chair and all. At that he jumped up, struck her betwixt the eyes, bruising her and blackening both eyes. At this she cried out murder. When the neighbors rushed to her assistance, I had just gone to bed. A meeting was held when it was agreed to drum me out of the village with kettles and pans.
   Next morning at eight o’clock I sent word for someone to ring the bell for me, for them to commence work and I would be there at quarter time nine o’clock. So according to appointment they, the women, began to muster. When a number had collected, I went to them, asked what I had to do with the affair. The woman said nothing. She alone was to blame. She knocked Tom over and it made him mad and he blacked her eyes for her, but he had served her right. This set me free, but when walking up or down the street I was pointed out as the man who caused them to fight. This thought came into my mind and seemed to rest there. If they persecute thee in one city, flee unto another, so I resolved to go to America, to Nauvoo.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Charles-Lambert.html


930.   The following story is in reference to March 1, 1846. At the end of another day trekking across the State of Iowa, Brigham Young had the pioneers dance to the music of William Pitt’s Brass Band in front of some startled spectators:
   “A dance! How could they? Indeed, the Iowans who gathered round could scarcely believe their eyes. The men cleared away the snow in a sheltered place. Warmed and lighted by the blazing logs of their fire, fifty couples, old and young, stepped out in the dance.”
Marguerite Cameron, This is the Place (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton, 1975), 92.

931.   Apostate John Hyde stated the following:
   “Mormons love dancing. Almost every third man is a fiddler, and every one must learn to dance .  . . In the winter of 1854-55, there were dancing schools in almost every one of the nineteen [ward] schoolhouses.”
Joseph Heinerman, “The Mormon Meetinghouse: Reflections of Pioneer Religious and Social Life in Salt Lake City,” Utah Historical Quarterly, Fall 1982, 341.

932.   The following incident from the journal of Zadoc Kapp Judd while a member of the Mormon Battalion:
   There were several good fiddlers among us and some one had managed to get his fiddle stowed away in a captain's wagon and after a hard day's march, the fiddle was brought out and a lively dance would commence and would continue for the entire evening. There were no girls but many of the boys would take the girls side and do the dance all right. The boys did say it was the best way to rest and they felt better than they would to sit down and sit still.
Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd (1827-1907), Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZJudd.html


933.   Deseret Telegraph Company:   This telegraph company was established on January 18, 1867. In 1876 the rest of the world learned of Custer’s last stand at the Little Big Horn through the Deseret Telegraph Company. This company was later sold to Western Union in 1900 for $10,000.
Leonard J. Arrington, “The Deseret Telegraph—A Church-Owned Public Utility.”Journal of Economic History 11 (1951), 117-39; Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958), 228-31, 407.

934.   George Grau, the first convert to the LDS Church in Ottoman Palestine during the nineteenth century, was born 4 March 1840 in Obermuehle Welzheim, Wuerttemberg, Germany. He emigrated from Europe to a German colony in Haifa (a coastal city in modern Israel) and was working there as a blacksmith when Jacob Spori came from Constantinople in 1886 to continue his missionary labors. Elder Spori had seen Grau and his blacksmith shop in a dream before he arrived in Haifa, and immediately upon landing he made his way to the shop. He was greeted enthusiastically by Grau, who told him that he in turn had seen Spori in a dream the previous night and wanted to hear his message. Grau was baptized 29 August 1886 in Acre (Haifa) Bay by Elder Spori and was ordained an elder on 3 September. Grau taught the gospel to his wife (Magdalena) and baptized her, as well as others, on 19 September 1886.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 442-43.

935.   We are all familiar with the Puritans of the late 1600’s to early 1800’s. What are they known by today?
Congregationalists
Bill Harris, A New Zion (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004), 8.


936.   In the early 1890’s the Church decided to form Young University which was renamed University of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints a year later. Willard Young (Brigham Young’s son) served as president and James Talmage placed over the science department. Due to the competition for students the University of Utah asked the First Presidency if they would close the school. In return the University of Utah agreed to make James Talmage the Universities president. As a result, the only year that the University of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints was opened was the 1893-1894 school year.
Michael D. Quinn, “The Brief Career of Young University at Salt Lake City,” Utah Historical Quarterly 41 (Winter 1973), 69-89; Jed L. Woodworth, “Refusing to Die: Financial Crises at Brigham Young Academy, 1877-1897,” BYU Studies 38 (1999), 70-123.

937.   One of the individuals that Brigham Young wrote to was Hugh J. Anderson, the Governor of the state of Maine, seeking asylum at the time the Saints were expecting expulsion from the state of Illinois. This was largely due to the fact that there had been very little persecution towards the Saints in this state.
Donald Q. Cannon, “Wilford Woodruffs Mission to the Fox Islands.” In New England. Edited by Donald Q. Cannon. Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History series. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1988), 85-99; Paul Edwards Damron, “The Narrative of the Saints in Maine from 1831 to the 1900’s.” Manuscript. LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

938.   The following from the autobiography of Levi Jackman:
Thursday, July 22, 1847 - This morning a part of the camp that we had left came up with us and others had to stop because of sickness. Our move has slow for it took all the able-bodied men from one-half to three-fourths of the time to make the road so that we could possibly get along. It took us till 4 p.m. to fix the road and go about four miles. We had to pass through a canyon that was full of timber mostly of small maple and the bluffs came almost together at the bottom. And when we finally got through, it seemed like bursting from the confines of prison walls into the beauties of a world of pleasure and freedom.
We now had entered the valley and our vision could extend far and wide. We were filled with joy and rejoicing and thanksgiving. We could see to the west, about 30 miles distance, the Salt Lake, stretching itself northwest to a distance unknown to us. And the valley extending far to the north and south. No timber was to be seen only in the mountains. We went on west about two miles and camped on a creek with plenty of grass and some brush for fire. Brother Pratt and others who went out in the morning to explore the country soon joined us. They reported that they found but little timber only what was in the mountains.
Friday, July 23 - We went a short distance north to a small grove on a little stream and camped. Brother P. Pratt called the camp together and dedicated this country to the Lord. We then commenced plowing to put in a little early corn, buckwheat, potatoes, peas, beans, etc.
Saturday, July 24, 1847 - About noon, Brother Young and company arrived and we had a time of rejoicing together without restraint.
We had a meeting with much good instruction. Brother Young said that we should find a place for a permanent location. We should then have our lands set off to us and each one manage his own affairs and work for themselves, etc. We had men out every day exploring the country and it found that there was a large amount of timber in the mountain, though mostly hard to get at. The timber was mostly pine and balsam with some oak and ash.
Monday, 26 - Continued farming.
July 28 - This is my fiftieth birthday. This evening Brother Young called the camp together and the men that had been exploring made their report. They had found no place that looks so well as this place. Many of the brethren expressed their feelings and all seem to feel that this was the place to stop. Brother Young then said that he wanted to know how the brethren felt in regard to it. But he knew that this was the place, for the city, for he had seen it before, and that we were now standing on the southeast corner of the temple block. He said many other things which did us good. A vote was taken then on the subject and all voted that this be the place to stop.
The appearance of the country was truly forbidding. The face of the earth had the appearance of a barren desert. No grass only on the streams or on low land, nothing green on the remainder. The mountaineers said that grain would not grow here for they had tried it and every appearance went to prove the fact. All we had was in our wagons; our tools for farming, etc., our seed, our clothing, our provisions to last till we could raise, if that ever was and in fact, our all; out of the reach of commerce and one thousand miles from any settlement on the east rendered the hope of assistance out of the question, no odds what our wants might be. We must depend on God and do the best we could, feeling however, that the mob would not be likely to disturb us for a few years at least. So we took courage and went to work. All hands soon sent to work. Work--some at farming, and some on the walls of the fort.  
Autobiography of Levi Jackman, Typescript, BYU-S; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/LJackman.html

939.   The following from the Journal of Heber C. Kimball dated July 30, 1837 while on the first mission to England:
   About day break, Sunday July 30th, Elder Isaac Russell came up to the third loft where Elder Hyde and myself were sleeping, and called upon us to pray for him, that he might be delivered from the evil spirits that were tormenting him to such a degree that he felt he could not live long, unless he obtained relief. We laid hands on him, I being mouth, and prayed that the Lord would have mercy on him, and rebuke the Devil. While thus engaged, I was struck with great force by some invisible power, and fell senseless on the floor; and the first thing I recollected was being supported by elders Hyde and Russell who were praying for me. They then laid me on the bed, but my agony was so great I arose, bowed on my knees and prayed.
   I then sat on the bed and could distinctly see the evil spirits who foamed and gnashed their teeth upon us. We gazed upon them about an hour and a half, we were not looking towards the window but towards the wall, space appeared before us and we saw the devils coming in legions with their leaders, who came within a few feet of us, they came towards us like armies rushing to battle, they appeared men of full stature, possessing every uncomely form and appearance of men in the flesh, and every variety of stature and form, mean, mangled and deformed, who were angry and desperate, and I shall never forget the vindictive malignity depicted on their countenances, and any attempt to paint the scene which then presented itself; or portray the malice and enmity depicted in their countenances would be vain. I perspired exceedingly, and my clothes were wet as if I had been taken out of the river.
   Although I felt exquisite pain, and was in the greatest distress for some time, and cannot even look back on the scene without feelings of horror; yet, by it I learned the power of the Adversary, his enmity against the servants of God, and got some understanding of the invisible world. We distinctly heard those spirits talk and express their wrath and hellish designs against us. However the Lord delivered us from them, and blessed us exceedingly that day, and I had the pleasure (notwithstanding my weakness of body) of baptizing nine.
"Extract from the Journal of Heber C. Kimball," Times and Seasons 2 (1841); 6 (1845)

940.   The following from the Journal of Newell Knight in reference to his Aunt Electa Knight:
   Brother Joseph from time to time sent copies of revelations to me for the benefit of the branch over which I presided in common with all the Saints in Zion. On reading one of these revelations to the branch, my aunt of whom mention has been made, arose and contradicted the revelation, saying it must be taken in a spiritual light. She went to such a length that I felt constrained to rebuke her by the authority of the priesthood. At this she was angry, and from that time sought to influence all who would listen to her. The result was a division of feeling in the branch, and her husband partook of her spirit until he became so enthusiastic, that he went from branch to branch crying, "hosanna, glory to God! Zion is redeemed! and blessed is he that bringeth good tidings to the people!" Sister Peck at length began to feel the weight of what she had done, but she could not recall it. She seemed racked with great torment, her mind found no rest, until a burning fever brought her to a sick bed. She sent for several of the Elders to administer to her, but found no relief. At last she sent for P. P. Pratt, Lyman Wight and myself, we laid our hands upon her and administered to her, after which she looked up in despair and said she hoped I would deliver her from the awful state she was in. Her whole frame was racked with intense anguish while her mind seemed almost in despair. Brother Parley said to me: "Brother Newel, you must do something for her." My soul was drawn out in pity for her, yet I knew not what to do. I felt impressed to call the branch together that evening.
   When the meeting had been opened as usual, I arose, not knowing what to do or what to say. After requesting the prayers and united faith of all present, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, so that I was able to make plain the cause of Sister Peck's illness--that she had risen up in opposition to the priesthood which had been placed over that branch of the Church, and contradicted the revelations of God, and that by the sympathies shown her, a division of feeling had gained advantage over them, until Sister Peck had fallen completely under the power of Satan, and could not extricate herself. I told the brethren and sisters, if they would repent of what they had done, and renew their covenants one with another and with the Lord, and uphold the authorities placed over them, and also the revelations which the Lord had given unto us, it would be all right with Sister Peck, for this would break the bands of Satan and make us free. I had no sooner closed my remarks than with one united voice, all came forward and agreed to do so. I then went to Sister Peck, and in the name of Jesus Christ, and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, commanded the evil powers to depart from her, and blessed her with peace and strength, both of body and mind. I then dismissed the meeting and told the family to go to bed, and rest as usual, and all would be well. Early the next morning I called to see her, she stretched out her hand as soon as she saw me, and said, O, Brother Newel, forgive me! I did not believe one word you said last night, but when I awoke this morning I found I was not in hell. Her rejoicings were very great, and union again prevailed with us, and we all felt we had learned a lesson that would be of lasting benefit to us.
"Newel Knight's Journal," Classic Experiences and Adventures
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), pp. 46-104.

941.   Samuel Brannan, who led 230 Latter-day Saints from New York City to California on the ship Brooklyn in 1846, was ex-communicated twice, once in the mid 1840’s for an unauthorized plural marriage performed by William Smith, the prophet’s younger brother. The second and final time was in 1851. Ironically it was Parley P. Pratt who ex-communicated him the second time. I say ironic only because it was Parley P. Pratt who supported Samuel to be re-baptized after the first ex-communication.  
Will Bagely, “ ‘Every Thing Is Favourable! And God Is on Our Side’: Samuel Brannan and the Conquest of California.” Journal of Mormon History 23 (Fall 1997), 185-209.; Will Bagely, ed. Scoundrel’s Tale: The Samuel Brannan Papers (Spokane, Wash: Arthur H. Clark, 1999); Newell G. Bringhurst, “Samuel Brannan and His Forgotten Final Years.” Southern California Quarterly 79 (Summer 1997), 139-60.

942.   Just because a person might be an apostle’s son does not guarantee security within the Church or the fact that we cannot be too careful with our testimonies. For instance, Frank J. Cannon was born on January 25, 1859 the same year that his father, George Q. Cannon became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Frank became great having worked in the Juvenile Instructors office, edited the Logan Journal, became a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, edited the Salt Lake Tribune, and finally, elected to the United States Senate. Nevertheless, after his father’s death, Frank wrote articles against the Church and Joseph F. Smith. This led to his excommunication on March 15, 1905. He eventually wrote two anti-Mormon books, Under the Prophet in Utah and Brigham Young and His Mormon Empire.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, “Frank J. Cannon: Declension in the Mormon Kingdom.” Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History. Edited by Roger D. Launius and Linda Thatcher (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 241-61.

943.   John D. Lee was excommunicated for his part in the Mountain Meadows massacre and eventually executed by Federal authorities on March 23, 1877. Many people know this, however what might not be common knowledge is that on April 20, 1961, after considering all the facts, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve decided, “it was the action of the Council after considering all the facts available that authorization be given for the re-instatement to membership and former blessings to John D. Lee.”
Juanita Brooks, John D. Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat (Glendale, Calif: Arthur H. Calrk, 1972).

944.   The following is in reference to Harvey Whitlock:
   Whitlock was among the Saints expelled from Jackson County in 1833. He attended conferences and labored as a missionary until 1834, when he was disfellowshipped from the Church. In September 1835 he wrote to Joseph Smith expressing remorse for his departure. The Prophet wrote back expressing his joy at Harvey’s repentant spirit and promising him forgiveness if he would return.
   Harvey Whitlock was rebaptized and ordained a high priest on 30 January 1836 in Kirtland, and he remained in the Church until he was excommunicated in 1838. By 1840 he was living in Cedar County, Iowa, and by 1850 he had come west to Salt Lake City. He was a doctor and accumulated some land but was arrested in 1851 for theft. In 1858 he was rebaptized again, but once again he denied the faith. He moved to California in 1864 and joined the Reorganized church, serving a mission for them in 1866.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1332.

945.   The first resort on Utah Lake was the Saratoga Springs Resort. This originally had been an Indian campground. About 1862 a young Austrian painter built a cabin by the hot springs, planted trees and an orchard, and it soon became a favorite picnic ground.
Chronicles of Courage, Compiled by Lesson Committee (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 245.

946.   What was the first foreign language edition of the Book of Mormon?
Danish, in 1851.
Arnold K. Garr et Al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2000), 285.

947.   We all know the first organized mission of the Church was the British Mission. What was the first mission in the United States?
The Eastern States Mission, headquartered in New York City in May of 1839.
“Manuscript History of the Eastern States Mission.” LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

948.   Where was the first foreign language mission?
On April 30, 1844, Addison Pratt, Benjamin F. Grouard, and Noah Rogers landed at Tubuai Island, 350 miles south of Tahiti. This island is a part of the island group we call French Polynesia today.
Lanier R. Britsch, Unto the Islands of the Sea: A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986), 1-90.

949.   What was the first handbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
The earliest handbook of the Church was essentially Doctrine and Covenants 20 and 22 titled the “Articles and Covenants.” At the first conference of the Church, held 9 June 1830, the Articles and Covenants were read to the congregation and adopted.
Robert J. Woodford, “The historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants.” Ph.D. diss. 2 vols. Brigham Young University, 1974.

950.   The first Mission President was Heber C. Kimball, who began serving in the British mission in 1837.
Gerald Day, “Mission President.” Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. 4 vols. (New York: Macmillian, 1992), 3: 914-15.

951.   The first time that the role of Mother in Heaven was expressed was in 1909 by the First Presidency when they said, “all men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother.”
The First Presidency of the Church. “The Origin of Man.” 1909. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 4: 1665-69.

952.   What were the first missionary tracts or pamphlets that the Church published?
Orson Hyde’s Prophetic Warning to All the Churches, published in Toronto in 1836.
Parley P. Pratt’s Voice Warning issued in New York City in 1837.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 892.

953.   What was the first Mormon settlement in the West?
   Believe it or not, San Francisco. The Saints arrived by the ship Brooklyn July 31, 1846, a year before the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. This group of Saints arrived in California just three weeks after the United States flag had been raised over the state, making them the first large group of people to enter the state of California from the United States.
Richard O. Cowan and William E. Homer, California Saints: A 150-Year Legacy in the Golden State. (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1996).

954.   The earliest known schism from the Church was Wycam Clark’s Pure Church of Christ in 1831.
Other break off groups prior to the death of Joseph Smith:
George Hinckle’s Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride the Lamb’s Wife
Isaac Russell group
Gladden Bishop Group
Warren Parrish group known as The Church of Christ
Kate B. Carter, ed. “Denominations That Base Their Beliefs on the Teachings of Joseph Smith.” Our Pioneer Heritage. 20 vols. (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958-77), 5:325-92; Russell R. Rich, Little Known Schisms of the Restoration 3d ed. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1967); Russell R. Rich, Those Who Would Be Leaders 2d ed. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1967); Steven L. Shields, Divergent Paths of the Restoration. 3d ed. (Bountiful, Utah: Restoration Research, 1982).

955.   Who were the first home teachers in this dispensation?
Hiram Page and Christian Whitmer
William G. Hartley, “From Men to Boys: LDS Aaronic Priesthood Officer, 1829-1996.” Journal of Mormon History 22 (Spring 1996), 80-136.

956.   The following from Newell Knight’s journal of 1835:
   On the 24th of November I was united in the holy bonds of matrimony with Lydia Goldthwait [Goldthwaite] by the Prophet Joseph, this being the first marriage ceremony that he ever performed.
"Newel Knight's Journal," Classic Experiences and Adventures
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), pp. 46-104.

957.   Just as there was a gathering in the Salt Lake Valley, so too J. Wilford Booth, while acting as a mission president in the Middle East, from 1904-1908 and again from 1921-1928 established a place of settlement until these Saints were ready to emigrate to Utah.
Rao H. Lindsay, “A History of the Missionary Activities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Near East, 1884-1929.” Master’s thesis, Brigham young University, 1958; Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1941), 888-90.

  958. Iosepa, Utah was formed in Tooele County as a gathering place for faithful Hawaiian Saints in 1889. Iosepa means Joseph in honor of Joseph Smith and Joseph F. Smith who served a successful mission to the Hawaiian Islands. At its height it had no more than 275 individuals only lasting 28 years. It was the announcement of the Hawaiian Temple that caused many of these souls to move back to Hawaii.
Leonard J. Arrington, “The L. D. S. Hawaiian Colony at Skull Valley.” Improvement Era 57 (May 1954), 314-15, 366-67.

959.   In 1891 a Latter-day Saint community called Republican Square was established in southern Mississippi, by and for African-American converts, but it gradually dissolved as members immigrated west or died.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 767.

960.   Elder David O. McKay, while on a trip to New Zealand in 1921, instructed the largely Maori congregation to pray for the gift of interpretation because he could not speak their language. He later recorded that many in the audience was blessed with this gift.
David O. McKay, Cherished Experiences from the Writings of David O. McKay, Compiled by Claire Middlemiss (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976).

961.   The following from the life of Isaac Leany:
Grandfather while a young man was actively interested in religion, and it was at one of the open air meetings near his home in Kentucky that he first heard a Mormon elder explain the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isaac knew at once that he had found what he had been looking for. Desiring to be near the Saints he went to Illinois, and it was while here he met a young lady whom he married. Leaving Illinois, Isaac went to Missouri where he shared with the rest of the Saints the terrible persecutions of the mob. The 29th of October, 1838 found him with a small number of Saints working at a place called Haun's Mill in Missouri. It was on this day that the mob came upon them demanding that they sign a treaty of peace and deliver their weapons of war. They were allowed no word in the matter and had to comply. Grandfather had no faith in the mob's promise of peace.
October 29th passed peacefully at the mill, but that night grandfather had a dream which was not in the least reassuring. In the dream he seemed to be passing along a trail where there were a great many snakes. They crawled along the ground, hurled themselves through the air and hung twisting and hissing from the limbs of trees. Dodge and hurry as he might his body was soon pierced and bleeding from the attacks of the angry snakes. Finally escaping the serpents he met a man with whom he was acquainted. "Brother Leany," he said, "you are terribly bitten so with snakes and lived." "Well, then, I'll be the first for I'm not going to die," was grandfather's answer. In a patriarchal blessing given to grandfather he was told that he was a direct descendant of "Joseph, the Dreamer," son of Jacob and that he had inherited the gift of dreams. That dream was a warning and we shall see its fulfillment.
On October 30th, [1838] the mob heavily armed, dashed down on the little party at the mill, and began firing. Grandfather gained possession of three guns, gave two of them to the other men, and placing himself between the mob and the cabin's housing the women and children began firing. Lead was flying around like hailstorm. You may judge how thick was the hail of lead, for while he was preparing to fire, eleven bullets hit the stock of his gun, cutting it off in his hands. One hit and knocked the trigger guard off but the works were still intact, for he loaded and fired it once more and saw one of the mob drop as a result. This of course was a matter of a few seconds. Grandfather could see he was doing little good, and they were cutting him to pieces, so he returned to the cabin, and told the women and children to run for the woods. As he turned a bullet struck him in the right armpit and came out the left. This was not the first wound he had received, for two bullets had gone through his breast and came out his back, and two had passed through his hips. After they shouted [a] warning to the women and children, Isaac fled for his life, taking a trail leading up a small hill.
As he was running up the hill with much effort, his body bent, a large ball struck him in the back near the kidneys, passing lengthwise through his body. He said only the power of God stopped it from going on into [his] brain. According to his own words. "This one came nearer to knocking me off my feet than any, the rest just plunked through me as if I were a squash." Knowing he must hurry to help or give up his life, grandfather first sat down to take off his boots, for they were so heavy that it was hard to lift one foot after the other in his weakening condition. He was obliged to split his boots with his knife before he could remove them. As he struggled on he soon met the man he had seen in his dream.
He said, "Brother Leany its no use to encourage you, for no man was ever shot as you are and lived." Then followed the identical conversation of the dream, excepting the substitution of shot instead of snake bite. A little farther on was the home of some friends who took him, and so great was their fear that the mob would follow and kill him, they took up a board and laid him under the floor. His condition was such that he could not stand this long, and on begging, they took him out washed and dressed his wounds and put him to bed. His clothes were literally cut to pieces, and his body almost as bad, for it had been struck by seven bullets, leaving 13 scars, six passing through and through, the 7th struck him in the back leaving but one scar. For some time he lay near death being fed with a spoon, and so weak he could not so much as open or close his eyes. With so many wounds practically all his blood was lost. The elders were called in and he was anointed and promised in the name of Jesus Christ that he would recover. From that time on he recovered rapidly and was soon chopping logs in Illinois for the homes of the Saints.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ILeany.html

962.   Again, from the life of Isaac Leany:
During the early days, when the Saints were threatened with the army, grandfather had another dream which was fulfilled. Again it was the sign of an enemy a large snake coiled and menacing the valley of Salt Lake. We see the fulfillment of this dream in Johnston's army, which was a menace to the city until the outbreak of the Civil War. In the fall of 1873 grandfather had been confined to his bed for sometime, but on October 30th was feeling better, and calling his oldest son to his bed side spoke to him something like this. "It was a cold night last night was it not?"
"Yes, father," said George, "there was a heavy frost."
"My son do you know it was just 35 years ago today since I was shot at Haun's Mill? My son, I am going to die today."
"No, father," answered George, "you are better today."
"Yes, I know," he answered, "but I am going to die tonight. My mission on earth is filled. I wouldn't turn my hand over to live another 24 hours except for what good I might do for others. Now I will tell you how I want to be buried. Want a plain board casket, you may stain it if you wish, but make it plain. I want no hearse, my own team and wagon will suit me better."
All this was said as if he was planning a vacation. His life had been such that he could anticipate with joy the meeting of his Creator. That night he died, a noble man, a prince of the house of Israel.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ILeany.html

963.   The following from the autobiography of Sarah Leavitt:
But I will go on with my history. Weir and Lemuel had gone to Council Bluffs and got the news of their father's death and my sickness and Lemuel came to Pisgah with a team and a box of medicine (name gone) which would stop the ague as soon as taken and other things for our comfort. Jeremiah came with the team that my husband had gone to Boneparte with and brought Dudley with him. Thomas was the only boy I had with me that summer, but now there were four with us.
My husband died the 20th of August, 1846. He had but two children married, Louisa and Jeremiah, and one grandchild, Jeremiah's daughter, Clarisa. He sang, "Come, let us anew, our journey pursue, roll round with the year and never stand still till the master appear." He sang that hymn as long as he had strength to sing it and then wanted Elisa to sing it. He died without a struggle or a groan. "Blessed are the dead that died in the Lord; yea," saith the Lord, "for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."
A few days later we all started for the Bluffs. I took the pills and stopped the chills. My appetite came on in a hurry. I had too much appetite. When we got within a few miles of the Bluffs we bought some green peas. It was at noon and I did not have time to cook them, and I ate hearty of them and it put me in colorea morbus in its worst form. As we were near the settlement, I told them to drive on until I could find an elder to administer to me. I had suffered all I could. The water ran out of my mouth and it appeared that I had naught to do but stop breathing. I expect I should not look much different after my breath was gone.
Lemuel would come to the wagon, look in and say, "Mother, you must not die." I told him to drive on as fast as he could until he found an elder to administer. He repeated, "Mother, you must not die," a number of times before he found an elder. Then he stopped the wagon and the elder administered to me, but did no good. We went ahead and found another elder and he administered to me, but that did no good. At last we came to another, an old man, and as he put his hands on my head and began to speak, I knew he was the right man. I was soon able to be taken out of the wagon into the tent and had some tea and light food.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/SLeavitt.html  

964. During the Missouri years of the Church Home teaching was directed by the Teachers quorum. In Nauvoo, this assignment shifted to the Priest quorum. Brigham Young only wanted the “best men” in Utah. Each Home Teacher and his companion could be expected to visit 8 to 20 families a month. Interesting, it was Brigham Young’s death bed wish that the priest and teachers be more thorough in this assignment.
Rex A. Anderson, “A Documentary History of the Lord’s Way of Watching over the Church by the Priesthood through the Ages.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1974; Gary L. Phelps, “Home Teaching—Attempts by the Latter-day Saints to Establish an Effective Program during the Nineteenth Century.” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1975.


965.   Phoebe Arabell Woodruff Moses records in her journal how she and her family moved from the Salt Lake Valley to Jonesville, Arizona on the Salt River in November of 1880. She writes that their humble adobe hut was across the river from an Indian village. Phoebe states that on a number of occasions her husband Jesse would have to leave her and the children for four or five days at a time to work. It was on these occasions that some of the Indian braves would pull the quilt back at the door entrance and laugh at her. She tells of one encounter when she had to take the loaded gun down off the mantel and scare a brave across the river back to his village. What she writes next is interesting; in fact it might have you scratching your head at exactly just what she meant. She writes, “I stepped to the mantle and picked up my loaded pistol and pointed it at him. He gave a whoop and ran. He didn’t stop running until he reached the village. Some of the Indians told Jesse he had a ‘he squaw’ for a wife.”
Chronicles of Courage, Compiled by Lesson Committee (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1991), 140.

966.   George A. Smith was known for his wonderful sense of humor. On one occasion while speaking in the Tabernacle on a hot afternoon, he took off his wig to wipe his brow, to the delight of all those present.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1114.

967.   While John Taylor was living in New York City in 1855 as editor of The Mormon he caught wind of a number of plans to overthrow the Church. One of the more interesting ideas was brought to his attention by the American Bible Association. It was their plan to flood Utah Territory with Bibles thinking to convert the “Godless” Mormons. John Taylor was all for the plan going so far as to visit their office offering his services if they thought it would help the cause. John Taylors only request was that the Bibles were well bound.
B. H. Roberts, The Life of John Taylor. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft Inc.,: 1963), 258.

968.   The following from the journal of Luke S. Johnson, an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
   In the spring of 1838, Dr. Frederick G. Williams was arrested at Willoughby, as he was on his way to Missouri, on a frivolous and vexatious process; he sent to Kirtland for me to help him. On receipt of his message, I repaired forthwith to Willoughby, and learned that he was in the hands of an officer named Granston, and that he was to have his trial before Esquire Bates at early candlelight. I immediately removed his horse and buggy out of the county, and went to him; he asked me if I could render him any assistance, as this was a vexatious suit. I told [him] I could, and that I had sent his horse and buggy out of the county, and I would furnish him a horse which should be held in the street opposite the office, by Bradford W. Elliot, at the lighting of the candles. I sat at the door of the courtroom, the key being on the outside; Cranston and Dr. Williams were walking the room, and Cranston was observing that a prisoner never made his escape from him. Just as the candles were lighting, I opened the door, the Dr. walked out, unobserved by Cranston; I immediately followed him, and, locking the door, tossed the key a few rods from the office; the court hearing the door locked, jumped up, upsetting the table and candles, and mixed up in great confusion; the cry was, `Open the door, open the door;' a shoemaker at work, being the only person within hearing, replied several times, `Open the door yourself.'
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 26 (1864):834-36; 27 (1865):5-7.

969.   The following from the journal of Zadoc Kapp Judd while serving with the Mormon Battalion:
   One day one of the boys rather an eccentric character, had procured an odd kind of hat with a feather in it, similar to an officer's uniform. He went ahead of the company several miles and about noon called at a farm house and asked for his dinner, stating he was the colonel of the Mormon Battalion.
   Of course he was given his dinner and the farmer thought himself quite highly honored to have such a guest. When the company came to the farm house quite a number of the boys stopped for a drink of water. The man was telling them that our colonel had stopped there and got his dinner. Some of the boys inquired how he looked and what kind of a man he was and from the description given the boys recognized the comrade with a feather in his hat, and had a hearty laugh about it.
   After the company had camped for the night the man with a feather in his hat came walking back into camp. The boys saw him coming and knowing what he had done, began to hail him and holler: "Here comes the colonel." The news soon spread through the entire camp and so much yelling and cheering brought the Colonel Allen from his quarters to enquire what was the matter. On being told the circumstance he also had a hearty laugh over it.
Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd (1827-1907), Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZJudd.html

970.   In the early twentieth century of the Church three hymn books were being used. Listed they are:
Psalmody, Deseret Sunday School Songs (1909), and Songs of Zion. Songs of Zion was a collection of Hymns by mission presidents in 1908. The Psalmody was followed by Latter-day Saint Hymns.
Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988); Michael Hicks, Mormonism and Music: A History (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989).
971.   Joel H. Johnson established a sawmill in Mill Creek Canyon soon after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. Sawing lumber for the "Building up of Zion" was Joel's church calling. This meant that he spent his time sawing prime lumber and delivering it to the tithing office. In lieu of wages, he would go to the storehouse and get what was needed for him and his family.
As he made his wagon trips up and down the steep canyon, he often thought about the flag that had been planted on Ensign Peak. He knew he had safely made it down the mountain with his load when he turned north and headed for the tithing office. He always breathed easier when he could look up at that peak and see Old Glory waving.
In the early spring of 1850, Joel loaded up a load of prime lumber and headed for the tithing office. As he headed into the lot that housed this office, he noticed that there were several other wagon loads of tithing offerings ahead of him. He stopped his team, unhitched the horses and turned them into "Brother Brigham's" pasture, and sat down to wait his turn to unload.
Being a warm spring day, Joel sought the shady side of his wagon, leaned back against the wheel and waited. As was his habit, he pulled out a piece of paper and prepared to write. He found himself thinking about the breeze and how it must be making 'Old Glory' ripple. In his mind he pictured how it must look there on the top of the peak under the clear blue sky as it waved and fluttered in the breeze. His mind painted such a wonderful picture.
Almost as if written by unseen hands, words began to appear on the paper:
"High on the mountain top,
  A banner is unfurled.
  Ye nations now look up;
It waves to all the world."
In Deseret's sweet, peaceful land-
On Zion's mount behold it stand!

For God remembers still
  His promise made of old
  That He on Zion's hill
  Truth's standard would unfold!
Her light should there attract the gaze
Of all the world in latter days.

His house shall there be reared
  His glory to display
  And people shall be heard
  In distant lands to say
We'll now go up and serve the Lord,
Obey His truth, and learn His word.

For there we shall be taught
  The law that will go forth,
  With truth and wisdom fraught
  To govern all the earth;
Forever there His ways we'll tread
And save ourselves and all our dead.

Then hail to Deseret!
  A refuge for the good,
  And safety for the great,
  If they but understood.
That God with plagues will shake the world
Till all its thrones shall down be hurled.

In Deseret doth truth
  Rear up its royal head;
  Though nations may oppose,
  Still wider it shall spread;
Yes, truth and justice, love and grace,
In Deseret find ample place,
He originally titled his poem "DESERET". It was later changed to HIGH ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP.
Joel finished his poem, folded up the paper, put it in his pocket, and went about the task of getting his lumber measured and recorded. Much later in the day, he went home.
Sometime later he showed his poem to John Taylor, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. President Taylor liked the poem so much, he asked if he could keep it. In those days, words only were written down and then sung to familiar folk tunes. In just a short time it became one of the favorite songs where ever the Saints gathered
This poem was only one of hundreds that Joel H. wrote. But it became one of his most recognized ones. His poetry centered around four themes: His love and devotion to the gospel, his love of the Prophet Joseph Smith, his love of his family, and his desire to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for himself and all other human beings.
Because today there is some controversy over the exact date this song was written, this account is being written. In his journal he states that at eighteen years of age "I commenced writing religious songs and hymns upon various subjects, some of which may be found in Zion's Songster, or the Songs of Joel, a work of my own, but many are lost." Throughout his journal are many examples of his poetry. * See page 2 of JHJ journal volume 1.
(Bernard A. Johnson is now 90 years old. He tells of sitting at his Grandmother's knee and of her telling this story. As it was one of his favorites, he asked her to tell it many times. As far as we know now, he is one of only three living grandson of Joel Hills Johnson. I, Bertha J. McGee am Bernard's daughter. I am typing this account at his direction.
smcgee@www.genealogy.org; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Joel-J.-High-on-mout-top.html

972.   As told by John Johnson:   Soon after Joseph Smith moved from the state of New York, my father, mother and Ezra Booth, a Methodist Minister, went to Kirtland to investigate `Mormonism.' My mother had been laboring under an attack of chronic rheumatism in the shoulder, so that she could not raise her hand to her head for about two years; the prophet laid hands upon her, and she was healed immediately.
   My father was satisfied in regard to the truth of `Mormonism,' and was baptized by Joseph Smith, Jr., in the winter of 1830-1, and furnished him and his family a home, while he translated a portion of the Bible.
   In the fall of 1831, while Joseph was yet at my father's, a mob of forty or fifty came to his house, a few entered his room in the middle of the night, and Carnot Mason dragged Joseph out of bed by the hair of his head; he was then seized by as many as could get hold of him, and taken about forty rods from the house, stretched on a board, and tantalized in the most insulting and brutal manner; they tore off the few night clothes that he had on, for the purpose of emasculating him, and had Dr. Dennison there to perform the operation; but when the Dr. saw the Prophet stripped and stretched on the plank, his heart failed him, and he refused to operate. The mob then scratched his body all over, saying, `Damn you, this is the way the Holy Ghost falls upon you.' And in attempting to force open his jaws, they broke one of his front teeth to pour a vial of some obnoxious drug into his mouth.
   The mob became divided, and did not succeed, but poured tar over him, and then stuck feathers in it and left him, and went to an old brickyard to wash themselves and bury their filthy clothes. At this place a vial was dropped, the contents of which ran out and killed the grass. About the same time part of the mob went to the house that Sidney Rigdon occupied, and dragged him out, and besmeared him with tar and feathers. My father, hearing the outcry of the family, went to the door, but finding it held by someone on the outside, he called for his gun, when those who held the door left; he pursued, and was knocked down; his collarbone was broken; he was taken back to the house, and hands laid upon him by David Whitmer and immediately healed. A few minutes after this accident, we heard the voice of Joseph calling for a blanket; some person handed him one, and he came in, the tar trickling down his face; his wife was very much alarmed, supposing it to be blood, until he came near enough to see that it was tar. My mother got some lard, and rubbed it upon him to get the tar off, which they succeeded in removing.
   Waste, who was the strongest man on the Western Reserve, had boasted that he could take Joseph out alone. At the time they were taking him out of the house, Waste had hold of one foot, Joseph drew up his leg and gave him a kick, which sent him sprawling in the street. He afterwards said the prophet was the most powerful man he ever had hold of in his life.
   Soon after this persecution, Mason had an attack of the spinal affection. Fullars, one of the mobocrats, died of the cholera in Cleveland. Dr. Dennison was sent to the penitentiary for ten years, and died before the term expired.
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 26 (1864):834-36; 27 (1865):5-7.

973.   The following from the autobiography of Charles Lamb; the year 1844:
   We arrived at Orleans, March 6, and there was the Maid of Ioway, Dan Jones, Captain. This belonged to the Church, but when I saw the boat and engines, I said it would not do for me, but Brother Kay, thinking to gain favor by taking her, engaged the company no. 208. Though my fare was paid to Nauvoo, I told them I would go to work until I got money to go in a decent vessel. A brother, an engineer, said he would not trust his family on board, resolved to go on a boat named Henry, and if I would go he would lend me the money and I go with them, and I accepted. He apostatized soon after he got there. In ten days we was up there but the Company was more than five weeks and suffered much.
   The day after I arrived, as I had some business to transact with the Prophet Joseph, I went and had an interview with him and William Clayton. I felt good. I went up to the Nauvoo Temple and saw there was work for me, but my dress and general appearance did not bespeak that of a working man. I enquired for those in charge. Reynolds Cahoon presented himself and some others. They tried me very much and sought to make game of me. They took me for a crank and enthusiast. R. Cahoon at last said if you can work we can do with your work, but we have nothing to give you. I replied sharply I have not come here to work for pay I have come to help to build that House, pointing to the Nauvoo Temple. Then they laughed. At this time I had not one penny and an entire stranger. I went to work but how I lived for three weeks I cannot tell. I saw the press type of the Expositor burn; I was present when the Prophet was talking to some Indians that had come to see him; I attended his weekly meetings regularly, never missed; I appreciate the instructions I received.
   I will here relate a circumstance. A Brother William Blood, that crossed the sea in the same vessel, fell sick. He sent for me and said he wished to ask a favor. I promised. Says he, I know I am going to die and I want you to promise before these witnessed that you will be a counselor to my family and that you would get Brother Hyrum Smith to seal me and my wife before I die. I went and saw Brother Hyrum, he promised as soon as he got back from Carthage he would attend to it. He never came back alive, but that has been attended too since.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Charles-Lambert.html

974.   Again, from the autobiography of Charles Lamb:
   Now Nauvoo was the worse place for a single man I ever lived in. I went and got me a house and lot in case I should find someone to share with me my lot. It so happened that one evening I met with a young girl in the house of Edwin Mitchell with a nice sunbonnet on. I looked and the more I became interested that one is to be my wife and it stuck to me she was going up the river to a place she had been spending some time previous and I confess it was the longest three weeks I ever lived. She came back and it was soon settled. She had a dream and I was shown to her as her husband and not only that but it was shown to her that I was to be guardian for her brothers and sister. Our courtship was but a short one. I have frequently remarked we got married and done our courting after and had not gone through with it yet and wished to continue. We was married by President John Taylor, her uncle by marriage, his first wife being sister to George Canon, father to George Q. Cannon. This took place November 28, 1844. We afterwards was sealed in the Nauvoo Temple by President John Taylor, but not at the alter; it been taken down. We received our washings and annointings in the Nauvoo Temple.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Charles-Lambert.html

975.   A Baptist Clergyman from the state of New York, who had been acquainted with the Prophet Joseph in his early life, called upon him and staid [stayed] all night. Joseph made the minister welcome, and treated him hospitably and respectfully; but, when breakfast was over next morning, he called Joseph a hypocrite, a liar, an imposter and a false prophet, and called upon him to repent. Joseph boxed his ears with both hands, and, turning his face towards the door, kicked him into the street. He immediately went before a magistrate, and swore out a writ against Joseph for assault and battery. I saw the operation, and followed the minister into the squire's office, and demanded a writ for his apprehension, for provoking an assault; the clerk filling up the writ I called for first--the minister, fearing trouble, paid for his writ and withdrew without it, and made his way post haste for Cuyahoga County; I followed him on horseback, making him travel pretty lively until he got a few rods over the line when I overtook him and said, `Sir, you are lucky to have got over the line, and out of my jurisdiction, or I should have arrested you.'
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 26 (1864):834-36; 27 (1865):5-7.

976.   The following from the journal of Newell Knight:
   During this time we were frequently visited by my young friend, Joseph Smith, who would entertain us with accounts of the wonderful things which had happened to him. It was evident to me that great things were about to be accomplished through him--that the Lord was about to use him as an instrument in His hands to bring to pass the great and mighty work of the last days. This chosen instrument told us of God's manifestations to him, of the discovery and receiving of the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, of his persecutions for the gospel's sake, and many other items of his eventful life.
   So honest and plain were all his statements that there was no room for any misgivings with me on the subject. Besides, I found by reading and searching the Bible, that there would be a great falling away from the gospel as preached and established by Jesus and His apostles, that in the last days God would set His hand again to restore that which was lost. Then why should anyone persecute this boy? I could not. Yet, to my certain knowledge, many did; and those who professed to be preacher's of the gospel, were often his vilest persecutors; and notwithstanding they all professed to doubt the reality of his having the plates of which he had spoken, yet so eager were they to get them from him, that it was only by the Lord, or a kind angel, warning him from time to time of the pursuit of his enemies, that he was enabled to preserve the sacred records. In fact, it seemed very much like it was with Joseph and Mary, the mother of Jesus, being warned of God to flee from place to place, to save the young child; so has Joseph Smith been warned many times, and then barely escaped his pursuers. Of this I can bear a faithful testimony.
"Newel Knight's Journal," Classic Experiences and Adventures
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), pp. 46-104.

977.   The following from the journal of Newell Knight dated October 14, 1832:
   On the 14th of October, my wife bore me a son. She had never before given birth to a living child, and the doctors who had attended her before, had said it was impossible that she should. But Brother Joseph blessed her and said she should have the desire of her heart. She never doubted the prophet's words, and as soon as her son was born she desired him to be called Samuel, for she said she had asked him from the Lord. My wife soon recovered from her sickness.
"Newel Knight's Journal," Classic Experiences and Adventures
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), pp. 46-104.

978.   The following from the autobiography of Charles Lamb:
   I was pressed when the Prophet Joseph preached his last sermon from the house top near the Mansion. It was a frame building put up to the square and a place floored over for him to stand on. I do not think it was ever taken down, it was too powerful. He called on the thunder and lightening, the angels for to witness, and going through the motions, drawing his sword if so and so was done, it should not be sheathed again until vengeance was taken on the wicked. There was a tall man standing behind me sobbing and crying. When I turned around to look at him, said he would never fight against the Mormons more, no never. He was a stranger to me.
http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Charles-Lambert.html

979.   From the life of T. Edgar Lyon:   In the early years of the twentieth century I lived with my parents in Salt Lake City, Utah. Of a Sunday morning in the Kindergarten I have a vague recollection of hearing stories about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Hill Cumorah, the pioneers, etc. At that age my recollection of places and people beyond my own immediate dwelling and neighborhood had little meaning and practically no interest to me. The names of Joseph and Hyrum Smith had little meaning as I did not know them as I knew living people in my family and neighborhood. "The Prophet" had little meaning to me except as a sort of vague concept of an old man with a long beard who had lived before my time, as I had seen in our illustrated Bible. Cumorah and New York were as meaningless to me as London, Brigham City, and Logan--I hadn't been there.
Then one Sunday afternoon at 2:00 P.M., my father took me to a fast meeting in the old Twentieth Ward chapel on Second Avenue and D Street in Salt Lake City. What I experienced there was my first meaningful acquaintance, even though vicariously, with Joseph Smith and the story of the restoration of the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ on earth. This was the most exciting meeting I had ever attended. The people who bore their testimonies had known Joseph and Hyrum Smith personally, and related their recollections of them, their love of Joseph Smith as a decidedly human being, and their appreciation of the religious and spiritual understanding he had given them. I think I missed but few fast and testimony meetings after that introductory one.
Gradually I became aware that there were two distinct groups in the fast meeting. One numbered about twenty or twenty-five people who seemed very old to me, and the other group was made up of those of a younger age, such as my parents. In the older group were women in black dresses trimmed with white collars and cuffs. They wore small black bonnets tied under their chins with black silk ribbons. The men were dressed in black suits and ties, and practically all had full beards and gray or white hair.
When the meeting was opened for testimony these were the ones who rose and bore their testimonies, and were still at it when the bishop closed the meeting. Gradually I became aware that they were known as "The Old Nauvooers." Among the younger members of this group was my Grandma Lyon, who was a girl of five at the time Joseph Smith was murdered.
A few years later, when my understanding was a bit more mature, I expressed an opinion to my mother that what was said in fast meeting indicated that if one had not known Joseph Smith personally and lived in Nauvoo, one did not have a testimony. This was a youthful observation as these people were the only ones I remembered who bore testimonies. Her reply was that there appeared to be an unwritten law in the Twentieth Ward that if you had not lived at Nauvoo and known Joseph Smith, you could not bear your testimony until all the Old Nauvooers had borne theirs. As there were so many of them they seldom all got through and hence one heard few testimonies of other people. Young as I was, I was impressed by the love and respect these people had for Joseph Smith, based on an intimate relationship with him and a closeness to him. Although these people had known Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith, who was then president, these leaders were referred to as "president of the Church", while the Old Nauvooers referred to Joseph Smith with two more endearing names: "The Prophet", or "Brother Joseph." What impressed my young mind about Joseph Smith from their talks was his concern for people and their problems, and the personal contacts they had experienced with him.
What follows is oral history, and is hence suspect as all oral history must be. As it has a subjectivity to it, it may not always be reliable. Nevertheless, it records significant personal impressions, both of those who experienced the events and the present writer who heard the original people repeat their personal reactions to Joseph Smith.
One man related that one day at Nauvoo he and another boy were having a fistfight in front of the Mills City Hotel on Main Street, which still stands a block north of the Mansion House, the Prophet's second home at Nauvoo. The City Council was in session on the second floor of Joseph Smith's store, which was a block west of the Mansion House. Joseph, then mayor, was presiding at the meeting. Looking through the window toward the northeast, he saw the two boys fighting. Turning the meeting over to one of the aldermen to conduct, he ran down the stairs, crossed the street, vaulted over a fence, and ran diagonally northeast toward and arrived just as the two antagonists had pulled pickets from a fence and were about to continue their quarrel with the pickets. The speaker said Joseph grabbed them each by their shirt collars, ordered them to throw down their weapons, then releasing his grip on them asked, "Don't you know that no one in this town is allowed to fight except me?"
Sheepishly they admitted they did not know it, and then, perhaps with a twinkle in his eye, the mayor of the town said, "Next time you feel like fighting come to my home and ask for a fight and I'll fight you, and it will be legal."
The narrator then continued, "That ended our fighting. We certainly didn't want to fight 'Brother Joseph.' "
Another related that one day a group of boys and girls were playing "Anthony-Over" (usually corrupted into "Anti-I-Over") in which two teams of children on opposite sides of a house, having one ball, throw it over the roof. The team on the other side waits for its arrival and if anyone catches it, the entire team then tries to get to the other side of the house without being tagged by the opposite team. Having no soft rubber ball, they were using a wooden ball, but the owner of the house ordered them away, fearful that the hard ball would split the dry shingles. Joseph Smith passed by, saw the discouraged look on the children's faces, and said, "Let's walk over to Brother Hancock's carpenter shop." There Joseph picked scraps of wood from the waste box and asked Brother Hancock to make some tippies for the children on his foot-powered lathe. While Brother Hancock was doing that, Joseph secured more scraps and asked the children to whittle paddles to strike the tippies. Then he took them to Main Street--the widest street in town--and showed them how to strike the tippy with the edge of the paddle, and then as it flew upward, try to bat the airborne tippy with the paddle toward a distant goal. Joseph Smith set the goal for the rock quarry at the head of Main Street. The children then played with the tippies, trying to whack them toward the goal each time they came to rest on the ground. The narrator said it gave them good exercise, tested their muscular skills, and kept them busy for an hour or two, thereby keeping them out of mischief.
Another elderly sister related that their home was about two miles east of Nauvoo, out in the country, near Joseph Smith's farm. One day her mother sent her to Nauvoo for a paper of pins and a paper of thread--it wasn't sold on spools at that time. The day was sunny and sultry, and as she trudged home in the heat a carriage drove alongside her and stopped, and the driver offered her a ride home. He assisted her into the seat beside him and talked with her about what she did to help her mother and other members of the family.
Arriving at her house, the driver hopped down from the carriage, assisted her to the ground, walked her to the house, and said to her mother: "You have an excellent daughter. Continue the excellent training you have given her and she'll grow up to be a good wife and mother, and know how to give service to those who are unfortunate."
This experience she had never forgotten and always remembered Brother Joseph as a kind, considerate man.
A man with a long, white beard testified to a great lesson the Prophet had taught him. As a teenager, he and another boy had gotten into some sort of devilment, unthinking of the seriousness of what they were doing. He failed to state exactly what they did, but they had destroyed some property. They might have done what was common sport in those days, setting fire to a rail fence, or tearing out a few panels of such a fence so that cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs could get out of the enclosure and wander for miles; perhaps some of the cows bloated and died from eating too much of the wrong kind of forage. The owner of the farm where they had committed their destructive act was furious. He found out who they were, swore out a warrant for their arrest, and the sheriff took them to Carthage before the county judge. They were found guilty and sentenced to six months in the Hancock County jail, and fined $50.00. (This may not seem a heavy fine to an affluent society, but when one considers that skilled craftsmen and mechanics at that time earned a dollar a day, it was a heavy fine for youths in the 1840s.)
The father of the boys complained to Joseph Smith about the severity of the sentence, the need of the parents for the help of the young men with the harvest and fall planting, and the fear of boys spending six months in an unheated stone jail. Wouldn't the Prophet intercede with the judge for a reduction of the sentence?
Joseph Smith went to Carthage and talked to the judge, whose answer was, "They did wrong and I'm going to teach them a lesson never to do such a thing again."
Joseph Smith's reply was, "I'm afraid you won't teach them that lesson by an imprisonment. After six months they'll come out of that jail hating you and the sheriff and the man whose property they destroyed, and perhaps antagonistic against the ordered society we stand for. With nothing worthwhile to do they'll spend their time planning how they could do the same thing again and not get caught. They might even be persuaded to join one of the gangs of outlaws who infest this country and become professional criminals."
The judge asked Joseph Smith what he could propose as a better punishment to which he replied, "Release them to my custody for six months. Our Nauvoo streets are difficult to travel because of mud holes. We'll employ them to haul stone chips from the temple quarry and gravel from the river banks to improve our streets. We'll pay them fifty cents a day to reimburse the man whose property was destroyed. This will save the county money as they won't have to be fed for six months at county expense. Let them pay the costs of the court procedures and all will be better off than a jail sentence would achieve."
Contemporary Nauvoo notes show that from time to time Joseph Smith, the mayor, or Brother Sherwood, the city surveyor and supervisor of streets, checked on the boys. Once they found them loafing, another time not on the job, and docked them a day's pay for their indolence.
Then the narrator said something to this effect: "That was the greatest training I ever had not to wantonly or willfully destroy property of another. It was the best training to work consistently and earn an honest day's pay I ever had. Here I am advanced in years and I've never done anything since that episode that brought me into a court for misconduct." To this man Joseph Smith was a man of warm feeling, great compassion, and wonderful insight into the minds of youths in training them to avoid delinquency.
Another man, who was nine years old shortly before Joseph Smith was killed, related this account: It was Temple Tithing Day (they had two tithings in Nauvoo, the regular tithing on one's increase or earnings, and the other on time, so that each person was expected to work every tenth day on the temple without pay). This boy's father had hitched his team to his wagon and with his son had gone to the quarry to load a large stone into the wagon; then, they started for the temple. Pulling out of the quarry with its stone floor was no problem, but when they started across the "Flat" their wagon became stuck in a mud hole. The father whipped the horses and they lurched forward against their collars, but this sudden pull merely jiggled the wagon and made it sink a bit deeper in the mire. The father handed the reins to his son telling him to stay with the team while he went up to the temple and secured someone to come down with a team or two of oxen and pull his wagon out of the mud.
His father had just stepped off the wagon when a man walking along the side of the street (where they had planned sidewalks, but had not yet constructed them) called to him and said,
"I see you are having trouble, Brother Bybee."
"Yes", replied the latter,
"I'm going to the temple to get someone to pull me out."
The man waded into the mud and said to the father,
"Brother Bybee, you get by that left rear wheel and put your right shoulder under a spoke. I'll get my left shoulder under a spoke of the right wheel."
Then to the nine year old boy he said:
"Get your whip ready and when I say 'Lift, we'll lift with our shoulders, and don't you spare the horseflesh."
So saying, each in position, the man said "Lift." Each did his part. The horses jumped at the sting of the whip, the wagon moved a bit, and the horses were able to keep it going. After going about a hundred feet onto dry ground the boy let the team rest. The two men caught up with the wagon and as Brother Bybee climbed up to the driver's seat and took the reins from his son, the father called out, "Thank you, Brother Joseph."
The boy had been greatly impressed that a prophet of the Lord, probably on his way to pay his temple tithing in labor, was not above wading in mud halfway to his knees and getting his shoulder covered with mud to help another man in distress.
One lady related the coldness of the winter of 1842-1843 when the Mississippi was frozen over for several months. One freezing day Joseph Smith did not go to his office. Instead he remained at home to play with his children on the ice. They were sliding down the sloping lower end of Main Street near the Homestead where enough momentum could be gained to send the loaded sleigh out onto the smooth ice of the river. Joseph Smith III, Alexander, and Frederick G. were engaged in this activity. Soon other children gathered and the Prophet taught some of the older children how to slide on the soles of their shoes, balancing their bodies erectly. Others he taught how to steer the crude wooden sleighs of the day with their feet.
Another lady mentioned she had worked as a servant girl in Joseph Smith's home. One day when the Prophet's mother was quite ill, he remained home and nursed her all day. She mentioned that Joseph often read to his children from a special children's magazine he had in his home.
There was a coal miner from Wales who had been converted and migrated to Nauvoo. At the time he bore his testimony he was about eighty-five years of age. He related that when he was a young married man with a child or two, he and a companion had been employed to work in an abandoned coal mine, removing small pockets of coal. One day as they were working a slab of stone fell from the ceiling and smashed their oil lamps, leaving them in total darkness perhaps a mile from the entrance to the mine. Only slightly injured by the falling stone, the two sought their way out of the mine by feeling with their feet the small iron rails on which the mine cars rolled. But there were frequent side tunnels and as they came to these switches, they tried to remember which of the side tunnels they must follow. Sometimes at such an intersection they would feel the walls of the tunnel, searching for a familiar marker which might indicate where they were.
Several times they made wrong turns: when they came to the end of a side tunnel, they had to retrace their steps back to the main tunnel and try again. At last, after much anguish of spirit and prayers to God, they chose another turn and after the tunnel itself had made a turn, they saw far ahead of them a glimmer of light. With hurried pace they soon were at the portal and saw below them the beautiful green valley where they lived.
Then this aged man made a comparison. He had been a member of one of the Protestant churches, had become disillusioned when he read his Bible and found his church neither preached nor practiced many things which characterized the early church. He compared his searching for a truly Christian church to the time he was groping in the mine trying to find his way out into his home valley. Then two Mormon missionaries came to his village and held a meeting on the public square as they could not use the local chapel. He and his wife heard the message, accepted the gospel, and migrated to Nauvoo. They attended meetings in the grove and heard Joseph Smith explain the restored gospel. He labored on the temple, and he and his wife received their endowments and were sealed for eternity. The religious and spiritual teachings of Joseph Smith's restoration had produced a world as strikingly wonderful and soul-satisfying as the sunlit valley they saw from the entrance of the mine. He had experienced a spiritual rebirth. He now knew the true nature of God, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. He had learned who he was--a spirit begotten by his Heavenly Father, and now clothed temporarily in a mortal tabernacle, bequeathed to him by his earthly father and mother. He understood his relationship to the eternities, to his earthly parents, and also his heirship to his Eternal Father. He had learned the doctrine of free agency, which had enabled him to throw off the shackles of predestinarianism and salvation by election. Priesthood had come to mean a power granted by God whereby he could become a blessing to himself, his wife, his family, the Church, and all mankind. And so he enumerated what the gospel light revealed through "Brother Joseph" had done for him. He had received a testimony of who was to succeed Joseph Smith by a miracle in the grove when he saw and heard Brigham Young preach and his voice sounded as the voice of Joseph Smith. So he had followed Brigham Young and the Twelve into the Salt Lake Valley. Here he had built a house of his own on land which he owned--something he never could have done in Wales--and had raised a good family of faithful Latter-day Saint children and had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As with David of old he could exclaim, "My cup runneth over."
Month after month I heard such incidents related--how Joseph Smith visited unannounced in the homes, had children sit on his lap as he told them stories, admonished them to be honest, to love and obey their parents, not to quarrel with each other, and to be helpful to those who were sick or in need. They related his eagerness to arm-wrestle, pull sticks, or participate in other contemporary games of physical prowess. They recalled how "The Prophet" dropped by their homes at mealtime, ate with the family and kept a lively conversation going, or how some of them had been guests at his table with Emma Smith as hostess.
Such were the components of my first meaningful introduction to Joseph Smith--a very human being, engaged in doing the kinds of things which would appeal to children, young people, and those of mature years and thinking. I'm certain these Old Nauvooers bore testimonies to the divinity of Joseph Smith's work as a spiritual leader. Although I was not old enough at that time to understand the meaning of abstract faith and principles of the gospel, I did learn to love and admire him, as many of those testimony-bearing Saints of my childhood years had done, as a very much alive and alert and loveable and human person.
T. Edgar Lyon, BYU Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2

980.   The most widely publicized case of a plural wife suing for divorce took place in 1875 when Ann Eliza Webb Young petitioned the court for a divorce from Brigham Young on the grounds of neglect, cruel treatment, and desertion. Justice James B. McKean fined Brigham Young $3,000 in court fees and ordered him to pay Ann Eliza $500 a month maintenance. On the advice of his lawyers, President Young refused to pay the money to Ann Eliza pending appeal. The vindictive judge fined the prophet $25 and sentenced him to a day in prison. The litigation continued for more than two years and was heard by five different judges. During this time Brigham Young’s alimony debt increased to $18,000. Finally, in the spirit of compromise, Judge Michael Schaefer reduced the debt to $3,600. President Young paid the amount, and the case was dismissed in April 1877.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1374.

981.   The following from the autobiography of Mary E. Lightner:
   From that time our troubles commenced in earnest. But just before these troubles began, I went to work for Peter Whitmer, who was a tailor by trade, and just married. He was crowded with work, and Lilburn W. Boggs offered him a room in his house, as he had just been elected lieutenant governor, and wanted Peter to make him a suit for his inauguration ceremonies. Peter did make them, and I stitched the collars and faced the coat. Mr. Boggs often came in to note the progress of the work. As I was considered a good seamstress, he hired me to make his fine, ruffled bosom shirts, also to assist his wife in her sewing. I worked for them some weeks; during that time, they tried to induce me to leave the Church and live with them; they would educate me, and do for me as if I were their daughter. As they had but one little girl about two years old, and two sons, the eldest near my own age, nearly 14 years old, but their persuasions were of no avail with me.
"Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner," The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine 17 (July 1926):193-205, 250

982.   Brigham Young invited Martin and Caroline Harris to join the Saints in the West. In 1856, Caroline and the children journeyed to Utah. The aging Harris remained in Kirtland with other relatives until 1870, supporting himself by his 90 acres. Harris prospered and acted as a self-appointed guide/caretaker of the deserted Kirtland Temple, listing himself in the 1860 census as “Mormon preacher.”
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 469.

983.   What’s interesting is at the time of the Nauvoo era of the Church more than 1500 Latter-day Saint men, including the Prophet Joseph Smith, had been initiated into Masonic lodges. Nevertheless, with the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo very few men in the Church are active Masons since then.
Kenneth W. Godfrey, “Joseph Smith and the Masons.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 64 (1971), 79-90; Mervin B. Hogan, Mormonism and Free Masonry: The Illinois Episode (Salt Lake City: Campus Graphics, 1980).

984.   Thursday Fast meetings, why they stopped:   It started to become a problem with employers to let their employees leave work early to attend the monthly Fast Service. This change was instituted by the First Presidency on December 6, 1896.
Dean A. Wengreen, “The Origin and History of the Fast Day in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1896.” Masters thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955.

985.   When and under what circumstances was the first LDS meeting held on the island of Guam?
In August of 1944, six U.S. Marines held the very first Sacrament meeting in a foxhole.
Alan Edward Muller. “A Historical Account of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Guam.” Guam, 1 April 1955; 1999-2000 Church Almanac (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1998), 328.

986.   Joel H. Johnson gives us an idea of the wording of an Elders license to preach just after the organization of the Church:
   I then immediately sold out my share in the sawmill and endeavored to prepare myself for whatever my calling might be, and on the 24th of August, 1831, I was ordained a teacher; and on the 20th of September 1831, I was ordained an Elder and received the following license:
   A license, liberty, and authority given to Joel H. Johnson, certifying and proving that he is an Elder of this Church of Christ, established and regularly organized in these last days, A.D. 1830 on the 6th day of April. All of which has been done by the will of God the Father, according to His holy calling and the power of the Holy Ghost agreeable to the revelations of Jesus Christ, given to Joseph Smith, Jr., the first Elder of the Church, signifying that he has been baptized and received into the Church according to the articles and covenants of the Church. Done on the 20th day of September in Amherst, Loraine County, and State of Ohio, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty one.
Jared Carter
Elders
Sign and Seal Sylvester Smith . . . . .
Johnson, Joel Hills, 1802-1882 Autobiography Source: Selections from Joel H. Johnson, Voice From the Mountains, Being A Testimony of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as Revealed by the Lord to Joseph Smith, Jr. (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor, 1881), pp. 3-4, 12-16.

987.   The following from the autobiography of Mary E. Rollins Lightner in relation to the Jackson County, Missouri mobbings:
   I saw the first hay and grain stacks on fire, in Bishop Partridge's lot, and other property destroyed. Uncle Gilbert's store was broken open, and some of the goods strewn on the public square; then the few families living in town went to the temple block, where the bishop and his first counselor, John Corrill, lived, for mutual protection; while the brethren were hiding in the woods, their food being carried to them in the night. Some of our brethren were tied to trees and whipped until the blood ran down their bodies. After enduring all manner of grievances we were driven from the county. While we were camped on the banks of the Missouri River waiting to be ferried over, they found there was not money enough to take all over. One or two families must be left behind, and the fear was that if left, they would be killed. So, some of the brethren by the name of Higbee thought they would try and catch some fish, perhaps the ferryman would take them, they put out their lines in the evening; it rained all night and most of the next day, when they took in their lines they found two or three small fish, and a catfish that weighed 14 pounds. On opening it, what was their astonishment to find three bright silver half dollars, just the amount needed to pay for taking their team over the river. This was considered a miracle, and caused great rejoicing among us. At length we settled in Clay County, where my mother married Mr. John M. Burt, a widower with two children, his wife having died with cholera at St. Louis in 1831. I stayed with Uncle Gilbert most of the time until Zion's Camp came up in 1834.
"Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner," The Utah Genealogical and

Historical Magazine 17 (July 1926):193-205, 250


988.   During World War I, local sisters took over missionary work in the British Isles.
V. Ben Bloxham, James R. Moss, and Larry C. Porter, eds. Truth Will Prevail: The Rise of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British Isles, 1837-1997 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

989.   It’s interesting to note that missionary work in Louisiana began as a result of individuals writing to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo requesting missionaries and even going so far as to provide money to help the Elders out. In 1841 Joseph sent Elder Harrison Sagers.  
1999-2000 Church Almanac. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1998).

990.   The following story is in reference to Rudger Clawson:
   On 9 July 1879, while serving in Georgia, Elder Clawson and his companion, Joseph Standing, were accosted by a vicious anti-Mormon mob. They shot Elder Standing, killing him in front of his horrified companion, and then turned their guns on Elder Clawson. Instead of running, the missionary folded his arms across his chest and calmly said, “Shoot!” This display of courage unnerved the mob, and they left him alone. This act was symbolic of the valor he would display in his Church service throughout his life.
Arnold K. Garr et al., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 213-14.

991.   What was the dollar amount of gold found during the gold mining missions of 1848-1851?
$71,000 was found to help boost Utah’s economy.
Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom (Cambridge: University Press, 1958); Eugene E. Campbell, “Mormon Gold Mining Mission of 1849.” BYU Studies 2 (Winter 1960), 19-31. August 1959; J. Kenneth Davies, Mormon Gold: The Story of California’s Mormon Argonauts (Salt Lake City: Olympus Publishing, 1984).

992.   When Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson headed out on their Lamanite Mission in 1830-1831 they were extremely successful in the Kirtland area. What we have never heard was their success in Missouri. We do know that they were kicked off the Indian Lands by a jealous Government Indian Agent, but just how many baptism did they have?
They baptized 40 to 50 individuals in Lafayette County in Missouri.
Lyndon B. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995), 128, n. 5; Dean H. Garrett, “Ziba Peterson: From Missionary to Hanging Sheriff.” Nauvoo Journal 19 (Spring 1997), 24-32.

993.   The first year of business at ZCMI in 1868, what was the dollar amount in sales (does not state if this is gross or net sales, most likely gross sales)?
1.5 million dollars.
Marha Sonntag Bradley, ZCMI: America’s First Department Store (Salt Lake City: ZCMI, 1990).

994.   What was the property value of Brigham Young worth in 1855?
$199,625
Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom. (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1966), 146.

995.  After completing the Angel Moroni Statue for the top of the Salt Lake Temple, the next piece of work for Cyrus Dallin was the Brigham Young Statue that is currently set at the southwest corner of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (this was in fact the earliest monument erected by the Church). This statue was first displayed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and then unveiled on Temple Square in 1897, finally coming to rest at its present location in 1900. Cyrus Dallin also received commissions for the Paul Revere monument at the Old North Church and the Governor Bradford monument on the Boston Commons. He is also responsible for the Chief Massasoit monument at Plymouth Rock.
Rell G. Francais, Cyrus G. Dallin: Let Justice Be Done (Springville, Utah: Springville Art Museum and the Utah American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1976).

996. Carl Christian Anton Christensen (1831-1912) painted 23 murals titled “Mormon Panorama.” These murals were painted with the purpose to visually teach members, primarily the youth, the story of the restoration to the moment the Saints entered the Salt Lake Valley. Carl also painted murals in the Manti temple.
Richard L. Jensen and Richard G. Oman, C. C. A. Christensen 1831-1912: Mormon Immigrant Artist. (Salt Lake City: Museum of Church History and Art, 1984).

997.   The Eagle Gate monument originally served as a gateway to Brigham Young’s farm. In the 1890’s it became a toll gate with the proceeds of the funds to go to maintaining public roads.
“Eagle Gate Dedication Services.” Salt Lake City: Utah State Department of Highways Reproduction Department, 1 November 1963.

998.   LDS monuments produced by Avard Fairbanks include the Winter Quarters monument, Friezes on the BYU library and the Hawaii Temple, the Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood monument, and Angel Moroni statues on the Washington, D.C.; Denver, Colorado; West Jordan, Utah; and the Mexico City Temples.
   Avard’s non-LDS monuments include Lycurgus, the ancient law-giver in Sparta, Greece, the Pony Express, Pioneer Family at the state capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota, Daniel Jackling at the Utah State Capitol, McKenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada) at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, George Washington at the Washington State Capitol Building, Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theater and the U.S. Supreme Court), and John Burke, Abraham Lincoln, Esther Morris, and Marcus Whitman in the National Capitol Building.
Eugene F. A. Fairbanks, A Sculptor’s Testimony in Bronze and Stone, Sacred Sculpture of Avard T. Fairbanks (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1994).

999.   The following from Zadoc Kapp Judd account of the Mormon Battalion:
After traveling about twenty five days a bearing was taken with instruments. It was found we were a long ways from California. We had until now been eating our provisions as though we would get to California, where there was more, in sixty days, but it was now decided it would take a much longer time, so our rations were reduced one-fourth less. This began to tell hard on the men, yet we kept pushing ahead until another fifteen or twenty days and then another reckoning was made and found we would yet have to travel a long distance, so our rations were reduced again to one half and we were a long ways from any place where more provisions could be had. Our best and only show was to push ahead and we did.
About now we came to some half-breeds, Indians and Spanish. From them a few of us as individuals could trade for a little dried meat, which we then called very very good. We were now getting quite hungry and we learned from these people it was but three days travel to a Spanish town where we could get provisions. It was off from our route but a good wagon road to it. Copper ore had been hauled on the road many years. Our colonel said; "Let us go down and get provisions. It was going right among our enemies but we were all willing to go to get something to eat."
So next morning we started on the copper mine road for the Spanish town all rejoicing. After traveling three or four miles the colonel ordered his bugler to call a halt. All hands wondered what was the matter. After a moment's breath the colonel turned to his staff, officers and pilots and said: "Gentlemen, I started for California and damned if I ain't going there. Pilot, you hunt a road for the wagons on the course we have been traveling and go ahead and find a camp ground." So we turned our course about right angle and started for California.
We afterwards learned that the Spaniards had been closely watching us and they expected we would go down to that town and had therefore, collected a large force of their soldiers at that point, and no doubt if we had not turned our course we should have had hard fighting to do and perhaps many of us would have lost our lives, but the Lord controlled the colonel's mind and we came out safe.
I should here mention a promise or prediction made by President Brigham Young before we started, that if we would be faithful, do our duty, remember our prayers, we would never be called to face the enemy in battle. This was verified in every instance during our service.
Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd (1827-1907), Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZJudd.html

1000.   Even though the Mormon Battalion was formed to fight against Mexico, it’s interesting to note who was considered one of their enemies. The following from the journal of Zadoc Kapp Judd:
   While here five pounds of good fat beef was given for each man's daily rations, but all this did not stop hunger until we got some bread to go with it. After laying here for a long time, eating nothing but fresh beef, we were suddenly called by General [Stephen W.] Kearny to march to Pueblo, Los Angeles. This forced march of four days was very severe on us. We were called to defend and assist General Kearny against [John C.] Fremont and his company who were our enemies or mobocrats right from Missouri. We never saw the enemy but we were marched to the outside of town and camped in our tents on the bank of a nice stream of water. In a few days we were moved to the bench which overlooked the town. Here we were required to build a place of defense by throwing up a bank of earth and making a ditch wide and deep enough so a horseman could not easily ride over it, but the job was not completed by us.
Autobiography of Zadoc Knapp Judd (1827-1907), Typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/ZJudd.html

   


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