A Miraculous and Timely Donation

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Temple

As the Baton Rouge, Louisiana temple was nearing completion, something was delivered damaged. No other replacement could be found in the United States. An internet search was made and one was eventually found. What was the something that was delivered damaged?

A)     The Angel Moroni statue

B)     The cornerstone

C)     The Celestial Room ceiling medallion

D)     The front doors

Yesterday’s answers:

1.      (B)   He baptized his wife

Jennetta, whose maiden name matched that of her husband, was from the village of Walkerfold, in Lancashire. Heber C. Kimball had baptized her in Preston on August 4, 1837. Her confirmation that same day gave her the distinction of being the first member of the Church confirmed in England. “I baptized your wife today,” Kimball wrote jovially to Willard, then serving in Bedford. Richards, no doubt stunned, yet intrigued, had to wait until the following March before meeting the twenty-year old Jennetta. They married six months later on September 24, 1838.

Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, 9 vols. (Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85), March 11, 1854, 4: 254.

2.      (C)   You would never like to change your name

Willard Richards met his wife (Jennetta) while on his mission to England.  Ironically, her maiden name was also Richards.  This is how Willard proposed to her:

“You would never like to change your name, would you?” To which she replied, “I never shall.” They were married on September 24, 1838.

Chronicles of Courage, Daughters of Utah Pioneers (Salt Lake City; Utah Printing Company, 1990) 1:148-149.

3.      (A)   She was buried in her temple clothing

On July 4, 1845, Jennetta Richards, wife of Elder Willard Richards, dies in Nauvoo and is buried the following day; she is apparently the first woman to be dressed in her temple clothing for burial.

Richard Neitzel Holzpfel et al., On This Day In The Church (Salt Lake City: Eagle Gate, 2000), 133.