On 4/5 in New Mormon History...

[New Mormon History]

Historic events in New Mormon History on 4/5

1858: (or 24. Apr. by some accounts), bishop of Payson, his brother (the sheriff), and several members of their LDS congregation join in shooting to death twenty-two-year-old Henry Jones and his mother Mrs. Hannah Jones Hatch for committing incest by which she has a daughter. The men kill infant and also castrate brother/father. Perpetrators are indicted next year, but not brought to trial. When indicted again in 1889, Deseret News criticizes trial of this "antiquated Payson homicide" as anti-Mormon crusade against those who were justifiably "disgusted and greatly icensed" against "the brutal mother and son." Former sheriff is convicted of murder, former bishop is acquitted.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1860: LDS delegate William H. Hooper tells Congress: "From my observation, from ten years' residence in Utah, I can say that not over one half of the people of Utah are polygamists; and that probably not half have more than two wives."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1876: Salt Lake City arsenal explodes, killing four people and severly damaging houses in 13th, 14th, 16th,17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th wards. The Deseret News reports: "Nearly every building of any size, for a mile and a half or two miles around" is damaged.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1884: John Taylor declindes to release the church's annual financial report because "it is none of the business of outsiders to know about our financial matters." This is due to the federal government's anti-polygamy campaign against the church.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1890: George Reynolds is sustained and is the first convicted felon to become a general authority.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1894: at a meeting of the First Presidency and apostles, Wilford Woodruff announces a revelation which ends the practice of adopting men to LDS leaders. He instructs Mormons to seal each generation of ancestors to the preceding generation. This results in a program of genealogical research. His published sermon is the only available text of the revelation. The old form of the adoption ordinance continues sporadically in LDS temples with a high of fifteen adoption ceremonies in 1910. The revelation is never canonized.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1900: The First Presidency and Twelve decide that the apostolic ranking is according to entry into the quorum, not according to the ordination date as an apostle. This puts Joseph F. Smith ahead of Brigham Young Jr. -first time in thirty-three years.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1901: Lorenzo Snow tells general conference that "we will continue on improving, advancing and increasing in wisdom, intelligence, power, and dominion, worlds without end." In 1908 John A. Widtsoe's 'Joseph Smith As a Scientist' (137) affirms: "God in 'Mormon' Theology is the greatest intelligence; yet it must of necessity, under the inexorable law of the universe, grow." In his 1910 'Seventies Course in Theology,' B.H. Roberts writes that "progress is eternal, even for the highest intelligences" (151). In his 1911 'Seventies' Course in Theology,' Roberts writes: "And is it too bold a thought that with this progress, even for the Mightiest, new thoughts, and new vistas may appear, inviting to new adventures and enterprises that will yield new experiences, advancement, and enlargement even for the Most High?"
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1902: "Clyde Felt has confessed to cutting the throat of old man Collins, at his request. The old man was a moral degenerate. The boy is a son of David P. Felt." Grandson of the former general authority, Clyde Felt is fourteen. Despite this blood atonement murder, LDS leaders allow the young man to be endowed and married in the temple eight years later.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1904: Joseph F. Smith criticizes a ward bishop for giving a temple recommend to a friendly non-Mormon who uses it to receive the endowment ceremony.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1910: Joseph F. Smith instructs bishops and stake presidents that payment of tithing and observance of the Word of Wisdom are necessary for Mormons to obtain temple recommends. Smith also says: "Suicides who are willful should not be buried in [temple] robes or have a public funeral, but local authorities must be the judges of their state of mind when committing the act and act accordingly."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1940: in explaining the financial decisions of the First Presidency to general conference, first counselor J. Reuben Clark observes: "We are not infallible in our judgment, and we err, but our constant prayer is that the Lord will guide us in our decisions, and we are trying so to live that our minds will be open to His inspiration."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1949: first counselor J. Reuben Clark tells a meeting of bishops: "I wish that we could get over being flattered into almost anything. If any stranger comes among us and tells us how wonderful we are, he pretty nearly owns us."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1970: Brigham Young University publishes a full-page newspaper advertisement, "Minorities, Civil Rights, and BYU." This responds to the protests about the lack of African-Americans on BYU's athletic teams as an alleged extension of the LDS church's policy of withholding the priesthood from blacks. This athletic restriction ends with the priesthood restriction.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1970: When a bomb threat is phoned during the afternoon session of conference, first counselor Harold B. Lee tells the police: "There is no bomb here; relax."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1974: The announcement of the appointment of David M. Kenney as the First Presidency's "special representative." Kennedy served as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1969-70), as the U.S. Ambassador-at-large (1970-72), and as the U.S. ambassador to NATO (1972-73). As the church's first officially designated foreign ambassador, Kennedy's primary mission is to obtain formal recognition of the LDS church and admission of full-time missionaries wherever they are excluded, especially in Communist Europe and the Near East. He is released on 31 Mar. 1990. Rather than appoint a new "special representative," the First Presidency delegates those responsibilities to area presidencies and mission presidents.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1991: First counselor Gordon B. Hinckley tells a meeting of regional representatives: "I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven" which he defines as one of the "small beginnings of apostasy." In response to newspaper stories about these non-public remarks, he repeats them publicly. In his address to the general women's meeting the following Sept., Hinckley quotes that statement as part of his answer to a letter from a fourteen-year-old girl he calls "Virginia."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn



To see the whole database in chronological order, Click here. Note that I'm not done entering all the information. While most of these facts come from Quinn's book, I'm seeking the primary sources for each, but this will take a long time.