Today in Mormon History - May 12

[TodayInMormonHistory]

On this day in Mormon History
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-- 175 years ago today - May 12, 1851 --

Pres. Brigham Young preached to the people on the nature and importance of the Iron County Mission, and the advantages of the brethren fulfilling it. He advised them to buy up the Lamanite children, as fast as they could, and educate them and teach them the Gospel, so that not many generations would pass [as] they would become a white and delightsome people. He remarked that the Lord could not have devised a better plan, than to have put the Saints where they were, in order to accomplish the redemption of the Lamanites. He knew that the Indians would dwindle away, but a remnant of the seed of Joseph should be saved. The President also advised the brethren to put up the logs and pickets of the forts so close that the Indians could not shoot arrows through the openings. He recommended the adoption of the Indian name Parowan for the city. -- Cedar City, Utah (1)
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-- 165 years ago today - May 12, 1861 --

Pres[ident] Young attended the Tabernacle morning and afternoon. In the afternoon [Morning] he preached a discourse, the Spirit of revolution among the nations was preparing the way for the progress of the Gospel. -- SLC Tabernacle (1)
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Bro. Brigham showed ... that our coming out here to this wilderness and the Lord sustaining us was more of a miracle than the children of Israel going out of Egypt crossing the Red Sea. (1)
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[Wilford Woodruff]
We met at the Historians Office at 1/2 past 5 oclok & ordained 4 men to the High Priesthood & High Councillers of this Stake of Zion. .... When I had done Ordaining Howard Sp[enser?] President Young said yes & I ordain you to kill evry scoundrel that seeks your life & when you Come across such men use them up. (2)
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-- 150 years ago today - May 12, 1876 (Afternoon) --

Concluding remarks were made by President Young. He said he did wish to have the Temple completed by next April so that our Annual Conference might be held therein. Continuing, he said opposition to God and His Kingdom is the natural result of the fall. ... If we had done as we had been told by Joseph, we would be a hundred times richer than we now are. He exhorted parents to bring up their children in the ways of the Lord. -- St. George, Utah (1)
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-- 130 years ago today - May 12, 1896 --
[Franklin D. Richards]
Met Pres[iden]ts Cannon & Smith & heard Franklin express the views of exprosecutor W. Dixon concerning the present unsettled state of public opinion about our Presidency and the "new manifesto" & church discipline. (3)
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-- 115 years ago today - May 12, 1911 --
[Thomas A. Clawson Diary]
"Today it was announced in the Deseret Evening News that Mathias F. Cowley could not exercise any of the functions of the authority of the Priesthood because of insubordination. This was the unanimous decision of the Council of the 12. That accounted for our not being able to hold our circle meeting yesterday as that was when the action was taken. I am sorry to see men place themselves in such a position as to make that course necessary to protect the Church." (4)
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1 - Journal History of the Church, quoted from The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses
2 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
3 - Diary Excerpts of Franklin D. Richards, 1887-1897, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
4 - Diary Excerpts of Thomas A. Clawson, Signature Books Library, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies