Today in Mormon History - May 04

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On this day in Mormon History
http://TodayInMormonHistory.com/

-- 170 years ago today - May 4, 1856 --
[Brigham Young]
"... if you give an Indian plenty of beef, and keep him from freezing he will live to be 150 years old; there is nothing to kill unless they freeze to death. ..." (1)
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President B. Young preached in the tabernacle to the few who were gathered. said he should urge it upon the people for every family of the saints to lay up 7 years of provisions as soon as possible. -- SLC Tabernacle (1)
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-- 150 years ago today - May 04, 1876 --

Eliza Jane Churchill Webb Letter to Mary Bond regarding [possible first plural wife of Joseph Smith] Fanny Alger

"I do not know that the ‘sealing' commenced in Kirtland but I am perfectly satisfied that something similar commenced, and my judgment is principally formed from what Fanny Alger told me herself concerning her reasons for leaving ‘Sister Emma'." (2)
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-- 140 years ago today - May 4, 1886 --

Apostle John Henry Smith writes that Presiding Bishopric counselor John Q. Cannon is "getting quite reckless" with the church's tithing funds. Cannon is excommunicated four months later, but for adultery not embezzlement. His father, first counselor George Q. Cannon, tells the apostles on 3 Aug. 1887 that "he admitted trying to cover up John Q. Cannon's stealings fromt he Church and that he & his son Abraham had made good John Q's defalcations to the amount of nearly Ten thousand dollars." (3)
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-- 135 years ago today - May 4, 1891 --
[Heber J. Grant]
"... (GQ) Cannon said that he was willing that we should sell one half of the Herald to the gentile Democrats and allow them a majority of the Directors. I think the chances are that it will finally be approved to sell a majority of the stock." (4)
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-- 130 years ago today - May 4, 1896 --
[Brigham Young Jr.]
"Had a long talk with Bro[ther] Willis on the true meaning of the Manifesto prohibiting plural marriages especially in relation to men living with their old wives. No plural marriages are solemnized but men are loath to give up or rather forsake their wives. I can take no oath that looks toward annulling the covenants I have made with my wives." (5)
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[Heber J. Grant]
"I have enjoyed my visit to Cache Valley very much, and my only regret is that all of the members of the High Council of the Cache Stake did not endorse the declaration of church discipline. I was, however, especially pleased to have the document voted for by Bro George Barber." (4)
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-- 125 years ago today - May 4, 1901 (Saturday) --

The Kimball Organ Company completed the reconstruction of the Tabernacle organ in Salt Lake City, making that instrument one of the best pipe organs in the world. (6)
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-- 120 years ago today - May 4, 1906 --

"Susa Young Gates prophesied to me today that I would yet be one of the Counselors in the First Presidency." (7)
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-- 55 years ago today - May 4, 1971 --

BYU President Ernest Wilkinson lamented to Ezra Taft Benson that David O. McKay's earlier instructions had blocked any attempts to establish a chapter of the John Birch Society at BYU: "I would personally like to have one at BYU, and I am seeing what I can do, but my lieutenants insist I would be violating the letter that President McKay sent us [during the Midgley/John Birch episode] sometime ago if I did." (8)
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-- 40 years ago today - May 4, 1986. --

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, speaking at the LDSSA Fireside in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, repeats his injunction for members of the church to avoid criticizing leaders--"it does not matter that the criticism is true"--then continues: "The counsel against faultfinding and evilspeaking applies with special force to criticisms of Church leaders, but this is not for the benefit of the leaders. It is to safeguard the spiritual well-being of members who are prone to murmur and find fault." (9)
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1 - The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, Ed. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City (2009), http://bit.ly/BY-discourses
2 - Exploring Mormonism: Polygamy Timeline, http://www.exploringmormonism.com/polygamy-timeline/
3 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]
4 - The Diaries of Heber J. Grant, 1880-1945, Abridged, Digital Edition Salt Lake City, Utah, 2015
5 - Brigham Young Jr. Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010
6 - Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology
7 - Orson F. Whitney, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
8 - Ernest L. Wilkinson to Ezra Taft Benson as referenced in Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)
9 - Anderson, Lavina Fielding, "The LDS Intellectual Community and Church Leadership: A Contemporary Chronology," Dialogue, Vol.26, No.1