Today in Mormon History - Jul 17

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On this day in Mormon History
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-- 185 years ago today - Jul 17, 1837 --

Patriarchal Blessing of Lyman Clisby given by Joseph Smith, Sr. ... thy life Shall be lengthened out to thee thou mayest tarry [illegible] See the Savour [Savior] come in the clouds of heaven to see the winding up s[c]ene of this Generation thou mayest have the ministering of Angels they shall instruct the[e] into the mistries [mysteries] of the kingdom, If thou art faithful thou shalt gain thy kindred flesh, Shall bring them into the Kingdom, thou Shall preach to the spirits in prison God may give the[e] posterity, this is thy Blessing I seal it on thy head, I Seal the[e] up to eternal life Amen (1)
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Patriarchal Blessing of Hannah Clisby given by Joseph Smith, Sr. ... let her have vigour of body & mind til the Savour [Savior] Shall come in the clouds of heaven let angels stand with her, the Lord is willing that thou Shouldest be blessed... yea Sister thou mayest stand in the flesh and see the winding up s[c]ene of this generation See thy Saivour [Savior] come in the clouds of heaven, ... I seal it upon thy head I seal the[e] up to eternal life Amen (1)
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Newspapers report that Sarah Kingsley Cleveland had been jailed for passing $390 in notes of the Kirtland Safety Anti-Banking Society, the first Mormon woman to be imprisoned. (2)
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-- 180 years ago today - Jul 17, 1842 --

Brigham Young writes to Parley P. Pratt concerning his brother Orson Pratt: "Br Orson Pratt is in trubble in consequence of his wife, hir feelings are so rought up that he dos not know whether his wife is wrong, or whether Josephs testimony and others are wrong and due Ly and he decived for 12 years or not; he is all but crazy about matters, you may aske what the matter is concirning Sister P.-it is enoph, and doct, J.C. Bennett could tell all about himself & hir-enoph of that-we will not let Br. Orson goe away from us he is to good a man to have a woman destroy him." THE WASP EXTRA, a Nauvoo newspaper, accuses John C. Bennett of "adultery, fornication, embryo infanticide and buggery, . . ."
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-- 175 years ago today - Jul 17, 1847 --

William Clayton writes on the pioneer trail: " In the afternoon Elders [Heber] Kimball, [Willard] Richards, [Ezra T.] Benson and others went onto a mountain to clothe and pray for President Young who continues very sick. On returning they rolled down many large rocks from the top of the mountain to witness the velocity of their descent &c. Some would roll over half a mile and frequently broke to pieces."
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-- 165 years ago today - Jul 17, 1857 --
[Esaias Edwards]
On the seventeenth of July 1857 we received our sealing by Brigham Young the prophet of the Lord in the house of endowments at the Alter of the Lord, Belinda [Miles] acting [as] Proxy. I first had Elizabeth Cam[p]bell sealed to me for eternity. Afterwards I had Sarah Catharine Gibbs sealed to me for eternity. Afterwards I had Belinda Miles sealed to me for time and all eternity. Brigham also blessed me and my wives with an endless Priesthood and posterity and the gift of eternal lives through faithfulness. (3)
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-- 140 years ago today - Jul 17, 1882 --

The first LDS-operated hospital is Deseret Hospital, founded by the following women: Eliza R. Snow, Emmeline B. Wells, Zina D.H. Young, Jane S. Richards, Phebe Woodruff, Marinda N. Hyde, Bathsheba W. Smith, Isabella M. Horne, and Dr. Romania B. Pratt.

The desire to found a Latter-day Saint hospital corresponded with a growing call for Latter-day Saint women to receive medical training. Some women, such as Romania B. Pratt, attended established medical schools in the eastern United States with support from church leaders and the Relief Society. When Pratt returned to Utah in 1877, she opened an office in Salt Lake City, taught classes in “obstetrics and feminine diseases,” and also advocated for the establishment of a local hospital. She argued, “In every growing community there seems to soon develop the need of a hospital devoted more especially to the interest of women and children, and this is now being felt among us.”

Eliza R. Snow promoted the establishment of such a hospital as she visited local Relief Societies. At a conference in Spring City, Utah, she “spoke of having a hospital that could be controlled by those of our own faith that there could be a place where the young girls could be taught to administer herbs in faith and become good, efficient nurses and understand the human system.” In 1880 a letter to the editor of the Woman’s Exponent complained that no action had yet been taken to found a hospital despite frequent discussions. Latter-day Saint women, including leaders of the Relief Society, soon began making concrete plans along with church leaders to establish a hospital. Reflecting later on the work of establishing the hospital, Eliza R. Snow explained, “With the approval of the First Presidency, we commenced the Hospital as no women on earth except Latter-day Saints would have undertaken so gigantic an enterprise—i.e., with nothing. But we had faith in the support and liberality of our brethren and sisters.” (4)
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-- 130 years ago today - Jul 17, 1892 --
[Francis M. Lyman]
John W. Taylor. Pres[ident] Smith was the first speaker. He announced that some on[e] of the Twelve was blamable for engaging in business and going other things contrary to the counsels of the Presidency of the Church. "That course was dangerous," he said, "now as well as in the days of the Prophet Joseph when apostles fell." President Woodruff spoke also endorsing Pres[ident] Smith's sayings. He deprecated anything that produced division among the saints. At 2 P.M. after the sacrament was administered Pres[ident] Cannon occupied the time with a gospel discourse. The latter part of talk was upon the subject of the division of the people upon National party lines. Said this movement is in accordance with the mind of the, _____ but it should not produce bitterness In the hearts of brethren one against the other. Pres[ident] Cannon's words made good feelings where Pres[ident] Smith's made bad feelings. ... At bro[ther] Kings I had a good visit with Uncle Edward Partridge. He, like bro[ther] King is all broke up in his feelings over Pres[ident] Smith's talk. They feel that he is at once down on any prominent man who should endorse democracy and advocate it. They feel his attack upon a member of the Twelve was upon bro[ther] Moses Thatcher. I poured in oil upon their troubled feelings and pacified them the best I could. I believe I did them some good. (5)
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-- 125 years ago today - Jul 17, 1897 • Saturday --
[George Q. Cannon]
... I went to the White House, and after waiting some little time his private secretary, Mr. Porter, saw me and took me into the executive chamber where the President [U.S. President McKinley] was. He was conversing with a number of gentlemen, but came forward and welcomed me very kindly and explained to me that it would be impossible for him to come out to our Jubilee. He said he intended writing a letter explaining his failure to come and asked to whom it should be addressed. I suggested the governor of the State as the proper person. We then talked about appointments, and I reiterated what I had said on former occasions concerning the care which should be exercised in the selection of names. He stated that he intended to be careful. I then bid him good day and went to the hotel. ... (6)
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-- 75 years ago today - Jul 17, 1947 --
[First Presidency to Lowry Nelson]
... The basic element of your ideas and concepts seems to be that all God's children stand in equal positions before Him in all things. ... Indeed, some of God's children were assigned to superior positions before the world was formed. We are aware that some Higher Critics do not accept this, but the Church does. Your position seems to lose sight of the revelations of the Lord touching the preexistence of our spirits, the rebellion in heaven, and the doctrines that our birth into this life and the advantages under which we may be born have a relationship in the life heretofore. From the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church Leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel. Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been repugnant to most normal-minded people from the ancient patriarchs till now. God's rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogamous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed. We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between the whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the church and is contrary to Church doctrine. (7)
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[George Albert Smith to Lowry Nelson]
... We have your letter of October 8 in further development of the matter discussed in your earlier

We feel very sure that you understand well the doctrines of the Church. They are either true or not true. Under these circumstances we may not permit ourselves to be too much impressed by the reasonings of men however well-founded they may seem to be. We should like to say this to you in all kindness and in all sincerity that you are too fine a man to permit yourself to be led off from the principles of the Gospel by worldly learning. You have too much of a potentiality for doing good and we therefore prayerfully hope that you can reorient your thinking and bring it in line with the revealed world of God. (8)
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[J. Reuben Clark]
Bp. Wirthlin also said that he had heard that Carl McDonald says he is now just as far as he could get, and that recalled him what Pres. Clark had said, that he was working for Jews and they would use him up to a certain point and that is exactly what they have done to him. (9)
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-- 60 years ago today - Jul 17, 1962 --
[David O. McKay]
The question of whether or not a daughter whose mother is white and father negro may go to the temple was raised. I answered the question in the negative. (3)
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-- 45 years ago today - Jul 17, 1977 --

The Kirtland Temple is designated as a United States Historic Landmark in a public ceremony.
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-- 40 years ago today - Jul 17, 1982 --

HOUSTON POST article: "Mormon Officials Installing 500 Satellite Dishes at Chapels."
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-- 30 years ago today - Jul 17, 1992 --

U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush meets with the First Presidency and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and in the evening makes a surprise appearance at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's concert on Temple Square.
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1 - Patriarchal Blessing Book 1:131-132, in Early Patriarchal Blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Joseph Smith Sr. (Author), H. Michael Marquardt (Editor), http://amzn.to/rCBHVe
2 - Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47, http://amzn.to/origins-power
3 - Esaias Edwards diary, Perry Special Collections, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship
4 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )];4.11 Report of Deseret Hospital Dedication, July 17, 1882, as quoted in Matthew J. Grow, Jill Derr, Carol Madsen, and Kate Holbrook, editors, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History, The Church Historian's Press, 2016, https://churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/
5 - Excerpts of Apostle Francis M. Lyman Diaries, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
6 - The Journal of George Q. Cannon, Church Historian's Press, https://churchhistorianspress.org/george-q-cannon
7 - First Presidency, Letter to Lowry Nelson, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
8 - George Albert Smith, for the First Presidency, Letter to Lowry Nelson, November 12, 1947, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
9 - The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015