Today in Mormon History - May 22

[TodayInMormonHistory]

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

-- 190 years ago today - May 22, 1836 --
[Wilford Woodruff]
After the close of the last discours Mr Rose rejected the testimony given & called on Br Patten to rase the dead that he might believe. Br Patten rebuked him sharply for his infidelity & unbelief. We then communed with the Saints.

I then retired from the scene with Elders Patten & Boydstun to a stream of pure water & cleansed our hands & feet & testified against that people who had threatened us & rejected our testimony. We delivered them unto the hands of God <and the destroyer. O God, thy will be done.> (1)
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-- 185 years ago today - May 22, 1841 --

May the 22nd 1841 Minutes of a conference [Kirtland Elder's Quorum]

... The committee reported a set of resolutions, which appoint two door keepers: that no person shall occupy the pulpits or stand unless entitled by office or invited; ... that no person shall be allowed to wear his hat on his head in the inner court: and that means be taken to prevent persons from defiling the inside of the house with tobacco cuds and tobacco spittle, and to prevent smoking… (2)
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-- 180 years ago today - May 22, 1846 --

Patriarch "Uncle" John Smith writes: "For the first time since we left Nauvoo I blessed 3 persons & received one dollar. This same day I paid out my last half dollar." Four days later he notes, "Gave four blessings and one gratis." (3)
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-- 140 years ago today - May 22, 1886 (Saturday) --

The steamship Nevada sailed from Liverpool, England, with 279 emigrating Saints on board, under the direction of Moroni L. Pratt. They arrived at New York June 2nd, and at Salt Lake City on the 8th by the D. & R. G. Ry. (4)
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-- 65 years ago today - May 22, 1961 --

Ezra Taft Benson made what LDS authorities called "end runs" around the Quorum of Twelve and First Presidency counselors in order to obtain McKay's encouragement for his political activism. However, such "end runs" were common practice for general authorities and church bureaucrats during the McKay presidency. (5)
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[J. Reuben Clark]
President Wilkinson came in to see me, apparently much disturbed by the decision to discontinue the lectures of the Brigham Young University in the Assembly Hall. I told him the matter had been thoroughly considered ...

He had a general complaint on the general practice of getting the "go ahead" on certain things and then have them upset after without a hearing which apparently was done without being considered or discussed with him. I told him that such was the situation and that it was unfortunate if he did not like it, that I did not see anything else for him to do. He complained about his frustration and I indicated that this was unfortunate but it was the fact. He talked in a general way about the situation in which he found himself, that he got a decision from his Board and the President, only to find it overturned shortly, through "end-running." (6)
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1 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
2 - Kirtland Elder's Quorum Record, http://ogdenkraut.com/?page_id=414
3 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
4 - Jenson, Andrew, Church Chronology
5 - Specific use of "end run" terminology for this feature of McKay's presidency appears in J. Reuben Clark office diary, 22 May 1961; Wilkinson diary, 25 May 1967; Neal A. Maxwell oral history, 1976-77, 24-25, LDS archives. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.
6 - The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015