Today in Mormon History - Jul 29

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

-- 185 years ago today - Jul 29, 1837 --
[Heber C. Kimball]
A singular sercustance [circumstance] occured on Sartady night which I will mention. Elder Russel was much trubled by Evel spirits and come into the room [where] Elder Hide and my self ware sleeping and desired us to lay our hands on him and rebuke the Evil spirrits. I Rose upon flower [the floor] and Elder Hide sat on the bed and we laid our hands on him and I rebuked and praid for him but Just before [he] had finished his prairer and Rebuked [the spirits] his voice faltered and his mouth was shet [shut] and he began to trembel and Real to and fro and fell on the floor like an dead [man] and uttered a deap groan. I immedially s[e]ized him by the shoulder and lifted him up begin [being] satisfid that the devils ware excee[d]ingly angry becaus we attempted to cast them out of Brother Russel and they made a powerfull attempt uppon [me] as if to despatched [me] at once. They struck [me] sensless and [I] fell to the flower. Bro. Russel [and Brother Hyde] then Laid [their] hands upon [me] and rebuked the evil spirit in the name of Jesus Christ and immediatly [I] recoverd [my] strength in part so as to get up. The swet began to roll from [me] most profusly and [I] was almost as wet as if taking out of water. We could very sencibly hear the Evil Spirits rage and fome [foam] out their shame. [I] was qite weack for a day or two after it. It seames that the devels ar determined to distroy us and prevent the truth from being declared in England; this was on Sartady. (1)
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-- 180 years ago today - Jul 29, 1842 --

SANGAMO JOURNAL editorializes: "We do not know what course will be pursued by Mr. [Orson] Pratt. If he sinks under the denunciations and schemes of Joe Smith- if he fails to defend the reputation of himself and of the woman he has vowed to protect before high heaven-he will fix a stain upon his character which he can never wash out, and carry to the grave the pangs caused by 'the gnawings of the worm that never dies.'" Pratt had recently refused to sign a statement attesting to the good character of Joseph Smith after finding that Joseph had proposed marriage to Pratt's wife while Pratt was on a mission. (2)
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-- 175 years ago today - Jul 29, 1847 --

152 members of the Mormon Battalion (discharged early due to illness) arrive in Salt Lake Valley accompanied by wives, children and 47 Mississippi Mormons. This swells the population to over 400. William Clayton notes: "The soldiers appearing in military order, many of them mounted. They have 29 wagons in the company and one carriage." (2)
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-- 135 years ago today - Jul 29, 1887 --

Elder George Q. Cannon said: 'Brethren I desired to see you together so that I might explain to you our position. Brother Joseph F.[Smith] and I, have acted since President [John] Taylor's death in a manner to avoid confusion, and that no duty pertaining to his funeral might be neglected. But now that President Taylor is buried'laid away to rest'we desire to say that our functions, as his counselors, are ended. We therefore wish to know whether or not you desire us to carry on the current business of the Church requiring daily attention.' ... [Note: Franklin D. Richards moved that Cannon and Smith continue to function as a de facto First Presidency until a majority of the Twelve meet to take action. Moses Thatcher disagreed, saying that with Taylor's death the First Presidency was dissolved and that governance now rested with the Twelve Apostles. The meeting ended when a majority of those present agreed to allow Cannon and Smith to continue their activities until a majority of the quorum could meet....] (3)
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25,000 people pass by John Taylor's body as it lies in state in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. At the funeral a letter written a decade previously by Taylor is read: " "I have no desire for any particular formula, but I should wish my body to be washed clean, to be clothed in clean white linen garments and robes, with shoes, apron and cap, etc.; to be laid in a coffin sufficiently large to contain my body without pressure. Should I die here, let me be buried in my own lot in the grave yard. Let the coffin be neat and comely, but plain and strong, made of cedar or red wood, or of our own mountain pine; if of the latter, colored or stained, and placed in an outer strong box, with a light cotton or woolen mattress or bed and a convenient pillow for the head. . . . Should I die in Jackson County, Missouri, let the above directions be carried out as far as practicable." Taylor's former secretary, L. John Nuttall, describes the funeral procession: "There were 1 hurse, 7 bands of music and band carriages, 43 carriages, 31 buggies, 19 wagons and one cart. Total vehicles 101" (2)
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-- 135 years ago today - Jul 29, 1887 • Friday --
[George Q. Cannon]
... Bro. Jos. F. Smith and myself rode to the city. As it was asserted that they were watching the Temple Block very closely, we got out at a new place, beside Bro. Thatcher’s house, and went back in the lot and got through a gate in the wall into the Tithing Office block, and by that means reached the office, where we found Brother Wilford Woodruff, who had arrived yesterday at 10 o’clock. [He comments on how various fellow general authorities have changed since he last saw them.] ... Bro. Bateman took Bro. Smith and myself down to my place, as we thought it was not safe for any of us to stop at the office. The deputy marshals are very vigilant and, thinking that they would find some of us around, they might make a search. Our meeting with the Twelve this evening was not attended by any clerk – no one outside of our Council. As the carpet of the room in which President Taylor was sick and died was spoilt by the packing of the body in ice and the using of carbolic acid upon it, I met our host this evening, having sent for him to come and arrange for his wife to select a new carpet in place of the other one. ... (4)
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-- 110 years ago today - Jul 29, 1912 --

During civil unrest in Mexico, thousands of Latter-day Saints flee the LDS settlements in northern Mexico.
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-- 90 years ago today - Jul 29, 1932 --

The death of George H. Brimhall from a self-inflicted gunshot. He served as BYU president from 1904 to 1921 and is the only BYU president to commit suicide. (5)
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-- 75 years ago today - Jul 29, 1947 --

A Quorum of the Twelve letter to the general Relief Society presidency states that women should seek blessings of health from priesthood holders and not from other women. This officially ends more than a century of women's anointing and sealing blessings of health on other women and sometimes on men. (5)
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1 - Kimball, Stanley B. ed, On the Potter's Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball
2 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
3 - Minutes, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
4 - The Journal of George Q. Cannon, Church Historian's Press, https://churchhistorianspress.org/george-q-cannon
5 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]