Today in Mormon History - May 15

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On this day in Mormon History
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-- 170 years ago today - May 15, 1856 --
[Wilford Woodruff]
I was called upon to administer to Sister Orson Pratt at 1 oclok in the morning. I promised her that she & her Child should do well And in about 15 minutes she had a daughter born that weighed 12 lbs. Both Mother & Daughter doing well. (1)
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-- 135 years ago today - May 15, 1891 --

Case of Father Edward Bunker was then taken up. Clerk read paper from Father Bunker in which he submits his beliefs and unbeliefs to the High Council ... Coun D.H. Cannon referred to one part of the paper where it refers to Adam being the God of Jesus Christ, etc., and where Father Bunker says the Council had decided upon. Said the Council never decided upon this point at all. He then moved that the communication of Edward Bunker on what he believes and does not believe together with statement of the causes lading to the investigation which called forth his declaration also the full action of the Council in this matter be forwarded to the 1st Presidency of the Church asking their advice as to the proper course for us to take as the Presidency and High Council of the Stake. (2)
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-- 130 years ago today - May 15, 1896 --
[Apostle Marriner W. Merrill]
Finished planting potatoes east of [Logan] Temple today. (3)
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-- 130 years ago today - May 15, 1896; Friday --
[Heber J. Grant]
Had a chat with the Presidency regarding the editorial which appeared in this morning's issue of the Herald with reference to the alleged statements of Pres[iden]t [Joseph F.] Smith at the recent High Council meeting in Logan [Utah], to the effect that a deal had been made with leading republicans of the nation to deliver to the Republican party the Territory of Utah as a Republican State. I felt that inasmuch as this statement was absolutely false, and as the Presidency and Apostles had never been a party to any such a deal, that some contradiction ought to be made of these statements. No action, however, was taken in the premises. (4)
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-- 130 years ago today - May 15, 1896 --
[J. Golden Kimball]
The condition of some of our people regarding the last address, and the action taken by Apostle [Francis M.] Lyman in Tooele [Utah], and the course taken by Pres[ident] Jos[eph]. F. Smith, John Henry [Smith], and Heber J. Grant in Logan City [Utah] has simply shaken some of the people out of their boots. In the eyes of the people, at least many of them, it is making a martyr of Moses Thatcher.' My idea is that Apostle Thatcher, while suspended by his Quorum is still an apostle, and is not guilty of anything before the Latter-day Saints, until the time comes that he has an impartial trial, for a man cannot be guilty until it is so proven, by two or more witnesses. To say anything against Moses is to do him an injustice. All who have indulged in Politics, have got in trouble of some kind. Men seem not to be guided by the Holy Spirit when indulging in political matters as when preaching the Gospel. (5)
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-- 85 years ago today - May 15, 1941 --

President Grant said he had not changed his opinion that we should call these brethren apostles and ordain them Apostles, but not make them members of the Twelve; they are to be sent out to do the same work as the Twelve do in the Stakes of Zion. (6)
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-- 60 years ago today - May 15, 1966 --

T]he nationally distributed Parade Sunday supplement observed: "Ezra Taft Benson has consistently supported the John Birch Society's recruiting drives among Mormons." Without exaggeration, Parade also informed its millions of readers that Benson's political activism "has introduced as a result a divisive element in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (7)
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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 - Friday, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
3 - Notes from the Miscellaneous Record Book, 1886-1906: Selected diary notes from the journal books of Marriner Wood Merrill, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
4 - Heber J. Grant, Diary
5 - J. Golden Kimball, Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
6 - Minutes, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
7 - Walter Scott, "Personality Parade," Parade, 15 May 1966. 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.