Today in Mormon History - May 23

[TodayInMormonHistory]

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

-- 190 years ago today - May 23, 1836 --

... thou shalt stand till the winding up scene of this generation and Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven. Satan shall have no power over you, and thou shalt stand on the earth & thy strength shall be great when thou art seventy five. Thy strength shall be greater than when thou art twenty five. And thou shalt have many of thy friends with thee. I seal all these blessings upon the[e] and upon thy posterity after thee. if thou art faithful, and I seal thee up to eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ, even so Amen. (1)
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Patriarchal Blessing of Calvin Harkins given by Joseph Smith, Sr. ... The blessing of God shall attend thee. on thy journey to the land of Zion. but thou must not violate the sabbath by travelling on that day. If thou shalt ask the father to see Jesus, that blessing shall not be denied thee. if thou ask in faith (1)
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Patriarchal Blessing of Joanna Swift given by Joseph Smith, Sr. ... Thy days shall be lengthened out five years. thy last days shall be thy best days. (1)
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-- 165 years ago today - May 23, 1861 --

He [Brigham Young] rebuked the speculators among us vary sharply those who are trading with the Armey & Gentiles & still profess to be Saints. Some remarks I herd at the Close as I was not in at the Begining. He said I marvel at the patience I have had with such men. Here is B F. Stewart & his Brother & hundreds of others I Could name. Bishop Warren is another. They are a stink in my norstrials. They will trade with our Enemies and sustain them and they would let in all Hell upon us for a few dimes. They would like to open a gold mine, Esstablish whiskey & Hore Shops or do any thing for Money & be hail fellows well met with the[re?] Damned Curses, They would Get my throat if they had the power.

But I will live to see them Damned & in Hell and these Stewarts & Hanks & your Bishop are among us as Saints, and we take them by the hand and Call them Brother. But I have no more fellowship for them than I have for the Devils in hell, and I Curse them in the name of Jesus Christ and the Curse of God Shall rest upon them from this hour. And they will see the day they will be glad to lick up the dust of the feet of the meanest Saint in the Celestial kingdom of God. Such men are not worth Hall room and the Curse of Almighty God shall rest upon them. (2)
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-- 130 years ago today - May 23, 1896 --
[Marriner W. Merrill]
Saturday. Yesterday we planted a little sack of corn sent me by Ezra, my son, from a gentleman in Kentucky. Said to be very early corn. Planted on [Logan] Temple ground. (3)
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-- 125 years ago today - May 23, 1901 --

President David H. Cannon said he wished to talk to us this morning. When a person is anointed, the towel should not be taken to wipe off the oil from the face or the hands or any portion of the body. Oil should not be used too profusely by the workers and should not be wiped off. There are probably some who do not understand this correctly. If they did they would not do it. It must not be done. [The] speaker wanted to say this to the people. When people come here to be baptized for their health who have not been endowed, they should be gotten out before the ceremonies commence. No persons here should see or hear these ceremonies without they are going through, nor should they be allowed to remain in the room. (4)
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-- 95 years ago today - May 23, 1931 --

A Deseret News "Church Section" article, "Bishop Released After 31 Years," regarding Joseph C. Cowley. (5)
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-- 80 years ago today - May 23, 1946 --

Six months after the publication of NO MAN KNOWS MY HISTORY, William H. Reeder, Jr., President of the New England Mission, sends a letter to Fawn Brodie which institutes Church proceedings against her to investigate "alleged wrongdoing and to show cause, if any you have, why you should not be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy, in this among other matters: That in a book recently published by you, you assert matters as truths which deny the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the Priesthood and of Christ's Church through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, contrary to the beliefs, doctrines and teachings of the Church." Brodie does not attend the bishop's court convened in her behalf "because, after all, I was a heretic." On the same day Historian Dale Morgan writes to Juanita Brooks, "As she [Brodie] has remarked to me, the book has served her as the autobiographical novel serves many other writers; it
has been a kind of catharsis for her." (6)
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1 - Patriarchal Blessing Book 1:56-57, 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 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
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 - Temple Minute Book, St. George, May 23, 1901, quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship
5 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]
6 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com