Today in Mormon History - Oct 16

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On this day in Mormon History
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-- 165 years ago today - Oct 16, 1856 --
[Wilford Woodruff]
In Company with President Kimball I visited President B Young. We found him feeble but much recoverd. The sickness had mostly left President Young as soon as he came over the big mountain [on present-day highway 65 between Mountain Dell and East Canyon Resivour] this way. There seemed to be sumthing mysterious about his sickness. ... Presidents Kimball & Grant administered unto him & prayed for him & he began to recover.

The brethren felt that the valley was full of Devils. They had to go onto the mountain before they could get the spirit of prayer. They felt that there was a Legion of Devils in the valley congregated against them & trying to destroy them. They felt also that there was evil intended against them on the road & that they should leave the valley & return home. They hitched up their Horses in the morning & started for home & the nearer they drew to the City the better they felt. [They had travelled to Fort Supply & Fort Bridger.] (1)
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-- 120 years ago today - Wednesday, Oct 16, 1901 --
[John Henry Smith]
President Joseph F. Smith and me had a talk over his Councillors. He will choose John R. Winder and Anthon H. Lund.

I walked from the office to his home with him. He expressed his undying love for me and said he wanted me right by his side. (2)
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-- 110 years ago today - Oct 16, 1911 --
[George F. Gibbs to Robert D. Young]
President [Joseph F.] Smith requests you to not send more than one family represented by the enclosed recommends for second blessings to the temple in one week, this as a precaution against it being known one by the other that they are recommended for the higher blessings, as strict privacy should be observed in regard to this matter. (3)
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-- 70 years ago today - Oct 16,1951 --

Temple council of First Presidency, Quorum of Twelve Apostles and Patriarch to church decides to allow beer commercials on church-owned KSL television station. [This was over concerns that KSL would lose programing, and no longer be the dominant TV station in Utah.] (4)
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-- 55 years ago today - Oct 16, 1966 --

[Drew Pearson, Washington Post] “David O. McKay, president of the Church and now 93 years old, once championed the principle of free discussion, of letting Mormons have and listen to sharply divergent views. He still stands by that principle in theory. But the Deseret News, the Church-owned newspaper which circulates throughout Utah, shies away from publishing views not approved by the Church elders. Chief reason for the new Mormon trend toward political and philosophical isolation is probably the influx of outsiders into Utah, plus the steady drumbeat of John Birch Propaganda from Ezra Taft Benson.” (5)
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-- 45 years ago today - Oct 16, 1976 --

"10,000 concerned citizens" attend the "Rally for Decency" supported by the LDS church in its anti-pornography drive. By assignment from headquarters to local congregations, Mormons are picketing Salt Lake City's X-rated movie houses which soon close. (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 - Jean Bickmore White (editor), Church, State, and Politics: The Diaries of John Henry Smith, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1990, http://bit.ly/johnhenrysmith
3 - George F. Gibbs to Robert D. Young, Oct. 16, 1911, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship
4 - Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, Appendix 5, Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1848-1996, http://amzn.to/extensions-power
5 - Drew Pearson, “Mormons Reverse Clock,” Washington Post as referenced in Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)
6 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]