June 13th

June 13, 1820 - Palmyra, N.Y. Highway Survey begins "on the south line of Township No. 12[,] 2d range of townships in the town of Palmyra, three rods fourteen links southeast of Joseph Smith's dwelling house, . . ."

June 13, 1837 - Apostles Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, and others leave for the first mission to Europe (England).

June 13, 1840 - William Clayton writes in his journal: "About 2 o'clock this A.M. Elizabeth Crooks began in her sleep to sing in tongues. She spake and sung in about 7 languages occupying about 2 hours. During the day Betsy Pool got the gift of tongues."

June 13, 1844 Joseph Smith refers to "my guardian angel" during a sermon.

June 13, 1852 - Brigham Young preaches: "When we use the term perfection, it applies to man in his present condition, as well as the heavenly beings. We are now, or may be, as perfect in OUR SPHERE as God and angels are in theirs, but the greatest intelligence in existence can continually ascend to greater heights of perfection."

June 13, 1862 - With authorization of Utah's acting governor Frank Fuller, a military-sized (between 200 and 1000 men) Mormon "posse" attacks schismatic community of Joseph Morris in Weber County, Utah. The "Morrisites" had imprisoned three apostate "spies." When negotiations stall the posse fires a cannon into the Morrisite congregation killing two women and leaving seventeen-year-old Mary Christofferson's chin dangling by a flap of skin. The Morrisites return fire and the "Morrisite war" begins.

June 13, 1863 - Orson Pratt Jr. [son of Apostle Orson Pratt] writes to Brigham Young to refuse a mission call he had previously accepted: "During your recent visit to St. George, I informed you of the change that had taken place in my religious views, thinking that, in such a case, you would not insist on my undertaking the mission assigned me. You received me kindly and gave me what I have no doubt you considered good fatherly advice. I was much affected during the interview and hastily made a promise which, subsequent reflection convinces me it is not my duty to perform. . . . Should any thing hereafter occur to convince me that my present decision is unwise I shall be ready to revoke it." Pratt's "change . . . in my religious views" was that he did not consider Joseph Smith a prophet nor the LDS church true.

June 13, 1865 - Brigham Young calls Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Franklin D. Richards and George Q. Cannon to the Historian's Office. Young calls upon Cannon to read aloud from Orson Pratt's English pamphlet, "The Great First Cause." The men then adjourned for one hour. When they reassembled at 4:00 P.M., they were joined by George A. Smith. The first sections of Pratt's "Holy Spirit" tract were then read aloud, after which Young asked those present "what should be done with these works written by Orson Pratt." After some discussion, a vote was taken, and Pratt's writings were condemned as false doctrine.

June 13, 1878 - LDS political newspaper SALT LAKE HERALD'S editorial on "Unhappy Marriages" begins: "We cannot say how many divorces the (Mormon) Utah probate courts have granted during the last few years, but the number is enormous, amounting to perhaps thousands."

June 13, 1879 - Acting church president John Taylor is quoted in an interview for the NEW YORK TIMES concerning the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding George Reynolds conviction for polygamy. Taylor denounced chief justice Waite's opinion as "so much bosh." Asked what effect he thought the court's decision would have on the Mormons, Taylor replied, "I don't know that it will have any effect except to unite us and confirm and strengthen us in our faith"

June 13, 1880 - Apostle Orson Pratt preaches: "There are some, however, so foolish in their ideas that they suppose that it does not require time for the Almighty to go from world to world, or for any celestial messenger to do so. But this is a grand mistake. Time is included in all motion. Time is included between the event of a heavenly being leaving the celestial abode, where he dwells, and going to some other abode at a distance."

June 13, 1881 - David Whitmer writes to the KANSAS CITY JOURNAL to correct some items in a recently-published interview: "I did not say that Smith used 'two small stones' as stated nor did I call the stone 'interpreters.' I stated that 'he used one stone (not two) and called it a sun stone.' . . .My statement was and is that in translating he put the stone in his hat and putting his face in the hat so as to exclude the light and that the light and characters appeared in the hat together with the interpretation which he uttered and was written by the scribe and which was tested at the time as stated."

June 13, 1901 - In answer to a question by Apostle Brigham Young Jr., it is decided by unanimous vote upon motion of Pres. Joseph F. Smith, that men who are "called to the high council should be ORDAINED high priests and SET APART as high councillors."

June 13, 1903 - In Mexico, Anthony W. Ivins performs a plural marriage ceremony for William A. Morton who has been sent to Ivins for this purpose by President Joseph F. Smith.

June 13, 1907 - The Des Moines REGISTER AND LEADER reports an interview Julius Chambers had with Emma Smith Bidamon, widow of Joseph Smith, in the summer of 1872: "Mrs. Smith was a sincere believer in her husband's faith. . . . I asked if she ever had seen those plates, or the miraculous pair of spectacles, known in Mormon history as 'Urim and Thummim.' She had not; but they veritable existed"

June 13, 1941 - First Presidency letter against federal payments for not raising crops.

June 13, 1984 - First Spanish-speaking stake in U.S. (Huntington Park West Stake in Los Angeles).

June 13, 1988 - David P. Wright, Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Near Eastern Languages, is terminated by letter from BYU. The letter gives three reasons: (1) his "view that the Book of Mormon is best explained as a nineteenth-century work of scripture rather than a translation of a document from ancient America around 600 B.C.-400 A.D." (2) His "historical-critical view that the prophets of the Hebrew Bible generally spoke for their time, and probably did not have in mind events far into the future in the time of Jesus and our day;" and (3) His "historical-critical approach to the Hebrew Bible generally, which is necessarily skeptical of the historical accuracy of events described in it and seeks to determine the correct authorship of biblical books and the date of their composition." The letter indicates that other than for the foregoing issues, he has been an "exceptional young scholar and teacher." It says his research, publication, teaching, administrative work, personality, morals, and conduct with other faculty and students are strong and good and not grounds for his termination.

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