June 30th

June 30, 1842 - Joseph Smith, who had recently filed for bankruptcy, replies to one of his creditors: "The influence this step may have upon our society is a matter we cannot stop to consult, as we had no alternative left."

June 30, 1843 - Joseph Smith preaches to a crowd of 8000 people in Nauvoo: "I wish the lawyer who says we have no powers in Nauvoo may be choked to death on his own words. Don't employ lawyers, or pay them money for their knowledge, for I have learnt they don't know anything. I know more than they all. . . . You speak of lawyers; I am a lawyer too, but the Almighty God has taught me the principle of law; . . ."

June 30, 1844 - Illinois Governor Thomas Ford orders "Colonel Fellows and Captain Jonas" to go to Nauvoo "and ascertain what is the feeling, the disposition, and determination of the people there, . . . ascertain whether any of them propose in any manner to revenge themselves, whether any threats have been used, and what is proposed generally, to be done by them." He orders them then to go to nearby Warsaw to ascertain "whether any attack is intended on Nauvoo. . . . [A]nd in my name forbid any such interference, without my request, on pain of being demanded for punishment."

June 30, 1845 - A group headed by Brigham Young meets with Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother: "A long conversation was had between her and President Young pertaining to a vision she had last week, in which Wm. Smith is represented as president over the patriarchs to guide and council the church." William Smith does not attend the meeting but writes to Young concerning his "demotion" (from "patriarch over" the church to "patriarch to" the church) that he had learned about by reading the TIMES AND SEASONS: "why was not the article shown to me as it was an article touching my office and standing in the church, nothing was said to me on the subject. . . .I have often said and sufficient to satisfy all the saints that I was willing, it was my wish that you should stand as President of the church, but I claim to be patriarch over the whole church, . . ." William Smith is excommunicated four months later.

June 30, 1846 - U.S. army officers ask church leaders at Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, to raise 500 volunteers for the Mexican War. Brigham Young had previously commissioned Jesse C. Little to secretly negotiate army service for 2,000 Mormons to finance exploration of the Great Basin. But in public sermons Young would insist that the Mormon Battalion was a necessary accommodation to the U.S. president's threat to annihilate the Mormons if they did not comply.

June 30, 1867 - Brigham Young preaches: "If there is a despicable character on the face of the earth, it is an apostate from this Church. He is a traitor who has deceived his best friends, betrayed his trust, and forfeited every principle of honor that God placed within him. They may think they are respected, but they are not. They are disgraced in their own eyes. There is not much honesty within them; they have forfeited their heaven, sold their birthright, and betrayed their friends."

June 30, 1867 - Wilford Woodruff performs the ceremony marrying his 16-year-old daughter Bulah to 41-year old Hampton S. Beatie as his third (plural) wife. Woodruff remarks in his journal that his first wife's daughters are now all married.

June 30, 1979 - Wilbur Fugate swears to an affidavit concerning the origin of the "Kinderhook Plates:" "they are a HUMBUG, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitton and myself. . . . We read in Pratt's prophecy that 'Truth is yet to spring out of the earth.' We concluded to prove the prophecy by way of a joke. . . . Bridge Whitton cut them out of some pieces of copper; Wiley and I made the hieroglyphics by making impressions on beeswax and filling them with acid and putting it on the plates. . . . Our plans worked admirably. . . .On the following morning quite a number of citizens were there to assist in the search, there being two Mormon elders present (Marsh and Sharp). . . . The Mormons wanted to take the plates to Joe Smith, but we refused to let them go. Some time afterward a man assuming the name of Savage, of Quincy, borrowed the plates of Wiley to show to his literary friends there, and took them to Joe Smith

June 30, 1887 - Unsuccessful convention seeking statehood, even though proposed state constitution has provision outlawing polygamy: "bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a republican form of government, each of them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor."
L. John Nuttall, Secretary to the President John Taylor, writes in his journal: "Pres. Taylor is much weaker this morning; he refused to take his usual bath. He does not partake of any nourishment, excepting a little wine and a glass of beer occasionally."

June 30, 1890 - First Presidency decides to prohibit plural marriages "even in Mexico unless the contracting parties, or at least the female, has resolved to remain in that country."

June 30, 1893 - Apostle Heber J Grant, in New York seeking a loan for the church receives a letter from Second Counselor Joseph F. Smith: "This is the end of the month and not a dollar to pay anybody with not even Pres[iden]t Woodruff and the Twelve. We have sent out or caused to be sent, circulars to the Presidents of Stakes to dispose of anything on hand in their stakes, in the shape of stock-produce or other property, cheap for cash and send the same to us at once. There is nothing doing--no tithing coming in--or means stirring and everybody seems paralized as well as business."

June 30, 1904 - LDS church historian decides that publications should acknowledge existence of only Presiding Bishopric and ward bishopric and not acknowledge former offices of regional bishops, traveling bishops, and stake bishops.

June 30, 1916 - First Presidency statement on "the Father and the Son," which provides reconciliation of BOOK OF MORMON passages which seem to contradict later official teachings about separate character of Godhead's trinity. The statement is written by Apostle James E. Talmage and edited and signed by the First Presidency.

June 30, 1935 - First stake outside North America (in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii), as fulfillment of founding prophet's instructions on April 8, 1944 to organize stakes wherever there are sufficient numbers of Mormons.

June 30, 1952 - First Presidency letter to stake presidents and ward bishops that "we must always be on our guard against false teachings which destroy faith and lead the Church members into forbidden paths." Letter also cautions, "Officers should not be misled by an innocent looking face and a smoothly pious tongue." In restatement of this letter on Feb 22, 1972, different First Presidency drops latter phrase.

June 30, 1961 - An LDS missionary records in his journal Harold B. Lee's answer (given in the temple) to the question, "If the "second endowment" existed and "if so, what connection does it have with the Holy Spirit of Promise, and who receives it and why and how," Lee's answer: "You don't have to worry. You've received all the ordinances necessary for exaltation....It is a special blessing given by the President of the Church to men who have been called. It is not necessary to receive it, however. You have all the endowment you need to be exalted."

June 30, 1982 - Equal Rights Amendment is defeated. To present no church publication acknowledges Mormon role in its defeat.

June 30, 1991 - ARIZONA REPUBLIC begins three-part series on LDS church finances and claims that church receives $4.5 billion in tithing annually. LDS headquarters announces that this estimate is "grossly overstated" but does not say by how much.

June 30-July 1, 1830 - Joseph Smith is acquitted in two trials at Colesville, New York, for using a treasure-digging "peep" stone and performing and exorcism.

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