March 26th

Mar 26, 1830 - The Book of Mormon is first advertised for sale. 5000 copies are printed and the WAYNE SENTINAL publishes the title page of the Book of Mormon with the announcement: "The above work, containing about 600 pages, large Deuodecimo, is now for sale, wholesale and retail, at the Palmyra Bookstore, by E. B. Grandin." A few days later Joseph Smith gives Oliver Cowdery the brown "seer stone" with which Smith discovered the gold plates (according to Brigham Young) and translated the Book of Mormon into English (according to Smith's wife Emma, Cowdery's wife Elizabeth, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, Hyrum Smith, and William Smith who witnessed the translation process). Smith had previously used this seer stone in his family's quest for enchanted treasure.

Mar 26, 1844 - Joseph Smith petitions Congress to commission him to a U.S. army officer and authorize him to enlist 100,000 armed volunteers to move at his direction through the western territories. (The LDS population at this time is 26,000 worldwide.)

Mar 26, 1845 - Joseph Smith's former scribe and now clerk William Clayton writes in his diary, "I am a perfect slave to them all the while. I have as much work to receive the tithings for the Temple as an ordinary penman could keep up with, but more than this I spend about 3 or 4 days a week in council and recording records of the kingdom [Council of Fifty]. . . . The church has given me a poor lot for an inheritance but they have also given other men better lots who work no harder than I do and have more money to sport in."

Mar 26, 1846 - At the "Camp of Israel" Brigham Young "gave them a lecture concerning the folly of one brother's overbidding another in purchasing corn, etc. I said I wished I could see the man that followed [Howard] Egan yesterday and overbid him, that I might kick him out of this Camp; . . ." This is an exaggeration since Young knew who the man was Thomas L. Williams. Egan had gone to the country to buy corn the day before and struck a deal for "a considerable amount of corn at 20 cents per bushel." Williams "learning of his bargain with Egan, told him he would give him 25 cents and pay him the cash." Brigham Young commented "This is one of the many difficulties which are liable to arise in a large Camp where there is not a perfect organization and the agents of the different divisions do not understand each others movements."

Mar 26, 1847 - At Winter Quarters Brigham Young teaches, "I felt that it was wrong to indulge in feelings of hostility and bloodshed toward the Indian, the descendants of Israel, who might kill a cow, an ox or even a horse; to them the deer, the buffalo, the cherry and plum tree or strawberry bed were free. . . . I preached to the saints in the afternoon, and told them that it would be necessary for those who followed the pioneers to take eighteen months provisions. . . .At sundown, I met the brethren of the Twelve, and others, also William McCarey, the Indian Negro, and his wife at the office. McCarey made a rambling statement, claiming to be Adam, the ancient of days, and exhibited himself in Indian costume; he also claimed to have an odd rib."

Mar 26, 1857 - Philo T. Farnsworth, writing from Beaver, inquires, "Is it my privilege to take a couple more wives if I can find some free girls? If so, I thought I'd come up this summer when you get home from your trip north."

Mar 26, 1882 - Two days after the Edmunds anti-polygamy act is signed in to law, Wilford Woodruff preaches: "However, if I were to express my feelings to Congress and the leading men of our nation, and to our enemies and the whole Christian world, I would say, do not weep for us--and we are sensible of the fact that they will not--but rather weep for yourselves and your children, for as sure as the Lord lives the evils that men seek to bring upon us, will return in due time upon their own heads, heaped up, pressed down and running over. For it is an eternal law, and a law by which we are governed, that what measure we mete, shall be measured back to us again."

Mar 26, 1883 - Apostle and European Mission President John Henry Smith writes during a train ride in England from Leeds to Liverpool, "In the compartment I rode in were eight other men, all English and respectable appearing. I found them well informed but from their talk rather immoral. One of them said that no longer than the night before he had had sexual intercourse with his neighbor's wife and that he always took his satisfaction out of women when they would permit him to do so. I told him he ought to have his throat cut for his vileness."

Mar 26, 1888 - Twelve Apostles meet and "we continued our talk over our little troubles with Bro. G[eorge] Q. Cannon and finally came to an understanding and forgave each other."

Mar 26, 1896 - At meeting of First Presidency and Twelve Apostles, "President Geo. Q. Cannon made the statement that as Bro B. H. Roberts had not been in harmony with his brethren and that a feel of dissension had spread through the church on account of some of Bro. Roberts speeches. That all his brethren wanted of him was to show a broken heart and contrite spirit, which Bro. Roberts did. We took him into our fellowship. He with the others present shed tears of joy at the change in his spirit. . . .President G[eorge] Q. Cannon requested the Saints to quit exhibiting their dead in public."

Mar 26, 1903 - At meeting of First Presidency and apostles: "There was some informal talk regarding the question as to whether there are, or would be, any women in hell. It was conceded that some women by their acts--namely, abortion, child murder after birth, and the poisoning of their husbands, and other criminal acts--merited a place in the lower regions. President Smith expressed the view that women who commit such crimes as those mentioned would receive punishment to the uttermost farthing, but that there would be no daughters of perdition." . General authorities authorize rebaptism without church discipline for young man who confesses "secret crime he committed in having to do with animals."

Mar 26, 1966 - CHURCH NEWS reports that Devendra J. Singh, former Hindu "is the first of his race to be called on a mission, the second East Indian to go through the temple and the fourth of his people to be ordained and elder."
CHURCH NEWS editorial on "Politics and Religion" states: "We have been taught to avoid extremes and extremists, whether in the Word of Wisdom, in politics or in any other area of thought. The Lord's work is not accomplished by immoderate measures and radical groups . . .The Lord justifies us in defending our Constitution and this land for which it was written. But He does not justify radicalism in doing so. . . . The Church has nothing to do with Communists, nothing to do with racists, nothing to do with Birchers, nothing to do with any slanted group. But it does have everything to do with the eternal salvation of human souls."

Mar 26, 1991 - Utah Supreme Court rules in decision written by Justice Christine Durham: "The fact that our [Utah] constitution requires the state to prohibit polygamy does not necessarily mean that the state must deny any or all civil rights and privileges to polygamists." Therefore, court rules that polygamists have right to adopt children.

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