Feb 3, 1841 - The Nauvoo City Council passes "An ordinance organizing the Nauvoo Legion." The next day Joseph Smith is duly elected lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo Legion, and John C. Bennett, major-general. The Nauvoo Legion soon becomes the largest standing army in the United States.

Feb 3, 1842 - The petition of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon for membership in the Masonic order is reported favorably by an investigative committee of the Grand Lodge in Quincy, Illinois. Masons in Nauvoo, including long-time Mason Hyrum Smith, had recently began organization of the Nauvoo Lodge which is installed March 15.

Feb 3, 1844 - William Clayton, Joseph Smith's personal secretary, and Joseph Young, brother of Brigham, together with their wives receive their second anointings in the room over Joseph Smith's Store in Nauvoo. Clayton writes, "was permitted to the ordinance of washing and anointing, and was received into the Quorum of Priesthood. This is one of the greatest favors ever conferred on me and for which I feel grateful." Two and a half months previously Clayton had written that he thought Emma Smith "had power to prevent my being admitted to Joseph's Lodge" in the mean time had asked Joseph, in writing, for admittance.

Feb 3, 1846 - Notwithstanding that Brigham Young had announced that "we would not attend to the administration of the ordinances," the Nauvoo temple is surrounded by a crowd of Mormons wanting to receive endowments. Young relents and "two hundred and ninety-five persons received ordinances." This includes sixty-two-year-old Alpheus Cutler, Council-of-Fifty member, who takes five new wives increasing his total to seven.

Feb 3, 1852 - Much-married Heber C. Kimball writes in a private memorandum book, "The Spirit said I should devote my time to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and I should not be under the Law of Lawless women any more in time as I have fulfilled the Law and am now free from such Spirits...."

Feb 3, 1854 - Apostle Wilford Woodruff blesses his 13-year-old son Wilford Jr. upon the occasion of his beginning "to officiate in the priests office by going through the ward to visit the homes of each member . . ." His blessing states: "Thy body shall not be laid in the grave but thou shalt live till the coming of Christ. Then shall thy body be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality, and Shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to meet with the saints on the earth." Woodruff writes that "during the evening Sisters [Elizabeth] Whitney & Eliza Snow called upon us and spent the evening. . . . Before they left Sister Whitney sung in tongues in the pure language which Adam & Eve made use of in the garden of Eden. This gift was obtained while in Kirtland through the promise of Joseph. He told her if she would rise upon her feet (while in a meeting) she would have the pure Language. She done so and immediately commenced singing in that language. It was as near heavenly music as any thing I ever he[a]rd."

Feb 3, 1855 - In Salt Lake City the Universal Scientific Society adopts a constitution and elects Wilford Woodruff president. The USS eventually included eighty men and one woman. Beginning with the April 14, 1855, meeting, lectures included: George D. Watt and Woodruff on the Deseret alphabet; John Hyde on natural philosophy; George A. Smith on chopping wood and Saracen history; William W. Phelps on the ten tribes of Israel; John Lyon on poetry; Thomas Hawkins on conserving natural resources; David Candland on public opinion, determining personal character through various methods including phrenology, and the Crimean War; Jonathan Grimshaw on music; Darwin Richardson and William France on genetics; Gilbert Clements on disciplining the mind; Orson Pratt on the planets; Almon W. Babbitt on American government; Woodruff on home manufacture and horticulture; and William Paul and Brigham Young on architecture. After a year the USS disbanded.

Feb 3, 1856 - In the Salt Lake Tabernacle Heber C. Kimball preaches, "I believe men in their resurrected bodies eat or they would die. I believe they eat as well as men in their mortal bodies. . . . It will not take away from my glory for my wives to leave me. If I do my Duty & do not have women that will obey me I will go to heaven & the Lord will give me all that I want."

Feb 3, 1867 - Brigham Young begins a sermon, "In addressing the Saints, whether by the word of exhortation, admonition, correction or in doctrine, it requires good attention for a person to retain even a small portion of that which they hear This is why it is so necessary for us to be talked to and preached to so much."

Feb 3, 1868 - Brigham Young tells Salt Lake City School of Prophets that "there were witches in the midst of these people, by whose influence suffering and distress were wrought among the people." He reaffirms this to School of Prophets on Dec. 11, 1869: "Witch Craft is true but not of the Lord but is of the evil one." His remarks lead some faithful Mormons to use well-known magical remedies, such as parchment house-amulets and counter-charm incantations against witchcraft.

Feb 3, 1872 - Two women are on LDS People's Party "Committee of Seven" which selects nominees for upcoming election.

Feb 3, 1875 - On a ferry across the Mersey river in Liverpool, England Apostles Joseph Fielding Smith, John Henry Smith and secretary L. John Nuttall "got a joke on one another." They find seats in a cabin that they did not realize was marked for ladies only. As the cabin fills with women and no men they gradually realize their error John Henry Smith "sneaked out & J[oseph] F[ielding] S[mith] and L. J[ohn] N[uttall] followed all feeling as if we had been in some mischief."

Feb 3, 1885 - Enactment of "Idaho Test Oath" which prohibits all Mormons from voting.

Feb 3, 1888 - Apostle John Henry Smith and one of his two wives "attended a party at which a number of underground people [polygamists in hiding] met and had a nice party."
Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon, plural wife of stake president Angus Cannon, writes to her husband from Europe, that the trials of polygamy would be unendurable without "a thorough knowledge from God, that the principle for which we are battling and striving to maintain in purity upon the earth is ordained by Him, and that we are chosen instruments in His hands to engage in so great a calling." She adds that "even with this assurance grounded in one's heart, we do not escape trials and temptations, grievious at times in their nature."

Feb 3, 1890 - U.S. Supreme Court rules in DAVIS VS. BEASON that it is constitutional for Idaho to disenfranchise all Mormons. The decision is written by Justice Stephen J. Field who had previously been on the list of federal officials receiving bribes from the Church.

Feb 3. 1891 - Rank-and-file Mormon writes: "Some say and have written that great things are to happen this year….Some even declare that Christ will come and the Millenial Reign be inaugurated. I think some of these things will not happen as stated, but God holds all these things in his hands and at the close of 91 we shall tell more than now."

Feb 3, 1895 - Emmeline B. Wells cancels her appointment to speak at Bethel Church in Atlanta because it is "a colored people's church [and] the Southern people consider it unwise."
Apostle Francis M. Lyman writes in his jounal: "Pres[ident] Larson's first wife just died. He gave me account of his wives sudden death. I answered his questions about his family affairs. Counseled him to take home his next wife Annie and not to marry her by the law to give her advantage over his other two wives. If he were pressed by the law till he was arrested then could relieve himself by marrying at any moment. He accepted my advice in proper spirit."

Feb 3, 1911 - In Salt Lake City Apostle John Henry Smith writes "The school board met and heard some reports from Supt. H. H. Cummings. Some wild ideas [regarding organic evolution and higher biblical criticism] are getting into Brigham Young University at Provo. Three of the Professors are belittling the Bible." At the General Church Board of Education meeting to discuss Cummings's reports, Cummings finds students themselves quite comfortable with the "new light" which the teachers had imparted. Nevertheless, board members are disturbed and appointed a committee to meet with the three professors to see if they would stop teaching these ideas--namely organic evolution and higher criticism.

Feb 3, 1959 - President David O. McKay writes Dr. A. Kent Christensen: "The Church has issued no official statement on the subject of the theory of evolution. Neither 'Man, His Origin and Destiny' by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith nor 'Mormon Doctrine' by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, is an official publication of the Church. . . . While scientific people themselves differ in their interpretations and views of the theory, any conflicts which may seem to exist between the theory and revealed religion can well be dealt with by suspending judgment as long as may be necessary to arrive at facts and at a complete understanding of the truth" McKay’s secretary Clare Middlemiss restates first sentence in letter of May 8, 1964

Feb 3,1962 - CHURCH NEWS Headlines, "MIA Bans The Twist," popular dance among teenagers and young adults. This prohibition is widely ignored by youth and even by adult leaders in some wards and stakes, especially in Britain and Europe.

Feb 3, 1972 - Church's first agricultural missionaries depart (initially to South America).

"Suspending Judgement!"

Okay, I love this nugget. It looks like David O. himself was pioneering the "we don't know" stance of the church even in 1964.


". . . . While scientific people themselves differ in their interpretations and views of the theory [of evolution}, any conflicts which may seem to exist between the theory and revealed religion can well be dealt with by suspending judgment as long as may be necessary to arrive at facts and at a complete understanding of the truth" McKay’s secretary Clare Middlemiss restates first sentence in letter of May 8, 1964

Well the church is still doing a marvelous job of "suspending judgment for as long as may be necessary" when it comes to , well . . . everything. LMAO Thank you Baura.