TODAY IN CHURCH HISTORY: 12 May

[Hemidakota]

1834 - Zion's Camp traveled about thirty-five miles, passed the Bucyrus, and encamped on the Sandusky plains.

1838 - The Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon attended a meeting of the Far West High Council for the purpose of presenting the financial situation of their families and asking for help from the Church to provide for them. The Prophet explained how they had served the Church for eight years and "it appears necessary that something should be done for the support of our families by the Church, or else we must do it by our own labors; and if the Church say to us, 'Help yourselves,' we will thank them and immediately do so; but if the Church say, "Serve us,' some provision must be made for our sustenance." The Council instructed the Bishop to give both Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon each an eighty-acre lot of land and $1,100 "as a just remuneration for their services this year" (History of the Church, 3:32).

1842 - The Prophet Joseph attended a meeting of the Female Relief Society, "being filled to overflowing" (History of the Church, 5:6).

1843 - Half of the steamer Maid of Iowa was purchased by the Church to run as a ferry between Montrose and Nauvoo. Bishop George Miller arrived at sunrise with a raft of 50,000 feet of pine lumber for the Temple and Nauvoo House from the pinery on the Black River in Wisconsin.

1844 - The Prophet Joseph addressed the Saints and taught them about ordinance work for the living and the dead. He defended his calling as a Prophet and said, "I calculate to be one of the instruments of setting up the kingdom of Daniel by the word of the Lord, and I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world" (History of the Church, 6:365). Hyrum Smith received a letter threatening his life and calling him to "Make his peace with God for he would soon have to die" (History of the Church, 6:367).

1847 - Appleton Harmon completes the construction of a wooden "roadometer," an instrument designed by Orson Pratt after William Clayton came up with an idea to measure the distances traveled each day by the first pioneer company. The roadometer is not installed until May16th.

1912 - The Church Board of Education approves the establishment of the first seminary, which is to be built near Granite High School in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1985 - The first stake in Nova Scotia, Canada, is organized in Dartmouth.

1993 - The government of Italy formally grants legal status to the Church, even though there has been missionary activity in the country since 1963.

2001 - A pioneer cabin that once belonged to the grandparents of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, President Hinckley's wife, was restored at This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is dedicated by President Hinckley.

2003 - An angel Moroni was added to the steeple of the Provo Utah Temple.

2006 - Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles climbed a hill in the city of Trencin, and dedicated the land of Slovakia for the preaching of the gospel.