TODAY IN CHURCH HISTORY: 11 June

[Hemidakota]

1829 - The Prophet Joseph Smith obtains the copyright for the Book of Mormon from R. R. Lansing, clerk of the Northern District of New York.

1831 - About this time, Newel Knight and others were sent to the Prophet Joseph Smith by the Saints in Thompson, Ohio, to obtain answers to questions having to do with the consecration of properties. Leman Copley had broken his covenant to consecrate his large farm as a place of inheritance for the Saints arriving from Colesville, New York. Newel Knight was President of the Thompson Branch and sought direction from the Prophet on how to proceed with this matter that was dividing his Branch. The Prophet Joseph inquired of the Lord and received the revelation known today as Doctrine and Covenants 54.

1837 - The Prophet met with those leaving soon for missions in England and gave them special instructions on opening the work there. (History of the Church, 2:491-492).

1839 - About this time, the first home built by a Latter-day Saint in Commerce, soon to be Nauvoo, a log structure, was built by Theodore Turley. The Prophet began to dictate his history to his clerk, James Mulholland. He recorded this description of his new home in Illinois: "The land was mostly covered with tress and bushes, and much of it so wet that it was with the utmost difficulty a footman could get through, and totally impossible for teams. Commerce was so unhealthful, very few could live there; but believing that it might become a healthful place by the blessing of heaven to the Saints, and no more eligible place presenting itself, I considered it wisdom to make an attempt to build up a city" (History of the Church, 3:375).

1841 - The Prophet Joseph arrives back in Nauvoo and was "met by the acclamation of the Saints" after his victory in a Monmouth court. (History of the Church, 4:371).

1843 - The Prophet Joseph Smith spoke to the Saints at the Temple construction site. Among the topics he covered he said, "The main object [to gathering together as a people] was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose" (History of the Church, 5:423). He taught concerning the spirits in prison, the priesthood, many degrees in heaven, and the Godhead being three distinct personages.

1844 - As the Mayor of Nauvoo, Joseph Smith issues a proclamation explaining the actions of the city council in destroying the press of the Nauvoo Expositor that was published in the Nauvoo Neighbor. Several of those involved with the Expositor issued threats such as Francis M. Higbee who stated that "if they lay their hands upon it [the Expositor press] or break it, they may date their downfall from that very hour, and in ten days there will not be a Mormon left in Nauvoo" (History of the Church, 6:451). The apostates sent runners throughout the area with the intention "to try to get up a mob" (History of the Church, 6:452).

1856 - The second handcart company leaves Iowa City, Iowa, for the Great Salt Lake Valley. There were 221 persons, 48 handcarts, and 4 wagons. Daniel D. McArthur, 36 year-old returning missionary was chosen as Captain. They would arrive in Salt Lake City on September 26th.

1865 - Two representatives of the United States government, Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House and representative from Indiana, and J. M. Ashley, chairman of the House Committee on Territories, arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah, to obtain information on the Saints' practice of plural marriage and the attitude toward the federal government.

1889 - The Church sponsors a fund raising concert in the Tabernacle on Temple Square to raise money to help the victims of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood. This is one of the first major humanitarian efforts of the Church intended to help nonmembers of the Church.

1917 - Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is born in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1966 - Artists Sydney E. King and V. Russell Capson, with the help of Mark E. Littman and Joel Izatt of the Hansen Planetarium, begin to place the stars in the heavens on a mural on the rotunda ceiling above the Christus in the North Visitors' Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The stars are painted to appear as they would have on 6 April 1830, the day the Church was organized.

1978 - The first stake in Ecuador is organized in Guayaquil.

2000 - The Fukuoka Japan Temple is dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

2006 - President Gordon B. Hinckley celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first handcarts leaving Iowa City, Iowa, by traveling to Iowa City and speaking at the Handcart Pioneer Commemoration Fireside held at the University of Iowa that was broadcast over the Church satellite system.