TODAY IN CHURCH HISTORY: 14 June

[Hemidakota]

1828 - The Prophet Joseph Smith allows Martin Harris to take the 116-page manuscript translation of the Book of Lehi to show his family in Palmyra. The manuscript is subsequently lost and replaced in the Book of Mormon with the translation of the small plates of Nephi.

1834 - Zion's Camp continued on their journey, encamping "in an unsafe and unpleasant situation in a ravine, the only place we could get water for some miles" (History of the Church, 2:91). Joseph Hancock and another of the brethren had been chased by four men on horseback a good part of the day. They had to run into thick brush where the horsemen couldn't go in order to escape the pursuit, arriving back in the camp fairly late. Meanwhile, in Jackson County, the leaders of the mob were trying to excite the citizens of the county to stand up and fight "the Mormons" by telling them their women and children were in danger. They burned all the homes abandoned by Church members when they were forced out of the county. Anti-Mormons were also trying to incite the citizens of Clay County, where many of the Saints driven from Jackson County fled too, against the members of the Church to drive them from their county.

1837 - The Prophet Joseph's sickness continued to "grow worse and worse until my sufferings were excruciating." He called upon Dr. Levi Richards to use "those means which a kind Providence had provided for the restoration of the sick, in connection with the ordinances . . . [Dr. Richards] administered to me herbs and mild food, and nursed me with all tenderness and attention; and my heavenly Father blessed his administrations to the easing and comforting of my system, for I began to amend in a short time, and in a few days I was able to resume my usual labors" (History of the Church, 2:493).

1843 - The Prophet records that "Buildings are going up in every direction, and the citizens manifest a determination that Nauvoo shall be built up. The stones of the Temple begin to rise tier upon tier, and it already presents a stately and noble appearance" (History of the Church, 5:431).

1844 - As rumors were circling concerning the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, the Prophet Joseph Smith and other prominent citizens of Nauvoo wrote letters to Governor Ford of Illinois to explain what really took place. (History of the Church, 6:466-467)

1847 - The first pioneer company begins to cross the North Platte River at present-day Casper, Wyoming. It takes three days for the wagon train to cross the river due to the high water level and swift current from the snow melt upstream.

1850 - The first missionaries arrive in Denmark. Elder Erastus Snow and his companion join Peter O. Hansen in taking the gospel to Denmark and Scandinavia.

1855 - William Bringhurst and 29 Mormon men from Utah, sent by Brigham Young to establish an outpost of Mormon territory, arrived in what would later become Las Vegas, Nevada. They built a fort and used flood irrigation from a creek that came from the spring about four miles from the fort to water their crops. The next year families arrived and the population peaked at 103. The outpost lasted only 2 years before the hardships of living in a desert and internal dissension resulted in the Mormon people returning to Utah.

1856 - The ship Thornton arrives in New York City with 764 Saints aboard led by James G. Willie. Most of the passengers would later make up the Willie and Martin handcart companies which become stranded in a Wyoming snow storm on their way to Utah.

1860 - A group of Latter-day Saints establish the first town in the state of Idaho at present-day Franklin.

1985 - After remolding, the Manti Utah Temple is rededicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley of the First Presidency.