Chronology of Mormon History

	597 B.C.	Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, installs Zedekiah as tributary king. City is not destroyed. 2 Kings 24:14 “None remained except the poorest people of the land.”
	587 B.C.	Zedekiah revolts against Nebuchadnezzar, allies with Pharaoh Hophra of Egyptrevolts, siege of Jerusalem, city and Solomon’s Temple destroyed.
	1611	King James Bible published.
	1678	John Bunyan, who became one of the most prominent authors of the late 17th century, publishes The Pilgrim’s Progress. The best-selling book presents many parallels to Joseph Smith’s future work.
	1699	A portion of Captain Kidd’s treasure are discovered on Gardiner’s Island, N.Y. Kidd’s treasure lore helped fuel the money digging enthusiasm around Albany during Joseph Smith, Jr.’s youth. See Aug 15, 1823.
	1724	Charles Johnson publishes A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, recounting the exploits of Captain Kidd.
	1775	History of the American Indians, James Adair published. Provides 23 arguments that Indians are descendants of Hebrews, tells of buried plates (5 copper and 2 brass) kept by Indians.
	1778	Emanuel Swedenborg’s book Heaven and Hell first translated into English. Swedenborg’s ideas would be significantly echoed in Joseph Smith’s work.
	1784	John Glen, sailing from London, brings Emanuel Swedenborg ‘s popular work, Heaven and Hell to the U.S., lecturing and promoting the book.
	1785	Solomon Spalding graduates from Dartmouth. Spalding is one of several characters influential in Joseph Smith’s development that passed through Dartmouth.
	1786	Ethan Smith (reportedly a Seminary classmate of Solomon Spalding) enters Dartmouth. See 1823 publication of View of The Hebrews.
	1789	Emanuel Swedenborg reading groups form in New York, Boston, Ohio and many other Northeastern states, as his philosophical works become more widely known.
	1792-1831	Martin Harris (a farmer) in Palmyra, N.Y. knew Joseph Smith Sr. and often hired him as a farm hand.
	1796	Lucy Smith, Joseph Smith Jr.’s mother, received a wedding gift of $1,000 from her brother and his business partner.
	1796	First elephant arrives in America on Captain Jacob Crowninshield’s boat from India. The Book of Mormon claims that elephants existed prior to this date.
	1801	Francis Barrett’s The Magus published, making ceremonial magic and occult practices more readily available.
	1801	The Cane Ridge Revival, described as the “largest and most famous camp meeting of the Second Great Awakening”, sparks waves of charismatic spiritual leaders in the region.
	1802	U.S. President Thomas Jefferson and 100 members of Congress hear Baltimore minister John Hargrove speak on Emanuel Swedenborg’s work.
Spring	1803	Joseph Sr. invests everything in ginseng venture, defrauded by business parner, loses everything, sells farm to cover debts.
	1804	Thomas Jefferson reelected President – U.S. population 6 million.
Nov 7	1805	Lewis and Clark first glimpse Pacific Ocean.
Dec 23	1805	Joseph Smith Jr. born in Sharon, VT.
Oct 3	1806	Oliver Cowdery (third cousin of Joseph Smith) born in Wells, VT.
Oct 15	1807	Joseph Sr. petitions Vermont for military exemption, citing poverty. (To the Honorable General Assembly, Oct 15, 1807)
	1811	Solomon Mack, Joseph Smith’s grandfather publishes his war/sailing adventures. Storytelling remained a prominent theme throughout the Smith family history.
	1811	Hyrum Smith, Joseph’s older brother, enters Moor’s Academy, a Dartmouth prep school.
	1811	Lucy Mack Smith reported that Joseph Smith Sr. had the tree of life dream.
June 18	1812	President James Madison declares war against Great Britain.
	1812-1814	Solomon Spalding brings Manuscript Found to printers Patterson & J. Harrison Lambdin.
	1812	Napoleon invades Russia, suffers massive losses, retreat as winter sets in.
	1812	Emanuel Swedenborg‘s Heaven and Hell published in U.S. His philosophies elaborate upon “Three heavens…distinct from each other,” Highest heaven is “the Celestial Kingdom,” degrees correspond to sun, moon and stars.
	1813	Joseph Smith Jr. endures painful leg operation.
May	1814	Joseph Sr. is deemed too poor to be levied poll tax, could not vote.
April 5	1815	Mount Tambora – largest eruption in recorded history, reduced global temperatures, devastated crop yields globally.
March	1816	Joseph Sr. relates one of several prominent visionary dreams. (Lucy’s Book 266, 319)
March 25	1816	Smith family receives “warning out” of community notice from Constable. (Norwich town records, Vogel, Early Mormon Documents)
June	1816	Smith family crops ruined by record cold summer.
	1816	Smith family moves to Palmyra, NY – “The Burned-Over District” known for extreme evangelical fervor. Unpaid creditors seize most of their funds.
	1816	Elias Smith published his vision, a common occurrence among various religious sects.
	1816	The Late War published in New York, becomes required reading in schools. The Late War provides countless parallels to The Book of Mormon narrative.
	1817	Religious revival occurs in Palmyra area.
	1817	New York Daily Advertiser describes the public’s enthusiasm for Captain Kidd treasure.
	1817	Governor of N.Y. describes mounds around state containing “piles of skeletons.” (see Natural Born Seer, 376)
July 4	1817	Erie Canal construction begins, largest economic project in the nation, abundant employment opportunities exist.
Jan 21	1818	*Palmyra Register* publishes article speculating of battles and burial mounds in area.
May 7	1818	Joseph Smith Sr. raised to Master Freemason in Ontario Lodge #23 in Canandaigua, NY.
May 26	1819	*Palmyra Register* publishes speculation “this country was once inhabited by a race of people, partially civilized, exterminated by forefathers of the…tribes of Indians in this country.”
Aug	1819	Jeremiah Hurlburt sues Joseph Smith Sr., includes “damage for not working land according to agreement.” (Ontario County Record Center)
Sept	1819	Smith as a teenager obtains three different seer stones, his first being a whitish, opaque stone, located using Sally Chase’s green stone. (see Magic World View, 42)
Spring (date unknown)	1820	Many years later, Smith claimed to experience his First Vision during this season. Not a single document, family member, friend or foe has ever substantiated this event – nobody heard of it until many years later. Persecution stemmed solely from the Smith family’s money digging activities and unresolved debts.
	1820	Compilation of Samuel Mitchill’s speculations on origins of indigenous peoples published. Mitchill theorized that a white race met a dark race in bloody conflicts in upstate NY.
	1820	Smith family earns money selling cakes and beer from handcart at regional fairs.
	1821	Smith used his whitish seer stone on treasure hunts, sometimes with his brothers. (see Magic World View, 50)
	1821	Charles Finney records his vision, in similar fashion to many others.
	1821	Joseph Smith Jr. was “very passable exhorter” at Methodist camp meetings, revivals. (Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps & Gorham’s Purchase, 214)
	1822	Smith finds brown seer stone while treasure digging (later said to be a well) on Willard Chase property. This stone would be placed in his hat to dictate the Book of Mormon.
	~1822	Antionio Lebolo discovers eleven mummies and several Papyri in Thebes, Egypt. (Egyptian hieroglyphics remain unreadable at this time)
	1822	Peter Ingersoll, Smith family neighbor at the time, later stated “general employment of the family was digging for money.” 72 others made corroborating affidavits. (Peter Ingersoll, Affidavit, Dec 2, 1833)
July 2	1822	The land agent, Zechariah Seymour, to whom the Smith’s owe mortgage payments, dies.
	1822	Smith served as treasure seer for Oliver Harper, whose partners included Josiah Stowell. (see Magical World View, 56)
Aug 1	1822	Final payment due on Smith farm.
Nov	1822	Smiths build framed home with mortgage money, failing to pay land owner.
	1822-1844	Sidney Rigdon shows Spalding manuscript to John Winters [per Winters].
	1823	Ethan Smith publishes *View of The Hebrews*, which provides the narrative framework of The Book of Mormon.
	1823	There were two bookstores in Palmyra, and a public library, despite population of farmers and unskilled labor. (see Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 179-183) The Smith family had extensive access to works and thinking of the day.
April 15	1823	Ontario (New York) Repository publishes story of Colonel Abraham Edwards’s discovery of ancient manuscript, nobody could decipher the hieroglyphics, receives prominent press.
May 16	1823	Detroit Gazette publishes article about same ancient manuscript.
Aug 15	1823	Salem Gazette reports in Albany, N.Y. newspaper that Captain Kidd hid his loot in the region.
Sept 21	1823	Joseph Smith (17) speaks of angel visitation (later identified as Moroni) and of the existence of gold plates. Later, he writes of instructions to wait four years.
Sept 22	1823	Smith tells of attempt to retrieve plates, denied, struck by toad-like creature, instructed to bring older brother Alvin next year. (Benjamin Saunders)
Fall	1823	This is the year and time Lucy Smith (Joseph’s mother) later stated Joseph’s first vision occurred (Lucy’s Book, 335)
Nov 19	1823	Smith’s eldest brother Alvin dies, primary family breadwinner, additional financial strain on Smith family, posing problem for Angel’s command to bring Alvin.
March 13	1824	Large revivals in Palmyra area – Lucy Mack Smith, Hyrum, Sophronia and Harrison join Presbyterians.
	1824	Popular history of New York published, relating tradition of Seneca Indians, highly civilized white race totally destroyed, built fortifications against savage red Indians.” (History of State of N.Y. Including its Aboriginal and Colonial Annals, 40)
May	1824	John Greenwood, New York lawyer, received power of attorney over Smith’s farm, 18 months overdue mortgage payment. Note deferred until Dec 25, 1825.
Sept 22	1824	Smith tells of second attempt to get plates from Hill Cumorah guardian, again denied.
Sept 29	1824	Joseph Sr. publishes announcement in local newspaper, Wayne Sentinel, denying rumors that Alvin’s body has been disinterred. The notion of Alvin’s body being necessary to satisfy the treasure guardian fits well within 19th-century folklore.
Feb 18	1825	Russell Stoddard, carpenter on Smith home, sues Joseph Sr. for $66.59.
	1825	Hyrum Smith joined Masons.
Summer	1825	Josiah Stowell searches with seeress Odle for lost Spanish mine in Pennsylvania. Stowell would later become one of Joseph Smith Jr.’s money digging patrons. (Mormon History, Joseph and Heil Lewis)
	1825	Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews reprinted.
Fall	1825	Joseph, with Samuel Lawrence, mutually envision plates with their seer stones, introducing notion of spectacles accompanying plates.
Oct 11	1825	The Wayne Sentinel, Smith’s hometown newspaper, publishes article describing how Indians are “lineal descendants of the Israelites.“
October	1825	Both Joseph Sr. and Jr. accompany Josiah Stowell to South Bainbridge to search for buried treasure.
Nov 1	1825	Joseph Smith, Isaac Hale, Josiah Stowell and others sign Articles of Agreement for dividing anticipated proceeds from renewed treasure quest. (Articles of Agreement, reprinted in Kirkham, New Witness for Christ in America)
Nov 17	1825	Joseph Sr. and Jr. and Stowell find no treasure, Smith “said the enchantment was so powerful that he could not see” with his stone,” relocate to another Stowell property along the Susquehanna river. (see Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 55)
Nov	1825	Isaac Hale’s affidavit identifies this as the month he met Joseph in the money digging business.
	1825	Sidney Rigdon has a doctrinal falling out with Alexander Campbell over importance of spiritual gifts and communal property. (see My Doctrine, 385) Joseph Smith would later embrace many of Rigdon’s religious philosophies, as well as his wealthy parishioners immediately upon fleeing to Kirtland, OH. See Smith’s monetary revelations of January and February 1831.
Nov – Mar	1825-1826	Joseph Smith lives at Josiah Stowell’s in Bainbridge, NY, while working for him as a treasure hunter.
Dec 20	1825	Smith family fails to pay mortgage, lose their land and foreclosed house to Lemuel Durfee, while both Joseph Sr. and Jr. dig for money with Josiah Stowell. The name Lemuel would be portrayed as a wicked character in the Book of Mormon
	1826	There were at least 23 libraries surrounding Manchester/Palmyra.
	1826	Journalist William Morgan disappears, presumably murdered for preparing anti-Mason expose. Secrecy surrounding Masonic practices and rituals fanned pop culture speculation.
	1826	American Temperance Society forms in U.S. Early Mormonism would adopt numerous temperance philosophies.
March 20	1826	Relative of Josiah Stowell files complaint against Smith, who is arrested for money digging fraud. Justice Albert Neely conducts the “glass looker” trial.
June 7	1826	Large Methodist camp revival occurs near Palmyra, keynote speaker is retiring minister Bishop M’Kendree. Benjamin G. Paddock also preached. This episode is said to have inspired Joseph Smith’s King Benjamin narrative.
Jan 17	1827	Joseph elopes with Emma Hale against her father’s wishes, after using seer stone to confirm she is the one.
Jan 18	1827	Joseph and Emma marry.
Fall	1827	Joseph Smith Jr. and Sr. work on money digging project. (Martin Harris, Lorenzo Saunders Interview 1884)
Sept 18	1827	Smith family purchases lamp black paint from Dr. Gain Robinson’s Palmyra store – used to paint objects black for use in treasure seeking rituals. (Gain Robinson Store day book)
Sept 21	1827	Joseph sends his father to keep eye on Samuel Lawrence, a treasure digging partner, to ensure he didn’t search for treasure on Hill Cumorah this same night. Competition among money digging associates for suspected prime locations was common. (Saints: The Standard of Truth 1815-1846,’ 1:4:37)
Sept 22	1827	Smith claimed to receive gold plates at Cumorah after midnight – this day was both the autumnal equinox and new moon, strong astrological alignment. New moon was in second day – as published in Book of Fate and folklore manuals. Smith family parchments and dagger, which they unsuccessfully relied upon to search for treasure, align with favorable planetary powers of this date. (see Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 167)
Fall	1827	Joseph Smith Jr. describes running for 3 miles, while carrying heavy gold plates and fighting off three attackers. The purported plates Smith described are estimated to have weighed between 50 to 90 pounds. (Lucy Mack Smith)
December	1827	Joseph and Emma move to Harmony to live with her parents. Penniless, earning little money treasure digging, he borrows $50 from Martin Harris.
	1828	Palmyra newspapers print anti-Masonic articles describing “secret combination”, referring to “its secret and cut-throat oaths.”
February	1828	Martin Harris travels to NY City, carrying transcribed symbols from plates, to find Mitchill in hopes of verifying authenticity. Mitchell could not decode, drafted introductory note to Charles Anthon.
February	1828	Anthon declares the characters “imitation of various alphabetic characters, no meaning with them…” Harris departs convinced Smith is smarter than Anthon. Anthon remained consistent his entire life refuting JS and Harris account. (Anthon to Coit, Apr 3, 1841)
Spring	1828	Isaac Hale wants son-in-law Joseph out of money digging business, extends him credit for farmland on his property.
June 15	1828	Emma delivers son, dies within day.
~June 25	1828	Joseph and Emma, along with many of her kin, seek consolation, affiliate with Methodists.
June 28 – July	1828	Emma’s cousin Joshua McKune and another accost Smith, “such a character as he was a disgrace to the church.” Force him to either make public confession, renounce fraudulent practices or withdraw from church. Smith withdraws from Methodists.
July	1828	Martin Harris loses 116 pages of manuscript.
July	1828	Smith reveals D&C 3, loses ability to translate for a season.
Aug	1828	Oliver Cowdery, second cousin to Lucy Smith, hired as school teacher, boards at Joseph Sr. home.
Aug	1828	Smith reveals D&C 10, solving the problem of the 116 pages – numerous problems with this story.
Sept 22	1828	Plates and interpreters apparently returned to Smith, though he never uses them.
March	1829	Martin Harris asks Smith for “greater witness.” Smith instructs Harris to follow his tracks into snowy woods where he had buried the plates. Harris never locates any plates. (Affidavit of Isaac Hale / see also Natural Born Seer, 332)
March	1829	Smith reveals Book of Commandments 4:2 “he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift.” Joseph’s role, clearly defined in canonized scripture, would be significantly altered and expanded in 1835 D&C 5:4.
April	1829	Oliver Cowdery becomes Smith’s scribe. Oliver is Smith’s distant cousin.
April	1829	Smith provides Oliver with D&C 8 blessing, originally identifying his gift as “gift of working with the sprout” (divining rod), later altered to “gift of working with the rod”, then altered to “gift of Aaron”.
May	1829	Smith and Cowdery relocate to Whitmer farm in N.Y., at Whitmer’s expense.
May	1829	Oliver attempts to translate but sees nothing but blackness in the rock. He “could have translated…it is not expedient now” reveals Smith in D&C 9.
May	1829	Martin Harris hears progress report, wants to visit Smith. Lucy Harris gathers affidavits from neighborhood, files complaint before magistrate. Martin testifies he believes Smith has powers, judges tosses them all out.
May 16-28 (date unknown)	1829	Peter, James, John appear possibly within this 13-day period. This seminal event in Joseph Smith Jr.’s history passed without mention or record until several years later, when Smith introduced it into his evolving narrative. The LDS Church remains unaware of the location or date of this purported event.
Late May	1829	Smith and Oliver relocate to Whitmer farm in NY, at Whitmer’s expense. Witnesses to the translation process, confirm no plates or breastplate were present – Smith stared into his hat for entire project.
June 1	1829	Smith and Oliver resume work on the book.
June 11	1829	Smith applies for Book of Mormon copyright.
June	1829	As the Book nears completion, Smith family writes many letters to family members promoting the “marvelous work”, yet not one mentions a vision or visitation from God.
June 16	1829	E.B. Grandin’s Wayne Sentinel newspaper publishes Book of Mormon title page, a requirement for copyright, along with derisive commentary about the project.
June 17	1829	Hyrum Smith receives response from Uncle Jesse Smith, angry at attempts to promote Smith, accusing him of “making lead books…deception…shielded by your ignorance.” (Natural Born Seer, 362)
June 26	1829	E.B. Grandin declares “most people entertain an idea that the whole matter is the result of a gross imposition, and a grosser superstition.”
June 28	1829	Smith, Cowdery, Whitmer, Harris go into the woods, pray to receive spiritual vision of the plates. Whitmer later describes “a table with many records on it, plates, sword of Laban, directors and interpreters, heard voice. (Whitmer, Sept 7-8, 1878)
June	1829	Book of Mormon finished.
July 2	1829	8 additional witnesses vision plates after praying for hours while admonished by Smith to repent. Versions differ if in grove, in home, plates in box, no angel.
July-Aug	1829	Negotiations with printer continue. Grandin does not trust the Smiths to pay him, will not extend credit or begin work without securing collateral.
Aug 11-25	1829	Unable to pay any portion of the printing costs or secure credit, Smith delivers chastising D&C 19 revelation to Martin Harris – “eternal, endless God’s punishment, repent, smite, wrath, anger, suffering, not covet thine own property, impart freely.”
Aug 25	1829	Despite warnings from Grandin not to do so, Martin Harris mortgages his land to E. B. Grandin for $3,000 to pay for Book printing, repayment due within 18 months. (Martin Harris to E.B. Grandin, Indenture, Aug 25, 1829, Wayne Co., NY, Mortgage Records, 3:325–26, Family History Library)
Winter	1829	Smith received revelation via his seer stone to sell Book of Mormon copyright. When the effort failed, Smith declared the revelation not of God.
	1829	Andrew Jackson becomes President of the United States. Native America relations take turn for the worse, as Jackson embraces removal rather than “civilization” or assimilation.
Jan 16	1830	Smith signs agreement granting Martin Harris and friends equal right to sell books “until enough of them shall be sold to pay for the printing.”
March	1830	Notice published in the Wayne Sentinel that the Book of Mormon was published and available for sale. Martin Harris “gave up his entire time to advertising the book” for $1.75, soon reduced to $1.25. Book does not sell, most 5,000 copies remain in storage.
March 29	1830	Presbyterian church suspends Lucy, Hyrum and Samuel Smith, ostracizing them from much needed community support.
April 6	1830	Joseph Smith Jr. establishes the Church of Christ in Manchester rather than Fayette, New York.
April 7	1830	Hyrum Smith signs promissory note to shoe his horse. See Oct 26, 1830 – this debt would go unpaid and result in his flight from creditors.
May 7	1830	Collection order issued against Joseph Smith Sr. for $37.50, Constable Sylvester Southworth. The extended Smith family was perpetually in debt and regularly unable to pay routine bills. Thus, Joseph’s new church would become their sole means of financial survival. See D&C 24 and 25, delivered July 1830, assuring Emma Smith that she would be supported from the church.
May 26	1830	Congress passes Indian Removal Act, forcing Indians west of Mississippi. Mormons view displacement as “God’s work”, fulfilling prophecy of a literal gathering.
June 1	1830	First proselytizing mission directed toward Native Americans. Mission fails to convince Indians, but converts Sidney Rigdon and Frederick Williams.
June 9	1830	First church conference. Smith casts devil out of Newel Knight, who then sees vision of God.
June 28	1830	Smith arrested.
June 29	1830	Smith trial for disorderly conduct begins, extends to July 3, Smith leaves town that night.
July 4	1830	Smith and Oliver Cowdery chased out of town, travel through the night, return to Knight home in Harmony. Though they told no (see May 16-28, 1829) one of the miraculous visitation, prominent LDS historian Richard Bushman speculates that perhaps Peter, James, John visited on this night.
July	1830	Smith reveals D&C 24 enhancing his position as called and chosen, chastises members to “support him under threat of God’s curse” in exchange for spiritual and temporal blessings, labor not his calling.
July	1830	Smith reveals D&C 25 instructing Emma not to “fear for livelihood” as Joseph will support her “from the church.” The LDS Church later altered this revelation to read “in the church,” presumably to soften the original economic meaning.
Aug 25	1830	Pressed by Isaac Hale’s annoyance at Joseph and daughter living off sweat of others’ brows, Smith makes a payment for Isaac’s land using borrowed money. Church becomes his sole livelihood for the remainder of his life.
Aug	1830	The Church claims D&C 27 was received this month, yet this mundane revelation about sacrament wine contained no mention of Peter, James, John or priesthood authority when originally published in 1833. Joseph inserted all the text dealing with priesthood authority, hundreds of critical words, at a later date. (see Priesthood Restoration essay)
Fall	1830	Joseph Smith Sr. goes to debtor’s prison.
Sept	1830	Hale family fed up with Joseph, no longer offers protection, Smith summons benefactor Newell Knight to transport him and Emma to Fayette to Whitmer home. Emma never sees her home again.
Sept	1830	Hiram Page (married to Catherine Whitmer), supported by Cowdery and Whitmers, uses black seer stone to dictate 16 pages of revelations about Zion.
Sept	1830	Smith reveals D&C 28, only he may receive commandments and revelations, as he is like Moses, do not command Joseph who is at the head of the Church, he is appointed to preside, Zion will be on borders by the Lamanites Smith sends Oliver on a mission to ease challenges to his sole authority. Mormon eyes turn westward.
Oct	1830	Four months before the payment from Harris was due, disbelieving he would be paid, Grandin assigns the mortgage to Thomas Rogers for $2,000.
Oct	1830	First missionaries Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley Pratt, Ziba Peterson prioritize taking Book of Mormon story to Indians (specifically called Lamanites) in Ohio and Missouri. Church of Christ numbers about 60 people.
Oct 6	1830	Kirtland chapter of Temperance Society formed, 239 members, before Mormons arrived from NY.
Oct 26	1830	Constable Nathan Harrington attempts to serve warrant on Hyrum, farrier still unpaid from April, Hyrum flees the county to avoid creditors. Joseph Sr. sentenced to 30 days in debtors’ prison. Joseph Jr. would later recount, “I brought salvation to my father’s house…when they were in a miserable situation.”
Oct 28	1830	Cowdery and Pratt meet Sidney Rigdon, Reformed Baptist minister Pratt had known for years.
Oct-Nov	1830	Sidney Rigdon baptized, recruits over 100 members of his Kirtland congregation and common stock community.
Nov 4	1830	Smith dictates D&C Section 34 for Orson Pratt while burying his face in his hat containing his white seer stone. From this point forward, Smith discontinues use of seer stones when dictating revelations, begins regularly offering revelations impromptu.
Nov	1830	Samuel Smith returns home from selling books, frees Smith Sr. from prison, moves poverty stricken parents to New York.
Nov 16	1830	Missionaries depart Ohio for region past Mississippi, seeking Indian converts.
Dec	1830	Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge (a Rigdon parishioner) travel to NY to meet Smith. They remain unaware of treasure digging, Smith Sr. incarceration or creditors pursuing family.
Dec 2	1830	Joseph writes his brother, Hyrum. warning to “beware of the freemasons…who care more for his body than the debt…heard were in Manchester, got a warrant.” (see Natural Born Seer, 457)
Dec 7	1830	Smith provides D&C 35 revelation to Sidney Rigdon to prepare for greater work.
Dec 24	1830	Rigdon and Smith preach in Canandaigua, meet William Wines (W.W.) Phelps. Rigdon persuades Smith to relocate to Ohio where he maintains a prosperous communitarian, sharing all things in common.
	1830	A key summary of the Church is written, yet contains no mention of first vision, visitations, angels or restored authority.
Jan 2	1831	Church’s third conference, in Whitmer home in Fayette. Smith reveals D&C 37, commands followers to relocate to Ohio. Original speech includes assurances of “greater riches…land of promise…shall be endowed with power from on high.” Followers begin selling property.
Feb 1	1831	Rigdon catches stagecoach for Kirtland. The Palmyra Reflector reported “…whole family will follow Rigdon, as soon as their deluded followers shall be able to dispose of what little real property they possess.”
Feb	1831	Smith delivers revelation (Book of Commandments 44: 26) to consecrate “all thy properties” to the church.
March 3	1831	Smith again writes Hyrum, warning him that creditors were again pursuing Smith Sr. for unpaid debts. “Come to Fayette, bring father, do not go through Buffalo for they lie in wait for you.” (Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith)
April 1	1831	With Martin’s mortgage two months overdue and foreclosed, Tomas Rogers sells the Harris farm to Thomas Lakey for $3,000. Contrary to Martin’s statement decades later, the Smiths never repaid any portion of the obligation.
	1831	Smith told 12 year old Mary Elizabeth Rollins that God told him she was to be his first plural wife. They later married when she was 23 and already married to Adam Lightner.
June 3	1831	General Conference notes state “Joseph Smith Jr. & Sidney Rigdon were ordained to the High Priesthood under the hand of br. Lyman Wright.” Years later, History of the Church, 1:175-76 recorded “The authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders.” This is first time the word “priesthood” is referenced within church. Recognizing the problem, B.H.Roberts, as church historian, inserted footnote denying the text.
July 17	1831	Smith reveals that already married Mormon men should intermarry Lamanite women (W.W. Phelps records).
July 20	1831	Independence, MO is selected for the city of Zion, a literal gathering in “New Jerusalem.”
Aug 12	1831	Joseph delivers D&C 61 revelation, that “Satan controls the waters.”
Nov	1831	Ezra Booth leaves the church, begins publishing series of articles in Ohio Star renouncing Mormonism, criticizing Smith’s inconsistent revelations.
Nov	1831	D&C 68:15 received, refers to Melchizedek Priesthood, yet original 1831 text does not contain the priesthood phrase, it was added in 1835.
March 1	1832	Smith delivers D&C 78 establishing United Order, aggressively solicits communal property donations.
March 8	1832	Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gause named to First Presidency, both experienced with communal consecration.
March 15	1832	Smith receives D&C 81 revelation for Jesse Gause, later crossed out, altered in D&C to Frederick Williams. Not corrected until 1980’s when historians pressed the issue.
March 24	1832	Smith tarred and feathered, almost castrated (disputed), upon accusation of his intimacy with 16 year old Marinda Nancy Johnson while staying in their home. See April 1842 – Smith marries this very same Marinda Nancy, after sending her husband Orson Hyde on mission to Jerusalem.
	1832	Smith records First Vision draft in Letterbook 1 journal. He does not tell anyone (other than scribe Frederick Williams) of this journal or angelic visitation. Public remained unaware of this journal until 1965 – published by Tanners despite official Church efforts to withhold information.
June	1832	*The Evening and The Morning Star,* church’s first periodical, publishes numerous revelations – yet still no mention of first vision or a visitation from Peter, James and John.
July 5	1832	Sidney Rigdon tries to seize control of Church, disfellowshipped for a few weeks.
Aug 10	1832	Orson Hyde is quoted in Boston Investigator referring to “two crystal stones in the form of spectacles.”
Sept 22	1832	Joseph reveals D&C 84 – No man can see God without the priesthood and live. Also, the city of New Jerusalem was to be built “in this generation” at the temple lot in Missouri.
	1832	Elijah Abel, a black man, baptized into the Church.
	1832	Several acquaintances of Solomon Spalding claim that the historical content of The Book of Mormon is identical to Spalding’s Manuscript Found, but not the religious content.
Oct	1832	Andrew Jackson spoke against S. Carolina seceding, prayed to prevent civil war, dispatched Federal troops to squash state rebellion. See Smith’s December, 1832 revelation – it was this strife to which Smith referred, not the Civil War.
Nov 6	1832	Emma catches Smith having a “transaction” with Fanny Alger, the teenage nanny (some suggest closer to 1835).
Nov 27	1832	Governor of SC states willingness to resist U.S. Gov’t by force if necessary.
Nov 27	1832	Smith begins keeping a journal, as he was commanded two years earlier.
Dec 3	1832	Jesse Gause, First Presidency counselor, is excommunicated. He departed on a mission, yet promptly abandoned his faith and denied Mormonism. The LDS Church would later alter the revelation given directly to Jesse in D&C 81, by retroactively swapping out his name with Frederick G. Williams, who replaced him.
Dec 18	1832	Oliver Cowdery marries Elizabeth Ann Whitmer.
Dec 25	1832	Smith prophesies “For behold, the southern states shall be divided against the norther states…” Peace held for 28 years. The LDS Church abandoned the prophecy, excluding it from 1833 and 1835 books of revelations, re-inserting it decades later out of context.
Jan	1833	Smith calls upon “Christian world” to flee to Zion before overflowing scourge overtakes you.”
Jan 5	1833	Frederick G. Williams named to Presidency. Smith later swaps his name into D&C 81, altering original revelation to Jesse Gause.
Jan	1833	W.W. Phelps speculates that Smith’s Nephite interpreters or spectacles could be the Urim & Thummim mentioned in the Bible. This is the first reference to Urim & Thummim in Mormonism. Thereafter, the term was used to describe Smith’s seer stone.
	1833	American Antiquities, Discoveries in the West published. “The opinion that the American Indians are descendants of the lost ten Tribes, is now a popular one, and generally believed.”
Feb 1	1833	Temperance society eliminates distillery in Kirtland and nearby Mentor.
Feb 2	1833	Smith declares JST Bible retranslation “finished” and “correct.” Several passages, including critically important Malachi text, would be changed years later. The LDS Church has never published the complete JST translation.
Feb 26	1833	National Day of Temperance. Several speeches given, later distributed as pamphlets. (The Journal of Health, Philadelphia)
Feb 27	1833	Smith creates Word of Wisdom at Emma’s request, suggested as good advice, not by command. Wording mirrors Temperance literature.
	1833	Oliver Cowdery commits adultery, bitter at Smith’s rebuke because aware of ongoing Fanny affair.
Feb – Mar	1833	Smith secretly marries his nanny, Fanny Alger, (age 16) who lives in Smith home. Exact date unknown, but closely linked to sanction of Levi’s marriage soon after.
Mar 29	1833	Levi Hancock, successful in “his mission” to secure Fanny for Smith, terminates engagement to Temperance Jane Miller, receives Clarissa Reed as reward.
	1833	45 prominent Palmyra citizens sign affidavits describing Smith family as “destitute of moral character”. (Vogel, Early Mormon Documents)
July	1833	*Book of Commandments –* predecessor to D&C – published by W.W. Phelps. The work contains no mention of Peter, James and John.
July 20	1833	Mob destroys Evening & Morning Star press in Independence, MO. Book of Commandments almost destroyed, few copies remain.
July 22	1833	Agreement signed with Jackson County, Mo. to depart and not restart printing press.
Nov 7	1833	Saints began fleeing from mobs in Jackson County, Missouri across river.
Nov 15	1833	First significant anti-Mormon book, *Mormonism Unvailed* printed, with no mention of First Vision, Peter, James, John or priesthood.
	1833	Joseph Knight writes history of important events in Mormonism up to that year, with no mention of first vision, John the Baptist or Peter, James, John.
Dec 16	1833	Smith received D&C 101, outlining force to retake lands, pacifist response ceased.
Dec 18	1833	Smith delivers blessing to Oliver Cowdery, calling out “two evils in him that he must needs forsake.” Refers to Oliver’s adultery.
Jan	1834	D. P. Hurlbut travels through Kirtland and Palmyra to investigate Joseph’s past, denounces Smith for ministering “under pretense of Divine Authority”, stirs up opposition.
	1834	Oliver Cowdery writes first official church history. The work contains no mention of any first vision or visitation.
Feb 12	1834	Kirtland High Council meeting – FIRST mention of any Angel, first mention to members of conferral of authority before church’s organization, but they only refer to angel in general terms.
Feb 17	1834	Charles Anthon, furious that Mormons are using his name to promote Book of Mormon, writes “The whole story about my having pronounced the Mormonite inscriptions to be ‘reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics’ is perfectly false.” (Anthon to Howe)
March 20	1834	Isaac Hale (Emma’s father) affidavit on this day states that Smith boarded with him while he was employed by money-diggers as a seer, by means of putting a stone in his hat, then putting the hat over his face. He accuses Smith of being money digger who looking into his hat to deceive with fabrications.
April	1834	United Order dissolved. Communal real estate assets divided personally among Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G . Williams.
May 1	1834	Zion’s Camp begins, the 1,000 mile march from Kirtland, OH to retake Jackson County, MO. The party consisted of up to 207 men at the peak, plus women and children.
June 4	1834	Smith wrote letter to Emma identifying the whole Mississippi area as Nephite territory. (The Personal Writings of J. Smith, 324)
June 22	1834	Cholera sweeps through. Negotiations with residents and government fail to yield any result, Smith chastises Zion Camp members, blames failure on their disobedience, claims the epic Zion’s Camp exercise was merely a test of their faith.
June 25	1834	Zion’s Camp disbands. The LDS Church portrays this campaign, which failed to recapture any property, as a tribulation which solidified the faith of future leaders. The long walk home also produced apostasy and dissention that would soon manifest in Kirtland.
Aug 16	1834	Smith reveals Sept 11, 1836 as future “appointed time” of Zion’s redemption in Jackson County (JS Letterbook 1, 86)
Aug 27	1834	Smith states / implies his son Joseph III would be his successor.
Feb 14	1835	Quorum of 12 and Seventies organized in Kirtland.
May	1835	Fifth Lecture on Faith published in Messenger and Advocate – says God is a spirit.
	1835	Smith worked with Oliver to produce an account of early church beginnings for publication in Latter Day Saint Messenger and Advocate paper. It contains no mention of first vision. Nobody knew of Smith’s 1832 journal vision draft at this time.
July 3	1835	Smith solicits $2,400 from member donations to purchase Egyptian mummies and papyrus scrolls, claiming one is from hand of Abraham, the other of Joseph of Egypt. Translation attempt begins.
July 20	1835	W.W. Phelps writes his wife Sally, recounting how Smith said “…the rolls of papyrus contained the sacred record kept by Joseph…in Egypt and the teachings of father Abraham.” (History of the Church)
July	1835	Smith records in journal via W.W. Phelps, “I was continually engaged in translating an alphabet of the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language…” (History of the Church, 2:238)
Aug	1835	The Church via Phelps and Cowdery issues the first of an ongoing series of denials of polygamy.
Aug 17	1835	Updated and revised Doctrine & Covenants presented at conference, containing numerous unannounced changes and expansions to previously published revelations. The alleged visitation of Peter, James and John is retroactively inserted into D&C 27 – This is the first time anybody hears of the pivotal priesthood restoration narrative.
	1835	D&C version contains Lectures of Faith and includes details of the Godhead, describing God as a spirit only. There is no mention of Joseph supposedly having seen them both 15 years earlier.
Aug	1835	“Article on Marriage” is introduced at LDS conference, became D&C Section 101. It clearly stated that “one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband.” It conflicted with future polygamy revelations and was removed from LDS scripture in 1876.
Oct 1	1835	Smith’s journal records, “This after noon labored on the Egyptian alphabet, in company with brsr O[liver] Cowdery and W[illiam] W Phelps. The system of astronomy was unfolded.”
Oct 7	1835	Smith uses white seer stone (referred to as Urim &Thummim) for blessing to Newel Whitney.
Nov 9	1835	Smith dictates his history and first vision to Warren Parrish, for visitor Robert Matthias. It is not shared with members. “…I received the first visitation of Angels when I was about 14 years old…” (Personal writings of Joseph Smith, p. 84) It should be noted that this entry was altered in the History of the Church, Vol. 2, pg. 312. It now reads “my first vision” instead of “visitation of Angels”
Nov 14	1835	Smith relates first vision to Erastus Holmes.
Nov	1835	Smith issues “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands…husband head of the wife…” revelation.
Nov	1835	Smith marries Newel Knight to undivorced Lydia Goldthwaite, illegal and lacking authority.
Jan 26	1836	Jewish scholar, Joshua Seixas, began teaching Hebrew to Smith and other leaders in Kirtland, OH. Classes ran for two months.
Mar 3	1836	Elijah Abel, a black man, was ordained an Elder in the LDS Church.
March 27	1836	Kirtland Temple dedication.
April 3	1836	Smith claims that both Elijah and Elias appeared to restore sealing authority while Smith and Oliver were behind a curtain. Smith was apparently unaware that Elijah and Elias are merely different names referring to the same person.
Jan 6	1836	Blackrock Advocate, a New York newspaper, questions solvency of Bank of Monroe, a Mormon bank.
Jan 30	1836	Smith records in his journal “Attended school as usual and waited upon several visiters and showed them the record of Abraham— Mr [Joshua] Seixas our hebrew teacher examined them with deep interest & pronouncd them to be original beyound all doubt, he is a man of excellent understanding.”
Feb 3	1836	Smith records in his journal, “Attended our hebrew lecture P. <A.> M. and studied with O[liver] Cowdery & Sylvester Smith P. M.—received many visiters— showed the records of Abraham.”
	1836	Smith continues development of his Grammar & Alphabet of Egyptian Language (GAEL) tool to interpret Egyptian papyri.
	1836	Cholera epidemic passed through, thousands die.
July 25	1836	Desperate with debt, Smith departs for Salem, MA with Hyrum, Rigdon and Cowdery under false pretense of missionary effort, in search of treasure rumored to be buried under house.
Aug 19	1836	Joseph writes Emma, “…we have found the house…very luckily and providentially, as we have one spell been most discouraged…. The house is occupied, and it will require much care and patience to rent or buy it.”
Sept	1836	Fanny Alger moves from Kirtland to Missouri.
Sept 11	1836	The day Smith previously appointed for the redemption of Zion (their lost lands) – passes without event.
Oct	1836	Kirtland Safety Society Bank organized, Rigdon as President, Smith as Cashier and signer on notes.
Nov 7	1836	First Presidency and numerous general authorities warn non-Mormon Justice of The Peace, Ariel Hanson, to “depart forthwith out of Kirtland.”
Dec 7	1836	Bishop Edward Partridge defines tithing as 2% of net worth, to cover operating expenses of the Church.
Jan 1	1837	Ohio legislature denies Smith’s Kirtland Safety Society bank incorporation application, citing lack of capital, bank begins operations as anti-bank as paper currency arrives in Kirtland
Jan 6	1837	Wilford Woodruff records in his journal hearing Smith testify of revelation to continue bank.
Jan 18	1837	The Cleveland Weekly Gazette warns readers of Smith’s bank, labeling Rigdon “a notorious hypocrite and knave.” Smith would “take up what little money they have, and depart hence.” Within a week, the paper’s prediction would prove accurate.
Jan 27	1837	Kirtland Safety Society rapidly collapses, Rigdon announces cessation of paper note redemptions, only land or hard assets accepted.
Feb 1	1837	Smith’s bank notes selling for 12.5 cents on the dollar.
Feb 9	1837	Samuel Rounds, acting for Grandison Newell, a dedicated critic of Joseph Smith, brings charges against Smith, Rigdon, and four others for violating state banking statutes that prohibited unchartered institutions from issuing bank notes. (See June 5, 1837)
Feb 9	1837	Warren Parrish states in Painesville Telegraph that Smith declared “the audible voice of God instructed him to establish a anti-banking institution, which, like Aaron’s rod, should swallow up all other banks…”
March 24	1837	Smith loses court case, financial penalty imposed.
April	1837	Smith flees town to avoid arrest.
May		Financial panic, many banks fail. 13 law suits filed against Smith between June 1837-April 1839. Major apostasy among leadership begins.
May	1837	6 of 12 apostles in open rebellion, form rival church, claim the temple they paid for.
May 23	1837	Parley Pratt, one of Smith earliest supporters, writes to remind Smith of their land agreement, threatens to sue for extortion and undue influence.
June 5	1837	Smith is tried for conspiracy to commit murder of Grandison Newell. Apostles Orson Hyde and Luke S. Johnson acknowledge in court that “Smith seemed much excited and declared that Grandison Newell should be put out of the way, or where the crows could not find him; he said destroying Newell would be justifiable in the sight of God, that it was the will of God.” Hyde and Johnson insist that Smith is “tender-hearted,” court acquits him because his statements do not constitute conspiracy. (Quinn)
June	1837	Smith launches England mission.
	1837	*A Voice of Warning, Parley P. Pratt, 1st edition printed. One of the most influential works in Mormon history, a most powerful proselytizing tool. The work contains no mention of any first vision*.
July	1837	Smith departs briefly to Canada on a mission tour, leaving financial penalty unpaid. Upon his return, Whitmer, Harris and Cowdery have pledged loyalty to a charismatic female seeress. Frederick Williams, Joseph’s former First Counselor, was her scribe. “The girl seeress would dance herself into a state of exhaustion, fall to the floor, and burst forth with revelations.”
	1837	Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde and other missionaries cross the Atlantic, began missionary work in Great Britain.
	1837	Book of Mormon reprinting alters nature of God wording in multiple places, replacing Eternal Father with Son of Eternal Father.
August	1837	David Whitmer resigns, leaves Church while accusing Smith of altering doctrines.
Oct	1837	Smith and Rigdon convicted of illegal banking (court only met twice annually)
	1837	Lyman Wight dismisses D&C as Telestial law, Book of Commandments as Celestial law, because of numerous significant changes, almost excommunicated.
	1837	Apostles write how “Many scores of persons were healed by our sending a handkerchief (Smith’s) to them.” (Orson Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1888) Faith healing and blessed handkerchiefs are consistent with early American folk magic beliefs.
December	1837	Martin Harris excommunicated.
January 12	1838	Smith flees Kirtland to Far West (Zion), Church in chaos, outstanding warrant for bank fraud.
January 21	1838	Oliver Cowdery writes his brother re: Smith’s “dirty, nasty, filthy affair” with Fanny Alger, a nanny helping Joseph Smith’s family.
Feb 5	1838	Warren Parrish, Smith’s trusted scribe, writes letter to Editor of Painesville Republican heavily criticizing Smith and Rigdon for fraud, lying, deception, mismanagement, etc.
March 14	1838	Far West, MO saints welcome Smith home with song and cheer, welcome home the prophet, restart/reset.
March 25	1838	Martin Harris testifies publicly that none of 8 Book of Mormon signatories saw or handled physical records.
Late March	1838	Apostles Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson, John Boynton and others leave the Church.
April 12	1838	Oliver Cowdery is excommunicated, as he will not recant adultery claim against Smith. He takes Book of Mormon printer’s manuscript with him, which would later prove invaluable at documenting numerous changes made to the revealed text.
April 13	1838	David Whitmer excommunicated – strongly disaffected by Kirtland Bank fraud.
April 15	1838	Stephen Burnett pens letter to Lyman Johnson relaying Martin Harris’s testimony that the 8 witnesses never saw the plates, hesitated to sign document, were persuaded by Smith. (Harris in Burnett to Johnson, 1838)
April 26	1838	Name of the Church is changed again, reinstating “Jesus Christ” back into name.
May 12	1838	Smith and Rigdon request annual salary of $1,100 each. High Council approves, many object, rescinds following week, each given 80 acres instead. See July 8, revelation commanding member donations.
May 19	1838	Smith says that Davies County is Adam-Ondi-Ahman where Adam dwelt after his expulsion from Eden.
June	1838	Smith’s First Presidency accuses Cowdery, Whitmer and others of affiliating with counterfeiters, etc. Accusations of counterfeiting among early Mormon leaders would persist for years. (See Dec 11, 1845)
June	1838	Sampson Avard organizes the Danites. Smith remains aware of the organization.
June 17	1838	Sidney Rigdon delivers “Salt Sermon” in Far West, harsh public condemnation of many church leaders for their perceived disloyalty towards him and Smith, Danites start threatening lives.
June 19	1838	LDS Dissenters, including Oliver Cowdery, having been warned in Danite Manifesto, flee Caldwell County.
June 28	1838	Mormons lay out town and organize a Stake of Zion at Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County.
July 4	1838	Sidney Rigdon delivers fiery speech, threatening Missouri Gentiles, declares “war of extermination,” sparking the Mormon War.
July 8	1838	D&C 119 received, redefines tithing as paying “one-tenth of all their interest annually” and any “surplus property” as a “standing law unto them forever.” See May 12, 1838 – Smith’s salary request was denied.
July	1838	Mormons open settlements at DeWitt and throughout northwestern Missouri.
July 14	1838	Carroll citizens meet to oppose Mormon settlement at DeWitt. Meetings and threats against Mormons at DeWitt continue throughout the summer.
July 27	1838	Joseph writes in journal that Danites organized according to revelation to put right physically that which is not right, and to cleanse the Church of very great evils which hath hitherto existed among us. This portion of journal crossed out and not included in History of the Church. (Jessee 1992, 262)
Aug 6	1838	Gallatin election battle. Daviess settlers talk of organizing against Mormons.
	1838	Joseph marries his second plural wife, Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris. This was his first polyandrous marriage, as Lucinda was already married to devout LDS member and leader, George Washington Harris.
Aug 6	1838	Mormon War in Missouri begins, Danites present active offense.
Aug 7	1838	Smith leads 150 Danites to Diahman to protect the Saints. Mormons threaten Judge Adam Black and others suspected of anti-Mormon activities. Reports of Mormon “invasion” spread through upper counties.
Aug 13	1838	Daviess County judges issue writs for the arrest of Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight. Committee of Carroll citizens orders the Saints to leave the county.
Aug 20	1838	One hundred armed men ride into DeWitt and threaten Mormons.
Aug 30	1838	Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, responding to reports of civil and Indian disturbances in western counties, orders twenty-eight hundred state troops to stand ready to march.
Sept 7	1838	Smith and Wight receive a preliminary hearing in Daviess County. Judge Austin A. King orders the defendants to post bail and appear at the next hearing of the grand jury in Daviess.
Sept9	1838	Excitement in upper counties continues as Mormons capture three men attempting to transport guns to vigilantes in Daviess County. Mormons and Missourians petition Judge King to quell the disturbances.
Sept 10	1838	Judge King orders General Atchison to raise four hundred troops and disperse the Mormons and non-Mormon vigilantes.
Sept 13	1838	Carroll vigilantes postpone assault on DeWitt and march to Daviess to assist settlers against the Mormons.
Sept 18	1838	After receiving reports of disturbances, Governor Boggs orders out two thousand troops and prepares to lead march to western Missouri.
Sept20	1838	Atchison disperses vigilantes in Daviess County and leaves one hundred troops under General Parks to maintain peace.
Sept 24	1838	Governor Boggs receives letter from Atchison stating that vigilantes in Daviess have dispersed. Boggs dismisses troops and returns to Jefferson City.
Oct 1	1838	Vigilantes attack DeWitt, burn the home and stables of Smith Humphrey. During the next several days Mormons appeal to Governor Boggs and other civil authorities for protection.
Oct 6	1838	General Parks arrives in DeWitt with one hundred troops to quell disturbances. Anti-Mormon spirit among troops forces Parks to return to Ray County a few days later.
Oct 9	1838	Messenger reports to Mormons that the Governor said they must rely on local authorities for protection, will not intervene.
Oct 11	1838	Mormons at DeWitt surrender and move to Caldwell and Daviess counties. Carroll vigilantes resolve to help settlers expel Mormons from Daviess.
Oct 14-15	1838	Smith and Rigdon call upon Mormon troops to ride to Diahman to protect the Saints, threatening those who will not join the Mormon army. Four hundred soldiers march to Daviess County.
Oct 18	1838	Mormon soldiers attack Gallatin, Millport, and other settlements in Daviess, driving non-Mormon settlers from their homes, plundering, and burning. Missourians retaliate. General Parks visits Mormons and Missourians in Daviess. Parks discovers that civil war has broken out and declares that Mormons are now the aggressors.
Oct 22	1838	Mormon troops return to Far West after driving nearly all non-Mormons from Daviess.
Oct 24	1838	Bogart and his troops harass Mormon settlers in Ray and Caldwell counties. They capture two Mormon spies and threaten to execute them.
Oct 24	1838	Apostles Thomas Marsh and Orson Hyde sign affidavits in Ray County describing Mormon activities. Ray committee returns from Daviess with similar reports of depredations. Capt. Samuel Bogart calls out Ray troops to prevent invasion by Mormons.
Oct 25	1838	Capt. David W. Patten leads Mormon troops to rescue spies. Troops clash at Crooked River, with three Mormons and one Missourian killed. Exaggerated reports of Crooked River battle spread throughout the state. Fearing the Mormons intend to continue attacks, Generals Atchison, Doniphan, and Parks call out state militia to quell alleged Mormon rebellion.
Oct 27	1838	Governor Boggs, responding to reports of Mormon depredations in Daviess County and their attack on state troops at Crooked River, issues Executive Order 44, that Mormons must be “exterminated or driven from the state.”
Oct 30	1838	Missouri troops, under command of Gen. Samuel D. Lucas of Jackson County, arrive outside Far West. Mormon leaders send messengers to learn intentions of troops. 200 soldiers from Livingston and nearby counties overrun Mormon village of Haun’s Mill, killing 18 and wounding 15.
Oct 31	1838	Col. George Hinkle, John Corrill, and other Mormon representatives attempt to negotiate with General Lucas, but receive demands for surrender. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, and other Mormon leaders give themselves up as hostages. About seventy-five Mormon soldiers, advised of the surrender plans, flee from Far West during the night.
Nov 1	1838	Smith advises Mormon troops at Far West and Diahman to surrender. Mormon War ends.
Nov 2	1838	Mormons forced to deed over their property to pay expenses for the war. This part of the surrender agreement is later declared illegal.
Nov 12-29	1838	Judge Austin King presides at Court of Inquiry held in Richmond, Ray County. Joseph, Hyrum and Sidney Rigdon, and others charged with high treason, arson, murder, robbery – committed to prison on the basis of testimony against them.
Nov 26	1838	Smith writes in his diary while aboard ship in storm, how he commanded the winds and they abated.
December	1838	Missouri legislature debates whether to investigate the disturbances and allow the Mormons to remain. Legislation to investigate is tabled until July, after the Mormons have already left the state.
February	1839	Mormons pool resources and organize to leave Missouri.
March 17	1839	Sampson Avard excommunicated (Danite leader).
	1838-1839	Church drafts another version of First Vision, expanding upon prior versions, not shared with members.
	1839	Solomon Spaulding’s widow, Matilda Spaulding Davison, upon hearing a reading of Book of Mormon, declares it to be similar to husband’s writing.
April 11	1839	Joseph Smith and four others are indicted for arson, treason, riot, burglary in Daviess County, and are granted a change of venue to Boone County.
April 16	1839	Smith and other prisoners escape by bribing their guards and return to Saints, who are gathering at Quincy, Illinois.
April 22	1839	Smith implies his son Joseph III would be his successor.
May	1839	Nearly all the Saints have left Missouri.
Spring	1839	Smith gives handkerchief to a father to bring to sick child, that whey would be healed by it. (Wilford Woodruff, Leaves From My Journal, 1881)
June 6	1839	First British converts arrive in Nauvoo. Cheap land is a prominent factor.
July	1839	With no prospect of redeeming Zion, Smith expands geography of Zion to “all of North and South America.”
July 3	1839	Isaac Galland baptized and ordained Elder by Smith.
July 24	1839	Smith receives letter from Isaac Galland repeatedly mentioning Emanuel Swedenborg, an internationally recognized mystic. Swedenborg’s influence on Mormonism cannot be understated, as many of his doctrines and interpretations of heaven would be adopted by Smith
	1839	Isaac Galland sells 19,000 acres surrounding Nauvoo to Smith.
Aug	1839	Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Sidney Rigdon agreed to the “Hotchkiss Purchase” – 500-acre tract of land near the main steamboat landing in Nauvoo on contract for $53,500 plus interest.
Aug 15	1839	Baptism for the dead publicly announced.
Oct 20	1839	Nauvoo High Council minutes state, “five hundred dollars be the average price of lots, i.e., none less than two hundred dollars, nor more than eight hundred dollars.” (History of the Church 4:17) The rapid escalation of Smith’s land speculation and financial failures becomes a prominent theme in early Mormonism. See August 15, 1841 and March 5, 1842 among many instances.
	1840	Orson Pratt creates pamphlet in Scotland titled An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, and of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records. This is the FIRST EVER published account of FIRST VISION, yet was not viewed in U.S. at this time.
	1840	Book of Mormon edition alters 2 Nephi 30:6, changing white to pure and delightsome, while leaving other reference to favored white skin color intact.
Feb 4	1840	The Nauvoo Legion militia is organized.
March 2	1840	John C. Bennett’s wife leaves him over adultery. He would become a Counselor in Joseph Smith’s Presidency the following year.
Jan 1	1841	New bankruptcy law enacted, allowing private citizen bankruptcy, stipulating properties could not be transferred to others to avoid debt obligations. See April 18, 1842.
Jan	1841	Smith reveals that God is flesh and bone, and that “This earth was organized or formed out of other planets which were broke up and remodeled and made into the one on which we live.”
Jan 30	1841	At Conference in Nauvoo Smith is unanimously elected sole Trustee-in-Trust for the Church. (History of the Church, 4:286)
Feb 8	1841	All Church assets assigned to Smith, granting him sole discretion of all disbursements.
April 5	1841	First fully “documented” plural marriage of Smith to Louisa Beaman, she wore men’s clothes to conceal the event, held in grove of trees in Nauvoo.
April 7	1841	Don Carlos, youngest brother to Joseph, dies of Malaria.
April	1841	Joseph Smith sends Orson Hyde on mission to Jerusalem. See also April 1842, as Joseph develops elaborate steps to marry his wife without his knowledge while he’s away.
Aug 15	1841	Smith promotes malarial and yellow-fever plagued bottomland to immigrant saints in Nauvoo, despite penning letter of complaint to prior land owner calling it a “deathly sickly hole…unable to realize valuable consideration” and “keeping up appearances…holding out inducements to encourage immigration.” (History of the Church, 4:406, 5:357)
Aug 16	1841	The Twelve issue an epistle to the Saints in all parts of the world urging them to gather in Nauvoo, where land would be designated for their settlement.
Aug 31	1841	The Twelve vote unanimously “approve of the proceedings of President Smith…in making over certain properties to his wife, children, and friends for their support, and that he continue to deed and make over certain portions of Church property which now exist, or which may be obtained by exchange, as in his wisdom he shall judge expedient, till his own, and his father’s household, shall have an inheritance secure to them…”
	1841	Smith prophesies Governor Boggs will die violent death within one year (controversial, yet multiple evidences available).
	1841	Smith tells Apostles Book of Mormon is keystone of our religion.
Oct 2	1841	Smith places original Book of Mormon manuscript, witness signatures, and other items in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House, effectively destroying them. Ebenezer Robinson recorded Joseph as having said “I have had trouble enough with this thing.”
Oct 27	1841	Smith marries Zina Jacobs. She rebuffed Smith’s first proposal and married Henry Jacobs in March. Smith continued to pursue her, saying an angel with drawn sword threatened his life if he did not obey. Brigham Young later married Zina too.
Nov 13	1841	John C. Bennett is paid $100 annually as Mayor of Nauvoo. Upon becoming Mayor, Smith would quintuple the salary to $500. (See Jan 1843) On Sept 14, 1844, promptly following the death of Joseph Smith, the Nauvoo City Council reverted it to $100. (Nauvoo City Council Minutes Book, p. 30)
Nov 28	1841	Joseph Smith tells the 12 Apostles that Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of Mormon religion.
	1841	Smith took 3 additional plural wives this year.
Dec 30	1841	Smith petitions Nauvoo Mason Lodge for membership.
Dec-Aug	1841-1842	Hancock County, Illinois – Joseph and Emma Smith made several major transfers of property and deeds to their minor children, the last transfer just two days before filing for bankruptcy. They ‘sold’ their properties for $100 when in fact they were worth thousands of dollars. (History of the Saints, 96-97)
Jan 6	1842	Joseph Smith secretly marries Agnes Coolbrith Smith, wife of his recently deceased brother, Don Carlos.
Jan 17	1842	Unhappy with the publications of the Times and Seasons, Joseph, the Nauvoo Stake and Q12 decide not to let Ebenezer Robinson continue to publish, having tried unsuccessfully to intimidate him into selling to them.
Jan 17	1842	Joseph Smith marries Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, then 6 months pregnant with another man’s child, on the eve of his wedding anniversary to his sole legal wife, Emma.
Jan 18	1842	There is a grand celebration at the Smith home for their 16th wedding anniversary.
Jan 25	1842	Smith reveals that God instructs Ebenezer Robinson to take Marinda Hyde into his home until her husband Orson Hyde returns from mission. His home is the Times and Seasons building. God also tells Marinda to listen to anything and everything which Smith may teach her.
Jan 28	1842	God, via Joseph, reveals that the Quorum of 12 should take over the printing of the Times and Seasons and install Joseph as Editor, John Taylor writing and Wilford Woodruff managing business.
Feb 1	1842	Federal Bankruptcy Act becomes effective, permitting debtors to file voluntary petitions for bankruptcy.
Feb 4	1842	Ebenezer is allowed to name his price for Times &Seasons, affixes hefty $6,600 value . A significant amount of that money was listed as moneys credited to him for the building of the temple in the book of the law of the Lord and various other credits so that he actually does not receive $6,600. Unable to relocate his family that day, he is forced out in dead of winter. That same night Apostle Willard Richards moves into the living quarters attached to the printing house with Marinda Hyde who stays in the living quarters. Richards celebrates by boarding up windows, shoots revolvers in celebration. Richards’ wife and family are living in Massachusetts at the time. (See April 1842)
Feb 6	1842	Emma Smith gives birth to Joseph’s stillborn son.
Feb 8	1842	Joseph marries Sylvia Porter Sessions.
Feb 28	1842	Smith marries Sylvia Lyon, already married to Windsor, uncertain if he knew.
March	1842	Smith finishes what he claims to be a translation of Egyptian papyri, calls it the Book of Abraham. Smith uses his newly acquired Times and Seasons to begin publishing the work, including now proven incorrect reconstructions of Egyptian facsimiles.
March 1	1842	Joseph’s letter to John Wentworth published in Times and Seasons. FIRST PUBLISHED account of FIRST VISION in U.S. Also first time church officially says Native Americans are the primary descendants of the Lamanites.
March 4	1842	Smith approves second facsimile illustration from Egyptian papyri, with references to “grand key words of Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, as revealed to Adam.”
March 5	1842	Office of Registrar of Deeds created, Joseph Smith designated as registrar, requiring any and all land purchases to register with his office.
March 9	1842	Smith marries 42 year old Patty Sessions, who was already married to David. Her daughter, Sylvia, married Smith only a month prior. It is unclear if husband knew.
	1842	Smith reads Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, then prints extracts in Times & Seasons, along with editorial commentary that he believes BoM location to be Guatemala.
	1842	Times & Seasons prints translation from Book of Abraham, revealing that Elohim lives near the star Kolob , also introducing the doctrine of plural gods.
March 15	1842	Abraham Jonas establishes Nauvoo Masonic lodge. Smith receives expedited Masonic temple rituals. Abraham Jonas, with overwhelming Mormon support, elected to legislature shortly thereafter.
March 17	1842	Female Relief Society organized – Emma named President.
April	1842	Smith marries Marinda Nancy Hyde – already married to Orson Hyde – while Orson away on mission. This is the same Nancy (Johnson) whose family tarred/feathered Joseph on accusations of his intimacy with the 16 year old while staying in their home in 1832.
April	1842	Marinda Hyde approaches Nancy Rigdon at funeral, informs that Smith wants to see her “on special business.”
April 11	1842	Smith seeks to obtain Sidney Rigdon’s 19 year old daughter Nancy. He wrote “that which is wrong under one circumstance may be and often is right under another…whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is.” Nancy refuses, shows letter to father, who immediately sends for Smith, who promptly denied everything, Rigdon thrust letter in face, Smith admitted he had spoken with Nancy but was only testing her virtue.
April 15	1842	Smith “busily engaged in making out a list of debtors and an invoice of [his] property to be passed into the hands of the assignee.” He declares personal debts of $73,066.38. (History of the Church, 599-600)
April 16	1842	William Smith, the prophet’s brother, assumes role as Editor of The Wasp.
April 18	1842	Smith and brothers Hyrum and Samuel ride to Carthage to file for bankruptcy. Their filing would be denied in October on the basis of fraud, following an investigation by U.S. Attorney, Justin Butterfield. See also Dec 1841-Aug 1842 (Papers of Joseph Smith, vol.2, Dean Jessee, 1992)
May 4-5	1842	Smith introduces Mormon endowment to close friends – tokens, signs, penalties, prayer circle, new name, apron – all masonic rituals. Teaches polygamy, secretly, soon after.
May	1842	Nauvoo High Council holds disciplinary court to explore spiritual wifery practices of various church leaders. Though multiple women identify William Smith as providing Joseph Smith’s authorization for their extramarital affairs, their testimonies are stricken from the record by Brigham Young upon Smith’s protest. All blame remains on John C. Bennett.
May 6	1842	Former Governor of Missouri Lilburn Boggs shot in head and neck in attempted assassination. Many saints rejoiced upon hearing the news several days later, saw it as fulfilled prophecy. Suspicion immediately falls upon Smith and Porter Rockwell.
May 7-14	1842	The Wasp, page 67, publishes Smith’s bankruptcy notice. Public notice also published declaring bankruptcy of Joseph’s Red Brick Store. (Quincy Law Firm)
May 19	1842	Smith elected by City Council as Mayor of Nauvoo after John C. Bennett resigns.
May 28	1842	Nauvoo newspaper The Wasp editorialized “Boggs is undoubtedly killed according to report; but who did the noble deed remains to be found.”
June	1842	As Editor of the official church periodical, Smith reprints a section from Josiah Priest’s 1833 American Antiquities to support the idea that “the Ten Tribes came over to America.” Priest’s book, in turn, was quoting from and commenting on the 1825 View of the Hebrews by Ethan Smith.
June	1842	Smith marries Elizabeth Davis Dufree; she was 51 and married to Jabez.
June 24	1842	Smith writes Illinois governor Thomas Carlin attempting to dissuade him from taking action against Smith relating to alleged Boggs assassination attempt.
June 29	1842	Smith marries Eliza Snow (Sarah Cleveland is a witness to this sealing).
July	1842	Smith’s status includes Editor of Times Seasons, Mayor of Nauvoo, Trustee of church finances, Chief Justice of municipal court, Commanding Officer / General of Nauvoo Legion.
July 2	1842	John C. Bennett asserts in Sangamo Journal that Smith sought his help obtaining Sidney Rigdon’s 19 year old daughter Nancy.
July 14	1842	John C. Bennett first accusation concerning Smith and Boggs appears in St. Louis (MO) Bulletin
July 15	1842	John C. Bennett asserts in the Sangamo Journal that Smith had confidentially requested his assistance in securing Sarah Pratt as a “Spiritual Wife.” Also accuses Smith of attempting to swindle his creditors by fraudulently “secreting property . . . for the benefit of himself and family in order to obtain the benefit of the Bankrupt Act.”
July 15	1842	Thousands of Nauvoo Mormons search for Apostle Orson Pratt after finding his suicide note. They find him alive, but distraught over Smith’s attempt to seduce his only wife Sarah.
July 15	1842	Martha Brotherton (18 years old) records and publishes in St. Louis Bulletin the combined attempt by Smith and Young to persuade her to marry Young, secrecy, hidden from parents, her character is then attacked.
July 22	1842	Governor of Missouri, Thomas Reynolds, signs warrant to extradite Smith as accessory to attempted murder.
July 22	1842	Orson Pratt votes against a public resolution in defense of Smith’s virtue.
July 27	1842	Joseph secretly marries 17 year old Sarah Ann Whitney, with Elizabeth and Newel Whitney’s consent, without Emma’s knowledge. Joseph was 20 years older than Sarah.
Aug 8	1842	Thomas King, a neighboring county’s Sheriff, accompanied by officers from Illinois and Missouri, arrive in Nauvoo with a warrant for Smith’s arrest. Rebuffed by a series of hastily enacted Nauvoo municipal laws, Smith avoids extradition and is turned over to his own city marshal.
Aug 17	1842	While in hiding to avoid arrest, chance encounter with traveling stranger forces Smith to relocate for third time in two weeks.
Aug 27	1842	Apostle William Smith, as Editor of The Wasp, publishes article referring to Nancy Rigdon as one of William Bennett’s harlots. Sydney Rigdon pens carefully worded letter of denial regarding Nancy’s involvement with Bennett’s expose.
Aug 29	1842	Smith convenes a special conference for the stated purpose of addressing John C. Bennett’s salacious accusations, which are spreading far and wide. Hundreds of missionaries are sent on distant missions, often with the theme of refuting Smith’s growing practice of polygamy.
Aug 8	1842	Smith and Porter Rockwell arrested for attempted murder, discharged under extraordinary laws Smith instilled in Nauvoo.
Aug 10-29	1842	Smith goes into hiding to avoid second arrest and extradition.
Aug 18	1842	While in hiding, Smith writes Newel and Elizabeth Whitney asking them to come visit in secret with their daughter Sarah. Despite Joseph’s written instruction to destroy the letter, they retain it.
Aug 19	1842	John C. Bennett produced a transcription of the letter Smith dictated for Nancy Rigdon, in Richards’s handwriting – “That which is wrong in one circumstance, may be, and often is right under another…Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is…” (see Sunstone: I Could Love Them All).
Aug 20	1842	Orson Pratt excommunicated for siding with his wife Sarah, who continues to accuse Smith of attempting to seduce her.
Sept 1	1842	Smith leverages his power as editor of Times and Seasons to publish a disingenuous rebuttal of the ongoing accusations of polygamy, declaring it “false as many other ridiculous charges.” He asserts “…we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband…” The prophet had at least 13 wives by this time.
Sept 1	1842	Smith, as Editor of Times & Seasons, prints another polygamy denial, quoting D&C Section 101 “Inasmuch as this church has been reproached…” (vol.3, #21, p.909)
	1842	During this period of falling out with John C. Bennett, Smith encourages Nauvoo City Council to assure Gov. Carlin that he “violated no law…” when in fact he was knowingly violating anti bigamy law.
Sept 6	1842	Joseph Smith deeds Sarah Ann Whitney a parcel of church property, Lot 2, Block 139, just one block from his mansion. Female ownership of land in Nauvoo was extremely rare, unheard of for 17 year old girls.
Sept	1842	U.S. Attorney, Justin Butterfield, travels to Nauvoo, confirms John C. Bennett’s claims that Smith had been improperly transferring property to avoid paying creditors. (Smith and Legal Process: In the Wake of The Steamboat Nauvoo, 756)
Oct 1	1842	Smith’s bankruptcy petition is denied on grounds of wrongful conveyances, preferential transfers, concealment of assets and omissions from inventory.
Oct 1	1842	Not content with previous denials, Smith musters 31 prominent members to lie in Times & Seasons article denying polygamy, including Emma and all her counselors, some of whom are secretly married to Smith. “We the undersigned members of the ladies’ relief society, and married females do certify and declare that we know of no system of marriage being practiced in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints save the one contained in the Book of D&C…” [i.e., the now-deleted Section 101:4 that forbids polygamy] (Times & Seasons, vol. 3, 940)
Dec 27	1842	Having spent most of the year in hiding to avoid arrest, Smith surrenders after securing a hearing in Illinois jurisdiction, counting on its animosity towards its neighboring state. The court deems the Missouri extradition warrant invalid and Smith is released, with an admonition to “refrain from all political electioneering.”
	1842	Emigration of predominantly poor European Saints intensifies, thousands emigrate toward prospects of land and labor in Nauvoo.
	1842	Smith took 11 additional plural wives this year. Previously disputed by the church, John C. Bennett’s list of wives taken this year has now been substantiated.
Jan 14	1843	Smith increases Nauvoo Mayor salary to $500 annually. (Nauvoo City Council Minutes Book, Sec. 1)
Jan 18	1843	Big celebration at Smith’s home. Earlier that day, he married 16 year old Sarah Longstroth and her 14 year old sister to trusted aid Willard Richards.
Feb 9	1843	Joseph reveals D&C 129 – how shaking hands will reveal if messenger is of God or Devil.
Feb 10	1843	Smith deeds parcel of church property, Lot 2, Block 146, to Eliza and Emily Partridge.
Feb 28	1843	Having previously discussed polygamy with Emily Partridge, a nurse girl working in his home, Joseph approaches Emily again on February 28, 1843, her nineteenth birthday. Emily said, “He taught me this principle of plural marriage…but we called it celestial marriage, and he told me that this principle had been revealed to him but it was not generally known.”
Spring	1843	Smith marries Flora Woolworth (age 16) who worked for the Smiths. Emma did not know, until she saw a gold watch he had gifted her, stormed over to the temple lot, made a scene.
Spring	1843	Elizabeth Davis Dufree invites Emily Partridge to her home. Emily recalled that “She introduced the subject of spiritual wives, as they called it in that day…” This is one of several examples of Joseph leveraging female authority figures to coerce teenagers to secretly marry him.
	1843	D&C 132 language, which threatens Emma with destruction, is presented to her by Hyrum Smith to persuade her of the merits of polygamy.
March 4	1843	Elizabeth Dufree again meets with teenager Emily Partridge, arranging a meeting with Joseph – “…I was to meet him in the evening at Mr. Kimballs.” Heber Kimball married Emily to Joseph that moment.
March 8	1843	Smith marries Emily Partridge’s sister, Eliza, instructing each to keep the arrangement secret from the other.
March 10	1843	Smith deeds parcel of church property, Lot 4, Block 158, to Elizabeth Davis Dufree.
March 10	1843	Smith deeds parcel of church property, Lot 4, Block 140, one block from his Mansion, to Sarah Phinney Foster. Transaction Witnessed by Newell Whitney as Justice of the Peace.
March 14	1843	Smith sees moon, sketches “A union of power, combination of Nations“ as signs of times.
March 23	1843	Smith provides special blessing to Sarah Whitney, recorded in his own hand, guaranteeing eternal salvation to her extended family for as long as she remain in polygamy with him.
April 13	1843	Joseph elaborates on his land speculation philosophy, “…suppose I sell you land for $10 per acre & I gave 3, 4, 5 per acre. then you are speculating says one. yes, I will tell you how. I buy others lands & give them to the widow & the fatherless.” (J. Smith Papers, Book 2)
April 23	1843	The Kinderhook Plates are found.
April 29	1843	Smith arranges a sham wedding between his new polygamous bride Sarah Whitney and Joseph Kingsbury, by promising Kingsbury sealing to his recently deceased wife (Sarah’s sister). (Source: Marriage Certificate)
May 1	1843	William Clayton, Smith’s trusted clerk, marries him to 17 year old Lucy Walker while Emma is in St. Louis purchasing supplies. Smith said “I will give you until tomorrow to decide this matter. If you reject this message the gate will be closed forever against you.” Lucy’s mother died in 1842, whereupon Smith moved the family into his mansion and sent the father on eastern mission. This same day, William records Smith saying “he has translated portion of the brass Kinderhook plates.”
	~1843	Smith allows his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, to exhibited the mummy collection in her home while charging 25 cents for admission.
May 11	1843	Emma concedes to Joseph taking additional wives, suggests Emily (19) and Eliza Partridge (22), who work and live in Smith home. Having already married both housemaids in March, Joseph stages mock marriage ceremony to hide prior marriage from Emma.
May 11	1843	Smith secretly marries sisters Maria (18)and Sarah (16) Lawrence, both work as maids in Smith home after father died, Smith was also executor of their recently deceased father’s estate.
May 28	1843	Emma Smith is finally sealed to Joseph. Rather than being the first, as his only legal wife, she was approximately the twentieth wife sealed to him.
May	1843	Smith marries 14 year old Helen Kimball with assistance from Apostle Kimball. Gave her 2 days to decide her salvation. See www.wivesofjosephsmith.org.
June 7	1843	Smith deeds parcel of church property, Lot 2, Block 118, to Helen Mar Kimball. The transaction is witnessed by Newell Whitney as Justice of the Peace.
June 24	1843	Church advertises in Nauvoo Neighbor, will publish Kinderhook Plates in Times & Seasons “as soon as the translation is complete.”
July 12	1843	Smith dictates D&C 132 polygamy revelation, presents to Emma but not delivered to members at this time. William Clayton’s journal records, “From him I learned that the doctrine of plural and celestial marriage is the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed to man on the earth, and that without obedience to that principle no man can ever attain the fulness of exaltation in celestial glory. …I did write the revelations on celestial marriage given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, on the 12th of July, 1843.”
July 12	1843	Smith deeds Emma 65 parcels of church property – comprising dozens of individual lots, including 9 entire blocks of the City of Nauvoo. Transaction Witnessed by Newell Whitney as Justice of the Peace.
July 13	1843	William Clayton’s journal records, “This A.M. J. sent for me & when I arrived he called me up into his private room with E. and there stated an agreement they had mutually entered into they both stated their feelings on many subjects & wept considerable O may the Lord soften her heart that she may be willing to keep and abide by his Holy Law…”
July 15	1843	William Clayton’s journal confirms, “Made deed for 1/2 Steamboat Maid of Iowa from J. to Emma. Also a deed to E. for over 60 city lots…”
July	1843	Joseph and Emma Smith attempt to persuade Jane Law of “correctness” of spouse swapping revelation, she refuses.
Aug 27	1843	Smith refers in sermon to succession promise to his son Joseph III.
Sept 28	1843	Emma Smith receives endowment, only then are other women introduced to endowment.
Oct	1843	William Law (in Joseph’s Presidency) pleads with Smith to stop polygamy – Lawrence sisters among other concerns.
Nov 2	1843	Joseph Smith marries Nancy Young. Escalating public scandal and related scrutiny make Nancy his final documented plural wife.
Nov 5	1843	Emma attempts to poison Joseph, as attested by Brigham Young.
December	1843	Smith petitions Congress to make Nauvoo independent federal territory, with own legion incorporated into U.S. Army and ability to call out Federal troops.
Dec 1	1843	Smith diary mentions Nauvoo Mansion’s bar room, with Porter Rockwell as bartender.
Dec 12	1843	Smith as Mayor of Nauvoo passes ordinance allowing him to sell alcohol from the bar in his house.
Winter	1843	Smith performs second anointing for elite group of leaders and wives.
Dec 20	1843	Nauvoo Neighbor publishes declaration to emigrants, instructing them to purchase any land directly from Smith, as sole trustee of all Church property. He may be found either at “Smith’s bar room, or the Temple Recorder’s office.”
Dec 27	1843	Church newspaper Nauvoo Neighbor advertises ale and beer from Nauvoo Brewery.
	1843	Smith took at least 16 additional plural wives this year.
	1843	Federal Indian agents warn “that a grand conspiracy is about to be entered into between the Mormons and the Indians to destroy all white settlements on the Frontier.”
Jan 8	1844	Frustrated at what he perceived to be a perversion of an otherwise noble enterprise, William Law resigns as First Counselor.
Jan 29	1844	Quorum of 12 nominates Smith candidate for U.S. President with Rigdon as Vice President, emissaries soon dispatched around country.
Feb 20	1844	Joseph Smith and the apostles at Nauvoo begin planning an expedition to Oregon territory and Mexican territories of California to secure a new settlement location.
Feb 25	1844	James Strang is baptized. Strang would later vie for leadership after Joseph Smith’s death. He would entice the majority of Joseph’s immediate family to follow him. His life would mirror Smith’s, including the practice of polygamy and a violent end at the hands of his disgruntled followers. (See June 18, 1844)
March 11	1844	Council of 50 formed in secret to investigate relocation territories for a theocracy free from Federal intervention. Nearly every member is a Freemason.
March 16	1844	Emma instructs Relief Society women protect their daughters and their own virtue. She claims the men had lost their authority, she was the only one still worthy of speaking with authority. The Society is suspended by exclusively male patriarchy, no further meetings are held.
March 20	1844	Emma’s version of “The Voice of Innocence,” published in Nauvoo Neighbor.
April 4	1844	The council sends Orson Hyde to Washington D.C. to petition Congress to make Smith an Officer in U.S. Army with power to raise 100,000 troops to patrol western territories from Texas to Oregon.
April 6	1844	The Council of 50 declares proclamation “To all the Kings”, Pres of U.S. they cannot stand idle as nations and creeds reduced to one political and religious standard – the Mormon one – destined to rule entire world.
April 7	1844	Smith delivers famous King Follet Sermon, declares that God was once a mortal man and is eternally progressing, that resurrected children will always remain in bodies of the same age, that eternity is full of infants upon thrones.
April 11	1844	Council of 50 anoints Smith as “Prophet, Priest and King of the World.”
April 17	1844	Nauvoo Neighbor prints Robert Foster’s allegation that a church leader had attempted to seduce his wife. Robert is a respected Nauvoo merchant. Joseph quietly deeded her a parcel of church property in March 1843.
April 18	1844	William and Jane Law excommunicated.
April 24	1844	Freemasons hold fundraising play, Brigham Young in lead role, to pay Smith’s mounting legal bills.
May 13	1844	William Law records in journal that Smith again attempts to seduce his wife Jane. “He [Smith] had lately endeavored to seduce my wife, and had found her a virtuous woman.”
May 15	1844	Times & Seasons reprints Robert Foster’s allegation that a church leader had attempted to seduce his wife. Church owned newspaper leads with promotion of General Joseph Smith’s bid for President of U.S.
May	1844	Sidney Rigdon visits the Laws, offers to reinstate both, offer refused unless Smith apologizes for polygamy.
May 23	1844	William Law obtains multiple grand jury indictments against Smith, including living with Maria Lawrence “in an open state of adultery.”
May 26	1844	Smith speaks from pulpit on Sunday, “Oh what a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers.”
May 26	1844	“I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.” (History of the Church, vol. 6 ch. 19)
May 27	1844	Smith travels to Carthage; appears only at Charles Foster case, fails to appear at more serious trial – The People of the State of Illinois v. Joseph Smith Sen. – Indictment for Adultery and Fornication.
May 28	1844	William Law writes Justice Andrew Miller, accusing Smith of incompetence and malfeasance in his handling of the Lawrence sister’s estate and guardianship.
June 1	1844	Smith’s journal records, “Drank a glass of beer at Moessers.” The Church would later excise this inconvenient entry from its records.
June 1	1844	Joseph H. Jackson prints Startling Disclosures in The Warsaw Signal, accusing Smith of counterfeiting currency, seduction and the widely speculated attempted assassination of Governor Boggs.
June 5-9	1844	“Went with Henres uncles family uppon the hill. From this day I understand the Kinsman degree of freemasonry. My husband, [Joseph Smith] being a Master Mason, attended meeting. Hyrum Smith spoke exceeding well also red [sic] a revelation…” (Zina Huntington journal)
June 7	1844	The Nauvoo Expositor, funded by William Law, publishes first and last issue, exposing Smith’s polygamy and governmental secession plans, listing reforms to save the Church.
June 8	1844	Smith convenes City Council, which he controls, tries Expositor editors (lacking jurisdiction) all day, obtains public nuisance declaration.
June 10	1844	Town Marshall carries out Smith’s order as Mayor, uses Nauvoo Legion to destroy the press. Smith then blesses the mob in name of The Lord.
June 12	1844	Hancock County Justice issues warrant for the arrest of Smith and 17 others.
June 12	1844	Municipal Court of Nauvoo dismisses charges against Smith. The following day, Smith presides over the court to dismiss charges against all others involved.
	1844	The Mormon Nauvoo legion boasts 3,000 troops, while U.S. Army has 8,500.
June 18	1844	As county law begins to trump the uniquely protective municipal codes Joseph Smith had recently established to shield himself from otherwise legitimate apprehension, arrest and incarceration become imminent. Smith declares martial law, calls out Nauvoo Legion militia, marches around on his horse in full military dress, raises sword while giving rousing speeches to troops. Smith flees town that evening.
June 18	1844	A letter of appointment, purportedly from Smith, was mailed from Nauvoo (as confirmed by U. S. postal records) to James Strang in Wisconsin appointing him to either Stake or Church leadership.
June 21	1844	Nauvoo Neighbor publishes an extra claiming that Expositor editors left town of their own free will, not because their lives were threatened.
June 21	1844	Governor Ford travels to Hancock County, writes Mayor and City Council of Nauvoo – “destruction of the press was a very gross outrage upon the laws and the liberties of the people.”
June 22	1844	Smith flees town at midnight to avoid arrest, with Hyrum, Willard Richards, bodyguard Porter Rockwell. Smith tells William Clayton to burn or bury the minutes of Council of 50. With opposition forces gathering, members feel abandoned, accuse Smith of cowardice.
June 24	1844	Smith and Hyrum come out of hiding and head to Carthage – “If my life is of no value…” Joseph held on charges of treason and destruction of the press.
June 26	1844	Smith sends secret orders to Major General Jonathan Dunham to attack Carthage with militia to free him.
June 27	1844	5 p.m., a large group of men approach jail. Smith assumes it’s Nauvoo Legion to rescue him, but Dunham disobeyed orders knowing a jailbreak would result in the certain annihilation of Nauvoo. Joseph and Hyrum Smith killed by angry mob.
July	1844	Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issues official proclamation to immediately pay “a tenth of all their property and money…and then let them continue to pay a tenth of their income from that time forth.”
	1844	At least 29 men were practicing polygamy at time of Joseph Smith’s death. The practice was a closely guarded secret among top Mormon leadership. Hyrum Smith had 5 living wives at time of his death.
July	1844	Council of 50 explore route to Missouri River for westward migration, sending Lucian Woodworth to Texas to secure a treaty by offering Mormon army help against Mexico in exchange for 3/5th of Texas.
Aug 3	1844	Sidney Rigdon returns to Nauvoo, says received revelation appointing him “Guardian of the Church.”
Aug 8	1844	Conference held to debate who would lead church. Not one single contemporary source supports the widely circulated myth that Brigham Young’s appearance briefly changed to mirror Joseph Smith. The discredited rumor evolved years later and was allowed to flourish in Mormon lore.
Sept 5	1844	Almon Babbitt is made guardian of the Lawrence Estate, sues Smith’s estate to recover damages. Court eventually awards judgement in favor of estate.
Sept 14	1844	Nauvoo City Council reverts Mayor annual salary to pre-Smith level of $100. See Jan 14, 1843.
Sept 19	1844	Brigham young begins marrying some of Smith’s polygamous widows as his own wives.
	1844	Church claims approx. 26,000 membership.
	1845	The Great Irish Famine devastates Ireland, driving many to flee to America.
Jan	1845	Nauvoo city charter revoked by State in both Senate and House.
Jan 11	1845	Quorum of 12 reemphasized “the duty of all saints to tithe themselves one-tenth of all they possess when they enter into the new and everlasting covenant: and then one-tenth of their interest, or income, yearly afterwards.”
Jan 29	1845	Quorum of 12 votes to exempt themselves and a few others from paying tithing.
Feb 4	1845	Council of 50 is reorganized, Brigham Young appointed leader.
March 1	1845	Council of 50 anoints Brigham Young as “Prophet, Priest and King of the World.”
Feb-March	1845	The council considers sites for settlement outside the U.S., including territories in Texas, Oregon and California.
March 11	1845	News of the annexation of Texas by the United States reaches Nauvoo, after which Mormons no longer consider Texas a viable gathering place.
March	1845	Brigham Young announces decision to “stay” (halt) Relief Society. (Document 1.13)
June 27	1845	Quorum of 12 prays for God’s vengeance on those who shed the prophet’s blood. 6 months later this formal prayer would become part of temple oath.
July 28	1845	General Jonathan Dunham, despondent over disobeying Smith’s order to rescue him, commits suicide.
Aug	1845	LDS leaders receive positive reports about Salt Lake area.
Sept 9	1845	Brigham Young announces his intention to settle “somewhere near the Great Salt Lake.”
Sept 16	1845	Porter Rockwell murders Franklin Worrell, leader of Carthage Grey militia that collaborated in killing Smith.
Sept 24	1845	Brigham Young signs pledge to lead Mormons in spring to Oregon or Vancouver Island.
Oct 8	1845	Lucy Mack Smith is first woman to speak at general conference. Church authorities do not invite another woman to address conference for 143 years.
Oct 27	1845	Hancock County grand jury indicts Brigham Young on currency counterfeiting charges.
Oct 31	1845	LDS leaders declare in The Gazette, they will depart Nauvoo “at the appearance of the first vegetation.”
Dec	1845	Nauvoo temple opens.
Dec 11	1845	Brigham Young, tipped by Samuel Brannan, gathers the Twelve to discuss pending counterfeiting indictments.
Dec 18	1845	Federal grand jury indictments issued against Brigham Young ,Willard Richards, John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde and other leaders for counterfeiting. (John Whitmer Historical Assn, Vol 37, Issue 2)
Jan 12	1846	Samuel Brannan writes Young warning U.S. Government, concerned about large militant force fleeing into territories, intends to disarm Mormons in spring.
Jan 11-19	1846	Council of 50 meets to finalize preparations to move west.
Jan 29	1846	Samuel Brannan again writes Young, U.S. Government intends to station troops west of Nauvoo and disarm Mormons. Dallin Oaks later wrote “this warning appears to have been decisive in persuading the Mormon leaders to begin their departure.”
Feb 2	1846	Zina Jacobs Smith marries Brigham Young, for life only, at the same time she’s re-sealed to Smith for eternity. The Church considered civil marriage to Jacobs canceled, superseded by spiritual marriages, yet no divorce documented.
Feb 4	1846	First group of Mormons crosses the Mississippi River into Iowa Territory.
Feb	1846	Nauvoo temple closes.
Feb 15	1846	Brigham young leaves Nauvoo with his family for Iowa.
April 6	1846	Apostle John E. Page, though exempt from tithing obligation, leaves Church over what he called an “unjust and mandatory tax” by which “many paid at the cost of necessities for life.”
May 11	1846	Lucy Mack Smith writes letter upholding James Strang. Every living Book of Mormon witness except Cowdery, plus every living Smith family member join Strang.
May	1846	Brigham Young sends Henry Jacobs on mission to England, starts living with his wife Zina.
Jan 14	1847	Brigham Young records his only canonized and officially published revelation, concerning pioneer trek.
Feb 13	1847	Former Apostle William McLellin organizes a church on behalf of David Whitmer.
April 25	1847	Parley P. Pratt says “…a black man with the blood of Ham in him which lineage was cursed as regards the priesthood.” This is the first publicly recorded priesthood ban statement.
Sept	1847	David Whitmer affiliates with rival schismatic Church of Christ, sustained as Prophet, Seer, Revelator.
	1847	Not a single one of the surviving eleven witnesses remains part of the Mormon church.
July 24	1847	Brigham Young enters Salt Lake Valley.
July 28	1847	Brigham Young selects the site of Salt Lake temple using Oliver Cowdery’s divining rod.
	1847	Utah becomes the only western territory where slavery and slave sales are protected by territorial statute.
Jan 24	1848	Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill, ushering in California gold rush.
Feb 2	1848	Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo renders Salt Lake City a breakaway colony on U.S. soil.
	1848	Oliver Cowdery rejoins church.
June	1848	Crickets descend upon Salt Lake Valley, Seagulls feast oupn the plague, but the harvest is lost. A popular faith inspiring myth is born.
March	1849	Brigham young declares State of Deseret a “free and independent government.”
	1849	California gold rush brings hordes of fortune-seekers streaming west through Salt Lake.
	1849	James Strang begins practicing polygamy.
	1849	Brigham Young institutes Perpetual Emigration Fund, offering high interest loans to settlers.
	1850	Brigham Young appointed Governor of Utah territory.
July 11	1850	John Taylor lies in a public debate in France, condemns polygamy, says it’s not doctrine or legal. He had a dozen wives at the time and knew the Church practiced it. Years later, at the age of 78, he took a 16 year old as his wife. The disingenuous debate was later published by the church to promote missionary efforts in England.
June	1851	Pearl of Great Price published, includes Book of Abraham.
Sept 9	1851	Brigham Young calls for vote on observation of the Word of Wisdom, which is still not a commandment. Also votes to accept excommunication as a punishment for non-payment of tithing.
	1852	Brigham Young publicly acknowledge the ongoing practice of polygamy for first time ever.
Feb 3	1852	Young, as Governor, establishes Utah as a slave territory.
Feb 4	1852	Brigham Young issues public proclamation that blacks can not hold the priesthood, and establishes Utah as a slave territory.
Feb 5	1852	Brigham Young delivers fiery race speech to Utah Legislature.
April	1852	Brigham Young preaches that Adam lived as a man on another planet and then became God. (Journal of Discourses, April 9, 1852)
Aug 29	1852	D&C 132 – polygamy rules defined – presented to members for first time, canonized as scripture.
	1853	Lucy Mack Smith’s Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith published by Orson Pratt in England. Many family visions detailed, yet no first vision mentioned in Lucy’s manuscript, Orson Pratt adds official version after the fact.
Sept	1853	Jesse Hartley, a young non-Mormon attorney, arrives in Salt Lake City.
Sept 24	1853	Hartley’s client, David Hull, poisoned to death.
Sept 25	1853	Hartley accused by Mormons of stealing a horse and money.
Sept 26	1853	Hartley pens letter to Secretary of War to warn of “coming storm…brewing in the Territory,” requests Federal intervention. The letter was intercepted, never leaving Utah Valley, ultimately residing in Brigham Young’s possession.
Sept 30	1853	Judge releases Hartley, finding insufficient cause to detain him. Jesse soon accepts teaching job near Spanish Fork.
Oct 1	1853	Deseret News publishes statement accusing Hartley of theft.
	1853	Salt Lake Temple construction begins.
Jan 7	1854	Jesse Hartley joins LDS Church and promptly begins practicing law again.
April 8	1854	On the first day of General Conference, Jesse Hartley received call to serve mission in Texas.
April 9	1854	Brigham Young denounces Jesse Hartley in General Conference, accuses him of being “a vagrant, thief, robber…ought to have his throat cut…ought to be baptized in Salt Lake with stones tied to him…to wash away one hundredth part of his sins.” Hartley declares his innocence, but is excommunicated.
May 3	1854	Bill Hickman, Brigham’s enforcer, murders Jesse Hartley as he flees toward Fort Bridger.
	1854	*A Voice of Warning, Parley P. Pratt, 4th edition updated, still lacks any mention of first vision*. Pratt was still living.
	1854	Brigham Young teaches that “the Earth is a living creature and breathes as much as you and I do.” He claimed that the earth’s breathing, not the moon, caused the movement of the tides. (Magic World View, 213)
	1854	Orson Pratt disagrees with Brigham Young’s Adam God doctrine.
	1855	W.P. Harris confesses to Kinderhook fraud.
	1855	Brigham Young says of the first vision that an angel of the Lord, not the Lord, visited Joseph Smith.
	1855	Ancient Egyptian code cracked using the Rosetta Stone.
Nov 22	1855	Brigham Young privately ordains his 11 yr. old son, John Willard Young, as Apostle to increase likelihood of him eventually becoming senior Apostle, thereby leading Church after Brigham’s death.
Dec 22	1855	Millennial Star publishes the handcart manifesto – poor planning and execution ensues.
Spring	1856	Brigham Young initiates a “reformation” within the church, resulting in increased fanaticism, patriarchal control and violence.
July 9	1856	James Strang assassinated by disaffected followers.
	1856	Emma Smith sells 4 mummies and some papyrus pieces to Abel Combs 12 days after Lucy’s death. They soon go on display in the St. Louis Museum.
	1856	Utah census notoriously inflated, including fictitious and deceased people, in bid to qualify the territory for statehood.
Aug 25	1856	Martin handcart company departs Florence, NB (now Omaha) toward Zion, dangerously late in the season.
	1856	Brigham Young delivers speech about seeing with spiritual eyes. (Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young)
Sept 21	1856	Brigham Young delivers Blood Atonement speech, ramping up violent rhetoric from the pulpit.
Nov 2	1856	Rumors and blame spreading of handcart suffering. Heber Kimball in Tabernacle blames others for mess – “If all…had done as they were counseled by the First Presidency…suffering would have been avoided.”
Nov 30	1856	Martin handcart company enters Salt Lake, death toll is estimated at 150-170 lives.
Dec 4	1857	As rumors spread, church owned Deseret News publishes a highly sanitized version of the incredible suffering and death of Martin company.
April	1857	William Aitken leads 300 ex-Mormons out of Salt Lake, well armed in fear of ambush – “all determined to get off or die.” (see Devils Gate, Roberts)
	1857	U.S. President Buchanan, informs Congress, “Brigham Young has been both Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs…at the same time head of the church…His power has been, therefore, absolute over both church and state.”
May 13	1857	Parley P. Pratt, Mitt Romney’s great-great-grandfather, killed by estranged husband of his 12th wife.
July	1857	Brigham Young writes letter to Bishop Warren S. Snow in Manti, UT providing reassurance regarding Warren’s castration of an innocent 24 year old, Thomas Lewis, to dissuade him from marrying an attractive young lady that Bishop Snow wanted for himself – “Just let the matter drop, and say no more about it…and it will soon die away among the people.”
Sept 6	1857	Brigham Young declares Utah a free and independent people, no longer bound by the laws of the U.S.
Sept 11	1857	Mountain Meadows Massacre, 120 men, women and children are murdered in cold blood via a carefully orchestrated ambush of deception by local Mormon men. The church engages in an ongoing coverup and misinformation campaign in an attempt to conceal the horrific truth.
Fall	1857	Young visits Idaho, exploring if entire Mormon colony might take refuge there.
	1857	U.S. Government sends 2,500 troops to retake Utah territory and establish new leadership (see Utah War).
June 26	1858	U.S. Army expeditionary force marched through Salt Lake City.
Aug 10	1859	The New York Times publishes The Great Forgery Case, detailing Brigham Young’s attempt to finance Utah War with counterfeit money.
	1860	M. Theodule Deveria, a pioneering Egyptologist in Paris, views LDS pamphlet with Book of Abraham facsimiles, dismisses Smith’s interpretation as rambling nonsense.
	1860	William Smith, Joseph’s son, establishes his own church, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now called Community of Christ.
March 4	1861	Abraham Lincoln becomes U.S. President.
April	1861	U.S. Civil War begins.
Oct	1861	Brigham Young delivers “if a woman preferred another man of higher authority” speech, no bill of divorce required.
	1862	U.S. Government passes Morill Act, first in a series of laws designed to force Church to relinquish plural marriage.
Jan 29	1863	Complaints by Mormon settlers in Cache Valley contribute to the Bear River Massacre, the largest massacre of Native Americans by Federal troops in U.S. history.
	1863	The St. Louis Museum closes and the mummy collection goes to the Chicago Museum.
Aug 23	1865	Brigham Young disapproves of Lucy Mack Smith’s candid biography of her son Joseph, as it conflicts with the then established traditional narrative. He orders Saints to destroy the books.
	1866	Brigham Young calls Eliza Snow to be the second Relief Society President, 22 years after suspending the organization.
	1869	Joseph F. Smith countering RLDS denials of Smith’s polygamy, has living widows sign affidavits documenting marriages.
	1871	Museum destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. Papyri are salvaged and are passed down to Alice Heusser.
	1873	Orson Hyde describes tithing as paying one tenth of one’s property at baptism and then one tenth of one’s annual income thereafter. This is the first instance of tithing described as income-based rather than upon surplus or increase.
	1873	Martin Harris interviewed by Anthony Metcalf, reiterates visionary, entranced state when seeing plates. Harris made numerous statements throughout his life reinforcing spiritual eye view. (NBS p. 358)
June 25	1875	Brigham Young locates the Manti temple by declaring it to be the exact “spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site.”
	1876	First three verses of word of wisdom revelation, including “not by commandment or constraint”, integrated into the core revelation text then canonized as scripture – never presented for common consent.
	1876	D&C 101:4 marriage doctrine of one man, one woman, quietly removed from D&C scripture.
March 23	1877	John D. Lee executed by firing squad for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
	1878	Orson Pratt publishes The Pearl of Great Price, removing the name of Nephi from the text entirely, inserting Moroni.
	1878	Survivors of 1856 handcart tragedy publicly dispute official Church versions for first time. SLC Herald chastises the Church for continued attempts to collect high interest Perpetual Emigration loans from handcart victims. (See Devil’s Gate, 263)
June 30	1879	W. Fugate, one of the 9 original Kinderhook witnesses, writes an affidavit that he, Robert Wiley, and Bridge Whitton created the Kinderhook plates as a hoax.
	1879	Church loses Reynolds v. United States, polygamy is not protected by First Amendment. This is the first U.S. limitation on free expression of religion.
	1879	Pres. John Taylor repeatedly refers to Smith asking an angel in first vision which church was true. Church still was not teaching God/Jesus first vision version at this time.
Oct 10	1880	*Pearl of Great Price* canonized as scripture, including facsimiles 1,2 and 3.
	1880	John Taylor declares a Jubilee Year in which he forgives half the delinquent tithing debt.
March 30	1881	Helen Mar Kimball Whitney writes autobiography detailing marriage to Smith.
Aug 4	1881	Philip Klingensmith’s dead body found in prospect hole in Mexico. A former Bishop, he first publicly exposed Mountain Meadows Massacre and feared he would be killed for his testimony in John D. Lee trial.
	1884	Spaulding’s Manuscript Found discovered in Hawaii.
	1884	The Council of 50 terminated after the Church publicly abandons theocratic government aspirations.
July 4	1885	Prophet John Taylor lowers all U.S. flags to half staff in protest of Federal anti-polygamy laws.
	1885	LDS Church leaders establish colonies in Chihuahua, Mexico to continue the practice of polygamy. The practice remained illegal in Mexico, but was not enforced.
	1887	Apostle Charles Penrose letter to President John Taylor, expressed concern that “the endless subterfuges and prevarications which our present condition impose…threaten to make our rising generation a race of deceivers.“
	1887	U.S. Congress passes the Edmunds-Tucker Act to punish the Church, not just its members, dissolving the Corporation and authorizing Federal seizure of Church property.
	1887	President John Taylor instructs Charles Card to explore settlements in Canada, in large part to continue the practice of polygamy outside the reach of U.S. laws. Cardston, Alberta, Canada is founded.
May 17	1888	Manti temple dedicated, with seer stone on altar during prayer. Wilford Woodruff records in his journal, “Before leaving I consecrated upon the altar the seers stone that Joseph Smith found by revelation some 30 feet under the Earth carried by him through life.”
May 19	1890	U.S. Supreme Court upholds Edmunds-Tucker Act. Among other things, the act disincorporated the LDS Church at a Federal level.
Oct 6	1890	First polygamy Manifesto is accepted at church conference. Despite public messaging to the contrary, formally sanctioned polygamy continued, as at least 250 additional plural marriages occurred.
Oct 10	1890	Apostle John Taylor marries 3rd wife Janet Maria Wooley, backdating it to same day one year prior, 1889.
Oct 25	1893	Congressional resolution authorizes release of assets seized from the LDS Church.
May 18	1894	Jane Elizabeth Manning James, black servant, sealed to Smith as his eternal servant.
	1895	Church issues Political Manifesto, prohibiting leaders from running for political office without church approval
April	1895	Ongoing confusion regarding the godhead prompted President Woodruff to declare in conference, “Cease troubling yourselves about who god is; who Adam is, who Christ is, who Jehovah is. God is God. Christ is Christ. The Holy Ghost is the Holy Ghost. That should be enough for you and me to know.” (Millennial Star 57:355-356)
	1896	Utah granted statehood.
	1897	Wine used in sacrament as late as this year.
	1898	B.H. Roberts was polygamous, resulting in denied Senate seat, millions signed protest.
May 17	1899	President Lorenzo Snow delivers “those with means” tithing talk, limits the law of tithing to one-tenth of annual income, removing the required payment upon conversion.
March 31	1900	Presidency changes the Prophet succession policy to prevent John Willard Young ascension to Prophet.
	1901	Apostle Marriner W. Merrill took a plural wife, later lied under oath at Senate committee investigating Reed Smoot, despite committee possessing solid evidence he was lying.
	1902	Joseph F. Smith condemns the “pernicious superstition” of witchcraft as an “outrageous” belief that persisted among LDS members. (see Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 293)
April 18	1903	RLDS church purchases Book of Mormon printers manuscript from Whitmer family.
	1903	Reed Smoot sworn into U.S. Senate.
March	1904	Pres. Joseph F Smith, polygamist, subpoenaed in Smoot hearings. His testimony conveys a distinction Church leaders had long understood: the Manifesto removed divine command for the Church collectively; it had not prohibited individuals from continuing to practice or perform plural marriage as a matter of religious conscience.
April 6	1904	Second polygamy Manifesto issued, clarifying end of polygamy.
	1909	Word of Wisdom becomes mandatory for “all who enter the temple.”
	1910	The payment of tithing became a requirement to receiving a temple recommend. Thus, access to the highest order of heaven becomes contingent upon financial donations.
	1912	Pres. Joseph F. Smith says “The Saints should know that the pattern of endowment garments was revealed from heaven” …and that can’t change form or manner of wearing. Garments have since changed many times, with each iteration less restrictive than the previous. (Development of LDS Temple Worship p. xl)
	1912	History of the Church is released with King Follet Discourse omitted without Editor B.H. Roberts knowledge. First Presidency believes it to be in direct conflict with revelations accepted as divine. It stays in print into the 1960s. (Lyon 1978, 4-15)
	1912	Franklin Spalding sends copies of Joseph’s interpretations to 8 Egyptologists and Semitists. All denounce Joseph as an “impudent fraud,” pronouncing the Papyri nothing more than common funerary directives and representations of Egyptian gods with spells written upon the hypocephalus.
Dec 29	1912	NY Times proclaims Joseph a fraud for Book of Abraham, as several scholars and Egyptologists agree “authenticity has been destroyed completely.”
	1917	Utah ratifies prohibition
Jan 17	1920	National Prohibition Act takes effect, prohibition becomes law nationwide
	1921	Church ceases teaching that God is spirit without physical body, Lectures on Faith removed from D&C, Section 130 added – thus officially changing nature of Mormon God.
Aug 22	1921	Apostle James Talmage receives 5 question letter from Mr. Couch – assigns B.H. Roberts to investigate.
	1921	Joseph Fielding Smith called as Church Historian.
	1921 – 1935	Sometime between these years, Joseph Fielding Smith discovers Letterbook 1A in a box – finds Smith’s original, hand written first vision draft. Finds it so troubling he cuts pages from journal, hides in his private safe for decades.
January	1922	Having completed the research into problematic aspects of the Book of Mormon narrative and historicity claims which appeared demonstrably false, a task which The Brethren had assigned to him, B.H. Roberts submits *Book of Mormon Difficulties: A Study.* Group discussion ensued among the Presidency and twelve apostles. Unsatisfied with the unproductive conversation, Roberts wrote Pres. Grant expressing “disappointment regarding the irrelevancy of comments expressed.” Of this faith-challenging interaction, he later recorded that the Brethren were “not in a studious mood.” (B. H. Roberts Studies, 346)
	1925	John A. Widtsoe published Discourses of Brigham Young. He took the liberty to remove Brigham’s Adam-God doctrine, which had been taught in LDS temples for years.
	1926	Oath of vengeance is removed from the temple ceremony.
	1928	LDS Church purchases Hill Cumorah in New York.
May 29	1929	Presidency instructs B.H. Roberts, who is still pestering about troubling BoM history, to select a mission to focus his labors and attention, moves to N.Y.
June 17	1930	Reed Smoot’s sponsored Smoot–Hawley Tariff becomes law, despite signatures of 1,029 economists, contributing greatly to historic collapse of global trade.
	1937	The Hill Cumorah Pageant begins – celebrating the millions of Lamanites that perished on that very hill.
	1938	Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith is published. It includes a copy of the King Follet Discourse, but omits the infants doctrine, with a note suggesting a scribal error in copying what the Prophet originally said.
Nov 12	1943	Apostle Richard R. Lyman excommunicated, had been living in polygamy since 1925. Last excommunication of an apostle
	1945	Fawn Brodie publishes No Man Knows My History. Though the church attempted to discredit her, Brodie became a prominent historian and her claims have now been largely acknowledged by the church. Her book remains one of the most important biographies of Joseph Smith’s life.
Feb 1	1946	Thomas Ferguson embarks on his first trip among many to Mexico in search of evidence to bolster the Book of Mormon’s astonishing narrative.
	1947	Ludlow Bull, associate curator of the Department of Egyptian Art (Metropolitan Museum of Art) acquires Joseph Smith’s papyri fragments.
	1947	Church First Presidency struggles with its race doctrine. An investigation concludes “the races…badly mixed…no color line is drawn among the mass of people.” The church realizes “a great part of the population of Brazil is colored.”
	1947	Frustrated by a near total lack of evidence supporting the existence of Lamanites depicted in the Book of Mormon, Thomas Ferguson publishes *Cumorah – Where?*
Aug 17	1949	First Presidency releases statement, race ban “…is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church.”
	1950	King Follet Discourse is returned to the History of the Church.
	1950	Levi Young, President of 1st Quorum of 70’s requests, but is denied access to J. Fielding Smith’s sequestered records. Levi goes over his head, obtains clearance. Smith opens his private personal safe only after assurance not to copy anything or tell anyone of what he discovers.
Oct	1952	Thomas Ferguson organizes the New World Archeological Foundation. Ezra Benson indicates that the church is sympathetic to his efforts, declines to provide funds. John A. Widtsoe is placed on board of directors.
Feb 3	1953	Amateur historian Lamar Peterson is interviewing Levi Young when he mentions a “strange account of the first vision”, but says it must remain confidential. Lamar Peterson kept confidence until Levi’s death. (see 1950 and Dec 3, 1963)
	1954	David O. McKay visits South Africa, the first General Authority to visit the area.
	1954	David O. McKay conducts private research project within 12 on race ban, they know it’s not doctrine, just policy. (see Leonard Arrington for context, 309)
Nov	1954	National Urban League publishes report indicating UT, NV, southern AZ racial discrimination almost as severe as Southern U.S.
	1955	First Presidency relents to constant lobbying and provides $200,000 to Thomas Ferguson to support his efforts to find archeological evidence of Book of Mormon (Larson, 1990, 64)
	1958	Bruce R. McConkie publishes Mormon Doctrine, drawing private criticism from First Presidency. Several key doctrinal points have now been disavowed by the church.
	1959	Church stops providing annual financial disclosure to members regarding the state of its finances and expenditures.
	1960	BYU assumes control of New World Archeological Foundation, all funding flows through the university, Howard W. Hunter is Chairman. Thomas Ferguson demoted to Secretary, writes he is “content to eat whatever piece of pie is thrown my way, however small or humble.” (Larson, 1990, 67)
	1961	LDS correlation program instituted, aligning previously conflicting doctrines and practices into official, faith inspiring narratives.
	1962	Joseph Vincent, Editor of California Archaeologist, attempting to reconcile unique Book of Mormon historicity claims, reignites limited geography theory at a BYU symposium. The theory posits that the advanced civilization chronicled in the Book of Mormon occurred over a much smaller geography than previously suggested.
	1963	LDS Church attempts to establish mission in Nigeria, but government learns of race ban and denies visas for 3 years. Church closed mission attempt short while later.
	1963	“If the pressure continues to increase on the Negro question, the leaders of the Mormon Church will probably have another revelation which will allow the Negro to hold the priesthood.” – Jerald Tanner
Dec 13	1963	Levi Young dies, so Lamar Peterson tells Jerald and Sandra Tanner of 1832 hand written “strange account” first vision, which he learned of first hand in 1953. They begin researching and writing about it, pressure builds to release it. Joseph F. Smith tapes the excised pages back into the journal, grants access to historian Paul Cheesman.
	1965	Paul Cheesman includes “typescript” of 1832 J Smith first vision account in his master’s thesis.
Late	1965	Jerald and Sandra Tanner first publish text of 1832 first vision account – which the LDS church had suppressed for generations, never published it.
Nov 27	1967	Aziz Suryal, of University of Utah, discovers D&C papyri fragments in Metropolitan Museum archives. The LDS Church acquires Papyri via anonymous member donation.
	1967-1968	The Church validates the papyri authenticity and acknowledges the rediscovery in the Deseret News. Apostle N. Eldon Tanner states the discovery of the Papyri will finally prove Joseph Smith could Translate ancient documents. Unfortunately, both LDS and non-LDS Egyptologists agree they are typical ‘Book of Breathings’ in form and content. Church officials begin repressing the story that the original Papyri have been found and are in their possession.
	1967	Thomas Ferguson privately arranges for top Egyptologists to examine photographs of the papyri without knowing their source. President Hugh B. Brown provides photographs. All are united in identifying them as sections from the Book of Breathings. Ferguson is shaken, fails to report to President Brown until 1970. Church officials independently arrive at the same conclusion, question whether these are the portions Joseph Smith used for the Book of Abraham, while Elder Hunter points out to President Tanner that parts matched Oliver Cowdery description. Tanner replies that he does not want information to get out. (Larson 1990, 69-71)
	1967	The Priesthood Bulletin announces only priesthood holders should open/close prayer.
May 19	1967	The New York Times publishes Stewart Udall’s (U.S. Secretary of Interior and inactive Mormon) letter to Dialogue regarding the church’s race ban – “It must be resolved because we are wrong and it is past the time when we should have seen the right.” It created problems for Gov. George Romney’s Presidential campaign.
Jan 5	1968	Jay Dee Nelson asked to review Book of Abraham papyri at suggestion of Hugh Nibley.
	1969	Dean Jessee, the Church’s leading expert on Joseph Smith documents is chastised for writing about the controversial first vision narrative. “You have published photographs which I have been instructed not to talk about.” (see Leonard Arrington, 80)
Nov 12	1969	Stanford University announces it “will not participate in any activity with BYU or any other school sponsored by the Mormon Church” because of its policies of racial discrimination.
	1970	David McKay dies, Joseph fielding Smith becomes President, thus reluctantly relinquished his cherished church historian position, to Howard Hunter. LDS archives are opened to researchers for first time ever, select employees with advanced degrees are brought in.
Nov 30	1970	BYU receives a letter from the IRS informing them of an injunction prohibiting the IRS to grant tax exemption to private schools that practiced racial discrimination.
Dec	1970	Thomas Ferguson finally reports to Hugh B. Brown, confessing he no longer believes Smith had any skill in translating Egyptian. Brown, one of Church’s highest officials, agreed, stating that he too did not believe it to be scripture. When asked later, Brown denied recollection.
July 28	1971	Wesley Walters discovers Smith’s arrest documents from 1826 “The Glass Looker” trial in basement of Norwich, N.Y. county jail.
	1971	Only single women work at SLC church headquarters. HR policy requiring termination upon birth of first child, so mom would stay home.
	1972	Equal Rights Amendment passes both houses of Congress, but vigorous Church effort to rally members contributes to it narrowly failing to garner sufficient state ratification – fails to become law.
	1972	Leonard Arrington is called as Church Historian, ushering in a new era of curiosity and transparency.
Dec 30	1973	Spencer Kimball ordained as Prophet.
Dec 31	1973	Spencer Kimball, in his first press conference as Prophet, responds to reporter’s question “Will there be a change in attitude toward women?” Kimball replied “Not too abruptly; we believe that the ideal place for women is in the home.”
Feb	1974	Dialogue publishes Lester Bush’s Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine over strong church objections, Packer unable to cite a single inaccuracy.
	1974	The Church instructs BYU to lock up and prevent circulation of Robert Woodford’s Ph.D. dissertation on alterations in the D&C. The alterations are numerous, obvious and very significant.
	1974	NAACP sues LDS Church over black Boy Scouting discrimination, Church changes its policy.
	1974	Reed Durham, Pres. of Mormon History Assn / Dir. of Institute at U of Utah, delivers Masons in Mormon history speech, church disapproves, demotes him, effectively ending his career advancement.
Jan 11	1975	Church News publishes article decrying Equal Rights Amendment as “not only imperfect, but dangerous,” presenting it as a moral issue, not a political one. (Mark E. Petersen, Equal Rights Amendment)
Feb 18	1975	Utah legislature, with solid Church support after rallying thousands of Mormon women against the issue, votes down Equal Rights Amendment.
	1975	Church maintains rigid policy terminating female employment upon the birth of first child, so they can go home. Seeking to retain the policy, Church seeks legal opinion of three separate firms before conceding they could no longer fire mothers. (see Leonard Arrington for context, 243)
Aug	1975	The First Presidency reiterates that only priesthood holders offer opening and closing prayers in sacrament meetings. The policy excludes not only women, but also men of color. (Ensign, Aug 1975)
Aug 16	1975	Ted Bundy arrested in UT for aggravated kidnapping, freed, placed on 24 hour watch.
Sept	1975	Ted Bundy baptized into LDS Church in Utah, during his serial killing spree, while prime suspect in ongoing murder investigation.
April 2	1976	Douglas Wallace baptizes and confers priesthood to Larry Lester, a black man, in violation of Church doctrine.
	1976	Elaborating on a paper he had presented on problems in Book of Mormon archeology, Thomas Ferguson, the man that single-handedly launched the search for Mormon archeology, writes that you cannot set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere because it is fictional and will never meet requirements of dirt archeology. (Larson, 1990, 79)
	1977	Boyd Packer delivers BYU talk, counseling members to marry only their own race.
	1977	Jimmy Carter becomes U.S. President, quietly bans Mormons from his administration over race and women’s issues.
March 11	1977	President Jimmy Carter meets with President Kimball in White House, shares his opinion about LDS race policy.
	1977	Eldon Tanner – “A woman will find greater satisfaction and joy and make a greater contribution by being a wise and worthy mother raising good children than she could make in any other vocation.”
Oct	1978	The Brethren fail to locate scriptural prohibition against females praying, ban is lifted, even in sacrament meetings
June 1	1978	Pres. Kimball meets with 10 of 12 Apostles to lobby race ban policy/doctrine change, having already met with each individually in prior weeks.
June 8	1978	Pres. Kimball meets Presiding Bishopric, 1st Quorum of 70 (46 individuals) to lobby race ban policy/doctrine change.
June 9	1978	LDS race ban lifted.
	1970’s – early 80’s	Twenty Church departments and agencies reported directly to First Presidency, which controlled nearly every aspect of the church.
Nov	1978	The Brethren decree that women may pray in sacrament meetings, a right previously denied. (Ensign, Nov. 1978)
	1979	Church Committee for Strengthening Members approaches college students to spy and report on select BYU history professors.
Feb	1980	Ezra Benson, then Pres. of Q12, delivers infamous Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet at BYU, states “The prophet will never lead the Church astray…” First Presidency scolds Benson, forced to apologize, but no public retraction. The LDS church today seems to have embraced Benson’s then controversial philosophy, regularly reinforcing the notion of its special discernment powers. (see Leonard Arrington for context, 409)
April 18	1980	Governing Board of the LDS Church, including Prophet Kimball, meets with Mark Hoffman to scrutinize what later turned out to be a forged Anthon Script. None discerned the fraud at the time.
April 22	1980	Church trades $20,000 worth of items from its archive to obtain Hoffman’s forged Anthon Script.
May 3	1980	Deseret News prints photo of LDS leaders scrutinizing Mark Hoffman’s (forged) document in Church’s board room.
June 1	1980	Bruce McConkie delivers The Seven Deadly Heresies talk at BYU.
June	1980	LDS Ensign magazine publishes article celebrating fake Hofmann Anthon transcript (now removed from LDS website Ensign copy).
July 2	1980	Salt Lake Tribune prints “The history research division of the Mormon church’s historical department will move to BYU…”
	1981	Solicitor General of the United States, Rex Lee, a Mormon, recuses himself from a case against Bob Jones University. Lee explained that he had previously represented the LDS Church, arguing that it should retain its tax-exempt status despite racist policies, and felt conflicted from arguing an opposing view in the Bob Jones case.
Summer	1981	Boyd Packer delivers controversial “The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect” talk at BYU. The LDS church appears to be engaged in an unspoken battle against intellectuals and the emergence of various inconvenient aspects of its history.
Summer	1981	LDS Church purchases various forged documents from Mark Hoffman.
Aug 31	1982	Church terminates History Division, dismissing Leonard Arrington, shuffling the department to BYU.
January	1983	Mark Hoffman presents forged letter from Smith to Stowell to Gordon Hinckley, who promptly acquired it for $15,000.
Sept	1993	The September 6 excommunicated – including Michael Quinn.
	1983	Gordon Hinckley instructs G. Homer Durham to dismantle the church history department – “their efforts were not only unappreciated but seen as dangerous.”
	1984	Mark Hoffman produces the Salamander Letter. The Tanners decry it a forgery but the Church believes it.
June	1984	LDS Church instructs Bishops not to allow discussion of Mormon Enigma, banning the book’s mention in official publications.
Aug 22	1984	At Sunstone gathering, Jerald Tanner distributes tract challenging Salamander Letter authenticity.
Apr 28	1985	LDS Church News publishes text of Hoffman’s Salamander Letter, while supporting its authenticity.
Oct 23	1985	Gordon Hinckley confirms at press conference that the Church had purchased and traded many items from Mark Hoffman. (Deseret News)
	1985	B. H. Roberts Book of Mormon Difficulties is first published.
	1985	Leonard Arrington publishes Brigham Young: American Moses.
Oct 15	1985	Mark Hoffman murders two with package bombs, attempting to deflect suspicion from himself.
Oct 16	1985	Mark Hoffman accidentally blows himself up while handling a third bomb. He survives.
Oct 17	1985	Elder Hugh Pinnock, when questioned by police, denies knowing Mark Hoffman, despite having recently arranged a large loan for Hoffman, with the Church’s approval.
Oct 23	1985	LDS Church holds press conference to address Hoffman documents. Gordon Hinkley declares “The Church’s interest in documents and artifacts pertaining to its history was mandated through revelation.”
Oct 25	1985	Elder Hugh Pinnock pays off Mark Hoffman’s $171,243.76 loan from First Interstate Bank.
May 4	1986	Dallin Oaks, member of Q12, warns members “It’s wrong to criticize leaders of the Church, even if the criticism is true.” (Student Association fireside, SLC Tabernacle)
Jan 24	1987	Convicted forger Mark Hoffman enters Utah prison.
May	1989	Blood Oaths (sometimes called penal oaths) removed from LDS temple endowment.
Sept	1989	Elder Paul Dunn given emeritus status due to “age and health” reasons, as his fabricated stories come under scrutiny.
	1991	Arizona Republic publishes Lynn Packer’s expose of Elder Paul Dunn’s elaborate fabrications.
	1992	Dean Jessee publishes the second volume of the Papers of Joseph Smith, including the part of Smiths diary that had been omitted from the official church history regarding Joseph’s knowledge and approval of the Danites, (See July 27, 1838) directly refuting the longstanding claim that Joseph was unaware of its organization or that it was done without his approval.
	1992	Church employs former FBI agents to watch for disloyalty, builds files on suspects. (see Leonard Arrington for context, 357)
September	1993	The September Six were excommunicated for publishing scholarly work against or criticizing church doctrine or leadership. Many of the controversial issues, particularly Joseph Smith’s involvement in money digging and reliance upon seer stones to bring forth revelation, have now been openly admitted to by the LDS church.
May 18	1998	L.A. Times publishes article exposing an effort to have old racist notions disavowed by LDS Church, around the 20th anniversary of the lifting of the priesthood ban. The Church confirmed that they were exploring the matter.
	2007	Pres. Hinckley reiterates the Book of Mormon is either “right or wrong, true or false, fraudulent or true.“
Summer	2010	Apostle Russel Nelson and Ronald Rasband meet with questioning Swedish leadership. Satisfactory answers were not provided.
Nov 28	2010	Church convenes emergency leadership fireside in Stockholm, dubbed Swedish Rescue, to address member exodus and doctrinal questions.
Aug	2012	Estimates place LDS corporate wealth at approx. $40 billion as the Church completes $3 billion downtown Salt Lake revitalization project, while owning 2% of Florida. The tithing slip disclaimer was also changed to: ‘Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church’s property and will be used at the Church’s sole discretion to further the Church’s overall mission’.
May	2013	www.CESLetter.com registered.
July 21	2013	NY Times publishes Hans Mattsson article, Some Mormons Search Web and Find Doubt.
Nov 4	2013	MormonThink puts up its first billboard on I-15 near Salt Lake City.
Dec	2013	Church publishes Race and the Priesthood essay – “It is not known precisely why, how or when this restriction began in the Church…,” generational bias and Brigham Young are blamed.
	2014	Church quietly releases Translation and the Historicity of the Book of Abraham essay.
Sept 9	2014	Church sends letter to all Priesthood leaders, directing doubting members to a series of essays published in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org
Feb	2015	Mormon Stories founder John Dehlin excommunicated.
November	2015	LDS Church quietly emails new policy to select leaders, prohibiting marriage between homosexual couples under threat of excommunication. The “November Policy” also barred children of same-sex couples from being blessed or baptized until reaching adulthood.
April	2016	Jeremy Runnells, author of CES Letter, resigns at excommunication hearing.
	2016	The Church reveals spending only $40mm on “welfare, humanitarian and other…projects” annually.
March 19	2018	Mormonleaks releases audio recording of former MTC President, Joseph L. Bishop, admitting to inappropriate contact (attempted rape) with sister missionaries in MTC basement.
March 31	2018	As missionary work stagnates and active membership continues to steadily decline, Kirton McKonkie, the LDS Church’s law firm, instructs ldschurchtemples.com to cease publishing annual growth statistics.
May 30	2018	Mormonleaks releases information connecting LDS Church to $32 Billion of stock market assets held among 13 LLCs registered under different names. Asset total excludes the Corporation’s additional bond, real estate and ongoing business holdings.
Sept	2018	Anti-sexual abuse activist Sam Young excommunicated.
Dec	2018	Podcaster and former bishop Bill Reel excommunicated.
Jan	2019	Temple endowment ceremony updated – women allowed to covenant directly with God instead of their husband and no longer required to veil their faces during prayer.
April	2019	Church publicly reverses “November Policy” of Nov 2015, easing policy of LGBT exclusion, though official Church Handbook remains unchanged.
May	2019	Church ends one year temple waiting period for couples who first marry civilly.
Dec	2019	Whistleblower former employee of Ensign Peak, the LDS Church’s secretive investment firm, files an IRS whistleblower claim alleging the Church is illegally sitting on $100 billion in charitable donations, without making any actual distributions for charitable causes for many years.
	2045	Endangered and notoriously elusive Curelom and Cumom, previously unidentified creatures depicted in the Book of Mormon, are discovered in remote patches of Belize jungle.