A Brief History of Mormonism Year By Year
A Brief History of Mormonism
1805 Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the organization now called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church), is born on December 23rd in Sharon, Vermont, the fourth child of Lucy Mack and Joseph Smith.
1816 The Smiths move to the Palmyra, New York, area (about forty miles east of Rochester).
1820 In the spring Joseph Smith, Jr., at the age of 14, allegedly receives a visit from God the Father and Jesus Christ, who tell him that all churches are wrong, their creeds are an abomination, and the professors of those creeds are corrupt.
1823 The angel Moroni allegedly visits Joseph in his bedroom three times one September night. These visits are the start of a series of lessons that results in Joseph’s getting gold plates that were allegedly buried in Hill Cumorah, just a few miles south of Palmyra, in Manchester, New York.
1826 Court records of Chenango County, State of New York, People v. Joseph Smith The Glass Looker, March 20, 1826, reveal that Joseph Smith was brought to trial on charges of money digging, using a “peep stone” to locate buried treasure.
1827 Joseph allegedly receives from the angel Moroni the gold plates that were buried in Hill Cumorah. Written on them in “Reformed Egyptian” is the history of a previously unknown New World people. With the help of God Joseph translates the writing into what is now the Book of Mormon.
1829 On May 15 John the Baptist allegedly gives the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and his scribe Oliver Cowdery as part of the restoration of God’s Church on Earth—authority that had been lost shortly after Jesus died.
1829 Probably in the summer, as a continuation of the restoration of God’s Church, the Apostles Peter, James, and John allegedly give Joseph and Oliver the Melchizedek Priesthood.
1830 The Book of Mormon is printed by the Grandin Print Shop in Palmyra, New York.
1830 On April 6, the Mormon Church is organized with a handful of people as God’s one true Church on Earth. At this time it is named the Church of Christ.
1831 The Mormon Church moves to Kirtland, Ohio. At its peak in the 1830s Kirtland reaches a population of around 3,200—about equal to nearby Cleveland.
1832 Mormons start settlements in Missouri.
1833 A collection of sixty-five alleged revelations from God to Joseph Smith is published as the Book of Commandments. Seventy-one revelations have been given up to this date, but only sixty-five are included, as the printing press and facilities at Zion (Independence, Missouri) are destroyed before the collection can be completed.
1834 The name of the Church is changed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
1835 About this time the practice of polygamy starts in private but is publicly denied.
1835 The 1833 Book of Commandments is updated with new revelations, and old ones are modified (with no indication they are changed). The resulting new book, entitled Doctrine and Covenants, has two parts. The first part is called “Theology on the Doctrine of the Church of the Latter Day Saints” (better known as the “Lectures on Faith”). 1 The second part is named “Covenants and Commandments.” Section 101:4 forbids the practice of polygamy.
1838 Joseph leaves Kirtland and goes to Far West, Missouri, fleeing the wrath of the law and disgruntled members.
1838 The name of the Church is changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1838 About nineteen Mormon men, women, and children are massacred by non-Mormons at Hauns Mill, Missouri.
1838–1839 Mormons are driven out of Missouri due to conflicts between them and non-Mormons.
1839 Settlement of what is to become Nauvoo, Illinois, starts.
1840 The Mormon Church has about 17,000 members. 2
1842–1844 Joseph Smith, John Taylor, and other members of the community, in the Mormon Church newspaper, deny that polygamy is practiced, even though it is.
1843 The alleged revelation from God that allows the practice of polygamy is received, but is not formally announced until 1852, is not included in Mormon scripture until 1876, and is not voted on until 1880. (This is the present-day D&C 132, which says in its heading that Joseph had known the doctrine and principles since 1831.)
1844 The city of Nauvoo, Illinois, has a population of about 12,000; it is the second largest city in the state, after Chicago. Joseph Smith is the mayor and lieutenant-general of the Nauvoo legion.
1844 On June 7 William Law, Joseph Smith’s second counselor, publishes The Nauvoo Expositor, which exposes the practice of polygamy in Nauvoo and the teaching by Joseph Smith that there is more than one God.
1844 On June 10, under the authority of Mayor Smith and the Nauvoo City Council, police led by Smith destroy the press, office, and papers of The Nauvoo Expositor.
1844 On June 25 Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith are arrested for their part in the illegal destruction of The Nauvoo Expositor press and office and the calling out of the Nauvoo legion. Along with John Taylor and Dr. Willard Richards they are held in the jail in Carthage, Illinois. On June 27 a mob attacks the jail, killing Joseph and Hyrum in spite of Joseph’s efforts at self-defense with a six-shooter. Two men in the mob are reported killed.
1846 Brigham Young, the second President of the LDS Church, leads the Mormon trek to what is then a portion of Mexico and will become Salt Lake City, Utah. They arrive there in 1847.
1850 Mormon Church membership numbers about 52,000.
1851 The first edition of the Pearl of Great Price is published. It is added to the Mormon scriptures in 1880.
1852 In August polygamy is announced for the first time at a public Mormon meeting.
1857 On September 11 a combined force of Indians and Mormon militia led by Mormon Bishop John D. Lee attacks and annihilates a wagon train of 120 non-Mormon men, women, and children in the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre.
1860 The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is officially established at Amboy, Illinois, with Joseph Smith III as President and Prophet.
1860 Mormon Church membership reaches about 61,000.
1862 The Morrill Act prohibiting polygamy is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1876 D&C 132, which allows polygamy, is first printed in a volume of Mormon scripture.
1880 In October D&C 132, on polygamy, is first voted on by the Mormon membership.
1882 Congress passes the Edmunds Act, providing heavy penalties for practicing polygamy. The practice continues by many in hiding.
1887–1890 The Edmunds-Tucker Act dissolves the Mormon Church corporation and seizes its property. The Idaho test oath law disenfranchises Mormon voters. A short time later the Supreme Court finds the Idaho test oath constitutional. Legislation is drafted to disenfranchise Mormons in Utah.
1890 On September 25 Mormon Church President Wilford Woodruff issues his Manifesto asking Mormons to stop the practice of polygamy. At a Mormon Church General Conference on October 6 this Manifesto, now called Official Declaration—1, is accepted by the general membership as “authoritative and binding.” This does not reject the revelation allowing polygamy (D&C 132); it just puts the practice aside.
1890 Mormon Church membership is about 188,000.
1921 The first part of the Doctrine and Covenants, the “Lectures on Faith,” are removed quietly without such removal ever being presented to the general membership for a vote.
1950 Mormon Church membership is about 1,111,000.
1967 The original papyri, allegedly written by the hand of the Old Testament Prophet Abraham and used by Joseph Smith to translate the Mormon scripture Book of Abraham, are rediscovered. (The document has since been shown to be an Egyptian funereal text called a “Book of Breathings,” written some 1500 years after Abraham’s day.)
1970 Mormon Church membership is about 2,931,000.
1978 On September 30 what is now Official Declaration—2, allowing all worthy males in the Mormon Church to hold the priesthood, is accepted by unanimous vote of the members. (Prior to this a man with any amount of African blood could not hold the priesthood.)
1980 Mormon Church has about 4,640,000 members.
1991 Mormon Church has about 8,100,000 members, about 267 mission centers, and about 43,000 missionaries in the field.
1993 Mormon Church has about 8,700,000 members.
1 1. These were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants starting with the 1921 edition.
2 2. Membership data here and below are from 1993–1994 Church Almanac; Deseret News, 1992, pp. 396–99.
Farkas, J. R., & Reed, D., A. (1997, c1995). Mormonism : Changes, contradictions, and errors (electronic ed.) (17). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
