February 4

1831 – The Prophet Joseph Smith receives Doctrine and Covenants 41, which calls Edward Partridge as the first bishop of the Church and prepares the members for the “law’ of the Church that would shortly be given to them.

1841 – The Nauvoo Legion was organized during a meeting held in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Joseph Smith was elected Lieutenant-general of the Legion, with John C. Bennett, Major-general.  Wilson Law was elected Brigadier-general and Don Carlos Smith Brigadier-general.  Other officers were appointed by the Lieutenant-general and the Legion was composed of six companies.

1846 – The first wagons of the Charles Shumway family crossed the Mississippi River, thus beginning the great Mormon Exodus from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley.  After crossing on ferries, they broke a trail westward traveling nine miles to the banks of Sugar Creek to await the arrival of Brigham Young.  Also, the ship Brooklyn, under the leadership of Samuel Brannan, left New York with 238 Saints on board bound for California.  Ten Saints would loose their life on this six month voyage around the southern tip of South America to the San Francisco Bay.

1851 – The State of Deseret passes an ordinance that incorporates The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1902 – The First Presidency announces the policy that full-time missionaries need not pay tithing.

1996 – The Honaira Branch, the first branch of the Church in the Solomon Islands is organized.

2005 – The First Presidency presents a check for $1 million to Marsha J. Evans, the President of the American Red Cross, to be used for the Measles Initiative vaccination program to fight measles in Africa.  The donation was a second part of a $3 million, 3-year commitment by the Church.  In recognition of the Church’s support, the Red Cross presented its highest honor for donors, the American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarians award, to the Church.

2007 – Elder John Pingree, an Area Seventy, addressed a gathering of Latter-day Saints who are deaf at the Conference Center Little Theater who had gathered in conjunction with the Winter Deaflympics being held in Utah.  Two members of the Church, Justin Anderson of the Deaflympics Committee and Cherrie Hodson an assistant to the Deaflympics Committee, also spoke.

2013 – A portrait of John Taylor was presented to the Utah House of Representatives at the Utah State Capitol, to recognize his service in the Utah Territory House of Representatives. He was elected in 1853 and served as the second-longest Speaker of the House from 1857-1876. (Church News, February 10, 2013)