January 24

1796 – Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack are married at Tunbridge, Vermont.

1832 – Bishop Edward Partridge presents the first report of Church expenditures and revenues.  Also, about this time the Prophet Joseph Smith received the revelation known as Doctrine and Covenants 74, an explanation of 1 Corinthians 7:14 and states, “little children are holy, being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ.’

1839 – The Prophet Joseph Smith writes the Missouri State Legislature from Liberty Jail, requesting a change of venue for his trial.  The hope was to move the trail from the prejudiced western Missouri people and Judge King to a more neutral place such as St. Louis, Missouri.

1841 – Hyrum Smith is ordained Patriarch to the Church, to replace his father who had died, William Law is called to be Second Counselor in the First Presidency, to replace Hyrum Smith, and George Miller is appointed Bishop to replace Edward Partridge, who had died.

1846 – A meeting was held on the second story of the Temple for the purpose of arranging the business affairs of the Church prior to leaving Nauvoo.  Brigham Young spoke to those gathered stating they intended to send a small group in a few weeks to prepare the way for the rest of the Saints to follow in the summer.  They assigned trustees to complete the Temple and Nauvoo House after the Saints began to leave, and to sell the property to help the poor move west.  All were invited to move with the Saints west, member and non-member, but those who desired to follow someone other than the Twelve Apostles, such as Sidney Rigdon or James J. Strang, would be cut off from the Church.  After the meeting, Brigham Young returned to the attic of the Temple and resumed giving the ordinances of the Temple until midnight.

1848 – Henry Bigler, a member of the Mormon Battalion, recorded in his journal James W. Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill on the South Fork of the American River in California.  This discovery would lead to the California Gold Rush in 1849.  Bigler, and several other discharged members of the Mormon Battalion, had been hired by Sutter to construct a mill along the river.

1854 – Matilda Dudley establishes the “Indian Relief Society’ as a group to help provide clothing for needy Indian (Native American) women and children.

1898 – Four former members of the Mormon Battalion who had taken part in the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California—Henry W. Bigler, James S. Brown, Azariah Smith, and William Johnston—take part in the fiftieth anniversary commemoration of that event.

1902 – The First Presidency issues a doctrinal statement regarding the nature of the Holy Ghost, clarifying and stating that He is a spirit personage while the Spirit of God is an impersonal influence from God.

1945 – Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was born in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

1979 – Elder Ezra Taft Benson addressed he National Cattlemen’s Association prayer breakfast in Kansas City, Missouri. He spoke about strong families and how the faith and righteousness of a people make for strong, prosperous Nations.