January 26

1836 – Joshua Seixas arrives in Kirtland, Ohio, and begins teaching Hebrew to the Prophet Joseph and the others attending Hebrew school in the Kirtland Temple.  The class is held from ten to eleven a.m. and again from two until three p.m..  The Prophet wrote, “His instruction pleased me much’ (History of the Church, 2:386).

1839 – The exodus of the Saints from Missouri to Illinois and Iowa begins as a result of mob activity and Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Bogg’s October 1838 extermination order.   The order to the Missouri Militia stated, “The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state.’  With the Prophet Joseph and other Church leaders in Liberty Jail, the exodus took place under the direction of the senior member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles,  Brigham Young, and was a precursor to the great exodus west from Nauvoo to Utah that began seven years later in 1846.  Of great concern was the removal of the poor and destitute.  A meeting was held on this date in Far West, Missouri, and a committee was organized to write an appeal to the citizens of the area to help in their removal out of the state.

1845 – News reached Nauvoo, Illinois, that the Illinois State Legislature had repealed the Nauvoo City Charter.  The repeal removed the legal protections of the citizens of the City written into the original city charter.  Also on this date, the High Priests met to plan the building of a meeting hall in Nauvoo.  Brigham Young recommended that they work to finish the Temple instead, which was approved by the brethren attending the meeting.  1865 – The Church agrees to purchase a six thousand acre plantation in Laie on the island of Oahu for $14,000.  This area later becomes the home to Brigham Young University–Hawaii, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and the Laie Hawaii Temple.

1922 – Barbara Bradshaw Smith, tenth General President of the Relief Society from 1974-1984, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1973 – The Aloha Center at the Church College of Hawaii, later BYU–Hawaii, is dedicated by President Marion G. Romney of the First Presidency.

2005 – The U.S. Senate unanimously confirms Church member Michael O. Leavitt as Cabinet Secretary for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.