Mormonism: A Select Chronology
December 23, 1805 – The birth of Joseph Smith in Sharon, Vermont.
1811 – Smith family moves to Lebanon, New Hampshire.
1816 – Smith family moves to Palmyra, New York (40 miles east of Rochester, New York).
Spring 1820 – The “First Vision” of Joseph Smith at the age of 14.
December 23, 1820 – Jospeh Smith turns 15 years of age.
December 23, 1821 – Joseph Smith turns 16 years of age.
1820-1823 – The teen temptations of Joseph Smith from ages 14 to 17.
1822 – Joseph Smith found a seer stone while digging a well for a neighbor. This seer stones was by Smith to search for buried treasure. Later he used this stone to “translate” the Book of Mormon gold plates and to receive his early personal revelations.
December 23, 1822 – Joseph Smith turns 17 years of age.
September 21-22, 1823 – First Moroni appearances to Joseph Smith.
September 21, 1823 – Doctrine and Covenants section 2 in Manchester, New York. Restore the Elijah Priesthood, Mulachi. An extract from the words of the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith the Prophet, while in the house of the Prophet’s father at Manchester, New York. HC 1: 12. Compare Malachi 4: 5–6; also DC 27: 9; DC 110:13–16; DC 128: 18.
November 19, 1823 – The death of Joseph Smith’s brother Alvin.
December 23, 1823 – Joseph Smith turns 18 years of age.
December 23, 1824 – Joseph Smith turns 19 years of age.
October 1825 – Joseph Smith’s treasure-hunting in Pennsylvania.
December 23, 1825 – Joseph Smith turns 20 years of age.
March 20, 1826 – Joseph Smith charged with money digging ——- .
December 23, 1826 – Joseph Smith turns 21 years of age.
January 18, 1827 – Joseph Smith marries Emma Hale.
Summer 1827-December 1827 – Joseph and Emma Smith move to Manchester, New York.
September 22, 1827 – Joseph Smith receives the Book of Mormon gold plates.
December 1827-August 1830 – Joseph Smith moves to Harmony, Pennsylvania from age 21 to 23. He took the Book of Mormon gold plates with him.
December 23, 1827 – Joseph Smith turns 22 years of age.
April 1828-June 1828 – From the age of 21 to 23, Joseph Smith “translates” gold plates with his first scribe Martin Harris. They complete the 116 pages of the Book of Lehi.
June 1828 – Martin Harris took the 116 pages of the Book of Lehi to Palmyra, New York. The 116 pages were lost.
July 1828 – Joseph Smith records his first personal revelations.
July 1828 – Doctrine and Covenants section 3 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Concerns the loss of 116 pages of the Book of Lehi. The repentance of Joseph Smith.
Spring/Summer 1828 – Joseph Smith attempts to join the Methodist church.
Summer 1828 – Joseph Smith received a revelation that identified American Indians as the ancestors as the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon (DC 28:9).
Winter 1828-1829 – Joseph Smith continues to “translate” the gold plates using his brother Samuel, wife Emma, and her brother Reuben as his scribes.
December 23, 1828 – Joseph Smith turns 23 years of age.
February 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 4 in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
Revelation to Joseph Smith Sr.
March 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 5 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation about three witnesses of Book of Mormon gold plates. If Martin Harris repents, he would be one of the witnesses.
April-June 1829 – Joseph Smith “translates” gold plates with his second scribe Oliver Crowdery.
April 7, 1829 – Oliver Cowdery began his labors as scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon.
April 7, 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 6 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation to Oliver Cowdery.
April 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 7 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation that the apostle John did not die, but stills lives.
April 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 8 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation to Oliver Cowdery, who desired to receive the gift of “translation” like Joseph Smith.
April 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 9 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation to Oliver Cowdery, who is to serve as scribe of Joseph Smith. Other ancient documents will be “translated.”
April 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 10 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Portions of this revelation was received in the summer of 1828. Revelation about evil men making changes to the lost 116 pages of the Book of Lehi. As a result, Joseph Smith did not “retranslate” the Book of Lehi.
May 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 11 in Harmony Pennsylvania. Revelation given to Joseph Smith’s brother Hyrum Smith.
May 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 12 in Harmony Pennsylvania. Revelation given to Joseph Knight Sr..
May 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 13 in Harmony Pennsylvania. John the Baptist ordains Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to the Aaronic Priesthood along the bank of the Susquehanna River on May 15.
Late May 1829 – Peter, James, and John bestows Melchizedek Priesthood (DC 18, 27)
June 1829 – Joseph Smith moves to Fayette, New York to complete the “translation” of the gold plates.
June 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 14 in Fayette, New York. Revelation to David Whitmer, who became one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon gold plates. The Whitmer family had become greatly interested in the translating of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith lived at the home of Peter Whitmer, Sr.
June 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 15 in Fayette, New York. Revelation to John Whitmer, who became one of the claimed eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon gold plates.
June 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 16 revelations in Fayette, New York. Revelation to Peter Whitmer Jr., who became one of the claimed eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon gold plates.
June 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 17 in Fayette, New York. Revelation to Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris. They became the claim three witnesses of the Book of Mormon gold plates.
June 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 18 in Fayette, New York. Revelation to Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer.
June 1829 – Copyright received for the publishing of the Book of Mormon.
Summer 1829 – Doctrine and Covenants section 19 in Manchester, New York. Revelation to Martin Harris.
December 23, 1829 – Joseph Smith turns 24 years of age.
1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 74 in Wayne County, New York.
March 26, 1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in New York. 5,000 copies were printed by the Grandin Print Shop in palmyra, New York.
April 6, 1830 – Mormon Church—Church of Christ—is officially organized as the one true church on earth (DC 1:30).
April 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 20 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given about Mormon Church’s organization and of water baptism.
April 6, 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 21 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given at the official organization of the Mormon Church in the home of Peter Whitmer Sr.
April 16, 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants 22 in Manchester, New York. Joseph Smith rejects the validity of water baptisms conducted by all Christian Churches.
April 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 23 in Manchester, New York. Revelation given to Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Samuel H. Smith, Joseph Smith, Sen., and Joseph Knight, Sr.
June 1830 – Joseph Smith begins the new “translation” of the King James Bible called the Joseph Smith Translation.
June 1830 – Joseph Smith’s declares himself the Mormon prophet Smith declared that he alone was the Mormons’ primary “seer, translator, prophet, and apostle of Jesus Christ.”
June 1830 – Joseph Smith’s vision of Moses on an unnamed mountain (Moses 1).
June 1830 – Joseph Smith rewrites the first chapters of Genesis. Moses and Enoch.
June-October 1830 – Joseph Smith concerning premortal existence, creation, and the fall of man (Moses 2-5).
July 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 24 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation given less than four months after the Mormon Church was organized. Claims persecution had become intense, and the leaders had to seek safety in seclusion.
July 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 25 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation to Emma Smith.
July 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 26 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation given to Oliver Cowdery, and John Whitmer.
August 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 27 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Revelation that water is to be used instead of wine in the sacramental services of the Mormon Church.
August 1830 – Joseph Smith moves to Fayette, New York
September 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 28 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Oliver Cowdery because he was following Hiram Page, who claimed to receive revelations through a seer stone like Joseph Smith.
September 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 29 in Fayette, New York. End-times revelation given in the presence of six elders some days prior to the conference beginning September 26, 1830.
September 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 30 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to David Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr, and John Whitmer.
September 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 31 in Fayette, New York.Revelation given to Thomas B. Marsh.
October 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 32 in Manchester, New York. Revelation given to Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson concerning the Lamanites, the Indian tribes in the West.
October 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 33 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Ezra Thayre and Northrop Sweet.
October 1830 – Joseph Smith sends Mormon missionaries to evangelize the American Indians in the West.
Fall 1830 – Joseph Smith began to compile his dozen or so revelations that he had received.
November 1830 – Joseph Smith’s revelation of Enoch’s life and ministry in the Joseph Smith Translation.
November 4, 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 34 in Fayette, New York. Revelation to 19-year-old Orson Pratt. His older brother was Parley P. Pratt.
December 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 35 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. At this time Joseph Smith the was engaged almost daily in “translating” the Bible.
December 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 36 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Edward Partridge.
December 1830 – Campbellite pastor Sidney Rigdon converts to Mormonism in Kirtland, Ohio. He traveled to New York to meet with Joseph Smith.
December 1830 – Doctrine and Covenants section 37 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon.
December 1830 – Sidney Rigdon becomes Joseph Smith’s new Bible scribe.
December 23, 1830 – Joseph Smith turns 25 years of age.
1831-1838 – Joseph Smith lives in Kirtland, Ohio.
January 1831 – Joseph Smith revelation for the Mormons to move from New York to Kirkland, Ohio.
January 2, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 38 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given at the Mormon Church conference.
January 5, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 39 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Baptist minister James Covill.
January 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 40 in Fayette, New York. Revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon about the rejection of Mormonism by Baptist minister James Covill.
1831 – Joseph Smith’s revelation of eternal and plural marriage (DC 132).
January 1831 – Mormon missionaries arrive in Independence, Missouri.
February to late August 1831 – The early months in Kirkland, Ohio (January 1831-August 1831) For the first seven months or so—from early February 1831 to late August 1831—Joseph Smith and the other Mormons in Ohio were faced with significant practical and spiritual challenges.
February 1831 – Joseph and Emma Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Edward Partridge departed New York for Kirkland Ohio. The Smiths initially lived at the Whitney store, which became the new Mormon Church headquarters.
February 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 41 in Kirkland, Ohio. Edward Partridge called as the first Mormon bishop.
February 9, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 42 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to the Kirkland Mormon Church. Joseph Smith’s revelation of the law of consecration and stewardship.
February 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 43 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation against people people making false claims as “revelators.”
Late February 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 44 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon about an upcoming Mormon Church conference.
March 7, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 45 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation about the end-times.
March 8, 1831 – Doctrines and Covenants section 46 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to the Kirkland Mormon Church about how to govern and conduct church meetings.
March 8, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 47 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation concerning John Whitmer becoming the Mormon Church historian.
March 10, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 48 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation about purchasing lands for the Mormons in Ohio.
March 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 49 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, and Leman Copley concerning the teachings of the Shakers.
March 1831 – Martin Harris’ sells his farm to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon.
May 9, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 50 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation about false spirits in the earth. Mormons were experiencing visions and revelations.
May 20, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 51 in Thompson, Ohio. Revelation about making arrangements for the many Mormons arriving in Ohio. As this undertaking belonged particularly to the bishop’s office, Bishop Edward Partridge sought instruction on the matter.
June 7, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 52 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation about Mormon Church conference during which the ordination of high priests would take place. Also this revelation concerned manifestations of false and deceiving spirits.
June 7, 1831 – First Mormon high priests called and ordained.
June 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 53 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation given to Algernon Sidney Gilbert.
June 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 54 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation given to Newel Knight. Mormons divided over the consecration of properties.
June 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 55 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation given to William W. Phelps, who was a printer.
June 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 56 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation given concerning Ezra Thayre and Thomas B. Marsh.
June 1831 – Joseph Smith visits Jackson County, Missouri where he revealed that it was to be the site of the City of Zion and a temple. Mormons settlements in Missouri. As a result, there was two main Mormon groups living in Ohio and Missouri.
July 20, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 57 in Jackson County, Missouri. Joseph Smith declares Independence, Missouri to be the site of Zion and New Jerusalem.
August 1, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 58 in Jackson County, Missouri. Revelation concerning the new gathering place in Missouri.
August 3, 1831 – First Mormon temple site dedicated in Independence, Missouri.
August 7, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 59 in Jackson County, Missouri. The land was consecrated for the site of a future Mormon temple.
August 8, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 60 in Independence, Missouri. Revelation concerning Mormon elders going to the East.
August 12, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 61 in Missouri River, Missouri. Revelation given on the bank of the Missouri River.
August 13, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 62 in Chariton, Missouri. Revelation given while they were returning to Kirkland, Ohio from Independence, Missouri.
August 27, 1831 – Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery returned to Kirtland, Ohio after their visit to Missouri. After spending approximately one month in Independence, Missouri—the New Jerusalem—Joseph Smith and his traveling companions returned to Ohio in late August 1831.
Late August 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 63 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation given after returning to Kirtland, Ohio.
August 1831-March 1836 – Following their return from Missouri, the next four and a half years before they built the firm Mormon temple in Kirtland temple was a time of new doctrines, new revelations, and the beginning of the practice of polygamy.
September 1831 – Joseph Smith moves to Hiram, Ohio that was located approximately 30 miles south of Kirkland, Ohio. In Hiram Smith began to organize his personal revelations for publication, and also worked on his new Bible revision.
September 11, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 64 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation about Joseph Smith’s move to Hiram, Ohio, to renew his work on the “translation” of the Bible.
October 30, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 65 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation about prayer.
October 29, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 66 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation about William E. McLellin’s requests.
November 1831 – The revelation of the gospel of Adam, Noah and the flood (Moses 6-8).
November 1, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 1 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation given at conference of elders that Joseph Smith wanted to have his revelations published as a book.
November 3, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 133 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation to Mormon elders.
November 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 67 in Hiram, Ohio. William W. Phelps had established the Mormon Church printing press in Independence, Missouri. The conference decided to publish the revelations in the Book of Commandments and to print 3,000 copies.
November 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 68 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation given at the request of Orson Hyde, Luke S. Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and William E. McLellin.
November 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 69 in Hiram, Ohio. Oliver Cowdery was appointed to carry the Joseph Smith revelations and commandments to Independence, Missouri, for printing. He was also to take money for the Mormon Church in Missouri.
November 12, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 70 in Hiram, Ohio. The great importance of the Book of Commandments, later called the Doctrine and Covenants.
December 1, 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 71 in Hiram, Ohio. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon temporarily stopped “translating” the Bible and began to address the opposition caused by the publication of some newspaper articles by Ezra Booth.
December 1831 – Doctrine and Covenants section 72 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation to Mormon elders.
December 4, 1831 – Newell K. Whitney called as the second Mormon bishop (DC 72).
December 23, 1831 – Joseph Smith turns 26 years of age.
January 10, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 73 in Amherst, Ohio. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon are to continue “translating” the Bible.
January 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 74 in Hiram Ohio. Joseph Smith’s translation of 1 Corinthians 7:14.
January 25, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 75 in Amherst, Ohio. At this conference Joseph Smith was sustained and ordained President of the High Priesthood.
February 16, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 76 in Hiram, Ohio. Joseph Smith’s revelatory vision while interpreting John 5:29. It is called “Vision of the Glories,” containing three degrees of glory in heaven.
April 1832 – Brigham Young baptized as a Mormon.
March 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 77 in Hiram, Ohio. Joseph Smith’s interpretations of the book of Revelation.
March 1, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 78 in Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Newel K. Whitney are organize the Church’s mercantile and publishing endeavors in Missouri called the United Firm.
March 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 79 in Hiram, Ohio. Calling of Jared Carter.
March 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 80 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation to Stephen Burnett.
March 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 81 in Hiram, Ohio. Frederick G. Williams is called to be a high priest and a counselor in the Presidency of the High Priesthood. This revelation was a step toward the formal organization of the First Presidency.
March 1832 – Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon tarred and feathered in Ohio.
April 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 82 in Independence, Missouri. Joseph Smith was sustained as the President of the High Priesthood.
April 30, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 83 in Independence, Missouri. Revelation given during a council meeting.
July 20, 1832—November 27, 1832 – Joseph Smith begins to dictate the earliest history of the Mormon church.
Summer 1932 – Joseph Smith’s first hand-written account of the 1920 First Vision.
August 29, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 99 in Hiram, Ohio. Revelation given to John Murdock.
September 22-23, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 84 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation on priesthood.
October-November 1832 – Joseph Smith’s trip to Albany, New York and Boston, Massachusetts.
November 7, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 85 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation concerning Mormons living in Independence, Missouri.
December 6, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 86 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given while Joseph Smith was reviewing and editing the manuscript of the “translation” of the Bible.
December 23, 1832 – Joseph Smith turns 27 years of age.
December 25, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 87 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation and prophecy about the American Civil War.
December 27, 1832 – Doctrine and Covenants section 88 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation of the “Olive Leaf” plucked from the Tree of Paradise, a message of peace.
February 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 89 in Kirkland. Ohio. Revelation called the “Word of Wisdom.”
February 1833 – Mormon School of the Prophets organized.
March 8, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 90 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation in the establishment of the First Presidency and the counselors.
March 9, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 91 in Kirkland, Ohio. Joseph Smith “translates” the Old Testament and the Apocrypha.
March 15, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 92 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to Frederick G. Williams, a counselor in the First Presidency.
May 6, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 93 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation on the eternal existence of man.
June 1, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 95 in Kirkland, Ohio. Directions to build houses for worship and instruction, especially the House of the Lord.
June 4, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 96 in Kirkland, Ohio. The order of the City or Stake of Zion at Kirtland, Ohio.
July 2, 1833 – Tranlation of the Bible completed. Joseph Smith rewrote Bible for three years from June 1830 to July 1833. an inspired new translation of the Bible.
July 20, 1833 – Non-Mormon settlers entered Independence, Missouri and demanded that the Mormons leave immediately. When the Mormons refused, a violent mob went on a rampage, destroying the Mormon printing press, stores, and houses. The Mormons were eventually expelled from Jackson County, and they fled across the Missouri River into Clay County, where they set up temporary residences.61
August 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 94 in Kirtland, Ohio. Hyrum Smith, Reynolds Cahoon, and Jared Carter are appointed as a Church building committee.
August 2, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 97 in Kirtland, Ohio. Affairs of the Mormons in Zion, Jackson County, Missouri.
August 6, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 98 in Kirtland, Ohio. Revelation given in light of the persecution of the Mormons in Missouri.
October 12, 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 100 in Perrysburg, New York. Revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon.
December 1833 – Doctrine and Covenants section 101 in Kirkland, Ohio. Mormons in Jackson Country, Missouri were suffering great persecution and expulsion.
December 23, 1833 – Joseph Smith turns 28 years of age.
Fall 1833 – Mormons driven out of Jackson County, Missouri.
February 17, 1834 – Doctrine and Covenants section 102 in Kirkland, Ohio. First Mormon high council organization.
February 24, 1834 – Doctrine and Covenants section 103 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation concerning the Mormons in Jackson County, Missouri.
April 23, 1834 – Doctrines and Covenants section 104 in Kirtland, Ohio. Concerning the United Order, or the order of the Church for the benefit of the poor.
May 1834 – Joseph Smith led a Mormon army called “Zion’s Camp” to Missouri to reclaim their lands. The effect was unsuccessful.
June 22, 1834 – Doctrine and Covenants section 105 in Fishing River, Missouri. The Mormon army “Zion’s Camp” in Missouri.
November 2, 1834 – Doctrine and Covenants section 106 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to Warren A. Cowdery, an older brother of Oliver Cowdery.
November 1834 – Joseph Smith starts the “School of the Prophets” in Kirkland, Ohio.
December 23, 1834 – Joseph Smith turns 29 years of age.
February 14, 1835 – Joseph Smith organizes the Council of the Twelve Apostles.
February 28, 1835 – Quorum of 70 in Kirtland, Ohio.
Winter 1834-1835 – Lectures of Faith delivered in the School of Prophets.
March 28, 1835 – Doctrine and Covenants section 107 in Kirkland, Ohio. Joseph Smith’s revelation on Mormon priesthood.
June 1835 – Joseph Smith’s Book of Abraham
July 1835 – Joseph Smith purchases four mummies and Egyptian papyri. Smith begins his so-called translation of them.
August 17, 1835 – Doctrine and Covenants section 134 in Kirkland, Ohio. Concerning governments and laws in general.
August 17, 1835 – Mormon Church approves Doctrine and Covenants.
November 9-11, 1835 – The second account of Joseph Smith’s 1820 First Vision.
November 27, 1835 – The death of Christian Whitmer in Clay County, Missiouri, one of the eight witnesses.
December 23, 1835 – Joseph Smith turns 30 years of age.
December 26, 1835 – Doctrine and Covenants section 108 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation received based on requests of Lyman Sherman.
January 21, 1836 – Doctrine and Covenants section 137 in Kirkland, Ohio. Joseph Smith’s vision in the temple. The occasion was the administration of the ordinances of the endowment.
January 21, 1836 – Joship Smith receive a vision of the celestial kingdom, the begging of revelation concerning salvation for the dead ( DC 132)
January 21-May 1, 1836 – A Pentecostal season in which visions,, revelaiontions, angelic ministration and speaking in tongues were enjoyed.
January-February 1836 – First washings and anointing in Kirtland, Ohio temple.
March 27, 1836 – The dedication of the first Mormon temple in Kirtland, Ohio.
March 27, 1836 – Doctrine and Covenants 109 in Kirkland, Ohio. Prayer offered at the dedication of the temple at Kirtland.
April 3, 1836 – Doctrine and Covenants section 110 in Kirtland, Ohio. Visions manifested to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland temple. Joseph Smith’s vision of Jesus Christ in the Kirkland, Ohio temple. Moses, Elisha and Elijah restore keys of Mormon priesthood.
July 1836 – Joseph Smith travels to Salem, Massachusetts in search of treasures. Nothing found.
August 6, 1836 – Doctrine and Covenants section 111 in Salem, Massachusetts.
The Mormon Church was in deep financial debt. Hearing that a large amount of money could be found in Salem, Massachusetts, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, and Oliver Cowdery traveled there from Kirtland, Ohio. However, they found no money and returned to Kirtland.
September 22, 1836 – Peter Whitmer Jr. dies in Liberty, Clay County, Missouri. He was one of the eight witnesses of the gold pates of the Book of Mormon.
December 23, 1836 – Joseph Smith turns 31 years of age.
January 1837 – Joseph Smith starts his own private bank called the Kirkland Safety Society Bak in Kirtland, Ohio. He was not able to obtain a charter. The bank failed.
June 1837 – First Mormon missionaries to Great Britain.
July 23, 1837 – Doctrine and Covenants section 112 in Kirkland, Ohio. Revelation given to Thomas B. Marsh concerning the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Revelation of Mormon priesthood government.
July 23, 1837 – Mormonism first preached in Great Britian.
September-December 1837 – Joseph Smith visits Missouri from Kirkland, Ohio.
December 1837 – Martin Harris was excommunicated from the Mormon Church. He was one of the three witnesses of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.
December 23, 1837 – Joseph Smith turns 32 years of age.
1837 – A new edition of the Book of Mormon was published, with thousands of corrections in spelling and grammar.
1838 – Joseph Smith’s history of the Mormon Church.
1838-1839 – Joseph Smith lives in Missouri.
January 12, 1838 – Joseph Smith flees Kirkland, Ohio for Far West, Missouri.
March 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 112 revelation in Kirkland, Ohio.
March 14, 1838 – Joseph Smith arrives in Far West, Missouri.
March 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 113 in Far West, Missouri. Joseph Smith answers questions concerning the book of Isaiah.
May 1838 – JS made one of the most astonishing declarations he had ever made. While visiting Daviess County, seventy miles to the north of the city of Independence, Smith claimed to have discovered the literal spot where Adam had settled after God expelled him and Eve from the garden of Eden, and where Adam would return before the second coming of Christ.66 Smith apparently pointed out the exact spot where he said Adam had once had his altar. The Mormons called this newly dedicated settlement Adam-ondi-Ahman,67 which apparently means “the place or land of God where Adam dwelt” in the pure Adamic language, according to Smith.68
Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie describes this LDS teaching: At that great gathering Adam offered sacrifices on an altar built for the purpose. A remnant of that very altar remained on the spot down through the ages. On May 19, 1838 Joseph Smith and a number of his associates stood on the remainder of the pile of stones at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri. There the Prophet taught them that Adam again would visit in the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, holding a great council as a prelude to the great and dreadful day of the Lord.69
March 1838 – Mormons take refuge in Northern Missouri. As the situation was getting worse in Independence, Missouri, Mormons began fleeing into Clay County, where they started a new Mormon city at Far West.
March 1838 – Joseph Smith and the Mormon leadership abandon Kirkland, Ohio and establishes the Mormon headquarters in Far West, Missouri. It was in Far West that Joseph Smith and the Mormon leadership would eventually make their headquarters after abandoning Ohio. Attempting to get a new start, reestablish authority, and obtain badly needed finances,
April 17, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 114 in Far West, Missouri. Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet.
April 26, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 115 in Far West, Missouri. Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, making known the will of God concerning the building up of that place and of the Lord’s House. This revelation is addressed to the presiding officers of the Church.
April 26, 1838 – Joseph Smith changes the name of the Mormon Church to “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” in Far West, Missouri (DC 115).
April 27, 1838 – Joseph Smith prepares the history of the Mormon church (Joseph-Smith—History), which contains his third account of the 1820 First Vision.
April 12, 1838 – Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated from the Mormon church. He was one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon gold plates.
1838 – David Whitmer withdrew his membership from the Mormon church and was excommunicated.
May 19, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 116 in Spring Hill, Davises County, Missouri. Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, near Wight’s Ferry, at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri.
June 1838 – Mormons formed the “Danites.” The Danites were a fraternal organization in the town of Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri and operated as a vigilante group and took a central role in the events of the 1838 Momon War.
Summer of 1838 – During the summer months of 1838, northern Missouri was getting dangerous as a “Mormon War” was feared. The locals believed that the Mormons were preparing to conquer all of Missouri, and they wanted them to leave the state.
July 8, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 117 in Far West, Missouri. Revelation concerning the duties of William Marks, Newel K. Whitney, and Oliver Granger.
July 8, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 118 in Far West, Missouri. Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, in response to the supplication: “Show us thy will, O Lord, concerning the Twelve.” HC 3: 46–47.
July 8, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenants section 119 in Far West, Missouri. Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, in answer to his supplication: “O Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing.” HC 3: 44. The law of tithing, as understood today, had not been given to the Church previous to this revelation. The term “tithing” in the prayer just quoted and in previous revelations (64: 23; 85: 3; 97: 11) had meant not just one-tenth, but all free-will offerings, or contributions, to the Church funds. The Lord had previously given to the Church the law of consecration and stewardship of property, which members (chiefly the leading elders) entered into by a covenant that was to be everlasting. Because of failure on the part of many to abide by this covenant, the Lord withdrew it for a time, and gave instead the law of tithing to the whole Church. The Prophet asked the Lord how much of their property he required for sacred purposes. The answer was this revelation.
July 8, 1838 – Doctrine and Covenant section 120 in Far West, Missouri. Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, making known the disposition of the properties tithed as named in the preceding revelation, Section 119. HC 3: 44.
July 8, 1838 – Joseph Smith’s revelation of tithing. Council on Disposition of the Tithes established (DC 119-120)
1838 – The Mormon War is a name that is sometimes given to the 1838 conflict which occurred between Mormons and their neighbors in the northwestern region of Missouri. This conflict is also sometimes referred to as the Missouri Mormon War to differentiate it from the Utah Mormon War. The specific dates of the war are from August 6, 1838, (the Gallatin election battle to November 1, 1838, when Joseph Smith surrendered at Far West. The conflict was preceded by the eviction of the Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri in 1833.
August 6, 1838 – The”Gallatin County Election Day” was a skirmish between Mormons and non-Mormon settlers in the newly formed Daviess County, Missouri.
October 27, 1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issued the extermination order against the Mormons.
October 31, 1838 December 1, 1838 — Joseph Smith surrendered to Missouri militia at Far West and was imprisoned. He spent several months in Liberty Jail awaiting trial.
End of 1838 – When Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders were jailed at the end of 1838,70 the Mormons fled Missouri into Illinois and Iowa under the leadership of Brigham Young.
December 23, 1838 – Joseph Smith turns 33 years of age.
December 1838-April 1839 – Joseph Smith was jailed at Liberty, Missouri.
March 20, 1839 – Doctrine and Covenants section 121 in Liberty Jail, Clay County, Missouri. Joseph Smith’s writing from the jail at Liberty, Missouri.
March 1839 – Doctrine and Covenants section 122 in Liberty Jail, Clay County, Missouri. Joseph Smith’s writing from the jail at the Liberty, Missouri.
March 1839 – Doctrine and Covenants section 123 in Liberty Jail, Clay County, Missouri. Joseph Smith’s writing from the jail at Liberty, Missouri.
April 1839 – Joseph Smith escaped jail and fled to Illinois to start the Mormon Nauvoo, Illinois settlement.
April 1839 – Joseph Smith leads thousands of Mormons east across the Mississippi River into the area of Quincy, Illinois—approximately 200 miles from Far West—where they settled temporarily.
April 22, 1839 – Joseph Smith arrives at Quincy, Illinois.
1839-1844 – Joseph Smith lives in Nauvoo, Illinois.
1839-1842 – The Mormons lived peacefully in Nauvoo from 1839 to 1842. but then major trouble began. The primary problems were rooted in the fact that the Mormons ran Nauvoo as a powerful church-theocracy with their own militia, and also practiced polygamy.
May 10, 1839 – Joseph Smith moves to Commerce, Illinois (Nauvoo)
December 23, 1839 – Joseph Smith turns 34 years of age.
August 15, 1840 – Joseph Smith teaches proxy water baptism for the dead.
September 14, 1840 – The death of Joseph Smith Sr. in Nauvoo, Illinois. He was the father of Joseph Smith and one of the eight witnesses of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.
December 23, 1840 – Joseph Smith turns 35 years of age.
January 19, 1841 – Doctrine and Covenants section 124 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet. Because of increasing persecutions and illegal procedures against them by public officers, the saints had been compelled to leave Missouri. The exterminating order issued by Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of Missouri, dated October 27, 1838, had left them no alternative. See HC 3: 175. In 1841, when this revelation was given, the city of Nauvoo, occupying the site of the former village of Commerce, Illinois, had been built up by the saints, and here the headquarters of the Church had been established.
February 1841 – Joseph Smith organized the Nauvoo Legion which became the largest militia in the United States.
March 1841 – Doctrine and Covenants section 125 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Revelation given concerning the Mormons in Iowa.
April 1841 – Joseph Smith was secretly sealed to Louisa Beaman as his wife. Over the next 3 years he would marry at least 33 women in secret marriages.
July 9, 1841 – Doctrine and Covenants section 126 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Revelation given in the house of Brigham Young, at Nauvoo. Brigham Young was president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
November 1841 – Mormonism’s first proxy water baptism for the dead.
December 23, 1841 – Joseph Smith turns 36 years of age.
1842 – Joseph Smith published his Book of Abraham in the LDS newspaper Times and Seasons.
1842 – The fourth account of Joseph Smith’s 1820 First Vision was published for the first time (Wentworth letter).
March 15, 1842 – The first Freemason lodge was organized in Nauvoo, Illinois, and Joseph Smith became a Master Freemason on March 15th.
March 17, 1842 – Mormon Female Relief Society organized.
April 1842 – Joseph Smith applies for bankruptcy.
May 4, 1842 – Joseph Smith introduces the endowment temple ordinance for the first time in Nauvoo, Illinois.
May 8, 1842 – Assassination attempt on Missouri ex-governor Lilburn Boggs.
May 19, 1842 – Joseph Smith becomes the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois.
September 1, 1842 – Doctrine and Covenants section 127 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Directions on baptism for the dead.
September 6, 1842 – Doctrine and Covenants section 128 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Further directions on baptism for the dead.
December 23, 1842 – Joseph Smith turns 37 years of age.
February 9, 1843 – Doctrine and Covenants section 129 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Instructions concerning the correct nature of ministering angels and spirits may be distinguished.
April 2, 1843 – Doctrine and Covenants section 130 in Ramus, Illinois. tems of instruction given by Joseph Smith the Prophet.
May 16-17,1843 – Doctrine and Covenants section 131 in Ramus, Illinois. Instructions by Joseph Smith the Prophet.
May 1843 – Joseph Smith “translates” a portion of the Kinderbook Plates, which were forgeries.
July 12, 1843 – Doctrine and Covenants section 132 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Revelation concerning the new and everlasting covenant, including the eternal marriage and plurality of wives. Although the revelation was recorded in 1843, it is evident from the historical records that the doctrines and principles involved in this revelation had been known by the Prophet since 1831.
August 12, 1843 – Joseph Smith’s revelation on plural marriage was read to the Mormon High Council.
December 23, 1843 – Joseph Smith turns 38 years of age.
January 29, 1844 – Joseph Smith runs to become the president of the United States.
Joseph Smith becomes the General …..
March 11, 1844 – Joseph Smith organizes the theocratic “Council of 50.”
April 1844 – The “Council of 50” anointed and ordained Joseph Smith as King, Priest, and Ruler over Israel on earth.
April 7, 1844 – Joseph Smith’s “King Follett” sermon that taught God had once been a man, humans could become Gods, matter is eternal, many gods together had organized—not created—the world out of chaotic matter.
June 7, 1844 – The first and only publication of the Nauvoo Expositor in which former Mormons leaders condemned Joseph Smith’s polygamy, doctrine of plural gods, and his ordination as King.
June 10, 1844 – Mayor Joseph Smith condemns the Nauvoo Expositor.
June 18, 1844 – Joseph Smith decares Nauvoo, Illinois under martial law.
June 24, 1844 – Jospeh Smith and Hyrum Smith surrendered to authorities to stand trial for “riot and treason.”
June 25, 1844 – Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were taken to jail in Carthage, Illinois
June 27, 1844 – In a gun fight, JS and his brother were shot to death of Joseph Smith inside the Carthage jail.
June 27, 1844 – Doctrine and Covenants section 135 in Nauvoo, Illinois. The death of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith at Carthage, Illinois.
July 30, 1844 – The death of Samuel H. Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois. He was one of the claimed eight witnesses of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.
August 8, 1844 – Brigham Young was transfigured before the Mormons, with Joseph Smith’s voice speaking through him. He was chosen to take over the leadership of the Mormons.
September 8, 1844 – Sidney Rigdon was excommunicated from the Mormon Church.
1846-1847 – Brigham Young leads the Mormon migration from —— to Utah.
February 1846 – The Mormons left Illinois in February 1846, Mormon wagons hurried across the frozen Mississippi River into Iowa, tearfully looking back at what they called the City of Joseph. They waited out the brutally cold winter, and that spring the Saints began the two-thousand-mile trek to Utah. he Mormons marched for five months across the three hundred miles of Iowa plains; and by summer they had reached the valley of the Missouri River, which was the western Iowa border.
February-June 1846 – The six-month Mormon trek to Utah.
The strategic plan was that the majority of Mormons would settle at Winter Quarters through the winter of 1846–1847
January 1847 – Doctrine and Covenants section 136 in Winter Quarters (now Nebraska).
July 24, 1847 – Brigham Young’s pioneer team to Salt Lake
April 16, 1847 – Stayed at Winter Quarters through the winter of 1847. The 1,000 mile trek from Winter Quarters to Utah.
In 1847, 13 separate companies of Mormon pioneers totaling approximately 2,000 made the Utah journey. Although the first trek has become celebrated, the migration of Mormons to the Utah Territory continued for more than 10 years.
April 1847–August 1877 – Utah Mormonism under the leadership of Brigham Young.
December 5, 1847 – It was in Winter Quarters that Young was officially ordained the second President and Prophet of the Latter-day Saints on December 5, 1847, three years after the death of Joseph Smith.
1847-1850 – Mormons in Mexican territory. For the first three years following their arrival in the Great Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons lived in Mexican land outside of the jurisdiction and laws of the United States. With the end of the Mexican War, the United States gained possession of the Salt Lake Valley in 1848.
1850 – Utah is officially declared an American territory. Although the Mormons wanted the territory to be officially named Deseret, Congress decided instead to name it Utah, after the Ute Indians who lived in the region.
1850-1896 – Mormons in American Territory.
June 15, 1850 – Deseret News began publication in Salt Lake City.
February 3, 1851 – Brigham Young became was Utah’s territorial governor.
1851 – When non-Mormon judges and appointed officials arrived in the Utah Territory, they were shocked to discover a Mormon theocracy and the practice of polygamy. When they returned east, they provided a detailed report to President Millard Fillmore, which created an ongoing suspicion in Washington, D.C., concerning Mormon Utah.
August 12, 1852 – The death of Hiram Page in Excesior Springs, Missouri. He was one of the claimed eight witnesses of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.
February 14, 1853 – Start to build the Mormon Salt Lake City temple.
1854 – Starting in 1854, the Republican Party’s platform denounced the twin evils of slavery and polygamy.
1854 – Brigham Young built a large home that became known as his “Beehive House” because of the roof’s beehive-shaped cupola. It was from the Beehive House that Young served as both governor and Mormon Prophet. A connecting structure housed his many wives and children.
April 21, 1856 – The death of Jacob Whitmer in Richmond, Missouri. He was one of the claimed eight witnesses of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.
1857 – Republican U.S. President James Buchanan replaced Brigham Young as territorial governor of Utah with non-Mormon Alfred Cumming and sent an army to Utah to enforce the change.
September 11, 1857 – Mormons attacked an unarmed non-Mormon wagon train, killing more than 100 innocent people. This dark episode in Mormon history is called the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—now the Community of Christ—was started in Independence, Missouri, with Joseph Smith III becoming its first president.
1862 – Abraham Lincoln did sign into law the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which made polygamy in America a crime and limited the amount of property that the LDS Church could own.
1865 – Until the Civil War was over in 1865, there was little enforcement of the Morrill Act, and the Mormons continued to build the Salt Lake temple, start public-works projects, and build more settlements.
1869 – Mormon isolationism was greatly threatened when in 1869 America’s transcontinental railroad made traveling to Utah no longer a major undertaking.
In 1870 – Martin Harris, at 87-years-old, moved to the Utah Territory and was re baptized into the Mormon Church.
August 29, 1877 – Brigham Young dies on August 29, 1877 at the age of 76. He had married at least 55 wives and fathered 56 children.
August 1877-January 1896 – The two decades following the death of Brigham Young to Utah Statehood were characterized by an outright battle between Mormonism and the United States over the issues of LDS theocracy and polygamy.
1880-1887 – John Taylor, the 3rd president of the LDS Church.
1887-1898 – Wilford Woodruff, the 4th president of the LDS Church.
1898-1901 – Lorenzo Snow, the 5th president of the LDS Church.
September 1890 – The first manifesto against polygamy.
October 1890 – Doctrine and Covenants Official Declaration 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah. —————-
1891 – LDS dismantled the Mormon People’s Party and began to align themselves with the Republican and Democratic political parties.
April 1893 – Dedication of the Mormon Salt Lake City temple.
January 4, 1896 – Utah became an official state of the United States.
1901-1918 – Joseph F. Smith, the 6th president of the LDS Church.
1904 – A second manifesto would also be made by President and Prophet Joseph F. Smith in 1904, and a church policy was enacted that would excommunicate all polygamists.
October 3-4, 1918 – Doctrine and Covenants section 138 in Salt Lake City, Utah A vision of Mormon president Joseph F. Smith concerning Jesus visiting the spirits of the dead while his body was in the tomb.
1918-1945 – Heber J. Grant, the 7th president of the LDS Church.
1945-1951 – George Albert Smith, the 8th president of the LDS Church.
1951-1970 – David O. McKay, the 9th president of the LDS Church.
1966 – The book of Abraham’s original papyri were discovered at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The files contained a bill of sale from Emma Smith, Joseph Smith’s widow.
1970-1972 – Joseph Fielding Smith, the 10th president of the LDS Church. He was the son Joseph of Joseph F. Smith.
1972-1973 – Harold B. Lee, the 11th president of the LDS Church.
1973-1985 – Spencer W. Kimball, the 12th president of the LDS Church.
July 10, 1875 – Martin Harris dies in Clarkston, Utah Territory. He was one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon gold plates.
June 1978 – Doctrine and Covenants Official Declaration 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Prophet Spencer Kimball receives a new revelation that African-Americans can now be ordained into the Mormon priesthoods.
September 1979 – LDS edition of King James Bible with study aids was published.
September 1981 – New editions of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price were published.
1982 – The LDS Church added the subtitle Another Testament of Jesus Christ to the Book of Mormon. Mormonism now calls the Book of Mormon the fifth Gospel, placing it alongside the four biblical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
1985-1994 – Ezra Taft Benson, the 13th president of the LDS Church.
1990 – Today’s 1990 authorized version of the Doctrine and Covenants contains 138 revelations or sections plus the two official LDS declarations ending the practice of polygamy in 1890, and allowing worthy black males to enter the LDS priesthoods in 1978.
1994-1995 – Howard W. Hunter, the 14th president of the LDS Church.
1995-2008 – Gordon B. Hinckley, the 15th president of the LDS Church.
2008-2018 – Thomas S. Monson, the 16th President of the LDS Church.
2018-Present – Russell M. Nelson, the 17th President of the LDS Church.
