A Note on the Sources for the Lorenzo Snow "Windows of Heaven" Story

In the post about Ann Prior Jarvis's account of Lorenzo Snow's 1899 visit to St. George, I mentioned that I had a question about the sources for the story. 

I am serving in the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I do not attend the adult classes and I have not kept up with reading the lesson manual for the adult classes. This evening I looked at this year's manual, which is Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow. A recent lesson was Chapter 12: "Tithing, a Law for Our Protection and Advancement." The lesson — undoubtedly due to the excellent staff at the Church History Library — thoroughly sources the entire story. The list of sources includes the two newspaper articles shown here.

Deseret Evening News, "In Juab and Millard Stakes," May 29, 1899, 5.

Deseret Evening News, "Pres. Snow in Sunny St. George," May 17, 1899. 2.

The second article includes a name I couldn't decipher in Ann's account, so I fixed that in the previous post.

George and Ann Prior Jarvis and "The Windows of Heaven"

Last week my family and I visited St. George, Utah. We had an enjoyable time seeing the Temple, the Tabernacle, Brigham Young's Winter Home, the Jacob Hamblin Home in Santa Clara, the red bluffs overlooking the city, and the site of the Jarvis home, now apartment buildings.

Visting the Tabernacle was curious for two reasons. 

First, George and Ann Prior Jarvis's youngest child, "Willie" was killed by lightning on the front steps of the Tabernacle on April 5, 1881. It was a great and lasting tragedy for the family. They lived a couple of blocks from the Tabernacle and attended meetings there the rest of their lives, so their memories of the event would have had changing meanings throughout their lives.

Second, walking into the Tabernacle was like walking into the set of the movie "The Windows of Heaven," since part of the movie was filmed in the Tabernacle. Here is a short version of the movie, to see the renovations done since the movie was filmed. (Skip ahead to about 10:15 for the Tabernacle footage.) Most obviously, the paint has been stripped from the woodwork and the interior changed from blue to yellow.

Just today I saw a discussion online about tithing and I wondered about the historical sources for the story presented in "The Windows of Heaven." A quick Google search found that one of the first places to find information is on the George and Ann Prior Jarvis Family website page, "Pres. Snow's St. George revelation on tithing." The page mostly consists of LeRoi Snow's account of the story, but the webmaster also included this note:

Note: This story is included here because of its importance in church history, it happened in St. George, and it seems reasonable to assume that George and Ann and members of their family were present in the St. George Tabernacle when it occurred.

Were George and Ann Jarvis there? How would we know? Attendance rolls were not kept for meetings like that. We would only know if one of the family members kept a diary. Once of the family members did, but by 1899, Ann Prior Jarvis had been in very poor health for many years and her diary keeping had become rather sketchy. I will pull it up and see if she recorded anything.

Here is the page, and she does have an entry for May 17, 1899, the day the conference began.

Here is a transcription of the entire page.

1899
Jan
I had a letter from my Sister
I answered it and sent her
Maggies Photo and Alberts Photo
Sister Brown has died
I received a letter from my Sister
May 17
We have the Apostles and [Presiding] Bishop [William B.] Preston, Seymour B Young and many others at Saint George  I went to meeting one day and it was a pleasant change and a treat for me. I heard Lorenzo Snow talk his son LeRoy, Bishop Preston, [William B. Dougall], Br [Abraham O.] Woodruff, Joseph F Smith. Their discourses were on Tithing.
We thank the[e] Oh God for a Prophet.
I have had a letter from [granddaughter] Maud Jarvis and her Card
Weather Cool and Windy Sister Sylvester paid me a visit on Saterday
Heber [and Susan Smith Jarvis] had a Son born on the 22 of Sep. 1898
Named him William Prior. We the good people of St George had the Brethren from S L C
I went one day to Listen to their Instruction
I felt grieved I missed any meetings
[May] 21
I went on Sunday and partook of the Sacrement of the Lord. And went to Em Cottam's they had a party I suffered very much coming home. They tell me it is seven years since I was there before I was glad to see them so comfortable
Br Lytle was the Speaker on Sunday
Rose Mother Sylvester Miss Walker and many more has gone to S L City.
July
Sister Larson died Owen Woodbury died several young Children died I had letters from St. Johns and answered them

So that answers the question. Yes, Ann and undoubtedly other family members were present at the historic conference. Ann seems to have attended meetings on Wednesday, May 17, and Sunday, May 21. Her line "We thank the[e] Oh God for a Prophet" is her usual laconic way of commenting on the historical nature of the conference. Even in better years she would not have said much more.

[See also: A Note on the Sources for the Lorenzo Snow "Windows of Heaven" Story]

Garrard and Eliza Morgan's Children [Updated...Again]

This post is from September 8, 2009. My father just sent a question about the 1880 Census, since Luella's name is transcribed "Love" in online resources although the census taker wrote her name as "Loue." Besides adding the 1870 and 1880 Census to this post, there are a number of different resources that have been found on the Morgan family since I put up this post in 2009, many due to the ongoing efforts of Morgan cousins Bessie at Ancestral Ties and Karen Matthews. See Ancestral Ties or Ancestry.com for more information.

* * *

In an 1863 letter home to his mother during his Civil War service, John mentions several of his brothers and sisters:

I get letters frequently from Will. Reced one from Lu[ella] last evning also one from Morg [Perhaps Morg Hamilton buried in South Park Cemetery in Greensburg, Indiana]. Kiss Jap for me. [His dog?] I would give a thousand dollars to see. Is Lon [Leonidas] studying any now. Tell him to improve his time above everything else. Let novels and such trash alone. Let him have something solid and something that will give him information to read. Knowledge is more than gold and silver. Poor Jimmie. I am sorry his jaw troubles him yet. He is a good boy and has the go aheaditiveness about him to make a man of himself one that will make his mark.

Southern States Mission Manuscript History

For anyone interested in the history of the Southern States Mission, the Church History Library recently digitized the Southern States Mission Manuscript History. Here is a link to each part of the collection, compiled by Bruce at Amateur Mormon Historian.

Southern States Mission Manuscript History