-- Jun 1, 1870
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff Journal] June 1, 1870 This was a vary Busy day with me. ....
At half past 9 oclok I Accompanied My wife Phebe & Daughter Bulah to the Endowment House & I Baptized Phebe W. Woodruff for 26 Dead Friends. I Baptized My Daughter Bulah A Beatie for 17 Dead Friends. I was then Baptized for 30 Dead Friends By Samuel Smith. Joseph F Smith Confirmed my wife Daughter & Myself for 73 Dead Friends. There were 406 Baptized in all. I Confirmed about 100 of them. ...
I was Baptized for the following Persons 30 in number: ...W Woodruff Baptized Phebe Whitmore Carter Woodruff for the following 26 Persons: ...- = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I Baptized My Daughter Bulah Agustia Woodruff Beatie for the following persons 17 in number: ... (1)
-- Sep 5, 1870
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff Journal] 5 Monday I spent the day in the Endowment House. We gave 38 Endowments & sealed 97 Couple. Joseph F Smith sealed 48 Couple & W. Woodruff 49 Couple. Sister Josephene Ursenbak had been baptized for European Ladies, & Princes, &c & she officiated to day with Joseph F Smith & I sealed 9 to the Prophet Joseph Smith... (1)
-- Sep 19, 1870
[Apostle Wilford Woodruff Journal] Sept 19 1870 I attended the Endowment House. We gave Endowments to 28 persons. W Woodruff sealed 37 Couple.
Saturday Evening Sept 17 1870 Martin Harris one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon Came to the Endowment House & Edward Stephenson Rebaptized him into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Orson Pratt John Taylor, W. Woodruff & Joseph F Smith Confirmed him. He was Baptized for Several Dead Friends. (1)
-- During 1870
(Martin Harris) Brigham Young contributed the first $25, declaring: "Send for him? Yes, even if it were to take the last dollar of my own. Martin Harris spent his time and money freely, when one dollar was worth more than one thousand dollars are now. Send for him?Yes, indeed, I shall send!"
During the trip, Harris was frequently invited to witness to the Book of Mormon. At one of these gatherings, a baptism was performed, and Edward Stevenson explained rebaptism to Harris, who said it was "new doctrine to him." He "had not been cut off from the Church," but if rebaptism were "required of him it would be manifested to him by the spirit."
A short time later, he informed Stevenson that "the Spirit had made known to him that it was his duty to renew his covenant before the Lord." Stevenson rebaptized Harris, and Orson Pratt reconfirmed him. Pratt later explained, "Martin Harris, when he came to this Territory a few years ago, was rebaptized, the same as every member of the Church from distant parts is on arriving here. That seems to be a kind of standing ordinance from all Latter-day Saints who emigrate here, from the First Presidency down; all are rebaptized and set out anew by renewing their covenants."
After visiting friends in Salt Lake, Martin moved to Clarkston, Utah, where he lived with his son, Martin Harris, Jr.
When the Relief Society offered to have a set of false teeth made up for him, Harris replied, "No sisters, I thank you for your kindness but I shall not live long. Take the money and give it to the poor." (2)
-- Dec 3, 1871
[Sermon] George Q. Cannon: The New Birth - Baptism for the Dead - Temples, JD 14:310 - 323 (3)
-- Jan 12, 1873
[Sermon] John Taylor: The Spirit and Principles of the Gospel the Same As of Old - Early Experience of Settlers of Utah - Religious Liberty - Modern So - Called Civilization - Baptism for the Dead, JD 15:284 - 291 (3)
-- August 31, 1893
When Joseph received the revelation that we have in our possession concerning the dead, the subject was opened to him, not in full but in part . . . Then women were baptized for men and men for women, &c. (4)
-- Sep 4, 1873
... There are many of the ordinances of the house of God that must be performed in a Temple that is erected expressly for the purpose. There are other ordinances that we can administer without a Temple. You know that there are some which you have received * baptism, the laying on of hands, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the speaking in and interpretation of tongues, prophesying, healing, discerning of spirits, etc.[;] and many blessings bestowed upon the people, we have the privilege of receiving without a Temple. There are other blessings that will not be received, and ordinances that will not be performed according to the law that the Lord has revealed, without their being done in a Temple prepared for that purpose. We can, at the present time, go into the Endowment House and be baptized for the dead, receive our washings and anointing, etc., for there we have a font that has been erected [and] dedicated expressly for baptizing people for the remission of sins, for their health and for their dead friends; in this the Saints have the privilege of being baptized for their friends. We also have the privilege of sealing women to men, without a Temple. This we can do in the Endowment House; but when we come to other sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood, to connect the chain of the Priesthood from father Adam until now, by sealing children to their parents, being sealed for our forefathers, etc., they cannot be done without a Temple. But we can seal women to men, but not men to men, without a Temple. When the ordinances are carried out in the Temples that will be erected, men will be sealed to their fathers, and those who have slept [died] clear up to father Adam. This will have to be done, because of the chain of the Priesthood being broken upon the earth. The Priesthood has left the people, but in the first place the people left the Priesthood. [Brigham Young, Sept. 4, 1873 , Journal of Discourses, 16:186-87] (5)
Footnotes:
1 - Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
2 - Van Wagoner, Richard and Walker, Steven C., A Book of Mormons, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
3 - Journal of Discourses, http://jod.mrm.org
4 - Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Bowery, at Paris, Oneida County, Idaho, Sunday, August 31, 1873. Reported By: John Q. Cannon.
5 - Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship
LDS History Chronology: Unconventional Baptisms
Mormon History Timeline: Forms of Rebaptism in LDS History
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
