Carbless Happiness

Nothing like a crazy election cycle and a concerted effort by the Church to oppose gay marriage that reminds me of my Great Great Grandfather Anthon H Lund, the Apostle and member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1889-1921.

In an Age of the Church's history when individuality is considered an apostate notion, I must admire this singular man. Although I’m still learning about him, I can’t help but chuckle to myself as I read the following thoughts about him as I consider my own Path:

“Anthon H. Lund served as Counselor in the First Presidency under President Joseph F. Smith and under Heber J. Grant. He was always "just a bit different," and not only because of his nationality. At the time of his call the the Twelve, he was the only monogamist among the Apostles. He wasn't afraid to be different.” reference

“Lund was the one to give the first Conference Talk in 1899 emphasizing it was no longer Church policy to gather to Zion, but that Saints were to stay in their native lands and build up the Church there. I wonder how much influence he had in that decision.”reference

“Another example of Lund's disregard of convention occurred in 1903 when Benjamin Cluff, Jr., president of the Brigham Young Academy proposed to the Board that it change the name of the school to Brigham Young University, which had been his aim all fourteen years of his administration. There followed a vigorous dispute over this proposal. Thinking the school was not qualified to become a university, Anthon H. Lund of the First Presidency vigorously opposed it but was outvoted by his brethren. In his diary for the day President Lund recorded, "I hope their head will grow big enough for their hat."reference

“In his diary Lund said that when President Joseph F. Smith nominated his son Hyrum in their meeting with the Twelve in October 1901 that there was talk of nepotism by some of the Twelve. A couple of the Twelve said Hyrum had not served in any major church calling and his qualifications weren't obvious. President Smith told them he didn't know why but the Lord revealed to him that his son was to be the next apostle but that was who the Lord wanted. Elder Lund spoke out in favor of Hyrum's calling saying if that was who the Prophet and the Lord both wanted then the other brethren should support the calling. A vote was called and the brethren voted to call Hyrum Mack Smith as an apostle.

Later when the Apostle Hyrum became ill, he refused medical treatment. Hyrum maintained that the Lord would protect him and he would be cured. His father the Prophet became worried and asked him to reconsider--that the family's personal physician could operate on him immediately. It took several hours to convince him but finally he did it for his father's sake. Peritonitis had set in. When the surgeon opened him up he died on the table from the infection on 23 January 1918. Lund goes on to write that many general authorities expressed the opinion that Hyrum was taken early because he was needed in the Spirit World to work among the youth and that they said that mainly to try to soften the loss for President Smith. Lund stood up indignantly and opined that the needless tragedy would not have occurred had Hyrum been wise and gone to a doctor sooner.”reference

There are many more stories like this about my Great Great Grandfather (time to buy a compilation of his journals). But one final thought regarding the history of the Word of Wisdom. As far as I have studied the issue, it would appear that Anthon did not support the effort by the leadership of the Church to make adherence to the Word of Wisdom a requirement for admission to the temple; the same year my Great Great Grandfather died (March of 1921), President Heber J. Grant the most ardent supporter of strict adherence to the Word of Wisdom and the Prohibition movement, made a successful push to formalize this requirement as a part of church policy. Surely, this will be one of the sections of his journals that I will look at closely. reference.

I wish I could have met this man. Anthon H. Lund. He was a little bit different. In fact he wasn’t afraid to be different. And he was an Apostle and servant of the Lord with a strong testimony of the Restoration.