June 28. John Smith, son of Hyrum Smith, was appointed Patriarch over the Church.
1855.—May 5. The Endowment House in Salt Lake City was dedicated.
October. A branch of the Church was organized in Dresden, Germany.
During this year grasshoppers and drouth caused a great failure of crops in Utah.
October 29. The First Presidency of the Church, in their General Epistle, proposed, for the Saints who should emigrate by the P. E. Fund, to cross the plains with handcarts.
1856.—During this year the practice of paying tithing was generally introduced among the Saints in Europe. During the winter and spring there was a great scarcity of food in Utah, and many domestic animals perished.
September 26. The first company of Saints, who crossed the plains with handcarts, arrived.
1857.—April 23. A company of about seventy missionary elders left Salt Lake City to cross the plains with handcarts.
July 11. A. Cumming, of Georgia, was appointed governor of Utah.
July 23. Messrs. J. Stoddard and A. O. Smoot arrived from Independence without the mails, the postmaster there having received orders not to forward them. They brought the news that General Harney, with over 2000 men, was ordered to Utah.