The Church of Christ (later renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was organized in Fayette, New York.

A revelation (now found in section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants) to Joseph Smith regarding his wife, Emma Hale Smith, called her an “Elect Lady” and instructed her to “expound Scriptures & exhort the Church.”

The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo was organized in Nauvoo, Illinois. Emma Smith was elected president. Other officers appointed that day were Sarah M. Kingsley Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney, counselors; Eliza R. Snow, secretary; Phebe M. Bartholomew Wheeler, assistant secretary; and Elvira A. Cowles, treasurer.

The final meeting of the Nauvoo Relief Society was held.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered in Carthage, Illinois.

In discourses to priesthood quorums, Brigham Young, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, expressed his opposition to further Relief Society meetings.

Latter-day Saints began the westward journey from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley.

The first group of Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.

The Female Council of Health was organized in Salt Lake City by this date.

Latter-day Saint women in Salt Lake City independently organized a society to make clothing for American Indian women and children. 

Brigham Young, president of the church, advised Latter-day Saint women to organize into societies within local wards to assist American Indians and others in need.

Roughly two dozen local Relief Societies were formed in Salt Lake City and elsewhere in Utah Territory.

The “Utah War”—the threat of armed conflict between Latter-day Saints and the United States government—disrupted church operations. Most Relief Societies ceased functioning.

Brigham Young called for the reestablishment of the Relief Society in local wards. Roughly a dozen wards responded within the next four months.

Brigham Young called again for the organization of ward Relief Societies. Around this same time, Young commissioned Eliza R. Snow, one of his plural wives, to assist in reestablishing local societies. Through writing, speaking to local wards, and other efforts, she emphasized the importance of the Relief Society and provided guidance on how societies should be organized.

The first separate Relief Society hall, to be used for both business and worship, was dedicated in the Salt Lake City Fifteenth Ward.

Brigham Young invited Mary Isabella Hales Horne, president of the Salt Lake City Fourteenth Ward Relief Society, to lead Latter-day Saint women in an effort to simplify meal preparation and apparel.

Women of the Salt Lake City Fifteenth Ward met to protest the Cullom Bill, proposed federal legislation designed to punish polygamists and limit the church’s power. In the next three months, thousands of other Latter-day Saint women met in similar protest (or “indignation”) meetings.

Mary Isabella Horne convened the first Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Meeting and was appointed president of the meeting. 

Stephen A. Mann, territorial secretary and acting governor of Utah Territory, signed into law an act conferring woman suffrage in Utah. Utah became the second state or territory (after Wyoming Territory) to grant woman suffrage. A week later, Latter-day Saint women delivered to Mann a formal expression of thanks for signing the woman suffrage bill.

Brigham Young’s daughters, with the aid of Eliza R. Snow, organized themselves as the First Young Ladies’ Department of the Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association. This and other departments for young women soon became known as the Young Ladies’ Retrenchment Association. In 1877, the association was officially renamed the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, or Y.L.M.I.A.

Mary Isabella Horne was “unanimously accepted” as president of the Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association. This society and its department for young women were collectively called the Senior and Junior Cooperative Retrenchment Association for a time, and later General Retrenchment or Ladies’ Semi-Monthly Meeting.

The first issue of the Woman’s Exponent was published.

Items donated by Latter-day Saint women in Utah Territory were exhibited at the Women’s Pavilion in the World’s Fair in Philadelphia.

Brigham Young appointed Latter-day Saint women to lead the church’s grain-storage efforts.

Brigham Young appointed Jane Snyder Richards as president of the Weber Stake Relief Society—the first stake Relief Society organization in the church.

The first stake Relief Society meeting was held by the Weber Stake in Ogden, Utah Territory.

The first Primary Association was organized in Farmington, Utah Territory, under the leadership of Aurelia Spencer Rogers.

Emma Hale Smith Bidamon died in Nauvoo.

By this time, American Indian and white women had formed a Relief Society in Thistle Valley, Utah Territory.

At a quarterly conference of the Salt Lake Stake Relief Society, general presidencies were sustained for the Relief Society, Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, and Primary Association. Eliza R. Snow was sustained as Relief Society general president, Elmina S. Taylor as Y.L.M.I.A. general president, and Louie B. Felt as Primary general president.

John Taylor, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, set apart the newly sustained Relief Society general presidency.

Approximately three hundred local Relief Societies were in operation by this time.

Deseret Hospital, an institution founded by Latter-day Saint women, was dedicated in Salt Lake City.

Two thousand Latter-day Saint women assembled in Salt Lake City to protest the recently enacted Edmunds Act, a federal law designed to bring an end to the Latter-day Saints’ practice of polygamy.

Eliza R. Snow died in Salt Lake City.

Zina D. H. Young was sustained as general president of the Relief Society at the church’s general conference.

The first annual general Relief Society conference was held in Salt Lake City.

The Manifesto—a statement announcing the church’s intention to end the practice of polygamy—was read and accepted in the church’s general conference.

By the end of the year, the Relief Society reported a membership of 16,741 in 368 branches, including branches in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Sandwich (Hawaiian) and Samoan Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Relief Society and Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association became two of the ten original member organizations of the National Council of Women.

Church members celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Relief Society in a churchwide Jubilee.