From Our History

During the construction of the Nauvoo Temple, a group of sisters desired to organize to support the building effort. Eliza R. Snow drafted bylaws for this new group. When she showed them to the Prophet Joseph, he responded: "Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, and he has something better for them. … I will organize the women under the priesthood after the pattern of the priesthood."6 A short time later, the Prophet told the newly organized Relief Society: "I now turn the key to you in the name of God, and this Society shall rejoice, and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time."7 The sisters were expected to rise to a new level of holiness and to prepare for the priesthood ordinances soon to be administered in the temple.