Thank you for leaving a comment. Your experience as a relative who has heard this story adds credibility to the account.

I sent an email to Brother Daines and so far haven’t received a reply. I don’t know him. This is the email I used: rhdaines@mstar.net.

It was a very common practice in the nineteenth century for young women to keep diaries and not that unusual for them to begin an entry with, “Dear diary”. Since the account is taken from a journal history, I feel confident in saying that it is located somewhere in the Church collections. You can find the most important and/or fragile records in the new Church History Library and Archives in Salt Lake City, or the diary/journal could reside in the special collections of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. (Both of these institutions will open their collections to serious inquiry from an honest individual at no expense. However, if you are a rabid anti-Mormon we reserve the right to withold our records.) Since it is very likely that the diary is in a bound book form with sequential entries it would be extra-ordinarily difficult to forge such an entry and make it look in situ. This lends additional veracity to the incident. Lastly, the General Authorities of the L.D.S. Church have access to an extremely qualified group of historians who can, and do, research such accounts before they are quoted in any discourse given before the Church membership and the world. This ‘vetting’ as it can be termed is rigorous and thorough as our enemies are ever eager to seize upon anything to attack our Faith and our Church. Brother Daines was a professor of Biology at Rutgers University before this speech was given which leads me to believe that he is already well acquainted with the strident standards of academic research. I truly doubt that he would be so cavalier as to quote a myth. Lastly, Jared is absolutely correct, you are indeed free to believe or not believe anything you wish. But if you are so exercised over the account there are academic means at your disposal to check it for yourself. Also, feel free to write and ask Brother Daines himself for the particulars on his reference.

Unless I’m missing something, I’m willing to take it as a credible account until proven otherwise.

I reread the first link you provided. Based on what I read there, and your concerns, I’ve decided to contact Robert H. Daines and see what he has to say.

I’ll follow up when I hear back from him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anachronism

You say “a person can choose to believe or disbelieve this account” as though the truthfulness of the story did not matter at all. A person can certainly choose to believe any kind of made up fabrication they want to. Gullibility is free and undiscriminating among persons.

Unless you’re going to tell me that the Holy Ghost witnessed the truthfulness of this anecdote to you, I don’t understand why it doesn’t “make sense” to use a little probabilistic reasoning.

A person can choose to believe or disbelieve this account. But I don’t think the reasoning you use to declare it a fabrication makes sense. If someone begins a journal account using the term “Dear Diary” what does that have to do with it being a fabrication or not? I fail to see the logic you are using.

If you want some reasoning, check out:

http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=12333&view=findpost&p=337018

Would you mind sharing your reasoning that brought you to feel this way?