A Child Born in the Temple During the Dedication: Joseph Temple Bennett

During the Salt Lake Temple dedication services in April 1893, Benjamin F. Bennett and his wife Emma traveled from Provo to attend. The journey hastened an event not expected on that occasion: before Mrs. Bennett could leave the building she gave birth to a son, attended by Mrs. Julina Smith. Once mother and child could be safely moved they were taken to the residence of Andrew J. Smith and given care. On the evening of Saturday, 15 April 1893, the infant was carried back into the temple, to the very room where he had first seen the light of mortal life, and was there blessed by President Joseph F. Smith, who conferred upon him the name Joseph Temple Bennett. To the Saints who learned of it, the birth of a child within the walls of the House of the Lord during the dedication season was a sacred and providential event, a new life beginning under the temple's dedicatory outpouring.