It may be interesting to note that
a late tradition related by Church leaders stated that the Book of Abraham did
not contain the full story of how the cursed lineage was preserved through the
flood according to Joseph Smith. On August 18, 1900, George F. Gibbs recalled:
“President [Joseph F.] Smith had
on a previous occasion related something going to show how the full blooded
negro came through the flood which had not to his knowledge appeared in our
records, and suggested that President Smith be asked to repeat it. Upon being
invited to do so President [Joseph F.] Smith said that he had been told that
the idea originated with the Prophet Joseph [Smith], but of course he could
not vouch for it. It was this: That the woman named Egyptus was in the
family way by a man of her own race before Ham took her to wife, and that Cainan
was the result of that illicit intercourse.” (Minutes of Meetings of the
Quorum of the Twelve, 1900-1909 <18 August 1900> page 96) (Jacob
Vidrine, “New Light on the Origin of the Priesthood Ban,” One Eternal Round:
A magazine Dedicated to Mormon History and Theology, no. 15 [August 15,
2020]: 5, emphasis in bold added)
