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A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books |
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Family Background 1852. September 16: Born Anthony Woodward Ivins in Toms River, New Jersey. First cousin of Heber J. Grant. The Ivins family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1853 and helped settle Saint George in 1861. In southern Utah Tony developed life-long interests in hunting, fishing, and Indians. Married Elizabeth Ashby Snow, daughter of Erastus Snow, in 1878; they had nine children.
1875. Ordained an elder at the age of thirteen, Ivins was called at the age of twenty-three to help explore Arizona and New Mexico for areas which could be colonized by the Saints. In 1877-78 he served another mission in New Mexico, and in 1882 he was called to preside over the Mexican Mission in Mexico City. He learned to speak Spanish so fluently that Mexican President Porfirio Diaz described him as "a gentleman who speaks my native tongue as if he were a native born Castilian."
1877. Appointed constable of Saint George. 1882. A self-taught lawyer, Ivins was elected prosecuting attorney for Washington County. 1888. Helped organize the "Sagebrush Democrats," an attempt to move Utah away from the People's (Mormon) and Liberal (non-Mormon) parties toward national parties. 1890. Elected mayor of Saint George, Ivins also served two terms in the Utah legislature. 1896. As a member of the 1894 Utah State Constitutional Convention, Ivins gained widespread popularity among Democratic delegates. Two years later the state Democratic convention telegraphed his cousin Heber J. Grant, "Where can we find Anthony Ivins? We will give him his choice to be nominated for the first Congressman, now that we have statehood, or the first governor." Grant answered, "He is on the Kaibab Mountain selling the cattle, horses, and property of his company; he has accepted a call of the Church to go to Mexico. Nothing in the world would cause him to fail to fulfill that call."
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Presiding Authority in Mexico 1895. Eight Mormon settlements in Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, provided refuge for Saints in danger of prose- cution for violating anti-polygamy statutes. When Wilford Woodruff called him to succeed George Teasdale as the presiding officer there, Ivins wrote in his journal, "I answered the letter rec'd from Presidency telling them that I would go to Mexico as soon as possible. I did not want to go to Mexico." In Juarez, Ivins served as the first stake president, and as vice-president and general manager of the Church's Mexican Colonization and Agricultural Company. For twelve years, his word was final in the ecclesiastical and civic affairs of the colonies. The Ivins mansion in Juarez was fronted with a heart-shaped lawn bordered by dahlias and imported rose bushes and shrubs. The estate included fruit trees, berries and grape vines. "He built an attractive and spacious barn and outbuildings and filled them with imported purebred horses and cows including Plowboy, an imported stallion. His blooded dogs and registered chickens were in line. From a cement-covered cistern on the west canal he piped water to his home, making inside plumbing possible for the first time in the history of the town."
1897. Though a monogamist himself, Ivins was authorized by the First Presidency to perform plural marriage sealings, illegal under both U.S. and Mexican laws. A form letter was prepared which, when properly filled out, would indicate to Ivins that the couple presenting the form were authorized to be married. The Anthony W. Ivins collection at the Utah State Historical Society contains a list of more than forty couples so married, and the Joseph F. Smith collection in the LDS Church Archives contains many more signed authorization forms used in Mexico. Additional plural marriages were finally prohibited by Joseph F. Smith's "second manifesto" given at April conference, 1904.
1907. Called to the Quorum of the Twelve by President Joseph F. Smith. 1912. Supervised the evacuation of Mormon colonies during the Mexican Revolution. 1921. Named second counselor to his cousin, President Heber J. Grant. He became first counselor in 1925. As a staunch but discreet Democrat, Ivins was an important political influence, moderating partisan Republican policies whenever they were advocated in Church councils. Ivins aggravated Republican loyalists like Reed Smoot and J. Reuben Clark, inspired Democratic partisans like B.H. Roberts, and amused apolitical gadflies like J. Golden Kimball. As a member of the First Presidency, Ivins also provided tacit encouragement for Mormon modernists.
Ivins had been a prosperous rancher in Saint George, where he was manager of the Mojave Land and Cattle Company and co-owner of the Kaibab Cattle Company. In Salt Lake City he served as vice-president of Utah State National Bank, Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Company, and ZCMI; director of Deseret Savings Bank and United States Fuel Company; and president of Utah Savings and Trust Company.
1934. September 23: Died of a heart attack at his home at 519 B. Street, Salt Lake City, at the age of eighty-two. Buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. 1970. Elected to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.
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