John Taylor

Family Background

1808. November 1: Born in Milnthorpe, England, he married Leonora Cannon in 1833. When Joseph Smith explained plural marriage to him in 1843, Taylor wrote, "I had always entertained strict ideas of virtue. … Nothing but a knowledge of God, and the revelations of God, and the truth of them, could have induced me to embrace such a principle as this."

He embraced the principle thoroughly, marrying fifteen plural wives—Elizabeth Kaighin (1843), Jane Ballantyne (1844), Mary Ann Oakley (1846), Mary Amanda Utley (1846), Ann Hughlings Pitchforth (1846), Ann Ballantyne (1846), Mary Ramsbottom (1846), Lydia Dibble Smith (1846), Sarah Thorton Coleman (1846), Mercy Thompson Smith (1846), Sophia Whittaker (1847), Harriet Whittaker (1847), Caroline Hooper Saunders Gillian (1847), Margaret Young (1847), and Josephine Elizabeth Rouche (1886). Three of his wives later divorced him: Mercy R. Thompson Smith (1847), Sarah Thornton Coleman (1852), and Ann Ballantyne (1854).

He was the father of thirty-five children, including John W. Taylor and an adopted son (his wife's nephew), George Q. Cannon, who became apostles. Another son, William W., became a president of the Council of the Seventy, and President Joseph F. Smith was the nephew of his wife Mercy Thompson Smith.

Convert

Two years after the Taylors immigrated to Canada from England, John became active in the Methodist church. Convinced that no denomination they knew followed the New Testament pattern, the Taylors and their friends prayed for someone to bring them the true church.

1836. Converted and baptized by Parley P. Pratt.

Taylor once said, "If it were not for the religion I profess, which gives me to know something about the matter, by revelation for myself, I would not have anything to do with religion at all …. I never would submit to be gulled with the nonsense that exists in the world, under the name of religion."

After serving as the Church's presiding officer in Canada for a year, Taylor moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Far West, Missouri.

Apostle

1838. December 19: Ordained an apostle at Far West by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, following the excommunication of John F. Boynton. Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail.

1839. Taylor went with other members of the Twelve to Great Britain, where he opened Ireland and the Isle of Man to missionary work. He later served missions to Great Britain (1846-1847) and France (1850-1852). In France he wrote several pamphlets, including Government of God.

Editor

In Nauvoo, Taylor received his second anointings, became a member of the Council of Fifty (1844), served on the city council (1841-1844) and the board of regents for the university, and was judge advocate of the Nauvoo legion.

He edited the last three volumes of the Times and Seasons and published the Nauvoo Neighbor. In recognition of his polished editorials, W. W. Phelps, Nauvoo's toastmaster supreme, dubbed Taylor "Champion of Right."

Taylor established the first Church periodicals in France and Germany (1851) and published the Mormon, a New York City newspaper (1852).

Martyrdom Witness

1844. June 27: Jailed with Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Willard Richards in Carthage, Illinois. To cheer up the group, Taylor sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." He suggested escape to the Prophet: "If you permit it, and say the word, I will have you out of this prison in five hours, if the jail has to come down to do it." The offer was refused.

Asked to sing the song again, Taylor said he did not feel like singing. Hyrum entreated, "Oh, never mind; commence singing and you will get the spirit of it." Shortly after Taylor completed the song again, an armed mob overwhelmed the guard and rushed up the stairs to the prisoner's room while gunmen outside fired into the building:

"After parrying the guns for some time, which now protruded thicker and farther into the room, and seeing no hope of escape or protection there, as we were now unarmed, it occurred to me that we might have some friends outside, and that there might be some chance of escape in that direction but here there seemed to be none. As I expected them every moment to rush into the room—nothing but extreme cowardice having thus far kept them out—as the tumult and pressure increased, without any other hope, I made a spring for the window, which was right in front of the jail door where the mob was standing, and also exposed to the fire of the Carthage Greys. …

"I was struck by a ball from the door about midway of my thigh, which struck the bone, and flattened out almost the size of a quarter of a dollar, and then passed on through the fleshy part to within about half an inch of the outside. I think some prominent nerve must have been severed or injured for as soon as the ball struck me, I fell like a bird when shot, or an ox when struck by a butcher, and lost entirely and instantaneously all power of action or locomotion. I fell upon the window-sill, and cried out, 'I am shot!'

"Not possessing any power to move, I felt myself falling outside of the window, but immediately I fell inside, from some, at that time, unknown cause. When I struck the floor my animation seemed restored, as I have seen it sometimes in squirrels and birds after being shot. As soon as I felt the power of motion I crawled under the bed, which was in a corner of the room, not far from the window where I received my wound.

"While on my way and under the bed I was wounded in three other places; one ball entered a little below the left knee, and never was extracted; another entered the forepart of my left arm, a little above the wrist, and, passing down by the joint, lodged in the fleshy part of my hand, about midway, a little above the upper joint of my little finger; and another struck me on the fleshy part of my left hip, and tore away the flesh as large as my hand, dashing the mangled fragments of flesh and blood against the wall."

When he reached Nauvoo, Taylor and his family were "not a little startled to find that my watch had been struck with a ball. I sent for my vest, and, upon examination, it was found that there was a cut as if with a knife, in the vest pocket which had contained my watch. In the pocket the fragments of the glass were found literally ground to powder. It then occurred to me that a ball had struck me at the time I felt myself falling out of the window, and that it was this force that threw me inside."

Father of Utah Sugar Industry

1847. Mechanically gifted, Taylor built one of the first sawmills in Utah.

1849. On a mission to examine French methods of producing sugar from sugar beets, he purchased a French sugar factory for the Church and brought it across the plains in forty-four wagons. The factory was set up at the present site of Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake Valley without any written instructions for assembling the complicated mechanism.

The venture proved a failure. Instead of sugar, the process produced a thick brown syrup which even cattle would not eat. The Church lost more than $50,000 on the experiment. Brigham Young blamed Taylor for mismanagement and refused to compensate his personal losses. When Taylor became president thirty years later, he was compensated by the Quorum of the Twelve.

Civil Servant

Taylor served as associate judge in the provisional State of Deseret (1849-50), territorial legislator (1853-54, 1857-79), probate judge (1868-70), and member of Utah constitu- tional conventions.

Third President of the Church

1875. Brigham Young made John Taylor president of the Quorum of the Twelve by rearranging seniority.

1877. On Brigham Young's death, Taylor led the Church as president of the Quorum of the Twelve.

1878. Organized the Primary Association.

1880. October 10: Sustained as president of the Church, with George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as counselors.

1882. Wrote Mediation and Atonement of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

"King, Priest, and Ruler over Israel on Earth"

During the Taylor administration, Congress passed a series of laws intended to disfranchise, fine, and imprison Mormon polygamists. Despite the Supreme Court's 1879 decision upholding anti-polygamy laws, President Taylor received a revelation in 1882 indicating "all officers in the Priesthood must enter into plural marriage." In 1884 he reported another revelation urging "monogamists to resign ecclesiastical offices in the church."

During an 1885 visit to California he received word that federal officials had ordered his arrest, but returned to Salt Lake City January 27, 1885. February 1 he preached his last public sermon, explaining that he would submit to arrest "if the law would only be a little more dignified." That night he disappeared from public view and went into hiding on the "Mormon underground."

1885. February 4: In a secret meeting of two members of the First Presidency, seven apostles, and two clerks at the Salt Lake City Endowment House, "President Taylor … directed Br Nuttall to read a Revelation which he said he received more than a year ago requiring him to be anointed & set apart as King Priest and Ruler over Israel on the Earth—over Zion & the Kingdom of Christ our King of Kings." Notices of the ceremony appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune three months later. But the coronation had little practical effect on Utah politics—the Council of Fifty had ceased to meet, and within six years Mormons would be encouraged to divide along national party lines.

The federal anti-polygamy crusade severely disrupted Church activities. First Presidency guidance at general conferences came in the form of letters signed by President Taylor and his first counselor, George Q. Cannon. Joseph F. Smith, second counselor, had escaped into exile in Hawaii.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	John Taylor (1808-1887)

				John Taylor was father of the Utah sugar industry, third president of the Church, and a "King, Priest, and Ruler over Israel on Earth." Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background 1808. November 1: Born in Milnthorpe, England, he married Leonora Cannon in 1833. When Joseph Smith explained plural marriage to him in 1843, Taylor wrote, "I had always entertained strict ideas of virtue. … Nothing but a knowledge of God, and the revelations of God, and the truth of them, could have induced me to embrace such a principle as this." He embraced the principle thoroughly, marrying fifteen plural wives—Elizabeth Kaighin (1843), Jane Ballantyne (1844), Mary Ann Oakley (1846), Mary Amanda Utley (1846), Ann Hughlings Pitchforth (1846), Ann Ballantyne (1846), Mary Ramsbottom (1846), Lydia Dibble Smith (1846), Sarah Thorton Coleman (1846), Mercy Thompson Smith (1846), Sophia Whittaker (1847), Harriet Whittaker (1847), Caroline Hooper Saunders Gillian (1847), Margaret Young (1847), and Josephine Elizabeth Rouche (1886). Three of his wives later divorced him: Mercy R. Thompson Smith (1847), Sarah Thornton Coleman (1852), and Ann Ballantyne (1854). He was the father of thirty-five children, including John W. Taylor and an adopted son (his wife's nephew), George Q. Cannon, who became apostles. Another son, William W., became a president of the Council of the Seventy, and President Joseph F. Smith was the nephew of his wife Mercy Thompson Smith. Convert Two years after the Taylors immigrated to Canada from England, John became active in the Methodist church. Convinced that no denomination they knew followed the New Testament pattern, the Taylors and their friends prayed for someone to bring them the true church. 1836. Converted and baptized by Parley P. Pratt. Taylor once said, "If it were not for the religion I profess, which gives me to know something about the matter, by revelation for myself, I would not have anything to do with religion at all …. I never would submit to be gulled with the nonsense that exists in the world, under the name of religion." After serving as the Church's presiding officer in Canada for a year, Taylor moved to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Far West, Missouri. Apostle 1838. December 19: Ordained an apostle at Far West by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, following the excommunication of John F. Boynton. Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail. 1839. Taylor went with other members of the Twelve to Great Britain, where he opened Ireland and the Isle of Man to missionary work. He later served missions to Great Britain (1846-1847) and France (1850-1852). In France he wrote several pamphlets, including Government of God. Editor In Nauvoo, Taylor received his second anointings, became a member of the Council of Fifty (1844), served on the city council (1841-1844) and the board of regents for the university, and was judge advocate of the Nauvoo legion. He edited the last three volumes of the Times and Seasons and published the Nauvoo Neighbor. In recognition of his polished editorials, W. W. Phelps, Nauvoo's toastmaster supreme, dubbed Taylor "Champion of Right." Taylor established the first Church periodicals in France and Germany (1851) and published the Mormon, a New York City newspaper (1852). Martyrdom Witness 1844. June 27: Jailed with Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Willard Richards in Carthage, Illinois. To cheer up the group, Taylor sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." He suggested escape to the Prophet: "If you permit it, and say the word, I will have you out of this prison in five hours, if the jail has to come down to do it." The offer was refused. Asked to sing the song again, Taylor said he did not feel like singing. Hyrum entreated, "Oh, never mind; commence singing and you will get the spirit of it." Shortly after Taylor completed the song again, an armed mob overwhelmed the guard and rushed up the stairs to the prisoner's room while gunmen outside fired into the building: "After parrying the guns for some time, which now protruded thicker and farther into the room, and seeing no hope of escape or protection there, as we were now unarmed, it occurred to me that we might have some friends outside, and that there might be some chance of escape in that direction but here there seemed to be none. As I expected them every moment to rush into the room—nothing but extreme cowardice having thus far kept them out—as the tumult and pressure increased, without any other hope, I made a spring for the window, which was right in front of the jail door where the mob was standing, and also exposed to the fire of the Carthage Greys. … "I was struck by a ball from the door about midway of my thigh, which struck the bone, and flattened out almost the size of a quarter of a dollar, and then passed on through the fleshy part to within about half an inch of the outside. I think some prominent nerve must have been severed or injured for as soon as the ball struck me, I fell like a bird when shot, or an ox when struck by a butcher, and lost entirely and instantaneously all power of action or locomotion. I fell upon the window-sill, and cried out, 'I am shot!' "Not possessing any power to move, I felt myself falling outside of the window, but immediately I fell inside, from some, at that time, unknown cause. When I struck the floor my animation seemed restored, as I have seen it sometimes in squirrels and birds after being shot. As soon as I felt the power of motion I crawled under the bed, which was in a corner of the room, not far from the window where I received my wound. "While on my way and under the bed I was wounded in three other places; one ball entered a little below the left knee, and never was extracted; another entered the forepart of my left arm, a little above the wrist, and, passing down by the joint, lodged in the fleshy part of my hand, about midway, a little above the upper joint of my little finger; and another struck me on the fleshy part of my left hip, and tore away the flesh as large as my hand, dashing the mangled fragments of flesh and blood against the wall." When he reached Nauvoo, Taylor and his family were "not a little startled to find that my watch had been struck with a ball. I sent for my vest, and, upon examination, it was found that there was a cut as if with a knife, in the vest pocket which had contained my watch. In the pocket the fragments of the glass were found literally ground to powder. It then occurred to me that a ball had struck me at the time I felt myself falling out of the window, and that it was this force that threw me inside." Father of Utah Sugar Industry 1847. Mechanically gifted, Taylor built one of the first sawmills in Utah. 1849. On a mission to examine French methods of producing sugar from sugar beets, he purchased a French sugar factory for the Church and brought it across the plains in forty-four wagons. The factory was set up at the present site of Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake Valley without any written instructions for assembling the complicated mechanism. The venture proved a failure. Instead of sugar, the process produced a thick brown syrup which even cattle would not eat. The Church lost more than $50,000 on the experiment. Brigham Young blamed Taylor for mismanagement and refused to compensate his personal losses. When Taylor became president thirty years later, he was compensated by the Quorum of the Twelve. Civil Servant Taylor served as associate judge in the provisional State of Deseret (1849-50), territorial legislator (1853-54, 1857-79), probate judge (1868-70), and member of Utah constitu- tional conventions. Third President of the Church 1875. Brigham Young made John Taylor president of the Quorum of the Twelve by rearranging seniority. 1877. On Brigham Young's death, Taylor led the Church as president of the Quorum of the Twelve. 1878. Organized the Primary Association. 1880. October 10: Sustained as president of the Church, with George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as counselors. 1882. Wrote Mediation and Atonement of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "King, Priest, and Ruler over Israel on Earth" During the Taylor administration, Congress passed a series of laws intended to disfranchise, fine, and imprison Mormon polygamists. Despite the Supreme Court's 1879 decision upholding anti-polygamy laws, President Taylor received a revelation in 1882 indicating "all officers in the Priesthood must enter into plural marriage." In 1884 he reported another revelation urging "monogamists to resign ecclesiastical offices in the church." During an 1885 visit to California he received word that federal officials had ordered his arrest, but returned to Salt Lake City January 27, 1885. February 1 he preached his last public sermon, explaining that he would submit to arrest "if the law would only be a little more dignified." That night he disappeared from public view and went into hiding on the "Mormon underground." 1885. February 4: In a secret meeting of two members of the First Presidency, seven apostles, and two clerks at the Salt Lake City Endowment House, "President Taylor … directed Br Nuttall to read a Revelation which he said he received more than a year ago requiring him to be anointed & set apart as King Priest and Ruler over Israel on the Earth—over Zion & the Kingdom of Christ our King of Kings." Notices of the ceremony appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune three months later. But the coronation had little practical effect on Utah politics—the Council of Fifty had ceased to meet, and within six years Mormons would be encouraged to divide along national party lines. The federal anti-polygamy crusade severely disrupted Church activities. First Presidency guidance at general conferences came in the form of letters signed by President Taylor and his first counselor, George Q. Cannon. Joseph F. Smith, second counselor, had escaped into exile in Hawaii.


	President Taylor moved constantly to avoid arrest. According to his son, Apostle John W. Taylor, President Taylor received an 1886 revelation which declared "the Law of Plural Marriage was Eternal." By 1887 nearly every settlement in Utah had been raided by federal marshals, hundreds of Saints had escaped to Mexico or Canada, and almost all of the Church leaders were in hiding. Shortly before President Taylor's death in July, the First Presidency, hoping that plural marriage could survive under state-enforced laws, agreed to a compromise whereby Utah would adopt an anti-polygamy constitution in return for statehood. But the plan failed when the Scott Amendment was defeated in Congress. Death: 1887 July 25: Died of congestive heart failure in Kaysville, Utah, while on the underground to preserve his religious principles. "I do not believe in a religion that cannot have all my affections, but in a religion for which I can both live and die," he had said. Buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.


	Sources Green, Forace. Testimonies of Our Leaders. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958. History of the Church, 7:104-105. Ivins, Stanley S. "Notes on Mormon Polygamy." Utah Historical Quarterly 35 (Fall 1967):309-321. Minutes of the Trial of John W. Taylor before the Council of Twelve Apostles. Salt Lake City: Mormon Underground Press, n.d. Quinn, D. Michael. "The Council of Fifty and Its Members: 1844 to 1945." Brigham Young University Studies 20 (Winter 1980):163-197. _____. "Organizational Development and Social Origins of the Mormon Hierarchy, 1832-1932: A Prosopographical Study." Master's thesis, University of Utah, 1973. Roberts, B. H. Life of John Taylor. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1963. Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Abraham H. Cannon Journal, 6 April 1884. West, Emerson R. Profiles of the Presidents. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1973.