John W. Taylor

Family Background

1858. May 15: Born John Whittaker Taylor in Provo, Utah, to John Taylor and Sophia Whittaker, whom his father married on a carriage ride in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park.

1883. Married May Leona Rich. He later married plural wives Nellie Eva Todd (known to the family as his "Canadian wife"), and—after the Wilford Woodruff Manifesto—Janetta Maria Woolley (1890), Eliza Roxey Welling (1901), and Rhoda Welling (1901)—(his "Mexican wives"), and Ellen Georgena Sandburg (1909). He was the father of thirty-five children.

Vision

Abraham Cannon reported that Taylor, as a young man working in a Summit County sawmill, saw a bright light which "continued to increase in intensity and with the increase he seemed to be pushed further away from its source. Finally he clasped his arms around the stump of a tree for the purpose of keeping himself in position. He saw the Son of God appear in the brilliancy of the light and then his hold upon the stump began to slip and he knew that should he release his grasp he would be thrust back with such violence that he would be dashed to pieces.

"His father told him that the interpretation of the dream was that the bright light was the truth which would banish all truthhaters from before it, and the tree stump to which he was holding was a similar representation to that of the rod of iron in the Book of Mormon."

"Prophet of the Quorum"

1884. Called to the Quorum of the Twelve by his father, John Taylor. John W. so frequently pronounced public and private prophecies that during the next two decades he was referred to as "the prophet of the Quorum."

Business Speculator

1894. After "laboring for nearly six months almost entirely in his own interests," Taylor was charged by President Lorenzo Snow to attend "more faithfully to his ecclesiastical duties, and less to his personal affairs." John W.'s business speculations brought financial ruin to several friends, including J. Golden Kimball. By 1902 Taylor's business prospects were so abysmal that the Twelve appointed Reed Smoot to persuade creditors to settle $140,000 of Taylor's debts at ten cents on the dollar. A decade later, Taylor's Mormon friends in Canada endured similar losses as his speculative schemes again collapsed.

Champion of Plural Marriage

1892. Two years after the Church sustained the Wilford Woodruff Manifesto, Taylor said, "I do not know that that thing was right though I voted to sustain it, and will assist to maintain it; but among my father's papers I found a revelation given him of the Lord, and which is now in my possession, in which the Lord told him that the principle of plural marriage would never be overcome. President Taylor desired to have it suspended, but the Lord would not permit it."

1905. John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley, with tacit approval of members of the First Presidency, had entered plural marriages after the Manifesto and had performed such marriages in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Apostle Reed Smoot, committed by his election to the U.S. Senate to vote against known offenders of the Manifesto, withheld his sustaining vote for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the 1905 October Conference. Taylor, asked about the possibility of resigning his apostleship, replied, "I told you brethren that while I didn't support you in the policy of deposing the apostles to make a showing in Congress and said I would not approve of the policy of the Church in this regard, I would not oppose it." Both Taylor and Cowley resigned their apostleships, but their resignations were not announced for several months.

Excommunication

1911. Charged with entering into plural marriages after the 1904 "Second Manifesto," and of aiding others to do likewise, Taylor told the Twelve, "I have never married any one without the endorsement and authority of the President of the Church, and if you desire I will give the names of those I have married, but I think this would be unwise."

"I have no aspirations in an ecclesiastical way," he added. "I have a large family of children, my wives to take care of and my business needs my attention. I don't say these things out of disrespect, but I would like you to do as you think best, not because of lack of testimony, but feel free in regard to my case. …

"I am a different man to what I have been. I am not a man of spiritual temperament as I was at one time. … In my parting with you, I desire to go with a spirit of kindness and with the best purposes. I feel freerer [sic] today than I have felt for the past four or five weeks."

1911. March 28: Excommunicated by the Quorum of the Twelve for "insubordination."

Death

1916. October 10: Died of cancer at the age of fifty-eight in Salt Lake City.

Prior to his death, he had told his wives, "No tears … I will be waiting for you over there. I must go now to prepare a place. And when I leave I want no mourning, I want no flowers, no public display. No funeral. I am a nomad. Let the ashes of this wandering body blow with the winds from some mountain peak."

Speculation as to whether the ex-apostle would be buried in his temple clothes caused curious onlookers to attempt to view the body. Family security prevented this. His wife Nettie related that on the night of Taylor's death, President Joseph F. Smith, regretting his role in Taylor and Cowley's dismissal, called privately at her home and gave her a package containing temple robes. He was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Blessings Restored

1965. May 21: Reinstated as a Church member in full standing by authorization of President David O. McKay.

Sources
Jorgensen, Victor W., and Hardy, B. Cartoon. "The Taylor-Cowley Affair and the Watershed of Mormon History." Utah Historical Quarterly 48 (Winter 1980):4-36.
Minutes of the Trial of John W. Taylor Before the Council of Twelve Apostles. Salt Lake City: Mormon Underground Press n.d.
Roberts, B. H. Comprehensive History 4:399-400.
Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Abraham H. Cannon Journal, 29 March 1892, 2 April 1894.
_____. Anthon H. Lund Journal, 27 March 1902.
Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah. J. Willard Marriott Library. John Taylor Family Papers.
Taylor, Samuel Woolley. Family Kingdom. New York: McGraw Hill, 1951.
_____. The Kingdom or Nothing: The Life of John Taylor, Militant Mormon. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1976.
Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1930, p. 106.

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


	John W. Taylor (1858-1916)

				John W. Taylor was an apostle, "prophet of the Quorum," and champion of plural marriage. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background 1858. May 15: Born John Whittaker Taylor in Provo, Utah, to John Taylor and Sophia Whittaker, whom his father married on a carriage ride in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park. 1883. Married May Leona Rich. He later married plural wives Nellie Eva Todd (known to the family as his "Canadian wife"), and—after the Wilford Woodruff Manifesto—Janetta Maria Woolley (1890), Eliza Roxey Welling (1901), and Rhoda Welling (1901)—(his "Mexican wives"), and Ellen Georgena Sandburg (1909). He was the father of thirty-five children. Vision Abraham Cannon reported that Taylor, as a young man working in a Summit County sawmill, saw a bright light which "continued to increase in intensity and with the increase he seemed to be pushed further away from its source. Finally he clasped his arms around the stump of a tree for the purpose of keeping himself in position. He saw the Son of God appear in the brilliancy of the light and then his hold upon the stump began to slip and he knew that should he release his grasp he would be thrust back with such violence that he would be dashed to pieces. "His father told him that the interpretation of the dream was that the bright light was the truth which would banish all truthhaters from before it, and the tree stump to which he was holding was a similar representation to that of the rod of iron in the Book of Mormon." "Prophet of the Quorum" 1884. Called to the Quorum of the Twelve by his father, John Taylor. John W. so frequently pronounced public and private prophecies that during the next two decades he was referred to as "the prophet of the Quorum." Business Speculator 1894. After "laboring for nearly six months almost entirely in his own interests," Taylor was charged by President Lorenzo Snow to attend "more faithfully to his ecclesiastical duties, and less to his personal affairs." John W.'s business speculations brought financial ruin to several friends, including J. Golden Kimball. By 1902 Taylor's business prospects were so abysmal that the Twelve appointed Reed Smoot to persuade creditors to settle $140,000 of Taylor's debts at ten cents on the dollar. A decade later, Taylor's Mormon friends in Canada endured similar losses as his speculative schemes again collapsed. Champion of Plural Marriage 1892. Two years after the Church sustained the Wilford Woodruff Manifesto, Taylor said, "I do not know that that thing was right though I voted to sustain it, and will assist to maintain it; but among my father's papers I found a revelation given him of the Lord, and which is now in my possession, in which the Lord told him that the principle of plural marriage would never be overcome. President Taylor desired to have it suspended, but the Lord would not permit it." 1905. John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley, with tacit approval of members of the First Presidency, had entered plural marriages after the Manifesto and had performed such marriages in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Apostle Reed Smoot, committed by his election to the U.S. Senate to vote against known offenders of the Manifesto, withheld his sustaining vote for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the 1905 October Conference. Taylor, asked about the possibility of resigning his apostleship, replied, "I told you brethren that while I didn't support you in the policy of deposing the apostles to make a showing in Congress and said I would not approve of the policy of the Church in this regard, I would not oppose it." Both Taylor and Cowley resigned their apostleships, but their resignations were not announced for several months. Excommunication 1911. Charged with entering into plural marriages after the 1904 "Second Manifesto," and of aiding others to do likewise, Taylor told the Twelve, "I have never married any one without the endorsement and authority of the President of the Church, and if you desire I will give the names of those I have married, but I think this would be unwise." "I have no aspirations in an ecclesiastical way," he added. "I have a large family of children, my wives to take care of and my business needs my attention. I don't say these things out of disrespect, but I would like you to do as you think best, not because of lack of testimony, but feel free in regard to my case. … "I am a different man to what I have been. I am not a man of spiritual temperament as I was at one time. … In my parting with you, I desire to go with a spirit of kindness and with the best purposes. I feel freerer [sic] today than I have felt for the past four or five weeks." 1911. March 28: Excommunicated by the Quorum of the Twelve for "insubordination." Death 1916. October 10: Died of cancer at the age of fifty-eight in Salt Lake City. Prior to his death, he had told his wives, "No tears … I will be waiting for you over there. I must go now to prepare a place. And when I leave I want no mourning, I want no flowers, no public display. No funeral. I am a nomad. Let the ashes of this wandering body blow with the winds from some mountain peak." Speculation as to whether the ex-apostle would be buried in his temple clothes caused curious onlookers to attempt to view the body. Family security prevented this. His wife Nettie related that on the night of Taylor's death, President Joseph F. Smith, regretting his role in Taylor and Cowley's dismissal, called privately at her home and gave her a package containing temple robes. He was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Blessings Restored 1965. May 21: Reinstated as a Church member in full standing by authorization of President David O. McKay. Sources Jorgensen, Victor W., and Hardy, B. Cartoon. "The Taylor-Cowley Affair and the Watershed of Mormon History." Utah Historical Quarterly 48 (Winter 1980):4-36. Minutes of the Trial of John W. Taylor Before the Council of Twelve Apostles. Salt Lake City: Mormon Underground Press n.d. Roberts, B. H. Comprehensive History 4:399-400. Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Abraham H. Cannon Journal, 29 March 1892, 2 April 1894. _____. Anthon H. Lund Journal, 27 March 1902. Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah. J. Willard Marriott Library. John Taylor Family Papers. Taylor, Samuel Woolley. Family Kingdom. New York: McGraw Hill, 1951. _____. The Kingdom or Nothing: The Life of John Taylor, Militant Mormon. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1976. Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1930, p. 106.