When John Henry Smith died on October 13, 1911, the Salt Lake Tribune described him as "prominent in all matters that concerned development of the West" and at "front rank in Utah affairs." Second counselor to his cousin Joseph F. Smith in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, president of the Utah Constitutional Convention in 1895, co-founder of the Utah Republican Party, and an active participant in a dozen business enterprises, John Henry Smith had played an important role in church, state, and politics for nearly forty years.
The Tribune, which during this period had little good to say about any Mormon church leader, captured best the essence of John Henry's contribution to his church and his state in a front-page obituary the day of his death:
By nature and training he was admirably equipped for public duties. He had a thorough knowledge of human nature and an extensive acquaintance with prominent men not only in Utah but in the whole country as well. These qualifications, together with his faculty for making and holding friends, fitted him admirably for the positions and labors that fell to him to perform.
His easy, natural and unassuming manner were the outward signs of his straightforward character, and bespoke the possession of courage of the highest type….
As a public speaker, Apostle Smith was convincing, forceful and eloquent, with the eloquence that comes from sincere earnestness. In his private conversation he exhibited the same force and was always an interesting and entertaining talker.
When the history of the rise and development of Utah shall [p.x] be written, his name will stand high in the ranks of the men who have accomplished great deeds and who have built up a commonwealth from a desert.
In an editorial on October 14, 1911, the Tribune again paid tribute to John Henry Smith, while continuing its condemnation of his ecclesiastical colleagues: "In general it may be said that Apostle Smith belonged to that branch of the church which reached out for a new departure, a turning away from the bigotries, the intolerances, and the exclusiveness of the past, and for getting into touch with American life and American institutions."
According to the Tribune editorial, it was unfortunate for the people of Utah to lose such a man as John Henry Smith: "There are too few with his way of thinking left in the church; and his influence in modifying the hard-line combativeness of the old order had been much needed…. "The Salt Lake Herald-Republican, reporting on his funeral on October 18, 1911, observed: "Not in the history of Salt Lake, perhaps never in the West before, has there been such a gathering of people of all creeds and classes as that which filled the great Mormon Tabernacle to pay last tribute and honor to President John Henry Smith yesterday noon."
In its report of the funeral on October 18 the Tribune noted the presence of many non-Mormons at the service. This proved, it stated, "that John Henry Smith was held in highest esteem outside of his church as well as in it." The inclusion of Rabbi Charles J. Freund as a speaker also helped to make the point that John Henry was unique for his time in his ability to reach across religious lines to the entire community.
Throughout his adult life John Henry was deeply involved in church and community affairs. In 1872, at the age of twenty-four, he began his public service as an assistant clerk in the territorial legislature. He would later serve as a member of the legislature and as a Salt Lake City Council member. In 1874 he went to England as a Mormon missionary, beginning an active career in the LDS church that he would continue as European Mission president, apostle, and finally counselor in the First Presidency.
He loved politics and brought to the political arena a magnetic personality, unusual oratorical skills, considerable organizing ability, and a talent for making peace among factions. The latter was put to the test in 1891. In anticipation of statehood he helped to bring non-Mormons from the Liberal Party and Mormons from the church-dominated People's Party together in the new Utah Republican Party. In the Republican cause he tirelessly campaigned throughout the western states and built strong ties to national Republican leaders, who could help Utah gain statehood. Because of his ability to make friends among national leaders, he was sent to Washington, D.C., on several trips when state or church interests were threatened.
His business interests were many and varied. Over the years he served as a director or officer of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution; Home Furniture Company; Mexican Colonization and Agricultural Company; Heber J. Grant and Company; Cooperative (later Consolidated) [p.xi] Wagon and Machine Company; Lehi, Utah, and Idaho Sugar companies; Kanab Cattle Company; Groesbeck Company; Utah National Bank; Ogden Standard newspaper; Utah Mexican Rubber Company; Salt Lake Theatre Company; Salt Lake and Garfield Railway; Saltair Company; Nevada Land and Cattle Company; Intermountain Cement and Brick Company; Beneficial Life; and Emigration Canyon Railroad Company. He was also active for many years in the Trans-Mississippi Commmercial Congress, serving as president of that regional promotion and development organization.
John Henry was born to Apostle George A. Smith and Sarah Libbey Smith on September 18, 1848, at Carbunca (later Council Bluffs), Iowa. His grandfather, Patriarch John Smith, was a brother to Joseph Smith, Sr., father of the founder of the LDS church. With his family John Henry moved to Salt Lake City as an infant but was taken to Provo after the death of his mother in 1851. There he was cared for by two of his father's wives, Hannah Libbey Smith (generally referred to in his diaries as "mother") and Lucy Messerye Smith (Aunt Lucy). As a young man John Henry was employed in building railroads and as a telegraph operator before being called on a church mission in 1874.
He was married twice, first to Sarah Farr, daughter of Ogden pioneer Lorin Farr, in 1866. In 1877 he married Josephine Groesbeck, daughter of prominent businessman Nicholas Groesbeck. 1 Sarah gave birth to eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. Josephine had eight children. A devoted husband and father, John Henry kept up a brisk correspondence with his wives and children wherever he traveled. Never well-to-do, he found that obligations to two families and to church duties often left him in difficult financial circumstances.
Fortunately, there is a large amount of written material on the life of John Henry Smith. He left thirty-six volumes of holographic personal diaries, as well as a small diary written in 1874 as he prepared for a mission and traveled to England. The originals of these materials were deposited for safekeeping with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Photocopies of the thirty-six volumes were donated to the Manuscripts Division of the Special Collections Department, University of Utah Marriott Library. It is these photocopies that were used in preparing this volume. The 1874 diary is in the historical department of the LDS church and is used with permission. The diaries cover the periods 1874-75 and October 1880 until John Henry's death in 1911.
In addition to photocopies of the original diaries, the John Henry Smith Papers in the Marriott Library include five boxes of correspondence and five volumes of letterpress books (two on microfilm only), documenting [p.xii] his political activities on the regional and national level as well as his interest in the lives of his children. There are also scrapbooks and miscellaneous personal papers, which augment the diaries. Fortunately, these were saved by a granddaughter, Emily Smith Stewart. Unfortunately, only a fraction of this material could be used in this volume; the diaries have been abridged to fit the restraints of a one-volume compilation, and only a small amount of explanatory material from the letters and papers could be used.2
Every editor has certain decisions to make regarding style.
My objective was to change as little as possible but to make the original diary entries clear and readable. Some changes were necessary.
1. Spelling. Spelling in the originals has been preserved except for proper names and place names. These have been checked whenever possible with sources available and corrected.
2. Paragraphing. Since the diaries do not follow rules of conventional paragraphing, it was frequently necessary to split paragraphs. Parts of paragraphs are omitted without use of ellipses, but ellipses are used to indicate deletions within sentences or within a topic.
3. Punctuation. Sentences are ended with periods; commas and colons are inserted where necessary to clarify the text.
4. Capitalization. The first word in sentences was capitalized. Generally, I have tried to follow the text, although sometimes it is not clear whether a capital or a lower case letter was intended.
5. Illegible, missing, and undecipherable passages. Since I worked largely [p.xiii] from photocopies, some entries were difficult to read, and some impossible to decipher. Passages that were not legible are noted; words that I could not decipher are indicated by a bracketed question mark [?]. Some inadvertently repeated words were silently removed. Occasionally passages crossed out in the original are noted if this seems important.
6. Annotation. There is no end to the possibilities for annotation if an editor is determined to explain every unclear entry. I decided to keep annotation to a minimum. However, in some cases the use of letters, newspaper accounts, or comments in the diaries of John Henry's colleagues seemed appropriate to clarify his version of events. To avoid annotation and interruption of the narrative, sometimes brief phrases are entered in brackets in the text.
7. Dates and places. At the beginning of each day's entry, the date entered by John Henry is shown, followed by the name of the place where most of the action of the day occurred. The place names are not always the same as those in the diary because he usually noted the place where he started the day—while the events took place elsewhere. County and state names are included only where they seem necessary to identify a location. There is some confusion in the diaries as to just what took place on what days. He occasionally mentions catching up on writing his diaries, indicating that he did not always write on a daily basis. Among his papers are small books with memoranda on meetings, which he later entered into his diaries. This time lag in making diary entries probably accounts for inconsistent dating of entries, which I have tried to correct.
Finally, there is a large element of judgment in what to include when thirty-six volumes must be abridged into one. The conflicts naturally make the most interesting reading, but the times of peace and harmony with family and friends must be included to give a true history of his life. A large part of John Henry's time as an apostle was spent traveling to LDS stake conferences, where he meticulously recorded lists of officers and minutes of meetings. Only a fraction of these could be included; some are included when they show trends in church policy changes or reflect emphasis on particular church doctrines.
An undertaking of several years involves assistance from a great many individuals. I acknowledge with gratitude the patience of Gary J. Bergera and the staff of Signature Books. I appreciate the encouragement and tolerance of my husband, John Stephen White, for a project that sometimes seemed to devour my every free moment. Gregory Thompson and Nancy Young of the special collections department at the University of Utah Marriott Library provided every assistance possible in making the diaries and other materials available to meet my needs. Current staff members in the department also went many extra miles to help. I thank all of them, along with Everett Cooley and Ruth Yeaman, who first encouraged me to use the John Henry Smith papers more than twenty years ago. I also appreciate the assistance of the staff at the LDS church historical department. Permission to use the diaries was granted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, [p.xiv] the contents of this volume were selected by the editor; the LDS church did not influence, guide, or approve the final selection of material.
My daughter, Barbara White Gingery, read the entire manuscript and offered valuable suggestions. Many others have offered encouragement and assistance in various ways, and I thank them all. The end product is, of course, my own responsibility. I hope it does justice to John Henry Smith.
