John Taylor (1808-1887)

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John Taylor
Full name John Taylor
Born November 1, 1808
Place of birth Milnthorpe (Cumbria), England
Died July 25, 1887
Place of death Kaysville, Utah
LDS Church President
Ordained October 10, 1880
Predecessor Brigham Young
Successor Wilford Woodruff
For other persons named John Taylor, see John Taylor (disambiguation).

John Taylor (November 1, 1808 – July 25, 1887) was the third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1880 to 1887.

Taylor was born in Milnthorpe, Westmorland (now Cumbria), England, the son of James and Agnes Taylor. He had formal schooling up to age fourteen, and then he served an initial apprenticeship to a cooper and later received training as a woodturner and cabinetmaker. He was christened in the Church of England, but joined the Methodist church at sixteen. He was appointed a lay preacher a year later, and even then felt a calling to preach in America. Taylor's parents and siblings emigrated to Canada in 1830. John stayed in England to dispose of the family property and joined his family in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1832. He met Leonora Cannon from the Isle of Man while attending a Toronto Methodist Church and, although she initially rejected his proposal, married her on January 28, 1833.

Between 1834 and 1836, John and Leonora Taylor participated in a religious study group in Toronto. The group discussed problems and concerns with their Methodist faith, and quickly became known as the "Dissenters." Other members included Joseph Fielding and his sisters Mary and Mercy, who later also became prominent in the LDS faith.

Contents

[edit] Church service

Taylor and his wife first came in contact with the LDS Church in 1836 after meeting Church apostle Parley P. Pratt in Toronto. Leonora was the first to join the Church and she persuaded Taylor to continue his studies with Pratt. After the couple's baptism, they were active in preaching and the organization of the church in Canada. They then moved to Far West, Missouri, where Taylor was ordained an Apostle on December 19, 1838. He assisted other church members as they fled frequent conflict to Commerce, Illinois. In 1839 he and some of his fellow apostles brought the words of Joseph Smith Jr. to Ireland and the Isle of Man as missionaries. He returned to the Mormon-built city of Nauvoo, Illinois to serve as a city councilman, a chaplain, a colonel, a judge advocate for the Nauvoo Legion (the city's militia), and as a newspaper editor.

In 1844, Taylor was with church founder Joseph Smith Jr., his brother Hyrum Smith and Willard Richards, another church leader, in the Carthage, Illinois jail when the Smiths were murdered (or martyred) by a mob which was formed for the purpose of assassinating the church leaders as they awaited a hearing on charges regarding the destruction of an anti-Mormon newspaper. Taylor was severely wounded in the conflict, and many Mormons believe that his life was divinely spared when a bullet directed towards his chest was stopped by a pocket watch which he was carrying at the time of the Smith Brothers' assassination.

In 1846, most Mormons followed Brigham Young into territory then controlled by Mexico, while Taylor went to England to resolve problems in church leadership there. On his return, he and Pratt led more followers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. He was appointed an associate judge in the provisional State of Deseret in 1849 and served in the territorial legislature from 1853 to 1876. He was elected Speaker of the House for five consecutive sessions, beginning in 1857. In 1852 Taylor wrote a small book, The Government of God in which he compared and contrasted the systems of God and man.

[edit] Actions as Church President

Following Brigham Young's death in 1877, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles governed the Church, with John Taylor as the senior apostle. Taylor was appointed the third President of the church in 1880. He oversaw the expansion of the Salt Lake community, the organization of the Church hierarchy, the establishment of Mormon communities in other states, and the defense of polygamy against increasing opposition.

In 1878, the Primary Association was founded by Aurelia Rogers in Bountiful, Utah, and, for a time, the organization was placed under the general direction of Relief Society President Eliza R. Snow. The Primary Association was adopted churchwide in 1880 under the direction of Louie B. Felt. In October 1880, the Pearl of Great Price was canonized. Taylor also oversaw the issuance of a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.

In 1882, Congress enacted the Edmunds Act, which declared polygamy a felony. Hundreds of men and women were arrested and imprisoned for continuing to practice polygamy. Taylor had followed Joseph Smith's teachings on polygamy, and had at least seven wives. He is known to have fathered thirty-five children.

Taylor and his counselors withdrew from public view to live in the "underground:" frequently on the move to avoid arrest. During his last public sermon Taylor remarked, "I would like to obey and place myself in subjection to every law of man. What then? Am I to disobey the law of God? Has any man a right to control my conscience, or your conscience? ...No man has a right to do it" (JD 26:152).

Many viewed LDS polygamy as religiously, socially and politically threatening. The U.S. Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887, which abolished women's suffrage, forced wives to testify against their husbands, disincorporated the LDS church, dismantled the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, abolished the Nauvoo Legion, and provided that LDS church property in excess of $50,000 would be forfeited to the United States.

For two and a half years, President Taylor presided over the church from exile. The strain of his struggle took a great toll on his health. He died on July 25, 1887, from congestive heart failure in Kaysville, Utah.

For two years after his death, the church was without a presidency. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with Wilford Woodruff as president of the quorum, assumed sole leadership in this interim period. In the April General Conference of 1889, the First Presidency was reorganized with Wilford Woodruff as the president. Six months later, in the October General Conference, Anthon H. Lund was called to fill President Taylor's vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

His eldest son, John W. Taylor, continued to serve in the church and in politics, and after the Church abandoned plural marriage as an essential church doctrine in 1890, helped to shepherd Utah to statehood in 1896.

Another son, William Whitaker Taylor, served as one of the first presidents of the Seventy and also served in the Utah Territorial legislature.

Grave marker of John Taylor.
Enlarge
Grave marker of John Taylor.

[edit] Works

  • Taylor, John (1852). The Government of God. S. W. Richards.
  • Taylor, John (1882). An Examination into and an Elucidation of the Great Principle of the Mediation and Atonement of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Deseret News.
  • Taylor, John (1943). The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings and Discourses of John Taylor, compiled by G. Homer Durham, Bookcraft, Inc.
  • Taylor, John (1984). Samuel W. Taylor and Raymond W. Taylor.: The John Taylor Papers: Records of the Last Utah Pioneer, Vol I, 1836-1877, the Apostle. Taylor Trust.
  • Taylor, John (1985). Samuel W. Taylor and Raymond W. Taylor.: The John Taylor Papers: Records of the Last Utah Pioneer, Vol II, 1877-1887, the President. Taylor Trust.
  • Taylor, John (1996). Dean C. Jessee.: John Taylor Nauvoo Journal. Grandin Book.
  • Taylor, John. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor. 2001.

[edit] See also

Cannon Family

[edit] References

  • Allen, James B. and Leonard, Glen M. The Story of the Latter-day Saints. Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, UT, 1976. ISBN 0-87747-594-6.
  • Krakauer, John. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (Doubleday, New York, 2003). ISBN 1-4000-3280-6. The book takes its title from a speech given by Taylor on January 4, 1880 in defense of the Mormon practice of polygamy: "We believe in honesty, morality, and purity; but when they enact tyrannical laws, forbidding us the free exercise of our religion, we cannot submit. God is greater than the United States, and when the Government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven and against the Government.…"
  • Ludlow, Daniel H., Editor. Church History, Selections from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, UT, 1992. ISBN 0-87579-924-8.
  • Nibley, Preson. The Presidents of the Church. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, UT, 1974. ISBN 0-87747-414-1.

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Brigham Young		 President of the LDS Church
October 10, 1880–July 25, 1887		 Succeeded by:
Wilford Woodruff
Preceded by:
Orson Hyde		 President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
June, 1875–October 10, 1880		 Succeeded by:
Wilford Woodruff
Preceded by:
John E. Page		 Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
December 19, 1838–October 10, 1880		 Succeeded by:
Wilford Woodruff
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