John H. Taylor
Born: 28 June 1875
Called to First Council of the Seventy: 6 October 1933
Died: 28 May 1946
Called to First Council of the Seventy: 6 October 1933
Died: 28 May 1946
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Improvement Era, February 1923, Dr. John H. Taylor
Relief Society Magazine, December 1933, Elder John H. Taylor
Improvement Era, July 1946, President John H. Taylor of the First Council of the Seventy
Improvement Era, July 1946, John H. Taylor
Relief Society Magazine, July 1946, John H. Taylor
Improvement Era, February 1923, Dr. John H. Taylor
Relief Society Magazine, December 1933, Elder John H. Taylor
Improvement Era, July 1946, President John H. Taylor of the First Council of the Seventy
Improvement Era, July 1946, John H. Taylor
Relief Society Magazine, July 1946, John H. Taylor
Jenson, Andrew. "Taylor, John Harris." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. pg. 72-73, 248, 363.
TAYLOR, John Harris, one of the first seven presidents of Seventies and a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A., was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 28, 1875, the son of Thomas E. Taylor and Emma Louise Harris. He was baptized when eight years of age in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City, and being active in the Church from his boyhood days, John H. was ordained to the offices of Deacon Dec. 9, 1889; Teacher Sept. 29, 1803, and Priest July 6, 1894. On Jan. 5, 1896, he was ordained to the office of an Elder by Edward Wm. Davis. He was ordained a Seventy Jan. 24, 1896, by Apostle Heber J. Grant, and during the two following years filled a mission to England, during which time he labored as a traveling Elder and later as secretary of the Nottingham Conference. After his return from this mission he attended the Chicago College of Dental Surgery at Chicago, Ill., from which institution he graduated in 1901, after which he practiced his profession in Salt Lake City. In 1907-1909, he filled a mission to Holland and presided over the Belgian Conference of the Netherlands Mission for a year and a half. While residing in the 14th Ward, Salt Lake City, Bro. Taylor acted as president of a Deacons' quorum and assistant superintendent, and later as superintendent of the Sunday school. In 1900 he located in Forest Dale, where he acted as assistant superintendent of the Sunday school and as president of the 105th Quorum of Seventy. On Sept. 20, 1911, he was sustained a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A. and called to take charge of athletic work for that organization throughout the Church. Later, he was sustained as scout com missioner and appointed special scout commissioner for the Church, representing the national organization of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1923, Dr. Taylor was called to preside over the Northern States Mission, with headquarters at Chicago, Illinois, and upon being released from that position in 1928, he and his wife were called to take charge of the Missionary Home in Salt Lake City, where missionaries receive training from one to two weeks, preparatory to leaving on their missions. In 1900 (Sept. 20th) Bro. Taylor married Susan Rachel Grant (daughter of Heber J. Grant and Lucy Stringham), born Aug. 30, 1878. This marriage, which took place in the Salt Lake Temple, has been blessed with two children, namely, Lucy and Heber Grant Taylor. Dr. Taylor has a pleasing personality and is eminently fitted for the position he now holds; he wields a great influence for good over the young people with whom he comes in contact in the mission home, in which work he is ably assisted by his wife. In the General Conference of the Church held in 1933, he was sustained as one of the seven presidents of Seventy. He was set apart to that position by President Heber J. Grant.
TAYLOR, John Harris, a member of the General Board of Y. M. M. I. A. since 1911. (See Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 72.)
TAYLOR, John H., president of the Northern States Mission from 1923 to 1929. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 4, p. 72.)
TAYLOR, John Harris, one of the first seven presidents of Seventies and a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A., was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 28, 1875, the son of Thomas E. Taylor and Emma Louise Harris. He was baptized when eight years of age in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City, and being active in the Church from his boyhood days, John H. was ordained to the offices of Deacon Dec. 9, 1889; Teacher Sept. 29, 1803, and Priest July 6, 1894. On Jan. 5, 1896, he was ordained to the office of an Elder by Edward Wm. Davis. He was ordained a Seventy Jan. 24, 1896, by Apostle Heber J. Grant, and during the two following years filled a mission to England, during which time he labored as a traveling Elder and later as secretary of the Nottingham Conference. After his return from this mission he attended the Chicago College of Dental Surgery at Chicago, Ill., from which institution he graduated in 1901, after which he practiced his profession in Salt Lake City. In 1907-1909, he filled a mission to Holland and presided over the Belgian Conference of the Netherlands Mission for a year and a half. While residing in the 14th Ward, Salt Lake City, Bro. Taylor acted as president of a Deacons' quorum and assistant superintendent, and later as superintendent of the Sunday school. In 1900 he located in Forest Dale, where he acted as assistant superintendent of the Sunday school and as president of the 105th Quorum of Seventy. On Sept. 20, 1911, he was sustained a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A. and called to take charge of athletic work for that organization throughout the Church. Later, he was sustained as scout com missioner and appointed special scout commissioner for the Church, representing the national organization of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1923, Dr. Taylor was called to preside over the Northern States Mission, with headquarters at Chicago, Illinois, and upon being released from that position in 1928, he and his wife were called to take charge of the Missionary Home in Salt Lake City, where missionaries receive training from one to two weeks, preparatory to leaving on their missions. In 1900 (Sept. 20th) Bro. Taylor married Susan Rachel Grant (daughter of Heber J. Grant and Lucy Stringham), born Aug. 30, 1878. This marriage, which took place in the Salt Lake Temple, has been blessed with two children, namely, Lucy and Heber Grant Taylor. Dr. Taylor has a pleasing personality and is eminently fitted for the position he now holds; he wields a great influence for good over the young people with whom he comes in contact in the mission home, in which work he is ably assisted by his wife. In the General Conference of the Church held in 1933, he was sustained as one of the seven presidents of Seventy. He was set apart to that position by President Heber J. Grant.
TAYLOR, John Harris, a member of the General Board of Y. M. M. I. A. since 1911. (See Biographical Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 72.)
TAYLOR, John H., president of the Northern States Mission from 1923 to 1929. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 4, p. 72.)
"Dr. John H. Taylor." Improvement Era. February 1923. pg. 375-376.
Dr. John H. Taylor The New President of the Northern States Mission (See Frontispiece) Elder Winslow Farr Smith, who has acted as president of the Northern States mission since July 3, 1919, has been released, and Dr. John H. Taylor of the General Board Y. M. M. I. A., also Field Secretary and Scout Commissioner, and a grandson of the late President John Taylor, has been appointed to succeed him. Dr. Taylor who is well known in the Church for his successful work in connection with the Mutual Improvement movement, particularly with the boy scouts, was born June 28, 1875; blessed on November 4 of that year by William H. Miles; baptized in 1883; ordained a deacon, December 9, 1887, by Thomas E. Taylor; a teacher, September 29, 1893, by George H. Taylor; a priest, July 6, 1894, by Joseph Hodgins; an elder on January 5, 1896, by Edward "W". Davis; a seventy, January 24, 1896, by President Heber J. Grant. He spent two years in England laboring in the Nottingham conference acting as secretary most of the time. Returning he worked for a time in the office of the First Council of Seventy. He labored 33 months in the Netherlands mission, being appointed conference president of the Liege conference which includes Belgium. His schooling was obtained in the Fremont district school, Salt Lake High School, and the L. D. S. Business College from which latter he graduated ; and afterwards, spent three years in Chicago at the college of Dental Surgery, from which he graduated, and he practiced his profession for a number of years in Salt Lake City, leaving his vocation, to work for the Church. He has been a Church worker from his early days and was one of the seven presidents of the third quorum of Seventy at Forest Dale before leaving for the Netherlands. He has occupied practically all the auxiliary positions and, in the Mutual and Sunday school from class teacher to superintendent, and was a member of the stake board of Sunday Schools of the Granite Stake. During his school years he played foot ball with the Y. M. C. A. in a team where John T. Axton, now the head chaplain of the United States Army, was a member. He was engaged in the sport at the Salt Lake High School, and when the Church decided to take up athletics through the M. I. A., he was chosen to introduce this activity, and later, on, Scouting, which he conducted independently of the National Organization for about two years. The National Organization later invited the Y. M. M. I. A. scouts to join with them. This was accomplished, and their program of activities has been carried on up to the present time. He was appointed Special Field Scout Com. on May 8, 1912, to represent the National Organization in Scouting as far as the "Mormon" boys were concerned, who had not registered with the National Organization, and he was later appointed Field Secretary for the Y. M. M. I. A. as well as Scout Commissioner. He conducted the first Church athletic meets that were held at Wandamere, and these were later combined with Scouting so that activities in both athletics and scouting were presented there. "When the Scouting in the Church was first established there were only one or two troops, but the work has gradually grown from this small beginning until there are now about 8,000 registered boys at National Headquarters. Councils have been organized in Salt Lake, Ogden, Logan and Provo districts. Many splendid scout leaders have come into the work through all parts of the Church which has made it possible for this activity to stand out so prominently. Dr. Taylor married Rachael Grant Taylor, and has two children, Lucy Taylor and Heber Grant Taylor, the son being now on a mission in the Netherlands. In his capacity as Scout and M. I. A. field commissioner, since September, 1911, he has introduced many activities, among them being the annual Pioneer hike, suggested by B. H. Roberts, which he conducted for the first time, and for many succeeding years. He has also been instrumental in aiding in the introduction of fathers and sons' outings now taken annually by most of the stakes. In the training of scout leaders throughout the Church, he has taken a leading part. Dr. Taylor is an energetic worker, cheerful and capable, and has made thousands of friends by his unobtrusive, but his persistent and careful methods of teaching. He is well qualified to take the position to which he has now been called, and what the young people of the Church will miss in his absence, will be made up to the youth of the mission field where he is now engaged. — A |
DR. JOHN H. TAYLOR
Former Field Secretary and Scout Commissioner. Y. M. M. I. A., who takes charge of the Northern States Mission, with headquarters at Chicago, releasing Elder Winslow Farr Smith who has presided there since July 3, 1919. |
Badger, Carl A. "Elder John H. Taylor." Relief Society Magazine. December 1933. pg. 716-719.
Elder John H. Taylor One of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies By Carl A. Badger JOHN H. TAYLOR, recently chosen one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 28, 1875. His birth place was a three roomed typical pioneer structure that still stands just north of the Jackson School between First and Second North Streets on Seventh West Street. His father was Thomas Edward Taylor, a son of President John Taylor, and his wife, Elizabeth Keighen. John's mother, Emma Louise Harris, was the daughter of Thomas Harris and Elizabeth Morris Harris, both of them English by birth. John attended the Fourteenth Ward Sunday School and among his earliest teachers he recalls John W. Taylor and Mathias F. Cowley, afterwards Apostles, and the late Henry Elder who taught him the life of Christ. The first school was in the Fourteenth Ward Meeting House. Later he went to the Eighteenth Ward Seminary under Gideon M. Mumford. Among those who attended school at the same time was a girl who was very much provoked that the other girls would not play baseball with the boys and who enjoyed using a boy's baseball bat. Had John known that this girl would someday be his wife he would have paid more attention to her and perhaps the interest would have been mutual, though strange to say neither of the persons vitally concerned can now recall the other of those days. JOHN'S father had a hay, grain and produce business and John early became acquainted with the tasks of sorting potatoes and candling eggs. Truthfulness necessitates the admission that he was not enamored of these duties. As a boy John sang alto in the Tabernacle Choir and worshipped from afar soloists Bessie Dean Allison and Viola Pratt Gillett. He almost grew up in the theatre. His grandfather Taylor always had a box for the use of the family. John took his turn with the other grandchildren in kneeling down by the box rail and watching the performance. His grandfather Harris was door keeper so there was no keeping John away from the show house. He sold ice cream in the dizzy heights of the third circle, and then achieved a boyish ambition by acting the part of a girl in the juvenile opera "Billy Taylor." John also attended school for some time in the old Brigham Young School House which stood on the present site of the Brans ford Apartments. Finally he reached the Freemont School on Second West and was graduated therefrom under the teachership of the wife of the present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah, Mrs. D, N. Straup. For a short time he went to the old Salt Lake High School, across the street south from Temple Square. Charles Gillilan was principal. Here he played on the high school football team. Later he went to the L. D. S. College. In those days there was a strong disinclination on the part of Church School authorities to encourage what was regarded as the dangerous sport of football, and John who was very much interested in the game joined a team of local celebrity organized by the Y. M. C. A. On this team John T. Axton, who afterwards became Chaplain General of the United States Armies during the World War was center. John was a football hero. His friends remember a famous game played against the University of Utah on a muddy football field in which he made a long run. This was the only game which his mother ever witnessed. For easily understandable reasons he did not encourage her presence at football exhibitions. John's friends were very much interested in his football activities and they still remember the almost unrecognizable, mud-bespattered champion who bore the applause of the crowd and the keen admiration of his friends with modesty and silence. John had by this time developed the characteristics which were to remain outstanding through life. He said nothing during the game. His way was to act, not to talk. He accepted the rulings of the umpire without protest and was regarded by everyone as a "good sport." He played the game with every ounce of energy in his powerful body. John graduated from the L. D. S. College, which was then situated on First North Street on the old Ellerbeck property in 1895. At the L. D. S. College there was formed a group of young men and women who took themselves very seriously!.1 They used to meet once a week and discuss the problems of personal, community, national and international wellbeing. On one occasion each of them solemnly arose and declared his ideals and life's ambitions. JOHN was not yet twenty-one when on January 25, 1896, he left home for a mission to England. He was set apart for his mission and ordained a Seventy by President Heber J. Grant, then an Apostle. The mission lasted for two years. John served most of the time as clerk of the Nottingham Conference. President Anthon H. Lund was there presiding over the European Mission at this time. It was almost as hard for a returned missionary to find work in 1898 when John returned, as it is now, and he can recall how when he applied for a job in handling freight at the U. P. Freight Offices the man looked him over and told him that his clothes and his hands indicated that he was not cut out to "juggle" freight. John then served a short apprenticeship in dentistry with Dr. T. A. Clawson, now Bishop of the Eighteenth Ward. In 1898 he went to Chicago and enrolled in the Chicago College of Dental Surgery. FATE had a novel way of promoting publicity of the engagement between John and Ray. At the close of the first year he developed appendicitis and President Grant took John's mother and his daughter on a hurried trip to Chicago. This precipitated the announcement of the engagement of the young couple and the marriage took place September 20, 1899. Mrs. Taylor went with her husband to Chicago for his second year's training where they went through the mild hardships of cramped quarters, the top circle of the theatre on Saturday nights, and the strictly limited budget of expenditures that was the normal lot of the ambitious young married folk of those days. Upon his graduation Mr. and Mrs. Taylor went to live in Forest Dale Ward where they purchased a home in what was a favorite locality for those starting married life, but which in those days was not overly supplied with street cars. IN 1907 Brother Taylor was called to the Netherlands Mission where he remained for three years, laboring in the French speaking section of Belgium. He then returned and after a post graduate course at his old school in Chicago, aimed to give familiarity with the newest methods, he again commenced practice of his profession at home. Unfortunately, as he deeply felt on account of the strain of his work on his eyes he relinquished his profession, and shortly after was called by President Joseph F. Smith to act as director of athletics in the Y. M. M. I. A. Athletics had assumed a more insistent place in the development of youth and it was felt necessary to give them some direction. Brother Taylor supervised the intensive courses of instruction given to young men called from all over the Church for the purpose of developing leaders in athletics. Scouting came to the front about this time and Brother Taylor introduced it in the Mutual Improvement organization. Later the Mutual Improvement Association of Scouts affiliated with the National organization. In 1913 he was appointed the first Scout Commissioner in Utah when the local group was chartered by the National organization. Brother Taylor served for twelve years in connection with the Mutual Improvement Association as field man, necessitating constant travelling and absence from home. IN 1923 he was called to preside over the Northern States Mission headquarters at Chicago, Illinois. This position he held for a little over five years. In 1928 he was released and given charge of the Missionary Home at Salt Lake City, a position which he still holds. During his term of service more than 4,000 missionaries have passed through the home, most of them receiving a two weeks course in preliminary and intensive training for their service in the field. AN outstanding quality in the leadership of young men as exhibited by President Taylor has been his quiet and unassuming attitude towards those with whom he has worked. He has always believed in and has made operative in his various undertakings with young men what may be called the honor system. Men who come to the Mission Home, as was the case in the Mission over which President Taylor presided, are informed by him that he trusts them, that they are responsible to God and themselves, and that he relies upon them to do their full and complete duty. In his long experience with thousands of young men, President Taylor says that he finds that this method, the only one which he feels he can successfully use, has brought the desired response in heightened appreciation and faithful performances of duty. WHEN called upon publicly in the Tabernacle to speak after his appointment to the high position which he now holds, President Taylor referred feelingly to the supreme influences in his life represented by his mother and his wife. It is fitting that a few words be said of the splendid character and useful life of Emma Harris Taylor, the mother of President Taylor. At the good age of eighty-one years she still smiles at life and with serene confidence looks forward to the future. As a child of four years she crossed the plains in an ox team. Brother Taylor is the third of her family of fifteen children. The young people of today would open wide their eyes at a table normally spread three times a day for about twenty persons. Throughout her busy life she has exemplified high qualities of gentleness, serenity, self-control and love. The performance of duty was to her a joy. Life held within the confines of her home an abundant reward for high and unselfish service. With gentle words and loving deeds she filled the hours of a long, useful life and her reward follows her in the riches that are far above mere material things. In these days when we are attracted by so much that is shallow and unimportant in all of the activities of life it is restful and inspiring to remember the lives of those who have been earnest and joyous in the accomplishment of hard but worthwhile tasks. In addition to the performance of the labors of wife and mother, Rachel Grant Taylor has shared with her husband the duties and responsibilities of his missionary undertakings and other public callings. She, while in the Mission Field, presided over and worked with the Relief Society and experienced the satisfaction which comes from participation in the cultural and social activities of the mature womanhood of the Church. Since her return she has been the mother of the Missionary Home, and has thereby met thousands of young men and young women entering upon what to many of them is the greatest experience of their lives, the years spent in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. She is a woman of strong character, having a high sense of duty, and shares with her husband a deep appreciation of the humorous situations of life. If an attempt were to be made to summarize the character of John H. Taylor it would be that he is dependable and faithful to the limit. He possesses strength and executive ability with unassuming and modest exterior, and depends for results upon calling forth from others their best service. He is considerate and has a deep and abiding sense of humor. He will always be found at the post of duty. |
RACHEL GRANT TAYLOR
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"President John H. Taylor of the First Council of the Seventy." Improvement Era. July 1946. pg. 429.
President JOHN H. TAYLOR of the First Council of the Seventy Death came to President John H. Taylor of the First Council of the Seventy on Tuesday morning, May 28, as he stood among the youth of the Church at the Mission Home in Salt Lake City, counseling them before their departure for the missions of the earth. Death came as he would have wished it while he was addressing a missionary group. The experience of John H. Taylor, whose youthfulness of spirit belied his three score years and ten, had been that of many boys in the Church—being born into a good home—one in which the gospel was the most prized possession— being baptized at eight years of age; and accepting the responsibilities of the Aaronic Priesthood. One of his first Church duties was as president of his deacon's quorum, and as he grew, so did his Church responsibilities until he accepted a call to fill a mission to Great Britain and was ordained a seventy before he was twenty-one years of age, by Elder Heber J. Grant of the Council of the Twelve. The following two years, 1896-98, were spent in England, where he served among other capacities, as secretary of the Nottingham Conference of the British Mission. On September 20, 1899, Elder Taylor married Rachel Grant, the daughter of Heber J. and Lucy Stringham Grant, and, after completing a course in dentistry in Chicago in 1901, he returned to practice in Salt Lake City. This was interrupted in 1905 by a call to the Netherlands Mission. Returning from his labors in 1908 he was called to the general board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association in the fall of 1911; and, as a member of that group, he had charge of the athletic program of that organization throughout the Church. He loved boys and boys' sports and gained for himself a reputation as a football player of ability. In later years his active interest in sports was to turn to the golf links. When the attention of the Church was drawn to a new movement in the nation called the Boy Scouts of America, John H. Taylor became Scout commissioner for the Church and as such represented the national organization of the Boy Scouts, receiving the appointment in May 1913. He was called to preside over the Northern States Mission with headquarters in Chicago in December 1922. Here he served until 1928. Then he and his wife were called to take charge of the Missionary Home in Salt Lake City, to give missionaries a short but intensive training period just prior to their departure for their fields of labor. During the October 1933 general conference of the Church he was sustained a member of the First Council of the Seventy. He continued as the director of the mission home until May 1936, having trained thousands of young men and women for missionary duty in America and abroad. The next five years were spent traveling throughout the Church on assignment as one of the General Authorities. He visited in the stakes and in the missions many times. Quiet and unassuming, well-mannered and quiet-spoken, his own life was a personal testimony of what he said as he stood before the congregations of the Saints in their tabernacles, in their chapels, and in their homes. With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in September 1 939, the missionaries on that continent were recalled, and Elder Taylor went to New York City on special assignment of the First Presidency to reassign missionaries to fields of labor. He was set apart as president of the Temple Square Mission on April 1, 1941, and in the days immediately preceding America's participation in the war, and during much of the war, he directed mission activities among thousands of tourists who had come to see for themselves the "most interesting ten acres in America." His calling was always as a missionary, and in this he delighted. His office was filled with fine paintings which he had gathered at home and from many far places during a full lifetime of service to and love for his fellow man. This was his outward indication of what he found and appreciated in life. John Harris Taylor was born in Salt Lake City, June 28, 1875, the son of Thomas E. and Emma Louise Harris Taylor. Throughout life he bore the given name of his grandfather, who was the third president of the Church, and his mother's maiden name. At funeral services held May 31, 1946, in the Assembly Hall high tribute was paid to him, his wife, Rachel Grant Taylor, and their children, Lucy Taylor Andersen and Heber Grant Taylor, by President David O. McKay, Elder Stephen L Richards, and President Richard L. Evans. |
PRESIDENT JOHN H. TAYLOR
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"John H. Taylor." Improvement Era. July 1946. pg. 448.
John H. Taylor
Following the first shock of the news of Brother John H. Taylor's passing, there came quiet and satisfying reflection on his life and service, and on the peculiar fittingness of his responding to the last call of this life in the Mission Home which he loved so well and where he gave so much.
Seventy-one years he lived, lacking one month—and all of them worth-while years. He inherited richly of the greatest things in life, and he has passed on a rich heritage. He left a worthy family well established in life, and a choice and noble wife and companion, with whom he lived richly, and of whose love and courage and integrity he is forever assured. He finished his life in harness, doing work that he dearly cherished, in surroundings that had long been congenial to him. He passed quickly, mercifully, peacefully. The Lord has been good to John H. Taylor, who, in turn, has been true and faithful and deserving of His goodness.
We shall miss him in the First Council of the Seventy. We shall miss him in all of our meetings and gatherings and deliberations and counsels and committees of the General Authorities. We shall miss him on the general board of the Y.M.M.I.A., of which he was a member of many years' service. The seventies of the Church, and the Mission Home where he spent the last hour of this life, will miss him, as will his missionaries, his friends, and his brethren in the wards and stakes where he has so long endeared himself.
We shall miss stepping into his- room with its quiet refinement and the beauty of its walls, graced with pictures of his careful choosing, gathered over many years from many places. We shall miss his warm humor — never biting or unkind.
His warm dignity and kindliness were tonic for many situations. No one ever rushed John H. Taylor nor ever stampeded him into an opinion or a conclusion. His was the quiet good judgment that reached soundly and surely for safe and solid ground.
He was—he is—a cultured and a kindly gentleman a devoted servant of God. He was one who had an unwavering conviction of ultimate realities—a conviction too deep and abiding for dramatics or heroics. Religion worked in his life.
God bless the memory of John H. Taylor, and give peace and understanding to us all, until we meet again in the kingdom of our Father. — R. L. E.
John H. Taylor
Following the first shock of the news of Brother John H. Taylor's passing, there came quiet and satisfying reflection on his life and service, and on the peculiar fittingness of his responding to the last call of this life in the Mission Home which he loved so well and where he gave so much.
Seventy-one years he lived, lacking one month—and all of them worth-while years. He inherited richly of the greatest things in life, and he has passed on a rich heritage. He left a worthy family well established in life, and a choice and noble wife and companion, with whom he lived richly, and of whose love and courage and integrity he is forever assured. He finished his life in harness, doing work that he dearly cherished, in surroundings that had long been congenial to him. He passed quickly, mercifully, peacefully. The Lord has been good to John H. Taylor, who, in turn, has been true and faithful and deserving of His goodness.
We shall miss him in the First Council of the Seventy. We shall miss him in all of our meetings and gatherings and deliberations and counsels and committees of the General Authorities. We shall miss him on the general board of the Y.M.M.I.A., of which he was a member of many years' service. The seventies of the Church, and the Mission Home where he spent the last hour of this life, will miss him, as will his missionaries, his friends, and his brethren in the wards and stakes where he has so long endeared himself.
We shall miss stepping into his- room with its quiet refinement and the beauty of its walls, graced with pictures of his careful choosing, gathered over many years from many places. We shall miss his warm humor — never biting or unkind.
His warm dignity and kindliness were tonic for many situations. No one ever rushed John H. Taylor nor ever stampeded him into an opinion or a conclusion. His was the quiet good judgment that reached soundly and surely for safe and solid ground.
He was—he is—a cultured and a kindly gentleman a devoted servant of God. He was one who had an unwavering conviction of ultimate realities—a conviction too deep and abiding for dramatics or heroics. Religion worked in his life.
God bless the memory of John H. Taylor, and give peace and understanding to us all, until we meet again in the kingdom of our Father. — R. L. E.
Evans, Richard L. "John H. Taylor." Relief Society Magazine. July 1946. pg. 439, 465.
John H. Taylor President Richard L. Evans Of the First Council of Seventy A LIFETIME career of service to the Church ended on Tuesday, May 28th, 1946, when death came to Elder John H. Taylor of the First Council of Seventy as he was standing before a class of missionaries at the Mission Home in Salt Lake City. Six months before. President Taylor had had his first warning of a heart ailment, but at the time of his passing, he was again performing many of his duties, including participation as a member of the Missionary Committee. Death came quietly, peacefully, mercifully, as he paused during his instructions to the missionaries and asked to be excused. Those were the last words he spoke, and one of the Church's distinguished sons, one of its General Authorities, had gone to another field of labor, after nearly seventy-one years of consistent, interesting and earnest living. Funeral services for Brother Taylor were held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square at 12:30 p.m., Friday, May 31st, conducted by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., in the absence of President George Albert Smith, who was in Mexico. President David O. McKay, Elder Stephen L Richards, and Elder Richard L. Evans were the speakers. Brother John Taylor's missionary career included service in Great Britain from 1896 to 1898. After his return and marriage, to Rachel Grant, eldest child of President Heber J. Grant, he attended the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, being graduated in 1901, and immediately thereafter became a practising dentist in Salt Lake City. This profession he interrupted to answer another call as a missionary, this time to the Netherlands, 1907 to 1909, leaving his wife and two young children at home. After this second mission he did post-graduate work, and resumed dental practice, but later gave up his successful profession to enter the full-time service of the Church, becoming a member of the General Board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association in 1911, and subsequently M. I. A. athletic director, and, later, first Boy Scout Commissioner for the Church. In 1923, Brother Taylor responded to a call to become president of the Northern States Mission, with headquarters in Chicago, where he served until he returned, in 1928, to preside for eight years over the Mission Home of the Church in Salt Lake City. Brother Taylor became one of the General Authorities of the Church with his appointment to the First Council of Seventy in 1933, and, subsequently, has served as president of the Temple Square Mission, as a member of the Missionary Committee of the Church, and as a member of the Service Men's Committee. John H. Taylor was the grandson of President John Taylor, third president of the Church. He was the father of Lucy Taylor Andersen, of the Y.W.M.I.A. general presidency, and of Heber G. Taylor. His life has been shared, his service has been encouraged, and in all his goings and comings he has been blessed by the loyal, devoted, and intelligent companionship of his beloved wife, Rachel Grant Taylor. John H . Taylor was a man of lovable character; cultured, appreciative of the arts, considerate of his fellow men, sound and deliberate in his judgment, a gentleman in every sense of the true meaning of the word, and a devoted servant of God. John H. Taylor was a man who had an unwavering conviction of ultimate realities. In his life he gave faith and courage, comfort and understanding to all who came within the sphere of his influence. In death he is honored and will long be remembered, and his good name in the Church and his reward in our Father's kingdom are assured. God be thanked for the lives of such men, and for the knowledge that gives us comfort and assurance in their passing. |
JOHN H. TAYLOR
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