Nicholas G. Smith
Born: 20 June 1881
Called as De Facto Presiding Patriarch: 4 February 1932
Released as De Facto Presiding Patriarch: 1934
Called as Assistant to the Twelve: 6 April 1941
Died: 27 October 1945
Called as De Facto Presiding Patriarch: 4 February 1932
Released as De Facto Presiding Patriarch: 1934
Called as Assistant to the Twelve: 6 April 1941
Died: 27 October 1945
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Instructor, August 1943, Boyhood Experiences
Improvement Era, December 1945, Nicholas G. Smith, Assistant to the Council of the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, January 1946, Nicholas G. Smith - A Tribute
Instructor, August 1943, Boyhood Experiences
Improvement Era, December 1945, Nicholas G. Smith, Assistant to the Council of the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, January 1946, Nicholas G. Smith - A Tribute
Jenson, Andrew. "Smith, Nicholas G." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. pg. 167-168, 739.
SMITH, Nicholas Groesbeck, president of the California Mission, and eighth Bishop of the 17th Ward, Salt Lake Stake, was born June 20, 1881, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of Apostle John Henry Smith and Josephine Groesbeck. He was baptized on the eighth anniversary of his birthday, June 20, 1889, by his father. When three years old he accompanied his mother to Great Britain, his father at that time presiding over the European Mission. After returning to Utah with his mother in 1884 he received a common school education, first in Salt Lake City and afterwards in Snowflake, Arizona, and Manassa, Colorado, where his mother's family spent about ten years while in exile on account of the anti-polygamy persecutions. Apostle John Henry Smith, during that period only had the opportunity of visiting that part of his family occasionally. Returning to Salt Lake City in 1897, Nicholas G. attended High School from which he graduated in 1902. From his earliest youth he took an active part in Sunday school and Y. M. M. I. A. work, acting as librarian of the Sunday school. He was ordained a Deacon and Priest successively and later ordained an Elder by his father; he filled a mission to the Netherlands in 1902-1905, during which he acted part of the time as president of the Amsterdam Conference and was the instrument of adding thirty new converts to the gospel by baptism. After his return from that mission he acted as a counselor in the 17th Ward Y. M. M. I. A. and as a Sunday school teacher. He was also ordained a Seventy and became a member of the Third Quorum of Seventy. In 1906 (Dec. 20th) he married Florence Gay in the Salt Lake Temple, which marriage has been blessed with four children, namely, Girard Gay, John Henry, Stanford Groesbeck and Nicholas Groesbeck. On September 1st, 1913, he was called by Pres. Joseph F. Smith to preside over the South African Mission. He left Salt Lake City with his family Sept. 15, 1913 and had charge of a party of missionaries crossing the Atlantic Ocean. He arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, Oct. 28, 1913 and succeeded Frank J. Hewlett, Oct 30th. During his administration the mission prospered and he reports with pleasure that the Saints in the South African mission rank at the head of the list of all missions in the world as tithe payers. After presiding eight years in South Africa he left Cape Town for home March 11, 1921, being succeeded by James Wylie Sessions. On his return with his family he traveled through war-stricken Europe and among other places visited the battle field of Verdun where everything seemed to be in ruins from the effects of the war. Soon after his return home (May 16, 1921) he was ordained a High Priest by Apostle Rudger Clawson and set apart as a member of the Salt Lake Stake High Council which position he held until Oct. 22, 1922, when he was ordained a Bishop by James E. Talmage and set apart to succeed Franklin S. Tingey as Bishop of the 17th Ward with Harold W. Langton as his first and Amer E. Hansen as his second counselor. Prior to this he was chosen as a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A. Bishop Smith's occupation in a secular way is that of manager of the Deseret Bank Building. Formerly he acted as manager of the Mountain States Telegraph and Telephone Company. As a Bishop, with the experience of a missionary abroad and president of a mission, he has become popular with the members of his ward, possessing the confidence and good will of the whole community.
SMITH, Nicholas G., president of the South African Mission from 1914 to 1921. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 4, p. 167.)
SMITH, Nicholas Groesbeck, president of the California Mission, and eighth Bishop of the 17th Ward, Salt Lake Stake, was born June 20, 1881, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of Apostle John Henry Smith and Josephine Groesbeck. He was baptized on the eighth anniversary of his birthday, June 20, 1889, by his father. When three years old he accompanied his mother to Great Britain, his father at that time presiding over the European Mission. After returning to Utah with his mother in 1884 he received a common school education, first in Salt Lake City and afterwards in Snowflake, Arizona, and Manassa, Colorado, where his mother's family spent about ten years while in exile on account of the anti-polygamy persecutions. Apostle John Henry Smith, during that period only had the opportunity of visiting that part of his family occasionally. Returning to Salt Lake City in 1897, Nicholas G. attended High School from which he graduated in 1902. From his earliest youth he took an active part in Sunday school and Y. M. M. I. A. work, acting as librarian of the Sunday school. He was ordained a Deacon and Priest successively and later ordained an Elder by his father; he filled a mission to the Netherlands in 1902-1905, during which he acted part of the time as president of the Amsterdam Conference and was the instrument of adding thirty new converts to the gospel by baptism. After his return from that mission he acted as a counselor in the 17th Ward Y. M. M. I. A. and as a Sunday school teacher. He was also ordained a Seventy and became a member of the Third Quorum of Seventy. In 1906 (Dec. 20th) he married Florence Gay in the Salt Lake Temple, which marriage has been blessed with four children, namely, Girard Gay, John Henry, Stanford Groesbeck and Nicholas Groesbeck. On September 1st, 1913, he was called by Pres. Joseph F. Smith to preside over the South African Mission. He left Salt Lake City with his family Sept. 15, 1913 and had charge of a party of missionaries crossing the Atlantic Ocean. He arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, Oct. 28, 1913 and succeeded Frank J. Hewlett, Oct 30th. During his administration the mission prospered and he reports with pleasure that the Saints in the South African mission rank at the head of the list of all missions in the world as tithe payers. After presiding eight years in South Africa he left Cape Town for home March 11, 1921, being succeeded by James Wylie Sessions. On his return with his family he traveled through war-stricken Europe and among other places visited the battle field of Verdun where everything seemed to be in ruins from the effects of the war. Soon after his return home (May 16, 1921) he was ordained a High Priest by Apostle Rudger Clawson and set apart as a member of the Salt Lake Stake High Council which position he held until Oct. 22, 1922, when he was ordained a Bishop by James E. Talmage and set apart to succeed Franklin S. Tingey as Bishop of the 17th Ward with Harold W. Langton as his first and Amer E. Hansen as his second counselor. Prior to this he was chosen as a member of the general board of Y. M. M. I. A. Bishop Smith's occupation in a secular way is that of manager of the Deseret Bank Building. Formerly he acted as manager of the Mountain States Telegraph and Telephone Company. As a Bishop, with the experience of a missionary abroad and president of a mission, he has become popular with the members of his ward, possessing the confidence and good will of the whole community.
SMITH, Nicholas G., president of the South African Mission from 1914 to 1921. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 4, p. 167.)
Smith, Nicholas G. "Boyhood Experiences." Instructor. August 1943. pg. 426.
BOYHOOD EXPERIENCES
By Elder Nicholas G. Smith
Assistant To The Council Of Twelve
(Editor's Note: For Enrichment Lesson 44—First Intermediate)
"Mother went to the town of La Jara one Saturday to do some shopping," said Elder Nicholas G. Smith, as he began to recall experiences of his childhood in San Luis Valley. "She bought me a new straw hat. She wanted me to look dressed up on Sunday. The hat was too small. It set on the top of my head.
"She said: 'Well, you wear it anyhow, and be very careful. We'll return it for a larger one the next time I go to town.'
"I walked with great care and was very conscious of the importance of taking very good care of that hat.
"After Sunday School, as we boys were playing near the barns, one of my cousins said to the other fellows: ‘I’ll bet I can hide an egg on Nick so you can't find it.' Of course, they were all eager to take the bet. So we went into the barn and he found an old egg in a nest. He put it on my head and put my new hat on over it.
"We went out to the barnyard again. I had been walking stiffly all morning balancing my undersized hat on my head and now I had to balance an old egg besides.
"The boys began feeling all my pockets and then one of them smashed my hat flat to my head. The bad egg ran down into my hair, over my forehead and into my ears. I was in a bad way. The hat was filled inside, I complained bitterly about the ruined hat because mother wanted to take it back. The boys said, 'Oh, we'll wash it out,' but the more they washed the worse it got.
"I've been careful ever since about hats and old eggs.”
* * *
"Mother and I had a strange experience once. We were living in Salt Lake City at the time. I was about five years old. One night I had a very vivid dream about my mother hiding in a clothes closet near a stairway and a strange man trying to find her. I was awakened by the dream and cried that a man was trying to take mother away.
"My aunt, who was living with us at the time, and whom I awakened when I started to cry, tried to console me, saying that mother was all right and that she was asleep in her bed in the next room.
"Mother, however, was awake in her bed room and heard me. She came into the room and told us that she was all right and got me quiet so I went back to sleep.
"After that, though, mother said she went out of the house and hid in a berry patch in the orchard. She had had a similar dream.
"Early the next morning, one of my mother's brothers, a detective, as he was coming to our house to warn mother, saw her coming through the orchard toward the house. He told her to go away from home and to stay in hiding because the marshals were looking for her to take her to court to be a witness against my father, who had more than one wife."
BOYHOOD EXPERIENCES
By Elder Nicholas G. Smith
Assistant To The Council Of Twelve
(Editor's Note: For Enrichment Lesson 44—First Intermediate)
"Mother went to the town of La Jara one Saturday to do some shopping," said Elder Nicholas G. Smith, as he began to recall experiences of his childhood in San Luis Valley. "She bought me a new straw hat. She wanted me to look dressed up on Sunday. The hat was too small. It set on the top of my head.
"She said: 'Well, you wear it anyhow, and be very careful. We'll return it for a larger one the next time I go to town.'
"I walked with great care and was very conscious of the importance of taking very good care of that hat.
"After Sunday School, as we boys were playing near the barns, one of my cousins said to the other fellows: ‘I’ll bet I can hide an egg on Nick so you can't find it.' Of course, they were all eager to take the bet. So we went into the barn and he found an old egg in a nest. He put it on my head and put my new hat on over it.
"We went out to the barnyard again. I had been walking stiffly all morning balancing my undersized hat on my head and now I had to balance an old egg besides.
"The boys began feeling all my pockets and then one of them smashed my hat flat to my head. The bad egg ran down into my hair, over my forehead and into my ears. I was in a bad way. The hat was filled inside, I complained bitterly about the ruined hat because mother wanted to take it back. The boys said, 'Oh, we'll wash it out,' but the more they washed the worse it got.
"I've been careful ever since about hats and old eggs.”
* * *
"Mother and I had a strange experience once. We were living in Salt Lake City at the time. I was about five years old. One night I had a very vivid dream about my mother hiding in a clothes closet near a stairway and a strange man trying to find her. I was awakened by the dream and cried that a man was trying to take mother away.
"My aunt, who was living with us at the time, and whom I awakened when I started to cry, tried to console me, saying that mother was all right and that she was asleep in her bed in the next room.
"Mother, however, was awake in her bed room and heard me. She came into the room and told us that she was all right and got me quiet so I went back to sleep.
"After that, though, mother said she went out of the house and hid in a berry patch in the orchard. She had had a similar dream.
"Early the next morning, one of my mother's brothers, a detective, as he was coming to our house to warn mother, saw her coming through the orchard toward the house. He told her to go away from home and to stay in hiding because the marshals were looking for her to take her to court to be a witness against my father, who had more than one wife."
"Nicholas G. Smith, Assistant to the Council of the Twelve." Improvement Era. December 1945. pg. 744.
NICHOLAS G. SMITH Assistant to the Council of the Twelve His will, written in his own hand, after making disposition of the property that he had collected during his lifetime, turned to his sons: . . . To my boys, I should like to say, I wish I could leave you all financially independent. You realize, however, that money has not been my God. I have tried to live as I would have each of you live, and I turn over to you a name that has been unsullied by my ancestors with immorality or dishonesty just as clean as it came to me, and I expect it to go on through you to receive additional luster and honor until that day when our Savior will claim us all and we be exalted in the Celestial Kingdom of our Lord. That was Nicholas Groesbeck Smith, assistant to the Council of the Twelve, whose life span extended from June 20, 1881, to October 27, 1945, and who was the son of Elder John Henry Smith of the Council of the Twelve and later of the First Presidency, and Josephine Groesbeck Smith. That was the humble elder who believed this charge that he gave his sons, and who had practiced it wherever he was assigned to labor. A pleasing personality easily made friends for him. His way of life, embodied in the quotation above, won friends for the cause he represented. It was that way in the Netherlands where he labored as a missionary from 1902 to 1905; and when he presided over the South African Mission for eight years beginning in 1913; and as the bishop of the Seventeenth Ward in Salt Lake City; and as a member of the Y.M.M.I.A. general board; and as a patriarch when he acted in the Church Offices for a season; and as president of the California Mission; and as a member of the Salt Lake Temple presidency; and as president of the Northwestern States Mission; and as assistant to the Council of the Twelve. At his funeral services held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square on October 30, Elder Harold B. Lee of the Council of the Twelve, one of the principle speakers, related how, when Elder Smith was assigned an office next to his, he unlocked the door connecting the two offices inquiring: "Do you see any reason why we should keep the door closed between us?" The door from the hall, too, was always open, and all who entered were greeted as brothers and sisters. Brother Smith knew of no other designation for members of the human family. It is hard to pinpoint incidents showing the worth of this man. Those who have worked with him say: "Yes, I knew Nick; he was the finest man that I've ever met." Quoting Elder Lee: There sits in this congregation today a wayward girl who was turned into the path of righteousness because he counseled her, and directed her that way. ... A young couple is here whose marriage he performed in the temple. They are living happily because he counseled them as to the steps they could take in order to be happy in their own home. There is one who criticized the Authorities of the Church. Brother Smith went down to him and learned about his difficulty. That man today is mourning the passing of the man who taught him the better way. He had an expression that we have oft heard him repeat: "I got my arm around him and I think he feels much better. . . ." It was indeed these little thoughtful acts of Nicholas G. Smith that made him one of the most beloved of the Authorities of the Church. He had the habit of making an appearance in a home, at a meeting, or in a hospital room when he was most needed but least expected. His deeds of personal kindness will be told and retold at the hearthsides of the Church for years to come. And yet it wasn't "Nick" alone. Few, if any, remember Brother Smith ever using the personal pronoun "I." Years ago it was replaced by the more suitable "we." "We" meant the partnership formed at the altar of the Salt Lake Temple on December 20, 1906, with his wife, Florence Gay. President David O. McKay and Elder Marion G. Romney, the other speakers at the funeral, paid high tribute to her. It was she who had been with him, assisting in his ministrations on every assignment he had filled since their marriage. Four sons, Gerald G., John Henry, Stanford G., and Nicholas Gay Smith survive him, as does Sister Smith, and his mother, Josephine Groesbeck Smith, and ten brothers and sisters. |
NICHOLAS G. SMITH
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Romney, Marion G. "Nicholas G. Smith - A Tribute." Relief Society Magazine. January 1946. pg. 20-21.
Nicholas G. Smith—A Tribute Eider Marion G. Romney Assistant to the Council of the Twelve IN all my memory pictures of Nicholas G. Smith, there stands at his side Florence Gay Smith, his life's companion. They exemplified the Master's teaching, 'Tor this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:5-6). From Salt Lake City to South Africa, from Southern California to the Northwest and Alaska, at home and abroad, their lives ran together in an undivided current. Under their guidance, there developed in their home an unusually fine relationship between themselves as parents and their four sons. Rarely do parents enjoy the unrestrained confidence of their children as did they. Nicholas shared with his wife and family the fullness of his rich life, and judged in the light of eternity, his life was rich indeed. All but eight of his adult years he spent filling some major assignment in his Master's service. Often he had more than one such assignment at a time. Between thirteen and fourteen years he spent in the mission field; eighteen months as a high councilman; twelve and one-half years on the General Board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association; twelve years as bishop of the Seventeenth Ward; three years as Acting Patriarch to the Church; three years in the presidency of the Salt Lake Temple; and four and one-half years as an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles. As I think of this service, the 37th verse of the 13th chapter of First Nephi comes to my mind: And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, (when the Book of Mormon should come forth) for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost: and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be. The strength of his youth and the wisdom of his maturity he freely gave in publishing peace and declaring tidings of great joy. The whole purpose of his life was to assist in bringing forth Zion. And he endured to the end, which is the condition upon which the blessings of eternal life and exaltation are predicated. Surely he was of the blessed who are described as being ''beautiful upon the mountains." He and his family had before his passing, and his family now has a sure hope that he shall be lifted up at the last day. |
NICHOLAS G. SMITH
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