John H. Taylor (Mormon)

John Harris Taylor (28 June 1875 – 28 May 1946) was one of the seven presidents of Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

John H. Taylor
Photo of John H. Taylor
John H. Taylor in 1946
First Council of the Seventy
October 6, 1933 (1933-10-06) – May 28, 1946 (1946-05-28)
Called byHeber J. Grant
Personal details
BornJohn Harris Taylor
(1875-06-18)June 18, 1875
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
DiedMay 28, 1946(1946-05-28) (aged 70)
Salt Lake City, Utah

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, Taylor was the son of Thomas E. Taylor and the paternal grandson of church president John Taylor.[1][2] Taylor was baptized into the LDS Church at age eight. At age 14, he received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained a deacon and was ordained a teacher and priest before he was ordained a seventy in 1896.[3]

John H. Taylor
ca. 1936

From 1896 to 1898 Taylor served as a missionary for the LDS Church in England.[2] Taylor married Susan Rachel Grant, a daughter of future church president Heber J. Grant and his wife Lucy Stringham Grant, in 1900. From 1907 to 1909 Taylor served in the Netherlands Mission of the church, and for much of this time was the president of the Belgium District of the church.[2]

Taylor attended the Chicago College of Dental Surgery (later Loyola University Chicago) and was a dentist by profession. He served as scout commissioner for the church when the church affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America in 1913. He was president of the church's Northern States Mission from 1923 to 1928. In 1925 the mission had slightly over 5000 members and 127 missionaries.[4]

In 1928, Taylor became president of the mission home in Salt Lake City, Utah (predecessor to the Missionary Training Center). He was installed as one of the Seven Presidents of Seventy in 1933, where he served until his death in Salt Lake City from a coronary thrombosis.[5]

His wife Rachel Grant Taylor was for a time a member of the General Board of the LDS Young Women organization.[6]

References
  1. Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book and Andrew Jensen Historical Company, 1901–1936) 2:720.
  2. Jenson, Andrew. Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book and Andrew Jensen Historical Company, 1901–1936) 4:72, 248, & 363.
  3. Although today almost all practicing young men in the LDS Church advance through these offices, during Taylor's time most worthy young men in the church were ordained deacons and then latter advanced straight to being elders: see Jenson. Encyclopedic History. 4:72. For an explanation of the history of the Aaronic priesthood in the LDS Church, see Harley, William G. "Aaronic Priesthood" in Garr, Arnold K., Donald Q. Cannon and Richard O. Cowan, ed., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2000) p. 2.
  4. Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1925, p. 4.
  5. State of Utah Death Certificate Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Rol Walker, "Jedediah and Heber", Ensign, 1979
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