Such a work was too large, too high and too deep for minds filled with false, sectarian ideas. Hence God chose His servants in these last days from men whose minds were unwarped by false education, but men of large capacity; possessing breadth and freedom of thought, of sanguine, fearless temperament: children of nature were they, with consciences unseared by worldly guile, and strangers to motives other than those dictated by an honest purpose; and, withal, full of implicit confidence in God—a confidence born of a living faith in the fact of Deity's existence, and a consciousness of the rectitude of their own intentions and lives.
It was these qualities which made the men whom the Prophet Joseph Smith gathered about him, and who were his trusted counselors, remarkable; and of that coterie of men there was not one who more completely united in his own character all those qualities which made the group remarkable than John Taylor. Nor was there one more devoted in his friendship for the prophet, or more zealous in his efforts to spread abroad the glad tidings that the gospel of the Son of God in its fullness was restored to the earth to bless mankind. Neither was there one whose experience was more varied, or whose life was more crowded with thrilling events, or whose position in the Church was more exalted than his. He proclaimed the gospel in many lands; and as the champion of truth, stood ready to meet all who assailed it; and whether he met his opponents in the forum, before a multitude steeped full of prejudice against him, or in the columns of the public press, he was equally successful in vanquishing them by his powerful statement of the truth, backed by a peculiar ability to expose the weakness of his opponent's position.
So prominent was the career of John Taylor in the Church, as a trusted friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith, with whom he may be said to have shared martyrdom; as a founder and editor of Church periodicals; as a preacher of the gospel; as an apostle; as a pioneer of Utah; as a legislator; and, finally, as President of the Church during one of the most trying periods through which she has passed in her eventful career, that the literature of the Church would be incomplete without his history. And if the lives of her leading men be the history of the Church, as some aver, then that history would be extremely imperfect if the life of her third President in this dispensation were not written.
JOHN TAYLOR was born November 1st, 1808, in Milnthorpe, a small town near the head of Morecombe Bay, and not far from Windemere, the "Queen of English Lakes," in the county of Westmoreland, England. His father's name was James Taylor, whose forefathers for many generations had lived on an estate known as Craig Gate, in Ackenthwaite. James Taylor's mother was the second wife of his father, Edward Taylor. By his first wife Edward Taylor had two sons and three daughters; by his second wife, whose name was Elizabeth, he had one son, James, and three daughters, named Mary, Jane and Agnes. Edward Taylor, the grandfather of the subject of this writing, died before his son James was born; and owing to the English law of primogeniture, the eldest son took the estate and left the younger branches of the family to provide for themselves as best they could.
Though James Taylor was deprived of any share of his father's estate, he acquired a good English education, some proficiency in the Latin and Greek languages, and the higher branches of mathematics. What he had lost by an unjust law, in the sudden demise of his father, was made up to him by the munificence of an uncle (on his mother's side), William T. Moon, who bequeathed to him a small estate in Hale, Westmoreland.
John Taylor's mother's name was Agnes; her maiden name was also Taylor. Her grandfather, Christopher Taylor, lived to be ninety-seven years of age. His son John, father of Agnes, held an office in the excise under government, from his first setting out in life to the age of about sixty. He was between seventy and eighty when he died. The maiden name of Agnes Taylor's mother was Whittington, a descendant of the family made famous by Richard Whittington, the younger son of Sir William Whittington. (Sir William died intestate shortly after his son Richard was born; and this circumstance, under the English law of primogeniture, left him without a fortune. Nothing discouraged by this event, Richard went to London to engage in trade. He apprenticed himself to a mercer and appears to have risen rapidly in the world. He was made an alderman in the city of London, then high sheriff; thrice was he chosen lord mayor of London, and afterwards was elected member of parliament for the city. He stood in high favor with the king, who conferred on him the honor of knighthood. He was diligent and exceedingly prosperous in business, upright and liberal in character, "a virtuous and godly man, full of good works, and those famous," says an old chronicler. In many respects he was considerably in advance of his times and conferred a lustre on his family's name which will live forever in English story. This illustrious man was born, as nearly as may be ascertained, about 1360.)
To James and Agnes Taylor were born ten children—eight sons and two daughters. Three of the sons died while young. John Taylor was the second son, but as his eldest brother, Edward, died at the age of twenty-two, John stood next to his father, the head of the family.
John Taylor's father had received an appointment under government in the excise, and the nature of his office was such that he had to move from place to place. In 1819, however, he left government employ and removed from Liverpool, where he had lived five years, and settled on his estate in Hale.