The New International Encyclopædia/Taylor, John (successor)

TAYLOR, John (1808-87). The successor of Brigham Young (q.v.) as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (See Mormons.) He was born in England, became a Methodist local preacher, and emigrated to Canada in 1829. In 1836, under the ministration of Parley P. Pratt, he joined the Mormon Church and was elected one of the Twelve Apostles. At the assassination of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. (q.v.), he was himself wounded, but was one of those who counseled the Mormons to keep the peace. Opposing the claims of Sidney Rigdon (q.v.) to the headship of the Church, he started with the first emigrants for the Salt Lake Valley. Appointed in 1840 to the European mission, he published a Mormon monthly in Paris and translated the Book of Mormon into French and German. Returning to America in 1854, he was stationed in New York as superintendent over the Eastern churches and there published the Mormon. Having served as associate justice of the inchoate State of Descret, as a probate judge of Utah County, and a member of the Utah Legislature, in 1858 he was indicted for treason against the United States Government. On October 6, 1880, he was elected President of the Church.