The Life of John Taylor

The life of John Taylor, the third President of the Church, told from his boyhood in northern England and his conversion in Canada through the martyrdom at Carthage Jail, where he was wounded beside Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the exodus west, his missions abroad, and the years he presided over the Church until his death in 1887. Taylor’s own letters, sermons, poems and hymns are read in his voice.

B. H. Roberts wrote the book with the permission of Taylor’s family. In his preface he says the First Presidency appointed Elders John Jaques and L. John Nuttall to check the manuscript for doctrinal and historical correctness, that Taylor’s eldest son, George J. Taylor, supplied information, and that Taylor’s own journals were very incomplete. It was published in Salt Lake City in 1892.

Each chapter’s printed synopsis of topics is read at its start, and the short chapter titles were written from those synopses. Illustrations, the contents list and the printed list of illustrations are not included, and the appendix is shortened to the names of Taylor’s wives and children. Citation footnotes appear as small numbers you can tap; the explanatory notes are read at the end of their chapters. The first verse of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” is missing from the Project Gutenberg text and was restored from its image.

Text produced for Project Gutenberg by the Mormon Texts Project (released April 1, 2014).