The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, a Mormon Prophet [Paperback]

Samuel W. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 1999

When a Mormon missionary stopped by the Taylor home in 1836, Leonora was more interested than was John. However, John was the one who finally decided to move from Toronto to church headquarters in Ohio, and it was John's commitment that survived their temple worship experience there, when it was disrupted by several pistol- and bowie-knife-wielding apostles. As half the church fell away in Ohio, the Taylors escaped to Missouri with the faithful, just in time for the 1838 Mormon War. John's role became that of an advocate with Congress to convince them that it was the non-Mormons who had sacked the county seat and burned their own homes, for instance. As a literary experience, this was good preparation for later editorships of church newspapers in Illinois, New York, and Liverpool. From his personal letters and speeches, and from the diaries and reminiscences of associates, vivid images of Taylor's life appear: his children crossing the Missouri River on the backs of oxen "bulls"; one of his ten plural wives packing a piano instead of a cookstove for the trip and then later regretting it; and Native Americans teaching him how to burn a cricket-infested field, gather the roasted insects, and grind the carcasses into flour. Taylor's eventual tenure as church president was spent "on the dodge" from federal marshals, and prior to that he often lived out of a suitcase, rotating from one of his sixteen families to the next. Among his greatest achievements was the settlement of as much territory as was colonized by his more famous predecessor, Brigham Young. Taylor was also a visionary man. His personal spirituality led the church through one of its most turbulent times; his revelations later inspired the Mormon fundamentalist schism, as well. This controversy, mingled with the drama of internecine power struggles and interpersonal conflict, makes The Last Pioneer suspenseful and largely unforgettable.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Joseph Smith, first prophet and founder of the Mormon church, and Brigham Young, the colonizer who took the Mormons west and rooted them permanently in the Great Basin, are well known to Americans. But John Taylor, the third in the remarkable triumvirate which was responsible for the establishment and longevity of polygamy in the United States a practice far from dead today remains unknown. Samuel W. Taylor, his grandson, an essayist and novelist known for his gentle wit and ironic teasing of his own people, has written a sympathetic but also massive and powerful life story that deserves to "pass through the Zion Curtain" that is, to reach a wide, non-Mormon audience. John Taylor, born in Liverpool in 1808, was converted to Mormonism in Canada, and quickly became a key leader, active in organizing the astonishing successful Mormon mission to Great Britain. He was present at all the crises of Mormonism: the financial ruin in Kirtland, Ohio; the ugly expulsion from Missouri; the mob murder of Joseph Smith (Taylor took four musket balls in his own body trying to protect his prophet); the exodus west; the coming of the federal army to Utah; the death of Brigham Young; and the final federal anti-polygamy persecution which sent Taylor into hiding like a common criminal. More than that, he was an intellectual, an able editor, as well as a missionary organizer, and was respected by Brigham Young as "a mighty man." He was also Young's liberal antagonist, foe of the "numbered ballot" which identified every voter, critic of the savage punishment of dissenters and apostates, and of Young's consolidation of every aspect of Mormon economic life in what was America's only real theocracy. But Taylor was not a dissenter. He had followed Joseph Smith blindly, even concurring with his denunciations of the anguished Saints who first publicly exposed Smith's secret polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor in 1844. For over ten years, Taylor lied for his church by denying that polygamy was being practiced at all, though he himself had taken ten wives before the exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The lying violated his better nature: he was relieved when Young decided to end the cover-up by formally admitting to the practice of polygamy in 1852. Sam Taylor relates this history as it really happened, a salutary charge from past accounts of this virile pioneer and third president of the Mormon church. In describing his grandfather's life, however, Taylor had to find a platform, both literary and intellectual, for his own position on some major Mormon controversies. He could have written a definitive biography, properly footnoted, which would have been a notable addition to Mormon scholarship, the history of the west and of American civil liberties. But he chose instead to write an historical novel. This gave him the liberty of creating scenes that are often poignant and moving, but it deprived him of historical perspective and judgmental summing up. Where so much honest, informative, and original historical material has been marshaled, it is to be regretted that the author chose the novel, albeit with sporadic footnotes, as his vehicle. John Taylor is the novel's hero, and we see his life through his own eyes, sharing in his suffering, fanaticism, and ecstasy. Though he publicly admitted only seven marriages, he married at least seventeen women. One bore him a son when he was seventy-two; at seventy-nine, hiding from federal marshals intent on jailing him for polygamy, he married a woman fifty-nine years his junior. Her father performed the ceremony. This is a man's book: only a Mormon male could have written it. There is little in it of Sam Taylor's familiar pungent humor and leavening irony. His grandfather's spirit is in charge. --Fawn Brodie - The Washington Post

About the Author

Samuel W. Taylor, grandson of John Taylor and son of Apostle John W. Taylor, was born in Provo, Utah, and studied at Brigham Young University. After serving in World War II, he and his family lived near San Francisco until he passed away in 1997 at the age of ninety. His works include Family Kingdom, Nightfall at Nauvoo, Rocky Mountain Empire, and Uranium Fever (histories); Heaven Knows Why, The Grinning Gismo, and The Man with My Face (novels); Take My Advice, Mr. President (short stories); Taylor-Made Tales (autobiography); The Absent-Minded Professor and Flubber (screenplays); and episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Bonanza (television).

Product Details

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Signature Books (April 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560851155
• ISBN-13: 978-1560851158
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gentleman Comes Alive, March 24, 2000

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Missing in Action (Idaho Falls, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, a Mormon Prophet (Paperback)

It is often difficult to trust the credibility of a religious leader's biography when written by one of his descendents. Nevertheless, Samual W. Taylor has made every effort to be fair to both Mormons and non-mormons as he explores the complicated times and issues surrounding the establishment of the Great Basin Kingdom of the Latter Day Saints. Some of his insights were paradigm-shifting, particularly shedding insight on the mindset of the men who were willing to deceive the world and live underground in defiance of the law of the land, in order to abide "the principles of heaven." This book brings to life one of the lesser-discussed prophets of early Mormondom, and is a must-read for those interested in a fair, but gentle treatment of "The Last Pioneer.":

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visions, belief and struggles on the American frontier, March 4, 2003

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, a Mormon Prophet (Paperback)

Written by Samuel W. Taylor (John Taylor's grandson), The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, A Mormon Prophet is an extensive biography of John Taylor, a Mormon prophet and the third president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who lived in the 1800's and was responsible for developing the Mormon communities in Utah and the American west after the death of Brigham Young. Drawn from his personal letters and speeches, his diaries and the memories of those who knew him, The Last Pioneer provides a vivid and fascinating account of a unique religious and community leader's life, visions, belief and struggles on the American frontier.