| William Whitaker Taylor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First Seven Presidents of the Seventy[broken anchor] | |
| April 7, 1880 (1880-04-07) – August 1, 1884 (1884-08-01) | |
| Called by | John Taylor |
| Utah Territorial Legislature | |
| In office | |
| 1883 – 1884 | |
| Assessor and Collector of Taxes forSalt Lake City, Utah | |
| In office | |
| 1884 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1853-09-11)September 11, 1853 Salt Lake City,Utah Territory |
| Died | August 1, 1884(1884-08-01) (aged 30) Salt Lake City,Utah Territory |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Taylor Hoagland Selma van Cott |
William Whitaker Taylor[1] (September 11, 1853 – August 1, 1884) was a member of theUtah Territorial Legislature, member of thePresidency of the Seventy inthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and a son ofLDS Church presidentJohn Taylor. He was a half brother toJohn W. Taylor, a member of theQuorum of the Twelve Apostles who was dropped from the body andexcommunicated for refusing to give upplural marriage, and a brother-in-law toGeorge Q. Cannon.
William served a mission in England with his half brother John, but before leaving married the youngest daughter ofAbraham Hoagland andAgnes Taylor, 20-year-old Sarah Taylor Hoagland,[2] with whom he eventually had six children.
William reported that while crossing the ocean with John on theSteamship Dakota[3] on the way to England, he had a dream in which Jesus Christ appeared to him, took him by the hand, looked in his face, and asked "Will you ever doubt again?"[4]
Two years after returning from his mission, William was named one of theFirst Seven Presidents of the Seventy at the age of 26.[5] Soon thereafter he was also appointed to theCouncil of Fifty.[6]
Despite the near-universal view that John Taylor refused compromise on plural marriage, over a third ofgeneral authorities appointed under Taylor were monogamists, including William and his half brother.[7] It wasn't until just before his death that William took on a plural wife, Selma van Cott, daughter of fellow Seventies presidentJohn Van Cott.
In addition to his rise within the church, William was elected to theUtah Territorial Legislature in the 1883 general election. Within months, he was also elected assessor and collector of taxes for Salt Lake City in February 1884. However, on a Saturday evening that summer, he was attacked with "bilious colic" and died from the effects within a week.[8][9] He left six children, eight years and under,[10] from his first wife and none from his second.
Given his meteoric rise in church and public office, one historian commented that Taylor would be much better known if his life hadn't ended at such an early age.[4] His father, who was president of the LDS Church at the time, said in his obituary "I cannot think of anything which I wish he had done differently."[11]John Morgan took his place as one of the presidents of the Seventy.[12]
At Taylor's funeral in theSalt Lake Tabernacle,Wilford Woodruff,Robert T. Burton,Joseph F. Smith,George Q. Cannon, and John Taylor each spoke.[13]
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