At general conference, Apostle George Albert Smith stops speaking after three minutes as he begins to "tremble and perspire." Apostle Reed Smoot referred two weeks earlier to Smith's "mental trouble." Since Jan Smith's diary has described symptoms of his eventual collapse. At age thirty-nine he is first general authority whose debilitating mental problems cannot be attributed to senility. Hospitalized for ten weeks at Gray's Sanitarium in Salt Lake City, Smith does not recover from this emotional breakdown until 1913. Problem re-emerges in 1930's and in 1949-51. (1)
-- Thursday, Oct. 7, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] ... My son Geo. Albert is very poorly. Josephine [wife] and I visited the [state] fair. It is a grand show. (2)
-- Friday, Oct. 8, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] Salt Lake City
George Albert Smith is a little better to day. (2)
-- Saturday, Oct. 9, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] Salt Lake City and Provo
I called upon George A. I was at the office part of the day.
Sarah F. and I went to the Fair. I saw a mummified woman andbaby.
I accompanied Prest. Joseph F. Smith [to Provo]. We had supper to ... (2)
-- Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] ... My wives and children and grand children all but Geo. Albert and Ezra Chase and his wife and three children spent the evening at Winslow F. About thirty of us present.... (2)
-- Sunday, Oct. 24, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] Salt Lake City
I met with my Prayer Circle.
My son George has been quite nervious to day. (2)
-- Thursday, Oct. 28, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] Salt Lake City
President Jos. F. Smith let me have Five hundred dollars for George Albert to clear up accounts.
I had a short visit with Prest. Jos. F. Smith in regard to the Political situation. (2)
-- Nov 3, 1909
[Apostle George Albert Smith Journal] - left SLC for St. George to rest, and "I remained in bed until about the 1st of May when I had my clothes brought to me and dressed for the first time in over five months. ...I had two or three bad sinking spells and was so weak at times that the exertion of arranging my bed clothes would cause a nervous chill." -returned to SLC ca May 8th, 1910 (3)
-- Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1909
[Diary of John Henry Smith (apostle and father of George Albert Smith)] Salt Lake City
At 10 a.m. All of the First Presidency and the Patriarch John Smith, Eight of the Twelve being present [met]. Reed Smoot, Geo. A. Smith, Chas. W. Penrose and David O. McKay being abssent.
I was at home and with George Albert. He with his family and my son Nathaniel L. left at 11:50 p.m. for Modena and St.G.... (2)
-- During 1909
(George Albert Smith) From 1909 until 1913 George Albert Smith suffered what Reed Smoot called "mental trouble," and a recent biographer termed "mental collapse." He seemed to recover until the 1930s, when further complications developed. Throughout his service as a general authority after 1909, particularly as Church president, his associates did their best to limit demands upon him that might trigger a relapse. Recovering in the winter of 1909-10, he "became so weak as to be scarcely able to move. It was a slow and exhausting effort for me even to turn over in bed. One day under these conditions, I lost consciousness of my surroundings and thought I had passed to the Other Side. I found myself standing with my back to a large and beautiful lake, facing a great forest of trees.
Through the forest, I saw a man coming towards me. … I recognized him as my grandfather [George [Albert] Smith]. … He looked at me very earnestly and said: 'I would like to know what you have done with my name.' Everything I had ever done passed before me as though it were a flying picture on a screenâ€"everything I had done. … I smiled and looked at my grandfather and said: 'I have never done anything with your name of which you need be ashamed.'" (4)
Footnotes:
1 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
2 - White, Jean Bickmore, Church, State, and Politics: The Diaries of John Henry Smith, Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, Salt Lake City, 1990, http://bit.ly/johnhenrysmith
3 - Journals of George Albert Smith
4 - Van Wagoner, Richard and Walker, Steven C., A Book of Mormons, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies
LDS History Chronology: George Albert Smith
Mormon History Timeline: The life of George Albert Smith
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
