[Apostle George Albert Smith Journal] he departs SLC with Richard W. Young to attend a session of the Irrigation Congress at Calgary, Alberta, Canada (1)
-- November 20, 1914; Friday
Pres[iden]ts. [Joseph F.] Smith and [Charles W.] Penrose and part of their families, accompanied by Elders Joseph F[ielding]. Smith Jr. and George Albert Smith, left last evening for Independence, Missouri, to attend dedication services of the new meeting house at that place, also to visit the Southern States Mission, to be gone about two weeks. ... (2)
-- November 22, 1914; Sunday
This morning at ten o'clock the first meeting of the dedicatory exercises was held in the new meetinghouse in Independence [Missouri]. ... The building was filled and overflowing, many were
standing in the aisles and doorways unable to find seats. At this session Elders George Albert Smith, Joseph F[ielding]. Smith Jr., Bishop Charles W. Nibley and President Charles W. Penrose spoke briefly. Remarks were also made by a number of the mission presidents.
Between the morning and the afternoon meetings President Joseph F. Smith, accompanied by his wife and daughter Bishop Nibley and wife and Elders George Albert and Joseph F[ielding]. Smith Jr., called on Joseph Smith [III], president of the Reorganized Church. They found him feeble, tho apparently in his usual health. He has been nearly blind for some time and also deaf. He received us kindly as did also his wife, who appears to be a very excellent woman, and his son Israel who informed the visitors that he held no official position in the Reorganized church. There are three boys belonging to the present wife who appear to be of some promise, if they can kept from the bitterness of Reorganiteism and brought to see the truth. The visit was but brief and apparently effected Joseph Smith whose feelings have softened considerably in latter years. Formerly he manifested a very bitter spirit towards his cousin President Joseph F. Smith of whom he had said and written many unfavorab
le things.
At the services held in the afternoon remarks were made by President Joseph F. Smith, who also dedicated the chapel to the Lord as a a house of worship, and by President Charles W. Penrose. The house was again crowded, many in the congregation being members of the Reorganized church, most of whom paid the strictest attention; a few, however, were overheard making uncomplimentary remarks and manifesting the bitterness of their feelings, evidently for the purpose of being overheard by their neighbors.
Another meeting was held in the evening at which President Smith and other brethren spoke. An excellent spirit was manifest during each of the three meetings and the brethren spoke with interest on timely topics which did not fail to deeply impress those who were present. (2)
-- November 24, 1914; Tuesday
President [Joseph F.] Smith and party arrived in Memphis, Tennessee early this morning. They spent the forenoon visiting places of interest in the city. In the afternoon the Elders of the Mississippi and Tennessee conferences met in the Music Hall of the Woman's Building, in Priesthood meeting where they were instructed by the visiting brethren. Remarks were made by Presidents Smith and Penrose and Elders George Albert Smith and Joseph F[ielding]. Smith Jr. ... (2)
-- Dec 20, 1914
... (Following is a stenographic report of the address President Joseph F. Smith delivered at the Sunday morning session of the recent quarterly conference.-Ed.)
I feel very humble this morning as well as very grateful to have the privilege of meeting with such a large number of good people and the dear little children also of these good people who are striving to build up Zion and who are doing all they can, all at is in their power, to bring up their little children in the way they should go that when they get old they will not depart from the right way.
I commend the remarks of Brother George Albert Smith, and I want to tell these little folks who George Albert is. He is the son of John Henry Smith, who was the son of George E. Smith, an own cousin of the prophet. Geo. A. Smith was a son of John Smith. John was a brother of Joseph Smith who was the father of the Prophet, so you can account for the spirit and for the feeling and the testimony that dwells in the heart of this good boy who has spoken to us here this morning, and why he is so earnest and so interested in the well-being of the children of Zion. ... {1914-December 20-The Box Elder News, January 28, 1915.} (3)
-- During 1914
(Matthew Cowley) Soon after his arrival, Cowley was summoned to the bedside of a Maori man suffering from typhoid fever. "All I could do was pray, and I knelt down beside that suffering native, and I prayed to God, and opened up my heart to him; and I believe the channel was open; and then I placed my hands upon that good brother; and with the authority of the priesthood which I as a young boy held, I blessed him to be restored to health."
Shortly after his mission, he was called by President George Albert Smith to translate the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price into Maori, and to revise the Maori translation of the Book of Mormon. (4)
Footnotes:
1 - Journals of George Albert Smith
2 - First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes
3 - Clark, James R., Messages of the First Presidency (6 volumes)
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/
