Meet President Heber J. Grant

3 Biographical Accounts Written at Different Times Taken From the LDS Biographical Encyclopedia by A. Jenson, Church Historian in the Years 1917-29, Provided by D. Staples, Kansai Branch, Japan.

Section 1 · Section 2 · Section 3

Andrew Jenson, Vol. 3, p.746

Grant, Heber Jeddy, the seventh President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Continued from Vol. 1:147.) Throughout the thirty-seven years of his service as one of the Council of the Twelve [p.747] Apostles, Elder Heber J. Grant was persistent and untiring in the duties of his special ministry, as his record of travel and visitations among both Stakes and missions demonstrates. Pursuant to action by the First Presidency and the Twelve on Feb. 14, 1901, immediate steps were taken to open a mission in Japan, and Elder Grant was chosen for the work—a work specifically belonging to the Apostleship. As president of the then prospective but now actual and prosperous Japan Mission he left home July 24, 1901, accompanied by three other Elders, bound for the new field. Notwithstanding the difficulties and obstacles incident to such an undertaking as that of introducing the message of the restored Church of Jesus Christ to a non-Christian nation, President Grant was instrumental in opening the door for the preaching of the gospel in the Orient. He returned to Utah in September, 1903, leaving the mission in good condition, as was apparent at that time and as subsequent growth and development confirm.

On Jan. 1, 1904, he succeeded the late Elder Francis M. Lyman as the head of the European Mission, and so remained until Dec. 5, 1906, when he relinquished the office to Elder Charles W. Penrose of the Council of the Twelve, and soon thereafter returned home. A feature of President Grant's administration in the European Mission was his personal and close supervision of the several conferences and branches, in both the British Isles and the continental countries. His long experience in directing the labors of others, in business and Church activities, aided him in keeping missionaries and local workers at their best, and his example of untiring effort was a means of developing efficiency and earnest service in both officers and members. A great sorrow befell him on May 25, 1908, when his beloved wife, Emily Wells Grant, who had accompanied him to Europe, died in Salt Lake City.

Following the death of President Francis M. Lyman, Elder Grant, as the senior member of the Council of the Twelve, became the president of that body on Nov. 23, 1916. In January, 1918, he was made chairman of the State committee in charge of the Liberty Loan campaign; and in this, as in other executive activities incident to the World War, he exercised to the full his usual vigor and aggressiveness, and did much to secure for Utah its deserved recognition for loyalty and patriotism, as exhibited by the works that count. Throughout the long years of stress and struggle for prohibition of the liquor traffic, President Grant was a leading and inspiring figure. He was an ardent and efficient worker for the success of the 18th Amendment to the national Constitution, and enjoys the well-earned satisfaction of having seen both state and nationwide prohibition realized.

On Nov. 23, 1918, four days after the death of President Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant became President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by action of the Council of the Apostles. By his choice and nomination, supported by unanimous vote of the [p.748] Council, Anthon H. Lund and Charles W. Penrose were made counselors in the First Presidency, each succeeding himself in the position held under the former administration. Owing to the prevalence of influenza and the consequent ban on large assemblies, the General Conference of the Church, which in usual order would have been held in April, 1919, was deferred until June 1st following, and on that day the First Presidency, constituted as above specified, was sustained by vote of the Church in conference assembled. Among President Grant's natural qualifications for leadership are genius as an organizer and marked capability as a director of men. In the early months of his administration he placed competent presiding officers at the heads of several auxiliary associations, and created a Church Commission on Education, thus lessening the arduous duties of the First Presidency by placing responsibility for detailed operation upon others. Now, in the very prime of his life as gauged by physical, mental and spiritual vigor, he travels much among the Stakes and missions; and no branch or Ward is insignificant in his estimation. Indeed he manifests genuine delight in the opportunity of visiting any small or outlying unit of the Church, which, perhaps, had gone long without the personal ministration of one of the General Authorities. On Nov. 13, 1919, President Grant, accompanied by a small party of other Church officials, left home for the Hawaiian Islands, where, on the 27th day of that month, he officiated in dedicating the newly erected Temple at Laie, and thus inaugurated on the isles of the Pacific the administration of sacred ordinances for the salvation of the dead. The return journey of the little company was completed Dec. 17, 1919. In the "Juvenile Instructor" of January, 1919, appears a symposium of tributes to the character and qualifications of President Grant, written by prominent officers in the Church, who from their long and close association with him were able to speak with assurance; and the "Improvement Era" of the same date contains a valuable contribution on the "Reorganization of the First Presidency." President Grant's gentleness of disposition, combined with unshakable firmness for the right; his sympathy, as shown by works, for those afflicted or in distress, together with his readiness for self-sacrifice whatever the personal deprivation; his unquestionable patriotism for his country and loyal support of its government; his devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the Church which is the earthly embodiment thereof; the equable union of mercy and justice in his nature; his material support and encouraging patronage of authors, artists, poets, musicians, and others of genius, whose splendid endowments without such aid would possibly languish and die. —t These and many other attributes of true greatness are attested in published encomiums by men who knew him best. No one, believer or skeptic, who has heard President Grant voice his personal testimony of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the foreordained Redeemer and Savior of the race, and of the actuality of divine appointment and guidance in the life work of Joseph Smith as verily a Prophet of the Living God, can ever expel from his mind the effect of that soulful avowal. The assurance of reality in the restoration of the gospel in this dispensation, as was of old predicted, is ingrained in the heart, mind and soul of Heber J. Grant. Fearlessly he proclaims that solemn truth to the world. He is verily a living witness for God.

Andrew Jenson, Vol. 4, p.682

Grant, Heber Jeddy, one of the directors of the Genealogical Society of Utah from 1909 to 1919, was born Nov. 22, 1856, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a son of Jedediah M. Grant and Rachel Ridgeway Ivins. He became president of the Church Nov. 23, 1918. (Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 147; Vol. 3, p. 746)