George Reynolds

George Reynolds (January 1, 1842 – August 9, 1909) was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), a longtime secretary to the church's First Presidency, and a party to the 1878 United States Supreme Court case Reynolds v. United States, the first freedom of religion case to issue from that court.

Early life Reynolds was born in Marylebone, England, to George Reynolds and Julia Ann Tautz. He spent much of his childhood under the care of his maternal grandmother. His grandmother employed a maid, Sarah White, who invited nine-year-old Reynolds to attend an LDS Church meeting with her. Reynolds received permission from his grandmother to do so; Reynolds attended a sacrament meeting of the church's Paddington Branch with White, and almost immediately decided that he wished to become a member.

Reynolds's parents refused to allow him to be baptized a member of the church. Often, he would disobey his parents and attend church in Paddington.

In December 1856, Reynolds was given the Aaronic priesthood and ordained to the office of deacon. In May 1857, at the age of 15, Reynolds was ordained to the office of priest. Reynolds engaged in open-air preaching in the streets of London, usually with an adult elder of the church. After Reynolds began street preaching, his parents discovered that he had become a Latter-day Saint. At this time, Young continued to employ Reynolds as the secretary to the First Presidency and also appointed him to be the manager of the Salt Lake Theatre. In 1875, Reynolds was elected as a member of the Salt Lake City Council. Confident that the law would be declared to be an unconstitutional violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the leaders of the church agreed to furnish a defendant for a test case. Young asked Reynolds if he would be willing to serve as the test defendant. Reynolds agreed and was indicted for bigamy by a grand jury on June 23, 1874.

Because it was a test case the church wished to pursue before the United States Supreme Court, Reynolds cooperated with investigators and the trial court, supplying the witnesses and testimony that proved he was married to two women at the same time.

Reynolds v. United States

Arguments were heard in the Reynolds case before the United States Supreme Court on November 14, 1878. On January 6, 1879, the Court issued its unanimous decision for Reynolds v. United States. The court rejected his argument that the Latter-day Saint practice of plural marriage was protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Life after release from prison Upon his release from prison, Reynolds resumed his position as secretary to the First Presidency; he also became an active organizer within the Deseret Sunday School Union (DSSU), acting as the editor of and writing many articles for its publication, the Juvenile Instructor.

In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff asked Reynolds to become one of the seven members of the First Council of Seventy, a calling in the church hierarchy that ranked just below the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Reynolds agreed, and in April, Reynolds was set apart to this position by Lorenzo Snow, who was then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Reynolds continued in this position and as the secretary to the First Presidency until his death in 1909. Reynolds had three wives and 32 children.

Published works