John Whittaker Taylor, Apostle (Excommunicated), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Wikipedia Biographical Summary:

"..John Whittaker Taylor (May 15, 1858 – October 10, 1916) was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and was the son of John Taylor, the third president of the church. While he was an apostle, he was excommunicated from the LDS Church for opposing the church's abandonment of plural marriage..."

"...John W. Taylor was born in Provo, Utah Territory while his parents John Taylor and Sophia Whittaker were taking shelter there, along with other church members, during the Utah War. He married May Leona Rich (daughter of John Taylor Rich & Agnes Young) on 19 October 1882 and moved to Cassia County in Idaho, to ranch. As a practitioner of plural marriage, he later married Nellie Todd, Janet Maria Wolley, Eliza Roxie Welling, Rhoda Welling and Ellen Georgina Sandberg. He also worked as a county clerk, and a newspaper editor, among many other things..."

"...Taylor was a staunch believer in the doctrine of plural marriage, and had six wives and thirty-six children. Although the church officially forbade the practice with the 1890 Manifesto, Taylor continued to privately marry additional wives and consequently resigned from the Quorum of the Twelve in October 1905. Matthias F. Cowley also resigned from the Quorum over the plural marriage dispute. The following February, Marriner W. Merrill died. The three new vacancies were filled in the April 1906 General Conference by George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay.
Taylor disputed with the Quorum of the Twelve often after his resignation. He was finally excommunicated from the church in 1911, but he remained a believer up to his death. He died of stomach cancer at his home in Forest Dale, Salt Lake County, Utah, at 58 years of age.] He was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery..."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'John W. Taylor (Mormon)', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 December 2011, 14:47 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_W._Taylor_(Mormon)&o...> [accessed 6 February 2012]