George Reynolds (Mormon) - Early Life

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 a meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with her. Reynolds received permission from his grandmother to do so; Reynolds attended a sacrament meeting of the Paddington Branch of the Church with White, and almost immediately decided that he wished to become a member of the LDS Church.

However, Reynolds's parents refused to allow him to be baptized a member of the church. Often, he would evade his parents' wishes and attend the Sunday meetings in Paddington. When Reynolds was 14 years old, he attended the Somers Town Branch of the church, where he was unknown, and asked to be received into the church by baptism. Not knowing that Reynolds' parents had forbidden the action, the president of the branch, George Teasdale, baptized him on May 4, 1856; Reynolds was confirmed a member of the Church by Teasdale on May 11, 1856.

In December 1856, Reynolds was given the Aaronic priesthood and ordained to the office of deacon. In this capacity, he was responsible for opening the doors to the Sunday meetinghouse for the Somers Town Branch and organizing the seating in preparation for sacrament meeting. In May 1857, at the age of 15, Reynolds was ordained to the office of Priest. In this calling, 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 "Mormon".

In August 1860, Reynolds was given the Melchizedek priesthood and ordained to the office of elder. In May 1861, he was called to be a full-time missionary of the church in London. In 1863, Reynolds was reassigned as a missionary to the Liverpool area to work as a clerk for church Apostle and mission president George Q. Cannon. When Cannon returned to the United States later that year, Reynolds retained his position as a clerk under the new mission president, Apostle and member of the First Presidency Daniel H. Wells. As mission clerk, one of Reynolds's primary responsibility was organizing and coordinating the church's efforts to assist European Latter-day Saints in emigrating to Utah Territory, where the headquarters of the church were located. While acting as mission clerk, Reynolds was asked to serve as the branch president of the Liverpool Branch of the church.