--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, Edward H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 4 published: 1919-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Anderson, Edward H., "The New Member of the Council of the Twelve," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 4 (February 1919): 343–344.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2204unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2204unse start_page: 343 end_page: 344 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2204unse publication_year: 1919 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The New Member of the Council of the Twelve The New Member of the Council of Twelve Elder Melvin Joseph Ballard was chosen and ordained an apostle and set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve, by President Heber J. Grant, on Tuesday, January 7, 1919, at a meeting of the First Presidency and the Twelve in the temple, Salt Lake City. Elder Ballard, was born in Logan, Utah, February 9, 1873. His father was the late Bishop Henry Ballard of the Second ward, of that city, who joined the Church in England, in 1849, and came to Utah in October, 1852, driving a flock of sheep across the plains for Eli B. Kelsey. He was one of the first permanent settlers in Cache valley, arriving on the 10th of May, 1859, and locating in Logan, on the 20th of July following. He became bishop of the Second ward, April 14, 1861, continuing in that position for thirty-nine years with undiminished zeal and exceptional faithfulness. He was honorably released on the 26th of April, 1900, and four days later was ordained a patriarch by Elder Marriner W. Merrill, of the Council of the Twelve. He died about ten years ago. The good mother of Melvin Joseph Ballard, was Margaret McNeal, who was of Scotch descent. Elder Ballard, in whom Scotch precision, and English tenacity, thus have been wonderfully blended, received his education in the district schools of Cache county, and in the Brigham Young College, from which latter institution he graduated, in 1894, becoming a member of the faculty of the college, during the two years following. He was early in life active as a deacon, being ordained to that office in the Priesthood, in 1884; on December 27, 1891, a priest; on February 5, 1895, an elder; and on the 6th of July, 1896, a seventy by the late President John Henry Smith. Elder Ballard's first mission was performed in 1896, when he was called by President Wilford Woodruff, and accompanied Elders B. H. Roberts and George D. Pyper, on a short mission in the eastern United States. He finished his mission in the Northern states, returning home in December, 1898. April 23, 1900, he was ordained a High Priest, by President Francis M. Lyman, and set apart as counselor to the bishop of the Logan Second ward, serving six years. In the spring of 1909, he was chosen a member of the Jim i i iiiiHHii i imiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinii i inn i mil mm iiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiin imiiuiiiiimii'i T« 1 1 H 1M 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 T 1 T 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 M1 1 1 1 n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 1 1 M u II 1 1 M n I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 u 1 1 1 1 r II ] 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 u 1 1 1 1 II : n 1 : 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 u 1 1 MM 1 1 r ][ 1 1 1 n 1 1 J 1 1 1 1 ; 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n i 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n 1 1 ni I J F I L 1 1 ^_ ELDER MELVIN J. BALLARD Born, Logan, Utah, Feb. 9, 1873; ordained an apostle and set apart | 1 as a member of the Council of Twelve, Jan. 7, 1919. I -Tillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Mllilllllill iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii minimi inm iiiiimimiimm miimimmiiim?