--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 30 number: 6 published: 1927-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, “Westerners in Action,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 6 (April 1927): 537–538." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3006unse 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: improvementera3006unse start_page: 537 end_page: 538 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3006unse publication_year: 1927 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 1927, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Westerners in Action WESTERNERS IN ACTION John M. Baxter By Peter McKinnon The president of the Woodruff stake of Zion, oldest in service of the stake presidents, was born in Salt Lake City, June 3, 1859, the son of Robert Baxter and Jane McKinnon. When twelve years of age, he moved with his mother and uncle, Archibald McKinnon, to Randolph, Rich county, Utah. Archibald had been called by President Young to assist in the colonization of the upper Bear River Valley. Here in his youth and early manhood, he was inured to the hardships and priva- tions incident to the de- velopment of a new country, being promi- nently identified with all the problems and projects tending to the material and spiritual wellbeing of the people. In this environment, his natural inherent quali- ties developed into a strong character, which fitted him for the leader he was destined to be- come in later life. On May 8, 1878, he mar- ried Miss Agnes Smith; and on April 8, 1888, he left on a mission to the Southern States, laboring later prin- cipally in Mississippi and Alabama, and re- turning home March 25, 1890. He was called in September of that same year to the office of bishop of Woodruff ward, and was ordained and set apart by president Wm. Budge of the Bear Lake stake. In this capacity he labored until the organization of the Woodruff stake, June 6, 1898, when he was appointed president of the stake and was set apart by Elder John Henry Smith. Elder Baxter's missionary labors in the South were characterized by extreme hardships, persecution and mobbings. At that time anti- 538 IMPROVEMENT ERA "Mormon" agitation was everywhere rampant and probably nowhere more pronounced than in the South. On numerous occasions this humble elder was compelled to stay out in the malarial swamps of Mississippi for days at a time to avoid the evil designs of angry mobs, and on several occasions, except for the over-ruling hand of Providence, would have met death at their hands. In July, 1926, the Woodruff stake was divided, the eastern por- tion being organized as the Lyman stake. Before this division, in order to make a tour of the wards, the presidency and other stake officers were required to travel about five hundred miles, and prior to the day of the automobile the major portion of this distance was covered by team, requiring about ten days' time for each visit. With this humble servant of God, there is no such word as "falter." His life's ministry has been inspired by the spirit of love, implicit faith in God, integrity, meekness, loyalty to the Priesthood, and unbounded devotion to duty. In this ministry the great injunc- tion of the Redeemer of the world has been manifestly exemplified, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. * * * * This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." President Baxter is the senior stake president of the Church. On June 6, of the present year, he will have rendered twenty-nine years of faithful service; longer than any other living president. Ogden, Utah. A Busy Laborer Patriarch Levi J. Taylor, working in the Salt Lake temple, has ordained 1167, helped to baptize and confirm 10,33 7 and has been endowed for 114. He has helped 600 companies through the temple, and has been absent but two days since his ordination, November 22, 1922, though he lives forty miles from the temple. During the Summer vacation, 1926, he attended three reunions of his family, one in Idaho, one in his home town and one in Southern Utah. Nearly one thousand were in attendance; the subjects discussed were Genealogy and Temple Work. As Patriarch in North Weber stake, he gave forty-five blessings in 1926.