Henry G. Boyle
Henry Green Boyle was the first president of the Southern States Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He was born in 1824 in Bluestone, Tazewell County, Virginia. He converted to the Church of Jesus Christ in 1843 after being taught by Jedediah M. Grant. “I thought he taught nothing but the truth. I began to understand the scripture and the more I gave my attention to hearing Mormonism and reading the Bible, the more I was convinced it was true. I was sorry I had ever embraced any religious system or doctrine. Some two or three months passed away and I still went to hear the Mormons preach, but I hated to change so often. It looked like there was no stability in me. I was satisfied, I should lose all my friends by embracing the truth, but I had set out to do right, let what would come. I knew my motives were pure, therefore I counted up the cost, as near as I could, and embraced this time, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”[1]
Like many converts, he was cast out from his parents’ home because of his conversion. He worked for a time in Wythe county to earn money to move to Nauvoo. He first was ordained an elder and then served a mission in Virginia, where his parents invited him back home and acknowledged they “had done wrong in opposing” him. He then proceeded on his mission before moving to Nauvoo in 1845. In early 1846, he received his ordinances in the temple then crossed the Mississippi River and journeyed to the West.
Boyle was then a member of the Mormon Battalion. He then reenlisted in Los Angeles and then was the head of a group that in the spring of 1848 blazed a wagon trail from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. In 1851 he moved to San Bernardino, California. From 1853 until 1857 Boyle served as a missionary in northern California. Among those he baptized during this time was William B. Preston. He returned to Utah in 1857. From 1867 to 1869 he served as a missionary in Virginia and North Carolina, leading a large group to Utah when returned in 1869. He married Martha Francis Taylor on September 27, 1869.
Over the next several years Henry served several more missions to the southern states, teaching school and farming at his home in Payson, Utah, between the missions.[2]
He was made president of the new Southern States Mission at the start of 1876 serving until 1878. He continued to serve more missions throughout his life.
Henry was arrested on charges of practicing polygamy on 20 October 1887 and he was imprisoned in the territorial penitentiary. After his release from prison, he relocated with his wife Arabella to Pima, Graham County, Arizona, in 1889, where he died 8 September 1902 at age 78.[3]
