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Source: Church History Vol. 4 Chapter 41 Page: 705 (~1830)

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705 CHAPTER 41.

J. W. GILLEN.

OF the early life of James W. Gillen we know but little, nor has our efforts at obtaining information been successful.

He was born in Coleraine, Ireland, March 18, 1836, and when quite young he came to America. In his boyhood and youth he worked in a nail factory in Canada. Subsequently he followed school-teaching, and was engaged in this avocation in Western Iowa when he became acquainted with the church.

On December 3, 1861, he was baptized into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, at Little Sioux, Iowa, by Elder Silas W. Condit. It is said that for a time he occupied the office of an elder, but we have not found any record of his ordination to that office. On April 8, 1863, he was ordained to the office of seventy, at Amboy, Illinois; and in April, 1885, he was ordained one of the Presidents of Seventy at Independence, Missouri. In April, 1887, he was called and ordained to the office of apostle of the Quorum of Twelve, which position he occupied until the time of his release.

In the early days of the Reorganization he performed a great deal of missionary service. He was one of the pioneers of the Reorganization in the Western Country, laboring in Utah, Idaho, and on the Pacific Coast.

In 1879 he was sent on a mission to Australasia, where he spent three years, performing faithful and efficient labor, returning in 1882.

He performed missionary labor at intervals for the next five years, until he was called by revelation to the Quorum

(page 705)

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