| 710 ordained to the office of seventy under the hands of Apostle James Caffall and others. I labored in Nebraska and Kansas until the semiannual conference of 1877, at Gallands Grove, Iowa, when I was appointed to the Southeastern Mission. I immediately started for that field. I first labored with Elder John H. Hansen in Kentucky and Tennessee, thence went further south into Alabama and Florida; first laboring in old fields where the work had been established, then extending the work westward into Southern Mississippi, where it has been permanently established ever since. Here I was assisted by Elder L. F. West, and Priest James Faulk. Later I extended the work into Eastern Florida where it had not before been presented. In this mission I was accompanied by Priest David Donaldson. The work there, though we were to some extent successful, and a branch at Gainesville was organized, has not since been kept up. I remained in that field without returning home until the spring of 1880, when I attended the annual conference at Plano, Illinois, and was appointed to labor under William H. Kelley in Michigan, Indiana, and Canada; and during that summer labored in Michigan and Indiana, returning to the West for the semiannual conference of that year, where I was appointed in charge of the Southwestern Mission, and was continued in this capacity until the annual conference of 1886. For a part of the time I was the sole appointee in that large field, comprising Texas, Western Louisiana, Arkansas, and Indian Territory.
At the annual conference of 1885 I was ordained the sixth president of Seventy at Independence, Missouri, and continued to occupy in this office until 1887. At the same time of my ordination to the presidency of the Quorum, I was appointed secretary of the Presidency, and also secretary of the Quorum; and served in these positions as long as I was connected with the Quorum.
At the annual conference of 1886 I was appointed in charge of the Pacific Slope Mission. Prior to starting for my new field of labor, on June 2, 1886, at Independence, Missouri, I was united in marriage to Vida E., oldest daughter of Alexander H. Smith. This has proven to be a wise selection, and
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