Excerpt from Prophets and Patriarchs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Biographies of the Apostles and Patriarchs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, by Apostle Matthias F. Cowley, were written for the "Southern Star." When that periodical suspended publication not more than half the letters from Brother Cowley had been published. The biographies which did appear, however, were very popular among the Elders and Saints of the Southern States Mission, and numerous calls came for them from the West. They are written in a simple and easy style, abounding in interesting incidents and valuable historical facts. It was the desire and original intention of the author to submit the biographies of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies and Presiding Bishopric for the readers of this little volume, but not having these prepared for publication, and the opportunity presenting itself, almost without warning, for the publication of those already prepared, it was thought best to leave them for a subsequent edition. As the articles contain much valuable information, and their publication will be instrumental in doing good, I accept as a labor of love the pleasant task of presenting, in book form, all of Apostle Cowley's biographies to the "Star" - those which appeared, those which were ready for publication when the paper suspended, and a few recently prepared. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.