The Latter Day Saints Southern Star

The Southern States Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published a weekly periodical, the Southern Star, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volume 1 includes the years 1898-1899. The first several issues contain a history of the mission during the period that John Morgan served as mission president. Here is a portrait of John Morgan. If you search for his name, you can read various anecdotes and stories about him throughout the Southern Star.

Here is a paragraph from a conference address by Jonathan G. Kimball, one of the missionaries who worked with John Morgan. You would probably recognize him better by the name he went by later, J. Golden Kimball:

I desire to call your attention to an incident that occurred when I was laboring in the Southern states, in 1884. I went there in 1883. The year 1884 was a time of a sad experience in that mission. It was then that some of our Elders lost their lives by mob violence. It seemed we had but few friends. I was at the office in Chattanooga under Elder Roberts at the time. I picked up a Chattanooga Times one morning, and I was very much delighted to see in print these words, speaking of Elder John Morgan. It said: "To shake his hand was to be his friend." I have never forgotten it. When you shook John Morgan's hand and he looked into your face you always knew that you were his friend.