George Francis Gibbs was the secretary to the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...

 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Gibbs was born in Haverfordwest

Haverfordwest

Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales and serves as the County's principal commercial and administrative centre. Haverfordwest is the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire, with a population of 13,367 in 2001; though its community boundaries make it the second most populous...

, Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. In 1850, his parents were taught by Mormon missionaries and the family joined the LDS Church. As a young adult, Gibbs worked for the LDS Church in the mission

Mission (LDS Church)

A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...

 office in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and emigrated to Utah Territory

Utah Territory

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

 with his parents in 1866.

In the late nineteenth century, Gibbs was sent back to Liverpool as a church missionary to assist the mission in managing its finances.

Gibbs became a member of the Council of Fifty

Council of Fifty

The Council of Fifty was a Latter Day Saint organization established by Joseph Smith, Jr...

 on 24 June 1882. He acted as an assistant secretary to the First Presidency under George Reynolds

George Reynolds (Mormon)

George Reynolds was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a longtime secretary to the First Presidency of the LDS Church, and a party to the 1878 United States Supreme Court case Reynolds v...

. When Reynolds was in prison on a bigamy

Bigamy

In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...

 conviction from 1876 to 1881, Gibbs acted as the secretary to the First Presidency. When Reynolds became a general authority

General authority

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a general authority is a member of certain leadership organizations who are given administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church...

 in 1890, Gibbs again took upon more of the secretarial duties that Reynolds usually performed. When Reynolds died in 1909, Gibbs officially became the First Presidency's secretary. He remained in this employment until 1922, when he retired and was replaced by Joseph Anderson

Joseph Anderson (Mormon)

Joseph Anderson was the secretary to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1922 to 1970 and was a general authority of the church from 1970 until his death....

.

In 1876, Gibbs married Ida Snow, a daughter of church apostle Lorenzo Snow

Lorenzo Snow

Lorenzo Snow was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 to his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the nineteenth century.-Family:...

. Gibbs practiced plural marriage

Plural marriage

Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...

 and married Sarah E. Worthen in 1884.

Gibbs died of tongue cancer at Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

.