about 30 families to establish a colony near the Little Salt Lake in Iron County. They arrived at Center Creek, 265 miles from Salt Lake City, on January 13, 1851. Under direction from the General Assembly of the State of Deseret, the group organized the political entity of Iron County and elected Smith as chief justice. During the winter of 1850–51, the settlers constructed a fort enclosing homes, a meeting house, a school, and a watch tower. They named their community Parowan. Smith taught school during the first winter, and later served as a member of Utah's territorial legislature. In 1868, Smith was called to replace Heber C. Kimball as First Counselor in the First Presidency to church president Young. Smith served in this position until his death in 1875. Smith's first wife, Bathsheba W. Smith, served as general president of the church's Relief Society from 1901 to 1910. A son, John Henry Smith, also served as an apostle and member of the First Presidency. George A. Smith's grandson and namesake, George Albert Smith, also became an apostle and later was the church's eighth president. Smith was the eighth official Church Historian and General Church Recorder of the LDS Church from 1854 to 1871. In 1873 he was appointed and sustained as Trustee-in-Trust for the church, an office he held until his death. Utah War During the hurried series of actions Young and LDS Church leaders initiated on learning of the imminent arrival of U.S. troops into Utah Territory in 1857-8, Smith left Salt Lake City to visit southern Utah communities. Scholars have asserted that Smith's tour, speeches, and personal actions contributed to the fear and tension in these communities, and influenced the decision to attack and destroy the Baker–Fancher emigrant train near Mountain Meadows, Utah. Leaving on August 3, 1857, Smith arrived at Parowan, Utah on August 8, 1857, and on August 15, he set off on a tour of the local military district manned by the Utah militia known as the Nauvoo Legion, led by stake president-Colonel W. H. Dame. Although Smith's rank in the Legion was simply a private, one Parowan resident understood that part of the purpose of his trip was to represent the church leadership and to organize the regiment, inspect the troops, and provide instructions. During the tour, Smith gave military speeches and counseled Mormons that they should prepare to "touch fire to their