George Albert Smith (June 26, 1817 – September 1, 1875) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Smith was a prominent leader in the settlement of many communities in southern Utah, and played a role in the chain of events preceding the Mountain Meadows Massacre on September 11, 1857. The city of St. George, Utah, may have been named after him. Childhood George A. Smith was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York, the son of John Smith and Clarissa Lyman, and was brought up in the Congregational Church. His first cousin was Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. In September 1832, at age 15, George A. Smith was baptized into the Church of Christ, eight months after his parents had been baptized. The following year, John Smith and his family moved to Kirtland, Ohio, the church's new headquarters. There George met his cousin, Joseph, for the first time. In 1838, he moved with his parents and a large body of church members to the state of Missouri. Church service In the spring of 1834, the 16-year-old Smith accompanied a group of Latter Day Saints on a 2000-mile march to Missouri and back to Ohio. This trip, known as Zion's Camp, was intended to bring aid to suffering members of the church in Missouri. Smith served as a missionary to the eastern United States, traveling and preaching during the summers of 1835, 1836, and 1837, while attending school each winter. Smith was ordained a seventy in the priesthood on March 1, 1835, by Joseph Smith. On April 26, 1839, the 21-year-old George A. Smith was ordained an apostle and became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Future church president Wilford Woodruff was ordained an apostle on the same day. The two men replaced former apostles Thomas B. Marsh, who had left the church, and Orson Hyde, who had been disfellowshipped and removed from his position. After Joseph Smith's death and the assumption of church leadership by Brigham Young, George A. Smith traveled to the Salt Lake Valley as a Mormon pioneer with the first company of settlers in 1847. In the winter of 1850, Smith led a company of 118 volunteers and