Wow. Those that only appoint one sure make it count!

It’s a bit surprising to me that Brigham Young, presiding the Church for three decades, only appointed nine apostles to the quorum. It indicates something about how far into the future Joseph Smith’s direct influence shaped Church leadership.

I am surprised, and deeply confused, with John, Staggers the mind.

Rather interesting to see the influence of McKay: he appointed all of the presidents of my lifetime (assuming Monson becomes president).

When I originally read your title, I thought you were saying that at least one apostle was called by every president. And my response to that was, “of course at least one apostle is called by every president–someone has to fill that president’s vacancy.” But, of course, that isn’t what you were saying at all. (Turns out that it takes me quite a while to pick up on things.)

Why only 9 by Brigham Young? Because all the 12 whom he inherited from Joseph were relatively young men, and they grew old with Brother Brigham. In contrast, someone like Heber J. Grant, who was younger than his fellow apostles (only 25 when called) or David O. McKay, who lived so long, ended up with a longer list. (Add to that the number of “positions” filled more than once by Pres. McKay–Adam Bennion and Marriner Merrill come to mind, called sometime in the mid-50s and passed away within just a few years, and you get inflated numbers for Pres. McKay.)

I have a cassette tape containing a talk by Matthew Cowley, and one by Hugh B. Brown. There were some amazing Apostles in the past.

When I joined the church in 1982, Legrand Richards was my favorite conference speaker. No one since has come close, but Elder Holland seems to be going in the direction that Elder Legrand Richards did.

The 9 called by Brigham Young — did this number include the 3 sons he ordained as Apostles, one of whom was only 11 years old?