President Marriner W. Merrill, the first president of Logan Temple, was a very spiritual man and took good care of affairs at the temple.  He was chosen president because a voice spoke to John Taylor, telling him that Bishop Merrill was to head the temple.  In 1889 he was chosen to be one of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

President Merrill lived at Richmond, where he had eight wives and, eventually, 46 children (24 boys and 22 girls).  At a family reunion in 1935 his family numbered 797 descendants, of which 291 were grandchildren, 429 great grandchildren, and 31 great great grandchildren.

The president used to drive "Dock" in his one-seated buggy from Richmond to Logan each day, which took nearly three hours.  In the winter time he could make it in two hours by sleigh.  During the days of the polygamy raids, the president lived in his bedroom on the second floor, in the west tower, and never left the temple for weeks at a time.  One day, his eldest son Marriner, Jr. passed away, which grieved his father very much, and he was never reconciled to the passing.  He had relied on this son to take care of his interests at Richmond and to handle his financial affairs.

President Merrill said that he complained bitterly to the Lord, that he was busy doing his Father's work in the temple, and that the son he needed the most was taken from him.

Junior appeared to his father in his temple bedroom one night and said:  "Pa, I am where the Lord wants me to be.  I have been called home to preach the gospel to the people you are doing the temple work for.  This work is more important than anything I could be doing on earth, and it is not pleasing to the Lord for you to grieve as you are doing over my death."

President Merrill had never given thought to preaching the gospel to the dead, and when he knew where his son was and what he was doing, he never grieved nor complained again in his life.  It was a testimony to him that the Lord knew what needed doing, and selected the best man to do it.

(Logan Temple, the First 100 Years by Nolan P. Olsen, pgs. 167-168.)