BRIGHAM YOUNG

:''See also, Brigham Young University''
'Brigham Young' (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. In 1847, Young became the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is one of the churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830. He was also the first governor of the Utah Territory.
Young had a variety of nicknames, among the most popular of which is "The American Moses," [1] (sometimes "The Modern Moses" or "The Mormon Moses" [2]) because, like the biblical figure, he led his followers, the Mormon pioneers in an often arduous exodus through a desert, to what they saw as a promised land. He was dubbed "The Lion of the Lord" for his bold personality, and also called "Brother Brigham." Young's legacy is controversial, however. While having helped to organize a large religion, as well as the accession of Utah to the Union, concerns persist about his role in the Utah War against the United States government, as well as his beliefs about black Americans.

Early Life until Joseph Smith's Successor

Young was born to a farming family in Vermont and worked as a traveling carpenter and blacksmith, among other trades. ^[1] Young first married in 1824 to Miriam Angeline Works.
Though he had converted to the Methodist faith in 1823, Young was drawn to Mormonism after reading the Book of Mormon shortly after its publication in 1830. He officially joined the new church in 1832 and traveled to Canada as a missionary. After his first wife died in 1833, Young joined many Mormons in establishing a community in Kirtland, Ohio.
Young was strongly committed to his new faith. He was ordained an Apostle and joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as one of the first members on February 14, 1835. During the anti-Mormon persecutions in Missouri in the late 1830s, he suffered the loss of all his property and other hardships. In 1840 and 1841, he went to England as a missionary for his church. Many of those Young converted moved to the United States to join Mormon communities there. In the 1840s Young was among those who established the city of Nauvoo, Illinois on the Mississippi River. It became the headquarters of the church and was comparable in size to the city of Chicago at the time.
While in jail awaiting trial for treason charges, church president Joseph Smith was killed by an armed mob of vigilantes in 1844. Several claimants to his role as church president emerged during the succession crisis that ensued. Before a large Nauvoo congregation meeting to discuss the succession, Sidney Rigdon, the only surviving member of the First Presidency, argued that there could be no successor to the deceased prophet and that he should be made the "Protector" of the church."^[2] Young opposed this reasoning and motion. Smith had earlier recorded a revelation in section 107, verses 23-24 of the Doctrine and Covenants that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were "equal in authority and power" to the First Presidency, so the decision of Smith's successor fell back to the Apostles even though Rigdon believed he was rightly next in line.^[3] When Young testified of the power and authority of the Twelve Apostles, many in the congregation recorded that Brigham Young's voice took on the sound of Joseph Smith's voice and that Brigham Young's face also appeared as the face of Joseph Smith. For many in attendance at this meeting, this occurrence was accepted as a sign that Brigham Young was to lead the church as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Rigdon became the president of a separate church organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and other potential successors emerged to lead what became (in the view of Young's followers) separate denominations of the movement.

Church Presidency

Initial Actions as Church President

After three years under the Quorum of the Twelve, Young reorganized a new First Presidency and was declared president of the largest remaining faction in 1847 . Repeated conflict led Young to relocate his group of Latter-day Saints to a territory in what is now Utah, then part of Mexico. Young organized the journey that would take the faithful to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846 , then to Utah's Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, a date now recognized as a Utah state holiday and known as Pioneer Day.

Conflict with U.S. Government

Shortly after the new Mormon colonies were brought into the United States through Mexican Cession, Young petitioned the U.S. Congress to create the State of Deseret. The Compromise of 1850 instead carved out Utah Territory, and Young was installed as governor. As governor and church president, Young directed both religious and economic matters. He encouraged independence and self-sufficiency. Many cities and towns in Utah, and some in neighboring states, were founded under Young's direction. Young's leadership style has been viewed as autocratic.^[4]
When federal officials received reports of widespread and systematic obfuscation of federal officials in Utah (most notably judges), President James Buchanan decided to install a non-Mormon governor. Buchanan accepted the reports of the judges without any further investigation, and sent troops. The troops, ironically, passed by the bloody Kansas-Missouri war without intervening in it. When Young received word that federal troops led by Albert Sydney Johnston (who later would fight against the Union during the Civil War) were headed to Utah with his replacement, he organized a militia to fight the federal government. During this rebellion, now called the Utah War, Young held the U.S. Army at bay for a winter. Young made plans to burn Salt Lake City and move his followers to Mexico, but at the last minute he relented, and agreed to step down as governor. He later received a pardon from President Buchanan for his role in the episode. Relations between Young and future governors and U.S. Presidents were mixed.

Role in Mountain Meadows Massacre

A recurrent question is the extent of Young's involvement in the Mountain Meadows massacre,^[5] which took place in Washington County in 1857. Authorities in Iron County had sent a messenger to Salt Lake City, a three-day ride, seeking direction from Young. Young sent a message instructing them to leave the wagon party alone, but that message arrived too late to avert the massacre. Over 120 men, women and children were killed by local Mormon militia members and possibly their Native American allies; their bodies were stripped of clothes and valuables and left to rot in the desert (see Mountain Meadows Massacre). John D. Lee, the only person convicted for participation in the massacre, made the following statement:^[6]

I have always believed, since that day, that General George A. Smith was then visiting Southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young.

However, some reports indicate that Lee maintained Young's innocence until his death. This was in spite of the fact that Lee was personally bitter toward Young for excommunicating him.

Indictment for Murder

Young was indicted on murder charges in 1872, based on the testimony of "Wild Bill" Hickman, who felt jilted when 8 of his 9 wives left him after Young had him excommunicated. Young's murder indictment was thrown out when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the process used to select grand juries in Utah was unconstitutional, as it was designed to keep Mormons off juries.

Other Notable Actions

In addition to founding Utah, Young also organized the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and founded the University of Deseret in 1850, which is now the University of Utah. Brigham Young University, although not founded by Young, is named after him. In 1950 , the state of Utah donated a marble statue of Young to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.^[7]

Personality and character

Style of Preaching

At the pulpit, Brigham Young was a fiery public speaker. In a sermon given on March 2 1856, Young said :

I will tell you what this people need, with regard to preaching; you need, figuratively, to have it rain pitchforks, tines downwards, from this pulpit, Sunday after Sunday. Instead of the smooth, beautiful, sweet, still, silk-velvet-lipped preaching, you should have sermons like peals of thunder, and perhaps we then can get the scales from our eyes. This style is necessary in order to save many of this people.

In person, Young was described as personable and polite. One author stated, "He would rage at his congregation as though they were all defaulters and horse-thieves; and then, having stormed himself into a good humor, sit down and begin courteous discourse with those he had been berating" .

Beliefs about Black Americans

Young has been criticized for his beliefs about black Americans. As a church father, Young's beliefs contributed to the Mormon policy regarding blacks and priesthood which existed until as recently as 1978 (see Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Specific quotes by Young can be found in the Journal of Discourses, and include (volume 10, page 110):

Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.

Brigham Young also stated (Journal of Discourses, volume 7, page 290):

You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.

Family Life

Polygamy

Young was perhaps the most famous polygamist of the early Mormon church. Ironically, he was extremely reluctant to practice plural marriage initially. He stated that upon being taught about plural marriage, "it was the first time in my life that I desired the grave."^[8] By the time of his death, Young had 56 children by 16 of his wives^[9] In 1856 he built the Lion House to accommodate his sizable family. This remains a Salt Lake City landmark, together with the Beehive House, another Brigham Young family home. A contemporary of Young wrote: "It was amusing to walk by Brigham Young's big house, a long rambling building with innumerable doors. Each wife has an establishment of her own, consisting of parlor, bedroom, and a front door, the key of which she keeps in her pocket".^[10] Many of Young's wives were elderly widows whom he took responsibility to care over.

Listing of Brigham Young's 51 Wives

What follows is a listing of Brigham Young's wives. An asterisk indicates "a wife not recognized in traditional histories"; names in parenthesis are the surnames of previous husbands; "divorce" indicates a formal dissolution of the marriage through secular or ecclesiastical procedures; "remarried" indicates later marriage of the wife to another husband.^[11]

Brigham Young

# Miriam Work - 1824 (2 children), included in his will.
# Mary Ann Angell - 1834 (6 children), in will.
# Lucy A. Decker (Seeley) - 1842 (7 children), in will.
# Harriet E. Cook (Campbell) - 1843 (1 child), in will.
# Lucy Augusta Adams (Cobb) 1843 (no children); requested cancellation of her sealing, 1846; sealed by proxy to Joseph Smith, 1848; from 1850 onward asked Brigham Young to give her to various men in civil marriage but still included in will.
# Clarissa C. Decker - 1844 (5 children), in will.
# Clarissa Ross-Chase - 1844 (4 children), in will.
# Louisa Beaman (Smith) - 1844 (5 children).
# Zina D. Huntington (Jacobs, Smith) - 1844 (1 child), in will.
# Emily D. Partridge (Smith) 1844 - (7 children), in will. (daughter of Edward Partridge)
# Eliza R. Snow (Smith) - 1844 (no children), in will.
# '
★ 'Elizabeth Fairchild - 1844 (no children), divorced 1855.
# '
★ 'Clarissa Blake - 1844 (no children).
# '
★ 'Rebecca W. Greenleaf Holman - 1844 (no children).
# '
★ 'Diana Chase - 1844 (no children), separated about 1848, remarried 1849.
# Maria Lawrence (Smith) - 1844 (no children), separated 1845, remarried 1846.
# Susannah Snively - 1844 (no children), in will.
# Olive Grey Frost (Smith) - 1844 (no children).
# '
★ 'Mary A. Clark (Powers) - 1845 (no children), divorced 1851.
# '
★ 'Mary Harvey Pierce - 1845 (no children).
# Margrette W. Pierce (Whitesides) - 1845 (1 child), in will.
# Emmeline Free - 1845 (10 children), in will. (former fiance of John D. Lee, her sister Louisa married Lee).
# Mary Elizabeth Rollins (Lightner, Smith) - 1845 (no children); remained with legal husband yet considered herself deserted by Brigham Young, 1846.
# Margaret Maria Alley - 1845 (2 children), in will.
# '
★ 'Mary Ann Turley - 1845 (no children), divorced 1851.
# '
★ 'Olive Andrews (Smith) 1846 (no children).
# '
★ 'Emily Haws (Chesley, Whitmarsh) - 1846 (no children), separated 1848.
# Ellen A. V. Rockwood - 1846 (no children).
# '
★ 'Abigail Marks (Works) - 1846 (no children).
# '
★ 'Mary Elizabeth Nelson (Greene) - 1846 (no children).
# '
★ 'Mary E. de la Montague (Woodward) - 1846 (no children); divorced and returned to legal husband, 1847; then returned to Brigham Young, 1851.
# '
★ 'Amy C. Cooper - 1846 (no children).
# '
★ 'Julia Foster (Hampton) - 1846 (no children), separated, 1846; married another man; returned to Brigham Young, 1855, only to leave him bitterly later.
# '
★ 'Abigail Harback (Hall) - 1846 (no children), returned to legal husband, 1846.
# Naamah K. J. Carter (Twiss) - 1846 (no children), obtained cancellation of her sealing by 1871, anointed to deceased first husband but still included in will.
# '
★ 'Nancy Cressy (Walker) - 1846 (no children).
# '
★ 'Eliza Babcock - 1846 (no children), divorced 1853.
# '
★ 'Jane Terry (Tarbox, Young) - 1847.
# Mary J. Bigelow - 1847 (no children), divorced 1851.
# Lucy Bigelow - 1847 (3 children), in will.
# '
★ 'Sarah M. Guckin (Malin) - 1848 (no children).
# Eliza Burgess - 1852 (1 child), in will.
# '
★ 'Mary Oldfield (Kelsey) - 1852 (no children).
# '
★ 'Catherine Resse (Clawson, Egan) - 1855 (no children).
# Harriet E. Barney (Sagers) - 1856 (1 child), in will.
# Harriet Amelia Folsom - 1863 (no children), in will.
# Mary Van Cott (Cobb) - 1865 (1 child), in will. (Daughter of John Van Cott)
# Ann Eliza Webb (Dee) 1868 (no children), divorced 1875; her story was the basis of Irving Wallace's 1962 biography ''The Twenty-Seventh Wife'' and of David Ebershoff's forthcoming novel, ''The 19th Wife''
# '
★ 'Elizabeth Jones (Lewis, Jones) - 1869 (no children).
# '
★ 'Lydia Farnsworth (Mayhew) - 1870 (no children).
# '
★ 'Hannah Tapfield (King) - 1872 (no children).

Works

★ The Best from Brigham Young: Statements from His Sermons on Religion, Education, and Community Building, Young, Brigham, , , Deseret Book Company, 1952,

★ Diary of Brigham Young, 1857, Young, Brigham, , , Tanner Trust Fund, University of Utah Library, 1980,

★ Discourses of Brigham Young, Young, Brigham, , , Deseret Book, 1925,

★ Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons, Young, Brigham, , , Deseret Book Company, 1974,

★ Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1801-1844, Young, Brigham, , , Eldon J. Watson, 1969,

★ Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1846-1847, Young, Brigham, , , Eldon J. Watson, 1971,

★ Teachings of President Brigham Young: Salvation for the Dead, the Spirit World, and Kindred Subjects, Young, Brigham, , , Seagull Press, 1922,

★ Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, Young, Brigham, , , The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1997, LDS Church publication number 35554.

Notable Descendents

Brigham Young has several noteworthy descendants:

★ Steve Young, professional American football player

★ Brigham Young, Jr., Mormon Apostle

★ Richard Whitehead Young, U.S. Army general and justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines

★ Orson Scott Card, novelist

★ Mahonri Young, sculptor/artist

Notes

1. Sheret, John G.: Brigham Young: Carpenter and Cabinet Maker
2. Roberts, B. H.: ''History of the Church'', vol. 7, ch. XVIII
3. Roberts, B. H.: ''History of the Church'', vol. 7, ch. XIX
4. [3]
5. Reopening a Mormon Murder Mystery; New Accusations That Brigham Young Himself Ordered an 1857 Massacre of Pioneers Emily Eakin
6. Life and Confessions of John D. Lee(p. 225)
7. http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/young.cfm
8. Polygamy and the Church: A History
9. Brigham Young Biography
10. The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912
11. D. Michael Quinn, ''The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power,'' Signature Books, Salt Lake City, 1994, 685 pages, ISBN 1-56085-056-6; Appendix 6, "Biographical Sketches of Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, 1830-47" pp. 607-608).

References

★ Leonard J. Arrington, ''Brigham Young: American Moses''; University of Illinois Press; ISBN 0-252-01296-8, (1985; Paperback, 1986).

★ Hugh Nibley, ''Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints.''

★ Gary James Bergera, ''Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith''

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External links

★ Biography from Brigham Young University

★ The Brigham Young period of polygamy

★ Short biography of Young from Architect of the Capitol

★ PBS profile

★ Brigham Young's Wives and His Divorce From Ann Eliza Webb

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