President Brigham Young

Brigham Young second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born June 1, 1801, in Wittingham, Windham county, Vermont. Like his predecessor he was of purely American stock, dating back many generations. His father, John Young, fought in the revolutionary war, and his grandfather in the French and Indian war. His family relations on both sides were among the staunchest supporters of freedom in the American colonies. He was the ninth child in a family of five sons and six daughters.

Oct. 8, 1824, he married Miss Miriam Works and located in Cayuga county, New York, where he followed his occupation of carpenter, painter, joiner and glazier. Early in 1829 he removed to Mendon, Monroe county, New York, where in the spring of 1830 he first saw a copy of the Book of Mormon, which was brought to that neighborhood by Elder Samuel H. Smith, brother of the Prophet. The contents of this sacred record he carefully read with a prayerful desire to know the truth. His investigation resulted in a firm conviction that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the living God and the Book of Mormon a divine record.

He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day day Saints April 14, 1832, by Elder Eleazer Miller. He was ordained an Elder by Brother Miller the same day. Three weeks later, his faithful wife was baptized. She died in the faith Sept. 8, 1832, leaving him two little girls as the result of their union. From the day of Elder Young's baptism he became a most indefatigable and fearless advocate of the pure principles of the gospel revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. With Elders Kimball and Joseph Young, Brigham Young visited Kirtland, Ohio, in the fall of 1832, and for the first time in life saw and became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith uttered the prophecy, "The time will come when Brother Brigham will preside over this Church."

In July, 1833, he conducted a small company of Saints to Kirtland. This may be called the commencement of his great labors in the capacity of a pioneer leader, which he so fully accomplished in latter years. In February, 1834, he married Mary Ann Angell, who took faithful care of his motherless children. She bore several children to him. When Zion's Camp was organized in 1834 to carry supplies and encouragement to the driven Saints in Missouri, and which needed men of integrity, endurance, faith and courage, Brigham Young was among the foremost of the faithful few to accomplish that wonderful pilgrimage to and from Missouri, doing his work cheerfully, and was never known to murmur against the providences or Prophet of the Lord. During the financial panic of 1837, when apostasy ran so high in Kirtland and several of the Twelve Apostles turned against the Prophet, with false accusations, and sought his overthrow, Brigham Young stood firm and loyal, declaring in the face of bitter enemies, that Joseph Smith was true and faithful and still a Prophet of God. So intense was the hatred against Brigham Young for this bold stand that he was obliged to leave Kirtland to escape the fury of the mob.

Brigham Young was industrious and improved the land, and labored diligently in the duties of his Apostleship, especially in preparing and planning for the exodus of the Saints from Missouri under the cruel order of extermination issued by Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs. In this exodus Brigham Young exemplified those gifts of organization and pioneering, which Providence destined him so thoroughly to amplify in the great exodus of the Latter-day Saints a decade later. Brigham Young not only directed, but worked as hard in a practical way as those over whom he was called at this critical juncture temporarily to preside. He left his own family no less than eleven times to return with teams to bring up the poor and helpless. With President Heber C. Kimball he had entered into this covenant, that they " would not cease their efforts until all who would should be delivered from Missouri and safely harbored in a more hospitable State. This covenant they most faithfully kept. Brigham Young was constantly doing all in his power to establish the Saints and build up the city of Nauvoo.

He continued this labor until Sept. 14, 1839, when he started "without purse or script" to perform his mission in England. He was sick when he started, leaving a babe only ten days old, his wife and the children being ill, with no means of support in sight. On his way to New York he did much teaching and preaching, sailing from New York March 9, 1840, arriving in England April 6th. July 1. 1841,

On the return of Brother Brigham to Nauvoo he became active in building up the city, as well as constantly diligent in attending to the duties of his Apostleship. In July following the call of president Young to preside over the Quorum of the Twelve, the Prophet Joseph requested the Twelve to take the responsibility of the Church in Nauvoo, especially in practical matters. On May 21, 1844, he went on a short mission to the east. While absent, learning of the sad news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, he immediately returned to Nauvoo. This was the first time in this dispensation the Church had been called to mourn the loss of their Prophet, Seer and Revelator.

When the Twelve were sustained as the presiding authority of the Church, Brigham Young arose to speak, and in the presence of the multitude was transfigured by the spirit and power of God so that his form, size, countenance and voice appeared as those of the martyred Prophet. Even non-members were struck with amazement and expected to see and hear the departed Seer. From that moment doubt and uncertainty were banished from the hearts of the faithful and they were fully assured that the mantle of Joseph Smith had fallen upon Brigham Young. After the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, persecution did not cease: the Prophets were slain but truth did not die. The man who stood as the earthly head was taken away, but the authority which he held had been conferred upon others. The work of God went on and in the midst of persecution and bitter hatred Brigham Young stood calmly performing his duties, counseling the Saints, caring for their wants, and pushing with zeal the completion of the Nauvoo Temple, which was dedicated and used for sacred ordinances before the final exodus from Nauvoo.

Brigham Young labored much in the Temple until February, 1846, when he left the beloved city, and joined the emigrating Saints on the west side of the Mississippi. This was a trying time. Twenty thousand Saints were dispossessed of their homes, and turned out upon the prairies of Iowa in winter. It required not only a great man to be their leader, but one whose greatness consisted in his faith in God and title to the right that God should be his strength and source of inspiration. Such a man was Brigham Young, a veritable "Lion of the Lord" in the face of persecution and trial, yet childlike, humble and dependent on the Lord. After fitting out the Mormon battalion, he crossed the Mississippi to the Nebraska side and established Winter Quarters, since called Florence, about five miles north of Omaha. Here he laid out streets and blocks, upon which comfortable log houses were built, erecting a grist mill, and in numerous ways providing for the comfort of the Saints, while himself and a chosen few should fathom the unexplored regions of the Rocky Mountains in quest of a home for an exiled people. In April, 1847, President Young and 147 others, among whom were three noble women, full of faith, commenced their perilous journey across the plains, arriving in Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847.

President Young immediately directed the laying out of a city with ten acre blocks, with eight lots in each, one and one-fourth acres in size, the streets eight rods wide, to have a sidewalk on either side one rod wide, and subsequently when water could be obtained, a beautiful row of trees to adorn and shade the same, watered by a crystal stream on the outside of the walk. This was the pattern, and most of the cities in Utah bear the main characteristics of the pioneer city of Salt Lake.

May 26th he started with his family on his return to Salt Lake Valley. At Winter Quarters he left a home, mills and other property. This was the fifth time he had left home and property for the gospel's sake. No man in the Church, before or since, was better adapted to lead in colonizing and building up a great commonwealth, than was Brigham Young. He served as the first governor of Utah, from 1851 to 1858, to the satisfaction of the people of the Territory, and to the President of the United States, who appointed him. When Johnston's army was sent to Utah for the purpose of suppressing an imaginary rebellion, which the lying Judge Drummond had induced President Buchanan to believe existed, President Young declared that if the army persisted in entering Salt Lake Valley as a hostile foe, they would find it, as the Latter-day Saints had found it, a barren waste. Accordingly, torches were prepared to burn down all the houses and property in Salt Lake City, and the body of the Saints moved southward. The move was made, but through kind Providence and the intervention of Col. Thos. L. Kane, the administration was convinced that no rebellion existed among the "Mormons," and that Judge Drummond had basely lied about the Latter-day Saints.

President Young was the prime mover in the building of the Utah Central and Utah Southern railroads. He was a contractor on a large scale in building the Union Pacific and the telegraph line across the plains, also in building the Deseret telegraph line to local points in the State. Brigham Young and his associates founded the Deseret University, now called the University of Utah, and one of the very best educational institutions west of the Missouri river. He was a man of God and a man of the people. He loved God and all mankind. He must always know the truth and righteousness of a movement before he would espouse and aid it. Like his predecessor, Joseph Smith, and nearly all great men, he had bitter enemies. His character and course in life were traduced and vilified. He was cast into prison on false charges, and the weapon of the assassin was prepared to shed his blood. But God "delivered him out of them all."

He was a Prophet, statesman, pioneer and colonizer. America had never produced a greater statesman than Brigham Young. His policy with the Indians was one of peace. "It is better to feed them than to fight them," was his theory, and he carried it out fully. The Indians loved and respected him. In his family he was kind and indulgent. Indeed he was a philanthropist to all who would receive his counsel and kind acts, for he was not only the husband of several wives like the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, and the father of fifty-six children, but he provided means for the support and education of orphans and others destitute of the comforts of life.

He believed, however, in the strictest industry, that it was false policy to feed men in idleness if work could be provided for them. In the face of calumny and opposition he was calm and serene, and bore persecution with that submission and patience which stamped him not only a broad-minded and great-hearted man, but truly a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He departed this life peacefully at his home in Salt Lake City, Aug. 29, 1877. His funeral was attended by about 30,000 people, both of his faith and non-Mormons. He was a true and undaunted friend in life to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for whom he offered his life, wherever opportunity afforded, and is it not wonderful, when the spirit was taking flight from his temple of clay, if Joseph, the Prophet, appeared to him and welcomed him home to the spirit world, for the last words be uttered were, "Joseph! Joseph! Joseph! Joseph," and Brigham Young had finished his earthly mission.