Brigham Young, Jr.
Born: 18 December 1836
Called to Quorum of the Twelve: 4 February 1864
Called as Counselor in the First Presidency: 8 June 1873 (Brigham Young)
Released from the First Presidency: 29 August 1877
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 17 October 1901
Died: 11 April 1903
Called to Quorum of the Twelve: 4 February 1864
Called as Counselor in the First Presidency: 8 June 1873 (Brigham Young)
Released from the First Presidency: 29 August 1877
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 17 October 1901
Died: 11 April 1903
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Juvenile Instructor, 1 May 1900, Lives of Our Leaders--The Apostles: Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, April 1903, A Talk with Apostle Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, May 1903, Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, 15 May 1903, Death of Elder Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, August 1903, Tribute to Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Juvenile Instructor, 1 May 1900, Lives of Our Leaders--The Apostles: Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, April 1903, A Talk with Apostle Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, May 1903, Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, 15 May 1903, Death of Elder Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, August 1903, Tribute to Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve
Jenson, Andrew. "Young, Brigham, Junior." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. pg. 121-126.
YOUNG, Brigham, Junior, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles since 1868 and president of the Twelve since 1890, is the son of President Brigham Young and Mary Ann Angell, and was born Dec. 18, 1836, at Kirtland, Geuaga (now Lake) county, Ohio. His father was a widower, with two little girls, Elizabeth and Vilate, in the year 1833. It happened that a fast and testimony meeting was held in Kirtland,
and among those present were Elder Young and Sister Mary Ann Angell. The gift of tongues rested down upon Elder Young and the interpretation thereof was given by some one present. The Spirit bore record through that tongue that these two faithful souls were designed by God for each other. They were united in marriage, and Sister Mary Ann assumed the care of the motherless children. Brigham, the third child of this marriage, was born amid all the untoward circumstances of the early days in the Church. He was a twin; his sister, Mary, was a gentle, sweet little creature whose life was brief yet none the less beautiful. She was brought to death's door in infancy through an accident which was the direct result of the mobbings and drivings of the Saints. When the cruel exterminating order came for the "Mormons" to vacate Far West.Mo., in three days. Sister Young procured a wagon, and put what few movables she could
crowd therein, and persuaded an Elder to help her to get away. She climbed in with the children and the brother started the team. Sister Young sat on top of the load on her baggage and bedding with a baby on each arm and three little children clinging to her skirts. Just as they started out, the wagon ran into a huge rut, and the baby girl was thrown out under the wheel. With a groan of dismay the driver picked up the bleeding baby and laid it on the trembling mother's lap, with the remark that "the poor little thing could not live;" for the head was mashed almost flat, and the blood was pouring from mouth and nose. "Don't prophesy evil, brother; take the other baby!" With skilful hands the mother squeezed and pressed the head back into shape, praying mightily all the while. The child lived and grew to be the finest child of the family. But at seven years she passed out of her sweet existence to the realms of peace and rest beyond. After the accident which occurred to the little Mary, Sister Young traveled on for two days in her sorry plight; at the end of that time they were met by Elder Young, who had come back for them in a wagon with two yoke of cattle. He immediately loaded them into his wagon. Herein he also loaded Elder Orson Pratt and his family. They traveled thus for two days, reaching a small village. Elder Young endeavored in vain to secure a house in which to leave them. None could be procured, but he found a stable, which he at once cleaned out and whitewashed, laying some boards on the floor, and making things as comfortable as he could. Into this stable he moved his own and Elder Pratt's family, leaving them there while he went back after more of the Saints. He brought two families up to the little stable-house, and leaving them there, he took his own and Elder Pratt's family on a two days' journey farther. Again he located them, and returned for the other families he had left at the stable In the village. In this way he moved four families from Far West to Quincy. The boy Brigham was a merry little chap, full of fun and pranks. His first distinct remembrance is a scene or the painful movings and mobbings entailed upon his people. After his father's departure, to the English mission, his mother moved from Commerce to Montrose. The ferryboat had brought the family and their slender effects across; among their most precious possessions was a cow which furnished them a good share of the living. In 1839 the family moved to Montrose, which was across the river from Nauvoo; and in 1840 they moved to Nauvoo, where Brigham was baptized by his father in the Mississippi river in 1845. "As a boy," writes Sister Susa Young Gates, "Brigham possessed an indomitable spirit, a merriment which was as infectious as June sunshine, a love of sport and adventure and a courage which nothing could daunt. He was devoted to the magnetic man known as the Prophet Joseph as was his father. Young as the boy was, the black gloom which fell over Nauvoo at the martyrdom filled his own soul with despair. The laugh was stilled upon his lips, and the merry jest was turned to weeping in the sympathetic young heart. When the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo after the awful struggles and throes of anguish which accompanied and followed the assassination of the Prophet and Patriarch, Pres. Brigham Young led the crowd of stricken Saints, that terrible day in February, across the river to a place of greater safety, yet of such barren distress as surely has been rarely witnessed on this earth. The boy Brigham was off at play in Knight's mill with two companions when his mother and the rest of the children were taken across the ferry. Returning in the afternoon, he found the house open, furniture left standing, yet over the whole brooded the solemn silence of desertion. With the swiftness of despair he flew down to the river; a boat, the last one for the night, was
just pulling away from the shore. It was loaded to the guards with wretched men, women and children. The boy saw a barrel in the bow of the boat which would serve him as a seat; without an instant's hesitation he jumped into the boat and sprang upon the barrel. Arrived on the opposite shore, such a scene of misery and desolation met his gaze as will never be forgotten, dogs, chickens, cows and pigs ran bellowing and grunting in every direction, men, women and children by the thousands ran hither and thither in the utmost confusion, wagons were scattered about, here was one hitched up, the driver cracking his whip and pushing recklessly through the crowd; babies screaming for their mothers, and mothers calling piteously for lost babies and children. Weeping and groaning sick ones lay here and there, while anxiety was in every heart. The boy hunted vainly and long for his lost family. No one had time or heart to devote to the little waif, there were too many of the same kind everywhere. A yoke of oxen had been drowned in the river: one was recovered, and some men tore off the hide and told the people that any one who lacked provision was welcome to use the meat thus obtained. The lonely, hungry boy with others seized this chance as a special providence to themselves, and for three days they lived on this uninviting food At
last Brigham heard of his father and mother at Sugar Creek, ten miles farther west; and so he tramped the distance, and at last he found and was found by parents and friends. Yet conditions were not much better for the boy than they had been at the river. His mother's wagon was as full as it was possible to crowd it; and there was no bedding to spare to the ten-year-old boy who had just arrived, and indeed there was none for any of the boys in the camp. All were exposed to the storms. To add to the misery of all, a cold, biting storm of sleet and wind began to rage. Brigham had tried to build up a barricade of cooking utensils and saddles against one side of his mother's
wagon so as to shield him somewhat from the driving winds; but it was worse than useless. When the storm settled down upon them, Brigham secured the help of his companions, and they cut up enough brush to make themselves a tiny wickiup, into which they crawled and huddled thus together for warmth. While traveling through the swamps and bogss of Iowa was slow and painful in the extreme For miles and miles the wagons labored heavily over a corduroy road, or rather bridge, made of logs withed together with tough willows This terrible swamp was full of danger and difficulty. Here another were swales, with a little sod over the seas of water and mud below If one
wagon got across the swale in safety, no other would dare to follow in its tracks, for they would have sunk out of sight. Each wagon straddled the tracks of the last, and even then the wheels would sink through the twelve-inch sod into the muddy lake below, and sometimes hours would be consumed in traversing a quarter of a mile. In one such swale, Brigham secured a stick twelve feet long, and
thrusting it down through a wagon track, it went entirely out of sight in the muddy sea below. At last the company were located at Winter Quarters (now Florence, in Nebraska), and the strong, willing hands of bus bands and oons built rude but comfortable cabins for the shelter of women and children. The pioneers took their dangerous and lonely way across the Plains the following year, but the boy Brigham remained with his mother in Winter Quarters. In April the first company in the spring of 1848 left Winter Quarters, led by Pres. Brigham Young, who had returned to bring the rest of his own family back to the retreat in the Valley. Brigham, who was then a boy of twelve, was made driver of two yoke of oxen. He was quite equal to the oxen and to the occasion. He was faithful to his trust. One of his father's wives sat on the seat, while the boy trudged by his oxen, cracking his whip and piping a song to beguile the weariness of the way. When the company halted at Sweetwater, women were tired, men were discouraged. Day after day passed, and the discontent of the party grew with every passing hour. Among any other people, there would have been mutiny and sharp turr. backward to the shelter
of civilization. Always alert to the pressure of influences about him, President Young felt the resistance that manifested itself in silence rather than in words. One afternoon at three o'clock he hitched up his coach and with the terse statement that he was 'going to the Valley; if anybody wants to follow, the road is open,' the President put the whip to his horses and gave not a glance behind Like a flash, the boy flung the yoke upon his oxen, hitched them to his wagon, picked up his whip and drove as rapidly as he could after the coach rolling away to the west. This instance illustrates, as perhaps no other could, the keynote of this boy's after life. The determination which fllled his whole soul and which stiffened the youthful lips into the iron line across his face so much like his father's, was expressed in the words which he uttered to his father's wife who hastily took her seat in the wagon: 'Father's started; I'm not going to lose sight of his wagon wheels while daylight lasts.' Fun may bubble, play may be fascinating, but when 'father starts or leads the way,' there will his son Brigham follow—even to the very courts of heaven. Away flew the coach and one carriage and away clumsily followed the double yoke of oxen not too far behind. The storm whistled and raged, and the stiff fingers of the boy could scarcely hold the whip. But on he ran beside his oxen, urging them on with word and lash. Evening came early, and aided by the gloomy clouds overhead, the whole country was enveloped, in pitchy darkness. The road would loom up in the gloom as if the littkswale ahead were a precipice hundreds of feet to the bottom. Even that much light was soon absorbed in night and the storm, and the whip was lost from the half-frozen hands of the little driver as he stumbled over a stump. His body was thinly clad; he wore only a pair of jeans pants, no shoes or stockings, a thin, calico shirt, with a bit of a cape made by his mother from a coat tail, and the cape was worse than useless as it was blown constantly about his ears and head. Clinging to the bow, the boy ran beside the clumsy beasts, knowing not where he was going or what would be the end. But
'father was ahead," and the boy's heart leaned upon 'father' and upon the God of his father! The hours came and went in that fearful drive. Upon the seat in mute despair sat Eliza B., tossed from side to side with the dreadful jolts and lurches of the wagon. She knew that speech or cry were useless and only God could protect them or bring them into safety. A light! 'Tis a camp fire! And the faithful oxen moved heavily into camp. They had traveled about eighteen miles since three o'clock and now it was just midnight! Such were the struggles and trials that marked those pioneer journeys across the trackless prairies. Nine hundred miles had the boy driven, from the Missouri river to Fort Bridger. Arrived there, they were met by men and teams from the Valley. No heart was lighter, when the tiny spot of green in the center of the dreary Great Salt Lake valley was revealed to the travelers at the ton of the Big Mountain, then later at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, than was that of the twelve-year-old Brigham. The removal of the clouds of danger which had so long filled the skies of their every retreat gave more than one heart such relief that the opposite extreme was reached and gaiety became abandon, whilepeace was the vehicle in which rode thoughtless, careless sport." Brigham's early years in Great Salt Lake valley were spent in herding stock, going into canyons and performing considerable hard manual labor. He was also one of the "minute men" who spent much of his time on guard, watching and fighting hostile Indians, and participated in several dangerous expeditions to the mountains. Nov. 15, 1855, he married Catherine Curtis Spencer, a daughter of the late Orson Spencer, and about sixteen months later (early in 1857)
he yielded obedience to the principle of plural marriage by marrying Jane Carrington, a daughter of Albert Carrington. During the Echo canyon war he did excellent service as a scout, and when out reconnoitering in the mountains he often suffered untold hardships.
He was also one of a relief party sent back to meet a hand-cart company of emigrants, on which trip he was attacked by inflammatory rheumatism, which came near killing him, and from the effects of which he suffered for many years afterwards. At the April conference, 1861, he was called to act as a member of the High Council of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, and in the spring of 1862 he accompanied Delegate Bernhisel to the States. Having arrived in New York, he received a letter from his father, who wished him to go on a mission to
Europe. He complied with this call, sailed for England and arrived in Liverpool July 26, 1862. He labored principally in London, in connection with Elder Wm. C. Staines, and visited Scandinavia and other parts of Europe; he returned home in 1863. sailing from Liverpool Sept. 1st of that year. Feb. 4, 1864. he was ordained an Apostle by his father, Brigham Young, but he did not become a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles till October, 1868, when he was chosen to fill the vacancy caused by Geo. A. Smith being selected as a counselor in the First Presidency. In 1864, Elder Young was called on another mission to Europe for the purpose of assisting Pres. Daniel H. Wells in the presidency of the European Mission. Accompanied by his wife Catherine, he left his mountain home in April of that year and arrived in Liverpool, England, July 25th. He located at 42 Islington, and in August, 1865, succeeded Daniel H. Wells in the presidency of the mission. While acting in that capacity, he traveled extensively in the British Isles, and also made several trips to the Continent, visiting France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia and other countries. Agreeable to the request of his father to return to Utah on a visit, he sailed from Liverpool Sept. 19, 1865, leaving Apostle Orson Pratt in charge of the mission. In crossing the Atlantic a fearful storm came up. Part of the ship's rigging was blown away, one man was washed overboard, and the vessel came near going to the bottom. Elder Young and a sister who emigrated to Utah were the only Latter-day Saints on board. While the storm was raging,a big burly
Irishman, a sort of a religious crank, ascribed the cause of the storm to the fact that there was a Jonah on board in the shape of a "Mormon" Elder. He made a terrible fuss and insisted that Elder Young should be thrown overboard, in order to save the ship from
destruction. At last the captain had to interfere and compel the Irishman to hold his peace. After a hazardous journey Elder Young arrived in Salt Lake City Oct. 25th. The following spring he returned to England to bring his family home. He arrived in Liverpool March 20, 1867, resumed the presidency of the mission, visited the world's exhibition, at Paris, France, and finally, leaving the affairs of the mission in charge of Apostle Franklin D. Richards, embarked with his family, on board the Cunard steamer "Scotia" and sailed from Liverpool June 29, 1867; they arrived safely home in the fall. On this mission of Elder Young and wife to Europe, two children (Mabel A. and Joseph A.) were born to them. In 1868, when Pres. Brigham Young took the big grading contract from the Union Pacific Railway Company, Elder Young and his brother John W. acted as agents for their father in letting out jobs to sub-contractors. Until the disorganization of the Nauvoo Legion, in 1870, Elder Young also held prominent positions as a military man, and did valuable service at the annual drills of the
Territorial militia. From the time of his ordination to the Apostleship until the present he has been chiefly engaged in labors pertaining to that high and holy calling. After the death of Apostle Ezra T. Benson, he was called, by his father to take charge of the affairs of the Church in Cache valley, for which purpose he located at Logan. He presided there until 1877, when the Cache Stake of Zion was organized. At the general conference held in Salt Lake City in April, 1873, he was chosen as one of the assistant five counselors to Pres. Brlgham Young, and acted in that capacity until his fathers death, necessarily spending considerable of his time in St. George, or southern Utah. After the death of Pres. Young he was appointed one of the administrators of the estate, in the settlement of which he showed a just and amicable disposition, for which he won the respect and confidence of the Saints generally. On July 12, 1879, for refusing to deliver certain Church property into the hands of Receiver W. S. McCornick, he was adjudged guilty of contempt of court, by Judge Boreman, in the Third District Court. and arrested, in connection with John Taylor. Geo. Q. Cannon and Albert Carrington. On the following Aug. 4th he, together with Elders Cannon and Carrington, was confined in the Utah Penitentiary for not complying with the
court's order of exorbitant bail. After more than three weeks' confinement, the order of Judge Boreman was reversed by the Utah Supreme Court, and the prisoners were released Aug. 28, 1879. In 1881 Elder Young went on a visit to Arizona, taking his wife
Catherine along. They remained one year and returned to Utah in time for Elder Young to wait upon his sick mother during her last moments. She died in Salt Lake City June 27, 1882. Elder Young has served several terms in the Utah legislature, made several trips to the East in the interest of the Church, and occupied numerous other positions of honor and trust. Of late years he has traveled extensively in
Utah. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. Old Mexico, etc., visiting the various Stakes of Zion and assisting his brethren of the Twelve in the many duties and responsibilities resting upon that quorum. While visiting the Yaqui Indians, in Mexico, in 1882, he was attacked with yellow fever. which brought him near the point of death, but he was healed by the power of God. In 1890 he was again called to take charge of the European Mission; he presided in that capacity until 1893. w'hen he returned home. Since that time he has spent most of his time in traveling and visiting the several Stakes of Zion. Today, Apostle Young has the same genial tone of voice, the same youthful spirit, and the same Cjuiet wisdom, that have been so prominent in his character from boyhood. His sister. Susa Young Gates, describes him as "a noble representative of his father's family. His gentle wisdom, his merry heart, and his integrity and truth are known to all the Saints. No matter what may be his trouble, or troubles, he does not impose them upon his friends. He has naught but contempt for all forms of hypocrisy or deceit. His own life and soul is a clear open book, and he would not gain the whole world were it to be secured through policy or subterfuge. He can keep still, but must not deceive." (See also "Southern Star, Vol. 2, p. 409; "Juvenile Instructor," Vol. 35, p. 257.)
YOUNG, Brigham, Junior, a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles since 1868 and president of the Twelve since 1890, is the son of President Brigham Young and Mary Ann Angell, and was born Dec. 18, 1836, at Kirtland, Geuaga (now Lake) county, Ohio. His father was a widower, with two little girls, Elizabeth and Vilate, in the year 1833. It happened that a fast and testimony meeting was held in Kirtland,
and among those present were Elder Young and Sister Mary Ann Angell. The gift of tongues rested down upon Elder Young and the interpretation thereof was given by some one present. The Spirit bore record through that tongue that these two faithful souls were designed by God for each other. They were united in marriage, and Sister Mary Ann assumed the care of the motherless children. Brigham, the third child of this marriage, was born amid all the untoward circumstances of the early days in the Church. He was a twin; his sister, Mary, was a gentle, sweet little creature whose life was brief yet none the less beautiful. She was brought to death's door in infancy through an accident which was the direct result of the mobbings and drivings of the Saints. When the cruel exterminating order came for the "Mormons" to vacate Far West.Mo., in three days. Sister Young procured a wagon, and put what few movables she could
crowd therein, and persuaded an Elder to help her to get away. She climbed in with the children and the brother started the team. Sister Young sat on top of the load on her baggage and bedding with a baby on each arm and three little children clinging to her skirts. Just as they started out, the wagon ran into a huge rut, and the baby girl was thrown out under the wheel. With a groan of dismay the driver picked up the bleeding baby and laid it on the trembling mother's lap, with the remark that "the poor little thing could not live;" for the head was mashed almost flat, and the blood was pouring from mouth and nose. "Don't prophesy evil, brother; take the other baby!" With skilful hands the mother squeezed and pressed the head back into shape, praying mightily all the while. The child lived and grew to be the finest child of the family. But at seven years she passed out of her sweet existence to the realms of peace and rest beyond. After the accident which occurred to the little Mary, Sister Young traveled on for two days in her sorry plight; at the end of that time they were met by Elder Young, who had come back for them in a wagon with two yoke of cattle. He immediately loaded them into his wagon. Herein he also loaded Elder Orson Pratt and his family. They traveled thus for two days, reaching a small village. Elder Young endeavored in vain to secure a house in which to leave them. None could be procured, but he found a stable, which he at once cleaned out and whitewashed, laying some boards on the floor, and making things as comfortable as he could. Into this stable he moved his own and Elder Pratt's family, leaving them there while he went back after more of the Saints. He brought two families up to the little stable-house, and leaving them there, he took his own and Elder Pratt's family on a two days' journey farther. Again he located them, and returned for the other families he had left at the stable In the village. In this way he moved four families from Far West to Quincy. The boy Brigham was a merry little chap, full of fun and pranks. His first distinct remembrance is a scene or the painful movings and mobbings entailed upon his people. After his father's departure, to the English mission, his mother moved from Commerce to Montrose. The ferryboat had brought the family and their slender effects across; among their most precious possessions was a cow which furnished them a good share of the living. In 1839 the family moved to Montrose, which was across the river from Nauvoo; and in 1840 they moved to Nauvoo, where Brigham was baptized by his father in the Mississippi river in 1845. "As a boy," writes Sister Susa Young Gates, "Brigham possessed an indomitable spirit, a merriment which was as infectious as June sunshine, a love of sport and adventure and a courage which nothing could daunt. He was devoted to the magnetic man known as the Prophet Joseph as was his father. Young as the boy was, the black gloom which fell over Nauvoo at the martyrdom filled his own soul with despair. The laugh was stilled upon his lips, and the merry jest was turned to weeping in the sympathetic young heart. When the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo after the awful struggles and throes of anguish which accompanied and followed the assassination of the Prophet and Patriarch, Pres. Brigham Young led the crowd of stricken Saints, that terrible day in February, across the river to a place of greater safety, yet of such barren distress as surely has been rarely witnessed on this earth. The boy Brigham was off at play in Knight's mill with two companions when his mother and the rest of the children were taken across the ferry. Returning in the afternoon, he found the house open, furniture left standing, yet over the whole brooded the solemn silence of desertion. With the swiftness of despair he flew down to the river; a boat, the last one for the night, was
just pulling away from the shore. It was loaded to the guards with wretched men, women and children. The boy saw a barrel in the bow of the boat which would serve him as a seat; without an instant's hesitation he jumped into the boat and sprang upon the barrel. Arrived on the opposite shore, such a scene of misery and desolation met his gaze as will never be forgotten, dogs, chickens, cows and pigs ran bellowing and grunting in every direction, men, women and children by the thousands ran hither and thither in the utmost confusion, wagons were scattered about, here was one hitched up, the driver cracking his whip and pushing recklessly through the crowd; babies screaming for their mothers, and mothers calling piteously for lost babies and children. Weeping and groaning sick ones lay here and there, while anxiety was in every heart. The boy hunted vainly and long for his lost family. No one had time or heart to devote to the little waif, there were too many of the same kind everywhere. A yoke of oxen had been drowned in the river: one was recovered, and some men tore off the hide and told the people that any one who lacked provision was welcome to use the meat thus obtained. The lonely, hungry boy with others seized this chance as a special providence to themselves, and for three days they lived on this uninviting food At
last Brigham heard of his father and mother at Sugar Creek, ten miles farther west; and so he tramped the distance, and at last he found and was found by parents and friends. Yet conditions were not much better for the boy than they had been at the river. His mother's wagon was as full as it was possible to crowd it; and there was no bedding to spare to the ten-year-old boy who had just arrived, and indeed there was none for any of the boys in the camp. All were exposed to the storms. To add to the misery of all, a cold, biting storm of sleet and wind began to rage. Brigham had tried to build up a barricade of cooking utensils and saddles against one side of his mother's
wagon so as to shield him somewhat from the driving winds; but it was worse than useless. When the storm settled down upon them, Brigham secured the help of his companions, and they cut up enough brush to make themselves a tiny wickiup, into which they crawled and huddled thus together for warmth. While traveling through the swamps and bogss of Iowa was slow and painful in the extreme For miles and miles the wagons labored heavily over a corduroy road, or rather bridge, made of logs withed together with tough willows This terrible swamp was full of danger and difficulty. Here another were swales, with a little sod over the seas of water and mud below If one
wagon got across the swale in safety, no other would dare to follow in its tracks, for they would have sunk out of sight. Each wagon straddled the tracks of the last, and even then the wheels would sink through the twelve-inch sod into the muddy lake below, and sometimes hours would be consumed in traversing a quarter of a mile. In one such swale, Brigham secured a stick twelve feet long, and
thrusting it down through a wagon track, it went entirely out of sight in the muddy sea below. At last the company were located at Winter Quarters (now Florence, in Nebraska), and the strong, willing hands of bus bands and oons built rude but comfortable cabins for the shelter of women and children. The pioneers took their dangerous and lonely way across the Plains the following year, but the boy Brigham remained with his mother in Winter Quarters. In April the first company in the spring of 1848 left Winter Quarters, led by Pres. Brigham Young, who had returned to bring the rest of his own family back to the retreat in the Valley. Brigham, who was then a boy of twelve, was made driver of two yoke of oxen. He was quite equal to the oxen and to the occasion. He was faithful to his trust. One of his father's wives sat on the seat, while the boy trudged by his oxen, cracking his whip and piping a song to beguile the weariness of the way. When the company halted at Sweetwater, women were tired, men were discouraged. Day after day passed, and the discontent of the party grew with every passing hour. Among any other people, there would have been mutiny and sharp turr. backward to the shelter
of civilization. Always alert to the pressure of influences about him, President Young felt the resistance that manifested itself in silence rather than in words. One afternoon at three o'clock he hitched up his coach and with the terse statement that he was 'going to the Valley; if anybody wants to follow, the road is open,' the President put the whip to his horses and gave not a glance behind Like a flash, the boy flung the yoke upon his oxen, hitched them to his wagon, picked up his whip and drove as rapidly as he could after the coach rolling away to the west. This instance illustrates, as perhaps no other could, the keynote of this boy's after life. The determination which fllled his whole soul and which stiffened the youthful lips into the iron line across his face so much like his father's, was expressed in the words which he uttered to his father's wife who hastily took her seat in the wagon: 'Father's started; I'm not going to lose sight of his wagon wheels while daylight lasts.' Fun may bubble, play may be fascinating, but when 'father starts or leads the way,' there will his son Brigham follow—even to the very courts of heaven. Away flew the coach and one carriage and away clumsily followed the double yoke of oxen not too far behind. The storm whistled and raged, and the stiff fingers of the boy could scarcely hold the whip. But on he ran beside his oxen, urging them on with word and lash. Evening came early, and aided by the gloomy clouds overhead, the whole country was enveloped, in pitchy darkness. The road would loom up in the gloom as if the littkswale ahead were a precipice hundreds of feet to the bottom. Even that much light was soon absorbed in night and the storm, and the whip was lost from the half-frozen hands of the little driver as he stumbled over a stump. His body was thinly clad; he wore only a pair of jeans pants, no shoes or stockings, a thin, calico shirt, with a bit of a cape made by his mother from a coat tail, and the cape was worse than useless as it was blown constantly about his ears and head. Clinging to the bow, the boy ran beside the clumsy beasts, knowing not where he was going or what would be the end. But
'father was ahead," and the boy's heart leaned upon 'father' and upon the God of his father! The hours came and went in that fearful drive. Upon the seat in mute despair sat Eliza B., tossed from side to side with the dreadful jolts and lurches of the wagon. She knew that speech or cry were useless and only God could protect them or bring them into safety. A light! 'Tis a camp fire! And the faithful oxen moved heavily into camp. They had traveled about eighteen miles since three o'clock and now it was just midnight! Such were the struggles and trials that marked those pioneer journeys across the trackless prairies. Nine hundred miles had the boy driven, from the Missouri river to Fort Bridger. Arrived there, they were met by men and teams from the Valley. No heart was lighter, when the tiny spot of green in the center of the dreary Great Salt Lake valley was revealed to the travelers at the ton of the Big Mountain, then later at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, than was that of the twelve-year-old Brigham. The removal of the clouds of danger which had so long filled the skies of their every retreat gave more than one heart such relief that the opposite extreme was reached and gaiety became abandon, whilepeace was the vehicle in which rode thoughtless, careless sport." Brigham's early years in Great Salt Lake valley were spent in herding stock, going into canyons and performing considerable hard manual labor. He was also one of the "minute men" who spent much of his time on guard, watching and fighting hostile Indians, and participated in several dangerous expeditions to the mountains. Nov. 15, 1855, he married Catherine Curtis Spencer, a daughter of the late Orson Spencer, and about sixteen months later (early in 1857)
he yielded obedience to the principle of plural marriage by marrying Jane Carrington, a daughter of Albert Carrington. During the Echo canyon war he did excellent service as a scout, and when out reconnoitering in the mountains he often suffered untold hardships.
He was also one of a relief party sent back to meet a hand-cart company of emigrants, on which trip he was attacked by inflammatory rheumatism, which came near killing him, and from the effects of which he suffered for many years afterwards. At the April conference, 1861, he was called to act as a member of the High Council of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, and in the spring of 1862 he accompanied Delegate Bernhisel to the States. Having arrived in New York, he received a letter from his father, who wished him to go on a mission to
Europe. He complied with this call, sailed for England and arrived in Liverpool July 26, 1862. He labored principally in London, in connection with Elder Wm. C. Staines, and visited Scandinavia and other parts of Europe; he returned home in 1863. sailing from Liverpool Sept. 1st of that year. Feb. 4, 1864. he was ordained an Apostle by his father, Brigham Young, but he did not become a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles till October, 1868, when he was chosen to fill the vacancy caused by Geo. A. Smith being selected as a counselor in the First Presidency. In 1864, Elder Young was called on another mission to Europe for the purpose of assisting Pres. Daniel H. Wells in the presidency of the European Mission. Accompanied by his wife Catherine, he left his mountain home in April of that year and arrived in Liverpool, England, July 25th. He located at 42 Islington, and in August, 1865, succeeded Daniel H. Wells in the presidency of the mission. While acting in that capacity, he traveled extensively in the British Isles, and also made several trips to the Continent, visiting France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia and other countries. Agreeable to the request of his father to return to Utah on a visit, he sailed from Liverpool Sept. 19, 1865, leaving Apostle Orson Pratt in charge of the mission. In crossing the Atlantic a fearful storm came up. Part of the ship's rigging was blown away, one man was washed overboard, and the vessel came near going to the bottom. Elder Young and a sister who emigrated to Utah were the only Latter-day Saints on board. While the storm was raging,a big burly
Irishman, a sort of a religious crank, ascribed the cause of the storm to the fact that there was a Jonah on board in the shape of a "Mormon" Elder. He made a terrible fuss and insisted that Elder Young should be thrown overboard, in order to save the ship from
destruction. At last the captain had to interfere and compel the Irishman to hold his peace. After a hazardous journey Elder Young arrived in Salt Lake City Oct. 25th. The following spring he returned to England to bring his family home. He arrived in Liverpool March 20, 1867, resumed the presidency of the mission, visited the world's exhibition, at Paris, France, and finally, leaving the affairs of the mission in charge of Apostle Franklin D. Richards, embarked with his family, on board the Cunard steamer "Scotia" and sailed from Liverpool June 29, 1867; they arrived safely home in the fall. On this mission of Elder Young and wife to Europe, two children (Mabel A. and Joseph A.) were born to them. In 1868, when Pres. Brigham Young took the big grading contract from the Union Pacific Railway Company, Elder Young and his brother John W. acted as agents for their father in letting out jobs to sub-contractors. Until the disorganization of the Nauvoo Legion, in 1870, Elder Young also held prominent positions as a military man, and did valuable service at the annual drills of the
Territorial militia. From the time of his ordination to the Apostleship until the present he has been chiefly engaged in labors pertaining to that high and holy calling. After the death of Apostle Ezra T. Benson, he was called, by his father to take charge of the affairs of the Church in Cache valley, for which purpose he located at Logan. He presided there until 1877, when the Cache Stake of Zion was organized. At the general conference held in Salt Lake City in April, 1873, he was chosen as one of the assistant five counselors to Pres. Brlgham Young, and acted in that capacity until his fathers death, necessarily spending considerable of his time in St. George, or southern Utah. After the death of Pres. Young he was appointed one of the administrators of the estate, in the settlement of which he showed a just and amicable disposition, for which he won the respect and confidence of the Saints generally. On July 12, 1879, for refusing to deliver certain Church property into the hands of Receiver W. S. McCornick, he was adjudged guilty of contempt of court, by Judge Boreman, in the Third District Court. and arrested, in connection with John Taylor. Geo. Q. Cannon and Albert Carrington. On the following Aug. 4th he, together with Elders Cannon and Carrington, was confined in the Utah Penitentiary for not complying with the
court's order of exorbitant bail. After more than three weeks' confinement, the order of Judge Boreman was reversed by the Utah Supreme Court, and the prisoners were released Aug. 28, 1879. In 1881 Elder Young went on a visit to Arizona, taking his wife
Catherine along. They remained one year and returned to Utah in time for Elder Young to wait upon his sick mother during her last moments. She died in Salt Lake City June 27, 1882. Elder Young has served several terms in the Utah legislature, made several trips to the East in the interest of the Church, and occupied numerous other positions of honor and trust. Of late years he has traveled extensively in
Utah. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. Old Mexico, etc., visiting the various Stakes of Zion and assisting his brethren of the Twelve in the many duties and responsibilities resting upon that quorum. While visiting the Yaqui Indians, in Mexico, in 1882, he was attacked with yellow fever. which brought him near the point of death, but he was healed by the power of God. In 1890 he was again called to take charge of the European Mission; he presided in that capacity until 1893. w'hen he returned home. Since that time he has spent most of his time in traveling and visiting the several Stakes of Zion. Today, Apostle Young has the same genial tone of voice, the same youthful spirit, and the same Cjuiet wisdom, that have been so prominent in his character from boyhood. His sister. Susa Young Gates, describes him as "a noble representative of his father's family. His gentle wisdom, his merry heart, and his integrity and truth are known to all the Saints. No matter what may be his trouble, or troubles, he does not impose them upon his friends. He has naught but contempt for all forms of hypocrisy or deceit. His own life and soul is a clear open book, and he would not gain the whole world were it to be secured through policy or subterfuge. He can keep still, but must not deceive." (See also "Southern Star, Vol. 2, p. 409; "Juvenile Instructor," Vol. 35, p. 257.)
Jenson, Andrew. "Young, Brigham, Jun." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. pg. 322.
YOUNG, Brigham, jun., president of the British Mission from 1865 to 1867, and from 1890 to 1893, died April 11, 1903. (See Bio. Ency., Vol.
1, p. 121.)
YOUNG, Brigham, jun., president of the British Mission from 1865 to 1867, and from 1890 to 1893, died April 11, 1903. (See Bio. Ency., Vol.
1, p. 121.)
Gates, Susa Young. "Lives of Our Leaders--The Apostles: Brigham Young." Juvenile Instructor. 1 May 1900. pg. 257-261.
LIVES OF OUR LEADERS—THE APOSTLES. BRIGHAM YOUNG. APOSTLE BRIGHAM YOUNG was born on December 18th, 1836, in Kirtland. Geauga County, now Lake County, Ohio. The touching story of the marriage of his mother, Mary Ann Angell, to his father, the late President Brigham Young, is full of interest and romance. Brigham Young was a widower, with two little girls, Elizabeth and Vilate, in the year 1833. It happened that a fast and testimony meeting was held in Kirtland, and among those present were Elder Young and Sister Mary Ann Angell. The gift of tongues rested down upon Elder Young and the interpretation thereof was given by some one present. The Spirit bore record through that tongue that these two faithful souls were designed by God for each other. They were united in marriage, and Sister Mary Ann assumed the care of the motherless children. All the world knows the grandeur of the character of Brigham Young; but few, comparatively, are acquainted with the noble, self-sacrificing personality which was enshrined in Mary Ann Angell Young. She was devout, sincere, and full of kindly wisdom. She was passionately devoted to her children, and taught them to regard the Gospel as the most precious earthly or eternal possession; and the families of President Young bear testimony that she was kind, unselfish and faithful in all her relations with the wives and children of her adored husband. Brigham, the third child of this marriage, was born amid all the untoward circumstances of the early days in this Church. He was a twin; his sister, Mary, was a gentle, sweet little creature whose life was brief yet none the less beautiful. She was brought to death's door in infancy through an accident which was the direct result of the mobbings and drivings of the Saints. When the cruel exterminating order came for the Mormons to vacate Far West in three days, Sister Young procured a wagon, and put what few movables she could crowd therein, and persuaded an Elder to help her to get away. She climbed in with the children and the brother started the team. Sister Young sat on top of the load on her baggage and bedding with a baby on each arm and three little children clinging to her skirts. .Just as they started out, the wagon ran into a huge rut, and the baby girl was thrown out under the wheel. With a groan of dismay the driver picked up the bleeding baby and laid it on the trembling mother's lap with the remark that "the poor little thing could not live;» for the head was mashed almost flat, and the blood was pouring from mouth and nose. «Don't prophesy evil, brother; take the other baby!" With skillful hands the mother squeezed and pressed the head back into shape, praying mightily all the while. The child lived and grew to be the finest child of the family. But at seven years she passed out of her sweet existence to the realms of peace and rest beyond. After the accident which occurred to the little Mary, Sister Young traveled on for two days in her sorry plight; at the end of that time they were met by Elder Young who had come back for them in a wagon with two yoke of cattle. He immediately loaded them into his wagon. Herein he also loaded Elder Orson Pratt and his family. They traveled thus for two days, reaching a small village. Elder Young endeavored in vain to secure a house in which to leave them. None could be procured, but he found a stable, which he at once cleaned out and whitewashed, laying some boards on the floor, and making things as comfortable as he could. Into this stable he moved his own and Elder Pratt's family, leaving them there while he went back after more of the Saints. He brought two families up to the little stablehouse, and leaving them there, he took his own and Elder Pratt's family on a two days' journey farther. Again he located them, and returned for the other families he had left at the stable in the village. In this way he moved four families from Far West to Quincy. The boy Brigham was a merry little chap, full of fun and pranks. His first distinct remembrance is a scene of the painful movings and robbings entailed upon this people. After his father's departure to the English mission, his mother moved from Commerce to Montrose. The ferry-boat had brought the family and their slender effects across; among their most precious possessions was a cow which furnished them a good share of the living. The moment they were landed, this cow swung around, and gazed with longing eyes at the opposite shore; and before anyone realized what she was about to do, she had plunged into the deep, mighty river and was swimming across, borne down by the current far out of the reach of the ferry boat. The boy of less than four years watched her floating away from shore with as much dismay as his elders felt. A couple of boys named Allred who had a skiff were persuaded to row out and bring the errant cow back; but they had to land her after much time and difficulty on the Iowa side; then a seven miles detour around a bend in the river had to be made in order to avoid the dangerous rapids near Commerce; then they swam her across the river at the end of a rope, and when they reached Nauvoo again, it was just twenty-four hours from the time she had plunged into the river. In 1839 the family moved to Montrose, which was across the river from Nauvoo; and in 1840 they moved again, this time as far only as Nauvoo. The boy whose early life we are now considering, possessed an indomitable spirit, a merriment which was as infectious as June sunshine, a love of sport and adventure and a courage which nothing could daunt. He was as devoted to the magnetic man known as the «Prophet Joseph» as was his father. Young as the boy was, the black gloom which fell over Nauvoo at the martyrdom filled his own soul with despair. The laugh was stilled upon his lips, and the merry jest was turned to weeping in the sympathetic young heart. When the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo after the awful struggles and throes of anguish which accompanied and followed the assassination of the Prophet and Patriarch, President Brigham Young led the crowd of stricken Saints, that terrible day in February, across the river to a place of greater safety, yet of such barren distress as surely has been rarely witnessed on this earth. The boy Brigham was off at play in Knight's mill with two companions when his mother and the rest of the children were taken across the ferry. Returning in the afternoon, he found the house open, furniture left standing, yet over the whole brooded the solemn silence of desertion. With the swiftness of despair he flew down to the river; a boat, the last one for the night, was just pulling away from the shore. It was loaded to the guards with wretched men, women, and children. The boy saw a barrel in the bow of the boat which would serve him as a seat; without an instant's hesitation he jumped into the boat and sprang upon the barrel. Arrived on the opposite shore, such a scene of misery and desolation met his gaze as will never be forgotten; dogs, chickens, cows and pigs ran bellowing and grunting in every direction; men, women and children by the thousands ran hither and thither in the utmost confusion, wagons were scattered about, here was one hitched up, the driver cracking his whip and pushing recklessly through the crowd; babies screaming for their mothers, and mothers calling piteously for lost babies and children. Weeping and groaning sick ones lay here and there, while anxiety was in every heart. The boy hunted vainly and long for his lost family. No one had time or heart to devote to the little waif, there were too many of the same kind everywhere. A yoke of oxen had been drowned in the river; one was recovered, and some men tore off the hide and told the people that any one who lacked provision was welcome to use the meat thus obtained. The lonely, hungry boy with others seized this chance as a special providence to themselves, and for three days they lived on this uninviting food. At last Brigham heard of his father and mother at Sugar Creek, ten miles farther west; and so he tramped the distance, and at last he found and was found by parents and friends. Yet conditions were not much better for the boy than they had been at the river. His mother's wagon was as full as it was possible to crowd it; and there was no bedding to spare to the ten-year-old boy who had just arrived, and indeed there was none for any of the boys in the camp. All were exposed to the storms. To add to the misery of all, a cold, biting storm of sleet and wind began to rage. Brigham had tried to build up a barricade of cooking utensils and saddles against one side of his mother's wagon so as to shield him somewhat from the driving winds; but it was worse than useless. When the storm settled down upon them, Brigham secured the help of his companions, and they cut up enough brush to make themselves a tiny wickiup, into which they crawled and huddled thus together for warmth. It was on this dreadful journey that the mother of Apostle Young's first wife, Catherine Spencer, died from exposure and cruel conditions. Orson Spencer, the husband, was one of the most famous men in the Church. His wife was a perfect lady; lived in a home of culture and refinement; herself one of the truest and noblest of women, yet was she delicate in body as she was refined in spirit. The scenes of torture and suffering through which she passed loosened her physical hold upon life. Yet her spirit never was crushed nor soured in the least, nor her faith daunted. Brother Spencer drove from farmhouse to farmhouse in the territory of Iowa and in his gentle, refined way asked for shelter for his dying wife. "Are you a Mormon?" was the invariable question. And when answered in the affirmative, he would be told with an oath, "Drive on, ye can't stop here." With the cold sleet beating upon his poor wife's unprotected head, the distracted husband drove on and on. At last, an infidel, without asking a single question as to religion or creed, flung open his door and assisted the husband in bringing the forlorn lady into the shelter and warmth of his home. She lived but a few hours, and sighed out her life upon the breast of the loving husband whose chief thought had always been to shield her from sorrow and want. The traveling through the swamps and bogs of Iowa was slow and painful in the extreme. For miles and miles the wagons labored heavily over a corduroy road, or rather bridge, made of logs withed together with tough willows. This terrible swamp was full of danger and difficulty. Here and there were swales, with a little sod over the seas of water and mud below. If one wagon got across the swale in safety, no other would dare to follow in its tracks, for they would have sunk out of sight. Each wagon straddled the tracks of the last, and even then the wheels would sink through the twelve-inch sod into the muddy lake below, and sometimes hours would be consumed in traversing a quarter of a mile. In one such swale, Brigham secured a stick twelve feet long, and thrusting it down through a wagon track, it went entirely out of sight in the muddy sea below. And here under such circumstances, while encamped upon the Chariton River, nine children were born in one night; among them being Chariton, son of Sister Zina D. H. Young. It is one of the miracles how these poor children, and their more unfortunate mothers, ever survived the ordeals through which they passed. At last the company were located at Winter Quarters, now Florence, in Nebraska, and the strong, willing hands of husbands and sons built rude 'but comfortable cabins for the shelter of women and children. The pioneers took their dangerous and lonely way across the Plains the following year, but the boy Brigham remained with his mother in Winter Quarters. In April the first company in the spring of 1848 left Winter Quarters, led by President Brigham Young, who had returned to bring the rest of his own family back to the retreat in the valley. Brigham, who was then a boy of twelve, was made driver of two yoke of oxen. He was quite equal to the oxen and to the occasion. He was faithful to his trust. One of his father's wives sat on the seat while the boy trudged by his oxen, cracking his whip and piping a song to beguile the weariness of the way. When the company halted at Sweetwater, women were tired, men were discouraged. Day after day passed, and the discontent of the party grew with every passing hour. Among any other people, there would have been mutiny and a sharp turn backward to the shelter of civilization. Always alert to the pressure of influences about him. President Young felt the resistance that manifested itself in silence rather than in words. One afternoon at three o'clock he hitched up his coach and with the terse statement that he was "going to the valley; if anybody wants to follow, the road is open,» the President put the whip to his horses and gave not a glance behind. Like a flash, the boy flung the yoke upon his oxen, hitched them to his wagon, picked up his whip and drove as rapidly as he could after the coach rolling away to the west. This instance illustrates, as perhaps no other could, the keynote of this boy's after life. The determination which filled his whole soul and which stiffened the youthful lips into the iron line across his face so much like his father's, was expressed in the words which he uttered to his father's wife who hastily took her seat in the wagon: "Father's started; I'm not going to lose sight of his wagon wheels while daylight lasts." Fun may bubble, play may be fascinating, but when "father starts or leads the way,» there will his son Brigham follow,—even to the very courts of heaven. Away flew the coach and one carriage and away clumsily followed the double yoke of oxen not too far behind. The storm whistled and raged, and the stiff fingers of the boy could scarcely hold the whip. But on he ran beside his oxen, urging them on with word and lash. Evening came early, and aided by the gloomy clouds overhead, the whole country was enveloped in pitchy darkness. The road would loom up in the gloom as if the little swale ahead were a precipice hundreds of feet to the bottom. Even that much light was soon absorbed in night and the storm, and the whip was lost from the half-frozen hands of the little driver as he stumbled over a stump. His body was thinly clad; he wore only a pair of jeans pants, no shoes or stockings, a thin, calico shirt, with a bit of a cape made by his mother from a coat tail, and the cape was worse than useless as it was blown constantly about his ears and head. Clinging to the bow, the boy ran beside the clumsy beasts, knowing not where he was going or what would be the end. But "father was ahead," and the boy's heart leaned upon "father" and upon the God of his father! The hours came and went in that fearful drive. Upon the seat in mute despair sat Eliza B., tossed from side to side with the dreadful jolts and lurches of the wagon. She knew that speech or cry were useless and only God could protect them or bring them into safety. A light! 'Tis a campfire! And the faithful oxen moved heavily into camp. They had traveled about eighteen miles since three o'clock and now it was just midnight! Such were the struggles and trials that marked those pioneer journeys across the trackless prairies. Nine hundred miles had the boy driven, from the Missouri River to Fort Bridger. Arrived there, they were met by men and teams from the valley. No heart was lighter, when the tiny spot of green in the center of the great, dreary Salt Lake Valley was revealed to the travelers at the top of the Big Mountain, then later at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, than was that of the twelve-year-old Brigham. The removal of the clouds of danger which had so long filled the skies of their every retreat gave more than one heart such relief that the opposite extreme was reached and gaiety became abandon, while peace was the vehicle in which rode thoughtless, careless sport. The organization of the Minute Men provided ample scope for the restless daring of the youths whose early life and environments had been one constant yet changing scene of danger and woe. Small wonder that the boys whose mothers had drawn their baby mouths from the breast to barricade the door from raging mobs, and whose baby cries had been frozen upon the pouting lips by the white anguish upon their mothers' faces as they crouched in haystacks or lofts for safety —small wonder indeed that such boys longed to straddle a horse and shoulder a gun in possible defense of the parents who had at last found a retreat in the lonely valleys of the Rockies. At fifteen years of age. Brigham entered this corps of mountain soldiers, Valley Tan Boys they were called sometimes, and for nine years he was a faithful member of that famous company of Minute Men. In 1860 the young pioneer engaged with Col. Robert T. Burton and a company to open up the mail route belonging to the famous Ben Halliday. These men opened the route from Green River to Laramie. From here Brigham went down with Captain Hooper to Washington, as he had received word from President Young thus to do. An accident had unfitted him temporarily for active service under Col. Burton, so he was the more ready for this trip. Those were the days in which men had such faith in the revelations of God to His servants that none of them ever dreamed of being consulted as to the time and manner of missions upon which they were to be sent. When Captain Hooper and Hon. George Q. Cannon arrived in Washington with the famous petition for statehood sent out by the sturdy young territory of Utah, a letter there awaited them with the news that Brigham, who accompanied them, was called, by his father. President Young, to go on a mission to England. It was a pretty hard case; he had been away from home already three months, and the desire to see his two young wives and the precious babes was strong within him. Besides, his father had said in the letter received, "If Brigham declines going upon a mission previous to returning home, I would like him to visit my relatives in Troopsville, in the upper part of New York State." Here was a loophole of escape. Evidently his father was in doubt as to the necessity of his going. But with the wisdom of an older head, Captain Hooper took the young man aside and looking him calmly in the eye, said firmly, "You're going on that mission, my friend. Do you understand? You are going. Why, it's the opportunity of your life." The young man felt the power and inspiration in the look and the words, and obedient as always to a word from God or His authorized servants, he said as decidedly as his friend had spoken, "All right, I am going on that mission. " When Brigham arrived in Philadelphia, he met Colonel Kane, who was an ardent friend of President Young and of the whole people called Mormons. The Civil War was raging then and Col. Kane was actively engaged in the struggle. He was at once most anxious to have the young man, whose fiery courage and invincible spirit he knew well, remain with him and study at short range the tactics and the manipulation of modern warfare. "I insist upon this, Brigham," he said. «I will assume all responsibility of your father's displeasure, for I feel sure he will at once see the necessity of this move." But Brigham had been called upon another mission; and the understood compact which he had made with Captain Hooper and his own heart was not lightly to be set aside. So he gently refused the kind persuasions of the gallant officer. "Brigham," said the Colonel, "I have prayed about this matter, for my heart is set upon it. But I am willing to let God decide. I am expecting ray commission as a brigadier general every day, as you know. Now, if my appointment comes before your ship sails, we will take it that it is right for you to stay with me. If it does not come I will let you go with willing consent." After a moment's deliberation, Brigham said cheerily, "All right. Colonel, I think we are both safe to leave it with God." Could a more beautiful example of simple, child-like faith be found than is couched in this little incident? Two strong, brave men, waiting calmly for an answer to prayer that most people would say depended upon luck or chance! To these, there was no such thing as luck or chance. God ruled by law, and the law encompassed the sailing of a vessel and the arrival of a letter as surely as it did the issue of a battle or the ordering of a world. The hour for the vessel to sail came, Brigham went on board, and as the two friends shook hands, the Colonel said: "If my commission arrives before you are out of the river and harbor, I shall charter a tug and catch you. Will you come back?" "Yes," answered Brigham, "I will come back." Just twenty-four hours afterwards, when the ship was well out at sea, the Colonel's commission arrived. But he knew and acknowledged that God knew best. And Brigham was on his way to England. Apostle George Q. Cannon was presiding over the European mission at this time. Nothing could exceed the gentle courtesy and kindness shown by Brother Cannon and his dignified and gifted first wife, Elizabeth Hoagland Cannon, to the young man who arrived upon a foreign shore for the first time. Here then Brigham labored, always earnest and zealous, and obedient to proper authority. He arrived in August, 1862; and in April, 1838, he received word from his father that he was to return in August of the same year. He took a hurried trip over Europe, going to Italy, to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and other noted and beautiful scenes in the various nations. Brigham Young, the subject of our sketch, was ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ in 1862, under the hands of his father, President Young. But he did not enter the quorum at that time. In 1864, he returned to Europe, to assist President Daniel H. Wells in the presidency of the European mission. Before leaving home. President Young took his son aside and said to him: "My son, you are going away upon a long and important mission. You will have heavy responsibility placed upon you, and you will not be near me so as to receive help and counsel. But there is One always near you, who will listen to your prayer and give you counsel and help. Whenever you are in doubt or trouble, go to Him in secret, and state your case fully to Him just as you would to me. He knows your desire, but there is a power in expressed or uttered prayer. You may not understand or desire the best way, and if you put your thoughts into words, the Spirit will make things plain to your mind, and teach you through your own words exactly what to pray for. Therefore, just talk to the Lord, and explain fully what you want. It is your right to receive revelation, and God will give it unto you just when and how you need it. When you seek Him you will find Him." There is a deep and subtle principle of the Gospel in the counsel thus given; and the time was to come, often and imperative, when the son was to act upon the advice of his father. In 1865, President Wells returned to Utah, leaving Elder Young to assume full control of the European mission. With the faithfulness to trust which is so marked a characteristic of Elder Young, the work he had assumed was thoroughly executed. Many times he had occasion to recall and act upon the counsel of his father. At one time he arranged to send a large emigration to America; and for this purpose he chartered a sailing vessel for five hundred souls. If the passengers through any mischance failed to sail, he was to forfeit .$100.00 a day as long as she waited. The time for sailing came perilously near; only a week remained, and as yet not one emigrant had sent in his name and fee. Elder Young was in Liverpool, but as the time drew nearer still, he took the train for London to see if there were any returns received in that office. He, as well as the other brethren, were seized with dismay when they discovered that only three days remained and not a return had been made. After hours of restless anxiety, the thought flashed over the young man's mind, "I'll take father's counsel!» Upstairs he ran, and shutting himself in the upper chamber, he composed his mind, and, kneeling down, told the Lord exactly the trouble which lay heavy at his heart, with the desires which accompanied his anxieties. No sooner was his prayer uttered than the answer came, «The returns will all be in, and the vessel will sail on time." He arose from his knees, assured and at perfect peace. As he came down the stairs. Bishop Thurber, who was assisting him. looked up and seeing the beaming face of his president, flew up the stairs, and catching him in his arms, said joyously, "It'll be all right. Brother Young, I can see that from your face." "Yes, it'll be all right," said Elder Young. And it was all right. The returns began pouring in, almost all in one mail, and every berth was taken and the vessel sailed on the appointed hour. As the company were about to sail. Elder Young blessed them, giving them many words of good and wise counsel, adding, "You will reach the other side in safety and not one soul will be buried in the ocean," Strange to say, although this prophecy was literally fulfilled, two Saints died two days after landing and were buried in New York. Elder Young spent the year 1866 and part of 1867 in Salt Lake City, and in 1867 he acted by appointment as commissioner to the Paris Exposition. He endeavored to secure room for an exhibit from Utah, but in common with the other applications of a similar nature this privilege was denied. While here upon this business, he became well acquainted with many prominent men of our own nation, among whom were Samuel F. B. Morse, of telegraph fame, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder and many others. He returned to the valley in August, 1867, and in 1868 he was appointed to a place in the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Brigham Young is a noble representative of his father's family. His gentle wisdom, his merry heart, and his integrity and truth are known to all the Saints. No matter what may be his trouble, or troubles, he does not impose them upon his friends. He has naught but contempt for all forms of hypocrisy or deceit. His own life and soul is a clear open book, and he would not gain the whole world were it to be secured through policy or subterfuge. He can keep still, but must not deceive. This little, incomplete sketch cannot portray in even a small degree the wide stream of bubbling gaiety which pours through much of his life. All who know him, even in the least, are well aware of this trait in his character. Yet well as he loves a joke, he cannot tolerate anything savoring of irreverence or mockery. His wrath is rare, but so much more to be dreaded. Woe to the doer or speaker of anything which might savor of the betrayal of the Priesthood when Brigham Young is nigh! One of his most notable traits is an innate modesty which is almost extreme when he estimates his own worth and character. Ask him for the facts of his life, and he will innocently ignore that you are asking him about himself, and will give leaf after leaf from the life of his beloved father, or others of his friends and associates. He must be often reminded that it is his life you are seeking to know about. He will assure you that he is the least worthy of his exalted position of any in his quorum, and your own silent comment thereon is, he who is least shall some day be greatest. Apostle Brigham Young has served in many capacities since his entrance into the quorum. His life has been one scene of travel and ministry among the Saints at home and abroad. In 1882 he filled an important mission to the Yaqui Indians. In 1890, he again took charge of the European mission, returning from there in 1893 to the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. Since then, he, in common with other active members of his quorum, has spent his time in traveling and visiting stakes and conferences from Idaho to Mexico. Today, Apostle Young has the same genial tone of voice, the same youthful spirit, and the same quiet wisdom that have been so prominent in his character from boyhood. Those who know him best, honor and revere him most. May his useful life be prolonged many years upon the earth! Susa Young Gates. |
Apostle Brigham Young
|
Cannon, Ann M. "A Talk With Apostle Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. April 1903. pg. 148-150.
A TALK WITH APOSTLE BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Ann M. Cannon.
About the middle of February I was directed by President Elmina S. Taylor to go to Elder Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, and obtain from him a message for our girls. Most of our readers are aware that President Young has been very sick, nigh unto death. For several months he has been unable to leave his home. Knowing his precarious condition, I approached the house with considerable hesitation. The door was opened by the nurse, who answered that Sister Young had just gone up town. I gave my name and stated my errand. It was a relief to hear her say that if Brother Young was awake he would be pleased to talk with me; that he enjoyed seeing friends, and that he was now well enough to receive them. Brother Charles Wilcken and Brother Samuel R. Bateman were his constant companions, she said, and I thought of the many illustrious dead whom it had been their privilege to attend in their last moments. Truly they shall be blest for their devotion.
I was shown into the room almost immediately. The bright firelight was in strong contrast to the bitter cold of the day outside. The great arm chair, in which Brother Young passes most of his time, stood near, but at present he lay on the bed. This of itself showed an improvement, as, for some time past, his breathing had been so difficult that he seldom lay down.
He greeted me pleasantly, calling me by my given name (I had told the nurse only my surname), so I saw that he was perfectly conscious.
Brother Young commenced talking of the Journal at once, and gave many kind words for it, words which its editor will appreciate and treasure through a life-time. Continuing, he said:
“Oh, dear, I can’t tell how often it comes to me to write for these young people. I am an awkward writer, but I wish often I could make some things known to them. But for the last year and a half I’ve just been unable to do anything.
“Sometimes I don’t know which way it’ll go. I have had indications at times that I shall live, but I am passing through the mill of suffering. On the whole, I believe I am a little better, but I have sinking days of depression.
“I have prayed the Lord to let me round out my life in the next fifteen or twenty years, so that when I meet Father I can do so as one understanding his position as President of the Twelve. Whether He will grant it or not, I can’t say, but if He does, I’ll try to do His work more faithfully than ever before.”
The deep, sympathetic voice was silent for a moment, then he continued :
I wonder why, when in my prime, my life was sought—why it wasn’t taken ! Men whose business it was to kill sought my life many times. One ball slid along my temple, another just missed me, but I don’t care to particularize. I have borne a charmed life. I’ve been spared not of my own efforts; Providence interposed a barrier. Now I say to myself. ‘Why shouldn’t I live?’ But the Lord knows best.
“I’m not so particular about living as I am to do the work before me. Such opportunities for good come to few men as come to me now, and it cuts me to the quick to miss this greatest opportunity of my life. But the Lord order it. I can’t. I only pray.
“The Saints remember me. I can feel their prayers lift me up. I asked one of the brethren:
“ ‘Who prayed for me today ?’
“He answered,
“ ‘President Smith.’
“I felt lifted up beyond myself. It seemed to bring me back to all my gifts and blessings, and give me new life. And it was President Smith!” His voice thrilled, and his eyes shone with an unusual light, as if the power of that prayer still sustained and strengthened him.
Presently he spoke again,
“When the brethren came from California with President George Q. Cannon’s body, I asked his son Hugh, “’Did your Pa give up?’
“He said,
“ ‘Sunday morning before his death.’
“I answered, ‘That Sunday morning I had a curious message from him.’
“I know I slept, for I wakened afterward. I was in the Southeast room,” indicating it with his hand. “I looked right through the house, through the northwest corner. I saw a horseman riding toward me. I won’t say he was a stranger, for he came to me once before, when I was in very peculiar and distressing circumstances, in 1856.
“He appeared about thirty years of age. He wore a brown beard; was well built, but rather slight. He was well dressed; his clothes set well. He had a good countenance, kind, yet thoughtful,—full of sorrow at his duty. He was mounted on a bay horse.
“The fence seemed no obstruction to him. He rode straight through it. He said.
“ ‘Hello!’
“‘What’s the trouble?’ I asked. ‘What’s wanted?’
“‘I am a messenger. I’ve just left President Cannon, who is alive, but death is there.’
“I awoke, but as I did so, I made answer,
“ ‘Well, unless he dies pretty quick, I’ll go before him.’ I felt like my heart would break, for his news made it swell near to bursting. He passed on toward the east.
“The next Friday President Cannon died.”
President Young’s whole attitude was that of a man who “loves life, but does not fear death.” Those who have known him love him for his genial, happy disposition, and the sunshine it has always brought, for the kind words and loving sympathy always ready to cheer them. Now as he waits near the portal of death, thousands of prayers are wafted upward, that if it is the Lord’s will he may be spared to “round out his life;” if not. that his earthly joy may be complete, ere he goes to join the illustrious father who has been a guiding star to so many lives.
“Father, not our will, but Thine be done.” We leave this beloved Apostle in Thy hands, knowing that Thou “doest all things well.”
A TALK WITH APOSTLE BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Ann M. Cannon.
About the middle of February I was directed by President Elmina S. Taylor to go to Elder Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, and obtain from him a message for our girls. Most of our readers are aware that President Young has been very sick, nigh unto death. For several months he has been unable to leave his home. Knowing his precarious condition, I approached the house with considerable hesitation. The door was opened by the nurse, who answered that Sister Young had just gone up town. I gave my name and stated my errand. It was a relief to hear her say that if Brother Young was awake he would be pleased to talk with me; that he enjoyed seeing friends, and that he was now well enough to receive them. Brother Charles Wilcken and Brother Samuel R. Bateman were his constant companions, she said, and I thought of the many illustrious dead whom it had been their privilege to attend in their last moments. Truly they shall be blest for their devotion.
I was shown into the room almost immediately. The bright firelight was in strong contrast to the bitter cold of the day outside. The great arm chair, in which Brother Young passes most of his time, stood near, but at present he lay on the bed. This of itself showed an improvement, as, for some time past, his breathing had been so difficult that he seldom lay down.
He greeted me pleasantly, calling me by my given name (I had told the nurse only my surname), so I saw that he was perfectly conscious.
Brother Young commenced talking of the Journal at once, and gave many kind words for it, words which its editor will appreciate and treasure through a life-time. Continuing, he said:
“Oh, dear, I can’t tell how often it comes to me to write for these young people. I am an awkward writer, but I wish often I could make some things known to them. But for the last year and a half I’ve just been unable to do anything.
“Sometimes I don’t know which way it’ll go. I have had indications at times that I shall live, but I am passing through the mill of suffering. On the whole, I believe I am a little better, but I have sinking days of depression.
“I have prayed the Lord to let me round out my life in the next fifteen or twenty years, so that when I meet Father I can do so as one understanding his position as President of the Twelve. Whether He will grant it or not, I can’t say, but if He does, I’ll try to do His work more faithfully than ever before.”
The deep, sympathetic voice was silent for a moment, then he continued :
I wonder why, when in my prime, my life was sought—why it wasn’t taken ! Men whose business it was to kill sought my life many times. One ball slid along my temple, another just missed me, but I don’t care to particularize. I have borne a charmed life. I’ve been spared not of my own efforts; Providence interposed a barrier. Now I say to myself. ‘Why shouldn’t I live?’ But the Lord knows best.
“I’m not so particular about living as I am to do the work before me. Such opportunities for good come to few men as come to me now, and it cuts me to the quick to miss this greatest opportunity of my life. But the Lord order it. I can’t. I only pray.
“The Saints remember me. I can feel their prayers lift me up. I asked one of the brethren:
“ ‘Who prayed for me today ?’
“He answered,
“ ‘President Smith.’
“I felt lifted up beyond myself. It seemed to bring me back to all my gifts and blessings, and give me new life. And it was President Smith!” His voice thrilled, and his eyes shone with an unusual light, as if the power of that prayer still sustained and strengthened him.
Presently he spoke again,
“When the brethren came from California with President George Q. Cannon’s body, I asked his son Hugh, “’Did your Pa give up?’
“He said,
“ ‘Sunday morning before his death.’
“I answered, ‘That Sunday morning I had a curious message from him.’
“I know I slept, for I wakened afterward. I was in the Southeast room,” indicating it with his hand. “I looked right through the house, through the northwest corner. I saw a horseman riding toward me. I won’t say he was a stranger, for he came to me once before, when I was in very peculiar and distressing circumstances, in 1856.
“He appeared about thirty years of age. He wore a brown beard; was well built, but rather slight. He was well dressed; his clothes set well. He had a good countenance, kind, yet thoughtful,—full of sorrow at his duty. He was mounted on a bay horse.
“The fence seemed no obstruction to him. He rode straight through it. He said.
“ ‘Hello!’
“‘What’s the trouble?’ I asked. ‘What’s wanted?’
“‘I am a messenger. I’ve just left President Cannon, who is alive, but death is there.’
“I awoke, but as I did so, I made answer,
“ ‘Well, unless he dies pretty quick, I’ll go before him.’ I felt like my heart would break, for his news made it swell near to bursting. He passed on toward the east.
“The next Friday President Cannon died.”
President Young’s whole attitude was that of a man who “loves life, but does not fear death.” Those who have known him love him for his genial, happy disposition, and the sunshine it has always brought, for the kind words and loving sympathy always ready to cheer them. Now as he waits near the portal of death, thousands of prayers are wafted upward, that if it is the Lord’s will he may be spared to “round out his life;” if not. that his earthly joy may be complete, ere he goes to join the illustrious father who has been a guiding star to so many lives.
“Father, not our will, but Thine be done.” We leave this beloved Apostle in Thy hands, knowing that Thou “doest all things well.”
"Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. May 1903. pg. 235.
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Elder Brigham Young, President of the quorum of the Twelve, has passed away. His words of resignation, uttered in our last conversation with him, show the temper of the man. After expressing his strong desire to live, he said:
“But the Lord order it. I can’t. I only pray.”
And He has ordered it. The brave spirit took its flight Saturday, April 11th, 1903, after a long and desperate encounter with death. Those who have watched the conflict say that there was no wavering,—only the firm steady determination to win, if it should be the Lord’s will, and implicit reliance on His divine wisdom when He should say, “It is enough. Let the struggle end.” Over a year it lasted, and in that time who shall tell how often death, nearly conquering, was suddenly repulsed by the indomitable will and sturdy faith? And now he rests on the hill-side,—“Not dead, but sleeping,” “till the trump of God” shall sound and “the dead in Christ shall rise.”
The testimony of all who knew him is that his life was one of unswerving fidelity to God. That there was never any doubt where he would stand in regard to a question of importance. And is not that the main thing? Remember the first commandment given by the Savior,
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”
And the Master, Himself, adds:
“There is none other commandment greater.”
Brigham Young held also an unswerving loyalty to his earthly father. It is related of him that as a child, eleven years of age, he was given charge of two yoke of oxen, to drive them across the dreary, desolate plains. Once when some of the company, grown weary and dissatisfied with hardships, felt to hesitate, President Brigham Young, that great leader and pioneer, threw the harness on his team, saying:
“I’m off for the Valley. Let those who wish follow.”
The boy quickly yoked his oxen, saying,
“I’ll never lose sight of father’s wheels while daylight lasts.’
And those words have been characteristic of his life. Regardless of danger, he has followed where “Father” led, and his own words, “I have been spared not of my own efforts” conclude that chapter.
Many missions he has filled, both in foreign lands and in our own. His time has been devoted to extending the work of God, and it is not to his discredit that he has stored up no great earthly wealth. His genial, merry heart has carried gladness wherever he went; and happiness is worth more than gold. Now the weary body rests in peace and the spirit has gone on to rejoin father, mother and other loved ones, there to continue the work begun in the flesh. Mourn not for those gone before.
"For Death is but the wintry snow
Which veils the spirit’s bloom.
That soon with radiant life shall glow,
Enfranchised from the tomb.
As from that snowy shroud there springs
A brighter, lovelier earth;
So vanquished death his trophies brings
To grace a nobler birth.
Then why the sorrowing lip and eye,
The aching heart and head?
Remember, He who cannot lie
Hath said, “Mourn not the dead.”
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Elder Brigham Young, President of the quorum of the Twelve, has passed away. His words of resignation, uttered in our last conversation with him, show the temper of the man. After expressing his strong desire to live, he said:
“But the Lord order it. I can’t. I only pray.”
And He has ordered it. The brave spirit took its flight Saturday, April 11th, 1903, after a long and desperate encounter with death. Those who have watched the conflict say that there was no wavering,—only the firm steady determination to win, if it should be the Lord’s will, and implicit reliance on His divine wisdom when He should say, “It is enough. Let the struggle end.” Over a year it lasted, and in that time who shall tell how often death, nearly conquering, was suddenly repulsed by the indomitable will and sturdy faith? And now he rests on the hill-side,—“Not dead, but sleeping,” “till the trump of God” shall sound and “the dead in Christ shall rise.”
The testimony of all who knew him is that his life was one of unswerving fidelity to God. That there was never any doubt where he would stand in regard to a question of importance. And is not that the main thing? Remember the first commandment given by the Savior,
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”
And the Master, Himself, adds:
“There is none other commandment greater.”
Brigham Young held also an unswerving loyalty to his earthly father. It is related of him that as a child, eleven years of age, he was given charge of two yoke of oxen, to drive them across the dreary, desolate plains. Once when some of the company, grown weary and dissatisfied with hardships, felt to hesitate, President Brigham Young, that great leader and pioneer, threw the harness on his team, saying:
“I’m off for the Valley. Let those who wish follow.”
The boy quickly yoked his oxen, saying,
“I’ll never lose sight of father’s wheels while daylight lasts.’
And those words have been characteristic of his life. Regardless of danger, he has followed where “Father” led, and his own words, “I have been spared not of my own efforts” conclude that chapter.
Many missions he has filled, both in foreign lands and in our own. His time has been devoted to extending the work of God, and it is not to his discredit that he has stored up no great earthly wealth. His genial, merry heart has carried gladness wherever he went; and happiness is worth more than gold. Now the weary body rests in peace and the spirit has gone on to rejoin father, mother and other loved ones, there to continue the work begun in the flesh. Mourn not for those gone before.
"For Death is but the wintry snow
Which veils the spirit’s bloom.
That soon with radiant life shall glow,
Enfranchised from the tomb.
As from that snowy shroud there springs
A brighter, lovelier earth;
So vanquished death his trophies brings
To grace a nobler birth.
Then why the sorrowing lip and eye,
The aching heart and head?
Remember, He who cannot lie
Hath said, “Mourn not the dead.”
Richards, L. L. Greene. "Death of Elder Brigham Young." Juvenile Instructor. 15 May 1903. pg. 304-305.
DEATH OF ELDER BRIGHAM YOUNG.
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Again the pale-browed visitor hath knocked
At the appointed door, and stilled a breath;
By which the multitude's deep heart is shocked;
For even when expected, death is death!
Another one of Utah's Pioneers--
Among the brave, among the true and great.
Leaves his loved people to lament in tears,
As he is ushered through the royal gate.
The second Brigham Young, son of the first,
Sought with his noble sire this desert wild;
Knew the dread pangs of hunger and of thirst,
And untold hardships, even when a child.
But this his comrades tell: his merry heart;
Like medicine, was doing good for all:
With jest and mirth he bore the pain and smart.
And sweetened oft with cheer the cup of gall.
How much the world hath need of such bright souls!
But when in heaven a need is greater still,
God's pow'r supreme the circumstance controls.
And earth must bow submissive to His will.
Yet, as through curtains of soft snowy lace,
Warm rays are poured as if from myriad suns,
So faith reflects the smiles of that dear face.
Now glorified among the righteous ones.
Long as a member of the Twelve he moved,
Reliable and faithful to each trust;
Then as the quorum's president, he proved
A mighty counselor—prudent, strong and just.
His brethren, his family, the Church,
Will miss his genial presence; but his love,
His heart's best treasure, free to those who search,
Will follow with his works, here and above.
L. L. Greene Richards.
Salt Lake City, April, 1903.
DEATH OF ELDER BRIGHAM YOUNG.
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Again the pale-browed visitor hath knocked
At the appointed door, and stilled a breath;
By which the multitude's deep heart is shocked;
For even when expected, death is death!
Another one of Utah's Pioneers--
Among the brave, among the true and great.
Leaves his loved people to lament in tears,
As he is ushered through the royal gate.
The second Brigham Young, son of the first,
Sought with his noble sire this desert wild;
Knew the dread pangs of hunger and of thirst,
And untold hardships, even when a child.
But this his comrades tell: his merry heart;
Like medicine, was doing good for all:
With jest and mirth he bore the pain and smart.
And sweetened oft with cheer the cup of gall.
How much the world hath need of such bright souls!
But when in heaven a need is greater still,
God's pow'r supreme the circumstance controls.
And earth must bow submissive to His will.
Yet, as through curtains of soft snowy lace,
Warm rays are poured as if from myriad suns,
So faith reflects the smiles of that dear face.
Now glorified among the righteous ones.
Long as a member of the Twelve he moved,
Reliable and faithful to each trust;
Then as the quorum's president, he proved
A mighty counselor—prudent, strong and just.
His brethren, his family, the Church,
Will miss his genial presence; but his love,
His heart's best treasure, free to those who search,
Will follow with his works, here and above.
L. L. Greene Richards.
Salt Lake City, April, 1903.
Grant, Heber J. "Tribute to Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve." Young Woman's Journal. August 1903. pg. 352-356.
TRIBUTE TO BRIGHAM YOUNG, PRESIDENT OF THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. Heber J. Grant. AS I now recall the quarterly meetings of the Apostles held during my visit home just prior to the April conference, 1902, the one thing which I most earnestly of all others supplicated the Lord for in my prayers was that the life of President Brigham Young! might be spared to the Quorum of the Apostles and the Church for many years to come. Inasmuch, as in the all wise providences of the Lord He did not see fit to grant this request, and not being permitted to be present at the funeral to pay my last respects to the memory of my president, I desire to express my love and admiration for him through the columns of the Young Woman’s Journal. His sister, Susa Young Gates, was the Journal’s first editor and was with it during all the dark days financially through which this magazine, in common with nearly all successful publications, had to pass. These dark days, I thank the Lord, are now gone, I hope forever. It seems fitting that what I desire to say respecting my late president should be said in the Journal, which his sister labored so long and faithfully in aiding to establish. There are many men in this world who have been over-estimated all the days of their lives, and others who have never had their full share of credit. I feel that the late Brigham Young was one of the latter class. His illustrious father was one of the greatest men the world has ever known, and this fact, of necessity, placed his children, and particularly the son bearing his name, at a great disadvantage, comparatively speaking. The prophet Joseph Smith highly commended humility, devotion to the truth, loyalty to the Priesthood and integrity to God. My late president stood among the foremost of those possessed of these noble qualities. Just before the April conference in 1902 I had received word that Brother Young had gone to Mesa City, Arizona, and that his health was such that there was little or no hope of his recovery. One of the main reasons why I wished to return home from Japan was to make a trip, after the April conference, to Mesa, as I felt that I could not allow my president to pass from this life and not have my congratulations and expressions of love and confidence. He had been acting as president of my quorum for some time, but not until after the death of President Lorenzo Snow and the selection of President Joseph F. Smith as the head of the church, was he in fact the President of the Apostles. The Journal readers can well imagine my joy and gratitude when, upon arriving at Salt Lake City, I found President Young there, looking and feeling better than I had had any idea I should ever again have the pleasure of seeing him. The quarterly meetings of the Apostles are among the most precious in my life. I have pleasure in quoting from my Journal of April 1st, 1902, some of the good things said at one of these meetings by mv late president. I was so glad to see him and so pleased to listen to his remarks that I made quite full notes of what he said. President Young said that he did not know how to be thankful enough that he was permitted to be there that day. He referred to having attended a fast meeting during the previous Sunday, held in the Temple, where he had felt so overjoyed at being present that he could not express himself. He had exhibited his weakness by shedding tears. He had the same feeling at being present that day. He could not possibly express the joy which he felt at being again permitted to meet with his brethren. He considered it a great privilege to meet with the servants of the Lord. He had often been in the Mansion House in Nauvoo, and had often seen the Prophet Joseph Smith and the leading brethren of the Church in their gatherings from time to time. Whenever he was separated from the leading brethren, he always experienced the feeling that he was losing some blessing. Three weeks ago he had talked for half an hour at the funeral of Elder Henry Rogers. He had talked very quietly, but notwithstanding this the exertion had been such a great task upon him that it was several days before he could sleep, and he could eat but little. It seemed as though his entire physical organism had collapsed. But about two weeks ago lie started to mend quite rapidly, and the same vigor which he had experienced prior to attending the funeral of Brother Rogers came back to him. He told the Lord that he desired to come to this conference, if He would continue.to bless him, and he felt to testify that the Lord had done so, as he had started to improve from the minute he made up his mind to come to conference. He had suffered from dropsy, his legs and feet had swollen very much indeed, so that he had very little use of them. He not only expressed his gratitude at being present, but said he felt very thankful that Brother Grant was here. He felt that we should counsel together regarding the establishing of other missions; said the missions that are now established should be fully looked after; and that there was an immense work for us to do. Particularly there was a great work to do among the nations that speak the Spanish language, and also in Germany. He was not certain but that it was our duty to establish a mission in Africa. He felt very strongly the spirit ’that the people of Japan should have the privilege of hearing the Gospel. He said that the establishment of new missions had been constantly resting upon his mind, and he felt exceedingly anxious to have us hurry up the labor of warning the people of the world regarding the restoration of the Gospel to the earth and the judgments which are to come. There was a pressure upon him so great that it had almost made him unhappy ; sometimes he felt that he was under condemnation for not being more active in missionary matters. He had lain awake nine hours at a time night after night, while in Arizona, and therefore had had a good chance to think, and foremost of all things in his heart during his recent sickness was the necessity of spreading the Gospel among all nations of the earth. He said he had absolute and perfect confidence in our Heavenly .Father, and felt that He would guide and overrule all for the good of the cause. Brother Brigham had acted as an Apostle under the Presidency of his father, also of John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith. He knew the Prophet Joseph Smith personally, and. as stated, it was the one special desire of my heart and the burden of my prayers in the Temple that his life should be spared for many years, as it seemed to me we needed his wise counsels and his experience; but the Lord doeth all things wisely and well, and I hope ever to be willing to bow to His will in life or in death, in joy or sorrow, in prosperity or adversity. What I have quoted from the remarks of Brother Brigham shows his strong desire that the Gospel of life and salvation should be given speedily to all the world. I wish I could remember what he said at a meeting held many years ago in the office of the Presidency. I know his remarks would strengthen the faith of all who might read them. He spoke on that occasion with wonderful power; his words thrilled every part of my being. I had an assurance that his every word was inspired of the Lord. His talk was directed to his brother John W., who was charged with neglecting his duties as an Apostle and devoting his time, which should have been given to the Lord and the advancement of the Church of Christ, to an effort to make money. There, was one remark in that very powerful talk that struck me with more force if possible than any other, and has never been forgotten. He said to his brother that if he did not devote himself with more energy to the work of the Lord in the future, that the Apostles would not have to lift their hands to cut the cord which bound him to them, but that he, John W. Young, would do this himself. The meeting resulted in a positive assurance on the part of Brother John W. that he would do his full duty in the future; and I feel sure that this was the sincere and earnest desire of his heart. But the temptations to make money were too great for him. he broke his promise, and some years later, acting under the direction of the Presidency, the Apostles met in the Gardo House to take action in his case and drop him as a counselor to their Quorum. I remembered the inspired words of Brother Brigham and it was a great disappointment to me that we were to take action in this case. Some trifling matter engaged our attention for a time, and we did not seem to be able to get at the business for which our meeting had been called, but just as the President said. “We will now' take up the special business of our meeting.” a knock came at the door and a letter was handed in which had just arrived from England, and had been sent to us by the Presidency. In this letter Brother John W. Young tendered his resignation as a counselor to the Apostles. I then knew why there had been a delay, and why the Lord had caused a trifling matter to prevent our taking action on the business for which we had met. The Lord had said years before, by the inspiration of His Spirit through Brother Brigham, that John W. Young would cut the cord which bound him to the Quorum of the Apostles, and He would not allow one word which had been uttered under the inspiration of His Spirit to fall to the ground unfulfilled. This meeting had opened, I am free to confess, almost as a trial of my faith, but it turned, I am thankful to record, into an additional testimony of the inspiration of the Lord to His servants, and once more confirmed my faith that our Father in Heaven will not allow their inspired words to be uttered in vain. So far as the public may know, there are many men who live a lifetime without it being known that they are possessed of great qualities, as no opportunities come whereby they can show to the public the greatness of their characters. I can truly say that on all great occasions I never knew President Young to fail in any particular. Many times I have said, “Brother Brigham is always on the right side and is always great on great occasions.” His humility was great, but no greater than his moral courage. I never knew a more cheerful and happy man, or one who had a more perfect trust in God and His overruling providences. He was one of the men whom I loved to see come into my home in the hour of sickness or sorrow. He got very near to God in the humble and sincere prayer which he offered. During the last sickness of my son Heber, he often called at my home, and I shall never forget the loving and sincere prayers offered for the recovery of my son. I know that those of my family who heard these prayers had their hearts go out to him in love as they had never done before; they having assured me of this fact. It is a glorious thing to be able to talk with our Father in Heaven in a way to warm the hearts of those who listen. The love of my folks for Brother Brigham was intensified by his devotion and solicitude for me during my severe sickness which followed some years after the death of my boy. When I was first made a member of the Quorum of the Apostles it fell to my lot to travel through Arizona a number of times, and once into Old Mexico, with President Young, and I have endured some little hardships with him, but I never recall hearing him utter a word of complaint; on the contrary, I recall many a jolly remark, which was a blessing, as it made our circumstances seem less disagreeable. I could relate many interesting items of my experience with him, and they would go to show the noble character of the man; but I feel that mv article is long enough, so I will simply add that I ever found him to be in very deed a man of God, and that his love for the work of the Lord and for the Saints was unbounded. He was beloved by his most intimate associates. The Apostles knew him best and loved him most, and I feel that no higher tribute could be paid him than to say this for the men over whom he presided. Do I wish to carry the impression by what I have said that he was a perfect man and without weaknesses common to humanity? Not at all, as there are none of us perfect; but I do say that if we are as true to God, the Priesthood and people of God, and as loyal citizens of our country as Brigham Young was, when our life’s labor is done we will have a royal welcome from our Father in Heaven. That my President has received such a welcome I have no doubt. May his family love the Lord and be as true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he has been. If they do so, I promise them an eternity of joy in the life to come, and that they may secure this great blessing is my earnest prayer. Tokyo, Japan, May 26th, 1903. |
Apostle Heber J. Grant
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