Brigham Young
Born: 1 June 1801
Called to Quorum of the Twelve: 14 February 1835
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 14 April 1840
Sustained as President of the Church: 27 December 1847
Died: 29 August 1877
Called to Quorum of the Twelve: 14 February 1835
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 14 April 1840
Sustained as President of the Church: 27 December 1847
Died: 29 August 1877
Conference Talks About Brigham Young
Oct 1860 - Orson Hyde - Testimonies of the Truth - The Civil War
Oct 1869 - Orson Hyde - Testimony of Brigham's Calling as a Prophet
Oct 1875 - Wilford Woodruff - Mission of the Apostles
Oct 1877 - George Q. Cannon - Death of Joseph, Death of Brigham
Oct 1880 - Wilford Woodruff - Organization of the First Presidency
Oct 1869 - Orson Hyde - Testimony of Brigham's Calling as a Prophet
Oct 1875 - Wilford Woodruff - Mission of the Apostles
Oct 1877 - George Q. Cannon - Death of Joseph, Death of Brigham
Oct 1880 - Wilford Woodruff - Organization of the First Presidency
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Contributor, July 1889, Life and Character of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, December 1889, President Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, July 1897, Brigham Young, As Husband and Father
Young Woman's Journal, August 1897, Autobiography of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, September 1897, Autobiography of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, November 1900, The Governors of Utah--Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, 15 April 1901, Was Brigham Young Great and Good?
Improvement Era, June 1901, An Incident in the Life of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1901, Editor's Table: Brigham Young and His Century
Juvenile Instructor, 1 June 1901, The Centennial Anniversary of Brigham Young's Birth
Young Woman's Journal, June 1901, President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1903, Brigham Young, a Character Sketch
Young Woman's Journal, June 1903, One Man's View of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, July 1904, The Great Pioneer
Improvement Era, June 1905, President Brigham Young--Anecdotes
Young Woman's Journal, June 1906, President Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, 1 October 1906, Some Reminiscences of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, February 1907, President Brigham Young's First Trip to Bear Lake Valley
Juvenile Instructor, 1 June 1907, Brigham Young's Devotion to His Children
Young Woman's Journal, June 1907, Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, June 1907, About Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1908, Reminiscences of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, January 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, February 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, March 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, April 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, May 1911, The Loyalty of Brigham Young--An Open Letter to lieut. Hobson
Improvement Era, July 1912, Brigham Young as a Pioneer
Young Woman's Journal, June 1913, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, January 1915, Brigham Young and the Poor Logger
Young Woman's Journal, January 1916, Prophecy of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1916, The Character of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, October 1916, Brigham Young's Baptism
Young Woman's Journal, January 1917, A Word on Tithing from President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1917, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1918, Brigham Young and the United Order
Juvenile Instructor, December 1918, President Brigham Young's Christmas Party
Relief Society Magazine, June 1919, Verses Sung at the Funeral of President Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, July 1919, True Pioneer Stories--The Prophet Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, June 1919, Character Analysis of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, December 1919, The Prophet and Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, February 1920, Personal Reminiscences of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1920, Boyhood and Youth of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, July 1923, Early Missionary Labors of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, October 1923, President Brigham Young's Mission to England
Young Woman's Journal, June 1924, He Believed
Improvement Era, December 1924, Gems of Wisdom by Brigham Young
Improvement Era, January 1925, Brigham Young as Seen by Mr. Werner
Improvement Era, December 1925, President Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles
Improvement Era, December 1925, Brigham Young in Nauvoo Up to the Death of the Prophet Joseph Smith Age 40
Improvement Era, June 1926, Brigham Young as Successor to Joseph Smith The Prophet
Juvenile Instructor, June 1926, Brigham Young, American Patriot
Improvement Era, June 1927, Brigham Young's Wisdom of Choice
Juvenile Instructor, June 1927, First of June and Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, May 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Improvement Era, June 1928, Brigham Young as Seen in 1860
Juvenile Instructor, June 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Juvenile Instructor, July 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Juvenile Instructor, August 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Juvenile Instructor, September 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Improvement Era, June 1929, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1929, Brigham Young's Testimony
Improvement Era, June 1929, Character of President Brigham Young
Instructor, June 1930, Sayings of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, August 1930, The Life Story of Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, December 1930, The Life Story of Brigham Young
Instructor, June 1931, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1935, Brigham Young and the Youth Movement
Relief Society Magazine, June 1935, The Kindness of Brigham Young
Instructor, March 1936, Brigham Young and the True Use of Tongues
Relief Society Magazine, June 1938, Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
Relief Society Magazine, July 1938, Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
Instructor, December 1938, Brigham Young
Instructor, June 1939, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, June 1939, Brigham Young Looks Out of the Documents
Improvement Era, July 1939, A Letter from Brigham Young to His Family
Improvement Era, November 1939, Brigham Young's Eyes by Brigham Young, III
Improvement Era, June 1941, Brigham Young as a Public Speaker
Improvement Era, July 1941, Brigham Young and Jim Bridger
Improvement Era, July 1941, Letter from Brigham Young to His Wife, Mary Ann Angell
Improvement Era, April 1942, Brigham Young and Horace S. Eldredge
Improvement Era, July 1942, An Official Communication from Brigham Young, Governor
Improvement Era, September 1942, Excerpts from Letters of Brigham Young to His Wife, Harriet Cook
Improvement Era, July 1943, Brigham Young in Mendon, New York
Relief Society Magazine, June 1944, The Friendship Between the Prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Improvement Era, October 1944, Along the Early Trails of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, December 1946, Brigham Young and the Pioneers
Improvement Era, June 1947, A Letter from Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1947, To Brigham Young--A Tribute
Relief Society Magazine, June 1947, The Prophet Brigham Young
Improvement Era, July 1947, Brigham Young, Nobleman
Instructor, July 1947, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1950, Brigham Young Honored
Relief Society Magazine, June 1950, Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, June 1950, Brigham Young--Loyal and True
Improvement Era, July 1950, Brigham Young--A Great Man
Improvement Era, January 1951, Brigham Young--A Builder of the West
Improvement Era, July 1951, Brigham Young and the Transcontinental Telegraph Line
Instructor, June 1956, Brigham Young as I Knew Him
Improvement Era, May 1958, Missionary Helps: Brigham Young's Counsel to Elders
Instructor, April 1959, Brigham Young, Leader of the Mormons
Instructor, June 1959, "Brigham Young Meets Jim Bridger"
Instructor, September 1959, Brigham Young and Heber J. Grant...They Met in the President's Sleigh
Improvement Era, June 1961, I Remember Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, October 1961, The Last Days of President Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, June 1963, He Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith--President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, July 1970, Brigham Young Recruiting the Mormon Battalion
Improvement Era, November 1970, Brigham Young in Nauvoo, 1841
Ensign, August 1977, Brigham Young: Man of the Spirit
Ensign, June 1987, Brigham Young in England
Ensign, February 1998, Brigham Young: A Photographic Journey
Ensign, February 1998, Brigham Young: Student of the Prophet
Ensign, August 2001, President Brigham Young Honored on 200th Birthday
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Contributor, July 1889, Life and Character of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, December 1889, President Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, July 1897, Brigham Young, As Husband and Father
Young Woman's Journal, August 1897, Autobiography of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, September 1897, Autobiography of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, November 1900, The Governors of Utah--Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, 15 April 1901, Was Brigham Young Great and Good?
Improvement Era, June 1901, An Incident in the Life of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1901, Editor's Table: Brigham Young and His Century
Juvenile Instructor, 1 June 1901, The Centennial Anniversary of Brigham Young's Birth
Young Woman's Journal, June 1901, President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1903, Brigham Young, a Character Sketch
Young Woman's Journal, June 1903, One Man's View of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, July 1904, The Great Pioneer
Improvement Era, June 1905, President Brigham Young--Anecdotes
Young Woman's Journal, June 1906, President Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, 1 October 1906, Some Reminiscences of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, February 1907, President Brigham Young's First Trip to Bear Lake Valley
Juvenile Instructor, 1 June 1907, Brigham Young's Devotion to His Children
Young Woman's Journal, June 1907, Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, June 1907, About Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1908, Reminiscences of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, January 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, February 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, March 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, April 1911, President Brigham Young's Excursion Party
Improvement Era, May 1911, The Loyalty of Brigham Young--An Open Letter to lieut. Hobson
Improvement Era, July 1912, Brigham Young as a Pioneer
Young Woman's Journal, June 1913, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, January 1915, Brigham Young and the Poor Logger
Young Woman's Journal, January 1916, Prophecy of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1916, The Character of Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, October 1916, Brigham Young's Baptism
Young Woman's Journal, January 1917, A Word on Tithing from President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1917, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1918, Brigham Young and the United Order
Juvenile Instructor, December 1918, President Brigham Young's Christmas Party
Relief Society Magazine, June 1919, Verses Sung at the Funeral of President Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, July 1919, True Pioneer Stories--The Prophet Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, June 1919, Character Analysis of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, December 1919, The Prophet and Brigham Young
Young Woman's Journal, February 1920, Personal Reminiscences of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1920, Boyhood and Youth of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, July 1923, Early Missionary Labors of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, October 1923, President Brigham Young's Mission to England
Young Woman's Journal, June 1924, He Believed
Improvement Era, December 1924, Gems of Wisdom by Brigham Young
Improvement Era, January 1925, Brigham Young as Seen by Mr. Werner
Improvement Era, December 1925, President Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles
Improvement Era, December 1925, Brigham Young in Nauvoo Up to the Death of the Prophet Joseph Smith Age 40
Improvement Era, June 1926, Brigham Young as Successor to Joseph Smith The Prophet
Juvenile Instructor, June 1926, Brigham Young, American Patriot
Improvement Era, June 1927, Brigham Young's Wisdom of Choice
Juvenile Instructor, June 1927, First of June and Brigham Young
Juvenile Instructor, May 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Improvement Era, June 1928, Brigham Young as Seen in 1860
Juvenile Instructor, June 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Juvenile Instructor, July 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Juvenile Instructor, August 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Juvenile Instructor, September 1928, Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences
Improvement Era, June 1929, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1929, Brigham Young's Testimony
Improvement Era, June 1929, Character of President Brigham Young
Instructor, June 1930, Sayings of President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, August 1930, The Life Story of Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, December 1930, The Life Story of Brigham Young
Instructor, June 1931, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1935, Brigham Young and the Youth Movement
Relief Society Magazine, June 1935, The Kindness of Brigham Young
Instructor, March 1936, Brigham Young and the True Use of Tongues
Relief Society Magazine, June 1938, Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
Relief Society Magazine, July 1938, Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
Instructor, December 1938, Brigham Young
Instructor, June 1939, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, June 1939, Brigham Young Looks Out of the Documents
Improvement Era, July 1939, A Letter from Brigham Young to His Family
Improvement Era, November 1939, Brigham Young's Eyes by Brigham Young, III
Improvement Era, June 1941, Brigham Young as a Public Speaker
Improvement Era, July 1941, Brigham Young and Jim Bridger
Improvement Era, July 1941, Letter from Brigham Young to His Wife, Mary Ann Angell
Improvement Era, April 1942, Brigham Young and Horace S. Eldredge
Improvement Era, July 1942, An Official Communication from Brigham Young, Governor
Improvement Era, September 1942, Excerpts from Letters of Brigham Young to His Wife, Harriet Cook
Improvement Era, July 1943, Brigham Young in Mendon, New York
Relief Society Magazine, June 1944, The Friendship Between the Prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Improvement Era, October 1944, Along the Early Trails of Brigham Young
Improvement Era, December 1946, Brigham Young and the Pioneers
Improvement Era, June 1947, A Letter from Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1947, To Brigham Young--A Tribute
Relief Society Magazine, June 1947, The Prophet Brigham Young
Improvement Era, July 1947, Brigham Young, Nobleman
Instructor, July 1947, Brigham Young
Improvement Era, June 1950, Brigham Young Honored
Relief Society Magazine, June 1950, Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, June 1950, Brigham Young--Loyal and True
Improvement Era, July 1950, Brigham Young--A Great Man
Improvement Era, January 1951, Brigham Young--A Builder of the West
Improvement Era, July 1951, Brigham Young and the Transcontinental Telegraph Line
Instructor, June 1956, Brigham Young as I Knew Him
Improvement Era, May 1958, Missionary Helps: Brigham Young's Counsel to Elders
Instructor, April 1959, Brigham Young, Leader of the Mormons
Instructor, June 1959, "Brigham Young Meets Jim Bridger"
Instructor, September 1959, Brigham Young and Heber J. Grant...They Met in the President's Sleigh
Improvement Era, June 1961, I Remember Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, October 1961, The Last Days of President Brigham Young
Relief Society Magazine, June 1963, He Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith--President Brigham Young
Improvement Era, July 1970, Brigham Young Recruiting the Mormon Battalion
Improvement Era, November 1970, Brigham Young in Nauvoo, 1841
Ensign, August 1977, Brigham Young: Man of the Spirit
Ensign, June 1987, Brigham Young in England
Ensign, February 1998, Brigham Young: A Photographic Journey
Ensign, February 1998, Brigham Young: Student of the Prophet
Ensign, August 2001, President Brigham Young Honored on 200th Birthday
Jenson, Andrew. "Young, Brigham." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. pg. 8-14.
YOUNG, Brigham, second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born June 1, 1801, in Wittingham, Windham county, Vermont. Like his predecessor he was of purely American stock, dating back many generations. His father, John Young, fought in the revolutionary war, and his grandfather in the French and Indian war. His family relations on both sides were among the staunchest supporters of freedom in the American colonies. He was the ninth child in a family of five sons and six daughters. They were inured to hard labor and were strictly moral in their habits. He was trained in piety, but joined no denomination until the age of twenty-one, when he identified himself with the Methodist church, to which his parents were allied. (At the age of sixteen he commenced business for himself. He learned the trades of carpenter, joiner, painter and glazier, and exhibited traits of a practical character which in afterlife were brought into such a broad field of activity among the people of God, being quickened by the inspiration of the Almighty. In the meantime his parents had moved to Chenango county, New York. Oct. 8, 1824, he married Miss Miriam Works and located in Cayuga county, New York, where he followed his occupation of carpenter, painter, joiner and glazier. Early in 1829 he removed to Mendon, Monroe county, New York, where in the spring of 1830 he first saw a copy of the Book of Mormon, which was brought to that neighborhood by Elder Samuel H. Smith, brother of the Prophet. The contents of this sacred record he carefully read with a prayerful desire to know the truth. His investigation resulted in a firm conviction that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the living God and the Book of Mormon a divine record. Although a Methodist of sincere piety and confronted with frowns and opposition, he had the courage of his convictions, being baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day day Saints April 14, 1832, by Elder Eleazer Miller. He was ordained an
Elder by Brother Miller the same day. Three weeks later, his faithful wife was baptized. She died In the faith Sept. 8, 1832. leaving him two little girls as the result of their union. From the day of Elder Young's baptism he became a most indefatigable and fearless advocate of the pure principles of the gospel revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. His parents, brother Joseph, and several other members of the Young family also embraced the gospel and became active workers in the Church. During the summer subsequent to his baptism, he did much
preaching in the regions about Mendon, baptizing a goodly number and organizing several branches of the Church. In this vicinity also his life-long friend counselor and associate, Heber C. Kimball, received the gospel. With Elders Kimball and Joseph Young, Brigham Young visited Kirtland, Ohio, in the fall of 1832, and for the first time in life saw and became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith. They were mutually impressed with the integrity of each other. In the evening of the day they first met, the Prophet called upon Brother Brigham to pray. While praying he spoke in tongues. The Prophet received the interpretation and said it was the pure language spoken
by Adam in the Garden of Eden. After Brigham had left the room Joseph Smith uttered the prophecy, "The time will come when Brother Brigham will preside over this Church." In the winter of 1832-3 Brother Brigham, with his brother Joseph Young, labored as missionaries
in and near "West Laboro, Canada. They were successful in baptizing numbers of people and organizing several branches of the Church. His labors continued the following spring and part of the summer in Canada and northern New York, with encouraging success. In July, 1833, he conducted a small company of Saints to Kirtland. This may be called the commencement of his great labors in the capacity of a pioneer leader, which he so fully accomplished in later years. In the fall of 1833 he removed with his family to Kirtland, Ohio, and was ever afterward an important personage in the growth and development of that city. In February, 1834, he married Mary Ann Angell, who took faithful care of his motherless children. She bore several children to him, among them the present Apostle, Elder Brigham Young. When Zion's Camp was organized in 1834 to carry supplies and encouragement to the driven Saints In Missouri, and which needed men of integrity, endurance, faith and courage, Brigham Young was among the foremost of the faithful few to accomplish that wonderful pilgrimage to and from Missouri, doing his work cheerfully, and was never known to murmur against the providences or Prophet of the Lord. On his return to Kirtland,having journeyed two thousand miles on foot, he occupied the remainder of the year working on the printing office, school room and Temple. When the first quorum of Twelve Apostles of this dispensation, Feb. 14, 1835, were chosen, Brigham Young was numbered among them; from then until 1837, he spent his summers, preaching, baptizing, organizing branches, as a missionary, and his winters working at his trade upon the Kirtland Temple, the painting and finishing of which he skillfully superintended
in the spring of 1836. He also attended the Hebrew school in Kirtland in the winter of 1835-36. When the Temple was dedicated he attended the solemn assembly and received his blessings in the House of the Lord. Soon after this he performed a faithful mission in the Eastern States, with Dr. Willard Richards. He returned in May, 1837, and later the same year filled another short mission in the State of New York. During the financial panic of 1837, when apostasy ran so high in Kirtland and several of the Twelve Apostles turned against the Prophet, with false accusations, and sought his overthrow, Brigham Young stood firm and loyal, declaring in the face of bitter enemies, that Joseph Smith was true and faithful and still a Prophet of God, So intense was the hatred against Brigham Young for this bold stand that he was obliged to leave Kirtland to escape the fury of the mob. He left Dec. 22, 1837, and arrived among the Saints in Far West, Mo.,
March 14, 1838. Soon after this the entire Church moved from Ohio to Missouri. In the meantime the Prophet Joseph and other brethren
were betrayed by apostates, threatened with death and cast into prison. During this period the coming Prophet, Brigham Young, was industrious and improving the land, and laboring diligently in the duties of his Apostleship, especially in preparing and planning for the exodus of the Saints from Missouri under the cruel order of extermination Issued by Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs. In this exodus Brigham Young exemplified those gifts of organization and pioneering, which Providence destined him so thoroughly to amplify in the great exodus of the Latter-day Saints a decade later. Brigham Young not only directed, but worked as hard in a practical way as those over whom he was called at this critical juncture temporarily to preside. He left his own family no less than eleven times to return with teams to bring up the poor and helpless. With President Heber C. Kimball he had entered into this covenant, that they would not cease their efforts until all who would should be delivered from Missouri and safely harbored in a more hospitable State. This covenant they most faithfully kept. April 18, 1839, with others of the Twelve, he left Quincy to fulfil a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith July 8, 1838, to the effect that the Twelve should take their departure on their mission to Eng'and from the Temple site in Far West. The mob had sworn that this should not be fulfilled, but under the protection of the Almighty, with Brigham Young at the head of the Twelve, this revelation was signally fulfilled. He returned to Quincy May 3rd, and met with Joseph and Hyrum Smith the first time since their escape from their enemies in Missouri. On the 16th of the same month he left for Nauvoo, and a week later moved his family across the river to Montrose, where he secured a room in some old military barracks as a temporary home for himself and family. The climate was sickly in Nauvoo and his health was poor,but Brigham Young was constantly doing all in his power to establish the Saints and build up the city of Nauvoo. He continued this labor until Sept. 14, 1839, when he started "without purse or scrip" to perform his mission in England. He was sick when he started, leaving a babe only ten days old, his wife and the children being ill, with no means of support in sight. On his way to New York he did much teaching and preaching, sailing from New York March 9, 1840, arriving in England April 6th. July 1, 1841, he arrived in Nauvoo from his mission in England, and was cordially welcomed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. During his absence, while laboring in the British Isles, thousands of souls were added to the Church in that foreign land, and a permanent shipping- agency was established.
At the first council of the Twelve held in a foreign land Brigham Young was unanimously sustained as president of that quorum. Under his
direction steps were taken to publish 3,000 hymn books, 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon, and the "Millennial Star" was published, with Apostle Parley P. Pratt as its first editor. In a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jan. 19, 1841, the Lord says: "I give unto you my servant, Brigham Young, to be a president over the Twelve traveling council, which Twelve hold the keys to open up the authority of my kingdom upon the four corners of the earth, and after that to send my word to every creature." The Quorum of the Twelve stands next in authority to the Presidency of the Church, and in case of the decease of the Prophet the Twelve preside over the Church with their president at the head, and thus was brought to the front Brigham Young, the man whom God designed should succeed the Prophet Joseph Smith. On the return of Brother Brigham to Nauvoo he became active in building up the city, as well as constantly diligent in attending to the duties of his Apostleship. In July following the call of President Young to preside over the Quorum of the Twelve, the Prophet Joseph requested the Twelve to take the responsibilitj' of the Church in Nauvoo, especially in practical matters. They attended to the selling of its lands, locating the incoming Saints, and attending to such other labors as would relieve and lighten the burden resting upon the Prophet Joseph Smith. In all this labor Brigham Young was energetic and efficient, proving himself to be a great help to the Prophet of God in all the labors incident to those trying times. He also served with ability as a member of the city council of Nauvoo. July 7, 1843, he started on a mision to the Eastern States, one chief purpose being to gather funds for the building of the Temple and the Nauvoo house. He was absent until Oct. 22nd the same year. From this timf until May 21, 1844, he was busy in his calling, often in council with the Prophet and other leading men, constantly alive to the interest of Zion and the spread of the gospel throughout the world. On the date last named he went on a short mission to the east. "While absent, learning of the sad news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, he immediately returned to Nauvoo. This was the first time in this dispensation the Church had been called to mourn the loss of their Prophet, Seer and Revelator. The people were young in experience. False brethren sought to establish themselves as the rightful guardians of the Church, Sidney Rigdon making such a claim at a conference held in Nauvoo Aug. 8, 1844. When the Twelve were sustained as the presiding authority of the Church, Brigham Young arose to speak, and in the presence of the multitude was transfigured by the spirit and power of God, so that his form, size, countenance and voice appeared as those of the martyred Prophet. Even non-members were struck with amazement and expected to see and hear the departed Seer. From that moment doubt and uncertainty were banished from the hearts of the faithful and they were fully assured that the mantle of Joseph Smith had fallen upon Brigham Young. After the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, persecution did not cease; the Prophets were slain but truth did not die. The man who stood as the earthly head was taken away, but the authority which he held had been conferred upon others. The work of God went on and in the midst of persecution and bitter hatred Brigham Young stood calmly performing his duties, counseling the Saints, caring for their wants, and pushing with zeal the completion of the Nauvoo Temple, which was dedicated and used for sacred ordinances before the final exodus from Nauvoo. Brigham Young labored much in ' the Temple until February, 1846, when he left the beloved city, and joined the emigrating Saints on the west side of the Mississippi. This was a trying time. Twenty thousand Saints were dispossessed of their homes, and turned out upon the prairies of Iowa in winter. It required not only a great man to be their leader, but one whose greatness consisted in his faith in God and title to the right that God should be his strength and source of inspiration. Such a man was Brigham Young, a veritable "Lion of the Lord" in the face of persecution and trial, yet childlike, humble and dependent on the Lord. The Saints were seeking a country they knew not where. They were poor and some were sick. Several babies were born in camp, just after leaving Nauvoo. To counteract melancholy, and aid them to the exercise of cheerful hope. President Young would have them meet around the camp fire, and engage in songs and instrumental music. To aid the Saints less well equipped than others he established two resting and recruiting points. Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah. The main body, with President Young at their head, reached Council Bluffs, on the Missouri river, in June. While here he was requested by the government to furnish a battalion of five hundred men. to engage in the war with Mexico. This was promptly complied with, taking many of the most able-bodied men from the camp of the Paints. After fitting out the Mormon battalion, he crossed the Mississippi to the Nebraska side and established Winter Quarters, since called Florence, about five miles north of Omaha. Here he laid out streets and blocks, upon which comfortable log houses were built, erecting a grist mill, and in numerous ways providing for the comfort of the Saints, while himself and a chosen few should fathom the unexplored regions of the Rocky Mountains in quest of a home for an exiled people. In April, 1847, President Young and 147 others, among whom were three noble women, full of faith, commenced their perilous journey across the plains, arriving in Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847. President Young was sick and riding in the carriage of Apostle Wilford Woodruff, when his eyes rested upon the valley, he said "This is the place." It was a barren desert, but God had shown him in vision the place to rest, and he knew the valley when he saw it with his natural eye. President Young immediately directed the laying out of a city, with ten acre blocks, with eight lots in each, one and one-fourth acres in size, the streets eight rods wide, to have a sidewalk on either side one rod wide, and subsequently when water could be obtained, a beautiful row of trees to adorn and shade the same, watered by a crystal stream on the outside of the walk. This was the pattern, and most of the cities in Utah bear the main characteristics of the pioneer city of Salt Lake. In August President Young started on his return to Winter Quarters, on the way meeting about two thousand Saints, who reached Salt Lake valley in the fall of 1847. At Winter Quarters Dec.
5, 1847, President Young was unanimously sustained by the Twelve. President of the Church, and on Dec. 27th by all the authorities and Saints assembled in general conference at Council Bluffs. May 26th he started with his family on his return to Salt Lake valley. At Winter Quarters he left a home, mills and other property. This was the fifth time he had left home and property for the gospel's sake. This year he superintended the emigration of over two thousand souls, arrived in Salt Lake City Sept. 20, 1848, and began at once giving counsel and planning for the general welfare. At a conference held Oct. 8, 1848, he was unanTmously sustained as President of the Church, with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, who had also been sustained in the conference at Council Bluffs, as his counselors. A new era now dawned upon the Church, a thousand miles from bigoted intolerance and mob violence. The Saints found themselves in a desert, but free and happy, notwithstanding the task before them of reclaiming a wilderness. No man in the Church, before or since, was better adapted to lead in colonizing and building up a great commonwealth, than was Brigham Young. He served as the first governor of Utah, from 1851 to 1858, to the satisfaction of the people of the Territory, and to the President of the United States, who appointed him. When Johnston's army was sent to Utah for the purpose of suppressing an imaginary rebellion, which the lying Judge Drummond had induced President Buchanan to believe existed, President Young declared that if the army riersisted in entering Salt Lakr valley as a hostile foe, they would find it, as the Latter-day Saints had found it, a barren waste. Accordingly torches were prepared to burn down all the houses and property in Salt Lake City, and the body of the Saints moved southward. The move was made, but through kind Providence .and the intervention of Col. Thos. L. Kane, the administration was convinced that no rebellion existed among the "Mormons," and that Judge Drummond had basely lied about the Latter-day Saints. The judge had reported that the "Mormons" had burned the court records. The committee who preceded the army to Salt Lake City found the court records intact, while life and property in Salt Lake City was as safe to all classes, as in any other part of the Union. In this trying circumstance, the courage and prompt action of President Brigham Young displayed the character of the man. In April, 1853, the cornerstones of a great Temple were laid in Salt Lake City, which was completed
forty years later. Before its completion President Brigham Young laid the foundation of three others, in St. George, Manti and Logan. The one in St. George he lived to dedicate to the Lord and complete the organization of the stakes of Zion, so far as poulation required it to be done. In the St. George Temple he explained the order and duties of the various offices in the Holy Priesthood During his life-time in Utah, from 1847-1877, he labored most industriously in both spiritual and temporal matters for the welfare of all inhabitants of the Territory and indeed for the benefit of all mankind. He built mills, factories and granaries, etc., and encouraged every form of home industry, which the facilities of this region would justify. In the developments of mines alone, he exercised a check, stating that the time had not come to develop them to any considerable extent. The wisdom of this suggestion is appreciated by the Latter-day Saints, who know what a rapid development of mining interests at that time would have brought to Utah an element of speculators and political demagogues, who would have waged a bitter warfare against the Saints when their numbers and strength were too limited to maintain their foothold in this region. President Young was the prime mover in the building of the Utah Central and Utah Southern railroads. He was a contractor on a large scale in building the Union Pacific and the telegraph line across the plains, also in building the Deseret telegraph line to local points in the State. Brigham Young and his associates founded the Deseret University, now called the University of Utah, and one of the very best educational institutions west of the Missouri river. In later years, to aid the children of the Saints to obtain an education in religious truths, as well as in secular branches, he founded and endowed the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, and the Brigham Young College in Logan. He was in all respects the friend and promoter of all true education, though limited himself in youth
to eleven days' schooling. He founded settlements in Arizona, Idaho and Nevada. During his administration of thirty years as President of the Church, he made frequent tours, accompanied by his associates in the Priesthood, to the settlements of the Saints throughout the length and breadth of the land. He was diligent in sending the gospel abroad, opening up new fields of labor in various parts of the earth. He was a man of God and a man of the people. He loved God and all mankind. He must always know the truth and righteousness of a movement before he would espouse and aid it. Like his predecessor, Joseph Smith, and nearly all great men, he had bitter enemies. His character and course in life were traduced and vilified. He was cast into prison on false charges, and the weapon of the assassin was prepared to shed his blood. But God "delivered him out of them all." Though he did not utter so many distinct prophecies, he builded faithfully upon the foundation laid through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and all his movements and counsels were prophetic, as fully demonstrated by subsequent events. He was a Prophet, statesman, pioneer and colonizer. The saying is attributed to William H. Seward,
secretary of state under the administration of Abraham Lincoln, that America had never produced a greater statesman than Brigham Young. His policy with the Indians was one of peace. "It is better to feed them than to fight them," was his theory, and he carried it out fully. The Indians loved and respected him. It cannot be denied truthfully that the policy of Brigham Young and his people and the Indians has saved to our nation life and treasure in Utah and Arizona. In his family he was kind and indulgent. Indeed he was a philanthropist to all who would receive his counsel and kind acts, for he was not only the husband of several wives like the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, and the father of fifty-six children, but he provided means for the support and education of orphans and others destitute of the comforts of life. He believed, however, in the strictest industry, that it was false policy to feed men in idleness if work could be provided for them. In the face of calumny and opposition he was calm and serene,and bore persecution with that submission and patience which stamped him not only a broad-minded and great-hearted man, but truly a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He departed this life peacefully at his home in Salt Lake City, Aug. 29, 1877. His funeral was attended by about 30,000 people, both of his faith and non-Mormons. He was a true and undaunted friend in life to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for whom he offered his life, wherever opportunity afforded, and it is not wonderful when the spirit was taking flight from his temple of clay, if Joseph, the Prophet, appeared to him and welcomed him home to the spirit world, for the last words he uttered were, "Joseph! Joseph! Joseph: Joseph," and Brigham Young had finished his earthly mission.
— Matthias F. Cowley. (For further details see "Deseret News," (weekly) Vols. 7 and 8; "Millenial Star," Vols 25 and 26: History of Brigham Young by Edward W. Tullidge, and the early Church publications generally.)
YOUNG, Brigham, second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born June 1, 1801, in Wittingham, Windham county, Vermont. Like his predecessor he was of purely American stock, dating back many generations. His father, John Young, fought in the revolutionary war, and his grandfather in the French and Indian war. His family relations on both sides were among the staunchest supporters of freedom in the American colonies. He was the ninth child in a family of five sons and six daughters. They were inured to hard labor and were strictly moral in their habits. He was trained in piety, but joined no denomination until the age of twenty-one, when he identified himself with the Methodist church, to which his parents were allied. (At the age of sixteen he commenced business for himself. He learned the trades of carpenter, joiner, painter and glazier, and exhibited traits of a practical character which in afterlife were brought into such a broad field of activity among the people of God, being quickened by the inspiration of the Almighty. In the meantime his parents had moved to Chenango county, New York. Oct. 8, 1824, he married Miss Miriam Works and located in Cayuga county, New York, where he followed his occupation of carpenter, painter, joiner and glazier. Early in 1829 he removed to Mendon, Monroe county, New York, where in the spring of 1830 he first saw a copy of the Book of Mormon, which was brought to that neighborhood by Elder Samuel H. Smith, brother of the Prophet. The contents of this sacred record he carefully read with a prayerful desire to know the truth. His investigation resulted in a firm conviction that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the living God and the Book of Mormon a divine record. Although a Methodist of sincere piety and confronted with frowns and opposition, he had the courage of his convictions, being baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day day Saints April 14, 1832, by Elder Eleazer Miller. He was ordained an
Elder by Brother Miller the same day. Three weeks later, his faithful wife was baptized. She died In the faith Sept. 8, 1832. leaving him two little girls as the result of their union. From the day of Elder Young's baptism he became a most indefatigable and fearless advocate of the pure principles of the gospel revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. His parents, brother Joseph, and several other members of the Young family also embraced the gospel and became active workers in the Church. During the summer subsequent to his baptism, he did much
preaching in the regions about Mendon, baptizing a goodly number and organizing several branches of the Church. In this vicinity also his life-long friend counselor and associate, Heber C. Kimball, received the gospel. With Elders Kimball and Joseph Young, Brigham Young visited Kirtland, Ohio, in the fall of 1832, and for the first time in life saw and became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith. They were mutually impressed with the integrity of each other. In the evening of the day they first met, the Prophet called upon Brother Brigham to pray. While praying he spoke in tongues. The Prophet received the interpretation and said it was the pure language spoken
by Adam in the Garden of Eden. After Brigham had left the room Joseph Smith uttered the prophecy, "The time will come when Brother Brigham will preside over this Church." In the winter of 1832-3 Brother Brigham, with his brother Joseph Young, labored as missionaries
in and near "West Laboro, Canada. They were successful in baptizing numbers of people and organizing several branches of the Church. His labors continued the following spring and part of the summer in Canada and northern New York, with encouraging success. In July, 1833, he conducted a small company of Saints to Kirtland. This may be called the commencement of his great labors in the capacity of a pioneer leader, which he so fully accomplished in later years. In the fall of 1833 he removed with his family to Kirtland, Ohio, and was ever afterward an important personage in the growth and development of that city. In February, 1834, he married Mary Ann Angell, who took faithful care of his motherless children. She bore several children to him, among them the present Apostle, Elder Brigham Young. When Zion's Camp was organized in 1834 to carry supplies and encouragement to the driven Saints In Missouri, and which needed men of integrity, endurance, faith and courage, Brigham Young was among the foremost of the faithful few to accomplish that wonderful pilgrimage to and from Missouri, doing his work cheerfully, and was never known to murmur against the providences or Prophet of the Lord. On his return to Kirtland,having journeyed two thousand miles on foot, he occupied the remainder of the year working on the printing office, school room and Temple. When the first quorum of Twelve Apostles of this dispensation, Feb. 14, 1835, were chosen, Brigham Young was numbered among them; from then until 1837, he spent his summers, preaching, baptizing, organizing branches, as a missionary, and his winters working at his trade upon the Kirtland Temple, the painting and finishing of which he skillfully superintended
in the spring of 1836. He also attended the Hebrew school in Kirtland in the winter of 1835-36. When the Temple was dedicated he attended the solemn assembly and received his blessings in the House of the Lord. Soon after this he performed a faithful mission in the Eastern States, with Dr. Willard Richards. He returned in May, 1837, and later the same year filled another short mission in the State of New York. During the financial panic of 1837, when apostasy ran so high in Kirtland and several of the Twelve Apostles turned against the Prophet, with false accusations, and sought his overthrow, Brigham Young stood firm and loyal, declaring in the face of bitter enemies, that Joseph Smith was true and faithful and still a Prophet of God, So intense was the hatred against Brigham Young for this bold stand that he was obliged to leave Kirtland to escape the fury of the mob. He left Dec. 22, 1837, and arrived among the Saints in Far West, Mo.,
March 14, 1838. Soon after this the entire Church moved from Ohio to Missouri. In the meantime the Prophet Joseph and other brethren
were betrayed by apostates, threatened with death and cast into prison. During this period the coming Prophet, Brigham Young, was industrious and improving the land, and laboring diligently in the duties of his Apostleship, especially in preparing and planning for the exodus of the Saints from Missouri under the cruel order of extermination Issued by Gov. Lilburn W. Boggs. In this exodus Brigham Young exemplified those gifts of organization and pioneering, which Providence destined him so thoroughly to amplify in the great exodus of the Latter-day Saints a decade later. Brigham Young not only directed, but worked as hard in a practical way as those over whom he was called at this critical juncture temporarily to preside. He left his own family no less than eleven times to return with teams to bring up the poor and helpless. With President Heber C. Kimball he had entered into this covenant, that they would not cease their efforts until all who would should be delivered from Missouri and safely harbored in a more hospitable State. This covenant they most faithfully kept. April 18, 1839, with others of the Twelve, he left Quincy to fulfil a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith July 8, 1838, to the effect that the Twelve should take their departure on their mission to Eng'and from the Temple site in Far West. The mob had sworn that this should not be fulfilled, but under the protection of the Almighty, with Brigham Young at the head of the Twelve, this revelation was signally fulfilled. He returned to Quincy May 3rd, and met with Joseph and Hyrum Smith the first time since their escape from their enemies in Missouri. On the 16th of the same month he left for Nauvoo, and a week later moved his family across the river to Montrose, where he secured a room in some old military barracks as a temporary home for himself and family. The climate was sickly in Nauvoo and his health was poor,but Brigham Young was constantly doing all in his power to establish the Saints and build up the city of Nauvoo. He continued this labor until Sept. 14, 1839, when he started "without purse or scrip" to perform his mission in England. He was sick when he started, leaving a babe only ten days old, his wife and the children being ill, with no means of support in sight. On his way to New York he did much teaching and preaching, sailing from New York March 9, 1840, arriving in England April 6th. July 1, 1841, he arrived in Nauvoo from his mission in England, and was cordially welcomed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. During his absence, while laboring in the British Isles, thousands of souls were added to the Church in that foreign land, and a permanent shipping- agency was established.
At the first council of the Twelve held in a foreign land Brigham Young was unanimously sustained as president of that quorum. Under his
direction steps were taken to publish 3,000 hymn books, 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon, and the "Millennial Star" was published, with Apostle Parley P. Pratt as its first editor. In a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jan. 19, 1841, the Lord says: "I give unto you my servant, Brigham Young, to be a president over the Twelve traveling council, which Twelve hold the keys to open up the authority of my kingdom upon the four corners of the earth, and after that to send my word to every creature." The Quorum of the Twelve stands next in authority to the Presidency of the Church, and in case of the decease of the Prophet the Twelve preside over the Church with their president at the head, and thus was brought to the front Brigham Young, the man whom God designed should succeed the Prophet Joseph Smith. On the return of Brother Brigham to Nauvoo he became active in building up the city, as well as constantly diligent in attending to the duties of his Apostleship. In July following the call of President Young to preside over the Quorum of the Twelve, the Prophet Joseph requested the Twelve to take the responsibilitj' of the Church in Nauvoo, especially in practical matters. They attended to the selling of its lands, locating the incoming Saints, and attending to such other labors as would relieve and lighten the burden resting upon the Prophet Joseph Smith. In all this labor Brigham Young was energetic and efficient, proving himself to be a great help to the Prophet of God in all the labors incident to those trying times. He also served with ability as a member of the city council of Nauvoo. July 7, 1843, he started on a mision to the Eastern States, one chief purpose being to gather funds for the building of the Temple and the Nauvoo house. He was absent until Oct. 22nd the same year. From this timf until May 21, 1844, he was busy in his calling, often in council with the Prophet and other leading men, constantly alive to the interest of Zion and the spread of the gospel throughout the world. On the date last named he went on a short mission to the east. "While absent, learning of the sad news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, he immediately returned to Nauvoo. This was the first time in this dispensation the Church had been called to mourn the loss of their Prophet, Seer and Revelator. The people were young in experience. False brethren sought to establish themselves as the rightful guardians of the Church, Sidney Rigdon making such a claim at a conference held in Nauvoo Aug. 8, 1844. When the Twelve were sustained as the presiding authority of the Church, Brigham Young arose to speak, and in the presence of the multitude was transfigured by the spirit and power of God, so that his form, size, countenance and voice appeared as those of the martyred Prophet. Even non-members were struck with amazement and expected to see and hear the departed Seer. From that moment doubt and uncertainty were banished from the hearts of the faithful and they were fully assured that the mantle of Joseph Smith had fallen upon Brigham Young. After the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, persecution did not cease; the Prophets were slain but truth did not die. The man who stood as the earthly head was taken away, but the authority which he held had been conferred upon others. The work of God went on and in the midst of persecution and bitter hatred Brigham Young stood calmly performing his duties, counseling the Saints, caring for their wants, and pushing with zeal the completion of the Nauvoo Temple, which was dedicated and used for sacred ordinances before the final exodus from Nauvoo. Brigham Young labored much in ' the Temple until February, 1846, when he left the beloved city, and joined the emigrating Saints on the west side of the Mississippi. This was a trying time. Twenty thousand Saints were dispossessed of their homes, and turned out upon the prairies of Iowa in winter. It required not only a great man to be their leader, but one whose greatness consisted in his faith in God and title to the right that God should be his strength and source of inspiration. Such a man was Brigham Young, a veritable "Lion of the Lord" in the face of persecution and trial, yet childlike, humble and dependent on the Lord. The Saints were seeking a country they knew not where. They were poor and some were sick. Several babies were born in camp, just after leaving Nauvoo. To counteract melancholy, and aid them to the exercise of cheerful hope. President Young would have them meet around the camp fire, and engage in songs and instrumental music. To aid the Saints less well equipped than others he established two resting and recruiting points. Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah. The main body, with President Young at their head, reached Council Bluffs, on the Missouri river, in June. While here he was requested by the government to furnish a battalion of five hundred men. to engage in the war with Mexico. This was promptly complied with, taking many of the most able-bodied men from the camp of the Paints. After fitting out the Mormon battalion, he crossed the Mississippi to the Nebraska side and established Winter Quarters, since called Florence, about five miles north of Omaha. Here he laid out streets and blocks, upon which comfortable log houses were built, erecting a grist mill, and in numerous ways providing for the comfort of the Saints, while himself and a chosen few should fathom the unexplored regions of the Rocky Mountains in quest of a home for an exiled people. In April, 1847, President Young and 147 others, among whom were three noble women, full of faith, commenced their perilous journey across the plains, arriving in Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847. President Young was sick and riding in the carriage of Apostle Wilford Woodruff, when his eyes rested upon the valley, he said "This is the place." It was a barren desert, but God had shown him in vision the place to rest, and he knew the valley when he saw it with his natural eye. President Young immediately directed the laying out of a city, with ten acre blocks, with eight lots in each, one and one-fourth acres in size, the streets eight rods wide, to have a sidewalk on either side one rod wide, and subsequently when water could be obtained, a beautiful row of trees to adorn and shade the same, watered by a crystal stream on the outside of the walk. This was the pattern, and most of the cities in Utah bear the main characteristics of the pioneer city of Salt Lake. In August President Young started on his return to Winter Quarters, on the way meeting about two thousand Saints, who reached Salt Lake valley in the fall of 1847. At Winter Quarters Dec.
5, 1847, President Young was unanimously sustained by the Twelve. President of the Church, and on Dec. 27th by all the authorities and Saints assembled in general conference at Council Bluffs. May 26th he started with his family on his return to Salt Lake valley. At Winter Quarters he left a home, mills and other property. This was the fifth time he had left home and property for the gospel's sake. This year he superintended the emigration of over two thousand souls, arrived in Salt Lake City Sept. 20, 1848, and began at once giving counsel and planning for the general welfare. At a conference held Oct. 8, 1848, he was unanTmously sustained as President of the Church, with Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, who had also been sustained in the conference at Council Bluffs, as his counselors. A new era now dawned upon the Church, a thousand miles from bigoted intolerance and mob violence. The Saints found themselves in a desert, but free and happy, notwithstanding the task before them of reclaiming a wilderness. No man in the Church, before or since, was better adapted to lead in colonizing and building up a great commonwealth, than was Brigham Young. He served as the first governor of Utah, from 1851 to 1858, to the satisfaction of the people of the Territory, and to the President of the United States, who appointed him. When Johnston's army was sent to Utah for the purpose of suppressing an imaginary rebellion, which the lying Judge Drummond had induced President Buchanan to believe existed, President Young declared that if the army riersisted in entering Salt Lakr valley as a hostile foe, they would find it, as the Latter-day Saints had found it, a barren waste. Accordingly torches were prepared to burn down all the houses and property in Salt Lake City, and the body of the Saints moved southward. The move was made, but through kind Providence .and the intervention of Col. Thos. L. Kane, the administration was convinced that no rebellion existed among the "Mormons," and that Judge Drummond had basely lied about the Latter-day Saints. The judge had reported that the "Mormons" had burned the court records. The committee who preceded the army to Salt Lake City found the court records intact, while life and property in Salt Lake City was as safe to all classes, as in any other part of the Union. In this trying circumstance, the courage and prompt action of President Brigham Young displayed the character of the man. In April, 1853, the cornerstones of a great Temple were laid in Salt Lake City, which was completed
forty years later. Before its completion President Brigham Young laid the foundation of three others, in St. George, Manti and Logan. The one in St. George he lived to dedicate to the Lord and complete the organization of the stakes of Zion, so far as poulation required it to be done. In the St. George Temple he explained the order and duties of the various offices in the Holy Priesthood During his life-time in Utah, from 1847-1877, he labored most industriously in both spiritual and temporal matters for the welfare of all inhabitants of the Territory and indeed for the benefit of all mankind. He built mills, factories and granaries, etc., and encouraged every form of home industry, which the facilities of this region would justify. In the developments of mines alone, he exercised a check, stating that the time had not come to develop them to any considerable extent. The wisdom of this suggestion is appreciated by the Latter-day Saints, who know what a rapid development of mining interests at that time would have brought to Utah an element of speculators and political demagogues, who would have waged a bitter warfare against the Saints when their numbers and strength were too limited to maintain their foothold in this region. President Young was the prime mover in the building of the Utah Central and Utah Southern railroads. He was a contractor on a large scale in building the Union Pacific and the telegraph line across the plains, also in building the Deseret telegraph line to local points in the State. Brigham Young and his associates founded the Deseret University, now called the University of Utah, and one of the very best educational institutions west of the Missouri river. In later years, to aid the children of the Saints to obtain an education in religious truths, as well as in secular branches, he founded and endowed the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, and the Brigham Young College in Logan. He was in all respects the friend and promoter of all true education, though limited himself in youth
to eleven days' schooling. He founded settlements in Arizona, Idaho and Nevada. During his administration of thirty years as President of the Church, he made frequent tours, accompanied by his associates in the Priesthood, to the settlements of the Saints throughout the length and breadth of the land. He was diligent in sending the gospel abroad, opening up new fields of labor in various parts of the earth. He was a man of God and a man of the people. He loved God and all mankind. He must always know the truth and righteousness of a movement before he would espouse and aid it. Like his predecessor, Joseph Smith, and nearly all great men, he had bitter enemies. His character and course in life were traduced and vilified. He was cast into prison on false charges, and the weapon of the assassin was prepared to shed his blood. But God "delivered him out of them all." Though he did not utter so many distinct prophecies, he builded faithfully upon the foundation laid through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and all his movements and counsels were prophetic, as fully demonstrated by subsequent events. He was a Prophet, statesman, pioneer and colonizer. The saying is attributed to William H. Seward,
secretary of state under the administration of Abraham Lincoln, that America had never produced a greater statesman than Brigham Young. His policy with the Indians was one of peace. "It is better to feed them than to fight them," was his theory, and he carried it out fully. The Indians loved and respected him. It cannot be denied truthfully that the policy of Brigham Young and his people and the Indians has saved to our nation life and treasure in Utah and Arizona. In his family he was kind and indulgent. Indeed he was a philanthropist to all who would receive his counsel and kind acts, for he was not only the husband of several wives like the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, and the father of fifty-six children, but he provided means for the support and education of orphans and others destitute of the comforts of life. He believed, however, in the strictest industry, that it was false policy to feed men in idleness if work could be provided for them. In the face of calumny and opposition he was calm and serene,and bore persecution with that submission and patience which stamped him not only a broad-minded and great-hearted man, but truly a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He departed this life peacefully at his home in Salt Lake City, Aug. 29, 1877. His funeral was attended by about 30,000 people, both of his faith and non-Mormons. He was a true and undaunted friend in life to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for whom he offered his life, wherever opportunity afforded, and it is not wonderful when the spirit was taking flight from his temple of clay, if Joseph, the Prophet, appeared to him and welcomed him home to the spirit world, for the last words he uttered were, "Joseph! Joseph! Joseph: Joseph," and Brigham Young had finished his earthly mission.
— Matthias F. Cowley. (For further details see "Deseret News," (weekly) Vols. 7 and 8; "Millenial Star," Vols 25 and 26: History of Brigham Young by Edward W. Tullidge, and the early Church publications generally.)
Jenson, Andrew. "Young, Brigham." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. pg. 321, 724.
YOUNG, Brig ham, president of the British Mission from 1840 to 1841, died Aug. 29, 1877, in Salt Lake City. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 8.)
Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, presided in that capacity from 1844 to 1877.
YOUNG, Brigham, the great pioneer and leader of the original company of Utah pioneers, was born June 1, 1801, at Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont, a son of John Young and A. Nabie Howe. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church April 14, 1832, and from that time became an earnest worker and one of the veritable pillars of the Church. As president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles he became the nominal president of the Church immediately after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother
Hyrum. With characteristic leadership he led the first company of pioneers across the plains and mountains to their selected refuge in the Rocky Mountains, was sustained as president of the Church in the fall of 1847, served as governor of the Provisional State of Deseret and of the Territory of Utah, and under his guidance nearly 300 towns and settlements were founded during the thirty years which intervened between his arrival in Great Salt Lake Valley and his death in Salt Lake City Aug. 29, 1877. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 8.)
YOUNG, Brig ham, president of the British Mission from 1840 to 1841, died Aug. 29, 1877, in Salt Lake City. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 8.)
Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, presided in that capacity from 1844 to 1877.
YOUNG, Brigham, the great pioneer and leader of the original company of Utah pioneers, was born June 1, 1801, at Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont, a son of John Young and A. Nabie Howe. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church April 14, 1832, and from that time became an earnest worker and one of the veritable pillars of the Church. As president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles he became the nominal president of the Church immediately after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother
Hyrum. With characteristic leadership he led the first company of pioneers across the plains and mountains to their selected refuge in the Rocky Mountains, was sustained as president of the Church in the fall of 1847, served as governor of the Provisional State of Deseret and of the Territory of Utah, and under his guidance nearly 300 towns and settlements were founded during the thirty years which intervened between his arrival in Great Salt Lake Valley and his death in Salt Lake City Aug. 29, 1877. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 1, p. 8.)
Thatcher, Moses. "Life and Character of Brigham Young." The Contributor. July 1889. pg. 330-337.
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.[1]
We keep fresh in the heart sacred memories of the great dead by holding these annual conferences of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, on the anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest reformers of any age; and it is eminently proper and befitting that we should prayerfully and gratefully celebrate, in this manner, his natal day. And while willing to attempt the part given me, I sensibly realize that the committee on programme have assigned me a subject—The Life and Character of Brigham Young—which I have contemplated with no degree of confidence, feeling, as I did, utterly incompetent to do his great merit even partial justice.
By patient toil and persistent effort, the amateur might succeed with tongue or pen, in delineating some of the beauties of blade, leaf and flower. In like manner the unskilled hand may depict form and color of shrub or tree, imitate graceful curvatures of majestic rivers, and even catch the semblance of nature's smile kissing dew drops on hill and meadow; but dull, indeed, must be the sensibilities of him who approaches without reverence, and without awe, the towering mountain—rock-ribbed and strong, torn into volcanic seams, hoary with age and wrinkled, yet softened and beautified by tints and shadows lingering around canon and cliff, or glorified with the rays of the morning sun playing on icebound heights, and snowclad peaks all throbbing with inward power, by mortal man, immeasurable.
Standing at the base of Papocatapetl, one gazes enraptured at its symmetrical beauty; then, as the idea of the immensity of the magnificent pile dawns upon the mind, and conceptions of its breadth and height determine its magnitude, admiration supplants rapture, and admiration in turn yields to an overpowering sense of awe—the soul finds expression; and while no audible word is spoken, a voiceless something distinctly utters—How great is God, how marvelous His works!
As Papocatapetl to surrounding mountains so Brigham Young to most men known to me.
When gazing upon that king of mountains with its throbbing heart of fire, I was impressed precisely as when looking on form and feature of that king of men, with his mighty scope of intellectual power. In each instance common thoughts yielded, without personal volition, to those of more exalted nature, and in silent awe the heart's best impulses reach beyond the mountain to the Maker of the mountain; beyond the man to the Creator of the man.
God is the author of truth; and truth eternal was the guide of Brigham Young. Brigham Young did not create Mormonism; but Mormonism formed the character of Brigham Young. A mole hill fills not the space occupied by a mountain, neither the mind of an ordinary man the space filled by the mighty, almost boundless intellect and spiritual force of that great colonizer, statesman, reformer and prophet leader.
May we not—youth of Zion— on this day, hold in sacred memory his goodness, his greatness without injury to the living, or harm to the dead? Do we not recognize in the life and character of such men the divine workmanship of an Almighty and Supreme Creator, expressing Himself even in the eternal fitness and harmony of things?
He of whom we speak, was great in great things; and always greatest when great matters pressed for solution and dangerous emergency confused and baffled weaker men. When questions pregnant with great events pressed hard, he was able to build upon the firm foundation of wisdom and justice, forecast the future, meet the demands of the present, and then in a breath show his confidence in God, his freedom from care, by caressing the lips of innocent childhood and tenderly winning the love of babes.
The scope of his mind seemed limitless. His powers appeared upon all occasions equal to the comprehension and foundation of generalities of the greatest magnitude and of grasping smallest details.
He could speak the language of the stars, discourse eloquently respecting the organization of worlds; and then in simple terms direct how to plow and plant, reap and sow.
His spiritual and temporal faculties were so perfectly and harmoniously organized that no one could tell where the one left off and the other began. He above all men I have known put "life under the very ribs of death” by expounding in word and act religion as a live thing, helpful here and full of salvation in the great hereafter. The Gospel of Christ as expounded and practised by him became a vitalized force full of marvelous beauty, sympathy and power— a perfect law of liberty, comprehending life and light, justice and judgment.
Under the inspiration of God his mind was capable of the loftiest conceptions revealed to man, and in wisdom the simplest principles of domestic economy were made to shine as gems of the first water. In that early day, when dark clouds gathered and danger threatened; when weak minds wavered and discord allied with division, it was Brigham Young who brought order out of chaos, and traitors plotting for usurpation and innocent blood hid their heads, when the "lion-hearted" rebuked in the name of the Lord and foretold the fate of incontinent apostates. Then, if not before, God placed on Brigham Young the seal of successorship. The mantle of the youthful Prophet fell not on unworthy shoulders when it rested upon him who was willing to give his own to save the life of Joseph.
The external evidences of the divine mission and heavenly calling of the great modern boy Prophet are numerous; but none, to my mind, are more striking than is found in the recorded and sorrowful fact that he was able to announce the will of God in the call of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff to a foreign mission, at the very time when he knew that assassins were nightly plotting to take his life. Nothing in the annals of history is to my mind more sadly pathetic than was the parting of Joseph from those truest friends in the hour of deadly peril, save only that scene —that awful scene—in the lovely garden where Jesus, the spotless Son of God, sweat blood, while heavy-eyed slumber bound in senseless sleep every human heart capable of sympathetic emotion or pity for His deathly agony.
To understand what the Prophet suffered when sending away the few men on whom, in those dark days of trouble and sorrow, he could implicitly rely, we need only remember how his sensitive nature called him back from life to death, when false friends accused the shepherd of deserting his flock. How sadly pathetic, how reproachful, sounds, after the lapse of years, words wrung from a wounded heart—"If my life is of no value to my friends it should not be of value to me."
I have wandered from Brigham to Joseph. Well, God made them one — brothers before they came here, brothers here, brothers hereafter. In life their love of and devotion to each other was something touchingly tender and beautiful. In life, Joseph the Prophet was true to Brigham, his foreknown successor. In life, Brigham was equally true to Joseph. And who can say that one word of reproach ever fell from his lips after Joseph sealed his testimony with his blood.
Brigham Young was human and no doubt had human imperfections; possibly they might have been shown to the living, but I do not think that he was ever jealous of the dead. The sun has spots—I am not able to say that God has not placed them there for the temporal salvation of man made in His own image. I am not able to bear more light and heat than comes from the king of day with all the spots that obscure his face! I have seen Brigham Young at times when he appeared, much as I can conceive, a greater than mortal man to be. But for my own, and the sake of others I was glad to realize then, and am glad to know now that he was human and doubtless had human frailties, though I was unable to discern many that I am sure were such.
Thinking of him reverently now, and trying to grasp the scope of his great mind, I am much in the condition as when after two days' hard work, I failed to reach the top of a volcanic mountain in Mexico. Joyously I traversed the belt of flower and fern, then passed, much fatigued, the upper skirting of the timber beyond which vegetation yielded to the sway of eternal ice and snow. Yet above and within I knew there was a throbbing, though slumbering heart of fire, the extent and force of which no man could estimate. Still struggling upward, anxious to reach the height for which I had toiled, my feet grew cold, my head hot, while the heart beat hard, the brain grew giddy and reason uncertain, but something whispered, "You have measured your capacity."
So with the character of Brigham Young. However great I may think it, it still is greater than that. However much I may try to exalt his life, it still is beyond that. Broad as I may think his capabilities, they were broader than I can estimate. However high I may place his wondrous character, it still like that volcanic mountain, is higher than I can reach. Its height and breadth and depth are beyond the scope of my powers. In contemplating them I am amazed even at my faint conceptions of its magnitude, and yet I have but reached the ferns and flowers. Away above is the hardy pine, and still above these the garnered treasures of ice and snow to be melted by the growing heat and sent down, with the laughing brook, to gladden the parched earth below.
Brigham Young was colonizer, statesman, philosopher, philanthropist, reformer, prophet-leader, priestly-king, an honest man, God's noblest work.
In June, 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde and others were called to go on a mission to England. Heber was exceedingly desirous that Brigham should accompany them, but Joseph the Prophet said, "No; I shall keep him with me." The wisdom of that decision was soon verified. Brigham publicly and privately testified that he knew by the testimony of the Holy Ghost that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High God, and had not transgressed and fallen as apostates declared. In consequence of that testimony his own life was threatened and he left Kirtland in December following. Later the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon fled from the fury of mobs, and joined him in Indiana, where Joseph sought to get a job sawing and cutting wood. Failing to secure work, and being weary, he came and said: Brother Brigham, I am destitute of means to pursue my journey, and as you are one of the Twelve Apostles who hold the keys of the Kingdom in all the world, I believe I shall throw myself upon you and look to you for counsel in this case." At first Brigham was unable to think Joseph was in earnest, but on finally being convinced that he really was, he said: "If you will take my counsel, Brother Joseph, you will rest yourself and be assured you shall have plenty of money with which to pursue your journey." That simple incident, trifling in itself, goes to show in what estimation the great modern prophet held the wisdom and strength of his friend and predicted successor, even in those early days. God verified, too, the words of his apostolic servant, and Joseph was soon supplied with "plenty of money to pursue his journey."
A more striking incident of brotherly devotion to Joseph, and of obedience to the revelations of God through him, is shown in the fulfilment of the word of the Lord given, in 1838, respecting the Twelve Apostles and their duties in reference to preaching the Gospel in the regions round about, and definitely fixing the date—April 26, 1839 — when they should take leave of the Saints at Far West " on the building spot of my house sayeth the Lord," previous to their departure on a mission over the great waters.
As the date mentioned approached, many of the Saints found themselves banished, Joseph the Prophet imprisoned, and the Twelve could return to Far West only at the peril of their lives. But there was the revelation fixing time and place for the performance of a special work assigned to the Twelve by the Lord. Mobs had declared with an oath that one revelation of Joseph Smith at least should fail of fulfilment, even if all others should be verified to the letter. This one, boasted they, names date and place where and when certain things are commanded to be done, and we will see that they are not done. Even many of the authorities of the Church, it is said, urged that the Lord would not require the Apostles to fulfil that revelation literally, but would accept the will for the deed. But Brigham Young and the Twelve with him thought otherwise. He and they felt that the Lord had spoken and it was their duty to obey, trusting in Him to protect them and determine results.
The Prophet was imprisoned and the responsibility of the Church and of sustaining the word of God was on the Twelve, and Brigham Young was not the man to let it fail. Reaching the vicinity of Far West the Twelve hid themselves in a grove, while the mob came into the town and taunted the committee in charge, respecting the revelation mentioned and threatened them with violence if they were found in Far West the next day.
"Early on the morning of April 26th, the elect day,"—the Twelve proceeded to the building spot of the "Lord's House," held their conference, excommunicated thirty-one persons from the Church, and through the assistance of the master workman, re-commenced the construction of the "Lord's House," by "rolling a large stone upon the northeast corner." There were present of the Twelve: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page and John Taylor. On that sacred spot and on that memorable day, they ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the office of the Apostleship and called them as the Lord had directed to fill the place, in the quorum of the Twelve, made vacant by those who had fallen. Following the ceremony of ordination, prayer was offered, each praying in turn, beginning with Brigham Young. After which they sang "Adam-ondi-Ahman," and took leave of the Saints as instructed in the revelation.
These circumstances clearly show why Joseph was loth to part with Brigham even on the earnest solicitation of his almost equally beloved friend, Heber. To the pleading importunities of such even as his prophet brother, he could say nay! But when God called him to part with the prudent, lion-hearted support and stay, he could not say nay — knowing that "obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams." Whatever were the personal feelings of the great modern Prophet, like Jesus, his Master, he had learned that he was here not to do his own but the will of his Father, and he did it even unto death, and so did his successor.
True greatness consists in being equal to emergencies; rising higher and higher when most environed and beset with startling difficulties and overwhelming disasters. Cromwell with his invincible Ironsides was great in war because of his trust in the God of hosts and the justice of principles for which he fought. Napoleon was great when conducting armies on the bloody battlefield against what he conceived to be the usurpations of monarchial dynasties; but was not great when he cast off Josephine, the wife of his youth, that he might form an alliance by marriage with a scion of the very system of monarchial despotism against which he had thrown the best lives of France by thousands, and to destroy which he had poured out in torrents the blood of her sons. Great was he when earnestly contending for what he honestly believed to be right, but when principles were sacrificed at the shrine of selfish ambition, and hypocrisy supplanted sincerity he became despicable.
At the battle of Borodino his marvelous faculty of concentrating promptly, and at the opportune time, embattled hosts to break the lines of an enemy, had not yet forsaken him; he was still the child of destiny—war's fierce cyclone. The Russian lines entrenched behind their guns were decimated by the awful cannonading of the French, who for hours poured upon them shot and shell, until the heavens seemed ablaze and the murky demons of hell appeared as if tearing out the very bowels of earth. Suddenly, as if by magic, the roar of artillery ceased all along the line, and an awful silence, as of universal death, for a moment, reigned supreme; then followed a sound like the dropping of gentle rain on dry forest leaves. That seemingly harmless sound grew apace as it came thundering forward, increasing as the voice of the ocean wave, until breaking through the sulfurous smoke the irresistible cavalry charge shattered the Russian line as the hurricane sweeps the reed-shadowed marsh. Beneath the wheel lay the father, who died at his post, and beside him, near the breech of the great gun, crouched the boy soldier, undergoing his first baptism of blood and fire. Around him gathered the great Napoleon and staff, one of the latter crying exultingly, "A great victory! a great victory!" "Yes," replied another, "but at what a cost! Half our army lies dead or maimed, we should fall back and recruit our broken regiments." Then Napoleon turned with a cold sneer upon his lips and said: "We turn not back, but date our next bulletin from Moscow. Gentlemen, an omelet cannot be made without the breaking of a few eggs." And the boy of the dead gunner heard it and knew that God was no longer with Napoleon, and that the star of the merciless must soon be hidden forever in the dark clouds of ruin and despair.
A little time since I incidentally spoke, in this building, of the heroic Grant, and mentioned him as victor in numerous battles, and referred to his indomitable perseverance and courage; how amid raging battle he coolly replaced torn regiments with fresh men from his reserves, and fought on unmoved as if determined to win on that line, and expressed the idea that the greatest of all the great achievements of that iron hearted soldier, was at Appomattox, when white- winged mercy prompted a generous refusal of the surrender of Confederate horses and mules offered by General Robert E. Lee. "No," said Grant, "not a horse, not a mule, General; your people will need them for the spring plowing." In that simple expression, revealing the tender heart and magnanimous soul of U. S. Grant, is found the secret of his greatness; and, I believe, largely of his success as a hero soldier.
A little later one of the brethren referring to my remarks about Grant, drew, in eloquent language, a touching picture of Lee, the general of the lost cause, and showed his greatness, not alone in victory, but in defeat as well. In listening to the recital of how that mighty commander watched division after division, regiment after regiment, melt away under terrific cross fires, and finally saw the hope of the Confederacy crushed on the bloody field of Gettysburg; and, while realizing that his heart was breaking, exclaimed, "We cannot always win battles;" I confess that while I did not think Grant less great, I thought that Lee's greatness had been tested far beyond that of the other; and what after all is the evidence of greatness save that found in the test.
On this rule, where stands Brigham Young? Place him not my young friends, I beseech you, below the highest our great country has produced. No boast do we make that he killed, or gave command to kill hundreds and thousands of fellow beings. I am aware that the highest laurels are woven into garlands to crown the brow of war's blood-stained heroes; but where others conquered on the field of carnage Brigham Young conquered in the field of justice and reason. When the vision of crimsoned walls and bespattered floors and the martyred Prophet at Carthage was revealed to his mind, his first thought was, "Has Joseph taken the keys of the Kingdom with him!" Joseph might die and the world still live; but Joseph dead and the keys of the Kingdom gone, the world and all things in it, he knew must perish sooner or later. Hence the far-reaching thought— a thought not prompted by individual or selfish, ambitious motives; for men like Brigham Young, lose thought of self, and individuality becomes completely swallowed up in the work assigned them. Sidney Rigdon seeking, after the martyrdom of Joseph, the guardianship of the Church, was not thus swallowed up; hence the joy of a shepherd less, distracted people when they heard the voice of true inspiration, the voice of true greatness, uttering: "Attention, Israel." No duplicity, or fear, or doubt in those words, nor in any that followed from his lips. In the finishing of the Nauvoo Temple under the circumstances then surrounding the Saints, is there not evidence of infinite trust in God and of greatness?
Grant and Lee, Napoleon, Caesar and Alexander each, no doubt, understood how to plan campaigns and conduct retreats; but history affords no evidence that either or all combined, possessed wisdom sufficient to organize a destitute, despoiled people, and successfully lead them as did Brigham Young. General Lee's hopes were crushed when he witnessed his shattered forces broken at Gettysburg. But Brigham Young driven with his people into a howling wilderness, did neither faint nor falter. Search the annals of war and conquest from the beginning, and learn that greatest courage and most lofty devotion are not exhibited on the battle field of carnage and death. But to lead a people destitute almost to the verge of starvation and nakedness requires greatness of the first magnitude. What Brigham Young accomplished in that respect has but one parallel in history, that of Moses leading ancient Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Witness what he did at Winter Quarters. With graves increasing around him and making the last earthly resting place of those daily dying from exposure and want, Brigham Young constantly sought to distract the minds of the people from their miserable surroundings, by directing them from the woes of the present, to the hopes of the future. Think of introducing the dance and encouraging the song under such sorrowful conditions. Think of his pleadings for the redress of the grievances of the people driven ruthlessly from their homes, and for answer, receive from the President a request for five hundred men from the camps of a homeless people, to secure the conquest of California and to fight, if need be, in the war with Mexico.
Who shall say that tests like these are not such as try men's souls? Yet Brigham Young, with his masterful conceptions of the future, yielded the strength of the camps and devoted it willingly to the service of the country that had permitted his people to be robbed of every right dear to an American citizen; except the right to honorably die. One can readily believe that treatment of this kind would inevitably tend to make the recipients in turn harsh and cruel. On the narrow and bigoted soul it undoubtedly would have that effect. But not so with Brigham Young; quite to the contrary, as evidenced by the precept and practice of the humane doctrine—when he came in contact with aborigines — that "it was cheaper to feed than to fight Indians." Cheaper in the saving of property, cheaper in the saving of human life, both of the white and red man; cheaper every way and more in harmony with Christian sympathy and Divine law.
It is not necessary that I should dwell on the trials and tribulations attending the exodus of a numerous people. They are matters of record within the reach of all who wish to know the facts. There are many sad details connected with the unparalleled journey into the wilderness, over which it is better now to draw the veil of forgetfulness. It is more pleasing to reflect upon the glorious outcome and mighty achievement wrought by a merciful God through His servant Brigham Young. His greatness shines forth in conduct and leadership and colonization and in the building of a mighty commonwealth in these mountain valleys; but vastly superior appears his marvelous management when coping with an invading army, backed by the determination of the mightiest nation on earth, bent on destruction to gratify public prejudice. In the supreme moment of danger the thought of making of this city a Moscow was born of emergency, but Brigham Young was its author. On all great occasions promptness and decision were characteristic of his organization; and let a question arise where it might, all Israel felt when it reached God's prophet leader, it would find proper solution, and when solved would be endorsed by wisdom.
I have spoken of many things respecting the life and character of Brigham Young, known perhaps to all the people, but there are others, very numerous and of deep interest, of which I would like to say something, but am admonished that it would not be prudent at this time. As statesman, political and domestic economist, as colonizer, organizer and reformer, all the world may know him if they choose; but as prophet leader and inspired, humble, devoted man of God, only those who have known him personally or through the revelations of the Lord can understand the unmeasurable love in which the Saints held and still hold him.
Who that has experienced the wonderful powers of magnetism with which God endowed him, can ever forget its influence. Are there not thousands here to-day whose flesh seemed electrified and the very marrow to melt in their bones when listening to the word of the Lord as it came through him? To others he largely left the process of argumentative reasoning to establish truth. He boldly announced it, as fresh from the mint of heaven, and left his hearers to ascertain, if they wished, why it was truth.
Earnest, watchful and prayerful, none whom I have known seemed to have the faculty or inspiration of getting so near the Lord in prayer as could he. The graceful dignity of his personal presence was exceedingly captivating, and the sympathy almost constantly exercised toward the weak and ill, seemed to win all hearts. Entering a house, at a glance, he was able to comprehend the inmost springs operating the emotions of pain or pleasure. How quickly he could detect the signs of illness of body or mind. A hint, a word, a glance of the eye and he knew it all. How many grateful hearts remember even now the soft, kind words—"Sister, you are not well; it has fallen to our lot to partake of your hospitality, but do not put yourself about, if you will only show us a little we can wait upon ourselves, without taxing you beyond your strength." How soothing, how comforting such kindly consideration and sympathy. Brigham Young read men more than books! God made man, man makes books! The innocent hearts of children he liked most to read, and how happy they were when in turn they could tender him their loving ovations, as he traveled among the people. And yet with all this tenderness— who that knew him does not feel that a refusal on his part to grant a request came often more acceptable than the assent of others, because realizing that the refusal must be founded in wisdom. The least coldness on the part of a friend would be detected by him in a moment, and the cause inquired into. If he was compelled to disappoint anyone, how kindly he could explain the reason for doing so! And yet, with all his tenderness, how terrible was his rebuke when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
He was quick to recognize merit, and humbly paid homage to goodness wherever found. In the streets of London he reverently stood with head uncovered before the chapel dedicated to John Wesley. If the thought ever entered his heart to place the youth of Zion under a ban of suspicion, for a moment, I never heard of it. It has been said that a glance of his penetrating eye has checked the evil design in the murderer's heart and caused the hand of the assassin to drop nerveless by his side, while his intended victim passed on with a smile.
Such in part was Brigham Young. Courageous, yet cautious—given great knowledge, yet having the wisdom to properly use it. The stamp of his genius work, his greatness and goodness are everywhere apparent throughout Zion. Here let us pause.
God made Brigham Young all he was and is. The key of his power was the holy priesthood, God-given and sacred. When he passed beyond the vail he did not take with him the keys of the kingdom. They are here and will remain until death and hell and the grave are conquered, and the curtain intervening shall no longer hide the living from the dead.
[1] Lecture by Apostle Moses Thatcher, at Y. M. M. I. A. Conference, June 1, 1889.
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.[1]
We keep fresh in the heart sacred memories of the great dead by holding these annual conferences of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, on the anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest reformers of any age; and it is eminently proper and befitting that we should prayerfully and gratefully celebrate, in this manner, his natal day. And while willing to attempt the part given me, I sensibly realize that the committee on programme have assigned me a subject—The Life and Character of Brigham Young—which I have contemplated with no degree of confidence, feeling, as I did, utterly incompetent to do his great merit even partial justice.
By patient toil and persistent effort, the amateur might succeed with tongue or pen, in delineating some of the beauties of blade, leaf and flower. In like manner the unskilled hand may depict form and color of shrub or tree, imitate graceful curvatures of majestic rivers, and even catch the semblance of nature's smile kissing dew drops on hill and meadow; but dull, indeed, must be the sensibilities of him who approaches without reverence, and without awe, the towering mountain—rock-ribbed and strong, torn into volcanic seams, hoary with age and wrinkled, yet softened and beautified by tints and shadows lingering around canon and cliff, or glorified with the rays of the morning sun playing on icebound heights, and snowclad peaks all throbbing with inward power, by mortal man, immeasurable.
Standing at the base of Papocatapetl, one gazes enraptured at its symmetrical beauty; then, as the idea of the immensity of the magnificent pile dawns upon the mind, and conceptions of its breadth and height determine its magnitude, admiration supplants rapture, and admiration in turn yields to an overpowering sense of awe—the soul finds expression; and while no audible word is spoken, a voiceless something distinctly utters—How great is God, how marvelous His works!
As Papocatapetl to surrounding mountains so Brigham Young to most men known to me.
When gazing upon that king of mountains with its throbbing heart of fire, I was impressed precisely as when looking on form and feature of that king of men, with his mighty scope of intellectual power. In each instance common thoughts yielded, without personal volition, to those of more exalted nature, and in silent awe the heart's best impulses reach beyond the mountain to the Maker of the mountain; beyond the man to the Creator of the man.
God is the author of truth; and truth eternal was the guide of Brigham Young. Brigham Young did not create Mormonism; but Mormonism formed the character of Brigham Young. A mole hill fills not the space occupied by a mountain, neither the mind of an ordinary man the space filled by the mighty, almost boundless intellect and spiritual force of that great colonizer, statesman, reformer and prophet leader.
May we not—youth of Zion— on this day, hold in sacred memory his goodness, his greatness without injury to the living, or harm to the dead? Do we not recognize in the life and character of such men the divine workmanship of an Almighty and Supreme Creator, expressing Himself even in the eternal fitness and harmony of things?
He of whom we speak, was great in great things; and always greatest when great matters pressed for solution and dangerous emergency confused and baffled weaker men. When questions pregnant with great events pressed hard, he was able to build upon the firm foundation of wisdom and justice, forecast the future, meet the demands of the present, and then in a breath show his confidence in God, his freedom from care, by caressing the lips of innocent childhood and tenderly winning the love of babes.
The scope of his mind seemed limitless. His powers appeared upon all occasions equal to the comprehension and foundation of generalities of the greatest magnitude and of grasping smallest details.
He could speak the language of the stars, discourse eloquently respecting the organization of worlds; and then in simple terms direct how to plow and plant, reap and sow.
His spiritual and temporal faculties were so perfectly and harmoniously organized that no one could tell where the one left off and the other began. He above all men I have known put "life under the very ribs of death” by expounding in word and act religion as a live thing, helpful here and full of salvation in the great hereafter. The Gospel of Christ as expounded and practised by him became a vitalized force full of marvelous beauty, sympathy and power— a perfect law of liberty, comprehending life and light, justice and judgment.
Under the inspiration of God his mind was capable of the loftiest conceptions revealed to man, and in wisdom the simplest principles of domestic economy were made to shine as gems of the first water. In that early day, when dark clouds gathered and danger threatened; when weak minds wavered and discord allied with division, it was Brigham Young who brought order out of chaos, and traitors plotting for usurpation and innocent blood hid their heads, when the "lion-hearted" rebuked in the name of the Lord and foretold the fate of incontinent apostates. Then, if not before, God placed on Brigham Young the seal of successorship. The mantle of the youthful Prophet fell not on unworthy shoulders when it rested upon him who was willing to give his own to save the life of Joseph.
The external evidences of the divine mission and heavenly calling of the great modern boy Prophet are numerous; but none, to my mind, are more striking than is found in the recorded and sorrowful fact that he was able to announce the will of God in the call of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff to a foreign mission, at the very time when he knew that assassins were nightly plotting to take his life. Nothing in the annals of history is to my mind more sadly pathetic than was the parting of Joseph from those truest friends in the hour of deadly peril, save only that scene —that awful scene—in the lovely garden where Jesus, the spotless Son of God, sweat blood, while heavy-eyed slumber bound in senseless sleep every human heart capable of sympathetic emotion or pity for His deathly agony.
To understand what the Prophet suffered when sending away the few men on whom, in those dark days of trouble and sorrow, he could implicitly rely, we need only remember how his sensitive nature called him back from life to death, when false friends accused the shepherd of deserting his flock. How sadly pathetic, how reproachful, sounds, after the lapse of years, words wrung from a wounded heart—"If my life is of no value to my friends it should not be of value to me."
I have wandered from Brigham to Joseph. Well, God made them one — brothers before they came here, brothers here, brothers hereafter. In life their love of and devotion to each other was something touchingly tender and beautiful. In life, Joseph the Prophet was true to Brigham, his foreknown successor. In life, Brigham was equally true to Joseph. And who can say that one word of reproach ever fell from his lips after Joseph sealed his testimony with his blood.
Brigham Young was human and no doubt had human imperfections; possibly they might have been shown to the living, but I do not think that he was ever jealous of the dead. The sun has spots—I am not able to say that God has not placed them there for the temporal salvation of man made in His own image. I am not able to bear more light and heat than comes from the king of day with all the spots that obscure his face! I have seen Brigham Young at times when he appeared, much as I can conceive, a greater than mortal man to be. But for my own, and the sake of others I was glad to realize then, and am glad to know now that he was human and doubtless had human frailties, though I was unable to discern many that I am sure were such.
Thinking of him reverently now, and trying to grasp the scope of his great mind, I am much in the condition as when after two days' hard work, I failed to reach the top of a volcanic mountain in Mexico. Joyously I traversed the belt of flower and fern, then passed, much fatigued, the upper skirting of the timber beyond which vegetation yielded to the sway of eternal ice and snow. Yet above and within I knew there was a throbbing, though slumbering heart of fire, the extent and force of which no man could estimate. Still struggling upward, anxious to reach the height for which I had toiled, my feet grew cold, my head hot, while the heart beat hard, the brain grew giddy and reason uncertain, but something whispered, "You have measured your capacity."
So with the character of Brigham Young. However great I may think it, it still is greater than that. However much I may try to exalt his life, it still is beyond that. Broad as I may think his capabilities, they were broader than I can estimate. However high I may place his wondrous character, it still like that volcanic mountain, is higher than I can reach. Its height and breadth and depth are beyond the scope of my powers. In contemplating them I am amazed even at my faint conceptions of its magnitude, and yet I have but reached the ferns and flowers. Away above is the hardy pine, and still above these the garnered treasures of ice and snow to be melted by the growing heat and sent down, with the laughing brook, to gladden the parched earth below.
Brigham Young was colonizer, statesman, philosopher, philanthropist, reformer, prophet-leader, priestly-king, an honest man, God's noblest work.
In June, 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde and others were called to go on a mission to England. Heber was exceedingly desirous that Brigham should accompany them, but Joseph the Prophet said, "No; I shall keep him with me." The wisdom of that decision was soon verified. Brigham publicly and privately testified that he knew by the testimony of the Holy Ghost that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High God, and had not transgressed and fallen as apostates declared. In consequence of that testimony his own life was threatened and he left Kirtland in December following. Later the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon fled from the fury of mobs, and joined him in Indiana, where Joseph sought to get a job sawing and cutting wood. Failing to secure work, and being weary, he came and said: Brother Brigham, I am destitute of means to pursue my journey, and as you are one of the Twelve Apostles who hold the keys of the Kingdom in all the world, I believe I shall throw myself upon you and look to you for counsel in this case." At first Brigham was unable to think Joseph was in earnest, but on finally being convinced that he really was, he said: "If you will take my counsel, Brother Joseph, you will rest yourself and be assured you shall have plenty of money with which to pursue your journey." That simple incident, trifling in itself, goes to show in what estimation the great modern prophet held the wisdom and strength of his friend and predicted successor, even in those early days. God verified, too, the words of his apostolic servant, and Joseph was soon supplied with "plenty of money to pursue his journey."
A more striking incident of brotherly devotion to Joseph, and of obedience to the revelations of God through him, is shown in the fulfilment of the word of the Lord given, in 1838, respecting the Twelve Apostles and their duties in reference to preaching the Gospel in the regions round about, and definitely fixing the date—April 26, 1839 — when they should take leave of the Saints at Far West " on the building spot of my house sayeth the Lord," previous to their departure on a mission over the great waters.
As the date mentioned approached, many of the Saints found themselves banished, Joseph the Prophet imprisoned, and the Twelve could return to Far West only at the peril of their lives. But there was the revelation fixing time and place for the performance of a special work assigned to the Twelve by the Lord. Mobs had declared with an oath that one revelation of Joseph Smith at least should fail of fulfilment, even if all others should be verified to the letter. This one, boasted they, names date and place where and when certain things are commanded to be done, and we will see that they are not done. Even many of the authorities of the Church, it is said, urged that the Lord would not require the Apostles to fulfil that revelation literally, but would accept the will for the deed. But Brigham Young and the Twelve with him thought otherwise. He and they felt that the Lord had spoken and it was their duty to obey, trusting in Him to protect them and determine results.
The Prophet was imprisoned and the responsibility of the Church and of sustaining the word of God was on the Twelve, and Brigham Young was not the man to let it fail. Reaching the vicinity of Far West the Twelve hid themselves in a grove, while the mob came into the town and taunted the committee in charge, respecting the revelation mentioned and threatened them with violence if they were found in Far West the next day.
"Early on the morning of April 26th, the elect day,"—the Twelve proceeded to the building spot of the "Lord's House," held their conference, excommunicated thirty-one persons from the Church, and through the assistance of the master workman, re-commenced the construction of the "Lord's House," by "rolling a large stone upon the northeast corner." There were present of the Twelve: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page and John Taylor. On that sacred spot and on that memorable day, they ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the office of the Apostleship and called them as the Lord had directed to fill the place, in the quorum of the Twelve, made vacant by those who had fallen. Following the ceremony of ordination, prayer was offered, each praying in turn, beginning with Brigham Young. After which they sang "Adam-ondi-Ahman," and took leave of the Saints as instructed in the revelation.
These circumstances clearly show why Joseph was loth to part with Brigham even on the earnest solicitation of his almost equally beloved friend, Heber. To the pleading importunities of such even as his prophet brother, he could say nay! But when God called him to part with the prudent, lion-hearted support and stay, he could not say nay — knowing that "obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams." Whatever were the personal feelings of the great modern Prophet, like Jesus, his Master, he had learned that he was here not to do his own but the will of his Father, and he did it even unto death, and so did his successor.
True greatness consists in being equal to emergencies; rising higher and higher when most environed and beset with startling difficulties and overwhelming disasters. Cromwell with his invincible Ironsides was great in war because of his trust in the God of hosts and the justice of principles for which he fought. Napoleon was great when conducting armies on the bloody battlefield against what he conceived to be the usurpations of monarchial dynasties; but was not great when he cast off Josephine, the wife of his youth, that he might form an alliance by marriage with a scion of the very system of monarchial despotism against which he had thrown the best lives of France by thousands, and to destroy which he had poured out in torrents the blood of her sons. Great was he when earnestly contending for what he honestly believed to be right, but when principles were sacrificed at the shrine of selfish ambition, and hypocrisy supplanted sincerity he became despicable.
At the battle of Borodino his marvelous faculty of concentrating promptly, and at the opportune time, embattled hosts to break the lines of an enemy, had not yet forsaken him; he was still the child of destiny—war's fierce cyclone. The Russian lines entrenched behind their guns were decimated by the awful cannonading of the French, who for hours poured upon them shot and shell, until the heavens seemed ablaze and the murky demons of hell appeared as if tearing out the very bowels of earth. Suddenly, as if by magic, the roar of artillery ceased all along the line, and an awful silence, as of universal death, for a moment, reigned supreme; then followed a sound like the dropping of gentle rain on dry forest leaves. That seemingly harmless sound grew apace as it came thundering forward, increasing as the voice of the ocean wave, until breaking through the sulfurous smoke the irresistible cavalry charge shattered the Russian line as the hurricane sweeps the reed-shadowed marsh. Beneath the wheel lay the father, who died at his post, and beside him, near the breech of the great gun, crouched the boy soldier, undergoing his first baptism of blood and fire. Around him gathered the great Napoleon and staff, one of the latter crying exultingly, "A great victory! a great victory!" "Yes," replied another, "but at what a cost! Half our army lies dead or maimed, we should fall back and recruit our broken regiments." Then Napoleon turned with a cold sneer upon his lips and said: "We turn not back, but date our next bulletin from Moscow. Gentlemen, an omelet cannot be made without the breaking of a few eggs." And the boy of the dead gunner heard it and knew that God was no longer with Napoleon, and that the star of the merciless must soon be hidden forever in the dark clouds of ruin and despair.
A little time since I incidentally spoke, in this building, of the heroic Grant, and mentioned him as victor in numerous battles, and referred to his indomitable perseverance and courage; how amid raging battle he coolly replaced torn regiments with fresh men from his reserves, and fought on unmoved as if determined to win on that line, and expressed the idea that the greatest of all the great achievements of that iron hearted soldier, was at Appomattox, when white- winged mercy prompted a generous refusal of the surrender of Confederate horses and mules offered by General Robert E. Lee. "No," said Grant, "not a horse, not a mule, General; your people will need them for the spring plowing." In that simple expression, revealing the tender heart and magnanimous soul of U. S. Grant, is found the secret of his greatness; and, I believe, largely of his success as a hero soldier.
A little later one of the brethren referring to my remarks about Grant, drew, in eloquent language, a touching picture of Lee, the general of the lost cause, and showed his greatness, not alone in victory, but in defeat as well. In listening to the recital of how that mighty commander watched division after division, regiment after regiment, melt away under terrific cross fires, and finally saw the hope of the Confederacy crushed on the bloody field of Gettysburg; and, while realizing that his heart was breaking, exclaimed, "We cannot always win battles;" I confess that while I did not think Grant less great, I thought that Lee's greatness had been tested far beyond that of the other; and what after all is the evidence of greatness save that found in the test.
On this rule, where stands Brigham Young? Place him not my young friends, I beseech you, below the highest our great country has produced. No boast do we make that he killed, or gave command to kill hundreds and thousands of fellow beings. I am aware that the highest laurels are woven into garlands to crown the brow of war's blood-stained heroes; but where others conquered on the field of carnage Brigham Young conquered in the field of justice and reason. When the vision of crimsoned walls and bespattered floors and the martyred Prophet at Carthage was revealed to his mind, his first thought was, "Has Joseph taken the keys of the Kingdom with him!" Joseph might die and the world still live; but Joseph dead and the keys of the Kingdom gone, the world and all things in it, he knew must perish sooner or later. Hence the far-reaching thought— a thought not prompted by individual or selfish, ambitious motives; for men like Brigham Young, lose thought of self, and individuality becomes completely swallowed up in the work assigned them. Sidney Rigdon seeking, after the martyrdom of Joseph, the guardianship of the Church, was not thus swallowed up; hence the joy of a shepherd less, distracted people when they heard the voice of true inspiration, the voice of true greatness, uttering: "Attention, Israel." No duplicity, or fear, or doubt in those words, nor in any that followed from his lips. In the finishing of the Nauvoo Temple under the circumstances then surrounding the Saints, is there not evidence of infinite trust in God and of greatness?
Grant and Lee, Napoleon, Caesar and Alexander each, no doubt, understood how to plan campaigns and conduct retreats; but history affords no evidence that either or all combined, possessed wisdom sufficient to organize a destitute, despoiled people, and successfully lead them as did Brigham Young. General Lee's hopes were crushed when he witnessed his shattered forces broken at Gettysburg. But Brigham Young driven with his people into a howling wilderness, did neither faint nor falter. Search the annals of war and conquest from the beginning, and learn that greatest courage and most lofty devotion are not exhibited on the battle field of carnage and death. But to lead a people destitute almost to the verge of starvation and nakedness requires greatness of the first magnitude. What Brigham Young accomplished in that respect has but one parallel in history, that of Moses leading ancient Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Witness what he did at Winter Quarters. With graves increasing around him and making the last earthly resting place of those daily dying from exposure and want, Brigham Young constantly sought to distract the minds of the people from their miserable surroundings, by directing them from the woes of the present, to the hopes of the future. Think of introducing the dance and encouraging the song under such sorrowful conditions. Think of his pleadings for the redress of the grievances of the people driven ruthlessly from their homes, and for answer, receive from the President a request for five hundred men from the camps of a homeless people, to secure the conquest of California and to fight, if need be, in the war with Mexico.
Who shall say that tests like these are not such as try men's souls? Yet Brigham Young, with his masterful conceptions of the future, yielded the strength of the camps and devoted it willingly to the service of the country that had permitted his people to be robbed of every right dear to an American citizen; except the right to honorably die. One can readily believe that treatment of this kind would inevitably tend to make the recipients in turn harsh and cruel. On the narrow and bigoted soul it undoubtedly would have that effect. But not so with Brigham Young; quite to the contrary, as evidenced by the precept and practice of the humane doctrine—when he came in contact with aborigines — that "it was cheaper to feed than to fight Indians." Cheaper in the saving of property, cheaper in the saving of human life, both of the white and red man; cheaper every way and more in harmony with Christian sympathy and Divine law.
It is not necessary that I should dwell on the trials and tribulations attending the exodus of a numerous people. They are matters of record within the reach of all who wish to know the facts. There are many sad details connected with the unparalleled journey into the wilderness, over which it is better now to draw the veil of forgetfulness. It is more pleasing to reflect upon the glorious outcome and mighty achievement wrought by a merciful God through His servant Brigham Young. His greatness shines forth in conduct and leadership and colonization and in the building of a mighty commonwealth in these mountain valleys; but vastly superior appears his marvelous management when coping with an invading army, backed by the determination of the mightiest nation on earth, bent on destruction to gratify public prejudice. In the supreme moment of danger the thought of making of this city a Moscow was born of emergency, but Brigham Young was its author. On all great occasions promptness and decision were characteristic of his organization; and let a question arise where it might, all Israel felt when it reached God's prophet leader, it would find proper solution, and when solved would be endorsed by wisdom.
I have spoken of many things respecting the life and character of Brigham Young, known perhaps to all the people, but there are others, very numerous and of deep interest, of which I would like to say something, but am admonished that it would not be prudent at this time. As statesman, political and domestic economist, as colonizer, organizer and reformer, all the world may know him if they choose; but as prophet leader and inspired, humble, devoted man of God, only those who have known him personally or through the revelations of the Lord can understand the unmeasurable love in which the Saints held and still hold him.
Who that has experienced the wonderful powers of magnetism with which God endowed him, can ever forget its influence. Are there not thousands here to-day whose flesh seemed electrified and the very marrow to melt in their bones when listening to the word of the Lord as it came through him? To others he largely left the process of argumentative reasoning to establish truth. He boldly announced it, as fresh from the mint of heaven, and left his hearers to ascertain, if they wished, why it was truth.
Earnest, watchful and prayerful, none whom I have known seemed to have the faculty or inspiration of getting so near the Lord in prayer as could he. The graceful dignity of his personal presence was exceedingly captivating, and the sympathy almost constantly exercised toward the weak and ill, seemed to win all hearts. Entering a house, at a glance, he was able to comprehend the inmost springs operating the emotions of pain or pleasure. How quickly he could detect the signs of illness of body or mind. A hint, a word, a glance of the eye and he knew it all. How many grateful hearts remember even now the soft, kind words—"Sister, you are not well; it has fallen to our lot to partake of your hospitality, but do not put yourself about, if you will only show us a little we can wait upon ourselves, without taxing you beyond your strength." How soothing, how comforting such kindly consideration and sympathy. Brigham Young read men more than books! God made man, man makes books! The innocent hearts of children he liked most to read, and how happy they were when in turn they could tender him their loving ovations, as he traveled among the people. And yet with all this tenderness— who that knew him does not feel that a refusal on his part to grant a request came often more acceptable than the assent of others, because realizing that the refusal must be founded in wisdom. The least coldness on the part of a friend would be detected by him in a moment, and the cause inquired into. If he was compelled to disappoint anyone, how kindly he could explain the reason for doing so! And yet, with all his tenderness, how terrible was his rebuke when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
He was quick to recognize merit, and humbly paid homage to goodness wherever found. In the streets of London he reverently stood with head uncovered before the chapel dedicated to John Wesley. If the thought ever entered his heart to place the youth of Zion under a ban of suspicion, for a moment, I never heard of it. It has been said that a glance of his penetrating eye has checked the evil design in the murderer's heart and caused the hand of the assassin to drop nerveless by his side, while his intended victim passed on with a smile.
Such in part was Brigham Young. Courageous, yet cautious—given great knowledge, yet having the wisdom to properly use it. The stamp of his genius work, his greatness and goodness are everywhere apparent throughout Zion. Here let us pause.
God made Brigham Young all he was and is. The key of his power was the holy priesthood, God-given and sacred. When he passed beyond the vail he did not take with him the keys of the kingdom. They are here and will remain until death and hell and the grave are conquered, and the curtain intervening shall no longer hide the living from the dead.
[1] Lecture by Apostle Moses Thatcher, at Y. M. M. I. A. Conference, June 1, 1889.
Santiago. "President Brigham Young." The Young Woman's Journal. December 1889. pg. 82-83.
President Brigham Young
Santiago
To illustrate how perfectly President Young could read the character and discern the spirit of those whom he met, the following little incident is given, which occurred in Logan a few years previous to his death.
He had visited Logan with his counselors, the Apostles and a company of leading Saints to hold conference, as was his custom. As he was going to the place of meeting in the afternoon in company with the writing, we met a man coming towards us, who, when withing about thirty or forty feet, bowed and took off his hat, remaining uncovered until he had passed by us some distance. “Who is that man?” inquired the President.
I answered, “That is C. C. Goodwin, the leader of our choir.”
“He is most too polite—most too polite, said the President thoughtfully.
Although personally a stranger, he had instantly and correctly read the character and spirit of the man, who had tired to disguise it under a semblance of profound respect. Although at that time a member of the Church and an ardent advocate of all its principles, including polygamy, he was even then on the way to apostasy, for which, not very long afterwards, he was excommunicated.
President Young’s memory of people and circumstances was remarkably good, enabling him to readily recall the names and features of those whom he had long previously and momentarily met.
In May, 1851, when visiting Parowan the first time, he one day met the writer upon the street, the latter carrying in his hand a volume of Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, which he had just borrowed to read. Stopping a moment he asked to see the book, glanced through it a little, said it was an excellent work, well worth perusal, and asked the writer’s name. I gave him my name and he passed on. It was several years before I met him again and was then introduced to him.
“Yes,” said he, “I know you. I met you in Parowan in the spring of 1851, the first time I went down there. I met you in the street, and you had a book—Mosheim’s History—in your hand.”
It seemed to me remarkable. Years had passed, during which he had daily met crowds of people; had his time occupied in the constant and multitudinous labors of his position as head of the Church and as principal founder of a great inland empire, and yet could instantly remember so trifling an incident and so humble a boy in a little fort, then considered almost out of the world.
During his life time President Young possessed the love of the Latter-day Saints to a degree that filled strangers with astonishment, and this love was so profound and sincere that thousands of his brethren and sisters would cheerfully have faced death to shield him; and yet I cannot but think that his friends did not fully appreciate him. Such men seldom are understood until years have passed and people become able to judge more correctly and impartially.
President Brigham Young
Santiago
To illustrate how perfectly President Young could read the character and discern the spirit of those whom he met, the following little incident is given, which occurred in Logan a few years previous to his death.
He had visited Logan with his counselors, the Apostles and a company of leading Saints to hold conference, as was his custom. As he was going to the place of meeting in the afternoon in company with the writing, we met a man coming towards us, who, when withing about thirty or forty feet, bowed and took off his hat, remaining uncovered until he had passed by us some distance. “Who is that man?” inquired the President.
I answered, “That is C. C. Goodwin, the leader of our choir.”
“He is most too polite—most too polite, said the President thoughtfully.
Although personally a stranger, he had instantly and correctly read the character and spirit of the man, who had tired to disguise it under a semblance of profound respect. Although at that time a member of the Church and an ardent advocate of all its principles, including polygamy, he was even then on the way to apostasy, for which, not very long afterwards, he was excommunicated.
President Young’s memory of people and circumstances was remarkably good, enabling him to readily recall the names and features of those whom he had long previously and momentarily met.
In May, 1851, when visiting Parowan the first time, he one day met the writer upon the street, the latter carrying in his hand a volume of Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, which he had just borrowed to read. Stopping a moment he asked to see the book, glanced through it a little, said it was an excellent work, well worth perusal, and asked the writer’s name. I gave him my name and he passed on. It was several years before I met him again and was then introduced to him.
“Yes,” said he, “I know you. I met you in Parowan in the spring of 1851, the first time I went down there. I met you in the street, and you had a book—Mosheim’s History—in your hand.”
It seemed to me remarkable. Years had passed, during which he had daily met crowds of people; had his time occupied in the constant and multitudinous labors of his position as head of the Church and as principal founder of a great inland empire, and yet could instantly remember so trifling an incident and so humble a boy in a little fort, then considered almost out of the world.
During his life time President Young possessed the love of the Latter-day Saints to a degree that filled strangers with astonishment, and this love was so profound and sincere that thousands of his brethren and sisters would cheerfully have faced death to shield him; and yet I cannot but think that his friends did not fully appreciate him. Such men seldom are understood until years have passed and people become able to judge more correctly and impartially.
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young, As Husband and Father." The Young Woman's Journal. July 1897. pg. 438-445.
Brigham Young.
As Husband and Father.
Some reminiscences by his daughter Susa Young Gates.
One finds it as difficult to speak truthfully, and judge accurately of any great historical personage while their contemporaries are still living, as to appreciate all the suggestive beauties of an oil painting, when it is hung facing a south window. A little of the shadow of time, the half lights of mellowing distance is necessary to the full realization of the glorious subject in either case.
There is another fact to be considered, however, in connection with the biographies of great personages; every-day incidents and touches of the inner lives of great men are lost to history if there be not some intimate, some friend, perchance some relative of the glorious dead to reveal for posterity the hair strokes of faults, the dashes of humor, and the broad thumb splashes of daily contact with men, and things which go to make up the character of all humanity.
The following pages are not designed to be a full biography, nor is it the intention to paint merely a dramatic picture; rather is it a modest invitation to a select if limited audience to ‘'come in the house, friends, and be introduced to my father.”
In the year 1863, that prince of journalists, George Q. Cannon, was editor of the Deseret News, and he induced my father to edit and publish a short sketch of himself, and brothers and sisters This sketch was copied in the Millennial Star, and to it was added a very brief sketch of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Very few now living have ever read this sketch, and as it tells almost all there is known of the early life of Brigham Young, it would be better to introduce a portion at least of this brief but interesting autobiography.
There are many pictures of my father still in existence; but there are but one or two at the utmost of him when he was a very young man. There is an ivory miniature of him in the possession of one of our family which I will endeavor to obtain a copy of to accompany these articles. The picture which is now presented, was copied from an oil painting in the possession of his wife, Mrs. Lucy B. Young. Father was forty years old to the day at the time the picture was executed, and one can readily trace the likeness of this young, earnest and forceful face to the leonine countenance which all remember who knew him in later years: The autobiography is as follows:
“My grandfather, Joseph Young, was a physician and surgeon in the French and Indian war. He was killed by the falling of a pole from a fence in 1769.
“My father John Young was born March 7 th, 176.3, in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was very circumspect, exemplary, and religious, and was from an early period of his life a member of the Methodist Church.
“At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the American Revolutionary war, and served under General Washington. He was in three campaigns in his own native state and in New Jersey. In the year 1785, he married Nabby Howe, daughter of Phinehas and Susannah, whose maiden name was Goddard. In January, 1801, he moved from Hopkinton to Whitingham, Hindham County, Vermont, where he remained for three years, opening new farms.
“He moved from Vermont to Sherburn, Chenango County, New York, in 1804, where he followed farming, clearing new land and enduring many privations and hardships with his family, incidental to new settlements.
“My mother bore to my father five sons and six daughters, viz:
“Nancy, born in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, August 6th, 1786; Fanny, born in the same place, November 8th, 1787; Rhoda, born Platauva District, New York; John, born in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, May 22nd, 1791; Nabby, born in the same place, April 23rd, 1793; Susannah, born in the same place, June 7th, 1795; Joseph, born in the same place, April 7th, 1797; Phinehas Howe, born in the same place, February 16th, 1799; Brigham, born in Whitingham, Hindham County, Vermont, June 1st, 1801. Louis, born in Sherburn, Chenango County, New York, September 25th, 1804; Lorenzo Dow, born in the same place. October 19th, 1807.
“In 1813, my father removed to Cayuga County, New York, and continued farming and making improvements.
“My mother died June 11th, 1815.
“In 1817, my father removed to Tyrone, Steuben County, in which year he married widow Hannah Brown, who bore to him one son Edward, born in Hayne, Steuben County, New York, July 30th, 1823.
“In 1827, my father removed to Meridon, Monroe County, where he continued farming.
“In 1831, he heard the Gospel preached by Elders Eleazer Miller and Elial Strong; and in the month of April, 1832, he went with his sons Joseph and Phinehas H., to Columbia, Pennsylvania, to investigate the principles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to see the Saints and their method of administration, where he was baptized on the 5th of April, by Elder Ezra Landon.
“He removed to Kirtland with his family, in the fall of 1833; and in 1834 he was ordained a Patriarch by President Joseph Smith, and blessed his family. He was the first ordained to that office in the Church.
“September 19th, 1838, in company with his daughter, Fanny, and his grandson, Evan M. Greene, and family, he left Kirtland for Missouri. On arriving at Fayette, in that state, he found himself in the midst of General Clark’s command of militia, amounting to about one thousand men, who left that night for Far West. The next day he proceeded to Old Chariton, and found the General had left a guard at the ferry, so he had to return to Illinois. They were frequently met by companies said to be militia, who declared that if they knew that they were Mormons, they would kill them. When they returned to Columbia, General Gains was there raising a company to go to the assistance of General Clark to exterminate the Mormons, and Evan M. Greene made application to General Gains for a pass to go out of the state with the company, representing that his grandfather was a revolutionary soldier. The General replied, that if he would change his wagon, which was a very good eastern wagon, for a Virginia wagon, or would go on horseback, they could go without molestation, otherwise he could give him no pass that would benefit them. Thus they were compelled to change their wagon, and could get nothing but an old Virginia Dearborn; and getting into this they traveled without even being hailed by the companies they met, which were not a few. He went to Morgan County, Illinois; from thence he went to Quincy in 1839, on a visit to his children, where he died on the 12 th of October.
“The following obituary notice is from the history of Joseph Smith:
“ 'This day, President Young’s father, John Younge, Sen., died at Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. He was in his seventy-seventh year, and was a soldier of the Revolution. He was also a firm believer in the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, and fell asleep under the influence of that faith that buoyed up his soul in the pangs of death, to a glorious hope of immortality, fully testifying to all that the religion he enjoyed in life was able to support him in death. He was driven from Missouri with the Saints in the latter part of last year. He died a martyr to the religion of Jesus, for his death was caused by his sufferings in that cruel persecution.’
“I was born in Whitingham, Hindham County, Vermont, June 1st, 1801. At an early age I labored with my father, assisting him to clear off new land and cultivate his farm, passing through many hardships and privations incident to settling a new country.
“My parents were devoted to the Methodist religion, and their precepts of morality were sustained by their good examples. I was labored with diligently by the priests to attach myself to some church in my early life. I was taught by my parents to live a strictly moral life, still it was not till my twenty-second year that I became serious and religiously inclined. Soon after this I attached myself to the Methodist Church.
“October 8th, 1824, I married a young woman by the name of Miriam Works, in Aurelius, Cayuga County, New' York, where I resided eighteen years, following the occupation of carpenter, joiner, painter and glazier. In the spring of 1829, I removed to Mendon, Monroe County, where my father resided. The next spring I first saw the Book of Mormon, which Brother Samuel H. Smith brought and left with my brother Phinehas.
“In the fall of 1831, Elders Alpheus Gifford, Elial Strong and others came to Mendon to preach the everlasting Gospel, as revealed to Joseph Smith, the Prophet, which I heard and believed.
“In January, 1832, my brother Phinehas and I accompanied Heber C. Kimball, who took bis horses and sleigh and went to Columbia, Pennsylvania, where there was a branch of the Church. We traveled through snow and ice, crossing rivers until we were almost discouraged; still our faith was to learn more of the principles of Mormonism.
"We arrived at the place where there was a small branch of the Church; we conversed with them, attended their meetings and heard them preach, and after staying about one week, we returned home being still more convinced of the truth of the work and anxious to learn its principles, and to learn more of Joseph Smith's mission. The members of the Branch in Pennsylvania, were the first in the Church who received the gift of tongues.
“Immediately after my return home from Pennsylvania, I took my horse and sleigh, and started to Canada after my brother Joseph, taking my brother-in-law, John P. Greene, who was then on his way to his circuit, preaching the Methodist doctrine. After finding my brother Joseph, and explaining to him what I had learned of the Gospel, in its purity, his heart rejoiced, and he returned home with me, where we arrived in March.
“April 14th, 1832, I was baptized by Eleazer Miller, who confirmed me at the water's edge. He returned home, about two miles, the weather being cold and snowy; and before my clothes were dry on my back he laid his hands on me, and ordained me an Elder at which I marvelled. According to the words of the Savior, I felt a humble child-like spirit, witnessing unto me that my sins were forgiven.
“About three weeks afterwards, my wife was also baptized. This was in the town of Mendon, in Monroe County. I tarried during the summer preaching the Gospel in the regions round about, baptizing and raising up churches.
“September 8th, 1832, my wife died of consumption, leaving me two little girls. In her expiring moments she clapped her hands and praised the Lord, and called upon Brother Kimball and all around to praise the Lord. After my wife's death I made my home at Brother Kimball's.
“A few weeks after my baptism, I was at Brother Kimball's house one morning, and while family prayer was being offered up, Brother Alpheus Gifford commenced speaking in tongues. Soon the spirit came on me and I spoke in tongues, and we thought only of the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were clothed upon with cloven tongues of fire.
“In September Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon, Brother Joseph Young and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way, and some Branches of the Church. He exhorted them and prayed with them and I spoke in tongues. Some pronounced it genuine and from the Lord and others pronounced it of the devil.
"We proceeded to Kirtland and stopped at John P. Green's, who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments, and started to see the Prophet. We sent to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods, chopping. We immediately repaired to the woods, where we found the Prophet, and two or three of his brothers chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and I received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be, as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us, and bid us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us.
“In the evening a few of the brethren came in, and we conversed together on the things of the kingdom. He called upon me to pray; in my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees the brethren flocked around him and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said, 'No, it is of God and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church.' The latter part of the conversation was in my absence.
“We tarried about one week in Kirtland, held meetings nearly every night, and the blessings of the Lord were extensively upon us. I baptized one man while in Kirtland, by the name of Gibbon Smith, the father of Newel K. Whitney's wife, who had just come from Connecticut to learn the things that were being revealed. Being convinced of the truth he requested me to go into the waters with him.
“We returned home in October and made preparations for leaving our friends and families. In company with my brother Joseph, I started for Kingston, Upper Canada, on foot in the month of December, the most of the way through mud and snow from one to two feet deep.
“In crossing from Gravelly Point to Kingston, on the ice which had frozen the night previous, the ice was very thin and bent under our feet, so that in places the water was half shoe deep, and we had to separate from each other, the ice not being capable of holding us. We traveled about six miles on the ice, arrived in Kingston, and found a friend who was going that evening near the place where we were first to call. We commenced preaching and bearing our testimony to the people. Proceeding from West Loboro, we remained about one month preaching the Gospel there and in the regions round about. We baptized about forty-five souls and organized the West Labors and other Branches.
“In the month of February, 1833, we started for home, crossing from Kingston on the ice just before it broke up. I tarried in Mendon, making my home at Brother Kimball's and preaching in the neighboring country.
"April 1st, 1833, I started on foot for Canada again, arrived at Lyonstown, where my brother Joseph and I had preached. I remained preaching and baptized thirteen and organized a Branch of the Church, among whom was a young man Johnathan Hampton, whom I ordained a priest and took with me.
“I went to Gheresa, India River Falls, near Ogdensburg, where I found Brother David H. Patten preaching the Gospel to his friends in that neighborhood; tarried four or five days; preached five discourses and baptized seven persons, among whom were Brother Patten's mother, brothers and sisters. Warren Parrish and wife.
“I then went to Ogdensburg, took steam-boat to Kingston, and proceeded to Earnestown, where I tarried a few days at Brother James Lake's, and then visited the Branches at West Loboro, and neighborhood, preaching and baptizing as we journeyed.
“About the first of July, I gathered up the families of Brother Lake and son, and started for Kirtland, accompanied by Brothers Daniel and Abraham Hood, and proceeded to Kirtland where, after tarrying some time enjoying the society of the Prophet, and assisting Brother Lake and family, I returned to Mendon in company with father Rosley of Avon.
“In the month of September, in conformity to the counsel of the Prophet, I made preparations to gather up to Kirtland and engaged a passage for myself and two children with Brother Kimball and sent my effects by canal and lake to Fairport. We arrived in Kirtland in safety traveling by land, where I tarried all winter, and had the privilege of listening to the teachings of the Prophet, and enjoying the society of the Saints, working hard at my former trade.
“In the fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland, and not finding suitable employment, and having some difficulty about getting their pay, after they had labored, several went off to Hilloughby, Painsville and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the Prophet of God, and I was not going to Hilloughby, Painsville, Cleveland or any where else to build up the Gentiles, but I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God by listening to the leaching of His servants, and I should work for my brethren and trust in God and them that I would be paid. I labored for Brother Cahoon, and finished his house; and although he did not know he could pay me when I commenced, before I finished he had me paid in full. I then went to work for father John Smith and others who paid me, and sustained myself in Kirtland, and when the brethren who had gone out to work for the Gentiles returned, I had means though some of them were scant.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Brigham Young.
As Husband and Father.
Some reminiscences by his daughter Susa Young Gates.
One finds it as difficult to speak truthfully, and judge accurately of any great historical personage while their contemporaries are still living, as to appreciate all the suggestive beauties of an oil painting, when it is hung facing a south window. A little of the shadow of time, the half lights of mellowing distance is necessary to the full realization of the glorious subject in either case.
There is another fact to be considered, however, in connection with the biographies of great personages; every-day incidents and touches of the inner lives of great men are lost to history if there be not some intimate, some friend, perchance some relative of the glorious dead to reveal for posterity the hair strokes of faults, the dashes of humor, and the broad thumb splashes of daily contact with men, and things which go to make up the character of all humanity.
The following pages are not designed to be a full biography, nor is it the intention to paint merely a dramatic picture; rather is it a modest invitation to a select if limited audience to ‘'come in the house, friends, and be introduced to my father.”
In the year 1863, that prince of journalists, George Q. Cannon, was editor of the Deseret News, and he induced my father to edit and publish a short sketch of himself, and brothers and sisters This sketch was copied in the Millennial Star, and to it was added a very brief sketch of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Very few now living have ever read this sketch, and as it tells almost all there is known of the early life of Brigham Young, it would be better to introduce a portion at least of this brief but interesting autobiography.
There are many pictures of my father still in existence; but there are but one or two at the utmost of him when he was a very young man. There is an ivory miniature of him in the possession of one of our family which I will endeavor to obtain a copy of to accompany these articles. The picture which is now presented, was copied from an oil painting in the possession of his wife, Mrs. Lucy B. Young. Father was forty years old to the day at the time the picture was executed, and one can readily trace the likeness of this young, earnest and forceful face to the leonine countenance which all remember who knew him in later years: The autobiography is as follows:
“My grandfather, Joseph Young, was a physician and surgeon in the French and Indian war. He was killed by the falling of a pole from a fence in 1769.
“My father John Young was born March 7 th, 176.3, in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was very circumspect, exemplary, and religious, and was from an early period of his life a member of the Methodist Church.
“At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the American Revolutionary war, and served under General Washington. He was in three campaigns in his own native state and in New Jersey. In the year 1785, he married Nabby Howe, daughter of Phinehas and Susannah, whose maiden name was Goddard. In January, 1801, he moved from Hopkinton to Whitingham, Hindham County, Vermont, where he remained for three years, opening new farms.
“He moved from Vermont to Sherburn, Chenango County, New York, in 1804, where he followed farming, clearing new land and enduring many privations and hardships with his family, incidental to new settlements.
“My mother bore to my father five sons and six daughters, viz:
“Nancy, born in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, August 6th, 1786; Fanny, born in the same place, November 8th, 1787; Rhoda, born Platauva District, New York; John, born in Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, May 22nd, 1791; Nabby, born in the same place, April 23rd, 1793; Susannah, born in the same place, June 7th, 1795; Joseph, born in the same place, April 7th, 1797; Phinehas Howe, born in the same place, February 16th, 1799; Brigham, born in Whitingham, Hindham County, Vermont, June 1st, 1801. Louis, born in Sherburn, Chenango County, New York, September 25th, 1804; Lorenzo Dow, born in the same place. October 19th, 1807.
“In 1813, my father removed to Cayuga County, New York, and continued farming and making improvements.
“My mother died June 11th, 1815.
“In 1817, my father removed to Tyrone, Steuben County, in which year he married widow Hannah Brown, who bore to him one son Edward, born in Hayne, Steuben County, New York, July 30th, 1823.
“In 1827, my father removed to Meridon, Monroe County, where he continued farming.
“In 1831, he heard the Gospel preached by Elders Eleazer Miller and Elial Strong; and in the month of April, 1832, he went with his sons Joseph and Phinehas H., to Columbia, Pennsylvania, to investigate the principles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to see the Saints and their method of administration, where he was baptized on the 5th of April, by Elder Ezra Landon.
“He removed to Kirtland with his family, in the fall of 1833; and in 1834 he was ordained a Patriarch by President Joseph Smith, and blessed his family. He was the first ordained to that office in the Church.
“September 19th, 1838, in company with his daughter, Fanny, and his grandson, Evan M. Greene, and family, he left Kirtland for Missouri. On arriving at Fayette, in that state, he found himself in the midst of General Clark’s command of militia, amounting to about one thousand men, who left that night for Far West. The next day he proceeded to Old Chariton, and found the General had left a guard at the ferry, so he had to return to Illinois. They were frequently met by companies said to be militia, who declared that if they knew that they were Mormons, they would kill them. When they returned to Columbia, General Gains was there raising a company to go to the assistance of General Clark to exterminate the Mormons, and Evan M. Greene made application to General Gains for a pass to go out of the state with the company, representing that his grandfather was a revolutionary soldier. The General replied, that if he would change his wagon, which was a very good eastern wagon, for a Virginia wagon, or would go on horseback, they could go without molestation, otherwise he could give him no pass that would benefit them. Thus they were compelled to change their wagon, and could get nothing but an old Virginia Dearborn; and getting into this they traveled without even being hailed by the companies they met, which were not a few. He went to Morgan County, Illinois; from thence he went to Quincy in 1839, on a visit to his children, where he died on the 12 th of October.
“The following obituary notice is from the history of Joseph Smith:
“ 'This day, President Young’s father, John Younge, Sen., died at Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. He was in his seventy-seventh year, and was a soldier of the Revolution. He was also a firm believer in the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, and fell asleep under the influence of that faith that buoyed up his soul in the pangs of death, to a glorious hope of immortality, fully testifying to all that the religion he enjoyed in life was able to support him in death. He was driven from Missouri with the Saints in the latter part of last year. He died a martyr to the religion of Jesus, for his death was caused by his sufferings in that cruel persecution.’
“I was born in Whitingham, Hindham County, Vermont, June 1st, 1801. At an early age I labored with my father, assisting him to clear off new land and cultivate his farm, passing through many hardships and privations incident to settling a new country.
“My parents were devoted to the Methodist religion, and their precepts of morality were sustained by their good examples. I was labored with diligently by the priests to attach myself to some church in my early life. I was taught by my parents to live a strictly moral life, still it was not till my twenty-second year that I became serious and religiously inclined. Soon after this I attached myself to the Methodist Church.
“October 8th, 1824, I married a young woman by the name of Miriam Works, in Aurelius, Cayuga County, New' York, where I resided eighteen years, following the occupation of carpenter, joiner, painter and glazier. In the spring of 1829, I removed to Mendon, Monroe County, where my father resided. The next spring I first saw the Book of Mormon, which Brother Samuel H. Smith brought and left with my brother Phinehas.
“In the fall of 1831, Elders Alpheus Gifford, Elial Strong and others came to Mendon to preach the everlasting Gospel, as revealed to Joseph Smith, the Prophet, which I heard and believed.
“In January, 1832, my brother Phinehas and I accompanied Heber C. Kimball, who took bis horses and sleigh and went to Columbia, Pennsylvania, where there was a branch of the Church. We traveled through snow and ice, crossing rivers until we were almost discouraged; still our faith was to learn more of the principles of Mormonism.
"We arrived at the place where there was a small branch of the Church; we conversed with them, attended their meetings and heard them preach, and after staying about one week, we returned home being still more convinced of the truth of the work and anxious to learn its principles, and to learn more of Joseph Smith's mission. The members of the Branch in Pennsylvania, were the first in the Church who received the gift of tongues.
“Immediately after my return home from Pennsylvania, I took my horse and sleigh, and started to Canada after my brother Joseph, taking my brother-in-law, John P. Greene, who was then on his way to his circuit, preaching the Methodist doctrine. After finding my brother Joseph, and explaining to him what I had learned of the Gospel, in its purity, his heart rejoiced, and he returned home with me, where we arrived in March.
“April 14th, 1832, I was baptized by Eleazer Miller, who confirmed me at the water's edge. He returned home, about two miles, the weather being cold and snowy; and before my clothes were dry on my back he laid his hands on me, and ordained me an Elder at which I marvelled. According to the words of the Savior, I felt a humble child-like spirit, witnessing unto me that my sins were forgiven.
“About three weeks afterwards, my wife was also baptized. This was in the town of Mendon, in Monroe County. I tarried during the summer preaching the Gospel in the regions round about, baptizing and raising up churches.
“September 8th, 1832, my wife died of consumption, leaving me two little girls. In her expiring moments she clapped her hands and praised the Lord, and called upon Brother Kimball and all around to praise the Lord. After my wife's death I made my home at Brother Kimball's.
“A few weeks after my baptism, I was at Brother Kimball's house one morning, and while family prayer was being offered up, Brother Alpheus Gifford commenced speaking in tongues. Soon the spirit came on me and I spoke in tongues, and we thought only of the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were clothed upon with cloven tongues of fire.
“In September Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon, Brother Joseph Young and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way, and some Branches of the Church. He exhorted them and prayed with them and I spoke in tongues. Some pronounced it genuine and from the Lord and others pronounced it of the devil.
"We proceeded to Kirtland and stopped at John P. Green's, who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments, and started to see the Prophet. We sent to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods, chopping. We immediately repaired to the woods, where we found the Prophet, and two or three of his brothers chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and I received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be, as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us, and bid us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us.
“In the evening a few of the brethren came in, and we conversed together on the things of the kingdom. He called upon me to pray; in my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees the brethren flocked around him and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said, 'No, it is of God and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church.' The latter part of the conversation was in my absence.
“We tarried about one week in Kirtland, held meetings nearly every night, and the blessings of the Lord were extensively upon us. I baptized one man while in Kirtland, by the name of Gibbon Smith, the father of Newel K. Whitney's wife, who had just come from Connecticut to learn the things that were being revealed. Being convinced of the truth he requested me to go into the waters with him.
“We returned home in October and made preparations for leaving our friends and families. In company with my brother Joseph, I started for Kingston, Upper Canada, on foot in the month of December, the most of the way through mud and snow from one to two feet deep.
“In crossing from Gravelly Point to Kingston, on the ice which had frozen the night previous, the ice was very thin and bent under our feet, so that in places the water was half shoe deep, and we had to separate from each other, the ice not being capable of holding us. We traveled about six miles on the ice, arrived in Kingston, and found a friend who was going that evening near the place where we were first to call. We commenced preaching and bearing our testimony to the people. Proceeding from West Loboro, we remained about one month preaching the Gospel there and in the regions round about. We baptized about forty-five souls and organized the West Labors and other Branches.
“In the month of February, 1833, we started for home, crossing from Kingston on the ice just before it broke up. I tarried in Mendon, making my home at Brother Kimball's and preaching in the neighboring country.
"April 1st, 1833, I started on foot for Canada again, arrived at Lyonstown, where my brother Joseph and I had preached. I remained preaching and baptized thirteen and organized a Branch of the Church, among whom was a young man Johnathan Hampton, whom I ordained a priest and took with me.
“I went to Gheresa, India River Falls, near Ogdensburg, where I found Brother David H. Patten preaching the Gospel to his friends in that neighborhood; tarried four or five days; preached five discourses and baptized seven persons, among whom were Brother Patten's mother, brothers and sisters. Warren Parrish and wife.
“I then went to Ogdensburg, took steam-boat to Kingston, and proceeded to Earnestown, where I tarried a few days at Brother James Lake's, and then visited the Branches at West Loboro, and neighborhood, preaching and baptizing as we journeyed.
“About the first of July, I gathered up the families of Brother Lake and son, and started for Kirtland, accompanied by Brothers Daniel and Abraham Hood, and proceeded to Kirtland where, after tarrying some time enjoying the society of the Prophet, and assisting Brother Lake and family, I returned to Mendon in company with father Rosley of Avon.
“In the month of September, in conformity to the counsel of the Prophet, I made preparations to gather up to Kirtland and engaged a passage for myself and two children with Brother Kimball and sent my effects by canal and lake to Fairport. We arrived in Kirtland in safety traveling by land, where I tarried all winter, and had the privilege of listening to the teachings of the Prophet, and enjoying the society of the Saints, working hard at my former trade.
“In the fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland, and not finding suitable employment, and having some difficulty about getting their pay, after they had labored, several went off to Hilloughby, Painsville and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the Prophet of God, and I was not going to Hilloughby, Painsville, Cleveland or any where else to build up the Gentiles, but I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God by listening to the leaching of His servants, and I should work for my brethren and trust in God and them that I would be paid. I labored for Brother Cahoon, and finished his house; and although he did not know he could pay me when I commenced, before I finished he had me paid in full. I then went to work for father John Smith and others who paid me, and sustained myself in Kirtland, and when the brethren who had gone out to work for the Gentiles returned, I had means though some of them were scant.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
"Autobiography of Brigham Young." The Young Woman's Journal. August 1897. pg. 487-491.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG
[CONTINUED FROM PAGE 445.]
"In February, 1834, I married Mary Ann Angel, who took charge of my children, kept my house and labored faithfully for the interest of my family and the kingdom. While the Prophet Joseph was gathering up the Elders of Israel to go up to Missouri and assist the brethren that had been driven from Jackson County, I was preaching and laboring for the support of my family. My brother Joseph Young, arrived, and I requested him to go with me to Missouri. He hesitated; but while walking together a few days afterwards, we met the Prophet who said to him, Brother Joseph, I want you to go with us up to Missouri.' I informed the Prophet that my brother was doubtful as to his duty about going, to which the Prophet replied, ‘Brother Brigham and Brother Joseph, if you will go with me in the camp to Missouri, and keep my counsel, I promise you in the name of the Almighty that I will lead you there and back again, and not a hair of your heads shall be harmed,' at which my brother presented his hand to the Prophet, as well as myself to confirm the covenant. The brethren continued to come in from the various parts to Kirtland, and on the 5 th of May we started for New Portage, the place appointed for organization.
"May 7 th, Brother Joseph Smith and the remainder of the brethren having arrived, we began to organize, and on the 8th, the organization being completed we started on our journey. We arrived at Brother Burgett's, Rush Creek, Clay County, Missouri, on the 23rd of June and passed through the scenes of cholera and death as related in the history of Joseph Smith. We remained one week attending to the sick and burying the dead. About twenty of the brethren were attacked with the cholera and eighteen died.
"President Joseph Smith called the members of the camp of Zion together, and told them if they could humble themselves before the Lord and covenant that they would from that time forth, obey His counsel that the plague should be stopped from that very hour and there would not be another case in camp, whereupon, the brethren with uplifted hands covenanted that they would from that very hour hearken to His counsel and obey His word, and the plague was stayed according to the words of the Lord through His servant.
‘'July 4th, my brother Joseph and myself, in company with several of the brethren, started for home, and walked all the way arriving in Kirtland in August, having performed a journey of two thousand miles on foot, in a little over three months, averaging forty miles per day while traveling.
"In the fall of 1834, Denis Lake instituted a lawsuit before justices Dowen and Hanson, against Brother Joseph Smith, charging him thirty dollars a month for going up in Zion's camp in Missouri, alleging that Joseph had promised him a lot of land. I was called up by the attorney for the prosecution, General Pain, and questioned. I was asked if I went up to Missouri with the said camp? I answered ‘I did.' I was asked what tools I took with me. I replied ‘A good gun and bayonet, plenty of ammunition, a dirk, an ax, a saw, a chisel, spade, hoe and other necessary tools.' I was asked what I meant to do with my gun and ammunition. I replied I meant to defend my property, myself and my brethren from thieves and robbers.' I was asked how much I understood a lot of land to mean. I told them in the burying ground it generally meant six feet. Joseph's attorney, Mr. Bissel, hearing me answer these and similar questions so readily and definitely, punched the prosecuting attorney on the shoulder, and asked him if he had any more questions to ask that witness. He said ‘no. '
"Mr. Collins being examined, testified that Joseph had promised all who would go up in camp should return, and that many had gone up, and when they returned some were dead and some were alive. Joseph's attorney, taking advantage of the witness' words, remarked that the witness had testified that they all returned, and that was all Mr. Collins said Joseph had promised.
"Thirty witnesses were summoned to attend this trial (three of whom were sectarian priests) for the purpose of impeaching the testimony of Joseph Smith, at which they made a signal failure.
"I mention such cases, wherein I took a part, in my history, realizing there are but few of the vexatious proceedings of the world and apostates against Joseph, in his history.
"I tarried in Kirtland during the fall and winter, quarrying rock, working on the Temple, and finishing off the printing office and school-room.
"February 14th, 1835, Brother Joseph Smith called a council of Elders, at which the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were selected in the following order—viz., Lyman E. Johnson, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, David H. Patten, William E. McLellin, John F. Boyington, William Smith, Orson Pratt, Thomas B. Marsh and Parley P. Pratt. After the organization of the Twelve and the first Seventies, we held counsels frequently, in which we received much instruction from the Prophet pertaining to our calling.
“I went to Portland, Maine, on a steamer, started about 5 p. m. and about 10 o'clock there came up a storm, and the vessel, being old and shattered, could not withstand the storm, and after tossing about in the waters a few hours we put into Port Ann and spent a very pleasant day picking whortle-berries and going over the grounds upon which the inhabitants were drying the codfish.
“Many acres were covered with the flakes upon which the codfish were spread, this being the principal employment of the people.
“We arrived at Kirtland the latter part of September, where I remained through the fall and winter laboring with my hands to sustain my family, and preaching to the Saints.
“At this time the spirit of speculation, disaffection and apostasy, imbibed by many of the Twelve, and which ran through all of the Quorums of the Church, prevailed co extensively that it was difficult for any to see clearly the path to pursue.
“On a certain occasion several of the Twelve, the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and others of the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before them was to ascertain how the Prophet Joseph could be deposed, and David Whitmer appointed president of the Church. Father John Smith, Heber C. Kimball and others were present who were opposed to such measures. I arose and in a plain and forcible manner told them Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and I knew it, and they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet and to God, and sink themselves to hell. Many were highly enraged at my decided opposition to their measures, and Jacob Bump, (an old pugilist) was so exasperated that he could not keep still. Some of the brethren put their hands on him and requested him to be quiet; but he writhed and twisted his arms and body saying, How can I keep my hands off that man?' I told him if he thought it would give him any relief, he might lay them on. This meeting was broken up without the apostates being able to unite on any decided measures of opposition. This was a crisis when earth and hell seemed leagued to overthrow the Prophet and Church of God. The knees of many of the strongest men in the Church faltered.
"During this siege of darkness I stood close by Joseph, and, with all the wisdom and power God bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies to sustain the servant of God, and unite the Quorums of the Church.
"Ascertaining that a plot was laid to waylay Joseph for the purpose of taking his life on his return from Monroe, Michigan, to Kirtland, I procured a horse and buggy, and took Brother William Smith along to meet Joseph. We met him returning in the stage coach. Joseph requested William to take his seat in the stage, and he rode with me in the buggy. We arrived in Kirtland in safety.
"A man named Hawley, while ploughing his field in the state of New York, had an impression rest on his mind with great weight that he must go to Kirtland and tell Joseph Smith that the Lord had rejected him as a Prophet. He accordingly started right off, with his bare feet, and, on arriving in Kirtland, told Joseph that the Lord had rejected him for allowing John Noah, a Prophet of God, to be cut off from the Church, and for allowing the women to wear caps and the men to wear cushions on their coat sleeves. He was called up before the Bishop's court and disfellowshipped.
“He went through the streets of Kirtland one morning, after midnight, and cried, ‘Woe! woe! unto the inhabitants of this place,' I put my pants and shoes on, took my cow hide, went out, and laying hold of him, jerked him around, and assured that if he did not stop his noise and let the people enjoy their sleep without interruption, I would cow-hide him on the spot, for we had the Lord's Prophet right here, and we did not want the devil's prophet yelling round the streets. The nuisance was forthwith abated.
"In October my cousins, Levi and Willard Richards, arrived in Kirtland. Willard having read the Book of Mormon came to enquire further concerning the work of God. I invited him to make his home at my house, which he did, and investigated thoroughly the principles and doctrines set forth by the Prophet and Elders of the Church. December 31st, he requested baptism at my hands, which ordinance I administered to him in the presence of Elder Heber C. Kimball and others, who had spent the afternoon in cutting ice to prepare for the ceremony.
"I started from Kirtland on a mission to the East, accompanying the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum, David H. Patten, Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh, on their way to Canada. When we arrived at Painsville, the Prophet was arrested by an officer for some pretended debt. Joseph immediately entered into trial before the court, which found no cause of action. After his release he was again arrested and brought before the court when he was again dismissed. He was arrested the third time, and on examination was held over to trial. Brother Orson Call, who had lately joined the Church, stepped forward and proffered to become his bail.
"The sheriff, who was personally acquainted with Brother Call, took him to one side and strongly advised him against being bail for the Prophet, asserting the Prophet would be sure to abscond, and he would lose his farm; but brother Call willingly became his bail. On being released he was arrested a fourth time for a debt of a few dollars, which was paid forthwith, and the fifth time he was arrested, which cause was soon disposed of and he concluded to return to Kirtland for the night. As he got into his buggy, an officer also jumped in, and catching the lines with one hand, put his hand on Joseph's shoulder and said, ‘Mr. Smith, you are my prisoner.'
"Joseph enquired what was the cause of action. The officer informed him that a gentleman, a few months previous, had left a stove with him for the price of which he was sued. Brother Joseph replied: I never wished to purchase the stove, but the gentleman insisted on putting it up in my house, saying it would bring him custom.' Joseph left his watch and other property in security, and we returned home to Kirtland.
"The next day we started again, and traveled by land as far as Ashtabula, shunning Painsville and other places where we suspected our enemies were laying in wait to annoy Joseph. We tarried in Ashtabula through the day wandering over the bluffs, through the woods and on the beach of the lake, bathing ourselves in her beautiful waters until evening, when a steamboat arrived from the West. We went on board and took pas sage for Buffalo. I gave the Prophet my valise for a pillow, and I took his book for mine, and we all laid down on the deck of the vessel for the night.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG
[CONTINUED FROM PAGE 445.]
"In February, 1834, I married Mary Ann Angel, who took charge of my children, kept my house and labored faithfully for the interest of my family and the kingdom. While the Prophet Joseph was gathering up the Elders of Israel to go up to Missouri and assist the brethren that had been driven from Jackson County, I was preaching and laboring for the support of my family. My brother Joseph Young, arrived, and I requested him to go with me to Missouri. He hesitated; but while walking together a few days afterwards, we met the Prophet who said to him, Brother Joseph, I want you to go with us up to Missouri.' I informed the Prophet that my brother was doubtful as to his duty about going, to which the Prophet replied, ‘Brother Brigham and Brother Joseph, if you will go with me in the camp to Missouri, and keep my counsel, I promise you in the name of the Almighty that I will lead you there and back again, and not a hair of your heads shall be harmed,' at which my brother presented his hand to the Prophet, as well as myself to confirm the covenant. The brethren continued to come in from the various parts to Kirtland, and on the 5 th of May we started for New Portage, the place appointed for organization.
"May 7 th, Brother Joseph Smith and the remainder of the brethren having arrived, we began to organize, and on the 8th, the organization being completed we started on our journey. We arrived at Brother Burgett's, Rush Creek, Clay County, Missouri, on the 23rd of June and passed through the scenes of cholera and death as related in the history of Joseph Smith. We remained one week attending to the sick and burying the dead. About twenty of the brethren were attacked with the cholera and eighteen died.
"President Joseph Smith called the members of the camp of Zion together, and told them if they could humble themselves before the Lord and covenant that they would from that time forth, obey His counsel that the plague should be stopped from that very hour and there would not be another case in camp, whereupon, the brethren with uplifted hands covenanted that they would from that very hour hearken to His counsel and obey His word, and the plague was stayed according to the words of the Lord through His servant.
‘'July 4th, my brother Joseph and myself, in company with several of the brethren, started for home, and walked all the way arriving in Kirtland in August, having performed a journey of two thousand miles on foot, in a little over three months, averaging forty miles per day while traveling.
"In the fall of 1834, Denis Lake instituted a lawsuit before justices Dowen and Hanson, against Brother Joseph Smith, charging him thirty dollars a month for going up in Zion's camp in Missouri, alleging that Joseph had promised him a lot of land. I was called up by the attorney for the prosecution, General Pain, and questioned. I was asked if I went up to Missouri with the said camp? I answered ‘I did.' I was asked what tools I took with me. I replied ‘A good gun and bayonet, plenty of ammunition, a dirk, an ax, a saw, a chisel, spade, hoe and other necessary tools.' I was asked what I meant to do with my gun and ammunition. I replied I meant to defend my property, myself and my brethren from thieves and robbers.' I was asked how much I understood a lot of land to mean. I told them in the burying ground it generally meant six feet. Joseph's attorney, Mr. Bissel, hearing me answer these and similar questions so readily and definitely, punched the prosecuting attorney on the shoulder, and asked him if he had any more questions to ask that witness. He said ‘no. '
"Mr. Collins being examined, testified that Joseph had promised all who would go up in camp should return, and that many had gone up, and when they returned some were dead and some were alive. Joseph's attorney, taking advantage of the witness' words, remarked that the witness had testified that they all returned, and that was all Mr. Collins said Joseph had promised.
"Thirty witnesses were summoned to attend this trial (three of whom were sectarian priests) for the purpose of impeaching the testimony of Joseph Smith, at which they made a signal failure.
"I mention such cases, wherein I took a part, in my history, realizing there are but few of the vexatious proceedings of the world and apostates against Joseph, in his history.
"I tarried in Kirtland during the fall and winter, quarrying rock, working on the Temple, and finishing off the printing office and school-room.
"February 14th, 1835, Brother Joseph Smith called a council of Elders, at which the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were selected in the following order—viz., Lyman E. Johnson, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, David H. Patten, William E. McLellin, John F. Boyington, William Smith, Orson Pratt, Thomas B. Marsh and Parley P. Pratt. After the organization of the Twelve and the first Seventies, we held counsels frequently, in which we received much instruction from the Prophet pertaining to our calling.
“I went to Portland, Maine, on a steamer, started about 5 p. m. and about 10 o'clock there came up a storm, and the vessel, being old and shattered, could not withstand the storm, and after tossing about in the waters a few hours we put into Port Ann and spent a very pleasant day picking whortle-berries and going over the grounds upon which the inhabitants were drying the codfish.
“Many acres were covered with the flakes upon which the codfish were spread, this being the principal employment of the people.
“We arrived at Kirtland the latter part of September, where I remained through the fall and winter laboring with my hands to sustain my family, and preaching to the Saints.
“At this time the spirit of speculation, disaffection and apostasy, imbibed by many of the Twelve, and which ran through all of the Quorums of the Church, prevailed co extensively that it was difficult for any to see clearly the path to pursue.
“On a certain occasion several of the Twelve, the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and others of the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before them was to ascertain how the Prophet Joseph could be deposed, and David Whitmer appointed president of the Church. Father John Smith, Heber C. Kimball and others were present who were opposed to such measures. I arose and in a plain and forcible manner told them Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and I knew it, and they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet and to God, and sink themselves to hell. Many were highly enraged at my decided opposition to their measures, and Jacob Bump, (an old pugilist) was so exasperated that he could not keep still. Some of the brethren put their hands on him and requested him to be quiet; but he writhed and twisted his arms and body saying, How can I keep my hands off that man?' I told him if he thought it would give him any relief, he might lay them on. This meeting was broken up without the apostates being able to unite on any decided measures of opposition. This was a crisis when earth and hell seemed leagued to overthrow the Prophet and Church of God. The knees of many of the strongest men in the Church faltered.
"During this siege of darkness I stood close by Joseph, and, with all the wisdom and power God bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies to sustain the servant of God, and unite the Quorums of the Church.
"Ascertaining that a plot was laid to waylay Joseph for the purpose of taking his life on his return from Monroe, Michigan, to Kirtland, I procured a horse and buggy, and took Brother William Smith along to meet Joseph. We met him returning in the stage coach. Joseph requested William to take his seat in the stage, and he rode with me in the buggy. We arrived in Kirtland in safety.
"A man named Hawley, while ploughing his field in the state of New York, had an impression rest on his mind with great weight that he must go to Kirtland and tell Joseph Smith that the Lord had rejected him as a Prophet. He accordingly started right off, with his bare feet, and, on arriving in Kirtland, told Joseph that the Lord had rejected him for allowing John Noah, a Prophet of God, to be cut off from the Church, and for allowing the women to wear caps and the men to wear cushions on their coat sleeves. He was called up before the Bishop's court and disfellowshipped.
“He went through the streets of Kirtland one morning, after midnight, and cried, ‘Woe! woe! unto the inhabitants of this place,' I put my pants and shoes on, took my cow hide, went out, and laying hold of him, jerked him around, and assured that if he did not stop his noise and let the people enjoy their sleep without interruption, I would cow-hide him on the spot, for we had the Lord's Prophet right here, and we did not want the devil's prophet yelling round the streets. The nuisance was forthwith abated.
"In October my cousins, Levi and Willard Richards, arrived in Kirtland. Willard having read the Book of Mormon came to enquire further concerning the work of God. I invited him to make his home at my house, which he did, and investigated thoroughly the principles and doctrines set forth by the Prophet and Elders of the Church. December 31st, he requested baptism at my hands, which ordinance I administered to him in the presence of Elder Heber C. Kimball and others, who had spent the afternoon in cutting ice to prepare for the ceremony.
"I started from Kirtland on a mission to the East, accompanying the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum, David H. Patten, Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh, on their way to Canada. When we arrived at Painsville, the Prophet was arrested by an officer for some pretended debt. Joseph immediately entered into trial before the court, which found no cause of action. After his release he was again arrested and brought before the court when he was again dismissed. He was arrested the third time, and on examination was held over to trial. Brother Orson Call, who had lately joined the Church, stepped forward and proffered to become his bail.
"The sheriff, who was personally acquainted with Brother Call, took him to one side and strongly advised him against being bail for the Prophet, asserting the Prophet would be sure to abscond, and he would lose his farm; but brother Call willingly became his bail. On being released he was arrested a fourth time for a debt of a few dollars, which was paid forthwith, and the fifth time he was arrested, which cause was soon disposed of and he concluded to return to Kirtland for the night. As he got into his buggy, an officer also jumped in, and catching the lines with one hand, put his hand on Joseph's shoulder and said, ‘Mr. Smith, you are my prisoner.'
"Joseph enquired what was the cause of action. The officer informed him that a gentleman, a few months previous, had left a stove with him for the price of which he was sued. Brother Joseph replied: I never wished to purchase the stove, but the gentleman insisted on putting it up in my house, saying it would bring him custom.' Joseph left his watch and other property in security, and we returned home to Kirtland.
"The next day we started again, and traveled by land as far as Ashtabula, shunning Painsville and other places where we suspected our enemies were laying in wait to annoy Joseph. We tarried in Ashtabula through the day wandering over the bluffs, through the woods and on the beach of the lake, bathing ourselves in her beautiful waters until evening, when a steamboat arrived from the West. We went on board and took pas sage for Buffalo. I gave the Prophet my valise for a pillow, and I took his book for mine, and we all laid down on the deck of the vessel for the night.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
"Autobiography of Brigham Young." The Young Woman's Journal. September 1897. pg. 535-541.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 491.)
“We arrived in Buffalo early the next morning. Joseph and the brethren proceeded to Canada. I took cars for Lockport, with Brother A. P. Rockwood, and from thence we took a line-boat for Utica.
“In New York I ordained Brother Rockwood an Elder, predicting on his head that his family should be gathered into the kingdom, and that there should be a branch of the Church raised up in his native town, Holliston, Mass., where he then resided and kept store, and set him apart to preside over said Branch when it should be raised up. Having closed up my business I started for home.
“August 18th.—Took steamer, Daniel Webster t at Buffalo, for Fairport. When out three quarters of a mile from the end of the pier, a lady fell from the stern of the vessel. The engines were immediately stopped and the yawl lowered, into which the first mate, Mr. Clark, and two hands jumped and returned in search of her. When the mate saw her she went under about ten feet of water. He dropped his oar and dived into the water like a fish. He was gone about one minute, and brought her up, his left hand clasping the back of her neck, and holding her at arm's length from him. The two hands took her from him into the yawl, and returned to the vessel. She was soon able to speak and quite recovered in the course of the afternoon and evening. Her name was Jane Groves. The passengers on board soon made up a purse of sixty dollars to the mate for saving her life. I learned from the lady herself the cause of her falling into the water. She had left her family and friends in the city of Buffalo and had got on the top rail to take a farewell of the city, and on coming down she slipped into the water. Here I learned something, I did not know before, that the motion of the water caused by the paddles will keep a person from sinking.
“September 3rd.—This day was appointed for the Saints to meet in Conference to reorganize the Church. Owing to the disaffection existing in the hearts of many, I went to the brethren whose votes could be relied on, early in the morning and had them occupy the stand and prominent seats. At 9 a. m. the services commenced; Joseph and his first counselors were received, his second counselor F. G. Williams was laid over, not being present. The members of the quorum of the Twelve in good standing and the authorities generally, were sustained. We were also enabled to disfellowship those of the Twelve and others seeking to bring disunion and destruction on the Church. The apostates and disaffected not being united, were compelled to endure the chagrin of witnessing the accomplishment of the will of God and His Prophet.
“On the morning of December 22nd, I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of the mob and the spirit that prevailed in the apostates, who had threatened to destroy me because I would proclaim publicly and privately that I knew, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most High God, and had not transgressed and fallen as apostates declared. On reaching Dublin, Indiana, I found my brother Lorenzo and Isaac Decker, and a number of other families. Meanwhile the Prophet Joseph, Sidney Rigdon and George H. Robinson came along. They had fled from Kirtland on account of the mobocratic spirit prevailing in the bosoms of the apostates.
“Here the Prophet made inquiry concerning a job at cutting cord-wood and sawing logs, after which he came to me and said, Brother Brigham I am destitute of means to pursue my journey and as you are one of the Twelve Apostles who hold the keys of the kingdom in all the world, I believe I shall throw myself upon you, and look to you for counsel in this case.’ At first I could hardly believe Joseph was in earnest, but on his assuring me be was, I said, ’If you will take my counsel it will be that you rest yourself and be assured, Brother Joseph, you shall have plenty of money to pursue your journey.’
“There was a brother named Tomlinson, living in the place who had previously asked my counsel about selling his tavern stand. I told him if he would do right and obey counsel, he would have an opportunity to sell soon, and the first offer he would get would be the best. A few days afterwards Brother Tomlinson informed me he had an offer for his place. I asked him what offer he had; he replied he was offered five hundred dollars in money, a team and two hundred and fifty dollars in store goods. I told him that was the hand of the Lord, to deliver President Joseph Smith from his present necessity.
“My promise to Joseph was soon verified. Brother Tomlinson sold his property and gave the Prophet three hundred dollars, which enabled him comfortably to proceed on his journey.
“The day Joseph and company started Isaac Seeley and wife arrived. The house was pretty well littered up. I sat writing to my wife, but I welcomed them to the use of the house and what was left in it. Brother Samuel H. Smith came along, who tarried with me until my brother Lorenzo returned from Cincinnati, and Brother Decker whose families had gone forward with Joseph. We prepared to follow, and started on, overtaking the Prophet four miles west of Jacksonville, where there was a Branch of the Church.
"After stopping a few days and resting we proceeded to Quincy, where we found the river frozen over, though it had broken up. Joseph and I went down to the river and examined the ice. We soon learned that by going through the flat boat which lay with the end to the shore, and placing a few planks from the outer end on the ice, we could reach the heavy ice which had floated down the river, a few days previous, sufficient to bear up our teams. We hauled our wagons through the boat and on to the ice by hand, then led our horses onto the solid ice, and drove across the river by attaching a rope to the wagon and the team, so they would be some distance apart. The last horse which was led onto the ice was Joseph's favorite, Charlie. He broke the ice at every step for several rods.
"After leaving the boat we struck out in a long string and passed over in safety. Two or three hours afterwards Brother Decker and family crossed on our track but it was with great difficulty and risk that they got across, many times having to separate from each other and get on to a solid cake, the ice was so near breaking up.
"We proceeded on our journey to Huntsville, where we met some of the brethren from Far West. Brother John T. Barnard had come from Far West with a carriage into which he put Joseph's family.
"One day while crossing a large prairie, six or eight miles from any house, we crossed a small stream. The ground was frozen deep on each side, and we sprung one of the axle-trees of Brother Barnard's carriage. Brother Barnard said we could not travel with it any further. Brother Joseph looked at it and said, ‘I can spring that iron axle-tree back, so that we can go on our journey.' Brother Barnard replied, ‘I am a blacksmith and used to work in all kinds of iron, and that axle-tree is bent so far round that to attempt to straighten it would only break it!' Brother Joseph answered, ‘I'll try it.' He got a pry, and we sprung it back to its place, and it did not trouble us any till we arrived at Far West. Brother Barnard, seeing this done, concluded that he would never say again a thing could not be done when a Prophet said it could.
"I purchased a small improvement on Mill Creek, located my family and proceeded to fence in a farm. I bought several pieces of land and obtained deeds for them.
"As soon as the Missourians had laid b} their corn, as they call it, they commenced to stir up the old mob spirit, riding from neighborhood to neighborhood making inflammatory speeches, stirring up one another against us. Priests seemed to take the lead in this matter. I had no communication, correspondence or deal with the Missourians, consequently they did not personally know me, which gave me a good opportunity to learn their acts and feelings unsuspected. I knew men in the fall to gather up their flocks and herds and take their families into their wagons and then burn up their houses and leave for other parts. I afterward saw their names attached to affidavits, stating that Mormons had driven them from their homes and burned their houses. This was quite effectual in raising prejudice against us.
"At the time that the exterminating army of Governor Boggs, commanded by Generals Lucas and Clark, came in sight of Far West, I observed their approach and thought it might be the militia of the state coming to the relief of the citizens, but to my great surprise I found that they had come to strengthen the hands of the mobs which were around us and which immediately joined the army.
"Some of these mobs were painted like Indians and Gillum,' their leader, was also painted in a similar manner, and styled himself the ‘Delaware Chief,' and afterwards he and the rest of the mob claimed and obtained pay as militia from the state,, for all the time they were engaged as a mob, as will be seen by reference to the acts of the Missouri Legislature.
"Many Saints were wounded and murdered by the army, and several women were ravished to death. I saw Brothers Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and others delivered up by Colonel Hink to General Lucas, but expected that they would have returned to the city that evening, or the next morning, according to agreement, and the pledge of the sacred honor of the officers that they should be allowed to do so, but they did not return at all.
"November 3rd, (Sunday) Brother Kimball and I attended the Episcopalian church in the forenoon. While we were walking down the street to the hotel, we met Mr. Terry and learned that the brethren who left us in Terre Haute had just arrived in Cleveland. Mr. Murrian was as much astonished to see Brother Kimball alive as though he had seen one risen from the dead. We walked down the street with him a short distance and met the brethren, from whom I learned they had stopped at the tavern in Strongsville, where I wished to stop the night before. They had met with Brother John Taylor at Dayton, where he was left a few weeks before at a tavern very sick, by Father Coltran, who proceeded to Kirtland. Brothers Taylor and Hedlock got into the stage with us early in the afternoon and rode as far as Willoughby. We proceeded to Kirtland, and arrived that evening, where we found a good many friends and brethren who were glad to see us. I had a York shilling left; and in looking over my expenses I found we bad paid out over eighty-seven dollars out of the thirteen fifty we had at Pleasant Garden, which is all the money we had to pay our passages, to my certain knowledge, to start on. We had traveled over four hundred miles by stage for which we paid from eight to ten cents a mile and had eaten three meals a day, for each of which we were charged fifty cents also fifty cents for lodgings.
"December 6th.—The Saints in Hamilton, Madison County, were in confusion; they had the gift of tongues among them and the interpretation and they were so ignorant of the nature of these gifts that they supposed that every thing which was spoken in tongues was immediate revelation from God; a false spirit had therefore crept in and division was the result. I taught them that when they spoke in tongues, the language might be from the Lord, but with chat tongue they spoke the things which were in their hearts, whether they were good or evil; the gift of tongues was given for a blessing to the Saints, but not to govern them nor to control the Elders or dictate the affairs of the Church. God had placed in the Church different gifts, among which were apostles, prophets, helps and governments and wisdom was profitable to direct. Before leaving, the Saints came to an understanding on these matters. The brethren were very kind to us. Brother Moon gave me satinette to make me an overcoat and Sister Lucretia Murdock made it for me. This was a great blessing to me as I had worn a quilt with a comforter run through it, in lieu of an overcoat, all the way from Nauvoo, which had not much of a ministerial appearance.
"December 26.— Went to Eaton and visited cousins Fitch and Salmon Brigham, and on Saturday to Hamilton, and called on Phinehas Brigham. He had many inquiries to make about the Prophet. I preached the Gospel so plainly that he could not make any reply, but had to acknowledge that what I taught was sciptorial and reasonable, and he could not gainsay it, he regretted very much that his son was not there. He thought of his son, a Baptist priest who might be able to enlighten my mind and point out my errors, although he was not able to do it himself.
"We had not conversed an hour when his son, the priest came in to whom he introduced me, and then sat down with a great deal of composure, believing the son would be able to rebut the doctrine I had advanced. The son with all the solemnity and air of a priest commenced to ask questions. I answered them and in return I asked him a few questions, giving him liberty to rebut any statement I had made by bringing scripture testimony, as I had read mv doctrine from the Bible; but he could not give me any light, neither could he answer the questions I asked him, and he was too much of a gentleman—young and inexperienced—to commence a tirade of abuse, as older priests generally did, on the character of Joseph and the Book of Mormon, consequently he sat mute as a stock.
“I continued my visit with the family for a short time and when I was about to leave I told them that Baptistism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Shakerism, and every other ism I had studied and learned, for I desired to know the truth, and found I could put all their doctrines, when simmered down to truth, into a snuffbox of the smallest class, put it into my vest pocket and go on my way, but, when I found Mormonism I found it was higher than I could reach with my researches, deeper than I was capable of comprehending, calculated to expand the mind and lead mankind from truth to truth, from light to light, from grace to grace, and exalt him in the celestial kingdom, to become associated with the Gods and the angels.
"January 7th, 1840. Elder Smith and I took stage for West Stockbridge starting at daybreak. Having arrived there I proceeded to Richmond and sent a team for Brother George A. Smith.
"I preached on Wednesday evening amid considerable opposition, and Brother George A. Smith on Thursday evening. While we were opening the meeting, three sons of sectarian deacons, threw a quantity of sulphur on the stove, which was very hot; it produced such heavy fumes, that some left the house, others raised the windows and opened the doors. It was with great difficulty we could proceed with the meeting. After the stench had little abated, Brother Geo. A. said it was the first time he had ever been permitted to visit the state of Massachusetts. He had heard much from his childhood of the refined morals, high state of Christianity and perfect order that reigned predominate in this state, and of the great missionary exertions made to civilize and Christianize almost every portion of the world. He said he had traveled in the West, North and South; met in congregations with the savages of the forest, and he bad never seen so mean a breach of good order and decency before in his life. His first impression was that some sectarian preacher, a wholesale dealer in fire and brimstone, in making an exposition of his creed, had got so near hell that he had been unable to take all the brimstone away with him. At least he considered himself in no danger of catching the itch in Massachusetts, for the smell of brimstone indicated it was thoroughly cured.
(CONCLUSION.)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 491.)
“We arrived in Buffalo early the next morning. Joseph and the brethren proceeded to Canada. I took cars for Lockport, with Brother A. P. Rockwood, and from thence we took a line-boat for Utica.
“In New York I ordained Brother Rockwood an Elder, predicting on his head that his family should be gathered into the kingdom, and that there should be a branch of the Church raised up in his native town, Holliston, Mass., where he then resided and kept store, and set him apart to preside over said Branch when it should be raised up. Having closed up my business I started for home.
“August 18th.—Took steamer, Daniel Webster t at Buffalo, for Fairport. When out three quarters of a mile from the end of the pier, a lady fell from the stern of the vessel. The engines were immediately stopped and the yawl lowered, into which the first mate, Mr. Clark, and two hands jumped and returned in search of her. When the mate saw her she went under about ten feet of water. He dropped his oar and dived into the water like a fish. He was gone about one minute, and brought her up, his left hand clasping the back of her neck, and holding her at arm's length from him. The two hands took her from him into the yawl, and returned to the vessel. She was soon able to speak and quite recovered in the course of the afternoon and evening. Her name was Jane Groves. The passengers on board soon made up a purse of sixty dollars to the mate for saving her life. I learned from the lady herself the cause of her falling into the water. She had left her family and friends in the city of Buffalo and had got on the top rail to take a farewell of the city, and on coming down she slipped into the water. Here I learned something, I did not know before, that the motion of the water caused by the paddles will keep a person from sinking.
“September 3rd.—This day was appointed for the Saints to meet in Conference to reorganize the Church. Owing to the disaffection existing in the hearts of many, I went to the brethren whose votes could be relied on, early in the morning and had them occupy the stand and prominent seats. At 9 a. m. the services commenced; Joseph and his first counselors were received, his second counselor F. G. Williams was laid over, not being present. The members of the quorum of the Twelve in good standing and the authorities generally, were sustained. We were also enabled to disfellowship those of the Twelve and others seeking to bring disunion and destruction on the Church. The apostates and disaffected not being united, were compelled to endure the chagrin of witnessing the accomplishment of the will of God and His Prophet.
“On the morning of December 22nd, I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of the mob and the spirit that prevailed in the apostates, who had threatened to destroy me because I would proclaim publicly and privately that I knew, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most High God, and had not transgressed and fallen as apostates declared. On reaching Dublin, Indiana, I found my brother Lorenzo and Isaac Decker, and a number of other families. Meanwhile the Prophet Joseph, Sidney Rigdon and George H. Robinson came along. They had fled from Kirtland on account of the mobocratic spirit prevailing in the bosoms of the apostates.
“Here the Prophet made inquiry concerning a job at cutting cord-wood and sawing logs, after which he came to me and said, Brother Brigham I am destitute of means to pursue my journey and as you are one of the Twelve Apostles who hold the keys of the kingdom in all the world, I believe I shall throw myself upon you, and look to you for counsel in this case.’ At first I could hardly believe Joseph was in earnest, but on his assuring me be was, I said, ’If you will take my counsel it will be that you rest yourself and be assured, Brother Joseph, you shall have plenty of money to pursue your journey.’
“There was a brother named Tomlinson, living in the place who had previously asked my counsel about selling his tavern stand. I told him if he would do right and obey counsel, he would have an opportunity to sell soon, and the first offer he would get would be the best. A few days afterwards Brother Tomlinson informed me he had an offer for his place. I asked him what offer he had; he replied he was offered five hundred dollars in money, a team and two hundred and fifty dollars in store goods. I told him that was the hand of the Lord, to deliver President Joseph Smith from his present necessity.
“My promise to Joseph was soon verified. Brother Tomlinson sold his property and gave the Prophet three hundred dollars, which enabled him comfortably to proceed on his journey.
“The day Joseph and company started Isaac Seeley and wife arrived. The house was pretty well littered up. I sat writing to my wife, but I welcomed them to the use of the house and what was left in it. Brother Samuel H. Smith came along, who tarried with me until my brother Lorenzo returned from Cincinnati, and Brother Decker whose families had gone forward with Joseph. We prepared to follow, and started on, overtaking the Prophet four miles west of Jacksonville, where there was a Branch of the Church.
"After stopping a few days and resting we proceeded to Quincy, where we found the river frozen over, though it had broken up. Joseph and I went down to the river and examined the ice. We soon learned that by going through the flat boat which lay with the end to the shore, and placing a few planks from the outer end on the ice, we could reach the heavy ice which had floated down the river, a few days previous, sufficient to bear up our teams. We hauled our wagons through the boat and on to the ice by hand, then led our horses onto the solid ice, and drove across the river by attaching a rope to the wagon and the team, so they would be some distance apart. The last horse which was led onto the ice was Joseph's favorite, Charlie. He broke the ice at every step for several rods.
"After leaving the boat we struck out in a long string and passed over in safety. Two or three hours afterwards Brother Decker and family crossed on our track but it was with great difficulty and risk that they got across, many times having to separate from each other and get on to a solid cake, the ice was so near breaking up.
"We proceeded on our journey to Huntsville, where we met some of the brethren from Far West. Brother John T. Barnard had come from Far West with a carriage into which he put Joseph's family.
"One day while crossing a large prairie, six or eight miles from any house, we crossed a small stream. The ground was frozen deep on each side, and we sprung one of the axle-trees of Brother Barnard's carriage. Brother Barnard said we could not travel with it any further. Brother Joseph looked at it and said, ‘I can spring that iron axle-tree back, so that we can go on our journey.' Brother Barnard replied, ‘I am a blacksmith and used to work in all kinds of iron, and that axle-tree is bent so far round that to attempt to straighten it would only break it!' Brother Joseph answered, ‘I'll try it.' He got a pry, and we sprung it back to its place, and it did not trouble us any till we arrived at Far West. Brother Barnard, seeing this done, concluded that he would never say again a thing could not be done when a Prophet said it could.
"I purchased a small improvement on Mill Creek, located my family and proceeded to fence in a farm. I bought several pieces of land and obtained deeds for them.
"As soon as the Missourians had laid b} their corn, as they call it, they commenced to stir up the old mob spirit, riding from neighborhood to neighborhood making inflammatory speeches, stirring up one another against us. Priests seemed to take the lead in this matter. I had no communication, correspondence or deal with the Missourians, consequently they did not personally know me, which gave me a good opportunity to learn their acts and feelings unsuspected. I knew men in the fall to gather up their flocks and herds and take their families into their wagons and then burn up their houses and leave for other parts. I afterward saw their names attached to affidavits, stating that Mormons had driven them from their homes and burned their houses. This was quite effectual in raising prejudice against us.
"At the time that the exterminating army of Governor Boggs, commanded by Generals Lucas and Clark, came in sight of Far West, I observed their approach and thought it might be the militia of the state coming to the relief of the citizens, but to my great surprise I found that they had come to strengthen the hands of the mobs which were around us and which immediately joined the army.
"Some of these mobs were painted like Indians and Gillum,' their leader, was also painted in a similar manner, and styled himself the ‘Delaware Chief,' and afterwards he and the rest of the mob claimed and obtained pay as militia from the state,, for all the time they were engaged as a mob, as will be seen by reference to the acts of the Missouri Legislature.
"Many Saints were wounded and murdered by the army, and several women were ravished to death. I saw Brothers Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and others delivered up by Colonel Hink to General Lucas, but expected that they would have returned to the city that evening, or the next morning, according to agreement, and the pledge of the sacred honor of the officers that they should be allowed to do so, but they did not return at all.
"November 3rd, (Sunday) Brother Kimball and I attended the Episcopalian church in the forenoon. While we were walking down the street to the hotel, we met Mr. Terry and learned that the brethren who left us in Terre Haute had just arrived in Cleveland. Mr. Murrian was as much astonished to see Brother Kimball alive as though he had seen one risen from the dead. We walked down the street with him a short distance and met the brethren, from whom I learned they had stopped at the tavern in Strongsville, where I wished to stop the night before. They had met with Brother John Taylor at Dayton, where he was left a few weeks before at a tavern very sick, by Father Coltran, who proceeded to Kirtland. Brothers Taylor and Hedlock got into the stage with us early in the afternoon and rode as far as Willoughby. We proceeded to Kirtland, and arrived that evening, where we found a good many friends and brethren who were glad to see us. I had a York shilling left; and in looking over my expenses I found we bad paid out over eighty-seven dollars out of the thirteen fifty we had at Pleasant Garden, which is all the money we had to pay our passages, to my certain knowledge, to start on. We had traveled over four hundred miles by stage for which we paid from eight to ten cents a mile and had eaten three meals a day, for each of which we were charged fifty cents also fifty cents for lodgings.
"December 6th.—The Saints in Hamilton, Madison County, were in confusion; they had the gift of tongues among them and the interpretation and they were so ignorant of the nature of these gifts that they supposed that every thing which was spoken in tongues was immediate revelation from God; a false spirit had therefore crept in and division was the result. I taught them that when they spoke in tongues, the language might be from the Lord, but with chat tongue they spoke the things which were in their hearts, whether they were good or evil; the gift of tongues was given for a blessing to the Saints, but not to govern them nor to control the Elders or dictate the affairs of the Church. God had placed in the Church different gifts, among which were apostles, prophets, helps and governments and wisdom was profitable to direct. Before leaving, the Saints came to an understanding on these matters. The brethren were very kind to us. Brother Moon gave me satinette to make me an overcoat and Sister Lucretia Murdock made it for me. This was a great blessing to me as I had worn a quilt with a comforter run through it, in lieu of an overcoat, all the way from Nauvoo, which had not much of a ministerial appearance.
"December 26.— Went to Eaton and visited cousins Fitch and Salmon Brigham, and on Saturday to Hamilton, and called on Phinehas Brigham. He had many inquiries to make about the Prophet. I preached the Gospel so plainly that he could not make any reply, but had to acknowledge that what I taught was sciptorial and reasonable, and he could not gainsay it, he regretted very much that his son was not there. He thought of his son, a Baptist priest who might be able to enlighten my mind and point out my errors, although he was not able to do it himself.
"We had not conversed an hour when his son, the priest came in to whom he introduced me, and then sat down with a great deal of composure, believing the son would be able to rebut the doctrine I had advanced. The son with all the solemnity and air of a priest commenced to ask questions. I answered them and in return I asked him a few questions, giving him liberty to rebut any statement I had made by bringing scripture testimony, as I had read mv doctrine from the Bible; but he could not give me any light, neither could he answer the questions I asked him, and he was too much of a gentleman—young and inexperienced—to commence a tirade of abuse, as older priests generally did, on the character of Joseph and the Book of Mormon, consequently he sat mute as a stock.
“I continued my visit with the family for a short time and when I was about to leave I told them that Baptistism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Shakerism, and every other ism I had studied and learned, for I desired to know the truth, and found I could put all their doctrines, when simmered down to truth, into a snuffbox of the smallest class, put it into my vest pocket and go on my way, but, when I found Mormonism I found it was higher than I could reach with my researches, deeper than I was capable of comprehending, calculated to expand the mind and lead mankind from truth to truth, from light to light, from grace to grace, and exalt him in the celestial kingdom, to become associated with the Gods and the angels.
"January 7th, 1840. Elder Smith and I took stage for West Stockbridge starting at daybreak. Having arrived there I proceeded to Richmond and sent a team for Brother George A. Smith.
"I preached on Wednesday evening amid considerable opposition, and Brother George A. Smith on Thursday evening. While we were opening the meeting, three sons of sectarian deacons, threw a quantity of sulphur on the stove, which was very hot; it produced such heavy fumes, that some left the house, others raised the windows and opened the doors. It was with great difficulty we could proceed with the meeting. After the stench had little abated, Brother Geo. A. said it was the first time he had ever been permitted to visit the state of Massachusetts. He had heard much from his childhood of the refined morals, high state of Christianity and perfect order that reigned predominate in this state, and of the great missionary exertions made to civilize and Christianize almost every portion of the world. He said he had traveled in the West, North and South; met in congregations with the savages of the forest, and he bad never seen so mean a breach of good order and decency before in his life. His first impression was that some sectarian preacher, a wholesale dealer in fire and brimstone, in making an exposition of his creed, had got so near hell that he had been unable to take all the brimstone away with him. At least he considered himself in no danger of catching the itch in Massachusetts, for the smell of brimstone indicated it was thoroughly cured.
(CONCLUSION.)
"The Governors of Utah. Brigham Young." Improvement Era. November 1900. pg. 1-4.
THE GOVERNORS OF UTAH, BRIGHAM YOUNG. One of the features of the present volume of the Era referred to in the prospectus for volume four was full page portraits of governors of Utah, with accompanying short historical and biographical sketches. As a step towards the fulfillment of this promise, we have pleasure in presenting in this number a portrait of President Brigham Young from a daguerreotype taken in December, 1850, shortly after he was appointed governor of Utah. It is a striking likeness of the governor as he appeared at that time, and it is not difficult to read in it the many-sided character traits of the great leader—the founder of our State. Brigham Young, the first governor of Utah Territory, was born June 1, 1801, in Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont. He was appointed governor on September 28, 1850. "An act to establish a Territorial Government for Utah," was signed by President Millard Fillmore, and went into effect on the 9th of September, 1850, but the news of the organization of the Territory and the appointment of governor and other officers, did not reach the valley until January 27, 1851, being even then unofficially conveyed by way of San Francisco, through New York papers which were brought to Salt Lake City by Mr. Henry E. Gibson. Prior to this time, the Provisional Government of the State of Deseret had borne sway. It was the child of a mass convention which met in Salt Lake City on the 4th of March, 1849. On the 10th of the same month, a constitution was adopted, and a pro visional government was organized under the name of the State of Deseret. The election of officers for this provisional government took place on the 12th following, and resulted in the choosing of Brigham Young for governor. It will thus be seen that he was already the choice of the people and was acting as governor when the news of his presidential appointment reached him. He took the oath of office on the 3rd day of February, 1851, and immediately set to work to change the provisional to the territorial form of government. Accordingly, on the 5th of April, 1851, the General Assembly of the State of Deseret was dissolved, and the state merged into the Territory of Utah, the first territorial election being held the following August. Aside from the political events of his first term, which though exciting were of little permanent import except for the episodes of the "Runaway Judges" Brandebury and Brocchus and Secretary D. B. Harris, who created a breach which may rightly be said to be the beginning of the long controversy between the Federal judges and the "Mormons," there were many significant events which occurred in the local history of the people, in all of which the wisdom of the directing mind of the great leader was manifest. The national Congress was petitioned, March 8, 1852, for the construction of a national central railroad and telegraph line to the Pacific coast— a request followed by other similar petitions in 1853-54. The hopes of the people were realized in 1869, President Young living to take part in the construction of this great highway. The growth, extension and colonization of new settlements were continued; dramatic and educational interests were encouraged; public buildings and stores were erected; grist and saw mills were busy in all parts; home manufacturing institutions sprang up in various places, encouraged by legislative appropriation and protection. The corner stone of the temple was laid on the 6th of April, 1853; the Indian question called for careful diplomacy; and the troubles with the red men, in the Walker war of 1853, caused a conflict in which the lives of twenty whites were lost with a loss of three hundred thousand dollars in property. At the expiration of his first term, a petition, signed alike by Federal officials, "Mormons" and Gentiles, and headed by Colonel E. J. Steptoe (who had arrived in Salt Lake City with a body of troops to punish the perpetrators of the Gunnison Indian massacre,) was sent to President Franklin Pierce, asking the appointment of Governor Young for a second term. The president had at first refused to reappoint him, owing doubtless to evil imputations against his character circulated by Secretary Harris and others. The place was tendered to Colonel Steptoe, who declined, knowing that Young was the people's choice. This petition was forwarded to Washington in December, 1854, and resulted in the reappointment of Brigham Young as Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. A growing discontent among the Federal officials characterized the second term, notwithstanding Brigham Young was the means of instituting such order and justice in Utah as were never equaled in any other western state or territory in our frontier history. Three local events occurred in 1856, each of which may well be called a calamity. The period of want, in the early months of that year, caused by the previous season's crop being destroyed by grasshoppers and drought, in which the people were compelled to add sego and thistle roots to their scanty rations of meal and vegetables; the Tintic Indian war, by which twelve settlers lost their lives, with other Indian troubles on the plains; and the greatest calamity of all—the death of upwards of one hundred and fifty persons in the belated hand-cart companies. The close of his second term saw that "ill-advised measure on the part of the United States Government," the Utah War, which cost the government "several hundred lives and the loss of at least fifteen million dollars at a time when men and money could least be spared, and accomplished practically nothing save that it exposed the president and his cabinet to much well-deserved ridicule." Through the wise manipulations and consummate strategy of Governor Young, the "Mormons" won through it the respect and esteem of a large portion of the outside world, and a thousand favorable echoes from the press which recognized the bravery and patriotism of the inhabitants of Utah. This unfortunate episode introduces the second governor of Utah, Alfred Gumming, who was commissioned in July, 1857, and who entered Salt Lake City, respectfully treated and acknowledged as governor, on April 12, 1858, after the peace arrangements of Colonel Thomas L. Kane had become effective. Of the rare abilities, staunch character, and the master-mind of Governor Young, nothing need be said in this sketch. They are known to all, and his genius is apparent in every city and village of our prosperous commonwealth. President Young died in Salt Lake City on August 29, 1877, beloved by the whole people whose religious as well- as temporal leader and guide he had been for thirty-three years. |
GOVERNOR BRIGHAM YOUNG
1850-1858 Copy of the first daguerreotype taken in Utah December 12, 1850 |
Sessions, Sylvia L. "Was Brigham Young Great and Good? A Dialogue for June First, for Two Boys and One Girl." Juvenile Instructor. 15 April 1901. pg. 239-241.
WAS BRIGHAM YOUNG GREAT AND GOOD?
A DIALOGUE FOR JUNE FIRST, FOR TWO BOYS AND ONE GIRL.
Characters. GRANDPA, GRANDMA, LITTLE BRIGHAM.
Costumes.
Boy and girl, about twelve, dressed like old folks, with wigs, powdered hair and glasses, cap for Grandma. Little boy, of about six or eight, in modern dress, with flag.
Scene.
Home sitting room with easy rocking-chairs and stools, table with books, etc.
[Enter Grandma with knitting in hand. She sits down and knits while she sings:]
Thy pleasant vales, dear Utah,
How dear are they to me!
Thy homes mid trees secluded
Are beautiful to see.
[Enter Grandpa with newspaper in hand, or he takes it from table as he sits down. He sings, or recites:]
Before all lands in East or West,
We love the land of Zion best;
With God's choice gifts 'tis teeming.
There Prophets, Seers, as of old.
The mysteries of heaven unfold.
Through holy Priesthood streaming.
[Unfolds paper and sits at ease reading and as Grandma knits she again sings:]
And see thee from our time,
The gathering place of nations.
Oh, happy lot is thine.
[Noise outside, “Hurrah, hurrah.” etc. Both look pleased.]
Grandpa—There is little Brigham coming!
Grandma—Yes, bless his dear heart, he will--
Brigham [coming in waving flag]—Hurrah! Hurrah for Utah and the Union!
Grandpa -Brigham come here. [Brigham comes joyously.] Tell me what day is this!
Brigham—[excitedly and still moving and swinging flag] Oh, Grandpa, we have had such a jolly time—the children said nice pieces—and we rode in a wagon — and we all sang at the same time—and oh—we had cake and ice cream—and and --
Grandpa—Oh, yes, you can scream: but now listen. [Brigham stands still.] What day is it? Whose birthday is it?
Brigham—[tossing his head] I know that can tell you first time—the first of June, and it's Brigham Young's birthday. Say, Grandma, what did you name me Brigham for?
Grandma—Because we loved that great and noble man—Brigham Young, and hoped you would be an honor to his name.
Brigham—[eagerly] Oh, Grandma and Grandpa, won't you tell me about him?
Grandpa— Don't you know anything about him?
Brigham—[slowly] Yes, I know that he was one of the first twelve Apostles of the Church, for our teachers told us that in Primary; but what was it that made him great, noble and good?
Grandpa—If you can sit still long enough, your Grandma and I will try to tell you. [Brigham brings stool and sits down several times.]
Grandma—Won't you get very tired, dear?
Brigham—Oh, no, Grandma, please do tell me about him and what he did. I'll be so still. [Sits between them.]
Grandma—Did you ever hear where Brigham Young was born?
Brigham—Yes, our Sunday School teacher told us that he was born in Whittingham, Vermont, and joined the Latter-day Saints when he was thirty-one years old.
Grandpa—Right, my boy. Well, after the Prophet Joseph was murdered Brother Brigham, as president of the Twelve, had to take the lead in things: but the Gentiles persecuted us until the Governor of Illinois told us we had better leave that State.
Brigham—Oh, Grandpa, did you have to leave your homes and your beautiful temple?
Grandma—Yes, dearie, it was hard to give up our homes, but the Prophet Joseph had said that we should some day go to the Rocky Mountains and there worship God without being molested.
Grandpa—Yes, and we left there in winter and we crossed the river Mississippi on the ice and camped in our wagons in the snow. We traveled in mud and rain; it was hard, but Brother Brigham was leading us and he helped us all he could: he was very kind to us. Once when his little girl was sick, he carried her in his arms and went among the other sick folks to help us and bless us and administer to us. He seemed to sleep with one eye open and one foot out of bed, so that when anything was wanted he was always on hand: when we did not have much to eat, he divided his food with us.
Brigham—He was awfully good.
Grandma—Indeed he was. He looked after every soul : even the animals loved him, for no horse or poor ox had a collar or yoke too tight but he saw it and fixed it. Many a time when we were traveling he would get out of his wagon and relieve some suffering animal.
Grandpa —Yes, and we had a brass band along with us for music, and we sang songs in camp or while we were traveling, so that we didn't feel so tired, then we had family prayers ever night and morning, so God's blessing was up us.
Grandma—And God revealed to Brigham Young just how to number the Saints and set captains over us so that we could have good order in our travels.
Brigham—Oh, he was just like Moses of whom we read in the Bible, wasn't he?
Grandpa—Moses led the people out of one place across a wilderness to another country, but we were driven from our homes and Brother Brigham led us across the dreary plains, the deserts and mountains into a barren, dry place. He then helped us to plant, dig and cultivate the land, and to bring the water out of the mountains and to make beautiful homes. He gave God all the glory. That is what I call being great. His rule of action was to learn the will of God and then to do it. He said the true Gospel founded on revelation was what made him. He was great in faith and prayer: wise in all his counsels, and yet very humble.
Brigham—But, Grandpa, how did he know where to go?
Grandpa—God had shown him, in a vision, where the stopping place was and where the temple would be built, and he, with a small party, went on ahead as pioneers and when they came to the Great Salt Lake Valley, he said, «This is the place.» He called it the land of promise held by God as a resting place for His Saints. Do you know when that was?
Brigham—I guess it was July 24, 1847, wasn't it?
Grandma—[Fondly] Bless the child. [Pats him on head.]
Grandpa—That's right. I see you are learning a great many things at your Primary. I am glad you listen to your teachers.
Brigham—How did Brigham Young get to be President of the Church?
Grandpa—When the Prophet Joseph died, Sidney Rigdon and some others said that Rigdon ought to be president, but we did not feel satisfied, and when Brother Brigham came to Nauvoo in August we had a meeting and many of the leading men spoke to us; then Brother Brigham arose and when he spoke his voice sounded like Brother Joseph's voice; his face shone with the glory of God, and we all felt that our leader stood before us.
Brigham—[eagerly] And did that make him president?
Grandpa—No. He said the Twelve should lead the Church, and for three years and a half they stood at the head; then the Saints selected him to be our President, and Prophet.
Brigham—Well, I'm glad they did, because I think he was a great man. I am glad my name is Brigham. [Rises, turns to Grandma and asks] Wasn't Papa a Mormon?
Grandma—Certainly, and a good one too. Why?
Brigham—[Sings, or recites, turning towards audience.] My father was a Mormon true, And when I am a man, I want to be like him, and do Just all the good I can. My faults I'll try to overcome And while I life enjoy, With pride I'll lift my head and say I am a Mormon boy.
Grandpa—[With pride] That's right, my boy.
Grandma—[Rolling up knitting] You must both be hungry, I think I can find a piece of cake for you, Brigham.
Brigham—Oh, that's a dear Grandma. [He kisses her and they both start out, Brigham turns round and reaches his hand towards Grandpa, saying] Come on, Grandpa, I'll divide with you.
[Exit all.]
Sylvia L. Sessions.
Thatcher, Arizona.
WAS BRIGHAM YOUNG GREAT AND GOOD?
A DIALOGUE FOR JUNE FIRST, FOR TWO BOYS AND ONE GIRL.
Characters. GRANDPA, GRANDMA, LITTLE BRIGHAM.
Costumes.
Boy and girl, about twelve, dressed like old folks, with wigs, powdered hair and glasses, cap for Grandma. Little boy, of about six or eight, in modern dress, with flag.
Scene.
Home sitting room with easy rocking-chairs and stools, table with books, etc.
[Enter Grandma with knitting in hand. She sits down and knits while she sings:]
Thy pleasant vales, dear Utah,
How dear are they to me!
Thy homes mid trees secluded
Are beautiful to see.
[Enter Grandpa with newspaper in hand, or he takes it from table as he sits down. He sings, or recites:]
Before all lands in East or West,
We love the land of Zion best;
With God's choice gifts 'tis teeming.
There Prophets, Seers, as of old.
The mysteries of heaven unfold.
Through holy Priesthood streaming.
[Unfolds paper and sits at ease reading and as Grandma knits she again sings:]
And see thee from our time,
The gathering place of nations.
Oh, happy lot is thine.
[Noise outside, “Hurrah, hurrah.” etc. Both look pleased.]
Grandpa—There is little Brigham coming!
Grandma—Yes, bless his dear heart, he will--
Brigham [coming in waving flag]—Hurrah! Hurrah for Utah and the Union!
Grandpa -Brigham come here. [Brigham comes joyously.] Tell me what day is this!
Brigham—[excitedly and still moving and swinging flag] Oh, Grandpa, we have had such a jolly time—the children said nice pieces—and we rode in a wagon — and we all sang at the same time—and oh—we had cake and ice cream—and and --
Grandpa—Oh, yes, you can scream: but now listen. [Brigham stands still.] What day is it? Whose birthday is it?
Brigham—[tossing his head] I know that can tell you first time—the first of June, and it's Brigham Young's birthday. Say, Grandma, what did you name me Brigham for?
Grandma—Because we loved that great and noble man—Brigham Young, and hoped you would be an honor to his name.
Brigham—[eagerly] Oh, Grandma and Grandpa, won't you tell me about him?
Grandpa— Don't you know anything about him?
Brigham—[slowly] Yes, I know that he was one of the first twelve Apostles of the Church, for our teachers told us that in Primary; but what was it that made him great, noble and good?
Grandpa—If you can sit still long enough, your Grandma and I will try to tell you. [Brigham brings stool and sits down several times.]
Grandma—Won't you get very tired, dear?
Brigham—Oh, no, Grandma, please do tell me about him and what he did. I'll be so still. [Sits between them.]
Grandma—Did you ever hear where Brigham Young was born?
Brigham—Yes, our Sunday School teacher told us that he was born in Whittingham, Vermont, and joined the Latter-day Saints when he was thirty-one years old.
Grandpa—Right, my boy. Well, after the Prophet Joseph was murdered Brother Brigham, as president of the Twelve, had to take the lead in things: but the Gentiles persecuted us until the Governor of Illinois told us we had better leave that State.
Brigham—Oh, Grandpa, did you have to leave your homes and your beautiful temple?
Grandma—Yes, dearie, it was hard to give up our homes, but the Prophet Joseph had said that we should some day go to the Rocky Mountains and there worship God without being molested.
Grandpa—Yes, and we left there in winter and we crossed the river Mississippi on the ice and camped in our wagons in the snow. We traveled in mud and rain; it was hard, but Brother Brigham was leading us and he helped us all he could: he was very kind to us. Once when his little girl was sick, he carried her in his arms and went among the other sick folks to help us and bless us and administer to us. He seemed to sleep with one eye open and one foot out of bed, so that when anything was wanted he was always on hand: when we did not have much to eat, he divided his food with us.
Brigham—He was awfully good.
Grandma—Indeed he was. He looked after every soul : even the animals loved him, for no horse or poor ox had a collar or yoke too tight but he saw it and fixed it. Many a time when we were traveling he would get out of his wagon and relieve some suffering animal.
Grandpa —Yes, and we had a brass band along with us for music, and we sang songs in camp or while we were traveling, so that we didn't feel so tired, then we had family prayers ever night and morning, so God's blessing was up us.
Grandma—And God revealed to Brigham Young just how to number the Saints and set captains over us so that we could have good order in our travels.
Brigham—Oh, he was just like Moses of whom we read in the Bible, wasn't he?
Grandpa—Moses led the people out of one place across a wilderness to another country, but we were driven from our homes and Brother Brigham led us across the dreary plains, the deserts and mountains into a barren, dry place. He then helped us to plant, dig and cultivate the land, and to bring the water out of the mountains and to make beautiful homes. He gave God all the glory. That is what I call being great. His rule of action was to learn the will of God and then to do it. He said the true Gospel founded on revelation was what made him. He was great in faith and prayer: wise in all his counsels, and yet very humble.
Brigham—But, Grandpa, how did he know where to go?
Grandpa—God had shown him, in a vision, where the stopping place was and where the temple would be built, and he, with a small party, went on ahead as pioneers and when they came to the Great Salt Lake Valley, he said, «This is the place.» He called it the land of promise held by God as a resting place for His Saints. Do you know when that was?
Brigham—I guess it was July 24, 1847, wasn't it?
Grandma—[Fondly] Bless the child. [Pats him on head.]
Grandpa—That's right. I see you are learning a great many things at your Primary. I am glad you listen to your teachers.
Brigham—How did Brigham Young get to be President of the Church?
Grandpa—When the Prophet Joseph died, Sidney Rigdon and some others said that Rigdon ought to be president, but we did not feel satisfied, and when Brother Brigham came to Nauvoo in August we had a meeting and many of the leading men spoke to us; then Brother Brigham arose and when he spoke his voice sounded like Brother Joseph's voice; his face shone with the glory of God, and we all felt that our leader stood before us.
Brigham—[eagerly] And did that make him president?
Grandpa—No. He said the Twelve should lead the Church, and for three years and a half they stood at the head; then the Saints selected him to be our President, and Prophet.
Brigham—Well, I'm glad they did, because I think he was a great man. I am glad my name is Brigham. [Rises, turns to Grandma and asks] Wasn't Papa a Mormon?
Grandma—Certainly, and a good one too. Why?
Brigham—[Sings, or recites, turning towards audience.] My father was a Mormon true, And when I am a man, I want to be like him, and do Just all the good I can. My faults I'll try to overcome And while I life enjoy, With pride I'll lift my head and say I am a Mormon boy.
Grandpa—[With pride] That's right, my boy.
Grandma—[Rolling up knitting] You must both be hungry, I think I can find a piece of cake for you, Brigham.
Brigham—Oh, that's a dear Grandma. [He kisses her and they both start out, Brigham turns round and reaches his hand towards Grandpa, saying] Come on, Grandpa, I'll divide with you.
[Exit all.]
Sylvia L. Sessions.
Thatcher, Arizona.
Cluff, W. W. "An Incident in the Life of President Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1901. pg. 572-573.
AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
BY ELDER W. W. CLUFF.
It is one hundred years since Brigham Young was born. The work of the Lord with which he was so closely identified, has had remarkable growth; his guiding mind, by the blessing of God, did much in his time to accelerate its progress. He was a mighty power in the founding of this commonwealth; a force so potent that the fruits of his influence and thought are still with us, as we stand looking back at the century that has vanished since he was born in Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont, June 1, 1801.
His works are grand inspirations to the youth of Zion, who may well ponder upon his life, and learn lessons therefrom. I know that Brigham Young was an inspired leader; and, in his career, I have personally noticed many incidents that prove it. I submit one taken from my journal, for the readers of the Era, which I think shows his sagacity and far-seeing wisdom, born of inspiration, and applied to common, but very important everyday affairs:
On May 10, 1854, in company with eighteen other elders who had been called on missions to the Sandwich Islands, I left my home in Provo, taking the southern overland route to California. We traveled as far as Cedar City, in southern Utah, with President Young's party who were making a tour of the southern settlements, and were holding meetings in all of the principal towns en route.
At the meeting at Cedar City, President Brigham Young and the brethren accompanying him, together with the leading men of the settlement, walked out to view the townsite which had been laid out around the stockade fort in which most of them were still living; a few families had built upon their town lots. The President noticed that a great many large boulders were scattered over the surface of the country, and he readily perceived that they had been washed down from the mountains. Walking up to one of the largest of these rocks, and placing his cane upon it, he said, addressing the leading men of the colony, "Brethren, how did these immense boulders come here?"
"Oh!" replied one of the settlers, "they have been brought down here by a flood, from those gulches, in the mountains yonder."
"Ah !" replied President Young, "it must have been a terrible flood to have brought these massive rocks all that distance."
"Yes, there can be no doubt about that," readily admitted the settler.
"And, judging from appearances," replied Brother Brigham, "there must have been frequent floods, for you see some of these boulders are almost entirely buried with soil, while others lie on top of the ground, showing, clearly, they were not all brought here at one time."
"There have been floods at different times," said the settler.
"Yes; that is very evident," said the President, "and what has so frequently occurred, is liable to happen again. Now," said he, "suppose you build your town here, and there should come such a flood as any of those which brought these great rocks here, the people and their effects would be washed down into the valley below, and many perhaps perish. This is no place for a town. Find some other location, and lose no time in moving from here."
The next day, he went out again with the principal men of the colony, and after looking the country over carefully, decided on the present site of Cedar City.
The sequel was: in July or August of that summer, sure enough a great flood did come down there; and had the town been built on the originally selected site, many of the people of the town doubtless would have perished, with their property, as the President foresaw, and of which he gave timely warning. His wise insight perhaps saved, in that instance, the lives of many of his brethren and sisters, with their children and their worldly possessions!
Such was the sagacity and great wisdom of the man, who, under the inspiration of the Lord, founded most of the settlements in these valleys of the Rocky Mountains. His life is full of such incidents, showing his wisdom and foresight, in great affairs and small!
AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
BY ELDER W. W. CLUFF.
It is one hundred years since Brigham Young was born. The work of the Lord with which he was so closely identified, has had remarkable growth; his guiding mind, by the blessing of God, did much in his time to accelerate its progress. He was a mighty power in the founding of this commonwealth; a force so potent that the fruits of his influence and thought are still with us, as we stand looking back at the century that has vanished since he was born in Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont, June 1, 1801.
His works are grand inspirations to the youth of Zion, who may well ponder upon his life, and learn lessons therefrom. I know that Brigham Young was an inspired leader; and, in his career, I have personally noticed many incidents that prove it. I submit one taken from my journal, for the readers of the Era, which I think shows his sagacity and far-seeing wisdom, born of inspiration, and applied to common, but very important everyday affairs:
On May 10, 1854, in company with eighteen other elders who had been called on missions to the Sandwich Islands, I left my home in Provo, taking the southern overland route to California. We traveled as far as Cedar City, in southern Utah, with President Young's party who were making a tour of the southern settlements, and were holding meetings in all of the principal towns en route.
At the meeting at Cedar City, President Brigham Young and the brethren accompanying him, together with the leading men of the settlement, walked out to view the townsite which had been laid out around the stockade fort in which most of them were still living; a few families had built upon their town lots. The President noticed that a great many large boulders were scattered over the surface of the country, and he readily perceived that they had been washed down from the mountains. Walking up to one of the largest of these rocks, and placing his cane upon it, he said, addressing the leading men of the colony, "Brethren, how did these immense boulders come here?"
"Oh!" replied one of the settlers, "they have been brought down here by a flood, from those gulches, in the mountains yonder."
"Ah !" replied President Young, "it must have been a terrible flood to have brought these massive rocks all that distance."
"Yes, there can be no doubt about that," readily admitted the settler.
"And, judging from appearances," replied Brother Brigham, "there must have been frequent floods, for you see some of these boulders are almost entirely buried with soil, while others lie on top of the ground, showing, clearly, they were not all brought here at one time."
"There have been floods at different times," said the settler.
"Yes; that is very evident," said the President, "and what has so frequently occurred, is liable to happen again. Now," said he, "suppose you build your town here, and there should come such a flood as any of those which brought these great rocks here, the people and their effects would be washed down into the valley below, and many perhaps perish. This is no place for a town. Find some other location, and lose no time in moving from here."
The next day, he went out again with the principal men of the colony, and after looking the country over carefully, decided on the present site of Cedar City.
The sequel was: in July or August of that summer, sure enough a great flood did come down there; and had the town been built on the originally selected site, many of the people of the town doubtless would have perished, with their property, as the President foresaw, and of which he gave timely warning. His wise insight perhaps saved, in that instance, the lives of many of his brethren and sisters, with their children and their worldly possessions!
Such was the sagacity and great wisdom of the man, who, under the inspiration of the Lord, founded most of the settlements in these valleys of the Rocky Mountains. His life is full of such incidents, showing his wisdom and foresight, in great affairs and small!
Whitney, Orson F. "Editor's Table: Brigham Young and His Century." Improvement Era. June 1901. pg. 624-629.
EDITOR'S TABLE. BRIGHAM YOUNG AND HIS CENTURY.
President Brigham Young died in the seventy-seventh year of his age. Had he lived until today, he would have been one hundred years old. The century that produced him, and in which he figured so prominently, is the most marvelous in the history of mankind, not only for the achievements of science and art, but for the revelations of religion. During that century, man, inspired by the spirit that "searcheth all things," explored the heights and depths of knowledge, penetrated to the darkest corners of the earth, and probed the very heavens in quest of the secrets of the universe. There is but one thing apparently that he has not done, or given promise of doing, in the way of human enlightenment; and that thing he cannot do. "Man by searching cannot find out God." Though he scan through the telescope the faces of the planets and calculate the size, weight and distance of the stars; though he analyze each orb and determine by means of the spectroscope its chemical constituents ; though he fill the sky with airships and balloons and navigate the silver-islanded, atmospheric sea that hangs on high; though he supplement the miracles of electricity and steam with natural and occult forces yet unknown, and bring all to bear upon the citadel of omnipotence, he will never topple one stone, never make one dint in the adamantine walls, never unveil the spiritual mysteries that repose in the bosom of the Creator. In the presence of the infinite, the unsearchable, the wisdom of the wise must perish, the understanding of the prudent be hid. God must reveal himself, or man will never know him, however learned he may otherwise be; and man must become like God, the finite change to the infinite, before he can grasp the great problem in its fullness.
But God has revealed himself, he has opened the heavens, has appeared in person and proclaimed his will to man; and it is this stupendous fact, added to all that science and human skill have accomplished, that makes the Nineteenth century—the century that produced Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and witnessed the reestablishment of direct and continuous revelation between heaven and earth—the marvel of all the ages.
Brigham Young, like Joseph Smith, was a naturally great man—a gifted man, big-hearted, broad-minded and philanthropic. But both were far greater because God was with them and worked through them for the accomplishment of his purposes. Their natural talents, though noble, would have availed but little, had not the Spirit of the Lord been upon them and the opportunity afforded for the exercise of their powers. Genius without inspiration is as a water-wheel without water, a steam engine without steam ; and even inspired genius must be coupled with opportunity in order to succeed. Brigham Young, as well as Joseph Smith, had genius, inspiration, and opportunity, the three prime elements of a great success.
When Brigham Young was born, the War of the Revolution was a comparatively recent memory. His native Vermont, one of the original thirteen colonies, had been a sovereign state under the Constitution for a period of thirteen years. Washington had been dead only two years, and Jefferson had just been inaugurated as President. The nation over which he presided hugged the Atlantic seaboard, and the territory of the Federal Government extended no farther west than the Mississippi. The country that now boasts of a population of seventy-five millions then contained less than five and a half million souls. Brigham was a boy of six years when Fulton launched his first steamboat on the Hudson, and a youth of twenty-five when the first American railroad (operated with horses) was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Not until two years later was there a mile of steam railroad in the United States, a nation now possessing nearly a quarter of a million miles, almost half the railroad mileage of the world. When the first trans-Atlantic steam vessel came into use, Brigham Young, by vocation a painter and glazier, and originally a Methodist in religion, had been for six years a "Mormon," for three years an apostle, and was in Missouri coping with murderous mobocracy and wrestling with the first great executive problem that confronted him—the winter exodus of his people from that state. Though steam had come into use, it was upon a sailing vessel that he and his brother apostles crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic at the opening of the forties, to broaden the foundations of the British Mission. The electric telegraph, beyond a few tentative experiments—notably by Oersted in Copenhagen—was yet a dream of the future.
By this time the great West, the arena of his future labors and the field of his greatest triumphs, was beginning to be sparsely peopled by immigration from the East; though this was only along the sea-coast of California and Oregon, and the present State of Utah was still a sun-baked, alkaline wilderness, without a human inhabitant save the wandering red man and the roving mountaineer. Into the heart of this desolate region, a region shunned by all, denounced by Daniel Webster on the floor of the United States Senate, as "a vast, worthless area," and described upon maps and in school books of the period as "The Great American Desert," Brigham Young, the world's greatest colonizer, led his exiled people, and by his genius and energy and their united industry, under the blessing of providence, subdued the desert, made the wilderness to blossom, and became the founder of more than two hundred cities.
Who can compute the greatness of the sacrifices involved, the grandeur of the successes that have crowned and will yet crown them? A band of homeless pilgrims, descended from the patriots of the Revolution and from lovers of liberty in many lands, persecuted for their religion, yet retaining their love of country, their attachment for American institutions, which they believed to be heaven-inspired, and going forth under the stars and stripes to fight Columbia's battles and found an American State on Mexican soil; their weary marches over limitless plains, wading rivers, crossing deserts, climbing mountains, ragged, hungry and foot sore, arriving at the goal of their long and toilsome journey only to find that in order to subsist they must battle with the unpropitious elements, banish drouth with irrigation, guard themselves night and day against marauding and merciless savages, wild beasts and venomous reptiles, and dispute possession of their scanty crops with crickets, grasshoppers and other voracious pests with which the region swarmed; the superhuman efforts by which they gradually overcame these giant obstacles and supplanted hardship and poverty with comfort and independence; the digging of roots and cooking of rawhides to eke out their impoverished food-stores; their miraculous rescue from the crickets by the gulls; the providential arrival of the gold-hunters on their way to California, supplying the ragged, half-starved settlers with provisions, clothing and merchandise, at cheaper rates than they could be obtained in the large eastern cities, thus fulfilling the prediction of one of the "Mormon" leaders; the placation of the savage, fed and befriended by the Saints, not hunted and exterminated according to the traditional policy concerning him; the colonizing of new sections, the opening of foreign missions, the ceaseless influx of immigration, the magical springing up of cities and villages in the midst of the barren waste—in short, the building of an empire in the bosom of a desert, as a nucleus for civilization, around which now cluster half a score of similar commonwealths, whose existence would have been impossible without Utah, the foundation and keystone of the arch. What pen or tongue can tell the marvelous story? What pencil or brush depict the scene sublime?
And then the march of the "Mormon" Battalion, the greatest infantry march on record, almost if not fully paralleling the achievement of the Utah Pioneers; the discovery of Gold in California by members of that command, a discovery that created the Golden State and revolutionized the commerce of the world—will it not be remembered that that Battalion marched from the Missouri River, not only under the command of United States army officers, but under the direction and blessing of the "Mormon" Moses, the modern Joshua, who laid down the law to his people in the wilderness and in due time planted their feet in the promised land?
Yes; his was the beating heart, the thinking brain, the guiding and directing hand in all the wondrous work of Utah's development, and the development to a great extent of the surrounding states and territories. Without him or some one like him, and without a people such as he led, this region of orchards, farms and vineyards would now be a wilderness, a desolation; the wheels of progress would have stood still, comparatively speaking, and the westward march of empire have been delayed indefinitely. Encouraging and fostering every enterprise that would benefit the people and build up the country, he was the first to utilize the telegraph upon its advent into Salt Lake Valley, flashing eastward the lightning message that Utah had not seceded but was firm for the Constitution and the laws. He was also among the first to welcome the transcontinental railroad, whose path over plains and through mountains he had marked out with his pioneer staff twenty- two years before, and whose road-bed across Utah he now helped to build. Nor must it be forgotten that ho constructed and owned telegraphs and railroads of his own, and established and promoted numberless other worthy and successful enterprises.
Colonizer, statesman, capitalist and financier; mercantile magnate and organizer of industry; friend of education and founder of colleges and academies that bear his name; builder and patron of theatres and other places of wholesome amusement and recreation, whose moral atmosphere he kept phenomenally pure; governor and legislator of a Territory, whose wisest laws he originated, and whose constitutional rights he maintained at every hazard; the leading citizen and master spirit of a community, which leaned upon him as a pillar of wisdom and power; apostle and president of a Church, whose perfect organization he thoroughly understood, whose sublime doctrines he expounded with plainness and profundity, and whose powers he wielded for the common good; a genius himself, recognizing genius in others, and wisely utilizing it for the furtherance of his Master's cause; intuitive, sagacious, a reader of men's hearts, an adept in the knowledge of human nature; a man for emergencies, brave, strong, tried and true; a man of mighty faith, made manifest in mighty works; a benefactor of his kind and a worshiper of the true and living God,—who shall say that he was not, what many the world over now concede him to be, one of the greatest characters of the world's greatest age?
Orson F. Whitney.
EDITOR'S TABLE. BRIGHAM YOUNG AND HIS CENTURY.
President Brigham Young died in the seventy-seventh year of his age. Had he lived until today, he would have been one hundred years old. The century that produced him, and in which he figured so prominently, is the most marvelous in the history of mankind, not only for the achievements of science and art, but for the revelations of religion. During that century, man, inspired by the spirit that "searcheth all things," explored the heights and depths of knowledge, penetrated to the darkest corners of the earth, and probed the very heavens in quest of the secrets of the universe. There is but one thing apparently that he has not done, or given promise of doing, in the way of human enlightenment; and that thing he cannot do. "Man by searching cannot find out God." Though he scan through the telescope the faces of the planets and calculate the size, weight and distance of the stars; though he analyze each orb and determine by means of the spectroscope its chemical constituents ; though he fill the sky with airships and balloons and navigate the silver-islanded, atmospheric sea that hangs on high; though he supplement the miracles of electricity and steam with natural and occult forces yet unknown, and bring all to bear upon the citadel of omnipotence, he will never topple one stone, never make one dint in the adamantine walls, never unveil the spiritual mysteries that repose in the bosom of the Creator. In the presence of the infinite, the unsearchable, the wisdom of the wise must perish, the understanding of the prudent be hid. God must reveal himself, or man will never know him, however learned he may otherwise be; and man must become like God, the finite change to the infinite, before he can grasp the great problem in its fullness.
But God has revealed himself, he has opened the heavens, has appeared in person and proclaimed his will to man; and it is this stupendous fact, added to all that science and human skill have accomplished, that makes the Nineteenth century—the century that produced Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and witnessed the reestablishment of direct and continuous revelation between heaven and earth—the marvel of all the ages.
Brigham Young, like Joseph Smith, was a naturally great man—a gifted man, big-hearted, broad-minded and philanthropic. But both were far greater because God was with them and worked through them for the accomplishment of his purposes. Their natural talents, though noble, would have availed but little, had not the Spirit of the Lord been upon them and the opportunity afforded for the exercise of their powers. Genius without inspiration is as a water-wheel without water, a steam engine without steam ; and even inspired genius must be coupled with opportunity in order to succeed. Brigham Young, as well as Joseph Smith, had genius, inspiration, and opportunity, the three prime elements of a great success.
When Brigham Young was born, the War of the Revolution was a comparatively recent memory. His native Vermont, one of the original thirteen colonies, had been a sovereign state under the Constitution for a period of thirteen years. Washington had been dead only two years, and Jefferson had just been inaugurated as President. The nation over which he presided hugged the Atlantic seaboard, and the territory of the Federal Government extended no farther west than the Mississippi. The country that now boasts of a population of seventy-five millions then contained less than five and a half million souls. Brigham was a boy of six years when Fulton launched his first steamboat on the Hudson, and a youth of twenty-five when the first American railroad (operated with horses) was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Not until two years later was there a mile of steam railroad in the United States, a nation now possessing nearly a quarter of a million miles, almost half the railroad mileage of the world. When the first trans-Atlantic steam vessel came into use, Brigham Young, by vocation a painter and glazier, and originally a Methodist in religion, had been for six years a "Mormon," for three years an apostle, and was in Missouri coping with murderous mobocracy and wrestling with the first great executive problem that confronted him—the winter exodus of his people from that state. Though steam had come into use, it was upon a sailing vessel that he and his brother apostles crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic at the opening of the forties, to broaden the foundations of the British Mission. The electric telegraph, beyond a few tentative experiments—notably by Oersted in Copenhagen—was yet a dream of the future.
By this time the great West, the arena of his future labors and the field of his greatest triumphs, was beginning to be sparsely peopled by immigration from the East; though this was only along the sea-coast of California and Oregon, and the present State of Utah was still a sun-baked, alkaline wilderness, without a human inhabitant save the wandering red man and the roving mountaineer. Into the heart of this desolate region, a region shunned by all, denounced by Daniel Webster on the floor of the United States Senate, as "a vast, worthless area," and described upon maps and in school books of the period as "The Great American Desert," Brigham Young, the world's greatest colonizer, led his exiled people, and by his genius and energy and their united industry, under the blessing of providence, subdued the desert, made the wilderness to blossom, and became the founder of more than two hundred cities.
Who can compute the greatness of the sacrifices involved, the grandeur of the successes that have crowned and will yet crown them? A band of homeless pilgrims, descended from the patriots of the Revolution and from lovers of liberty in many lands, persecuted for their religion, yet retaining their love of country, their attachment for American institutions, which they believed to be heaven-inspired, and going forth under the stars and stripes to fight Columbia's battles and found an American State on Mexican soil; their weary marches over limitless plains, wading rivers, crossing deserts, climbing mountains, ragged, hungry and foot sore, arriving at the goal of their long and toilsome journey only to find that in order to subsist they must battle with the unpropitious elements, banish drouth with irrigation, guard themselves night and day against marauding and merciless savages, wild beasts and venomous reptiles, and dispute possession of their scanty crops with crickets, grasshoppers and other voracious pests with which the region swarmed; the superhuman efforts by which they gradually overcame these giant obstacles and supplanted hardship and poverty with comfort and independence; the digging of roots and cooking of rawhides to eke out their impoverished food-stores; their miraculous rescue from the crickets by the gulls; the providential arrival of the gold-hunters on their way to California, supplying the ragged, half-starved settlers with provisions, clothing and merchandise, at cheaper rates than they could be obtained in the large eastern cities, thus fulfilling the prediction of one of the "Mormon" leaders; the placation of the savage, fed and befriended by the Saints, not hunted and exterminated according to the traditional policy concerning him; the colonizing of new sections, the opening of foreign missions, the ceaseless influx of immigration, the magical springing up of cities and villages in the midst of the barren waste—in short, the building of an empire in the bosom of a desert, as a nucleus for civilization, around which now cluster half a score of similar commonwealths, whose existence would have been impossible without Utah, the foundation and keystone of the arch. What pen or tongue can tell the marvelous story? What pencil or brush depict the scene sublime?
And then the march of the "Mormon" Battalion, the greatest infantry march on record, almost if not fully paralleling the achievement of the Utah Pioneers; the discovery of Gold in California by members of that command, a discovery that created the Golden State and revolutionized the commerce of the world—will it not be remembered that that Battalion marched from the Missouri River, not only under the command of United States army officers, but under the direction and blessing of the "Mormon" Moses, the modern Joshua, who laid down the law to his people in the wilderness and in due time planted their feet in the promised land?
Yes; his was the beating heart, the thinking brain, the guiding and directing hand in all the wondrous work of Utah's development, and the development to a great extent of the surrounding states and territories. Without him or some one like him, and without a people such as he led, this region of orchards, farms and vineyards would now be a wilderness, a desolation; the wheels of progress would have stood still, comparatively speaking, and the westward march of empire have been delayed indefinitely. Encouraging and fostering every enterprise that would benefit the people and build up the country, he was the first to utilize the telegraph upon its advent into Salt Lake Valley, flashing eastward the lightning message that Utah had not seceded but was firm for the Constitution and the laws. He was also among the first to welcome the transcontinental railroad, whose path over plains and through mountains he had marked out with his pioneer staff twenty- two years before, and whose road-bed across Utah he now helped to build. Nor must it be forgotten that ho constructed and owned telegraphs and railroads of his own, and established and promoted numberless other worthy and successful enterprises.
Colonizer, statesman, capitalist and financier; mercantile magnate and organizer of industry; friend of education and founder of colleges and academies that bear his name; builder and patron of theatres and other places of wholesome amusement and recreation, whose moral atmosphere he kept phenomenally pure; governor and legislator of a Territory, whose wisest laws he originated, and whose constitutional rights he maintained at every hazard; the leading citizen and master spirit of a community, which leaned upon him as a pillar of wisdom and power; apostle and president of a Church, whose perfect organization he thoroughly understood, whose sublime doctrines he expounded with plainness and profundity, and whose powers he wielded for the common good; a genius himself, recognizing genius in others, and wisely utilizing it for the furtherance of his Master's cause; intuitive, sagacious, a reader of men's hearts, an adept in the knowledge of human nature; a man for emergencies, brave, strong, tried and true; a man of mighty faith, made manifest in mighty works; a benefactor of his kind and a worshiper of the true and living God,—who shall say that he was not, what many the world over now concede him to be, one of the greatest characters of the world's greatest age?
Orson F. Whitney.
"Editorial Thoughts: The Centennial Anniversary of Brigham Young's Birth." Juvenile Instructor. 1 June 1901. pg. 338-340.
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG'S BIRTH.
THE celebration today of Brigham Young's birth will remind the Saints everywhere that it is now just one hundred years since his advent into the world. What wonderful changes the century has brought; and the changes are no more wonderful in the material growth of the world than they are in the religious lives of those who have accepted the Gospel.
Brigham Young was only six years old when the first steamboat, known as the Clermont, made its voyage up the Hudson River from New York to Albany. Steamboats are now plowing all the commercial waterways of the world. When he was eighteen the first steamship, the Savannah, crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The beginning of the use of steam, which was to revolutionize the world and open up continents, can have had little or no effect upon his own early life. The means of disseminating information in those days were so limited and the habit of reading confined to so few that people in them must have had very little conception of what steam was to do for mankind. Its usefulness was quite generally discredited.
When Brigham reached his twenty-fourth year the first railroad was constructed and run between Stockton and Darlington, England, and at the age of twenty-nine he might have seen one operated in this country. The same year witnessed the beginning of a new force in religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, and after the great pioneer leader had been severely schooled in the discipline and hardships of his new faith the mantle of the Prophet and founder fell upon him.
In 1846 he began one of the greatest tasks ever allotted to man. The exodus led by Brigham Young is without a parallel in history. It surpasses in both its hardships and consequences either that of the Israelites or that of the Pilgrim Fathers. The central figure in the world's greatest exodus and the organizer of a new commonwealth are the two grand distinctions in Brigham Young's life. How appropriate then on this the centennial of his birth it is to honor a name that has always meant so much to Utah and her people, and is coming to mean more and more to the people of the world at large! How wonderful, too, that men should sound in praise a name they pretended to despise so much when its bearer walked and talked in their midst! How gratifying, too, that the world at large should now begin to revise and correct their opinions of a man whose name was pronounced with such expression of horror when he lived in the midst of the great activities that gave him fame!
It was the sublime faith of the man that led him to anticipate and prepare for the future of the people God called him to lead. He builded better than he knew, and everywhere throughout these valleys, homes and cities attest the wisdom of him who was so instrumental in planting happy and prosperous communities of Saints in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. It is now nearly a quarter of a century since he passed from earth. During that time great changes and great progress have been made. Science and Invention are transforming the world and carrying their light and blessings to the remotest corners and into the darkest places of the uncivilized races of the globe. One hundred years ago the so-called civilized nations had little conception of what awaited them, and the simple lives of the people gave no warning of things to come. The century has been one of miracles, and the faith which converted water into wine seems not half so marvelous as the realization of the wonderful innovations of steam and electricity, and the great train of modern inventions which have followed these revealed forces of nature. The century has witnessed an outburst of revelations both in science and religion; and if the coming century shall witness a new life as far in advance of the one just passed as it was in advance of its predecessor, it will not be hard for men to comprehend that article of our faith which declares that the earth shall be renewed and receive its paradisical glory.
It was in the year of 1844, the very year that Brigham Young first felt the divine responsibility of a leadership that began to rest upon him, that Professor Morse announced the discovery of the electric telegraph. The new invention and the new faith have both borne the messages of God's glory, and the exaltation and common brotherhood of man. Both announced their universal mission. At the threshold and on the coming of a new century we pause to view in retrospect the life and career of Utah's founder. If the past is prophetic of the future, the eye hath not seen nor hath the mind of man conceived the glories that await us.
THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG'S BIRTH.
THE celebration today of Brigham Young's birth will remind the Saints everywhere that it is now just one hundred years since his advent into the world. What wonderful changes the century has brought; and the changes are no more wonderful in the material growth of the world than they are in the religious lives of those who have accepted the Gospel.
Brigham Young was only six years old when the first steamboat, known as the Clermont, made its voyage up the Hudson River from New York to Albany. Steamboats are now plowing all the commercial waterways of the world. When he was eighteen the first steamship, the Savannah, crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The beginning of the use of steam, which was to revolutionize the world and open up continents, can have had little or no effect upon his own early life. The means of disseminating information in those days were so limited and the habit of reading confined to so few that people in them must have had very little conception of what steam was to do for mankind. Its usefulness was quite generally discredited.
When Brigham reached his twenty-fourth year the first railroad was constructed and run between Stockton and Darlington, England, and at the age of twenty-nine he might have seen one operated in this country. The same year witnessed the beginning of a new force in religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, and after the great pioneer leader had been severely schooled in the discipline and hardships of his new faith the mantle of the Prophet and founder fell upon him.
In 1846 he began one of the greatest tasks ever allotted to man. The exodus led by Brigham Young is without a parallel in history. It surpasses in both its hardships and consequences either that of the Israelites or that of the Pilgrim Fathers. The central figure in the world's greatest exodus and the organizer of a new commonwealth are the two grand distinctions in Brigham Young's life. How appropriate then on this the centennial of his birth it is to honor a name that has always meant so much to Utah and her people, and is coming to mean more and more to the people of the world at large! How wonderful, too, that men should sound in praise a name they pretended to despise so much when its bearer walked and talked in their midst! How gratifying, too, that the world at large should now begin to revise and correct their opinions of a man whose name was pronounced with such expression of horror when he lived in the midst of the great activities that gave him fame!
It was the sublime faith of the man that led him to anticipate and prepare for the future of the people God called him to lead. He builded better than he knew, and everywhere throughout these valleys, homes and cities attest the wisdom of him who was so instrumental in planting happy and prosperous communities of Saints in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. It is now nearly a quarter of a century since he passed from earth. During that time great changes and great progress have been made. Science and Invention are transforming the world and carrying their light and blessings to the remotest corners and into the darkest places of the uncivilized races of the globe. One hundred years ago the so-called civilized nations had little conception of what awaited them, and the simple lives of the people gave no warning of things to come. The century has been one of miracles, and the faith which converted water into wine seems not half so marvelous as the realization of the wonderful innovations of steam and electricity, and the great train of modern inventions which have followed these revealed forces of nature. The century has witnessed an outburst of revelations both in science and religion; and if the coming century shall witness a new life as far in advance of the one just passed as it was in advance of its predecessor, it will not be hard for men to comprehend that article of our faith which declares that the earth shall be renewed and receive its paradisical glory.
It was in the year of 1844, the very year that Brigham Young first felt the divine responsibility of a leadership that began to rest upon him, that Professor Morse announced the discovery of the electric telegraph. The new invention and the new faith have both borne the messages of God's glory, and the exaltation and common brotherhood of man. Both announced their universal mission. At the threshold and on the coming of a new century we pause to view in retrospect the life and career of Utah's founder. If the past is prophetic of the future, the eye hath not seen nor hath the mind of man conceived the glories that await us.
"President Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1901. pg. 285.
President Brigham Young
June 1st will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Brigham Young—a man so great that words of eulogy seem but to weaken the effect of the mighty achievements his labors have wrought. As apostle, prophet, leader, and founder of a great commonwealth—who shall undertake to estimate the results of so marvelous a career?
Since his birth a century ago, there has come to earth almost every man who has been conspicuous as a leader in our Church, even its great founder, Joseph Smith, was not born until Brigham Young had passed the age of three years. More and more the name of this man is coming to be known and his wonderful record to be recognized as among the greatest in a century of great men and things, and that knowledge will but strengthen with the passing centuries. It is but fitting that Utah observe in an appropriate manner so auspicious an event, and her sons and daughters do honor to themselves in paying homage to the memory of her founder, Brigham Young.
President Brigham Young
June 1st will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Brigham Young—a man so great that words of eulogy seem but to weaken the effect of the mighty achievements his labors have wrought. As apostle, prophet, leader, and founder of a great commonwealth—who shall undertake to estimate the results of so marvelous a career?
Since his birth a century ago, there has come to earth almost every man who has been conspicuous as a leader in our Church, even its great founder, Joseph Smith, was not born until Brigham Young had passed the age of three years. More and more the name of this man is coming to be known and his wonderful record to be recognized as among the greatest in a century of great men and things, and that knowledge will but strengthen with the passing centuries. It is but fitting that Utah observe in an appropriate manner so auspicious an event, and her sons and daughters do honor to themselves in paying homage to the memory of her founder, Brigham Young.
Roberts, B. H. "Brigham Young--A Character Sketch." Improvement Era. June 1903. pg. 561-574.
BRIGHAM YOUNG. A CHARACTER SKETCH.
BY B. H. ROBERTS.
One hundred and two years ago, this first day of June, in the little town of Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, a male child was born in Israel who was among the very few of God's children born into this world whose names are destined to live in the pages of history; one of the few who was not born to die forgotten, nor to be remembered for the evil that he would do, but for the benefit he would be to humanity. "The evil that men do," said the great English poet, "lives after them; the good, is oft interred with their bones." Such, however, is not the case with Brigham Young. It is the good he did which lives after him, and is destined to be more and still more appreciated as the years and centuries go by. His life's work was of a character not to grow less in the estimation of men, but is destined to be more and still more appreciated aa generation succeeds generation. In its effects Brigham Young's life-work will be as some magnificent fountain sending forth a stream of living water. That stream constantly widens and deepens its channel, until great areas of country are made fruitful by its generous floods, and a pathway is opened to the ocean on which the commerce of nations may be carried in safety. So the fountain life-work of Brigham Young has sent forth a stream that will bless humanity; and not alone in time, but also in eternity. That this is true, let me a little show it.
Those who to-day do honor to his memory are more numerous than they were a decade ago. The number of those who shall revere his memory a hundred years hence will be many times larger than those who met to honor him at the first centennial anniversary of his birth. And thus through the centuries yet unborn will still increasing thousands, yea, millions, rise up to praise his name, revere his memory, and call him blessed. We could predict this for him if we held in view only the multiplication of those who shall be connected with him by the ties of consanguinity; for, indeed, he was honored of God to leave in the earth a numerous posterity. But those who will do honor to the memory of Brigham Young are not confined to those who are and shall be hereafter his descendants. Added to these must be remembered those who received the gospel at his hands as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He filled six missions as a preacher of the new dispensation of the gospel; and it is safe to say that thousands received the gospel under his direct administration. Among the faithful of that number, Brigham Young will ever be remembered in honor; and from generation to generation, as these people and their posterity in time and eternity rejoice in the great blessings which the gospel brought to them, they will revere the memory of that apostle of the Lord, who first brought the message of salvation to their door.
It will be remembered, also, by all Israel that for more than thirty years he presided over the Church of Christ; during which time the Church was called to pass through times that tried men's souls—times burdened with portents of dangers from seemingly all-powerful foes. In those days of trial, Brigham Young was God's chosen servant to hold the keys of power and divine authority; and clothed with that power, how like a giant he rose among men, the master spirit; and, under God, controlled the fierceness of the storms, and conducted his people to a haven of peace and safety!
There is yet another class who will do honor to the memory of Brigham Young. They will not be found within the limits of the Church of which he was a leader. There are those in the world who will be sufficiently broad-minded to brush aside the rubbish of misrepresentation with which bigots have tried to smother the honor of his fame; men who will discredit the half-truths which so often are whole falsehoods, with which the weak-minded and prejudiced have sought to tarnish his glory; and they will recognize in Brigham Young one of the master minds of the age in which he lived; a statesman who, from the elements furnished by such society as existed among an expatriated people, founded a commonwealth based upon justice and recognized principles of civil polity. They will see in him the pioneer leader who directed the labors of his people io such manner as to subdue the wilderness, make fruitful the desert, and finally give to civilization and to the sisterhood of American states, the fairest and greatest of the intermountain commonwealths. With this latter class, he will not be Brigham Young the apostle; nor Brigham Young, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the practical man of affairs; the natural leader of men; the philanthropist; the statesman; and when the roll of America's greatest names shall be called, Brigham Young's name will not be far down the list from the highest.
The story of Brigham Young's life has often been told; the achievements of his genius have been dwelt upon in eloquence which I cannot hope to match; his character analyzed by men who had the blessed advantage of life-long personal association with him. I only know him through the secondary means of what others have said of him; of what he himself in part has said; and the things, which he accomplished in his life. My personal remembrance of him is most vague, merely the outline of a memory, and only such a memory as a boy treasures up of a great man, whom he saw only at a distance, and with whom he never shook hands, or spoke a word; but who enshrined in his heart the few glimpses. he got of him from afar, as only the quick spirit of a boy treasures up a few bright memories of his childhood days. It is only, then, from secondary sources that I have formed such impressions as I possess of the life and character of Brigham Young.
The Latter-day Saints have learned, in estimating character, to attach much importance to the doctrine of pre-existence of spirits, believing that the nature of the spirit manifests itself through the veil of flesh it takes on in this our mortal life. While not overlooking the fact that human character is influenced both by parentage and by environment in this life, I think we have gone beyond the notion that parentage and environment create character; that parentage and environment are everything. Influence character they may, but create it, never. When the patriarch Abraham was blessed with a vision of the innumerable host of spirits that were appointed to pass through an earth-probation, he saw a few separated from the rest, bearing some evidence of a superiority, of a higher order of intelligence; and God stood in the midst of them, and said: "These I will make my rulers," and he said unto Abraham, "Thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born." From this it would appear that spirits suitable for leadership, at least are chosen before they are born for the labors they perform in this earth-life. This idea is most emphatically, and I may say beautifully, taught in a passage of the Book of Mormon, which, I think, for the most part, has been overlooked by us. To the first Nephi it was given in a splendid vision to foresee the leading events in the career of the Messiah, some five hundred years before they actually occurred in Messiah's life on earth. In this vision, Nephi saw the gentle Jewish maiden with the infant Son of God in her arms, and heard the song of the shepherds upon the hills of Judea: "Glory to God in the highest: peace on earth to men of good will." He saw Messiah, when he had reached manhood's estate, approaching the strange prophet who had been appointed to be his messenger to prepare the way before him, and ask for- baptism at his hands: he saw him gather about him the rude fishermen of Galilee, and make them his special witnesses and messengers to the world; he saw him teaching the multitudes by the sea shore and upon the mountain; he saw him hailed before judges and rulers in Judea; he saw sentence passed upon him, and he saw him whipped through the streets of Jerusalem to the place of skulls where he was crucified; he saw him also after his glorious triumph over death; he saw the establishment of his church under the ministry of the apostles. Here, there came a suspension of Nephi's vision; and while he was promised a further view of the things still then in the future, he was commanded to write no more of the vision; for the Lord God had ordained that one of the apostles of the Lamb of God should write the remainder of these things. "And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John" (I Nephi xiv). From this passage, it is evident that not only is the work chosen for those whom God has decreed shall be his leaders, but the limits of that work are known, and within the sphere assigned to one, others are not allowed to intrude. If such a man as John, the apostle, had his work assigned to him and reserved for him, it cannot be doubted that such a character as Brigham Young had also his appointed work to do, and that all its limitations were known and respected.
We have many reasons for believing, too, that the circumstances into which men are thrust in this life; the experiences that will best prepare them for the work they are appointed to accomplish— all these things are ordained of God ; and most notably is this doctrine instanced in the career of Brigham Young. If one could have seen him in his early manhood, say from twenty to thirty, the carpenter, painter and glazier of no very important centre of population in the state of New York, one could scarcely have recognized in him then, the man foreordained to do the mighty work which he afterwards accomplished. And yet, I cannot believe that his obscure parentage; his life, retired from the centres of population and a world's strife; his humble and toilsome manual calling—of which, be it said, and said to his honor, he never was ashamed—I cannot think that all this was without its influence upon his character, in the way of preparing him for his life's work. For one thing, this part of his career brought him into sympathy with the common people; with whom, hereafter, he must have so much to do—whom he loved, and whom God must love, else, to paraphrase the words of Lincoln, He would not have made so many of them. Henceforth, Brigham Young will know the common people. He will know their toils, their struggles, their limitations, their aspirations, the ideas by which they are impressed, the means by which they may be inspired to noblest achievements. This, together with a profound knowledge of the common, practical affairs of life, is the contribution of this first period of his career, to his character. But at this period of his history, God seems more visibly and especially to have taken Brigham Young's training in hand. In 1832, he was brought in contact with the gospel, then being preached in the vicinity where he lived, by men of very limited education and humble character; for the message of God in the new dispensation then coming forth, as in former ages, stood not upon the excellence of the learning and eloquence and wisdom of men, but in the power of God, and the demonstration of his spirit. The quick mind of the future prophet found sweet spiritual music in the doctrines he heard; and soon afterwards formally accepted them by joining the church, and he himself became a missionary.
Under the spirit that came to him, through the gospel he had embraced, his life was turned into new channels. By the several missions he performed, he was brought out of the quiet of his rural environment, and minded in the world's busy throngs. He visited the chief centres of population in his own country and Canada; New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto; the prominent cities of the middle states, and afterwards spent nearly two years in England. Coming in contact with the world in its busiest centres, and seeing men undoubtedly at their best, and at their worst, he obtained enlarged views of human life, and of humanity itself. His horizon was extended. His mind was broadened. Henceforth his judgment will be sounder, his compassion deeper, his quality of mercy unstrained, his sense of justice truer, his soul loftier, and in every way he was better fitted for the great things which still lay before him.
Nor was it in missionary experience alone that he was trained. In the practical government of men, and in camp life, he must be drilled. This training he received in the expedition of Zion's camp. The expulsion of the "Mormons" from Jackson county, in the early thirties of the last century, is too well remembered to require detailing here; as also the expedition organized by the Church in Ohio for their relief, and called Zion's camp. That camp marched under the leadership of Joseph Smith, the prophet, through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the western borders of Missouri, to the relief of their exiled brethren. In that journey, the elders of the Church to the number of upwards of two hundred, in their march of more than a thousand miles, passed through a varied experience. There were dissensions and rebellions within the camp; there were threatening portents and hostile demonstrations from without. There were fatigues to endure, hardships to encounter, disappointments to sustain. For Zion was not redeemed at that time, and this expedition was organized for the purpose of redeeming Zion. Instead of triumphantly marching into Jackson county, re-instating the exiled Saints in their homes, and holding the land of Zion against the efforts of the Jackson county mob to expel them, cholera broke out in Zion's camp, when it reached the borders of the land where the enemies of the Saints dwelt, the camp was disbanded, and apparently nothing came of it, except some ineffectual negotiations with leaders of the mob, which only disclosed how impossible any settlement of the Jackson county difficulty was with the occupancy of that county by the Saints as a basis of that settlement. So the camp disbanded, and, for the most part, in small companies, or one by one, returned to Ohio. A man in Kirtland meeting Brigham Young after his return from this expedition, said to him: "Well, what did you gain on this useless journey to Missouri with Joseph Smith?" It is needless to say that the man was a member of the Church who did not have the faith necessary to make the journey. "What did you gain?"—"All we went for," promptly replied Brigham Young. "I would not exchange the experience I gained in that expedition for all the wealth of Geauga county"—the county in which Kirtland was located. The remark is an exhibit of the fact that Brigham Young had a keen insight into the purpose of the Zion's camp movement. Experience, training for still greater things. 'Past question," says the author of Ben Hur, "every experience is serviceable to us." Later it proved that this Zion's camp experience was serviceable to Brigham Young, and, judging from the remark just quoted, he seems unconsciously aware of the fact that it would be so.
And yet another lesson is given him, ere he is made ready for that masterful exodus of an expatriated people which he shall conduct from the Mississippi valley to the Rocky mountains. Five years after the Zion's camp expedition, the Saints are expelled from Missouri. The prophet, and his brother Hyrum, and Sidney Rigdon, the prophet's counselors, are incarcerated in prison. The man who first held the honored position of President of the Quorum of the Twelve has denied the faith, become a traitor, departed from Israel, and stands identified with the enemies of his people. These circumstances brought Brigham Young to the presidency of the quorum of the Twelve, and to the position of temporary leader in Israel. Not only is the prophet and some of his immediate associates imprisoned, but the Saints by perfidy are disarmed, and, under an exterminating order to leave the State, an order issued by the governor of Missouri; mobs are in possession of the lands and homes of the Saints, and exile and poverty confront them. It was under these circumstances that the master spirit of Brigham Young asserted itself; that his marvelous executive ability for the first time attracted attention. He appealed to those in possession of means to assist those who were without them; he gathered into a common fund the means possessed by the Saints, by intuition, apparently, knowing the economy there is in concentration of means. He sent out agents to establish provision stations, along the several lines of exodus to be followed; and stocked them with corn and flour for the people, and provender for teams. The same agents made contracts for ferriage, over such rivers as could not be forded, and every provision was made for the comfort and security of the exiled Saints. The exodus thus provided for, he was compelled to leave the execution of it to a most worthy lieutenant; one destined to be as his right hand in many a trying experience—Heber C. Kimball. For when the mob-forces of Missouri, after imprisoning the Prophet Joseph, saw this second leader managing with such consummate skill the affairs of the Church, it began to half dawn upon their minds that "Mormonism" might possibly survive the supposedly fatal blow they had dealt it in the imprisonment of the prophet; and the commanded expulsion or extermination of the Saints. They, therefore, attacked this new leader with all the hatred they had assailed the first; and to preserve his life, he yielded the execution of his plans to another, and sought safety by flight from Missouri. But his lesson was learned; his experience gained, his wisdom is hived for future service.
Yet other experiences must be secured—the training is not yet completed. Commerce, the sickly, malaria-stricken lowland on the banks of the Mississippi, has been transformed into Nauvoo— the beautiful. The Twelve have fulfilled their mission to England, and have returned to Nauvoo. The great prophet of the dispensation of the fullness of times is rapidly ascending to the finis of his earth-career. The burdens of the Church weigh heavily upon him. The Saints, both from the surrounding States and from Europe, are flocking into Nauvoo and vicinity. The great doctrines of the kingdom are yet to be unfolded; the Saints must be settled; new stakes of Zion must be organized; the temple must be built, the Nauvoo House completed. It was at this point that President Joseph Smith called upon the Twelve to take their place beside the Presidency of the Church, and assist in these material duties and responsibilities that pressed so heavily upon him; and he made it clear to all Israel that the place of the Twelve was next to the First Presidency, and that when the First. Presidency was absent for any cause, the responsibility of presiding over the Church rested upon the Twelve. This was magnificent training, a splendid educational provision for the future prophet-president of the Church; and he learned his lessons well in the activities of those days.
There is one other thought that should be expressed in relation to the preparation of the servants of God for the great climaxes in their careers. The training that comes from self suppression. In the theory of the gospel, God is the motive force of all achievements, man but his instrument. In the Church,, recognition of the authority of God is of chief importance, submission to it, as submission to God, is a primary virtue. This is a lesson all must learn. This is a lesson Brigham Young learned. In connection with the administrative duties which devolved upon the Twelve, it was proposed to hold them to a rather strict accounting of the things committed to their jurisdiction. Whereupon Brigham Young demurred, saying it was written in scripture that the ox that treadeth out the corn shall not be muzzled. To which the Prophet Joseph Smith immediately replied, rising beside Brigham Young in the stand,— "I will answer Brother Brigham," said he. "I tell him we will muzzle the ox; and we will make him tread out the corn. Then we will unmuzzle him and feed him." Will Brigham Young submit to this assertion of mastery over him? Most assuredly. It is the authority of God that speaks through Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, as well as all true servants of God, will submit to God, and to his authority. Only he who knows how to submit to law, should administer the law. Only he who has learned to serve, is prepared to rule. Only he who has been taught to respect authority, can rightly exercise dominion. Brigham Young is noble here. Immeasurably strong and clear-visioned as he was, and naturally a leader of men, Brigham Young submitted his judgment to that of the Prophet Joseph Smith; not always because convinced that the course proposed by the prophet was wisest or best, but because he recognized the authority of God in the prophet; and saw at the same time his duty to submit to that authority. Not only did this principle guide him in the lifetime of Joseph, but also after the prophet's demise. One of the things for which I love Brigham Young most is his fidelity to his chief, both when living and when dead. "From the first day I knew Brother Joseph," he repeatedly said, "to the day of his death, a better man never lived upon the face of the earth. * * * Joseph Smith was not killed because he was deserving of it, nor because he was a wicked man; but because he was a virtuous man. * * * I know that to be so, as well as I know that the sun shines. * * He was pure, just and holy as to the keeping of the law."
Moreover, Brigham Young never sought to eclipse his great leader, living or dead. He ever accorded to the prophet the Presidency of the dispensation of the fullness of times, himself the place of an apostle in that dispensation. "Whoever heard Brother Brigham claim more?" he often said. And as the Lord lives, I believe that to be the relation of these men to each other when immortality comes; when the general assembly and Church of the First Born in heaven, and the Church of Christ on earth shall become united—one, Joseph Smith the Prophet, shall stand as president of the dispensation he introduced, Brigham Young the chief apostle—and president of the apostles of that dispensation.
But now the training is completed. The limits are reached that must be reserved for Brigham Young. The Prophet Joseph Smith finishes his work, and seals his testimony with his blood. Loud clamors rise among those who would be leaders. Israel stands for a moment as a flock without its shepherd. Brigham Young returns from the East where he has been temporarily absent on a mission. The Saints are assembled, his—"Hear, 0, Israel," rings out over the assembly, and in his voice, his form, and movement, the assembled host recognized the voice, the person, and the action of the late departed martyr leader; and they, know that the mantle of Joseph has fallen upon the shoulders of President Brigham Young.
After the preparation, if thorough, as it was in the case of Brigham Young, the rest is easy. Well and truly begun is always more than half done. The exodus of the Church from Nauvoo committed into the hands of the right man, is already an assured success. The .journey across the plains will not end in disaster. The selection of a suitable abiding place for the Church is bound to follow. The adoption of right regulations for the government of God's people, we cannot doubt. All is foreordained of God; all that has happened was known from the beginning; the "rulers" were chosen before they were born; their metes and bounds were fixed ; the labors of each leader in Israel were known, and his sphere of activity preserved to him. No wonder, then, that the exodus of an expatriated people through a thousand miles of wilderness and desert was successful. No wonder that in their battles with the sterile elements they conquered, and founded a great commonwealth. No wonder that, as each crisis arose in the history of the Saints, a man of clear vision, of sound judgment, of almost prescient instincts arose to meet every issue; for he was chosen before he was born; and his training, under the very discipline of God, was such as to prepare him for the work assigned him in the unfolding of God's great purposes.
It is not necessary for me on this occasion to traverse the well-beaten track of history, and relate the well-known story of the settlement of Utah's valleys; the wisdom displayed in the choice of the sites of our chief settlements; the profound statesmanship exhibited in holding his people to the cultivation of the soil and the founding of homes based upon the possession of the land. All that, time has vindicated the wisdom of, and taken from the sphere of discussion. One thing, however, I think should be mentioned, and that by way of correcting an erroneous impression. It was not the purpose of Brigham Young in bringing his people to this intermountain region to permanently isolate them from the world, or establish a separate and independent government within the territory of the United States. The organization of the provisional government of the state of Deseret, and application for admission into the Union, as early as 1849, is the complete refutation of the charge that it was the intention of the people to sever their connection with the United States; the charge of designing complete isolation from the world is refuted by the petition of the Utah-"Mormon" legislature, in 1852, asking for the construction of a transcontinental railway and telegraph line, in which it was pointed out that by the construction of such railway and telegraph line, the commerce of the Pacific coast would be developed, and the wealth of the orient be poured into the lap of the nation—a prophetic glance into the future, the realization and truth of which is now being demonstrated after the lapse of over half a century.
I have reserved the consideration of the most important question to the last. Was Brigham Young a great man? *'Yes;" you answer without hesitation, "How foolish to ask the question T Judged in the light of what he achieved, of course he was great. Nothing short of greatness could have met the issues which confronted him, and successfully disposed of them. True, perhaps; but let us get right views of the matter. Remember, I pray you, that God is a factor to be accounted for in this work of the last days. How much shall we accredit to God's inspiration? How much to the inherent qualities of Brigham Young, in placing an estimate on his life work, and his character? Go back a few centuries in thought, and see two armies confronting each other in mortal combat. It is the day when personal courage, skill, and prowess often decide the issue of battle, the fate of empires and the course of history. The battle has raged a long time, the forces are well matched, the soldiers equally brave, the issue of the conflict trembles in the balance—when lo! from an unexpected quarter there rushes a mighty leader into the conflict. He cheers with voice and action the side he has championed. With consummate skill he rushes upon the serried ranks of the enemy; by cut and thrust of his good blade, he forces his way into the enemy's lines where others rush in and spread confusion—death—dismay — panic—and the victory is won. How much shall we accredit to this magnificent leader? How much to the instrument he used when dealing death and dismay to the enemy—the good blade of Damascus steel, that neither bent, when thrust through coats of mail, nor broke when cleaving through helmets of steel; but was ever true to the hand that wielded it. Is the illustration unworthy the theme? "Yes," you say; and I feel that, too; but does it convey my thought? Does it help you understand what I would say? If so, never mind its falling below somewhat the dignity of the subject. In this work of the last days, men are but instruments; God is the grand architect and builder of the structure human hands seemingly uprear. And yet God is a master-builder, a wise architect; he uses means suitable to the purpose he would accomplish. When he draws a sword to execute his divine purpose, you may be assured it will not prove false to his hand in the conflict. It will neither bend in the thrust, nor break when it falls upon the crests of the enemy. So when God chooses a man for his prophet, to whom he entrusts for the time the issues of his kingdom on earth, be assured God knows his instrument. He will not fail. And he will possess not only the qualities, but the combination of qualities that will make him servicable to the Master's use. The instrument will be adequate to the Master's purpose; the prophet will possess the qualities of mind and heart that fit him for God's work. And if the work to be done is a great work; if the achievement is mighty; if the issues concern the souls of men; the salvation of a people, or the perpetuity of God's Church in the earth—then rest assured the man equal to such an occasion—great in mind, pure of spirit, lofty of purpose, possessed of every mental, moral and spiritual endowment—will be chosen for that work. Brigham Young was chosen of God for the work he accomplished. It was a noble work. It was a great work. It was an epoch-making work. It affected large numbers of God's children. It concerned the welfare of God's purposes in the earth. And the fact that Brigham Young was chosen of God to do that work, is the best assurance of his greatness. Brigham Young was great. A master spirit. And though he might have passed through life unknown to fame but for the call of God to his life's work, yet the elements of greatness, the infinite possibilities of his nature, would still have been with him. He was great of mind and soul, even as men count greatness. But to all that, he added still another quality of greatness. The quality that linked him to God; that added in a large measure the strength and wisdom of God to his own strength and wisdom. To possess such a quality as this is to be great indeed. And if the proud of spirit shall say that such a quality leads but to a borrowed greatness— a shining not by reason of an innate luminous spirit, but by a borrowed light—the answer is that the man who so walks in the light and wisdom and power of God, will at the last, by the very force of association, make the light and wisdom and power of God his own—weaving those bright rays into a chain divine, linking himself forever to God and God to him. This the sum of Messiah's mystic words, "Thou, Father, in me, and I in thee"—beyond this human greatness cannot achieve.
BRIGHAM YOUNG. A CHARACTER SKETCH.
BY B. H. ROBERTS.
One hundred and two years ago, this first day of June, in the little town of Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, a male child was born in Israel who was among the very few of God's children born into this world whose names are destined to live in the pages of history; one of the few who was not born to die forgotten, nor to be remembered for the evil that he would do, but for the benefit he would be to humanity. "The evil that men do," said the great English poet, "lives after them; the good, is oft interred with their bones." Such, however, is not the case with Brigham Young. It is the good he did which lives after him, and is destined to be more and still more appreciated as the years and centuries go by. His life's work was of a character not to grow less in the estimation of men, but is destined to be more and still more appreciated aa generation succeeds generation. In its effects Brigham Young's life-work will be as some magnificent fountain sending forth a stream of living water. That stream constantly widens and deepens its channel, until great areas of country are made fruitful by its generous floods, and a pathway is opened to the ocean on which the commerce of nations may be carried in safety. So the fountain life-work of Brigham Young has sent forth a stream that will bless humanity; and not alone in time, but also in eternity. That this is true, let me a little show it.
Those who to-day do honor to his memory are more numerous than they were a decade ago. The number of those who shall revere his memory a hundred years hence will be many times larger than those who met to honor him at the first centennial anniversary of his birth. And thus through the centuries yet unborn will still increasing thousands, yea, millions, rise up to praise his name, revere his memory, and call him blessed. We could predict this for him if we held in view only the multiplication of those who shall be connected with him by the ties of consanguinity; for, indeed, he was honored of God to leave in the earth a numerous posterity. But those who will do honor to the memory of Brigham Young are not confined to those who are and shall be hereafter his descendants. Added to these must be remembered those who received the gospel at his hands as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He filled six missions as a preacher of the new dispensation of the gospel; and it is safe to say that thousands received the gospel under his direct administration. Among the faithful of that number, Brigham Young will ever be remembered in honor; and from generation to generation, as these people and their posterity in time and eternity rejoice in the great blessings which the gospel brought to them, they will revere the memory of that apostle of the Lord, who first brought the message of salvation to their door.
It will be remembered, also, by all Israel that for more than thirty years he presided over the Church of Christ; during which time the Church was called to pass through times that tried men's souls—times burdened with portents of dangers from seemingly all-powerful foes. In those days of trial, Brigham Young was God's chosen servant to hold the keys of power and divine authority; and clothed with that power, how like a giant he rose among men, the master spirit; and, under God, controlled the fierceness of the storms, and conducted his people to a haven of peace and safety!
There is yet another class who will do honor to the memory of Brigham Young. They will not be found within the limits of the Church of which he was a leader. There are those in the world who will be sufficiently broad-minded to brush aside the rubbish of misrepresentation with which bigots have tried to smother the honor of his fame; men who will discredit the half-truths which so often are whole falsehoods, with which the weak-minded and prejudiced have sought to tarnish his glory; and they will recognize in Brigham Young one of the master minds of the age in which he lived; a statesman who, from the elements furnished by such society as existed among an expatriated people, founded a commonwealth based upon justice and recognized principles of civil polity. They will see in him the pioneer leader who directed the labors of his people io such manner as to subdue the wilderness, make fruitful the desert, and finally give to civilization and to the sisterhood of American states, the fairest and greatest of the intermountain commonwealths. With this latter class, he will not be Brigham Young the apostle; nor Brigham Young, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the practical man of affairs; the natural leader of men; the philanthropist; the statesman; and when the roll of America's greatest names shall be called, Brigham Young's name will not be far down the list from the highest.
The story of Brigham Young's life has often been told; the achievements of his genius have been dwelt upon in eloquence which I cannot hope to match; his character analyzed by men who had the blessed advantage of life-long personal association with him. I only know him through the secondary means of what others have said of him; of what he himself in part has said; and the things, which he accomplished in his life. My personal remembrance of him is most vague, merely the outline of a memory, and only such a memory as a boy treasures up of a great man, whom he saw only at a distance, and with whom he never shook hands, or spoke a word; but who enshrined in his heart the few glimpses. he got of him from afar, as only the quick spirit of a boy treasures up a few bright memories of his childhood days. It is only, then, from secondary sources that I have formed such impressions as I possess of the life and character of Brigham Young.
The Latter-day Saints have learned, in estimating character, to attach much importance to the doctrine of pre-existence of spirits, believing that the nature of the spirit manifests itself through the veil of flesh it takes on in this our mortal life. While not overlooking the fact that human character is influenced both by parentage and by environment in this life, I think we have gone beyond the notion that parentage and environment create character; that parentage and environment are everything. Influence character they may, but create it, never. When the patriarch Abraham was blessed with a vision of the innumerable host of spirits that were appointed to pass through an earth-probation, he saw a few separated from the rest, bearing some evidence of a superiority, of a higher order of intelligence; and God stood in the midst of them, and said: "These I will make my rulers," and he said unto Abraham, "Thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born." From this it would appear that spirits suitable for leadership, at least are chosen before they are born for the labors they perform in this earth-life. This idea is most emphatically, and I may say beautifully, taught in a passage of the Book of Mormon, which, I think, for the most part, has been overlooked by us. To the first Nephi it was given in a splendid vision to foresee the leading events in the career of the Messiah, some five hundred years before they actually occurred in Messiah's life on earth. In this vision, Nephi saw the gentle Jewish maiden with the infant Son of God in her arms, and heard the song of the shepherds upon the hills of Judea: "Glory to God in the highest: peace on earth to men of good will." He saw Messiah, when he had reached manhood's estate, approaching the strange prophet who had been appointed to be his messenger to prepare the way before him, and ask for- baptism at his hands: he saw him gather about him the rude fishermen of Galilee, and make them his special witnesses and messengers to the world; he saw him teaching the multitudes by the sea shore and upon the mountain; he saw him hailed before judges and rulers in Judea; he saw sentence passed upon him, and he saw him whipped through the streets of Jerusalem to the place of skulls where he was crucified; he saw him also after his glorious triumph over death; he saw the establishment of his church under the ministry of the apostles. Here, there came a suspension of Nephi's vision; and while he was promised a further view of the things still then in the future, he was commanded to write no more of the vision; for the Lord God had ordained that one of the apostles of the Lamb of God should write the remainder of these things. "And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John" (I Nephi xiv). From this passage, it is evident that not only is the work chosen for those whom God has decreed shall be his leaders, but the limits of that work are known, and within the sphere assigned to one, others are not allowed to intrude. If such a man as John, the apostle, had his work assigned to him and reserved for him, it cannot be doubted that such a character as Brigham Young had also his appointed work to do, and that all its limitations were known and respected.
We have many reasons for believing, too, that the circumstances into which men are thrust in this life; the experiences that will best prepare them for the work they are appointed to accomplish— all these things are ordained of God ; and most notably is this doctrine instanced in the career of Brigham Young. If one could have seen him in his early manhood, say from twenty to thirty, the carpenter, painter and glazier of no very important centre of population in the state of New York, one could scarcely have recognized in him then, the man foreordained to do the mighty work which he afterwards accomplished. And yet, I cannot believe that his obscure parentage; his life, retired from the centres of population and a world's strife; his humble and toilsome manual calling—of which, be it said, and said to his honor, he never was ashamed—I cannot think that all this was without its influence upon his character, in the way of preparing him for his life's work. For one thing, this part of his career brought him into sympathy with the common people; with whom, hereafter, he must have so much to do—whom he loved, and whom God must love, else, to paraphrase the words of Lincoln, He would not have made so many of them. Henceforth, Brigham Young will know the common people. He will know their toils, their struggles, their limitations, their aspirations, the ideas by which they are impressed, the means by which they may be inspired to noblest achievements. This, together with a profound knowledge of the common, practical affairs of life, is the contribution of this first period of his career, to his character. But at this period of his history, God seems more visibly and especially to have taken Brigham Young's training in hand. In 1832, he was brought in contact with the gospel, then being preached in the vicinity where he lived, by men of very limited education and humble character; for the message of God in the new dispensation then coming forth, as in former ages, stood not upon the excellence of the learning and eloquence and wisdom of men, but in the power of God, and the demonstration of his spirit. The quick mind of the future prophet found sweet spiritual music in the doctrines he heard; and soon afterwards formally accepted them by joining the church, and he himself became a missionary.
Under the spirit that came to him, through the gospel he had embraced, his life was turned into new channels. By the several missions he performed, he was brought out of the quiet of his rural environment, and minded in the world's busy throngs. He visited the chief centres of population in his own country and Canada; New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto; the prominent cities of the middle states, and afterwards spent nearly two years in England. Coming in contact with the world in its busiest centres, and seeing men undoubtedly at their best, and at their worst, he obtained enlarged views of human life, and of humanity itself. His horizon was extended. His mind was broadened. Henceforth his judgment will be sounder, his compassion deeper, his quality of mercy unstrained, his sense of justice truer, his soul loftier, and in every way he was better fitted for the great things which still lay before him.
Nor was it in missionary experience alone that he was trained. In the practical government of men, and in camp life, he must be drilled. This training he received in the expedition of Zion's camp. The expulsion of the "Mormons" from Jackson county, in the early thirties of the last century, is too well remembered to require detailing here; as also the expedition organized by the Church in Ohio for their relief, and called Zion's camp. That camp marched under the leadership of Joseph Smith, the prophet, through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to the western borders of Missouri, to the relief of their exiled brethren. In that journey, the elders of the Church to the number of upwards of two hundred, in their march of more than a thousand miles, passed through a varied experience. There were dissensions and rebellions within the camp; there were threatening portents and hostile demonstrations from without. There were fatigues to endure, hardships to encounter, disappointments to sustain. For Zion was not redeemed at that time, and this expedition was organized for the purpose of redeeming Zion. Instead of triumphantly marching into Jackson county, re-instating the exiled Saints in their homes, and holding the land of Zion against the efforts of the Jackson county mob to expel them, cholera broke out in Zion's camp, when it reached the borders of the land where the enemies of the Saints dwelt, the camp was disbanded, and apparently nothing came of it, except some ineffectual negotiations with leaders of the mob, which only disclosed how impossible any settlement of the Jackson county difficulty was with the occupancy of that county by the Saints as a basis of that settlement. So the camp disbanded, and, for the most part, in small companies, or one by one, returned to Ohio. A man in Kirtland meeting Brigham Young after his return from this expedition, said to him: "Well, what did you gain on this useless journey to Missouri with Joseph Smith?" It is needless to say that the man was a member of the Church who did not have the faith necessary to make the journey. "What did you gain?"—"All we went for," promptly replied Brigham Young. "I would not exchange the experience I gained in that expedition for all the wealth of Geauga county"—the county in which Kirtland was located. The remark is an exhibit of the fact that Brigham Young had a keen insight into the purpose of the Zion's camp movement. Experience, training for still greater things. 'Past question," says the author of Ben Hur, "every experience is serviceable to us." Later it proved that this Zion's camp experience was serviceable to Brigham Young, and, judging from the remark just quoted, he seems unconsciously aware of the fact that it would be so.
And yet another lesson is given him, ere he is made ready for that masterful exodus of an expatriated people which he shall conduct from the Mississippi valley to the Rocky mountains. Five years after the Zion's camp expedition, the Saints are expelled from Missouri. The prophet, and his brother Hyrum, and Sidney Rigdon, the prophet's counselors, are incarcerated in prison. The man who first held the honored position of President of the Quorum of the Twelve has denied the faith, become a traitor, departed from Israel, and stands identified with the enemies of his people. These circumstances brought Brigham Young to the presidency of the quorum of the Twelve, and to the position of temporary leader in Israel. Not only is the prophet and some of his immediate associates imprisoned, but the Saints by perfidy are disarmed, and, under an exterminating order to leave the State, an order issued by the governor of Missouri; mobs are in possession of the lands and homes of the Saints, and exile and poverty confront them. It was under these circumstances that the master spirit of Brigham Young asserted itself; that his marvelous executive ability for the first time attracted attention. He appealed to those in possession of means to assist those who were without them; he gathered into a common fund the means possessed by the Saints, by intuition, apparently, knowing the economy there is in concentration of means. He sent out agents to establish provision stations, along the several lines of exodus to be followed; and stocked them with corn and flour for the people, and provender for teams. The same agents made contracts for ferriage, over such rivers as could not be forded, and every provision was made for the comfort and security of the exiled Saints. The exodus thus provided for, he was compelled to leave the execution of it to a most worthy lieutenant; one destined to be as his right hand in many a trying experience—Heber C. Kimball. For when the mob-forces of Missouri, after imprisoning the Prophet Joseph, saw this second leader managing with such consummate skill the affairs of the Church, it began to half dawn upon their minds that "Mormonism" might possibly survive the supposedly fatal blow they had dealt it in the imprisonment of the prophet; and the commanded expulsion or extermination of the Saints. They, therefore, attacked this new leader with all the hatred they had assailed the first; and to preserve his life, he yielded the execution of his plans to another, and sought safety by flight from Missouri. But his lesson was learned; his experience gained, his wisdom is hived for future service.
Yet other experiences must be secured—the training is not yet completed. Commerce, the sickly, malaria-stricken lowland on the banks of the Mississippi, has been transformed into Nauvoo— the beautiful. The Twelve have fulfilled their mission to England, and have returned to Nauvoo. The great prophet of the dispensation of the fullness of times is rapidly ascending to the finis of his earth-career. The burdens of the Church weigh heavily upon him. The Saints, both from the surrounding States and from Europe, are flocking into Nauvoo and vicinity. The great doctrines of the kingdom are yet to be unfolded; the Saints must be settled; new stakes of Zion must be organized; the temple must be built, the Nauvoo House completed. It was at this point that President Joseph Smith called upon the Twelve to take their place beside the Presidency of the Church, and assist in these material duties and responsibilities that pressed so heavily upon him; and he made it clear to all Israel that the place of the Twelve was next to the First Presidency, and that when the First. Presidency was absent for any cause, the responsibility of presiding over the Church rested upon the Twelve. This was magnificent training, a splendid educational provision for the future prophet-president of the Church; and he learned his lessons well in the activities of those days.
There is one other thought that should be expressed in relation to the preparation of the servants of God for the great climaxes in their careers. The training that comes from self suppression. In the theory of the gospel, God is the motive force of all achievements, man but his instrument. In the Church,, recognition of the authority of God is of chief importance, submission to it, as submission to God, is a primary virtue. This is a lesson all must learn. This is a lesson Brigham Young learned. In connection with the administrative duties which devolved upon the Twelve, it was proposed to hold them to a rather strict accounting of the things committed to their jurisdiction. Whereupon Brigham Young demurred, saying it was written in scripture that the ox that treadeth out the corn shall not be muzzled. To which the Prophet Joseph Smith immediately replied, rising beside Brigham Young in the stand,— "I will answer Brother Brigham," said he. "I tell him we will muzzle the ox; and we will make him tread out the corn. Then we will unmuzzle him and feed him." Will Brigham Young submit to this assertion of mastery over him? Most assuredly. It is the authority of God that speaks through Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, as well as all true servants of God, will submit to God, and to his authority. Only he who knows how to submit to law, should administer the law. Only he who has learned to serve, is prepared to rule. Only he who has been taught to respect authority, can rightly exercise dominion. Brigham Young is noble here. Immeasurably strong and clear-visioned as he was, and naturally a leader of men, Brigham Young submitted his judgment to that of the Prophet Joseph Smith; not always because convinced that the course proposed by the prophet was wisest or best, but because he recognized the authority of God in the prophet; and saw at the same time his duty to submit to that authority. Not only did this principle guide him in the lifetime of Joseph, but also after the prophet's demise. One of the things for which I love Brigham Young most is his fidelity to his chief, both when living and when dead. "From the first day I knew Brother Joseph," he repeatedly said, "to the day of his death, a better man never lived upon the face of the earth. * * * Joseph Smith was not killed because he was deserving of it, nor because he was a wicked man; but because he was a virtuous man. * * * I know that to be so, as well as I know that the sun shines. * * He was pure, just and holy as to the keeping of the law."
Moreover, Brigham Young never sought to eclipse his great leader, living or dead. He ever accorded to the prophet the Presidency of the dispensation of the fullness of times, himself the place of an apostle in that dispensation. "Whoever heard Brother Brigham claim more?" he often said. And as the Lord lives, I believe that to be the relation of these men to each other when immortality comes; when the general assembly and Church of the First Born in heaven, and the Church of Christ on earth shall become united—one, Joseph Smith the Prophet, shall stand as president of the dispensation he introduced, Brigham Young the chief apostle—and president of the apostles of that dispensation.
But now the training is completed. The limits are reached that must be reserved for Brigham Young. The Prophet Joseph Smith finishes his work, and seals his testimony with his blood. Loud clamors rise among those who would be leaders. Israel stands for a moment as a flock without its shepherd. Brigham Young returns from the East where he has been temporarily absent on a mission. The Saints are assembled, his—"Hear, 0, Israel," rings out over the assembly, and in his voice, his form, and movement, the assembled host recognized the voice, the person, and the action of the late departed martyr leader; and they, know that the mantle of Joseph has fallen upon the shoulders of President Brigham Young.
After the preparation, if thorough, as it was in the case of Brigham Young, the rest is easy. Well and truly begun is always more than half done. The exodus of the Church from Nauvoo committed into the hands of the right man, is already an assured success. The .journey across the plains will not end in disaster. The selection of a suitable abiding place for the Church is bound to follow. The adoption of right regulations for the government of God's people, we cannot doubt. All is foreordained of God; all that has happened was known from the beginning; the "rulers" were chosen before they were born; their metes and bounds were fixed ; the labors of each leader in Israel were known, and his sphere of activity preserved to him. No wonder, then, that the exodus of an expatriated people through a thousand miles of wilderness and desert was successful. No wonder that in their battles with the sterile elements they conquered, and founded a great commonwealth. No wonder that, as each crisis arose in the history of the Saints, a man of clear vision, of sound judgment, of almost prescient instincts arose to meet every issue; for he was chosen before he was born; and his training, under the very discipline of God, was such as to prepare him for the work assigned him in the unfolding of God's great purposes.
It is not necessary for me on this occasion to traverse the well-beaten track of history, and relate the well-known story of the settlement of Utah's valleys; the wisdom displayed in the choice of the sites of our chief settlements; the profound statesmanship exhibited in holding his people to the cultivation of the soil and the founding of homes based upon the possession of the land. All that, time has vindicated the wisdom of, and taken from the sphere of discussion. One thing, however, I think should be mentioned, and that by way of correcting an erroneous impression. It was not the purpose of Brigham Young in bringing his people to this intermountain region to permanently isolate them from the world, or establish a separate and independent government within the territory of the United States. The organization of the provisional government of the state of Deseret, and application for admission into the Union, as early as 1849, is the complete refutation of the charge that it was the intention of the people to sever their connection with the United States; the charge of designing complete isolation from the world is refuted by the petition of the Utah-"Mormon" legislature, in 1852, asking for the construction of a transcontinental railway and telegraph line, in which it was pointed out that by the construction of such railway and telegraph line, the commerce of the Pacific coast would be developed, and the wealth of the orient be poured into the lap of the nation—a prophetic glance into the future, the realization and truth of which is now being demonstrated after the lapse of over half a century.
I have reserved the consideration of the most important question to the last. Was Brigham Young a great man? *'Yes;" you answer without hesitation, "How foolish to ask the question T Judged in the light of what he achieved, of course he was great. Nothing short of greatness could have met the issues which confronted him, and successfully disposed of them. True, perhaps; but let us get right views of the matter. Remember, I pray you, that God is a factor to be accounted for in this work of the last days. How much shall we accredit to God's inspiration? How much to the inherent qualities of Brigham Young, in placing an estimate on his life work, and his character? Go back a few centuries in thought, and see two armies confronting each other in mortal combat. It is the day when personal courage, skill, and prowess often decide the issue of battle, the fate of empires and the course of history. The battle has raged a long time, the forces are well matched, the soldiers equally brave, the issue of the conflict trembles in the balance—when lo! from an unexpected quarter there rushes a mighty leader into the conflict. He cheers with voice and action the side he has championed. With consummate skill he rushes upon the serried ranks of the enemy; by cut and thrust of his good blade, he forces his way into the enemy's lines where others rush in and spread confusion—death—dismay — panic—and the victory is won. How much shall we accredit to this magnificent leader? How much to the instrument he used when dealing death and dismay to the enemy—the good blade of Damascus steel, that neither bent, when thrust through coats of mail, nor broke when cleaving through helmets of steel; but was ever true to the hand that wielded it. Is the illustration unworthy the theme? "Yes," you say; and I feel that, too; but does it convey my thought? Does it help you understand what I would say? If so, never mind its falling below somewhat the dignity of the subject. In this work of the last days, men are but instruments; God is the grand architect and builder of the structure human hands seemingly uprear. And yet God is a master-builder, a wise architect; he uses means suitable to the purpose he would accomplish. When he draws a sword to execute his divine purpose, you may be assured it will not prove false to his hand in the conflict. It will neither bend in the thrust, nor break when it falls upon the crests of the enemy. So when God chooses a man for his prophet, to whom he entrusts for the time the issues of his kingdom on earth, be assured God knows his instrument. He will not fail. And he will possess not only the qualities, but the combination of qualities that will make him servicable to the Master's use. The instrument will be adequate to the Master's purpose; the prophet will possess the qualities of mind and heart that fit him for God's work. And if the work to be done is a great work; if the achievement is mighty; if the issues concern the souls of men; the salvation of a people, or the perpetuity of God's Church in the earth—then rest assured the man equal to such an occasion—great in mind, pure of spirit, lofty of purpose, possessed of every mental, moral and spiritual endowment—will be chosen for that work. Brigham Young was chosen of God for the work he accomplished. It was a noble work. It was a great work. It was an epoch-making work. It affected large numbers of God's children. It concerned the welfare of God's purposes in the earth. And the fact that Brigham Young was chosen of God to do that work, is the best assurance of his greatness. Brigham Young was great. A master spirit. And though he might have passed through life unknown to fame but for the call of God to his life's work, yet the elements of greatness, the infinite possibilities of his nature, would still have been with him. He was great of mind and soul, even as men count greatness. But to all that, he added still another quality of greatness. The quality that linked him to God; that added in a large measure the strength and wisdom of God to his own strength and wisdom. To possess such a quality as this is to be great indeed. And if the proud of spirit shall say that such a quality leads but to a borrowed greatness— a shining not by reason of an innate luminous spirit, but by a borrowed light—the answer is that the man who so walks in the light and wisdom and power of God, will at the last, by the very force of association, make the light and wisdom and power of God his own—weaving those bright rays into a chain divine, linking himself forever to God and God to him. This the sum of Messiah's mystic words, "Thou, Father, in me, and I in thee"—beyond this human greatness cannot achieve.
"One Man's View of Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1903. pg. 264-267.
ONE MAN’S VIEW OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
June 1st—President Brigham Young’s birthday. That reminds me of a day when Brother Taggart was at our home tuning the piano. I went in to say ‘‘Good morning,” and as usual could not tear myself away. Something I said put him in a reminiscent mood, and as I listened I saw a vivid picture of a great man, his marvelous tact and, —well, read the story yourself and draw your own conclusions! But remember that this is only one instance out of thousands where Brigham Young’s wonderful power,— magnetism the world terms it —stilled a discontented, troubled spirit and gave it strength to struggle on.
My tongue, loosened by Brother Taggart’s hearty greeting, ran on merrily for a few minutes, when he said,
“You remind me of Miss Boswell, the daughter of Lady Boswell.”
(I saw afterward that he thought she was a nuisance. Of course he didn't say so—he fust—well—but then I'm sure I wasn’t?) He went on:
“I never rubbed elbows with royalty, my dear, but,” with a peculiar smile, “Lady Boswell was a maid of honor to the Queen of England.”
“Miss Boswell always came in to talk with me while I was tuning the pianos. She would generally send my wife into the garden to enjoy herself, saying ‘I’ll wait on Mr. Taggart.’
“In one particular she was very annoying, because she didn’t know the tools and she insisted on waiting on me. She would hand me first one tool and then another, saying, ‘Is that it,’—but then she was Miss Boswell you know. I had to put up with it.
“There were three pianos to tune, one in the drawing room, another in the library and one in the dining room. Once when at work in the dining room I said,
“ ‘Miss Boswell, can’t I smell wine ?’
“ ‘Oh, John, you stupid ! Mr. Taggart can’t see,’ taking the glass which he stood holding toward me and giving it to me herself.
“Another time when I was going, John, the footman, stood ready io help me on with my overcoat, but she said,
“ ‘I’ll help Mr. Taggart,’ then as she did so, ‘Oh, Mr. Taggart, what a pity’—and made a full stop.
“ ‘Allow me, Miss Boswell, to finish that sentence—that I’m blind,’ and in her own kind sensitive way she said,
“ ‘Oh, Mr. Taggart, I didn’t mean it.’
“ ‘That is all right, Miss Boswell, but permit me to tell you that I know in person a dozen noblemen in this country that I have the honor of waiting upon in my profession, who would be glad to be blind ten times over to get the half of the attention from Miss Boswell that she gives me.’
“Then tapping me upon the shoulder,
“ ‘Oh, Mr. Taggart I know that you’re an Irishman.’
“My first introduction to Boswell castle was rather interesting. The castle is an ancient one, situated about one mile from Dunse, in the south of Scotland.
“I was in Berwick (Berrick). They sent word by Mr. T. Rees Evans, afterward Dr. Evans of the Royal College of Organists, for me to come to the castle. Something interfered so I could not go for a week. Then I presented my card.
“The servant took it to Sir George, who, in a very gruff way, said,
“ ‘Tell him I don’t want him.’
“I heard it and turned away. I was half way down the avenue when the servant came after me.”
“ ‘Sir George wants you to come back.’
“ ‘Tell Sir George when he learns to be a gentleman, I’ll come back.’
“In a short time I heard a carriage coming after us. The wife advised me to return, so we entered the carriage and were driven back. When I met Sir George he said, in a very gruff way,
“ ‘Why didn’t you come when I sent for you?’
“ ‘If you had asked me that question before, Sir George, it would have saved all this trouble. I was sick.’
“ ‘Oh, I didn’t know that.’
“Sir George took me to a piano in the drawing room and asked what I thought of that.
“ ‘I think it’s a regular tub.’ “Sir George said, ‘What would you think if you were informed that it was the prize piano from the Danish Exhibition in Copenhagen?’
“ ‘That they don’t know how to produce tone.’
“ ‘What can you do with it ?’
“ ‘I could improve it, but I couldn’t make it good.’
“ ‘Evans tells me that you can do anything with a piano.’
“ ‘I can’t make a poor piano good.’
“ ‘Take my arm!’ and he led me to the dining room,
“ ‘Try that one.’
’“I ran my hand over it and said,
“ ‘This is worth two of the others; a splendid old Broadwood.’
“Then I heard a light clap of the hands from Lady Boswell, who I was not aware was there, on account of her light footsteps on the soft carpet, and the words, ‘I always told you that, Sir George!’
“From that on I attended his pianos until I came to this country in 1871. Then for the Gospel’s sake I came here, and through the grace of my Heavenly Father, I still remain devoted to that cause.”
The conversation served to show his standing in the old home, ere he came to meet the hardships of a pioneer life; and it bore out his words later when he said,
“I was a pet in England. Many people come here thinking they do the church a favor. I didn’t do that, but I did expect a little attention.
“When I was newly in this country I tuned a piano for----------------- I called at his place of business and handed him my bill.
“ ‘I’ll see that you’ve done this when I come home,’ he said.
“My anger flamed, I don’t know how I did it, but I snapped the paper out of his hand, threw it in his face and said,
“‘D—n you!’
“As I passed out of the front door I heard one of a group standing there say,
“ ‘What’s the matter with Brother Taggart?’
“Down to David O. Calder’s music store I went and I said to him,
“ ‘I wish I could say this Work was not true until I could get a slap at you all.’
“A few minutes later I went to Brother Wm. Clayton on some business. He seemed to be in a desperate fury. I asked what was the matter and found he had received just such an affront as mine.
“ ‘Brother Clayton,’ I said, ‘we’re in a desperate position. This work is true and we can’t help ourselves.’
“ ‘That’s true,’ he answered.
“I passed out, still almost insane with rage. As we walked along my guide said,
“ ‘There’s President Young.’
“ ‘Take me to him,’ I answered.
“Upon our approach I accosted him with, ‘You’re Brother Young?’
“ ‘Yes, sir.’
“ ‘For three years I’ve tried hard to get a talk with you.’
“ ‘Strange—you’re the piano tuner ?’
“ ‘I was that in England, but what the devil I am here I don’t know.’
“He simply looked at me and said,
“ ‘Well, Brother, we’re very busy today attending to this rock for the Temple, but we’ll set a time when we can meet and have our talk. ‘Albert,’ addressing Brother Carrington, ‘how will Friday do, at 3 o’clock?’
“I left him, mad at myself for what I had done. But I was still angry.
“Friday came. On my way down I met Brother Cowley and told him what had happened. He answered,
“ ‘I had rather it was you than me.’
“ ‘Why?’
“ ‘Well, go on, it’s all right, but come and tell me about it.’
“ ‘God has yet to make the man that I’m afraid of,’ I answered. “Well, we went to the office. As I entered Brigham Young got up and said, coming toward me,
“ ‘Brother Taggart, you told me the other day you’d waited three years to have a talk with me. Now I’ve waited twenty-seven on you. Don’t you think that account is balanced ?’
“When he spoke these words something seemed to strike me like a galvanic battery, and I filled up like a big child. I touched his hand and in broken voice I said,
“ ‘I’ll—I’ll see you again, Brother Young.’
“ ‘No, no; sit down. I’ll come back,’ and he left me. In a few minutes he did come back.
“ ‘Now, Brother Taggart, we’ll have this little talk.’ He took me by the hand, led me farther over and sat me down by a table, he sitting on my right side. Brother Carrington was there also. He then began,
“ ‘By the bye, Brother Taggart, you were a Catholic before you came into the church?’
“ ‘Yes, sir, I was born a Catholic. But I would say first of all, Brother Young, this past two or three years I have had a great antipathy against you. I fairly despised you. But according to the priesthood you held, there were none I respected more.’
“ ‘And what for ?’ he said.
“ ‘In the first place, I have never before shook your hand. I have never heard you say ‘God bless you,’ nor had the first act of kindness from you.’
“ ‘Oh, Brother Taggart, you little know what I have to bear or you never would speak that way.’
“ ‘I’m glad Brother Young, I’ve even said what I have said, for I believe now I’ve got that bad feeling out of me.’
“ ‘Now, Brother Taggart, what difference do you see between Catholicism and Mormonism?’
“ ‘The only way I can tell you is by comparison.
“ ‘When Christ organized the Church it was a beautiful crown of diamonds, every stone being perfect. When He left it, the people in charge of this crown lost one of the stones and had nothing but paste to put in its place. By and by another was lost, and another, till ultimately the whole crown became paste and no jewelers were round to detect the fraud. By and by a jeweler came along in the form of Joseph the Prophet and he said, ‘My friends, I understand diamonds. This is paste, and I will prove it by showing you the genuine diamonds.’ Ultimately when he showed the genuine stones one after another and compared them with the paste, there was no denying the fact.’
“ ‘Albert, that is so,’ said President Young.
“Then Brother Carrington spoke,
“ ‘Brother Taggart, do you not think this little affliction you are under (blindness) will make you think sometimes that you are insulted when you really are not?’
“ ‘That may be, Brother,’ I said.
“Then President Young said, ‘Brother Taggart, I have an old piano in Brother Calder’s store.’
“ ‘I have seen it.’
“ ‘What could you do with it?’
“ ‘I could make it almost as good as ever it was.’
“ ‘Then I must have it done.’
“ ‘Not by me, Brother Young.’
“‘And why, Brother Taggart?’
‘“I wouldn’t take all the wealth that Salt Lake City has, when I go out of this office that one notion should come into your head that I came here to look for your work.’ He tapped with his fingers on the table and said, ‘Proud, proud.’
“Then he said, ‘Brother Taggart, I am going to ask you a question, and don’t answer me in a hurry. Think well before you answer,— Can Brigham Young do anything for you?’ and he turned away and left me. “In a few minutes he came back and said, ‘Now for your answer.’
“I said, ‘President Young, you can’t do anything for me. I have got a house, I have got a wife, and I’ve got a dollar. And a statesman belonging to my country said that a man’s riches consisted in the fewness of his wants.’
“ ‘Brother Taggart,’ he then said, ‘will you do my piano?’
“ ‘I will,’ I said, ‘upon one condition,— that you will not offer me one dollar for doing it. If you do I will take it as an insult and I think we’ve had enough of that.’
“ ‘Now’, Brother Taggart, listen to me,’ he said. ‘Whenever you want to have a talk with me, no matter who is with me, no matter where I am, let no man stop you. So now I’ll say good-bye for the present. And I’ll send the piano up to your house.’
“And then I said,
“ ‘Thank God, Brother Young, I can say now with all my heart, “God bless you.” You have taken off my shoulders this day a great load. And now’, Brother Young, you can do something for me.’
“ ‘And what is it ?” he said eagerly. “ ‘When you meet me I want to hear you say “God bless you.” ’
“‘I’ll do that. What next?’
“ ‘When you go to your private prayers, pray for the Lord to give me my sight.’
“ ‘I haven’t all power,’ he said, ‘but I’ll do it.’
“A day or two after that I was passing the office and heard him say in a loud voice,
“ ‘God bless you, Brother Taggart. Stop, stop!’ He immediately came over and straightened the strap that was over my shoulder supporting my kit, saying, ‘That would soon cut your coat and hurt your shoulder.’
“ ‘What,’ I said, ‘is President Young a servant of mine?’
“Oh, I’m a servant of everybody.’ “This act raised him, if possible, another step in my estimation. Oh, he was a glorious man! A greater one in my opinion could not have lived at the same time. I came away from that first interview thoroughly convinced that I had spoken with the greatest man upon the earth, for none could have handled me in like manner.”
ONE MAN’S VIEW OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
June 1st—President Brigham Young’s birthday. That reminds me of a day when Brother Taggart was at our home tuning the piano. I went in to say ‘‘Good morning,” and as usual could not tear myself away. Something I said put him in a reminiscent mood, and as I listened I saw a vivid picture of a great man, his marvelous tact and, —well, read the story yourself and draw your own conclusions! But remember that this is only one instance out of thousands where Brigham Young’s wonderful power,— magnetism the world terms it —stilled a discontented, troubled spirit and gave it strength to struggle on.
My tongue, loosened by Brother Taggart’s hearty greeting, ran on merrily for a few minutes, when he said,
“You remind me of Miss Boswell, the daughter of Lady Boswell.”
(I saw afterward that he thought she was a nuisance. Of course he didn't say so—he fust—well—but then I'm sure I wasn’t?) He went on:
“I never rubbed elbows with royalty, my dear, but,” with a peculiar smile, “Lady Boswell was a maid of honor to the Queen of England.”
“Miss Boswell always came in to talk with me while I was tuning the pianos. She would generally send my wife into the garden to enjoy herself, saying ‘I’ll wait on Mr. Taggart.’
“In one particular she was very annoying, because she didn’t know the tools and she insisted on waiting on me. She would hand me first one tool and then another, saying, ‘Is that it,’—but then she was Miss Boswell you know. I had to put up with it.
“There were three pianos to tune, one in the drawing room, another in the library and one in the dining room. Once when at work in the dining room I said,
“ ‘Miss Boswell, can’t I smell wine ?’
“ ‘Oh, John, you stupid ! Mr. Taggart can’t see,’ taking the glass which he stood holding toward me and giving it to me herself.
“Another time when I was going, John, the footman, stood ready io help me on with my overcoat, but she said,
“ ‘I’ll help Mr. Taggart,’ then as she did so, ‘Oh, Mr. Taggart, what a pity’—and made a full stop.
“ ‘Allow me, Miss Boswell, to finish that sentence—that I’m blind,’ and in her own kind sensitive way she said,
“ ‘Oh, Mr. Taggart, I didn’t mean it.’
“ ‘That is all right, Miss Boswell, but permit me to tell you that I know in person a dozen noblemen in this country that I have the honor of waiting upon in my profession, who would be glad to be blind ten times over to get the half of the attention from Miss Boswell that she gives me.’
“Then tapping me upon the shoulder,
“ ‘Oh, Mr. Taggart I know that you’re an Irishman.’
“My first introduction to Boswell castle was rather interesting. The castle is an ancient one, situated about one mile from Dunse, in the south of Scotland.
“I was in Berwick (Berrick). They sent word by Mr. T. Rees Evans, afterward Dr. Evans of the Royal College of Organists, for me to come to the castle. Something interfered so I could not go for a week. Then I presented my card.
“The servant took it to Sir George, who, in a very gruff way, said,
“ ‘Tell him I don’t want him.’
“I heard it and turned away. I was half way down the avenue when the servant came after me.”
“ ‘Sir George wants you to come back.’
“ ‘Tell Sir George when he learns to be a gentleman, I’ll come back.’
“In a short time I heard a carriage coming after us. The wife advised me to return, so we entered the carriage and were driven back. When I met Sir George he said, in a very gruff way,
“ ‘Why didn’t you come when I sent for you?’
“ ‘If you had asked me that question before, Sir George, it would have saved all this trouble. I was sick.’
“ ‘Oh, I didn’t know that.’
“Sir George took me to a piano in the drawing room and asked what I thought of that.
“ ‘I think it’s a regular tub.’ “Sir George said, ‘What would you think if you were informed that it was the prize piano from the Danish Exhibition in Copenhagen?’
“ ‘That they don’t know how to produce tone.’
“ ‘What can you do with it ?’
“ ‘I could improve it, but I couldn’t make it good.’
“ ‘Evans tells me that you can do anything with a piano.’
“ ‘I can’t make a poor piano good.’
“ ‘Take my arm!’ and he led me to the dining room,
“ ‘Try that one.’
’“I ran my hand over it and said,
“ ‘This is worth two of the others; a splendid old Broadwood.’
“Then I heard a light clap of the hands from Lady Boswell, who I was not aware was there, on account of her light footsteps on the soft carpet, and the words, ‘I always told you that, Sir George!’
“From that on I attended his pianos until I came to this country in 1871. Then for the Gospel’s sake I came here, and through the grace of my Heavenly Father, I still remain devoted to that cause.”
The conversation served to show his standing in the old home, ere he came to meet the hardships of a pioneer life; and it bore out his words later when he said,
“I was a pet in England. Many people come here thinking they do the church a favor. I didn’t do that, but I did expect a little attention.
“When I was newly in this country I tuned a piano for----------------- I called at his place of business and handed him my bill.
“ ‘I’ll see that you’ve done this when I come home,’ he said.
“My anger flamed, I don’t know how I did it, but I snapped the paper out of his hand, threw it in his face and said,
“‘D—n you!’
“As I passed out of the front door I heard one of a group standing there say,
“ ‘What’s the matter with Brother Taggart?’
“Down to David O. Calder’s music store I went and I said to him,
“ ‘I wish I could say this Work was not true until I could get a slap at you all.’
“A few minutes later I went to Brother Wm. Clayton on some business. He seemed to be in a desperate fury. I asked what was the matter and found he had received just such an affront as mine.
“ ‘Brother Clayton,’ I said, ‘we’re in a desperate position. This work is true and we can’t help ourselves.’
“ ‘That’s true,’ he answered.
“I passed out, still almost insane with rage. As we walked along my guide said,
“ ‘There’s President Young.’
“ ‘Take me to him,’ I answered.
“Upon our approach I accosted him with, ‘You’re Brother Young?’
“ ‘Yes, sir.’
“ ‘For three years I’ve tried hard to get a talk with you.’
“ ‘Strange—you’re the piano tuner ?’
“ ‘I was that in England, but what the devil I am here I don’t know.’
“He simply looked at me and said,
“ ‘Well, Brother, we’re very busy today attending to this rock for the Temple, but we’ll set a time when we can meet and have our talk. ‘Albert,’ addressing Brother Carrington, ‘how will Friday do, at 3 o’clock?’
“I left him, mad at myself for what I had done. But I was still angry.
“Friday came. On my way down I met Brother Cowley and told him what had happened. He answered,
“ ‘I had rather it was you than me.’
“ ‘Why?’
“ ‘Well, go on, it’s all right, but come and tell me about it.’
“ ‘God has yet to make the man that I’m afraid of,’ I answered. “Well, we went to the office. As I entered Brigham Young got up and said, coming toward me,
“ ‘Brother Taggart, you told me the other day you’d waited three years to have a talk with me. Now I’ve waited twenty-seven on you. Don’t you think that account is balanced ?’
“When he spoke these words something seemed to strike me like a galvanic battery, and I filled up like a big child. I touched his hand and in broken voice I said,
“ ‘I’ll—I’ll see you again, Brother Young.’
“ ‘No, no; sit down. I’ll come back,’ and he left me. In a few minutes he did come back.
“ ‘Now, Brother Taggart, we’ll have this little talk.’ He took me by the hand, led me farther over and sat me down by a table, he sitting on my right side. Brother Carrington was there also. He then began,
“ ‘By the bye, Brother Taggart, you were a Catholic before you came into the church?’
“ ‘Yes, sir, I was born a Catholic. But I would say first of all, Brother Young, this past two or three years I have had a great antipathy against you. I fairly despised you. But according to the priesthood you held, there were none I respected more.’
“ ‘And what for ?’ he said.
“ ‘In the first place, I have never before shook your hand. I have never heard you say ‘God bless you,’ nor had the first act of kindness from you.’
“ ‘Oh, Brother Taggart, you little know what I have to bear or you never would speak that way.’
“ ‘I’m glad Brother Young, I’ve even said what I have said, for I believe now I’ve got that bad feeling out of me.’
“ ‘Now, Brother Taggart, what difference do you see between Catholicism and Mormonism?’
“ ‘The only way I can tell you is by comparison.
“ ‘When Christ organized the Church it was a beautiful crown of diamonds, every stone being perfect. When He left it, the people in charge of this crown lost one of the stones and had nothing but paste to put in its place. By and by another was lost, and another, till ultimately the whole crown became paste and no jewelers were round to detect the fraud. By and by a jeweler came along in the form of Joseph the Prophet and he said, ‘My friends, I understand diamonds. This is paste, and I will prove it by showing you the genuine diamonds.’ Ultimately when he showed the genuine stones one after another and compared them with the paste, there was no denying the fact.’
“ ‘Albert, that is so,’ said President Young.
“Then Brother Carrington spoke,
“ ‘Brother Taggart, do you not think this little affliction you are under (blindness) will make you think sometimes that you are insulted when you really are not?’
“ ‘That may be, Brother,’ I said.
“Then President Young said, ‘Brother Taggart, I have an old piano in Brother Calder’s store.’
“ ‘I have seen it.’
“ ‘What could you do with it?’
“ ‘I could make it almost as good as ever it was.’
“ ‘Then I must have it done.’
“ ‘Not by me, Brother Young.’
“‘And why, Brother Taggart?’
‘“I wouldn’t take all the wealth that Salt Lake City has, when I go out of this office that one notion should come into your head that I came here to look for your work.’ He tapped with his fingers on the table and said, ‘Proud, proud.’
“Then he said, ‘Brother Taggart, I am going to ask you a question, and don’t answer me in a hurry. Think well before you answer,— Can Brigham Young do anything for you?’ and he turned away and left me. “In a few minutes he came back and said, ‘Now for your answer.’
“I said, ‘President Young, you can’t do anything for me. I have got a house, I have got a wife, and I’ve got a dollar. And a statesman belonging to my country said that a man’s riches consisted in the fewness of his wants.’
“ ‘Brother Taggart,’ he then said, ‘will you do my piano?’
“ ‘I will,’ I said, ‘upon one condition,— that you will not offer me one dollar for doing it. If you do I will take it as an insult and I think we’ve had enough of that.’
“ ‘Now’, Brother Taggart, listen to me,’ he said. ‘Whenever you want to have a talk with me, no matter who is with me, no matter where I am, let no man stop you. So now I’ll say good-bye for the present. And I’ll send the piano up to your house.’
“And then I said,
“ ‘Thank God, Brother Young, I can say now with all my heart, “God bless you.” You have taken off my shoulders this day a great load. And now’, Brother Young, you can do something for me.’
“ ‘And what is it ?” he said eagerly. “ ‘When you meet me I want to hear you say “God bless you.” ’
“‘I’ll do that. What next?’
“ ‘When you go to your private prayers, pray for the Lord to give me my sight.’
“ ‘I haven’t all power,’ he said, ‘but I’ll do it.’
“A day or two after that I was passing the office and heard him say in a loud voice,
“ ‘God bless you, Brother Taggart. Stop, stop!’ He immediately came over and straightened the strap that was over my shoulder supporting my kit, saying, ‘That would soon cut your coat and hurt your shoulder.’
“ ‘What,’ I said, ‘is President Young a servant of mine?’
“Oh, I’m a servant of everybody.’ “This act raised him, if possible, another step in my estimation. Oh, he was a glorious man! A greater one in my opinion could not have lived at the same time. I came away from that first interview thoroughly convinced that I had spoken with the greatest man upon the earth, for none could have handled me in like manner.”
Young, Seymour B. "The Great Pioneer." Young Woman's Journal. July 1904. pg. 301-306.
THE GREAT PIONEER. Brigham Young was born at Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont, on the 1st day of June, 1801, and died at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 29th, 1877, aged 76 years and 3 months. In his early manhood he was remarkable for his good conduct, his pacific disposition and good judgment as a wise counselor among his fellowmen. Mr. William Hayden, late of Port Byron, New York, who was personally acquainted with Brigham Young, relates the following pleasant reminiscences. He says: About the year 1826 three young men from different sections of the east came to Cayuga County, and took up their abode in Port Byron They were men of more than ordinary ability, and because of their friendship for each other and constant association, and of their energy and push in matters of business, they were termed “The Three Wise Men from the East.” The first of these to mature his plans was Henry Wells, a shoemaker by trade, who became the founder of the Wells College for Women, an institution of worldwide fame. Also he was the founder of that famous express business known as Wells-Fargo & Co., which reaches today every civilized nation of the globe. Number two of these “Three Wise Men” was Isaac Singer, the inventor of the famous Singer Sewing Machine. The last of the three was Brigham Young, and well Mr. Hayden adds, “He was the greatest of the three.” We find, then, the subject of our sketch employed as a painter in a bucket factory, not only a painter of buckets, but a successful inventor of a plan to simplify the grinding of the paint material, which brought him into notice both by his fellow workmen and his employer. This invention consisted of a water wheel placed on a long shaft in an upright position. Near the top of the shaft was placed an old fashioned iron dinner pot. Into this was fixed a twenty five pound cannon ball, which, as the wheel revolved, acted as a grinder or pulverizer of whatever material was placed in the pot. This invention was completely successful, and prepared the paints much faster and in a much better condition than the old hand system could possibly do. The cannon ball above mentioned was said to have been captured from the British at the battle of Saratoga in 1777 by a relative of Brigham Young, presumably his father, and brought from Vermont by himself. In the factory one day an accidental fire was started.by the upsetting of a stove. The floor was covered with chips and shavings, and the only protection from this devouring element was several large- pails of water on each floor. As soon as the accident occurred Brigham Young secured a bucket of water in each hand and started for the ’ commencing conflagration, shouting to the surprised and almost paralized workmen, “Every man grab a pail of water and follow me,” which they did, and to his prompt energy was due the saving of the entire factory from destruction. Another incident is related. Some of the workmen in this factory became much interested in the idea of perpetual motion. Much discussion was had among the employes on this subject and it was finally suggested by his fellow workmen that the matter be referred to Brigham Young, in order to obtain his views upon the subject. After listening to their arguments for some little time he smilingly said, pointing to a large basket standing near by, “When one of you will get into that basket and carry himself up that flight of stairs, then I will begin to have some faith in your theory of perpetual motion.” On one occasion he attended a debating exercise as a spectator, but being requested he joined in the debate, and did so with such force and judgment that he secured for himself the title of “Lion of the Evening.” One young man, an opponent, became enraged at Brigham for his terse and efficient arguments, threw off his coat and threatened to whip him there and then. Brigham was finally compelled to notice the violent opposer, and made the following remarks: “I am not a fighting man, but if attacked I shall defend myself to the best of my ability, and the result must show which one gets the whipping.” The other fellow concluded not to try the arbitrament of war. Another story is related by Mr. Hayden. A little girl was missed by her parents, and it was feared that she had wandered out to the mill pond and had fallen in. On learning of the suspicion of the parents Brigham Young went out to the mill pond, divested himself of his outer clothing, and plunged in. After searching around on the bottom of the pool of water he found the body of the little child, brought it up and delivered it to its mother, but alas! too late for resuscitation. The spark of life had fled, and Brigham Young wept bitterly over the fact that he was not in time to save the life of the little girl. On the 14th day of April, 1832, Brigham Young was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Eleazer Miller, and confirmed upon the shore of the lake where he was baptized. Later in the year 1832, in company with his brother Joseph and Elder Heber C. Kimball, he started for Kirtland to visit the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was received very kindly by him. While on this visit the Prophet records that Brother Brigham, during a prayer which he offered in a meeting of the Elders, prayed in an unknown tongue. When he arose from his knees the brethren looked at each other, and seemingly referred to the Prophet Joseph in their thoughts as to what his idea was in regard to the gift exercised by Brother Brigham. He immediately arose and said: “Brethren, this tongue is a gift from God. and is the pure Adamic language in which Brother Brigham offered his prayer.” and added, “I desire to speak in the tongue which the Lord shall give me,” which he did, and occupied some minutes in speaking in a very beautiful, open, free language, although not understood by the brethren present. No history, however, is given as to the interpretation of either the prayer by Brigham Young or the tongue spoken by the Prophet Joseph Smith. From this time on Brigham Young became identified with the leading brethren of the Church, and a lifelong friend of the Prophet Joseph. In 1834, Joseph Smith contemplated calling a company of choice men to go up to Missouri, to do what they could in restoring to the Saints their lands and homes of which trey had been plundered by a lawless mob. He at this time expressed a very earnest wish to Brigham and Joseph Young that they would accompany him on this journey, telling them if they would do so that not a hair of their heads should fall by the hand of an enemy, and that they should return to Kirtland to their families in safety. The brethren did not hesitate for a moment, but accompanied the Prophet and became his firm friends and supporters on this arduous mission. After the return of Zion’s Camp from Missouri, about the 1st of February, 1835, the Prophet met the two brothers, Joseph and Brigham Young, and said to Brother Brigham, “I wish you to call the branches of the Saints together to meet on the 14th day of the month, at which time I desire-to select Twelve Apostles and to ordain them to that calling, and,” said he to Brother Brigham, “you will be one of them.” Turning to Brother Joseph he also remarked, “The Lord has made you President of the Seventies.” The meeting was called, the Twelve were chosen, and it is recorded also that three weeks later the Quorum of Seventy was chosen. Presidents and members of the First Quorum of Seventy organized in the Church. Brigham Young was not the first one of the Apostles chosen and ordained, but when they were organized as a Quorum, and took their places by seniority of age, Brigham Young was third on the list. Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten being his seniors. Some time after this Thomas B. Marsh apostatized and was cut off from the Church, so he lost his high standing as an Apostle; David W. Patten was mortally wounded in the battle of Crooked River, in the defense of his brethren, leaving Brigham Young as the presiding officer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. At the time of the martyrdom of the Prophets Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young was absent in the Eastern States upon a mission, to which he had been called by the Prophet Joseph some time before. But he returned to Nauvoo in time to view the bodies of his martyred brethren, and also to call the Saints together, and, in connection with the Quorum of the Twelve, that had also returned to Nauvoo from different missions of the world, he submitted to the Conference of the Saints the proposition whether they would accept of Sidney Rigdon as their guardian, which position he claimed the right to hold, or whether they would leave the authority where it belonged, and sustain the Twelve Apostles as the presiding quorum of the Church. The Saints voted to sustain the Twelve Apostles, with Brigham Young as their President, as the presiding authority. Hundreds testified then, and testify to this day, that they saw the mantle of the Prophet Joseph resting upon Brigham Young at that time, and that through him spoke the voice and the power of God representing the Prophet Joseph Smith; that Brigham Young was transfigured and filled with the power of the Lord and with the power of his apostleship, and the power of his leadership rested upon him as he stood in the place of the Prophet Joseph. In 1846 President Young left the city of Nauvoo with the camps of the Saints, and began his journey in leading the people to the Rocky Mountains. While encamped upon the plains of Iowa a requisition came from the government of the United States demanding of Brigham Young and his people five hundred able-bodied men to be enlisted as regular soldiers, and to be under the command of United States officers. They were to march to the field of action on the borders of old Mexico, where the United States and Mexico were contesting by force of arms the right to the establishment of certain boundary lines between the two republics. The war with Mexico had been going on for a twelve month or more, and these Mormon volunteers were marched across the deserts and mountains to the field of carnage, leaving their families without shelter and food upon the plains. Brigham Young said at once that this battalion of men must be furnished, and encouraged the enlistment of his brethren until the entire number was enrolled. Then upon him and his brethren rested the additional care and anxiety of providing for these destitute families whose protectors had gone in the army to fight the battles of their country. President Young proved himself equal to the occasion, and was indeed the Moses of Latter-day Israel, to safely deliver the people out of their bondage and provide for them a home in the Promised Land. When he arrived in Salt Lake Valley, upon the bench overlooking the lake and valley, he raised himself on his elbow from a reclining position, for he had been several days ill with mountain fever, and said, “This is the place, for God has shown it to me in a vision. This is the home for the Latter-day Saints.” In the fall of ’47 President Young returned to Winter Quarters with a portion of the brethren, leaving enough, however, in Salt Lake Valley to hold the position and maintain the fort which they had built, and maintain the organization of a Stake of Zion, over which Patriarch John Smith was placed as presiding officer. On the 5th day of December, 1847, President Young, with others of the Twelve, visited the little town of Kanesville, now Bluff City, just across the river from Winter Quarters, and instructed the people to erect a log tabernacle. I think the size of the building was 30x60. He gave the people three weeks’ time to erect and complete the building, and at the end of that time he proposed to return and hold a general conference of the Church and call together all the Saints in that region, including the authorities of the Church. At the appointed day, on the 27th of December, he met the assembled congregation of the Saints in the new tabernacle at Kanesville, and reorganized the First Presidency of the Church. Brigham Young was sustained by the unanimous vote of the people as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator to, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world. Heber C. Kimball was sustained unanimously as his First, and Willard Richards as his Second Counselor in the First Presidency. Thus was consummated the reorganization of the Presidency of the Church the first time since the death of the Prophets Joseph and Hyrum Smith. In 1848 President Young was again found journeying across the plains, leading the camps of Israel to Salt Lake Valley. Before starting these camps, however, it is evident that the Lord had acknowledged His servant and had blessed the appointment that he had received under the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, and to which he had been sustained by the vote of the Conference on the 27th of December, 1847, for He gave to His servant, as President and leader of His people, the following revelation : Section 136. Book of Doctrine and Covenants. Extract from this revelation. The Word and will of the Lord concerning the camp of Israel in their journeyings to the West. Let all the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those who journey with them, be organized into companies, with a covenant and promise to keep all the commandments and statutes of the Lord our God. Let the companies be organized with captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens, with a president and his two counselors at their head, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles; And this shall be our covenant, that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord. Let each company bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord against this people. Let each company prepare houses, and fields for raising grain, for those who are to remain behind this season, and this is the will of the Lord concerning His people. Let every man use all his Influence and property to remove this people to the place where the Lord shall locate a Stake of Zion; And if ye do this with a pure heart, in all faithfulness, ye shall be blessed; Go thy way and do as I have told you, and fear not thine enemies; for they shall not have power to stop my work. Zion shall be redeemed in mine own due time. Seek ye and keep all your pledges one with another, and covet not that which is thy brother’s. Keep yourselves from evil. Take not the name of the Lord in vain, for I am the Lord your God, even the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. Cease to contend one with another, cease to speak evil one of another. Cease drunkenness, and let your words tend to edifying one another. If thou borrowest of thy neighbor, thou shalt return that which thou hast borrowed; If thou shalt find that which thy neighbor has lost, thou shalt make diligent search till thou shalt deliver it to him again. If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing. If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful. This nation has rejected you and your testimony, and they have driven you out, and there will be a day coming of their calamity and sorrow. For they killed the prophets, and them that were sent unto them, and they have shed innocent blood, which crieth from the ground against them: Be diligent in keeping all my commandments, lest judgment come upon you, and your faith fail you. and your enemies triumph over you.—So no more at present. Amen and Amen. As soon as the Saints began to gather in Salt Lake Valley President Young established the institution of learning which has since become famous in all this western country, the University of Deseret, now known as the University of Utah. School houses were built in every ward and gathering place of the Saints, and the best public instructors secured that it was possible to find in those early days for the benefit and instruction of the children of the people. The Brigham Young University at Provo and the Brigham Young College at Logan, those splendid institutions of learning founded and endowed by him, whose name they bear, will stand as monuments to his memory for all the ages to come. And thousands and tens of thousands of the young people of this great western country will rise up and bless the name of Brigham Young for placing within their reach the means by which they received the instructions necessary to start and equip them so thoroughly for the battle of life. All honor to the name of Brigham Young, as successor to the Prophet Joseph as Prophet, Seer, Revelator, as President and leader of the Latter-day Saints, as the founder of this great commonwealth. Truly it may be said of him that in all this God was with him, and he builded better than he knew. Seymour B. Young. |
Brigham Young
Seymour B. Young,
Senior Member of the Seven Presidents of Seventy |
Gates, Susa Young. "President Brigham Young--Anecdotes of the Great Pioneer and Leader." Improvement Era. June 1905. pg. 561-566.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG. ANECDOTES OF THE GREAT PIONEER AND LEADER.
BY SUSA YOUNG GATES.
The true character of any man is revealed as quickly through an anecdote as through pages of description. If Boswell had not written the thousand-and-one incidents and repartee of the famous old, lumbering Dr. Johnson, we should still be measurably ignorant of that grand old, pock-marked, witty, stupendous genius.
Dr. Johnson called, (so Boswell tells us, in one of these delightful anecdotes) according to appointment, at the house of a nobleman to dine with his lordship. The powdered and bewigged footman who answered the bell looked at the great, awkward figure before him, with its seedy coat, unclean linen, and the coarse, bloated face above it all, then said contemptuously,
"The place of admittance for your kind is at the back door.''
"Ah, but," answered the visitor, "I came as the guest of his lordship."
Another scornful look, and the flunky replied,
"My master expects Dr. Johnson."
"Yes," answered the imperturbable old genius, “I’m Johnson.”
"What" cried the servant. "You? The famous Dr. Johnson? Why you don't look as if you could say Boo, to a goose."
"Boo!" sung out Johnson, in his deep, bass voice.
"Come right in, Doctor," answered the non-plussed servitor, "his lordship is in the drawing-room."
While the deepest currents of human life may not thus be discovered, certainly these bubbles on the stream show with sufficient accuracy the sweep and swirl of the currents and whirlpools below.
Perhaps no trait of Brigham Young's character was more marked than his love and tender care for the helpless. Poverty — and health—did not appeal to him very much. But childhood, helpless old age, sickness or weakness, all these brought out the best that was in him.
"Provide work," was his cry. "The giving of alms raises a generation of paupers." This was his thought. "Let the aged, even, do something for what they receive, that they may not lose their independence."
On one cold, rainy day, a child came to his office with a message for the President's private secretary.
The child's feet were soaking wet. The President saw her, and noticed at once her condition.
With a gentle word, to reassure the little one, he set her on a chair, near the blazing grate, and drew off, with tender care, the wet shoes and stockings. The stockings were shaken and hung carefully to dry, and the shoes placed at the exact nearness to the fire to dry without burning or undue stiffening. Then the little feet were rubbed warm and dry with his own pocket-handkerchief while he talked cheerfully and simply to the amazed child. After a while, he rubbed and softened the shoes, drew on both stockings and shoes, and sent the happy child home with a peppermint drop to add to her afternoon's enjoyment.
He had a most peculiar way of amusing babies; he would take them on one knee, and then commence a sort of "Too-roo-loo-rooL lool-or-loo," which was a sure antidote for weeping babies. The unusual noise, not loud, nor harsh, but withal musical, yet very peculiar, would dry up any incipient torrent on a baby's cheek, and leave the infant in a vague wonder as to where itself and the world "were at."
Only once did I see my father whip a child: and that was at prayer time.
A lovely, rosy, blue-eyed, romping baby of two years, father's youngest child born in the Lion House, was as full of frolic and noise, naturally, at prayer- time as at any other time of the day. Father had requested the child's mother to keep the baby quiet during the prayer itself. This rule was fairly well observed. But the tiny tyrant knew her own power, and her mother's weakness. So, occasionally, she would wiggle out of the restraining arms, as the mother kneeled at her chair, and go laughing and dancing across the long prayer-room.
One awful night, baby May again broke from her mother's care, in the midst of the solemn, heartfelt prayer, and ran mockingly straight for her father's bowed form.
Suddenly the prayer was stilled, no one moved, nor scarcely breathed; but those who were hardy enough to look around, saw father quietly arise, pick up the child, spank it heartily, place it quietly on the mother's chair, then, going back to his own place, he resumed his prayer, just where he had left off. That child never again disturbed a prayer.
Seeing one of his daughters trying to make an obstinate child mind, he said,
"Never ask a child to do a thing you are sure it won't do."
At one time, a feast was provided for President Young and those with him who were attending a conference in a distant stake. The sharp eyes of the President noted the ones who were seated at his own table, and at the other tables, as well as those who had no place at all.
The conference and the feast were both held in an old-fashioned bowery.
At the close of the afternoon service, he asked the people if they would come to a meeting on the morrow, and if they would provide another feast, if he would stay over.
A glad consent was given.
The next day, at noon, the feast was again spread. After everything was ready, the president drew near his former table, to which he was led by the mistress of the feast.
"I wish you to entertain my friends today," he said.
So saying, he stepped away to the outer edges of the bowery, where were gathered the poor, the aged, the halt and blind. Inviting all of these, he led the way to his own table where he seated these astonished guests with gracious courtesy. No reference was made to what he had done, but he entertained them all with delightful grace, and left his lesson to sink deep into the hearts of those who had prepared the feast.
He knew everybody; it was a mystery to me for years how he could retain a mass of seemingly unrelated facts, as pertained to individuals everywhere. But his secret was simple; the moment he saw a new face, he either called the stranger to him, or enquired about him. The name of the stranger was the least part of the desired information; where did he come from, where was he born, who were his parents and grandparents? Any relation in the valley? What was the stranger's occupation, habits and ambitions? All this formed many connecting links with which to fasten on memory's chain the individual and his history.
Surely everyone remembers his first encounter with that wittiest of Utah's sons, Scipio A. Kenner.
After the usual fire of questions, he put the last, a stumper, to the poor young fellow who remembered his early baptism, but subsequent wanderings from the church.
"Are you a 'Mormon?'" asked the President of the nervous, nonplused youth before him, who had come a-courting one the President's pretty daughters. "Are you a 'Mormon?'"
"Slightly," answered the curly-headed boy. And the big grain of truth in the small answer tickled the President mightily. It amused him for years. He always called the lad "Scipio Sinner" after that.
Brigham Young was a small eater, and would fain have lived much simpler than his loving family and friends would permit him to do.
He often said he was raised on johnny cake, baked potatoes and buttermilk. And no feast could so please him as these three simple articles.
But like many other Yankees, he had an appetite for cream.
"I am very fond of skimmed milk," he would say, "but please give me the skimmings."
Often when an elaborate menu was spread for him, he would say quietly,
"Sister, can you give me a bowl of bread and milk—with a little skimmings?"
In 1868, he began his reform movement to induce the people to observe the Word of Wisdom more closely. At this time, too, he taught the people to cease eating pork. He announced this as a revelation, and he strictly lived up to it himself.
In traveling around, he would sometimes espy a plate of doughnuts on the table, a dainty of which he was very fond.
Then would surely follow the question, "Sister, what were your doughnuts fried in?"
If the answer was, "lard," he said nothing more. But if the lady replied,
"Well, sir, I fried them in suet or drippings," he would say jubilantly, "Pass the doughnuts."
I have yet to hear from man or woman who had the last or best word with Brigham Young. Some tried it, and even now recall, with more or less gusto, their own brightness or impertinence, as the case may be. But if such would tell the whole story, the truth of what has just been stated would be apparent.
A three days' conference was held, at one time, in a northern stake. A certain good brother, who formed one of the President's party from Salt Lake City, was a long-winded and very prosy speaker. But like some others, he was very fond of preaching. And during the long meetings he had not once been asked to speak.
The afternoon of the last session had arrived, and this brother was smarting with indignation at his supposed neglect.
After the opening hymn, President Young turned to this brother, and said,
"Brother So-and-so, will you open the meeting with prayer?" The President composed himself, and the brother began; but the brother did not stop. Quarter of an hour, half an hour, and still another quarter of an hour, dragged along, and the brother was still praying. He was putting his long pent-up sermon into a series of thanks to the Lord.
Finally he closed, and sat down.
Gravely the President turned to the choir, behind him, and announced in his resounding voice,
"Choir, please sing, and we'll dismiss."
The writer has been commissioned by the Young family to prepare, at some future time, a life of Brigham Young; and for this purpose desires to gather as many incidents and anecdotes of him as possible. Will those who have such material, kindly write the same down and send it to Mrs Susa Young Gates?
672 N. 1st W. St., Salt Lake City, Utah.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG. ANECDOTES OF THE GREAT PIONEER AND LEADER.
BY SUSA YOUNG GATES.
The true character of any man is revealed as quickly through an anecdote as through pages of description. If Boswell had not written the thousand-and-one incidents and repartee of the famous old, lumbering Dr. Johnson, we should still be measurably ignorant of that grand old, pock-marked, witty, stupendous genius.
Dr. Johnson called, (so Boswell tells us, in one of these delightful anecdotes) according to appointment, at the house of a nobleman to dine with his lordship. The powdered and bewigged footman who answered the bell looked at the great, awkward figure before him, with its seedy coat, unclean linen, and the coarse, bloated face above it all, then said contemptuously,
"The place of admittance for your kind is at the back door.''
"Ah, but," answered the visitor, "I came as the guest of his lordship."
Another scornful look, and the flunky replied,
"My master expects Dr. Johnson."
"Yes," answered the imperturbable old genius, “I’m Johnson.”
"What" cried the servant. "You? The famous Dr. Johnson? Why you don't look as if you could say Boo, to a goose."
"Boo!" sung out Johnson, in his deep, bass voice.
"Come right in, Doctor," answered the non-plussed servitor, "his lordship is in the drawing-room."
While the deepest currents of human life may not thus be discovered, certainly these bubbles on the stream show with sufficient accuracy the sweep and swirl of the currents and whirlpools below.
Perhaps no trait of Brigham Young's character was more marked than his love and tender care for the helpless. Poverty — and health—did not appeal to him very much. But childhood, helpless old age, sickness or weakness, all these brought out the best that was in him.
"Provide work," was his cry. "The giving of alms raises a generation of paupers." This was his thought. "Let the aged, even, do something for what they receive, that they may not lose their independence."
On one cold, rainy day, a child came to his office with a message for the President's private secretary.
The child's feet were soaking wet. The President saw her, and noticed at once her condition.
With a gentle word, to reassure the little one, he set her on a chair, near the blazing grate, and drew off, with tender care, the wet shoes and stockings. The stockings were shaken and hung carefully to dry, and the shoes placed at the exact nearness to the fire to dry without burning or undue stiffening. Then the little feet were rubbed warm and dry with his own pocket-handkerchief while he talked cheerfully and simply to the amazed child. After a while, he rubbed and softened the shoes, drew on both stockings and shoes, and sent the happy child home with a peppermint drop to add to her afternoon's enjoyment.
He had a most peculiar way of amusing babies; he would take them on one knee, and then commence a sort of "Too-roo-loo-rooL lool-or-loo," which was a sure antidote for weeping babies. The unusual noise, not loud, nor harsh, but withal musical, yet very peculiar, would dry up any incipient torrent on a baby's cheek, and leave the infant in a vague wonder as to where itself and the world "were at."
Only once did I see my father whip a child: and that was at prayer time.
A lovely, rosy, blue-eyed, romping baby of two years, father's youngest child born in the Lion House, was as full of frolic and noise, naturally, at prayer- time as at any other time of the day. Father had requested the child's mother to keep the baby quiet during the prayer itself. This rule was fairly well observed. But the tiny tyrant knew her own power, and her mother's weakness. So, occasionally, she would wiggle out of the restraining arms, as the mother kneeled at her chair, and go laughing and dancing across the long prayer-room.
One awful night, baby May again broke from her mother's care, in the midst of the solemn, heartfelt prayer, and ran mockingly straight for her father's bowed form.
Suddenly the prayer was stilled, no one moved, nor scarcely breathed; but those who were hardy enough to look around, saw father quietly arise, pick up the child, spank it heartily, place it quietly on the mother's chair, then, going back to his own place, he resumed his prayer, just where he had left off. That child never again disturbed a prayer.
Seeing one of his daughters trying to make an obstinate child mind, he said,
"Never ask a child to do a thing you are sure it won't do."
At one time, a feast was provided for President Young and those with him who were attending a conference in a distant stake. The sharp eyes of the President noted the ones who were seated at his own table, and at the other tables, as well as those who had no place at all.
The conference and the feast were both held in an old-fashioned bowery.
At the close of the afternoon service, he asked the people if they would come to a meeting on the morrow, and if they would provide another feast, if he would stay over.
A glad consent was given.
The next day, at noon, the feast was again spread. After everything was ready, the president drew near his former table, to which he was led by the mistress of the feast.
"I wish you to entertain my friends today," he said.
So saying, he stepped away to the outer edges of the bowery, where were gathered the poor, the aged, the halt and blind. Inviting all of these, he led the way to his own table where he seated these astonished guests with gracious courtesy. No reference was made to what he had done, but he entertained them all with delightful grace, and left his lesson to sink deep into the hearts of those who had prepared the feast.
He knew everybody; it was a mystery to me for years how he could retain a mass of seemingly unrelated facts, as pertained to individuals everywhere. But his secret was simple; the moment he saw a new face, he either called the stranger to him, or enquired about him. The name of the stranger was the least part of the desired information; where did he come from, where was he born, who were his parents and grandparents? Any relation in the valley? What was the stranger's occupation, habits and ambitions? All this formed many connecting links with which to fasten on memory's chain the individual and his history.
Surely everyone remembers his first encounter with that wittiest of Utah's sons, Scipio A. Kenner.
After the usual fire of questions, he put the last, a stumper, to the poor young fellow who remembered his early baptism, but subsequent wanderings from the church.
"Are you a 'Mormon?'" asked the President of the nervous, nonplused youth before him, who had come a-courting one the President's pretty daughters. "Are you a 'Mormon?'"
"Slightly," answered the curly-headed boy. And the big grain of truth in the small answer tickled the President mightily. It amused him for years. He always called the lad "Scipio Sinner" after that.
Brigham Young was a small eater, and would fain have lived much simpler than his loving family and friends would permit him to do.
He often said he was raised on johnny cake, baked potatoes and buttermilk. And no feast could so please him as these three simple articles.
But like many other Yankees, he had an appetite for cream.
"I am very fond of skimmed milk," he would say, "but please give me the skimmings."
Often when an elaborate menu was spread for him, he would say quietly,
"Sister, can you give me a bowl of bread and milk—with a little skimmings?"
In 1868, he began his reform movement to induce the people to observe the Word of Wisdom more closely. At this time, too, he taught the people to cease eating pork. He announced this as a revelation, and he strictly lived up to it himself.
In traveling around, he would sometimes espy a plate of doughnuts on the table, a dainty of which he was very fond.
Then would surely follow the question, "Sister, what were your doughnuts fried in?"
If the answer was, "lard," he said nothing more. But if the lady replied,
"Well, sir, I fried them in suet or drippings," he would say jubilantly, "Pass the doughnuts."
I have yet to hear from man or woman who had the last or best word with Brigham Young. Some tried it, and even now recall, with more or less gusto, their own brightness or impertinence, as the case may be. But if such would tell the whole story, the truth of what has just been stated would be apparent.
A three days' conference was held, at one time, in a northern stake. A certain good brother, who formed one of the President's party from Salt Lake City, was a long-winded and very prosy speaker. But like some others, he was very fond of preaching. And during the long meetings he had not once been asked to speak.
The afternoon of the last session had arrived, and this brother was smarting with indignation at his supposed neglect.
After the opening hymn, President Young turned to this brother, and said,
"Brother So-and-so, will you open the meeting with prayer?" The President composed himself, and the brother began; but the brother did not stop. Quarter of an hour, half an hour, and still another quarter of an hour, dragged along, and the brother was still praying. He was putting his long pent-up sermon into a series of thanks to the Lord.
Finally he closed, and sat down.
Gravely the President turned to the choir, behind him, and announced in his resounding voice,
"Choir, please sing, and we'll dismiss."
The writer has been commissioned by the Young family to prepare, at some future time, a life of Brigham Young; and for this purpose desires to gather as many incidents and anecdotes of him as possible. Will those who have such material, kindly write the same down and send it to Mrs Susa Young Gates?
672 N. 1st W. St., Salt Lake City, Utah.
Musser, A. Milton. "President Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1906. pg. 252-254.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
A. Milton Musser.
Before his tragic death, God’s greatest Prophet, Seer and Revelator—Joseph Smith—placed on record the following solemn and significant words:
“It is thought by some that our enemies would be satisfied with my destruction; but I tell you that as soon as they have shed my blood, they will thirst for the blood of every man in whose heart dwells a single spark of the spirit of the fullness of the Gospel. The opposition of these men is moved by the spirit of the adversary of all righteousness. It is not only to destroy me, but every man and woman who dares believe the doctrines that God has inspired me to teach in this generation.”
Let me state that I intimately knew President Brigham Young— who has been respectively called the Great Pathfinder, Pioneer Colonizer, Reformer, Statesman, Empire-builder, etc.—for over twenty- five years and that in every moral element he had no superior and but comparatively few equals. He was clean, God-serving, noble and generous, a man of strict probity, and he lived above suspicion by those who knew him best; and not unlike his immortal predecessor, his name was had for good and evil in all the world. It is very gratifying to know that the confidence and love entertained for him by those who knew him so intimately under every condition of sunshine and sorrow, from the time of the martyrdom to the close of his eventful, ever busy and practical career, were as great, sincere and intense, as the unprovoked and unrelenting hatred of his enemies. And while the enmity of his bitter assailants was absolutely without logical cause, reason or foundation, the great esteem of his friends was founded on the personal observations and experiences they had with him in their intimate social relations during the trying seasons covered by the unprecedented exodus from beautiful Nauvoo, the pilgrimage to Utah and the Colonization of the inter-Mountain country from Canada to Old Mexico.
I will add to this brief reference to the Modem Moses, one of the most distinguished men America has ever produced, by submitting a few inspired sentiments he placed on record and which will answer the purpose of this communication much better than anything I can further say of him.
“It has been asked if we intend to settle more valleys. Why certainly we intend to fill the next valley, then the next, and the next, and so on. It has been the cry that the “Mormons” are going into Mexico! That is quite right, we calculate to go there. Are we going back to Jackson county? Yes. When? As soon as the way opens up. Are we all going? O no! of course not The country is not large enough to hold our present numbers. When we do return there, will there be any less remaining in these mountains than we number today? No, there may be a hundred then for every single one that there is now. It is folly in men to suppose that we are going to break up these our hard earned homes to make others in a new country. We intend to hold our own here, and also penetrate the north and the south, the east and the west, there to make others, and to raise the ensign of truth. This is the work of God, that marvelous work and a wonder referred to by ancient men of God who saw it in its incipiency, as a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, but which rolled and gathered strength and magnitude until it filled the whole earth. We will continue to grow, to increase and spread abroad, and the powers of earth and hell combined cannot hinder it. All who are found opposing God and his people will be swept away and their names be forgotten in the earth. As the Prophets Joseph and Hyrum were murdered, and as they massacred our brethren and sisters in Missouri, so they would have served us years and years ago, if they had had the power to do so. But the Lord Almighty has said, thus far thou shalt go and no farther, and hence we are spared to carry on His work.”
President Brigham Young in St George Temple,
“We bear the image of our earthly parents in their fallen state, but by obedience to the Gospel of Salvation and the renovating influences of the Holy Ghost, and the holy resurrection, we shall put on the image of the heavenly, in beauty, glory, power and goodness.”
“The Lord is not everywhere in person, but He has His agents, speaking and acting for Him—His Angels. His Messengers, His Apostles and servants are appointed and authorized to act in His name.”
On the subject of sacrifice he said, “Sacrifice death for life, darkness for light, error for truth, doubt and unbelief for knowledge and the certainty of the things of God! To give a penny for a billion of gold, to give a handful of earth for a planet, to exchange this temporary worn out tenement for one glorified and that will continue to abide and increase throughout a never ending eternity!”
About confessing one's sins he counseled, “Confess your faults to the individuals you ought to confess them to, and proclaim them not on the house tops. Be careful that you wrong not yourselves. If persons lose confidence in themselves, it takes away the strength, faith and confidence that others have in them. If you have committed sin that no other person on earth knows of, and which harms no other one, you have done a wrong and you have sinned against your God, but keep that within your own bosom, and seek to God and confess there, and get pardon for your sin—confess your sins to whomsoever you have sinned against and let it stop there.”
During one of the President’s visits into Cache valley many years ago, about the time the valley was first settled, he and his party met a number of Indians from the north and in the pow-wow that followed the President entered into the following very suggestive and equitable compact. Anticipating more or less trouble between the red men and the settlers he promised that if any of his people violated or transgressed their rules or laws he would agree to turn the transgressors over to them for punishment, being governed by the same methods and regulations they observed in the trial and punishment of their own people, providing they would turn over to the Saints the lawless Indian offenders for trial and punishment according to the white man’s methods and regulations. It is needless to state that under this agreement lawlessness was very rarely indulged in by either party to this most equitable compact.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
A. Milton Musser.
Before his tragic death, God’s greatest Prophet, Seer and Revelator—Joseph Smith—placed on record the following solemn and significant words:
“It is thought by some that our enemies would be satisfied with my destruction; but I tell you that as soon as they have shed my blood, they will thirst for the blood of every man in whose heart dwells a single spark of the spirit of the fullness of the Gospel. The opposition of these men is moved by the spirit of the adversary of all righteousness. It is not only to destroy me, but every man and woman who dares believe the doctrines that God has inspired me to teach in this generation.”
Let me state that I intimately knew President Brigham Young— who has been respectively called the Great Pathfinder, Pioneer Colonizer, Reformer, Statesman, Empire-builder, etc.—for over twenty- five years and that in every moral element he had no superior and but comparatively few equals. He was clean, God-serving, noble and generous, a man of strict probity, and he lived above suspicion by those who knew him best; and not unlike his immortal predecessor, his name was had for good and evil in all the world. It is very gratifying to know that the confidence and love entertained for him by those who knew him so intimately under every condition of sunshine and sorrow, from the time of the martyrdom to the close of his eventful, ever busy and practical career, were as great, sincere and intense, as the unprovoked and unrelenting hatred of his enemies. And while the enmity of his bitter assailants was absolutely without logical cause, reason or foundation, the great esteem of his friends was founded on the personal observations and experiences they had with him in their intimate social relations during the trying seasons covered by the unprecedented exodus from beautiful Nauvoo, the pilgrimage to Utah and the Colonization of the inter-Mountain country from Canada to Old Mexico.
I will add to this brief reference to the Modem Moses, one of the most distinguished men America has ever produced, by submitting a few inspired sentiments he placed on record and which will answer the purpose of this communication much better than anything I can further say of him.
“It has been asked if we intend to settle more valleys. Why certainly we intend to fill the next valley, then the next, and the next, and so on. It has been the cry that the “Mormons” are going into Mexico! That is quite right, we calculate to go there. Are we going back to Jackson county? Yes. When? As soon as the way opens up. Are we all going? O no! of course not The country is not large enough to hold our present numbers. When we do return there, will there be any less remaining in these mountains than we number today? No, there may be a hundred then for every single one that there is now. It is folly in men to suppose that we are going to break up these our hard earned homes to make others in a new country. We intend to hold our own here, and also penetrate the north and the south, the east and the west, there to make others, and to raise the ensign of truth. This is the work of God, that marvelous work and a wonder referred to by ancient men of God who saw it in its incipiency, as a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, but which rolled and gathered strength and magnitude until it filled the whole earth. We will continue to grow, to increase and spread abroad, and the powers of earth and hell combined cannot hinder it. All who are found opposing God and his people will be swept away and their names be forgotten in the earth. As the Prophets Joseph and Hyrum were murdered, and as they massacred our brethren and sisters in Missouri, so they would have served us years and years ago, if they had had the power to do so. But the Lord Almighty has said, thus far thou shalt go and no farther, and hence we are spared to carry on His work.”
President Brigham Young in St George Temple,
“We bear the image of our earthly parents in their fallen state, but by obedience to the Gospel of Salvation and the renovating influences of the Holy Ghost, and the holy resurrection, we shall put on the image of the heavenly, in beauty, glory, power and goodness.”
“The Lord is not everywhere in person, but He has His agents, speaking and acting for Him—His Angels. His Messengers, His Apostles and servants are appointed and authorized to act in His name.”
On the subject of sacrifice he said, “Sacrifice death for life, darkness for light, error for truth, doubt and unbelief for knowledge and the certainty of the things of God! To give a penny for a billion of gold, to give a handful of earth for a planet, to exchange this temporary worn out tenement for one glorified and that will continue to abide and increase throughout a never ending eternity!”
About confessing one's sins he counseled, “Confess your faults to the individuals you ought to confess them to, and proclaim them not on the house tops. Be careful that you wrong not yourselves. If persons lose confidence in themselves, it takes away the strength, faith and confidence that others have in them. If you have committed sin that no other person on earth knows of, and which harms no other one, you have done a wrong and you have sinned against your God, but keep that within your own bosom, and seek to God and confess there, and get pardon for your sin—confess your sins to whomsoever you have sinned against and let it stop there.”
During one of the President’s visits into Cache valley many years ago, about the time the valley was first settled, he and his party met a number of Indians from the north and in the pow-wow that followed the President entered into the following very suggestive and equitable compact. Anticipating more or less trouble between the red men and the settlers he promised that if any of his people violated or transgressed their rules or laws he would agree to turn the transgressors over to them for punishment, being governed by the same methods and regulations they observed in the trial and punishment of their own people, providing they would turn over to the Saints the lawless Indian offenders for trial and punishment according to the white man’s methods and regulations. It is needless to state that under this agreement lawlessness was very rarely indulged in by either party to this most equitable compact.
Park, Hamilton G. "Some Reminiscences of President Brigham Young." Juvenile Instructor. 1 October 1906. pg. 577-587.
SOME REMINISCENCES OF PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
BEING EXTRACTS FROM A LECTURE BY ELDER HAMILTON G. PARK.
MY beloved brethren and sisters: Of late there has been a feeling amongst our young people to know something about early days in Utah and about that grand man, President Brigham Young, and because of my long and intimate acquaintance with him, I appear before you this evening, but not as a lecturer, for that is not my forte. It will simply be a little story of the long ago, or you might say of the days of "lang syne," and you will pardon me if I tell it in my own way.
I had read much in my native land and had heard much after my arrival in this country about him, and had even been an employee of President Young for some time before I had the pleasure of meeting him face to face, or the honor of an introduction to him. I first met him on the morning of the second of November, 1852, and then under peculiar circumstances.
In the spring of that year a company of emigrants had arrived on their way to the gold diggings of California, and four or five of them, after reaching Salt Lake City, had found themselves unable to proceed any farther. Their means or outfit had given out, and they were compelled to remain for a long time to recruit. President Young, as well as caring for his own people, was ever looking after the strangers that came into our midst, trying to bless and comfort them, and do them good. That was the nature of the man. Learning of their circumstances, he sent for these men, and offered them a job. He learned, in conversing with them, that they were lumbermen. who were well acquainted with that class of work, through long experience in the far east, and in the wilds of Canada.
President Young engaged these men to go into one of our canyons to get out a large bill of timber. An examination was made to find which canyon would be most available without making roads, and what was called Dry-canyon, in the West mountains, was selected for the purpose. You know in those days we had no sawmills and our timber had to be squared with the broadaxe and ourlumoer cut with the whip-saw.
I had, in the course of my long trip from the Missouri River, learned to say "Woa, Haw, Buck, and Woa, Haw, Jerry, Gee, Buck, Gee, old boy," and I was selected to go with these men to the canyon, and bring out the timber which they prepared. The first, I remember, was brought out for the old mill, the remains of which now stand in Liberty Park.
It was while engaged in this work and about the last days of October, that we experienced a terrible snow-storm. It snowed for three or four days until it lay, where the main street of Salt Lake City is now up to a short man's waist. On the second of November of that year, and under the conditions described, these men were in the canyon, without food. I knew, when I left them, that their supplies were very low, and I was hastening to get back to camp to take them a new supply.
I went to Edmund Ellsworth, a son-in-law of President Brigham Young, and who at that time was transacting his business, and said to him, "Those men in the canyon must have food or they will perish." "Well," said he, "How can food be got there?'' I said, "I do not know, but somebody will have to take it." He said, "Do you think you can make the trip?" I said, "I have been over the ground a number of times and I know the land-marks pretty well, and I would like to make the trial."
He then went into the little White House, on the hill, then the office of the President, before we had any Beehive or Lion House, and told President Young the circumstances. The President came out, I suppose Brother Ellsworth had told him my name. He came up to me and shook my hand and said, "Brother Park, do you think you could make that trip -?" I said, "I do not know." He said, "Do you want to try?' I said, "Yes, I want to try.'' Then, he said, "Go ahead, and you will succeed,'' and with that he turned away.
I remember then that Joseph A. Young, the eldest son of President Brigham Young, came up and looked at me. He thought. I suppose, that it was a forlorn hope, and a piece of rashness on my part, rather than of judgment. After talking the matter over, he said to me, "Well, young man, if you can make that trip and carry food to those hungry men, it will be a feather in your cap as long as you live." So, I started out.
I first had to go down into the First ward to get some corn from Brother Barney Adams. When I started for the canyon there was no bridge over the Jordan, and I went down by the way of the sixth ward, where there was a ford.
It was storming, snowing like fury all the way. As the storm increased, President Young, I believe, began to get uneasy, for he sent for Brother Ellsworth, and through him he got Brother Loveland. a man in his employ, to wrap himself up in buffalo robes and getting the strongest team of horses, to hitch them to a light bob-sled and to come after me. He told him that if he thought, upon reaching me, that I could not make the trip, that he should make me turn the oxen out and return with him with his horses and bob- sled.
Brother Loveland overtook me on the prairie, and he was very anxious that I should turn back, but I was after that credit mark, and I would not hear of it. I said, "No, I am going just as long as I can get these cattle to move," and I told him if we could make a certain point where there was a ridge and a deep ravine on the right hand side, that we could make some shelter, and would camp there and make the best of it. We succeeded in reaching that point, and after making our cattle secure, by means of cedar brush and other materials, we dug a cave in a large snowdrift and crept in for the night.
I had never thought, in my anxiety, when I left in the morning, about eating anything, but when I got into this little cozy place, I thought I should like something to eat, so I got up and made my way out to the wagon and there I got some bread and some beef, but it had been frozen so hard that I could not gnaw it, so I got my ax, and laying it on the tongue of the wagon, I shaved off just enough to put in my mouth and swallow. Brother Loveland was used to that kind of work and I was not. He rolled himself in a buffalo robe and in a few moments was snoring, in the "land of Nod.'' But I was scared to death and could not sleep. Every little while I pushed my way out and looked around to see if our animals were safe, and then crept in again. When morning came it was still storming, and Brother Loveland said he would go no farther.
After laboring with him till I could see it was no use, he hooked up his horses and got on his bob-sled and struck off for the city, leaving me where I was. He was not half so lucky as I. He got to the city all right, but he was so chilled that he took to his bed and never got up till the day he was prepared for his burial. I went on, but when I came to the heavy snows, the cattle would stop. I would put a few ears of corn on my arm, go around and rub their noses with them, and then go a little ahead and call, till they would make a lunge to get it; then I would rub their noses with the corn again and give them a little feed and rest and get them to lunge forward a little more, until finally we got well up towards the mouth of the canyon, to what we called the end of our drag-road. Then I could not coax them any longer. They were fagged right out and there was no help but to leave them, so I gave them a few more ears of corn, threw down a few stacks of fodder by the wagon and left them. I wrapped myself up in a buffalo robe, reaching clear up around my head, and started to where the men were. The snow was so deep that I had to feel my way, but if I stepped a little to the right or to the left I sank so low that I could hardly get out and, of course, I knew I was out of the path; but finally I arrived at the camp.
The men were all in bed. They had chopped up their last beef bones and with a little rubbishy meal, had made a little supper. I struck immediately for the fire. That was all the sense I had; but one young man jumped up and grabbed my arms. He said, "No, no, Mr. Park, you will die if you get near that fire. My pants were frozen to my legs, and my shoes to my feet, but they rubbed mv limbs with snow till I got pretty comfortable, and I have never suffered from it from that day to this, except that I lost one nail from one of my big toes. I kept all the rest.
After having a bowl of soup, I rolled myself up in my buffalo-robe and lay down to rest, and all I said was "Father, I give thanks, but surely this is Zion with a vengeance." I dropped to sleep and I was no sooner asleep than a wonderful vision spread before me. I was shown the nations of the earth when the elders were withdrawn and the judgments of the Lord were being poured out; and it was so terrible, so heart-rending, that I said, "O God, forgive me for feeling as I do," and with that I looked up and looked around me, and realizing where I was, I just shouted at the top of my voice, "O, Great God on High, Great God on High.'' The young man that helped to rub the frost out of my joints jumped up and said, "Mr. Park, what is the matter'.' what is the matter?'' I said, "Nothing, George, nothing, only thank God I am here." That feeling, my brothers and sisters, has never departed from me. We live just in the outer drippings of the terrible judgments that are to be poured out upon the wicked, upon those who reject God's mercies, and we have never read of anything seemingly half as bad as what I saw in that vision of the night, and it has cured me so that I have never complained in all the sickness and trouble and distress I have had to pass through from that time to this.
We arose as soon as the light appeared in the morning and went down to my cattle. We found them cuddled up with their heads to the wagon, as closely together as they could get, and chewing their cuds, just as comfortable, it seemed, as if they never sensed their situation. I had in the wagon a quarter of beef, three or four sacks of flour, a little coffee and sugar, and a little tobacco for the men. We hooked up the cattle, and there were so many of us that we got hold of the wagon, and with the animals, dragged it right up to camp. When we got up to the shanty, I shook my head and said, "I have earned my credit and I will wear my feather to night."
When I came back to the city the next time, I met President Young and he gave me such a welcome as one could expect only if he had just returned from a far off land and met a friend. And there -was awakened a feeling of love in my heart toward that grand man, that has never been forgotten to this day. He said to me, "I would like to have you keep on with those men until their work is finished. Then you can come to me and I will tell you what to do."
When I brought up the last load of timber, I turned the cattle out down where the Sixth Ward Square is now located and went to President Young. They were never found again. Those men who had been so befriended by President Young took them in the spring on their way to California, although we never suspected it at the time. President Young put me to work, and I was sent here and there at one thing after another, until I was put in full charge of and made steward over all his workmen. And I will say he never treated me as an employee; he treated me as a son, and his kindness to me was beyond description.
He did not have as much office work in those days as the President has now, but he was traveling among the people, counseling them and helping them and doing all the good he could. And I must tell you here of one little characteristic he had. Whenever he went out, he always took with him a bundle of buckskin strings. You know, sometimes people would go out with very poor harness, and in those days we had to use rawhide on many occasions. Many a time I have been on the road when the tugs were raw-hide and knotted to the double-tree. But President Young never went out without his buckskin strings and a sharp knife and he was always prepared for every emergency; and when he went on a long trip, he would have a great ball of raw-hide cut into strips, about an inch or an inch and a quarter wide, which had been steeped in salt and water, and with these he would mend the breakages. In those times, we had wooden axles, and if we broke an axle, he could mend it; if we broke a wagon tongue, he could mend that, and the rawhide would shrink up till it hugged the joints so closely that you could not see where it had been broken; and so it was with the buck skin, he would repair a set of harness. If he met anybody driving along the street, a little boy, or a woman or any children, he would stop and get right up behind the team and see what their harness was like, and if he saw a weak place where there was any danger, he would go and get a string and tie it up himself, and send them on rejoicing. And sometimes he would pick poor people up in his carriage and take them home. That was the character of the man. It would take a month to tell about his kindness to the people, how he loved the people, and how he was beloved by them. But it was not his own people altogether that he treated so well, but he was kind to everybody. He was a benefactor everywhere and under all conditions.
I want to tell the young ladies a little incident of how he loved beauty. It was my habit in the evening, when I came from work, to go to the office and report to him what we had been doing and get instructions from him for work that was ahead, for we were working at everything. We were standing on the porch. It was a little late, and a lady came in from the street, and passed along from towards where the Lion House is now. She was dressed in a loose, calico wrapper with a belt and long sleeves, with a cuff on each sleeve that turned up, and a little linen collar that turned down. This lady was dressed in this style, and she looked as nice as could be. The President looked, and he turned and said, "Hamilton, a pretty woman, prettily dressed, is a pretty thing."
Things went on smoothly, and the people were growing and increasing in numbers. They were raising fine wheat and making fine flour, and they were increasing in their substance on the right and on the left, and we began to be well off. The year 1855, those who are old enough to be able to remember, know was the year of the grasshopper war. The hoppers came so thick that they actually darkened the light of the sun, and made it look as if it was not noonday when the sun was at the meridian, because it could not be seen. I have seen them just as thick in the air as I ever saw snow when it was falling, — just quivering and flickering like flakes of snow. They cleaned out everything. They would go into a little garden patch and eat the onions, the turnips and the like right down level with the ground, and. they would not leave a shell the thickness of a sheet of paper. Then they would go into a field of grain, and they would take everything that was green. I have many a time taken a club to strike them off the boughs of the trees, for if we didn't relieve them the limbs would break down with the weight. They were most provoking. They cleaned out every one, and I think we sometimes felt like Brother William Rydalch. You know there is a story told of him. that he had ten acres of wheat, and the grasshoppers had cleaned out everything for miles around, and left that untouched; and Brother Rydalch would go out in the morning and look at everything, and see it brown and dead, and his wheat field green and all right; but one morning be went out and saw that field just covered with grasshoppers. They were all over it. He crossed his arms and stood and looked for a minute and saw his beautiful patch of wheat passing right away as if a fire was going through it. and he said, "'Well, if the Lord sent you, all right; but if the devil sent you, then damn your I tell you, there were lots of us felt the same way.
Now President Young saw very plainly that there would be no harvest, and one evening, when I went to report and receive instructions, he said, "Brother Hamilton, I would like to see you about ten o'clock tomorrow morning." I said. "All right." I went in that morning, and the President was standing at the door waiting for me. and I discovered on the floor a number of large bags or sacks, and he said, "Take them up," and I took them out. When we got into the carriage, he said, "Drive to the Old Constitution building," then occupied by Livingston & Kincaid as a store. They had brought on goods from the east,— a little tea, a little sugar, calico fifty cents a yard, and seventy-five cents or a dollar for a plug of tobacco, for any person that had the habit of using the weed. I had no sympathy for them, though I had for some of the women folks, that they should have a little sugar and tea. Now they had laid in a big supply of flour, with the means they had made out of the people, and there was a prospect of their selling it at $30 a hundred. They had laid up all the flour they could get from the people for a little calico, a little tea, a little sugar, or a little tobacco, a little soap, etc. I could tell you some stories about them that would make you laugh, but there is no time for them.
Well, the President stopped at that store, and walked in, and each of the proprietors sat behind the counter, and they said, "Good morning, Mr. Young, good morning." They were very polite. He said. ''Gentlemen, you have a large supply of flour on hand, I understand." They said, "Yes, Mr. Young, we have some flour." He said, "I want you to count noses." I never heard the expression before. "Count how many you have in your families, and how many you have to furnish bread for. I want you to put so much aside for every one of them, and then I want the balance. There is no man in Utah can ship a pound of flour out of this territory until we have a harvest. If you want gold, here is gold; you can make your own price, but the breadstuff's I must have." There was no use saying no. He said, "Go and do it right now. Go and set aside what rations you want for each one of your families, and then anyone you have got in your employ depending on you for bread. When you have done that I want the rest; every pound— every pound of flour, every pound of meal, every pound of bran or shorts that you have, everything that will sustain life, I want, and you can have your own price for it."
He then went down on the west side of the street till he reached Third South, and wherever he thought there was a hundred pounds of flour to be secured he did the same thing. He then turned to the other side of the street, and every place where he thought there was a sack of flour to be obtained he stopped there and took the same course. But to the credit of all be it said, when they sent in their bills at the proper time, they only charged $6 a hundred for the flour.
When the President returned to his office, he said, "Go and hitch up three or four teams and get some strong men, and secure every bit of this breadstuff, and do not leave anything that will furnish food for man or beast;" and he went and showed me where he wanted it put. I did just as he said. I got the teams, and we worked all day and away into the night, and we did it well. We were doing it unto the Lord, and we were doing it for the salvation of the poor of our people. The next day I went to President Young and said, "I have carried out your instructions; we have a nice pile, and I have locked the door upon it, and here is the key." He came out with me and went in and looked at it, and he said we had done better than he could have expected, and thanked us. and asked the Lord to bless us. Then we came out, locked the door and he held the ' key in his hand. And he said to me, "Take it, I leave it in your charge.'' He also said, "I will give you a list of my family—every wife, every child, every soul, either man, woman or child that is in my employ, the tithing hands, and all that are looking to Brigham for bread. I will make you out a list of them all, and I want you to divide up to them once a week —every Thursday—so many pounds of flour for every one whose name I shall furnish you." He did it. When I got the list it was like an army pay roll,—it was perfectly fearful for multitude, but I took it. He said to me, "I put this breadstuff into your charge. I hold you responsible, and I want you to do as I tell you. Carry out my instructions to the letter, and it will be all right; and when the rich man comes to you with gold in his hand, and wants to buy, tell him you have none to sell; but when the poor come to you, when they have nothing to give—the widow, the fatherless, the aged, the infirm, and those who have nothing to give—I want you to serve them just as you would my most favorite wife.'' I never knew he had a most favorite wife before that time, and I don't know now that he had, but that was the expression he used. "And," said he, "If you show any respect to persons, or make any difference as to individuals, I will take that key away from you." He never took it away from me.
I want to say, my brethren and sisters, that I can tell you stories about that flour more strange and wonderful than the story of the widow and the oil told in the good old Bible. I have a mind to tell you just one little instance. There was a man who had a wife and four little children, who lived away down towards the Jordan, in the Sixteenth ward, and his rations each week amounted to twenty-six pounds of flour, and the first time he took his twenty-six pounds of flour home he said to his wife, "Agnes, this is all we can have for the next seven days. Now you know I work hard, and must have something to eat, and you work harder still among these children and the work of the house, and you must have something to eat, but more than either of us, these little children must have something to eat." His wife had been very well raised. She was very tasty in her apparel. She would go hungry for a new skirt or a new sacque, and he was afraid that if any neighbor came along with something nice in the way of clothing she would trade away her last pound of flour, and so he said, "Don't be foolish, and you must not let a pound of this go to anybody's hand, under any circumstances or conditions, for if these children cry for bread, and you can't give them anything else to eat, and if you have no flour you have got no bread."
Well, she looked at him, and her lips trembled a little. She was a very kind and affectionate woman, would divide her last meal with anybody that was in want, and she turned away and said nothing. He had no sooner talked that way to his wife than a feeling of hunger came over him. He wanted to eat everything before him, but he couldn't eat. He went to bed that night, and was so hungry all -night that he couldn't sleep. He got up and went out of doors, and then returned. He arose in the morning and still was hungry. He started to go up to the President's to work. The family had a cow they had brought across the plains, and in those days, you know, they had to turn them out. They had plenty of butter in the morning, and he started off to his work. His wife had put a pound of butter or more in his bundle, with the bread, and he started for the canyon. But he was very hungry, hungry, hungry! So much so, he did not know what to do. He could not work, he was so hungry—he could not do anything. He went home at night hungry, and he went to bed hungry. The next morning he started out, and as he was coming up by the Sixteenth ward square, right on the south of that, on the corner where Joseph Fielding owned a lot, and he was in England on a mission, and there were tall weeds there and among them he saw Wm .J. Player, a neighbor and a blacksmith, digging. He called out to Brother Player, "Well, what are you doing there?" Brother Player called out in reply, "I am getting some roots." He said, "What are you going to do with the roots?'' He said, "going to take them home to help out with what we have got in the house." "What have you got in the house?" "We have only some bran." And this man's wife had been confined just a few days before. "What are you doing about your wife?" He said, "I don't know—the best we can." "Have you got any fine flour in the house?" "No, not a bit, nothing but bran." With that our friend took out his bread and butter that he had tied up. and pitched it over, saying, "Take them home to your wife; it will be better than bran." He had no sooner done that than the hunger left. He was at work all day and had nothing to eat, but he was not hungry. When he came home at night, his wife had his table spread, but he was not hungry. He gathered up the bread and butter, and he said, "Send Nettie over to Brother Player's with this bread and butter." He went out and bedtime came, and he did not eat anything- He went to bed and he was not hungry. He got up in the morning, and still was not hungry, and as he got on the door sill to go away, he threw his arm around his wife's shoulder, her cheek rested upon his neck, and he said: "Now I have learned a lesson; I take back that charge I gave you, and I will tell you now as long as you have a pound of flour in that little sack that I bring home to you each Thursday evening, don't let a person go away from you hungry, and we will all live together or die together, we will trust in the Lord. Now that woman had a tin cup that held about a pound of flour, and she filled that cup sometimes in a week ten times, and sometimes fifteen times; and there was one week in particular that she filled that little cup 23 times out of that 26 pounds of flour, and from that time till the country was filled with wheat and fine flour that little sack was never empty, no matter how much went out; there was always a little left. Now that is one instance, 23 cupfuls went out of the 26 pounds, and the family had plenty to eat besides.
Now, as I said, this flour was handed out every Thursday, and we were kept busy from early morning till late at night in getting out the allotment of flour for that list of names, with all the help I could! get. But I handled it all myself with a little scoop, and I got so used to handing out flour with that little scoop that I could deal out ten thousand pounds of flour and I wouldn't get short or over in the slightest—not that much (indicating). But that flour held out, and we fed the poor and those that had nothing to give, and the widow and the fatherless and the old and the infirm, until there was plenty in the land, and there was still some left. Now I want that our young people, when they hear the name of Brigham Young called up, to remember that during all that time, when the rich would come with their gold in hand, his instruction tome was to say "I have nothing to sell," but when the aged and infirm came, to "serve them just as you do my most favorite wife." That ought to be written in letters of gold. Well, things went on and grew and increased, and we were becoming a great people. I never "got my back up" but once. Somebody told President Young that Hamilton had got the devil in him, because I stopped work and wouldn't do anything, and the President came, and he took a grip at my hand, and his gaze betokened trouble; He said, "What is the matter?" I replied. "I have got the blues." "Come with me," he said. So we went into his private office together. He then repeated, "What is the matter?" I said: "Brother Brigham, the men in your employ are faithful, they are kind-hearted, they would die for you; they would stand between you and the assassin's knife any time, but there are some people round here who are doing next to nothing, who insult them because they are old countrymen and because they are rough and uncouth, which they can't help. I won't have them insulted, and I am going to stop right now." I did not call anyone by name, but I told him just how things were, how his men would start out on Monday morning and go up City Creek canyon to get wood or poles and remain for a whole week, with a sack full of bread and a little box or can full of molasses, made on the Temple block by Brother Joseph Home, which was as black as tar and as bitter as wormwood. On this they would work for a week, and think they were doing God's service. He listened to me until a big tear rolled down his cheek, then he said: "Now. my boy. go you back to your work, and you pay no attention to what anybody says; do just as you have been doing, and remember that Brigham is boss." That settled the thing right straight. And that, brethren and sisters, became the slogan which was kept up. wherever we were, in the mountains or on the desert, wherever we were all was right. Brigham was boss. Many a time when we have been out, in the barn, or in the garden, or on the farm, we have called out, "Joseph," or "John," or "William,"[1] "where are you going? How are you getting along?" "All right, Brother Park," the answer would come, "Brother Brigham is boss, all is well."
Now one thing more. In the summer of 1875, Brother George Reynolds, who was the secretary of President Young, came to me one day and said: "Hamilton. I have got something to whisper in your ear that will interest you, President Young has just received some letters from Liverpool, and don't be surprised if you are very shortly called upon to go to Europe." Well, it was but a very short time till I was sent for. and the President told me what he wanted me to do. He said to take no thought for my family, "they shall be safe as in my house." He blessed me and gave me money, and I went, and when I got to Liverpool. I was sent to Scotland, and the blessing of President Young prevailed against all opposition, and I was enabled to do what I was sent to do, and more. But when the time came for me to return home, the presidency in Liverpool continued me in the presidency of the church in Scotland; and I was in Dundee, Scotland, when I received the message that President Young had passed away. You recollect, he left us on the 29th of August, 1877. When I received that message it was a bright day, but a cloud passed over the sun. But there was no letting up; we had to go on with the work. Brigham Young had done his work, and we must go on and finish our stewardship. In the October company I was permitted to return. Now I will tell you something, perhaps it may be said to be bordering on superstition.
In the month of October I reached home; and in those days when an Elder arrived in Zion from his mission he never thought of returning to his home and family until he reported to President Brigham Young, and received his blessing. I went to the President's office before I went home on Third South Street, and as I went into the office, there were three or four of the Apostles present, but I remember that Brother Joseph F. Smith was on his feet, and as I opened the door he turned round and grasped my hand and gave me such a welcome as only a great man like Joseph F. Smith can give to his friend; and then he said to the brethren, "I feel that we ought to bless Brother Park before he goes home." We went into a little room there in the rear, and they blessed me. Brother Joseph F. was mouth. He said: "Brother Park, you have been faithful; you have performed a faithful mission. You have accomplished a good work, and you have come home clean. I bless you in the name of the Lord." And so he went on. I went home. That was enough to satisfy any reasonable man, but I was not satisfied. There was something lacking. The feeling grew upon me—I must see Brigham Young; I must see him, and make my report to him individually, and tell him a great many things that I wanted to say. That feeling grew so strong upon me that it was making me perfectly wretched. The next day I started out to get some work. I got work, but that feeling grew upon me that I must see the President. After my folks went to bed that night I went out on the block, and finally I told the Lord, "It is no use; if President Young can be seen, I must see him." I came back into the house again, sat down in the room, and while I sat there with my arms resting on my knees, my hands covering my face, a vision stole over my senses, and I became aware that there was someone in the room beside myself, and I raised my head and looked up, and President Young stood before me, and he said, with a tone of reproof in his voice, "You wanted to see me?" And he said: "Come, let us take a walk." He went out and I followed him. We walked together up to the old office, talking just as we had talked, as far as I knew, many times before; no difference. But whether I was in the body or out of the body I do not know, I knew no difference. We went into the office. I knew and realized perfectly that it was night, bat wherever the President went, there was a beautiful light surrounding him, it was as clear as day. Of course it was past office hours, and there was nobody in the office, but standing by one of the desks I saw Elder William C. Staines. Many of you remember him. He has been gone to the better land for several years; but he stood there with a long sheet of paper in his hands, a scroll containing a list of names. The President reached out his hand and took it, and he looked over it, and then said: "I don't see your name here, Brother Hamilton." It was a list of names that had been selected to receive special blessings. He said as he looked at it: "There is a number of names that have no right here. He motioned for a pencil, and I handed him one, and he held that sheet up before him, and took that pencil and drew it through name after name till he went down some six or seven names. Then he handed it back again, and turned and said "Those had no business there." I watched those names ever after, till they all left the Church. We then went up to the barn,—went into the barn, where we looked over the stalls and talked just as we had done scores and scores of times. Then we went into the garden, where we had some very fine grape vines, but they were so tender that they could not bear the winter cold of this climate, and every fall we had to take the runners down off the trellises and lay them on the ground and cover them over with saw-dust and a little rubbish from the barn and then when the winter cold was over we uncovered them and put them up again on the trellises. He looked at them just as carefully as he had ever done before, from the time they were planted. Then we went on. We went back around to the office again, but did not go in, but we stood and talked, and he told me a great many things to do and a great many things not to do. I made my report to him, told him how I had got along, how I had been able to accomplish more than was expected of me, and he was pleased. And I spoke about my family, that they had suffered. That I did not feel good about it. He said, "I will take care of you. Don't you worry about the things of this world.'' "Well," I said, "Brother Brigham, the grass is so short." It was a saying that we used. Said I, "There is no grass at all," and I felt disappointed. "Well," he said, "I would like you to be better fixed financially, if you would live your religion better." And finally, he said, "Hamilton, are you satisfied?" I said, "Yes, I am more than satisfied." Then he said, "Now, Brother Hamilton, go, live your religion, preach the Gospel and labor to build up God's kingdom upon the earth; that will be the true riches when you come to me." And he repeated those words again, with great feeling. "That," he said, "will be the true riches when you come to me."
Now then another word. Only a short time ago I had been up to dinner from Z. C. M. I. to my home on Third street, and in returning a lady called out: "Brother Park, wouldn't you like to see an old friend?" I said, "Yes, indeed I would; I am always pleased and glad to see an old friend." She said, "Come in here." I opened the little gate and followed her into the house, and there sure enough I saw one that in the years gone by had been a friend, looked upon as a true friend. Immediately there came up before my vision the scroll in the President's hands, that name was the first that the President had scratched on that scroll. That person had left the Church and had been away from Utah for a number of years and had said hard things against the people, and had come back on a visit. It required no Daniel to interpret the handwriting on the wall, "mene tekel" —weighed in the balance and found wanting, for the light of God's spirit had gone out of the hearts of those men, whose names that pencil in the hands of the President had passed through, and their eyes had become blinded.
Now I must say a word to the young brethren and the young ladies. You may never hear my voice again. Let me say to you, continue to be good and true, and you, young ladies when you dress, do not dress vainly for the purpose of being seen, but let your adornments be moderate and neat and comely, and then you will always be beautiful, and you know a thing of beauty is a joy forever, and don't forget that "a pretty woman 'prettily dressed' is a pretty thing."
And now you young men, let me say to you: Be true to your God, be true to your holy religion, be true to the priesthood, be true to yourselves. Make "Mormonism” your guiding star, and remember that admonition from that grand man, Brigham Young, "Live your religion, preach the gospel, put forth your best efforts to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth, and that will be the true riches" when you are called to go where he is now.
Now for my own part, I can say, "Mormonism" or the gospel of the kingdom, is the panacea, the greatest of all, for all the ills of life. I have been cold on the mountain, I have been hungry- in the canon, I have been thirsty on the desert when water there was none, but Mormonism was true, and Joseph Smith was sent of God. I have gazed on the face of the dead when my soul was tilled with sorrow and sore disappointment, when fond hopes seemed to' perish and cherished expectations turned to dust, but Mormonism was true and Joseph Smith was sent of God. I have staggered and reeled on a slippery storm-tossed deck, when the waves rolled high, and clung to the quivering mast when the winds shrieked through the naked spars, but Mormonism was true and Joseph Smith was sent of God. I have gazed on the battle of elements, midst the lightning's Hash and tempest's roar, where the seas seemed to contend with the skies, when faces paled and brave hearts quailed, but Mormonism was true and Joseph Smith was sent of God. Mormonism is true to-day, my beloved brethren and sisters, and will be true forever. God grant that all of us may always be found true to it. Amen.
(Reported by F. E. Barker.)
[1] The brethren here referred to are Brothers Joseph Shaw, John Muzell, George Openshaw, William Buttle and William Hart.
SOME REMINISCENCES OF PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
BEING EXTRACTS FROM A LECTURE BY ELDER HAMILTON G. PARK.
MY beloved brethren and sisters: Of late there has been a feeling amongst our young people to know something about early days in Utah and about that grand man, President Brigham Young, and because of my long and intimate acquaintance with him, I appear before you this evening, but not as a lecturer, for that is not my forte. It will simply be a little story of the long ago, or you might say of the days of "lang syne," and you will pardon me if I tell it in my own way.
I had read much in my native land and had heard much after my arrival in this country about him, and had even been an employee of President Young for some time before I had the pleasure of meeting him face to face, or the honor of an introduction to him. I first met him on the morning of the second of November, 1852, and then under peculiar circumstances.
In the spring of that year a company of emigrants had arrived on their way to the gold diggings of California, and four or five of them, after reaching Salt Lake City, had found themselves unable to proceed any farther. Their means or outfit had given out, and they were compelled to remain for a long time to recruit. President Young, as well as caring for his own people, was ever looking after the strangers that came into our midst, trying to bless and comfort them, and do them good. That was the nature of the man. Learning of their circumstances, he sent for these men, and offered them a job. He learned, in conversing with them, that they were lumbermen. who were well acquainted with that class of work, through long experience in the far east, and in the wilds of Canada.
President Young engaged these men to go into one of our canyons to get out a large bill of timber. An examination was made to find which canyon would be most available without making roads, and what was called Dry-canyon, in the West mountains, was selected for the purpose. You know in those days we had no sawmills and our timber had to be squared with the broadaxe and ourlumoer cut with the whip-saw.
I had, in the course of my long trip from the Missouri River, learned to say "Woa, Haw, Buck, and Woa, Haw, Jerry, Gee, Buck, Gee, old boy," and I was selected to go with these men to the canyon, and bring out the timber which they prepared. The first, I remember, was brought out for the old mill, the remains of which now stand in Liberty Park.
It was while engaged in this work and about the last days of October, that we experienced a terrible snow-storm. It snowed for three or four days until it lay, where the main street of Salt Lake City is now up to a short man's waist. On the second of November of that year, and under the conditions described, these men were in the canyon, without food. I knew, when I left them, that their supplies were very low, and I was hastening to get back to camp to take them a new supply.
I went to Edmund Ellsworth, a son-in-law of President Brigham Young, and who at that time was transacting his business, and said to him, "Those men in the canyon must have food or they will perish." "Well," said he, "How can food be got there?'' I said, "I do not know, but somebody will have to take it." He said, "Do you think you can make the trip?" I said, "I have been over the ground a number of times and I know the land-marks pretty well, and I would like to make the trial."
He then went into the little White House, on the hill, then the office of the President, before we had any Beehive or Lion House, and told President Young the circumstances. The President came out, I suppose Brother Ellsworth had told him my name. He came up to me and shook my hand and said, "Brother Park, do you think you could make that trip -?" I said, "I do not know." He said, "Do you want to try?' I said, "Yes, I want to try.'' Then, he said, "Go ahead, and you will succeed,'' and with that he turned away.
I remember then that Joseph A. Young, the eldest son of President Brigham Young, came up and looked at me. He thought. I suppose, that it was a forlorn hope, and a piece of rashness on my part, rather than of judgment. After talking the matter over, he said to me, "Well, young man, if you can make that trip and carry food to those hungry men, it will be a feather in your cap as long as you live." So, I started out.
I first had to go down into the First ward to get some corn from Brother Barney Adams. When I started for the canyon there was no bridge over the Jordan, and I went down by the way of the sixth ward, where there was a ford.
It was storming, snowing like fury all the way. As the storm increased, President Young, I believe, began to get uneasy, for he sent for Brother Ellsworth, and through him he got Brother Loveland. a man in his employ, to wrap himself up in buffalo robes and getting the strongest team of horses, to hitch them to a light bob-sled and to come after me. He told him that if he thought, upon reaching me, that I could not make the trip, that he should make me turn the oxen out and return with him with his horses and bob- sled.
Brother Loveland overtook me on the prairie, and he was very anxious that I should turn back, but I was after that credit mark, and I would not hear of it. I said, "No, I am going just as long as I can get these cattle to move," and I told him if we could make a certain point where there was a ridge and a deep ravine on the right hand side, that we could make some shelter, and would camp there and make the best of it. We succeeded in reaching that point, and after making our cattle secure, by means of cedar brush and other materials, we dug a cave in a large snowdrift and crept in for the night.
I had never thought, in my anxiety, when I left in the morning, about eating anything, but when I got into this little cozy place, I thought I should like something to eat, so I got up and made my way out to the wagon and there I got some bread and some beef, but it had been frozen so hard that I could not gnaw it, so I got my ax, and laying it on the tongue of the wagon, I shaved off just enough to put in my mouth and swallow. Brother Loveland was used to that kind of work and I was not. He rolled himself in a buffalo robe and in a few moments was snoring, in the "land of Nod.'' But I was scared to death and could not sleep. Every little while I pushed my way out and looked around to see if our animals were safe, and then crept in again. When morning came it was still storming, and Brother Loveland said he would go no farther.
After laboring with him till I could see it was no use, he hooked up his horses and got on his bob-sled and struck off for the city, leaving me where I was. He was not half so lucky as I. He got to the city all right, but he was so chilled that he took to his bed and never got up till the day he was prepared for his burial. I went on, but when I came to the heavy snows, the cattle would stop. I would put a few ears of corn on my arm, go around and rub their noses with them, and then go a little ahead and call, till they would make a lunge to get it; then I would rub their noses with the corn again and give them a little feed and rest and get them to lunge forward a little more, until finally we got well up towards the mouth of the canyon, to what we called the end of our drag-road. Then I could not coax them any longer. They were fagged right out and there was no help but to leave them, so I gave them a few more ears of corn, threw down a few stacks of fodder by the wagon and left them. I wrapped myself up in a buffalo robe, reaching clear up around my head, and started to where the men were. The snow was so deep that I had to feel my way, but if I stepped a little to the right or to the left I sank so low that I could hardly get out and, of course, I knew I was out of the path; but finally I arrived at the camp.
The men were all in bed. They had chopped up their last beef bones and with a little rubbishy meal, had made a little supper. I struck immediately for the fire. That was all the sense I had; but one young man jumped up and grabbed my arms. He said, "No, no, Mr. Park, you will die if you get near that fire. My pants were frozen to my legs, and my shoes to my feet, but they rubbed mv limbs with snow till I got pretty comfortable, and I have never suffered from it from that day to this, except that I lost one nail from one of my big toes. I kept all the rest.
After having a bowl of soup, I rolled myself up in my buffalo-robe and lay down to rest, and all I said was "Father, I give thanks, but surely this is Zion with a vengeance." I dropped to sleep and I was no sooner asleep than a wonderful vision spread before me. I was shown the nations of the earth when the elders were withdrawn and the judgments of the Lord were being poured out; and it was so terrible, so heart-rending, that I said, "O God, forgive me for feeling as I do," and with that I looked up and looked around me, and realizing where I was, I just shouted at the top of my voice, "O, Great God on High, Great God on High.'' The young man that helped to rub the frost out of my joints jumped up and said, "Mr. Park, what is the matter'.' what is the matter?'' I said, "Nothing, George, nothing, only thank God I am here." That feeling, my brothers and sisters, has never departed from me. We live just in the outer drippings of the terrible judgments that are to be poured out upon the wicked, upon those who reject God's mercies, and we have never read of anything seemingly half as bad as what I saw in that vision of the night, and it has cured me so that I have never complained in all the sickness and trouble and distress I have had to pass through from that time to this.
We arose as soon as the light appeared in the morning and went down to my cattle. We found them cuddled up with their heads to the wagon, as closely together as they could get, and chewing their cuds, just as comfortable, it seemed, as if they never sensed their situation. I had in the wagon a quarter of beef, three or four sacks of flour, a little coffee and sugar, and a little tobacco for the men. We hooked up the cattle, and there were so many of us that we got hold of the wagon, and with the animals, dragged it right up to camp. When we got up to the shanty, I shook my head and said, "I have earned my credit and I will wear my feather to night."
When I came back to the city the next time, I met President Young and he gave me such a welcome as one could expect only if he had just returned from a far off land and met a friend. And there -was awakened a feeling of love in my heart toward that grand man, that has never been forgotten to this day. He said to me, "I would like to have you keep on with those men until their work is finished. Then you can come to me and I will tell you what to do."
When I brought up the last load of timber, I turned the cattle out down where the Sixth Ward Square is now located and went to President Young. They were never found again. Those men who had been so befriended by President Young took them in the spring on their way to California, although we never suspected it at the time. President Young put me to work, and I was sent here and there at one thing after another, until I was put in full charge of and made steward over all his workmen. And I will say he never treated me as an employee; he treated me as a son, and his kindness to me was beyond description.
He did not have as much office work in those days as the President has now, but he was traveling among the people, counseling them and helping them and doing all the good he could. And I must tell you here of one little characteristic he had. Whenever he went out, he always took with him a bundle of buckskin strings. You know, sometimes people would go out with very poor harness, and in those days we had to use rawhide on many occasions. Many a time I have been on the road when the tugs were raw-hide and knotted to the double-tree. But President Young never went out without his buckskin strings and a sharp knife and he was always prepared for every emergency; and when he went on a long trip, he would have a great ball of raw-hide cut into strips, about an inch or an inch and a quarter wide, which had been steeped in salt and water, and with these he would mend the breakages. In those times, we had wooden axles, and if we broke an axle, he could mend it; if we broke a wagon tongue, he could mend that, and the rawhide would shrink up till it hugged the joints so closely that you could not see where it had been broken; and so it was with the buck skin, he would repair a set of harness. If he met anybody driving along the street, a little boy, or a woman or any children, he would stop and get right up behind the team and see what their harness was like, and if he saw a weak place where there was any danger, he would go and get a string and tie it up himself, and send them on rejoicing. And sometimes he would pick poor people up in his carriage and take them home. That was the character of the man. It would take a month to tell about his kindness to the people, how he loved the people, and how he was beloved by them. But it was not his own people altogether that he treated so well, but he was kind to everybody. He was a benefactor everywhere and under all conditions.
I want to tell the young ladies a little incident of how he loved beauty. It was my habit in the evening, when I came from work, to go to the office and report to him what we had been doing and get instructions from him for work that was ahead, for we were working at everything. We were standing on the porch. It was a little late, and a lady came in from the street, and passed along from towards where the Lion House is now. She was dressed in a loose, calico wrapper with a belt and long sleeves, with a cuff on each sleeve that turned up, and a little linen collar that turned down. This lady was dressed in this style, and she looked as nice as could be. The President looked, and he turned and said, "Hamilton, a pretty woman, prettily dressed, is a pretty thing."
Things went on smoothly, and the people were growing and increasing in numbers. They were raising fine wheat and making fine flour, and they were increasing in their substance on the right and on the left, and we began to be well off. The year 1855, those who are old enough to be able to remember, know was the year of the grasshopper war. The hoppers came so thick that they actually darkened the light of the sun, and made it look as if it was not noonday when the sun was at the meridian, because it could not be seen. I have seen them just as thick in the air as I ever saw snow when it was falling, — just quivering and flickering like flakes of snow. They cleaned out everything. They would go into a little garden patch and eat the onions, the turnips and the like right down level with the ground, and. they would not leave a shell the thickness of a sheet of paper. Then they would go into a field of grain, and they would take everything that was green. I have many a time taken a club to strike them off the boughs of the trees, for if we didn't relieve them the limbs would break down with the weight. They were most provoking. They cleaned out every one, and I think we sometimes felt like Brother William Rydalch. You know there is a story told of him. that he had ten acres of wheat, and the grasshoppers had cleaned out everything for miles around, and left that untouched; and Brother Rydalch would go out in the morning and look at everything, and see it brown and dead, and his wheat field green and all right; but one morning be went out and saw that field just covered with grasshoppers. They were all over it. He crossed his arms and stood and looked for a minute and saw his beautiful patch of wheat passing right away as if a fire was going through it. and he said, "'Well, if the Lord sent you, all right; but if the devil sent you, then damn your I tell you, there were lots of us felt the same way.
Now President Young saw very plainly that there would be no harvest, and one evening, when I went to report and receive instructions, he said, "Brother Hamilton, I would like to see you about ten o'clock tomorrow morning." I said. "All right." I went in that morning, and the President was standing at the door waiting for me. and I discovered on the floor a number of large bags or sacks, and he said, "Take them up," and I took them out. When we got into the carriage, he said, "Drive to the Old Constitution building," then occupied by Livingston & Kincaid as a store. They had brought on goods from the east,— a little tea, a little sugar, calico fifty cents a yard, and seventy-five cents or a dollar for a plug of tobacco, for any person that had the habit of using the weed. I had no sympathy for them, though I had for some of the women folks, that they should have a little sugar and tea. Now they had laid in a big supply of flour, with the means they had made out of the people, and there was a prospect of their selling it at $30 a hundred. They had laid up all the flour they could get from the people for a little calico, a little tea, a little sugar, or a little tobacco, a little soap, etc. I could tell you some stories about them that would make you laugh, but there is no time for them.
Well, the President stopped at that store, and walked in, and each of the proprietors sat behind the counter, and they said, "Good morning, Mr. Young, good morning." They were very polite. He said. ''Gentlemen, you have a large supply of flour on hand, I understand." They said, "Yes, Mr. Young, we have some flour." He said, "I want you to count noses." I never heard the expression before. "Count how many you have in your families, and how many you have to furnish bread for. I want you to put so much aside for every one of them, and then I want the balance. There is no man in Utah can ship a pound of flour out of this territory until we have a harvest. If you want gold, here is gold; you can make your own price, but the breadstuff's I must have." There was no use saying no. He said, "Go and do it right now. Go and set aside what rations you want for each one of your families, and then anyone you have got in your employ depending on you for bread. When you have done that I want the rest; every pound— every pound of flour, every pound of meal, every pound of bran or shorts that you have, everything that will sustain life, I want, and you can have your own price for it."
He then went down on the west side of the street till he reached Third South, and wherever he thought there was a hundred pounds of flour to be secured he did the same thing. He then turned to the other side of the street, and every place where he thought there was a sack of flour to be obtained he stopped there and took the same course. But to the credit of all be it said, when they sent in their bills at the proper time, they only charged $6 a hundred for the flour.
When the President returned to his office, he said, "Go and hitch up three or four teams and get some strong men, and secure every bit of this breadstuff, and do not leave anything that will furnish food for man or beast;" and he went and showed me where he wanted it put. I did just as he said. I got the teams, and we worked all day and away into the night, and we did it well. We were doing it unto the Lord, and we were doing it for the salvation of the poor of our people. The next day I went to President Young and said, "I have carried out your instructions; we have a nice pile, and I have locked the door upon it, and here is the key." He came out with me and went in and looked at it, and he said we had done better than he could have expected, and thanked us. and asked the Lord to bless us. Then we came out, locked the door and he held the ' key in his hand. And he said to me, "Take it, I leave it in your charge.'' He also said, "I will give you a list of my family—every wife, every child, every soul, either man, woman or child that is in my employ, the tithing hands, and all that are looking to Brigham for bread. I will make you out a list of them all, and I want you to divide up to them once a week —every Thursday—so many pounds of flour for every one whose name I shall furnish you." He did it. When I got the list it was like an army pay roll,—it was perfectly fearful for multitude, but I took it. He said to me, "I put this breadstuff into your charge. I hold you responsible, and I want you to do as I tell you. Carry out my instructions to the letter, and it will be all right; and when the rich man comes to you with gold in his hand, and wants to buy, tell him you have none to sell; but when the poor come to you, when they have nothing to give—the widow, the fatherless, the aged, the infirm, and those who have nothing to give—I want you to serve them just as you would my most favorite wife.'' I never knew he had a most favorite wife before that time, and I don't know now that he had, but that was the expression he used. "And," said he, "If you show any respect to persons, or make any difference as to individuals, I will take that key away from you." He never took it away from me.
I want to say, my brethren and sisters, that I can tell you stories about that flour more strange and wonderful than the story of the widow and the oil told in the good old Bible. I have a mind to tell you just one little instance. There was a man who had a wife and four little children, who lived away down towards the Jordan, in the Sixteenth ward, and his rations each week amounted to twenty-six pounds of flour, and the first time he took his twenty-six pounds of flour home he said to his wife, "Agnes, this is all we can have for the next seven days. Now you know I work hard, and must have something to eat, and you work harder still among these children and the work of the house, and you must have something to eat, but more than either of us, these little children must have something to eat." His wife had been very well raised. She was very tasty in her apparel. She would go hungry for a new skirt or a new sacque, and he was afraid that if any neighbor came along with something nice in the way of clothing she would trade away her last pound of flour, and so he said, "Don't be foolish, and you must not let a pound of this go to anybody's hand, under any circumstances or conditions, for if these children cry for bread, and you can't give them anything else to eat, and if you have no flour you have got no bread."
Well, she looked at him, and her lips trembled a little. She was a very kind and affectionate woman, would divide her last meal with anybody that was in want, and she turned away and said nothing. He had no sooner talked that way to his wife than a feeling of hunger came over him. He wanted to eat everything before him, but he couldn't eat. He went to bed that night, and was so hungry all -night that he couldn't sleep. He got up and went out of doors, and then returned. He arose in the morning and still was hungry. He started to go up to the President's to work. The family had a cow they had brought across the plains, and in those days, you know, they had to turn them out. They had plenty of butter in the morning, and he started off to his work. His wife had put a pound of butter or more in his bundle, with the bread, and he started for the canyon. But he was very hungry, hungry, hungry! So much so, he did not know what to do. He could not work, he was so hungry—he could not do anything. He went home at night hungry, and he went to bed hungry. The next morning he started out, and as he was coming up by the Sixteenth ward square, right on the south of that, on the corner where Joseph Fielding owned a lot, and he was in England on a mission, and there were tall weeds there and among them he saw Wm .J. Player, a neighbor and a blacksmith, digging. He called out to Brother Player, "Well, what are you doing there?" Brother Player called out in reply, "I am getting some roots." He said, "What are you going to do with the roots?'' He said, "going to take them home to help out with what we have got in the house." "What have you got in the house?" "We have only some bran." And this man's wife had been confined just a few days before. "What are you doing about your wife?" He said, "I don't know—the best we can." "Have you got any fine flour in the house?" "No, not a bit, nothing but bran." With that our friend took out his bread and butter that he had tied up. and pitched it over, saying, "Take them home to your wife; it will be better than bran." He had no sooner done that than the hunger left. He was at work all day and had nothing to eat, but he was not hungry. When he came home at night, his wife had his table spread, but he was not hungry. He gathered up the bread and butter, and he said, "Send Nettie over to Brother Player's with this bread and butter." He went out and bedtime came, and he did not eat anything- He went to bed and he was not hungry. He got up in the morning, and still was not hungry, and as he got on the door sill to go away, he threw his arm around his wife's shoulder, her cheek rested upon his neck, and he said: "Now I have learned a lesson; I take back that charge I gave you, and I will tell you now as long as you have a pound of flour in that little sack that I bring home to you each Thursday evening, don't let a person go away from you hungry, and we will all live together or die together, we will trust in the Lord. Now that woman had a tin cup that held about a pound of flour, and she filled that cup sometimes in a week ten times, and sometimes fifteen times; and there was one week in particular that she filled that little cup 23 times out of that 26 pounds of flour, and from that time till the country was filled with wheat and fine flour that little sack was never empty, no matter how much went out; there was always a little left. Now that is one instance, 23 cupfuls went out of the 26 pounds, and the family had plenty to eat besides.
Now, as I said, this flour was handed out every Thursday, and we were kept busy from early morning till late at night in getting out the allotment of flour for that list of names, with all the help I could! get. But I handled it all myself with a little scoop, and I got so used to handing out flour with that little scoop that I could deal out ten thousand pounds of flour and I wouldn't get short or over in the slightest—not that much (indicating). But that flour held out, and we fed the poor and those that had nothing to give, and the widow and the fatherless and the old and the infirm, until there was plenty in the land, and there was still some left. Now I want that our young people, when they hear the name of Brigham Young called up, to remember that during all that time, when the rich would come with their gold in hand, his instruction tome was to say "I have nothing to sell," but when the aged and infirm came, to "serve them just as you do my most favorite wife." That ought to be written in letters of gold. Well, things went on and grew and increased, and we were becoming a great people. I never "got my back up" but once. Somebody told President Young that Hamilton had got the devil in him, because I stopped work and wouldn't do anything, and the President came, and he took a grip at my hand, and his gaze betokened trouble; He said, "What is the matter?" I replied. "I have got the blues." "Come with me," he said. So we went into his private office together. He then repeated, "What is the matter?" I said: "Brother Brigham, the men in your employ are faithful, they are kind-hearted, they would die for you; they would stand between you and the assassin's knife any time, but there are some people round here who are doing next to nothing, who insult them because they are old countrymen and because they are rough and uncouth, which they can't help. I won't have them insulted, and I am going to stop right now." I did not call anyone by name, but I told him just how things were, how his men would start out on Monday morning and go up City Creek canyon to get wood or poles and remain for a whole week, with a sack full of bread and a little box or can full of molasses, made on the Temple block by Brother Joseph Home, which was as black as tar and as bitter as wormwood. On this they would work for a week, and think they were doing God's service. He listened to me until a big tear rolled down his cheek, then he said: "Now. my boy. go you back to your work, and you pay no attention to what anybody says; do just as you have been doing, and remember that Brigham is boss." That settled the thing right straight. And that, brethren and sisters, became the slogan which was kept up. wherever we were, in the mountains or on the desert, wherever we were all was right. Brigham was boss. Many a time when we have been out, in the barn, or in the garden, or on the farm, we have called out, "Joseph," or "John," or "William,"[1] "where are you going? How are you getting along?" "All right, Brother Park," the answer would come, "Brother Brigham is boss, all is well."
Now one thing more. In the summer of 1875, Brother George Reynolds, who was the secretary of President Young, came to me one day and said: "Hamilton. I have got something to whisper in your ear that will interest you, President Young has just received some letters from Liverpool, and don't be surprised if you are very shortly called upon to go to Europe." Well, it was but a very short time till I was sent for. and the President told me what he wanted me to do. He said to take no thought for my family, "they shall be safe as in my house." He blessed me and gave me money, and I went, and when I got to Liverpool. I was sent to Scotland, and the blessing of President Young prevailed against all opposition, and I was enabled to do what I was sent to do, and more. But when the time came for me to return home, the presidency in Liverpool continued me in the presidency of the church in Scotland; and I was in Dundee, Scotland, when I received the message that President Young had passed away. You recollect, he left us on the 29th of August, 1877. When I received that message it was a bright day, but a cloud passed over the sun. But there was no letting up; we had to go on with the work. Brigham Young had done his work, and we must go on and finish our stewardship. In the October company I was permitted to return. Now I will tell you something, perhaps it may be said to be bordering on superstition.
In the month of October I reached home; and in those days when an Elder arrived in Zion from his mission he never thought of returning to his home and family until he reported to President Brigham Young, and received his blessing. I went to the President's office before I went home on Third South Street, and as I went into the office, there were three or four of the Apostles present, but I remember that Brother Joseph F. Smith was on his feet, and as I opened the door he turned round and grasped my hand and gave me such a welcome as only a great man like Joseph F. Smith can give to his friend; and then he said to the brethren, "I feel that we ought to bless Brother Park before he goes home." We went into a little room there in the rear, and they blessed me. Brother Joseph F. was mouth. He said: "Brother Park, you have been faithful; you have performed a faithful mission. You have accomplished a good work, and you have come home clean. I bless you in the name of the Lord." And so he went on. I went home. That was enough to satisfy any reasonable man, but I was not satisfied. There was something lacking. The feeling grew upon me—I must see Brigham Young; I must see him, and make my report to him individually, and tell him a great many things that I wanted to say. That feeling grew so strong upon me that it was making me perfectly wretched. The next day I started out to get some work. I got work, but that feeling grew upon me that I must see the President. After my folks went to bed that night I went out on the block, and finally I told the Lord, "It is no use; if President Young can be seen, I must see him." I came back into the house again, sat down in the room, and while I sat there with my arms resting on my knees, my hands covering my face, a vision stole over my senses, and I became aware that there was someone in the room beside myself, and I raised my head and looked up, and President Young stood before me, and he said, with a tone of reproof in his voice, "You wanted to see me?" And he said: "Come, let us take a walk." He went out and I followed him. We walked together up to the old office, talking just as we had talked, as far as I knew, many times before; no difference. But whether I was in the body or out of the body I do not know, I knew no difference. We went into the office. I knew and realized perfectly that it was night, bat wherever the President went, there was a beautiful light surrounding him, it was as clear as day. Of course it was past office hours, and there was nobody in the office, but standing by one of the desks I saw Elder William C. Staines. Many of you remember him. He has been gone to the better land for several years; but he stood there with a long sheet of paper in his hands, a scroll containing a list of names. The President reached out his hand and took it, and he looked over it, and then said: "I don't see your name here, Brother Hamilton." It was a list of names that had been selected to receive special blessings. He said as he looked at it: "There is a number of names that have no right here. He motioned for a pencil, and I handed him one, and he held that sheet up before him, and took that pencil and drew it through name after name till he went down some six or seven names. Then he handed it back again, and turned and said "Those had no business there." I watched those names ever after, till they all left the Church. We then went up to the barn,—went into the barn, where we looked over the stalls and talked just as we had done scores and scores of times. Then we went into the garden, where we had some very fine grape vines, but they were so tender that they could not bear the winter cold of this climate, and every fall we had to take the runners down off the trellises and lay them on the ground and cover them over with saw-dust and a little rubbish from the barn and then when the winter cold was over we uncovered them and put them up again on the trellises. He looked at them just as carefully as he had ever done before, from the time they were planted. Then we went on. We went back around to the office again, but did not go in, but we stood and talked, and he told me a great many things to do and a great many things not to do. I made my report to him, told him how I had got along, how I had been able to accomplish more than was expected of me, and he was pleased. And I spoke about my family, that they had suffered. That I did not feel good about it. He said, "I will take care of you. Don't you worry about the things of this world.'' "Well," I said, "Brother Brigham, the grass is so short." It was a saying that we used. Said I, "There is no grass at all," and I felt disappointed. "Well," he said, "I would like you to be better fixed financially, if you would live your religion better." And finally, he said, "Hamilton, are you satisfied?" I said, "Yes, I am more than satisfied." Then he said, "Now, Brother Hamilton, go, live your religion, preach the Gospel and labor to build up God's kingdom upon the earth; that will be the true riches when you come to me." And he repeated those words again, with great feeling. "That," he said, "will be the true riches when you come to me."
Now then another word. Only a short time ago I had been up to dinner from Z. C. M. I. to my home on Third street, and in returning a lady called out: "Brother Park, wouldn't you like to see an old friend?" I said, "Yes, indeed I would; I am always pleased and glad to see an old friend." She said, "Come in here." I opened the little gate and followed her into the house, and there sure enough I saw one that in the years gone by had been a friend, looked upon as a true friend. Immediately there came up before my vision the scroll in the President's hands, that name was the first that the President had scratched on that scroll. That person had left the Church and had been away from Utah for a number of years and had said hard things against the people, and had come back on a visit. It required no Daniel to interpret the handwriting on the wall, "mene tekel" —weighed in the balance and found wanting, for the light of God's spirit had gone out of the hearts of those men, whose names that pencil in the hands of the President had passed through, and their eyes had become blinded.
Now I must say a word to the young brethren and the young ladies. You may never hear my voice again. Let me say to you, continue to be good and true, and you, young ladies when you dress, do not dress vainly for the purpose of being seen, but let your adornments be moderate and neat and comely, and then you will always be beautiful, and you know a thing of beauty is a joy forever, and don't forget that "a pretty woman 'prettily dressed' is a pretty thing."
And now you young men, let me say to you: Be true to your God, be true to your holy religion, be true to the priesthood, be true to yourselves. Make "Mormonism” your guiding star, and remember that admonition from that grand man, Brigham Young, "Live your religion, preach the gospel, put forth your best efforts to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth, and that will be the true riches" when you are called to go where he is now.
Now for my own part, I can say, "Mormonism" or the gospel of the kingdom, is the panacea, the greatest of all, for all the ills of life. I have been cold on the mountain, I have been hungry- in the canon, I have been thirsty on the desert when water there was none, but Mormonism was true, and Joseph Smith was sent of God. I have gazed on the face of the dead when my soul was tilled with sorrow and sore disappointment, when fond hopes seemed to' perish and cherished expectations turned to dust, but Mormonism was true and Joseph Smith was sent of God. I have staggered and reeled on a slippery storm-tossed deck, when the waves rolled high, and clung to the quivering mast when the winds shrieked through the naked spars, but Mormonism was true and Joseph Smith was sent of God. I have gazed on the battle of elements, midst the lightning's Hash and tempest's roar, where the seas seemed to contend with the skies, when faces paled and brave hearts quailed, but Mormonism was true and Joseph Smith was sent of God. Mormonism is true to-day, my beloved brethren and sisters, and will be true forever. God grant that all of us may always be found true to it. Amen.
(Reported by F. E. Barker.)
[1] The brethren here referred to are Brothers Joseph Shaw, John Muzell, George Openshaw, William Buttle and William Hart.
Kimball, Solomon F. "President Brigham Young's First Trip to Bear Lake Valley." Improvement Era. February 1907. pg. 296-303.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FIRST TRIP TO BEAR LAKE VALLEY.
BY SOLOMON P. KIMBALL.
[The following is a very interesting account of one of those frequent pioneer trips taken by President Brigham Young while engaged in the founding of settlements in these valleys of the mountains. It is doubly entertaining because written by a son of Heber C. Kimball, Brigham's right hand man. Solomon F. Kimball was at that time a lad of seventeen, and has a specially vivid recollection of the particular journey described herein. He states that the object of going so "early in the season was to comply with the wishes of Apostle C. C. Rich who had been chosen by President Young to supervise the settling of Bear Lake Valley, and who was anxious that President Young should come early to aid him in selecting townsites, so that the settlers could get at their work of building and farming.
The remarks accompanying, reported by Geo. D. Watt, taken from the Church records, and which here appear in print for the first time, were delivered by President Young standing in an open wagon in front of President Rich's residence. They are characteristic of him. They show how he could change from the discussion of practical, common things to the expression of deep devotion and religious philosophy, almost in the same breath. His sermon gives the lie to the slanders so often repeated that he and his people were enemies to law and order, and that they preferred ignorance to culture and education. Its counsels are as valuable to the Saints today as they were nearly half a century ago. As an instance in temporal affairs, witness that recent legislatures have appropriated thousands of dollars for the road from Bear Lake to Ogden Valley, and the citizens at both ends have enthusiastically joined with their means for the same purpose. In matters pertaining to the training and care of children, and the beautifying of home, it rings clear and true, today as then. — Editors.]
The rising generation know but little of the hardships endured in early days by the leading men of this Church, while they were helping the poor Saints to establish themselves in these valleys. In order to make plain to them at least one phase of this subject it will only be necessary to give a brief account of President Young and party's first visit to the Bear Lake country.
On Monday morning, May 16, 1864, at 8:30 o'clock, this little company drove out of Salt Lake city on its journey. It consisted of six light vehicles and a baggage wagon, occupied by the following persons: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph Young, Jesse W: Fox, Utah's surveyor. Professor Thomas Ellerbeck, George D Watt, reporter, and seven teamsters. They reached Franklin, Idaho, on the afternoon of the third day, and by that time had increased their number to one hundred and fifty-three men, eighty-six of whom were riding in vehicles, the balance being picked men, mounted on good horses for assisting the company on the way. There were no houses between Franklin and Paris, Idaho, consequently the program was to drive directly through to Paris in one day if possible.
The fourth morning they got an early start, and drove almost to Mink Creek without accident. Here Brother George A. Smith's carriage broke down, but as good luck would have it, the brethren from Cache Valley had brought a light wagon along in case of such an emergency. The company were soon on the way again, as though nothing had happened.
They reached the foot of the big mountain which divides Cache Valley from Bear Lake Valley, and here is where the tug of war began. The mountain was so steep that all were compelled to walk except Apostle Smith who was so heavy that it would have been dangerous for him to undertake it, as he weighed not less than three hundred pounds. The mounted men so m had extra horses harnessed and hitched to singletrees, and President Young and others, who were too heavy to help themselves, took hold of these singletrees with both hands and were helped up the mountain in this way.
Apostle Charles C. Rich and others, who had settled in the Bear Lake Valley the fall before, came to their assistance with all the ox teams that could be mustered. Several yokes were hitched to Brother George A. Smith's wagon, and he was hauled up the mountain, but before he reached the summit his wagon was so badly broken that he was compelled to abandon it. Everybody had a good laugh over the incident, it being the second vehicle broken down under his weight that day. With careful management under the supervision of President Young and council, the brethren managed to get him onto the largest saddle horse that could be found, and another start was made.
The company descended the mountain on the Bear Lake side and soon reached the head of Pioneer Canyon, where they struck mud, mud, mud, and then some more mud. It had been raining all day and everybody was wet through to the skin, except those who were riding in covered vehicles. Four horses were hitched to President Young's carriage, and several yoke of oxen to the baggage wagon. The majority of those who were rid.ng in vehicles were compelled to walk on account of the trail being in such a fearful condition; and to see that presidential procession waddling through the deep mud was enough to make any living thing smile. It was the muddiest outfit ever seen in that part of the country.
Professor Ellerbeck undertook to cross the creek on a pole, and slipped off into the mud and water, and was a sad looking sight after he had been pulled out. Many others passed through a similar experience that day. It was a case of every fellow for himself, some going one way and some another, the majority of them taking to the sidehills. Several times President Young's horses mired down to their sides, but with careful driving they got through all right.
President Kimball, who was handling his own team this afternoon, undertook to drive around one of these bad places, and had not gone far when his horses struck a soft spot and sank almost out of sight in the mud. Here is where the mounted men were of service again. They soon had Brother Kimball's horses unhitched from the carriage, and long ropes fastened around their necks. Then about thirty men got hold of the ropes and pulled the horses out bodily, dragging them several rods before they could get upon their feet. The carriage was then pulled out.
President Young, who was in the lead, made another start, and had not gone far when one of the horsemen brought word that Brother George A. Smith's horse had given out, and that they were obliged to build a scaffold in order to get him onto another one. This amusing story caused the authorities to have another laughing spell at Brother Smith's expense.
This canyon is about four miles long, and it was a mud hole from beginning to end. The party reached the mouth of it at nine o'clock at night, and remained there long enough to rest and feed their animals. It was a cold night and the men made bonfires to keep themselves warm and dry their clothing.
About ten o'clock the company continued their journey. They drove down in the valley until they cams to a small stream called Canal Creek. It was so narrow and deep that they had to jump their horses across it, and then get their vehicles over the best way they could.
They reached the city of Paris at 3 o'clock the next morning, but were unable to see it until they had reached the top of a small hill in the center of town. It consisted of thirty-four log huts with dirt roofs, but they looked good just the same.
The Bear Lakers had caught a wagon load of beautiful trout in honor of the occasion, and had plenty of good fresh butter to fry them in; and what a feast the brethren did have after living on hope and mud for twenty-four hours! Sister Stocks and daughter did the cooking for the authorities, and it kept them busy as long as the party remained there.
The next twenty four hours were spent in resting, as everybody was worn out; although Professor Ellerbeck took some scientific observations that day, probably the first that had ever been taken in that valley. The next day the company drove over to the lake, and spent several hours at a point where Fish Haven is now located. They returned to Paris that evening. The next day, being Sunday, they held an outdoor meeting in the forenoon. The speakers were President Young, who delivered the accompanying remarks, and Elders Kimball, John Taylor and George A. Smith.
Considerable merriment was afterwards had over the question of whether Brother Smith should return home with the company or remain at Paris until the mud had dried up. However, the decision was that he return home with the company on condition that Brother Rich furnish ox teams to haul him through the mud, and to the summit of the mountain. This Elder Rich, who was the pioneer of Bear Lake Valley, consented to do, and at 3 p. m. the presidential party started for home. In the meantime, Canal Creek had been bridged over, and good time was made through the valley. They reached the mouth of Pioneer Canyon at dark, and camped for the night.
The next morning at 5 o'clock they continued their journey homeward. Brother Rich had more than kept his promise. He furnished two yoke of oxen for President Young's carriage, and four yoke for the baggage wagon, the latter being solely occupied by Brother George A. Smith, who had a smile on his countenance that made all who beheld it feel good through and through. These were the only vehicles drawn by ox teams. They followed the road through the mud, while the lighter vehicles, drawn by horses, hugged the sidehills, which were so steep that the brethren had to lash poles to the carriage beds, and bear down on the upper end Of the poles to prevent the carriages from tipping over. This plan worked like a charm, and by nine o'clock the company had reached the summit of the mountain. Notwithstanding it rained hard all that day, the party reached Franklin about five o'clock that evening, and three days later they arrived home. They had been absent from home eleven days, and within that time had traveled four hundred miles, besides holding meetings at all the principal settlements along the route, both going and coming. They also selected several townsites.
Not long after their return home, they started on another journey to St George, going via Pine Valley and returning via Toquerville. They left the main road here, and visited all settlements on the Rio Virgin river. They also visited the principal settlements of Sanpete Valley, and were gone from home about five weeks, and had traveled upwards of one thousand miles.
President Young was heard to say that he had traveled that summer not less than three thousand miles, and that this was a fair average of what had been traveled by himself and company during many other seasons. On one occasion they took boats along with them, in order to ferry such streams as the Snake and Salmon Rivers.
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG, SUNDAY, 22nD MAY, 1864.
At 10 a. m. a congregation collected opposite Elder Charles C. Rich's dwelling, at Paris, Bear Lake Valley. Singing. Prayer by Elder Wilford Woodruff, when President Brigham Young said:
I do not design to preach, but merely to express my feelings in regard to this valley. We find it to be a very excellent valley, as far as we can judge from present appearances. It is a fine place to settle and raise grain, to build houses, make farms, set out orchards, raise fruits and all the necessaries of life to make ourselves happy here as well as in other places. Elder Charles C. Rich, one of the Twelve Apostles, has been appointed to dictate the settlement of this valley. We wish to have the brethren abide his counsel, and if he needs instructions he will receive them from the proper source. We wish to see the brethren willing and obedient, for the Lord will have a people of this description, and if we are not prepared to build up his kingdom in the way he has devised, others will be called in who will do it. If we are willing to do this, we will commence at home to cultivate our own minds, and govern our actions before each other, and before heaven; if we do not do this our labors to build up the kingdom of God will be of little service. Self-culture should be as strenuously attended to in this valley as at the central point of the gathering of the Saints.
There are many advantages in this country, and we shall extend our settlements up and down the shores of this beautiful lake of water. I suppose we must be some seventy-five to one hundred miles nearer to the South Pass than Salt Lake City is. Our emigration, destined for this valley, will come at once to this point, and probably many will come in this season. This settlement is near the central point of this valley. I might just as well call this the central point, as on the other side of the river we have the farming, meadow and pasture lands, and numerous facilities that perhaps cannot be found in such abundance on the other side of the river for the support of a great city. I understand the legislature has named this settlement Paris, and I am satisfied with the name. The place south of this, about seven miles, I propose to call St. Charles, and it would suit me to have the county seat there. The business of the valley will be done at St. Charles whether Brother Rich lives here or there, or whether the High Council is held here or there. [It was then unanimously voted that the settlement be called St. Charles.] The city, town, or village that will be built there, I request the people to build on the south side of the creek. Brother Rich was desirous I should give a name for the creek; you may call it big water, tall water, large water, big creek, or pleasant water, or rich water.
The people here need a surveyor. We have young men who can learn in one week to survey this valley sufficiently accurate to be agreeable to all parties, and assure every purpose that can be desired. As to whether we are in Utah Territory or Idaho Territory, I think we are now in Idaho. I have no doubt of it, and the greater part of those who settle in this valley will be in that territory; the snow lies too low on the mountains here for Utah.
Let me here offer a caution to you Latter-day Saints. Men will hunt for your stock. Brethren have come here who have been asked to come, and some have fled from the influence of rule and good order, and when they find it here. they will probably want to go to some other place where they expect to be exempt from paying taxes or tithing and be from under the influence of a bishop, and where, if they should take a notion to shade a beef creature it will not be known.
We should learn that we cannot live in safety without law. There is no being in the heavens that is able to live and endure without law; it is the purity of the law that preserves the heavenly hosts, and they strictly abide it. I know what those people are here for, and their object, if any, has been to come to this valley for an impure purpose. You will know it, and if they are not here yet, they will come and settle on your borders from Franklin, Weber, Box Elder, and other places, and they will branch out and want to get beyond everybody else, and if there is any beef upon the range they will want to have the privilege of butchering it, and of using it up. Every good person wants to live under the protection of law and order.
I wish to say to the heads of families, here or elsewhere, be sure to have your prayers morning and evening. If you forget your prayers this morning you will forget them tonight, very likely, and if you cease to pray you will be very apt to forget God. A true-hearted Saint loves to pray before his family, and he loves to have it known his heart is for God, and he is not afraid if all the world knows it.
Build mills to facilitate the building up of your towns and settlements, and let there be no selfish monopoly in this. Let the brethren not burn away any of the timber that will make lumber, but bring it down to your mills and saw it up for your fences, to build your houses, and make improvements of the best kind. My opinion is that the adobe is the best building material, if it can be well protected from moisture, which is an easy matter when plenty of lumber is to be had; and when they have stood one year, they are prepared to stand five hundred years as well as not. When you build your permanent dwellings, build nice, commodious habitations, and make your improvements as fast as you can. When you have gotten your crops in this season, and find a little leisure time, turn your attention to fixing a road from here to Ogden Valley, which will save fifty miles, that is the true route to go, and fix your roads as speedily as possible.
When you form your settlements, get together pretty close, let there be at least ten families on ten acres of ground. When you start to build upon a block, ' (Brother Charles C. Rich, please remember this), have the brethren build upon the block until every lot is occupied before you touch another. Then if you should be attacked by Indians, one scream will arouse the whole block. Get out these beautiful poles to fence with. I see no cedar here, but there is red quaking asp, and it is as good as any red pine we have for posts. This we have proved to our own satisfaction. Make your fences strong and high at once, for to commence a fence with three poles, it teaches your cows and other stock to be breachy. They learn to jump a three-pole fence. You add another pole, and that is soon mastered; you add another, and they will try that. Thus stock is trained to leap fences which would otherwise be sufficient to turn them.
I say again, with regard to saw-mills, get every man who can to build a sawmill, for, boards the proper width and thickness make the cheapest fence you can have. Make your improvements, and do all you can.
Be sure that you do not let your little children go away from this settlement to herd cattle or sheep, but keep them at home. Send them to school; neither suffer them to wander in the mountains. When the brethren go into the mountains after timber, instead of going alone and unarmed, let a few go together and labor together to assist each other in times of difficulty. If you go alone, you may be left to perish.
The brethren may argue that the Lord is all sufficient to take care of them, but do you know what faith is, and do you feel the labor and the responsibility that is upon you to help yourself and others? When you are in imminent danger, do you exercise faith to preserve yourself and friends from the vengeance of deadly enemies? If you do not, get this yourself, you will then know what the labor is. Three of our brethren went out on the lake yesterday, in a small boat. The wind began to blow from the south. Had it not been for the faith of their brethren, and their own exertions, very likely, they would have been drowned, or would have drifted to the opposite side of the lake, and starved to death, or suffered greatly before help could have reached them. They were reckless, and unconcerned, and apparently their lives are of no worth in their own estimation. It is our duty to preserve our lives as long as possible. Fathers, take warning, numerous thieves have been raised on the herd grounds around our settlements. Some of them go to California, and others suffer the vengeance of an outraged law.
Keep your children in school, and let every father and mother make their homes so interesting that their children will never want to leave it. Make your houses and homes pleasant with foliage and beautiful gardens, with the fragrance and variegated colors of flowers, and fruit blossoms, and, above all, teach them always to remember that God must be in all our thoughts, and that from him proceeds every good thing.
President Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith and John Taylor followed the president in much the same strain, and the meeting was dismissed by prayer, Brother George A. Smith being mouth.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FIRST TRIP TO BEAR LAKE VALLEY.
BY SOLOMON P. KIMBALL.
[The following is a very interesting account of one of those frequent pioneer trips taken by President Brigham Young while engaged in the founding of settlements in these valleys of the mountains. It is doubly entertaining because written by a son of Heber C. Kimball, Brigham's right hand man. Solomon F. Kimball was at that time a lad of seventeen, and has a specially vivid recollection of the particular journey described herein. He states that the object of going so "early in the season was to comply with the wishes of Apostle C. C. Rich who had been chosen by President Young to supervise the settling of Bear Lake Valley, and who was anxious that President Young should come early to aid him in selecting townsites, so that the settlers could get at their work of building and farming.
The remarks accompanying, reported by Geo. D. Watt, taken from the Church records, and which here appear in print for the first time, were delivered by President Young standing in an open wagon in front of President Rich's residence. They are characteristic of him. They show how he could change from the discussion of practical, common things to the expression of deep devotion and religious philosophy, almost in the same breath. His sermon gives the lie to the slanders so often repeated that he and his people were enemies to law and order, and that they preferred ignorance to culture and education. Its counsels are as valuable to the Saints today as they were nearly half a century ago. As an instance in temporal affairs, witness that recent legislatures have appropriated thousands of dollars for the road from Bear Lake to Ogden Valley, and the citizens at both ends have enthusiastically joined with their means for the same purpose. In matters pertaining to the training and care of children, and the beautifying of home, it rings clear and true, today as then. — Editors.]
The rising generation know but little of the hardships endured in early days by the leading men of this Church, while they were helping the poor Saints to establish themselves in these valleys. In order to make plain to them at least one phase of this subject it will only be necessary to give a brief account of President Young and party's first visit to the Bear Lake country.
On Monday morning, May 16, 1864, at 8:30 o'clock, this little company drove out of Salt Lake city on its journey. It consisted of six light vehicles and a baggage wagon, occupied by the following persons: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph Young, Jesse W: Fox, Utah's surveyor. Professor Thomas Ellerbeck, George D Watt, reporter, and seven teamsters. They reached Franklin, Idaho, on the afternoon of the third day, and by that time had increased their number to one hundred and fifty-three men, eighty-six of whom were riding in vehicles, the balance being picked men, mounted on good horses for assisting the company on the way. There were no houses between Franklin and Paris, Idaho, consequently the program was to drive directly through to Paris in one day if possible.
The fourth morning they got an early start, and drove almost to Mink Creek without accident. Here Brother George A. Smith's carriage broke down, but as good luck would have it, the brethren from Cache Valley had brought a light wagon along in case of such an emergency. The company were soon on the way again, as though nothing had happened.
They reached the foot of the big mountain which divides Cache Valley from Bear Lake Valley, and here is where the tug of war began. The mountain was so steep that all were compelled to walk except Apostle Smith who was so heavy that it would have been dangerous for him to undertake it, as he weighed not less than three hundred pounds. The mounted men so m had extra horses harnessed and hitched to singletrees, and President Young and others, who were too heavy to help themselves, took hold of these singletrees with both hands and were helped up the mountain in this way.
Apostle Charles C. Rich and others, who had settled in the Bear Lake Valley the fall before, came to their assistance with all the ox teams that could be mustered. Several yokes were hitched to Brother George A. Smith's wagon, and he was hauled up the mountain, but before he reached the summit his wagon was so badly broken that he was compelled to abandon it. Everybody had a good laugh over the incident, it being the second vehicle broken down under his weight that day. With careful management under the supervision of President Young and council, the brethren managed to get him onto the largest saddle horse that could be found, and another start was made.
The company descended the mountain on the Bear Lake side and soon reached the head of Pioneer Canyon, where they struck mud, mud, mud, and then some more mud. It had been raining all day and everybody was wet through to the skin, except those who were riding in covered vehicles. Four horses were hitched to President Young's carriage, and several yoke of oxen to the baggage wagon. The majority of those who were rid.ng in vehicles were compelled to walk on account of the trail being in such a fearful condition; and to see that presidential procession waddling through the deep mud was enough to make any living thing smile. It was the muddiest outfit ever seen in that part of the country.
Professor Ellerbeck undertook to cross the creek on a pole, and slipped off into the mud and water, and was a sad looking sight after he had been pulled out. Many others passed through a similar experience that day. It was a case of every fellow for himself, some going one way and some another, the majority of them taking to the sidehills. Several times President Young's horses mired down to their sides, but with careful driving they got through all right.
President Kimball, who was handling his own team this afternoon, undertook to drive around one of these bad places, and had not gone far when his horses struck a soft spot and sank almost out of sight in the mud. Here is where the mounted men were of service again. They soon had Brother Kimball's horses unhitched from the carriage, and long ropes fastened around their necks. Then about thirty men got hold of the ropes and pulled the horses out bodily, dragging them several rods before they could get upon their feet. The carriage was then pulled out.
President Young, who was in the lead, made another start, and had not gone far when one of the horsemen brought word that Brother George A. Smith's horse had given out, and that they were obliged to build a scaffold in order to get him onto another one. This amusing story caused the authorities to have another laughing spell at Brother Smith's expense.
This canyon is about four miles long, and it was a mud hole from beginning to end. The party reached the mouth of it at nine o'clock at night, and remained there long enough to rest and feed their animals. It was a cold night and the men made bonfires to keep themselves warm and dry their clothing.
About ten o'clock the company continued their journey. They drove down in the valley until they cams to a small stream called Canal Creek. It was so narrow and deep that they had to jump their horses across it, and then get their vehicles over the best way they could.
They reached the city of Paris at 3 o'clock the next morning, but were unable to see it until they had reached the top of a small hill in the center of town. It consisted of thirty-four log huts with dirt roofs, but they looked good just the same.
The Bear Lakers had caught a wagon load of beautiful trout in honor of the occasion, and had plenty of good fresh butter to fry them in; and what a feast the brethren did have after living on hope and mud for twenty-four hours! Sister Stocks and daughter did the cooking for the authorities, and it kept them busy as long as the party remained there.
The next twenty four hours were spent in resting, as everybody was worn out; although Professor Ellerbeck took some scientific observations that day, probably the first that had ever been taken in that valley. The next day the company drove over to the lake, and spent several hours at a point where Fish Haven is now located. They returned to Paris that evening. The next day, being Sunday, they held an outdoor meeting in the forenoon. The speakers were President Young, who delivered the accompanying remarks, and Elders Kimball, John Taylor and George A. Smith.
Considerable merriment was afterwards had over the question of whether Brother Smith should return home with the company or remain at Paris until the mud had dried up. However, the decision was that he return home with the company on condition that Brother Rich furnish ox teams to haul him through the mud, and to the summit of the mountain. This Elder Rich, who was the pioneer of Bear Lake Valley, consented to do, and at 3 p. m. the presidential party started for home. In the meantime, Canal Creek had been bridged over, and good time was made through the valley. They reached the mouth of Pioneer Canyon at dark, and camped for the night.
The next morning at 5 o'clock they continued their journey homeward. Brother Rich had more than kept his promise. He furnished two yoke of oxen for President Young's carriage, and four yoke for the baggage wagon, the latter being solely occupied by Brother George A. Smith, who had a smile on his countenance that made all who beheld it feel good through and through. These were the only vehicles drawn by ox teams. They followed the road through the mud, while the lighter vehicles, drawn by horses, hugged the sidehills, which were so steep that the brethren had to lash poles to the carriage beds, and bear down on the upper end Of the poles to prevent the carriages from tipping over. This plan worked like a charm, and by nine o'clock the company had reached the summit of the mountain. Notwithstanding it rained hard all that day, the party reached Franklin about five o'clock that evening, and three days later they arrived home. They had been absent from home eleven days, and within that time had traveled four hundred miles, besides holding meetings at all the principal settlements along the route, both going and coming. They also selected several townsites.
Not long after their return home, they started on another journey to St George, going via Pine Valley and returning via Toquerville. They left the main road here, and visited all settlements on the Rio Virgin river. They also visited the principal settlements of Sanpete Valley, and were gone from home about five weeks, and had traveled upwards of one thousand miles.
President Young was heard to say that he had traveled that summer not less than three thousand miles, and that this was a fair average of what had been traveled by himself and company during many other seasons. On one occasion they took boats along with them, in order to ferry such streams as the Snake and Salmon Rivers.
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG, SUNDAY, 22nD MAY, 1864.
At 10 a. m. a congregation collected opposite Elder Charles C. Rich's dwelling, at Paris, Bear Lake Valley. Singing. Prayer by Elder Wilford Woodruff, when President Brigham Young said:
I do not design to preach, but merely to express my feelings in regard to this valley. We find it to be a very excellent valley, as far as we can judge from present appearances. It is a fine place to settle and raise grain, to build houses, make farms, set out orchards, raise fruits and all the necessaries of life to make ourselves happy here as well as in other places. Elder Charles C. Rich, one of the Twelve Apostles, has been appointed to dictate the settlement of this valley. We wish to have the brethren abide his counsel, and if he needs instructions he will receive them from the proper source. We wish to see the brethren willing and obedient, for the Lord will have a people of this description, and if we are not prepared to build up his kingdom in the way he has devised, others will be called in who will do it. If we are willing to do this, we will commence at home to cultivate our own minds, and govern our actions before each other, and before heaven; if we do not do this our labors to build up the kingdom of God will be of little service. Self-culture should be as strenuously attended to in this valley as at the central point of the gathering of the Saints.
There are many advantages in this country, and we shall extend our settlements up and down the shores of this beautiful lake of water. I suppose we must be some seventy-five to one hundred miles nearer to the South Pass than Salt Lake City is. Our emigration, destined for this valley, will come at once to this point, and probably many will come in this season. This settlement is near the central point of this valley. I might just as well call this the central point, as on the other side of the river we have the farming, meadow and pasture lands, and numerous facilities that perhaps cannot be found in such abundance on the other side of the river for the support of a great city. I understand the legislature has named this settlement Paris, and I am satisfied with the name. The place south of this, about seven miles, I propose to call St. Charles, and it would suit me to have the county seat there. The business of the valley will be done at St. Charles whether Brother Rich lives here or there, or whether the High Council is held here or there. [It was then unanimously voted that the settlement be called St. Charles.] The city, town, or village that will be built there, I request the people to build on the south side of the creek. Brother Rich was desirous I should give a name for the creek; you may call it big water, tall water, large water, big creek, or pleasant water, or rich water.
The people here need a surveyor. We have young men who can learn in one week to survey this valley sufficiently accurate to be agreeable to all parties, and assure every purpose that can be desired. As to whether we are in Utah Territory or Idaho Territory, I think we are now in Idaho. I have no doubt of it, and the greater part of those who settle in this valley will be in that territory; the snow lies too low on the mountains here for Utah.
Let me here offer a caution to you Latter-day Saints. Men will hunt for your stock. Brethren have come here who have been asked to come, and some have fled from the influence of rule and good order, and when they find it here. they will probably want to go to some other place where they expect to be exempt from paying taxes or tithing and be from under the influence of a bishop, and where, if they should take a notion to shade a beef creature it will not be known.
We should learn that we cannot live in safety without law. There is no being in the heavens that is able to live and endure without law; it is the purity of the law that preserves the heavenly hosts, and they strictly abide it. I know what those people are here for, and their object, if any, has been to come to this valley for an impure purpose. You will know it, and if they are not here yet, they will come and settle on your borders from Franklin, Weber, Box Elder, and other places, and they will branch out and want to get beyond everybody else, and if there is any beef upon the range they will want to have the privilege of butchering it, and of using it up. Every good person wants to live under the protection of law and order.
I wish to say to the heads of families, here or elsewhere, be sure to have your prayers morning and evening. If you forget your prayers this morning you will forget them tonight, very likely, and if you cease to pray you will be very apt to forget God. A true-hearted Saint loves to pray before his family, and he loves to have it known his heart is for God, and he is not afraid if all the world knows it.
Build mills to facilitate the building up of your towns and settlements, and let there be no selfish monopoly in this. Let the brethren not burn away any of the timber that will make lumber, but bring it down to your mills and saw it up for your fences, to build your houses, and make improvements of the best kind. My opinion is that the adobe is the best building material, if it can be well protected from moisture, which is an easy matter when plenty of lumber is to be had; and when they have stood one year, they are prepared to stand five hundred years as well as not. When you build your permanent dwellings, build nice, commodious habitations, and make your improvements as fast as you can. When you have gotten your crops in this season, and find a little leisure time, turn your attention to fixing a road from here to Ogden Valley, which will save fifty miles, that is the true route to go, and fix your roads as speedily as possible.
When you form your settlements, get together pretty close, let there be at least ten families on ten acres of ground. When you start to build upon a block, ' (Brother Charles C. Rich, please remember this), have the brethren build upon the block until every lot is occupied before you touch another. Then if you should be attacked by Indians, one scream will arouse the whole block. Get out these beautiful poles to fence with. I see no cedar here, but there is red quaking asp, and it is as good as any red pine we have for posts. This we have proved to our own satisfaction. Make your fences strong and high at once, for to commence a fence with three poles, it teaches your cows and other stock to be breachy. They learn to jump a three-pole fence. You add another pole, and that is soon mastered; you add another, and they will try that. Thus stock is trained to leap fences which would otherwise be sufficient to turn them.
I say again, with regard to saw-mills, get every man who can to build a sawmill, for, boards the proper width and thickness make the cheapest fence you can have. Make your improvements, and do all you can.
Be sure that you do not let your little children go away from this settlement to herd cattle or sheep, but keep them at home. Send them to school; neither suffer them to wander in the mountains. When the brethren go into the mountains after timber, instead of going alone and unarmed, let a few go together and labor together to assist each other in times of difficulty. If you go alone, you may be left to perish.
The brethren may argue that the Lord is all sufficient to take care of them, but do you know what faith is, and do you feel the labor and the responsibility that is upon you to help yourself and others? When you are in imminent danger, do you exercise faith to preserve yourself and friends from the vengeance of deadly enemies? If you do not, get this yourself, you will then know what the labor is. Three of our brethren went out on the lake yesterday, in a small boat. The wind began to blow from the south. Had it not been for the faith of their brethren, and their own exertions, very likely, they would have been drowned, or would have drifted to the opposite side of the lake, and starved to death, or suffered greatly before help could have reached them. They were reckless, and unconcerned, and apparently their lives are of no worth in their own estimation. It is our duty to preserve our lives as long as possible. Fathers, take warning, numerous thieves have been raised on the herd grounds around our settlements. Some of them go to California, and others suffer the vengeance of an outraged law.
Keep your children in school, and let every father and mother make their homes so interesting that their children will never want to leave it. Make your houses and homes pleasant with foliage and beautiful gardens, with the fragrance and variegated colors of flowers, and fruit blossoms, and, above all, teach them always to remember that God must be in all our thoughts, and that from him proceeds every good thing.
President Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith and John Taylor followed the president in much the same strain, and the meeting was dismissed by prayer, Brother George A. Smith being mouth.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Devotion to His Children." Juvenile Instructor. 1 June 1907. pg. 326-328.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S DEVOTION TO HIS CHILDREN. The little girl lay very sick with fever. Her long, beautiful yellow curls were tossed and tangled on the white pillow; her bright blue eyes were glassy and brilliant with the fire which was raging in her veins. The mother bent above her couch with increasing anxiety. For three days the child had sickened and the mother had used all the simple household remedies known to her motherly skill. But the moaning child grew weaker and worse. There was an epidemic of "putrid sore throat" prevalent in the city, and the mother who watched over her child in the large upper chamber of the Beehive House was very apprehensive and depressed. The little curly head tossed to and fro on the pillow as if in answer to the waving branches of the cherry tree outside which was vainly trying to reach, in its youth, the sill of the upper window. "Mother," wailed the child, "send to the office for father. He will come to me when he knows how sick I am; and if he will only come and put his hands on my head and bless me, I know I shall get well.'' "Oh Clara, don't ask for that. Your lather knew you were ill this morning and prayed for you then. And now he is very busy holding meeting with the brethren." The child lay quiet for a while after this rebuke, but presently her cries broke forth afresh. She began to be delirious, and babbled of the Lake and Black Rock, crying out that her eyes were smarting from the salt spray. At that moment, the mother's brother-in-law, Uncle Feramorz Little, came into the room where the sick child lay. The moment little Clara saw him, she began crying again for her father to come. "Lucy," said he to his sister, "why don't you send in for President Young? Don't you hear Clara calling for him?" Mrs. Young explained that the President was very busy with an important council meeting. "Well," answered Uncle Ferry, "I am going in myself to tell him how Clara is suffering, and he can please himself about coming in to see her." The President was surrounded, in his low-ceiled office, with a large party of the leaders of the people. They were in deep consultation. But the moment Brigham Young saw the usually cheery face of his favorite nephew, Ferry Little, now clouded and grave, he invited him to come in, and asked him why he looked so sad. His answer stirred the President to the depth of his soul- Turning to the assembled brethren, he said, "Brethren, I have a very sick child calling for me. This council can wait—my sick child can’t!" And in a moment he was by the bedside of the little girl, and with his soft, loving hand upon her fevered head, he prayed God to restore his child. Even as his cool hand rested upon her brow, the little one closed her eyes and soon she was quietly asleep. Her faith had made her whole. Some months after this, little Clara had a very violent tooth-ache. After much suffering, she found her way into her father's chamber and told him of her trouble. He looked carefully into her little mouth. "Clara, I'm afraid I can't pull this big tooth with my string; I think I shall have to take you down to Dr. Sharp's and have him take it out." Clara's face blanched with sudden terror. She had submitted to her father's pulling of her childish teeth; and afterwards gratefully accepted the long string of rock candy which was the inevitable reward for every such operation, and they were many. There were thirty little mouths from which baby teeth were often to be drawn. Every child in the house was familiar with the string of rock candy. But a visit to Dr. Sharp's gloomy, shabby little office inside the wall near the Deseret News office, that was quite a different thing! Clara had never paid the place a visit; and she had never wished to do so. To the dentist's office, therefore, started the President with his yellow-tressed daughter. Poor Clara; what between fright of her father's determination and fright of the terrible "Doctor" Sharp, and misery of the loss of the prospect of rock candy, she was in a pitiable plight. She finally mustered up courage to make a vigorous protest. "Father," she said, "my tooth has stopped aching," as they were wending their way westward to the office. "But, Clara, that is only because you are frightened. I have had all of mine drawn. See your father's new teeth;'' and he showed her the lovely porcelain set which had replaced the miserable aching ones that had caused him trouble for many suffering years. But Clara was not to be cajoled even at that; and she openly rebelled. What was to be done? "Clara, come on with me, and don't cry; we will go down to Clark, Eldredge and Co. and see if they have a doll there." This most unusual prospect at once convinced the doll-loving child that it was always better to mind father. Accordingly they proceeded past the dreaded dentist's door, down to the large store in the Constitution building. Here, Clara saw a perfectly glorious wax doll, with yellow curls, not a bit yellower or curlier than her own, nor half so long; but very soft they were, those curls, and capable of actual combing. Then, the doll had real eyes and a beautiful wax nose; not one painted on its face, as so many of her early dolls had had for their ugly rag faces. And when her father actually bought that wild dream of a doll and put it in her arms, all wrapped up in a white-brown paper, she felt as if she could face the guns of Fort Douglas itself, if need be, in the delight of her possession. And so the tooth came out, with a scream, and a strong pull. Clara is the mother of five beautiful children now, but she still cherishes the tooth, the doll, and memory. It seems perfectly right and natural that her father should drop everything and take her down to the dentist's; and quite proper also, but so absolutely unexpected and altogether delightful, that he should go on past the dreadful tooth "parlor" to a store, that even now, thirty-five years later, Clara feels the joyous thrill that set her feet dancing when her stately father, with his tall, portly form, his deliberate dignity, took his way into the place of dear delights, the "store." And with what understanding did he discuss with her the various charms of brown and yellow hair, blue and black eyes as increasing the radiant beauty of a "store doll!" That was a day and a doll! Packed away in silver paper is that precious doll, and closed behind golden portals in memory's chancel broods the image of that grandest and best of fathers! To others, Brigham Young may be statesman, pioneer, financier, colonizer or fulfiller of prophecy; to Clara he is just—Father Beloved, almost adored! No better father ever lived or loved. And Clara's little girl who listens to this story, asks, "Are there dolls in Heaven?" Who can tell? But Clara answers, "Father's there, and mother; what else matters?" Susa Young Gates. |
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG,
Born June 1, 1801, Died August 29, 1877 |
Young, Levi Edgar. "Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1907. pg. 273-275.
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Levi Edgar Young.
“Ja, was man so erkennen heisst.
Wer darf das Kind beim rechten Namen nennen?
Die wenigen, die was davon erkannt,
Die thoricht g’nug ihr volles Herz nicht wahrten.
Dem Poebel ihr Gefuehl, ihr Schauen offenbarten.
Hat man von je gekreuzigt und verbrannt.”
—Goethe's “Faust”
“He who digs a well, constucts a stone fountain, plants a grove of trees by the roadside, plants an orchard, builds a durable house, reclaims a swamp, or so much as puts a stone seat by the wayside, makes the land so far lovely and desirable, makes a fortune which he cannot carry with him, but which is useful to his country long afterwards. . . . A man is a man only as he makes life and nature happier to us.”--Emerson.
To understand Brigham Young as a character in history, one must understand Mormonism. Mormonism is a religion which explains the meaning of life in all its detail. No religion is harder to live. It stands for a definite, absolute law. It is infinite in its application. It is a divine principle put into the hands of mortal men. The greater the meaning of a law, the harder it is to understand and to abide by. Hence men stumble, even fall when attempting to live for the greatest in life. The mistakes of the followers of Mormonism have always been held up before the world. Perfection, however, will come only through constancy to a fixed purpose. but a purpose founded on truth.
Brigham Young was a man devoted to a great cause. To him, Mormonism was the principle tc explain all in life. The basis of his creed was work. Work in its full meaning. To him a religion of indefinite idealistic principles was but a travesty. He believed that the world is to be prepared for the coming of Christ. This old earth is to be renewed. The work is to begin here. Elements are to be met and mastered. The soil must be made subservient to man. Practical every-day problems met and solved The great men of the world are those who have gone ahead with these every-day problems, irrespective of the opinions of their inferiors. They have stood for principle in the face of all difficulty.
After the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a Titan personality was needed. The times were precarious. Many had announced the downfall of the Church. Many were discouraged. But a sublime faith was actuating the hearts of the followers of Mormonism. A faith that makes for great things in life. A leader was needed. Brigham Young was the man. The people knew it. The history of the Church has proved that God- designated him as the master mind.
Mormonism is a nineteenth century religion. Brigham Young was a nineteenth century man. He understood the utilitarian age in which he lived. “The earth is the mother of us all.” It was the earth and God’s children that must be dealt with. So he acted. He led the people to a new home. He governed them. He understood with the great French writer Montesquieu that man needs both religious and civil law. Law that can be enforced, but enforced justly. To lead the people to these western mountains was a great undertaking. Discipline was needed. Great executive skill was necessary. Brigham Young like Oliver Cromwell could direct and direct to a purpose. He knew the needs of the common people. His aim was to build up Mormonism in a new commonwealth. The first thing necessary for the building of a state is food. Agriculture became the chief pursuit of the people. Wheat and potatoes were gathered into the cellars. Glorious idea was this! Mining was left to a future time. A wise man looks to the future. So Brigham Young measured the times to come by the foundation that he and his people should lay. A strenuous worker, no detail of his labor was overlooked. Of him could Browning well have said:
Oh, if we draw a circle premature, Heedless of fair gain.
Greedy for quick returns of profit, sure Bad is our bargain.
Was it not great? did not he throw on God
(He loves the burden)
God’s task to make the heavenly period Perfect the earthen?
Did not ’he magnify the mind, show clear
Just what it all meant?
He would not discount life, as fools do here,
Paid by installment.
He ventured neck or nothing—heaven’s success
Found, or earth’s failure.
Though Brigham Young lived close to the earth, he lived among the stars as well. He had a wonderful conception as to the meaning of education. “Let the youth of Zion be educated, and educated so that they can get all out of life that is pure and noblest.” Schools were built under his supervision Buildings were erected for sacred purposes. Roads and bridges were built. Trees and gardens were planted. Canals and ditches were dug. Cities were laid out. Brigham Young was the director in these movements when the people first came to this Rocky Mountain region. He conceived gigantic plans. He carried many of them to a successful outcome. In all things he displayed absolute originality in thought and action.
Brigham Young was essentially a hero of the Teutonic type. Well may it be said of him that “He feared man so little because he feared God so much.” He was great for he did great things. He was sometimes misunderstood, but it was always by his inferiors. He stood for a principle. He acted, but acted according to the divine light in his soul. His life should be an inspiration to both old and young alike.
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Levi Edgar Young.
“Ja, was man so erkennen heisst.
Wer darf das Kind beim rechten Namen nennen?
Die wenigen, die was davon erkannt,
Die thoricht g’nug ihr volles Herz nicht wahrten.
Dem Poebel ihr Gefuehl, ihr Schauen offenbarten.
Hat man von je gekreuzigt und verbrannt.”
—Goethe's “Faust”
“He who digs a well, constucts a stone fountain, plants a grove of trees by the roadside, plants an orchard, builds a durable house, reclaims a swamp, or so much as puts a stone seat by the wayside, makes the land so far lovely and desirable, makes a fortune which he cannot carry with him, but which is useful to his country long afterwards. . . . A man is a man only as he makes life and nature happier to us.”--Emerson.
To understand Brigham Young as a character in history, one must understand Mormonism. Mormonism is a religion which explains the meaning of life in all its detail. No religion is harder to live. It stands for a definite, absolute law. It is infinite in its application. It is a divine principle put into the hands of mortal men. The greater the meaning of a law, the harder it is to understand and to abide by. Hence men stumble, even fall when attempting to live for the greatest in life. The mistakes of the followers of Mormonism have always been held up before the world. Perfection, however, will come only through constancy to a fixed purpose. but a purpose founded on truth.
Brigham Young was a man devoted to a great cause. To him, Mormonism was the principle tc explain all in life. The basis of his creed was work. Work in its full meaning. To him a religion of indefinite idealistic principles was but a travesty. He believed that the world is to be prepared for the coming of Christ. This old earth is to be renewed. The work is to begin here. Elements are to be met and mastered. The soil must be made subservient to man. Practical every-day problems met and solved The great men of the world are those who have gone ahead with these every-day problems, irrespective of the opinions of their inferiors. They have stood for principle in the face of all difficulty.
After the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a Titan personality was needed. The times were precarious. Many had announced the downfall of the Church. Many were discouraged. But a sublime faith was actuating the hearts of the followers of Mormonism. A faith that makes for great things in life. A leader was needed. Brigham Young was the man. The people knew it. The history of the Church has proved that God- designated him as the master mind.
Mormonism is a nineteenth century religion. Brigham Young was a nineteenth century man. He understood the utilitarian age in which he lived. “The earth is the mother of us all.” It was the earth and God’s children that must be dealt with. So he acted. He led the people to a new home. He governed them. He understood with the great French writer Montesquieu that man needs both religious and civil law. Law that can be enforced, but enforced justly. To lead the people to these western mountains was a great undertaking. Discipline was needed. Great executive skill was necessary. Brigham Young like Oliver Cromwell could direct and direct to a purpose. He knew the needs of the common people. His aim was to build up Mormonism in a new commonwealth. The first thing necessary for the building of a state is food. Agriculture became the chief pursuit of the people. Wheat and potatoes were gathered into the cellars. Glorious idea was this! Mining was left to a future time. A wise man looks to the future. So Brigham Young measured the times to come by the foundation that he and his people should lay. A strenuous worker, no detail of his labor was overlooked. Of him could Browning well have said:
Oh, if we draw a circle premature, Heedless of fair gain.
Greedy for quick returns of profit, sure Bad is our bargain.
Was it not great? did not he throw on God
(He loves the burden)
God’s task to make the heavenly period Perfect the earthen?
Did not ’he magnify the mind, show clear
Just what it all meant?
He would not discount life, as fools do here,
Paid by installment.
He ventured neck or nothing—heaven’s success
Found, or earth’s failure.
Though Brigham Young lived close to the earth, he lived among the stars as well. He had a wonderful conception as to the meaning of education. “Let the youth of Zion be educated, and educated so that they can get all out of life that is pure and noblest.” Schools were built under his supervision Buildings were erected for sacred purposes. Roads and bridges were built. Trees and gardens were planted. Canals and ditches were dug. Cities were laid out. Brigham Young was the director in these movements when the people first came to this Rocky Mountain region. He conceived gigantic plans. He carried many of them to a successful outcome. In all things he displayed absolute originality in thought and action.
Brigham Young was essentially a hero of the Teutonic type. Well may it be said of him that “He feared man so little because he feared God so much.” He was great for he did great things. He was sometimes misunderstood, but it was always by his inferiors. He stood for a principle. He acted, but acted according to the divine light in his soul. His life should be an inspiration to both old and young alike.
Park, Hamilton G. "About Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1907. pg. 275-276.
ABOUT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Editors Young Womans Journal, Salt Lake City, Utah,
Dear Sisters.--Inasmuch as a number of our young people, who never had the pleasure of an acquaintance with the late President Brigham Young, have expressed to me a desire to learn more about him, I having been for so many years employed as manager of a large portion of his extensive business during the early settlement of these western valleys, I take pleasure, whenever and wherever an opportunity is presented in speaking from actual knowledge and personal observation concerning the goodness and greatness of that grand man. President Brigham Young. and the glorious cause of truth he so nobly represented.
That President Young was a sagacious, broad-minded statesman of the highest order cannot be denied. That he was a wise financier, a colonizer, and a leader of men is equally true. As a Christian man and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he clothed the naked and fed the hungry, comforted the widow in her afflictions and blessed the fatherless child. That he was a prophet of the Most High God, a seer and a revelator is the unfaltering testimony of every faithful member of the Church throughout all the nations of the earth, wherever the Gospel has been Breached and the children of men dwell. He was a kind and devoted husband, a loving and indulgent father, and a true friend of the working man. He believed in rewarding merit and faithfulness wherever found. He was a public benefactor and instructor in all the lines of life; in temporal matters as in spiritual. He taught the farmer how to improve his farm, the builder how to better build his house, the faithful wife how to increase the comforts of the home, and he taught the whole people, from the aged sire to the little child, to worship thd living and the true God, and to love their neighbor as themselves.
And during that long to be remembered year, 1855, when grasshoppers had ravaged the country and destroyed and swept away every vestige of a harvest, when from all external appearances hard times would again ere long be knocking at the doors of the poor, the Master whom he served, as upon all other occasions, made him equal to the emergency of the times. He could clearly foresee that unless immediate steps were taken to carefully husband all of the surplus breadstuff in the hands of the people a number of the poorer families of the community would certainly suffer for bread before another harvest could be gathered. President Young therefore visited in person every store and place in the city, wherever he thought that flour could be obtained, securing, regardless of cost, every pound which the holders did not require for the use of their own families. He had it gathered together, into a place prepared for it, then dedicated, consecrated and blessed it in the name of the Messiah., When this was done, President Young handed the keys of the building to the writer and with much feeling said,
“Brother Park. I entrust these stores to your care. You do as I tell you and all will be right.”
Continuing he said, “I will furnish you with the names of every man and woman in my employ who have a claim upon me for bread, also those who are employed by the Church, and with them I will include the members of my own family, and will designate the amount that you shall hand out weekly to each family according to their numbers. And should any who are well-to-do come with gold in their hand and wish to buy, tell them you have none to sell. But when the aged and the feeble, the widow and the fatherless, and the poor who have nothing to give in exchange come to you, wait upon them and serve them just as you would do the most favored member of my family."
And there were incidents associated with the distribution of that flour to the people that were stranger than a fairy tale, incidents that manifested the prophet’s blessing and the power of God quite as much as did the multiplying of the widow’s oil by the prophet Elisha, according to that beautiful little story recorded in the good book, the Bible.
And thus through the wise policy adopted by President Young, many people were saved from the pangs of hunger until the destroyer was destroyed and the earth again smiled with plenty and our bins were again filled with wheat and fine flour, and thousands praised the Lord and blessed the name of Brigham Young. He was verily and truly a most worthy successor to that noble character, the choice of the heavens and the highly honored servant of the living God. the Prophet Joseph Smith. I might continue these reminiscences indefinitely, but I will close this letter lest I weary you, by wishing every possible success to the Young Woman’s Journal.
Most respectfully,
Hamilton G. Park.
ABOUT BRIGHAM YOUNG.
Editors Young Womans Journal, Salt Lake City, Utah,
Dear Sisters.--Inasmuch as a number of our young people, who never had the pleasure of an acquaintance with the late President Brigham Young, have expressed to me a desire to learn more about him, I having been for so many years employed as manager of a large portion of his extensive business during the early settlement of these western valleys, I take pleasure, whenever and wherever an opportunity is presented in speaking from actual knowledge and personal observation concerning the goodness and greatness of that grand man. President Brigham Young. and the glorious cause of truth he so nobly represented.
That President Young was a sagacious, broad-minded statesman of the highest order cannot be denied. That he was a wise financier, a colonizer, and a leader of men is equally true. As a Christian man and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he clothed the naked and fed the hungry, comforted the widow in her afflictions and blessed the fatherless child. That he was a prophet of the Most High God, a seer and a revelator is the unfaltering testimony of every faithful member of the Church throughout all the nations of the earth, wherever the Gospel has been Breached and the children of men dwell. He was a kind and devoted husband, a loving and indulgent father, and a true friend of the working man. He believed in rewarding merit and faithfulness wherever found. He was a public benefactor and instructor in all the lines of life; in temporal matters as in spiritual. He taught the farmer how to improve his farm, the builder how to better build his house, the faithful wife how to increase the comforts of the home, and he taught the whole people, from the aged sire to the little child, to worship thd living and the true God, and to love their neighbor as themselves.
And during that long to be remembered year, 1855, when grasshoppers had ravaged the country and destroyed and swept away every vestige of a harvest, when from all external appearances hard times would again ere long be knocking at the doors of the poor, the Master whom he served, as upon all other occasions, made him equal to the emergency of the times. He could clearly foresee that unless immediate steps were taken to carefully husband all of the surplus breadstuff in the hands of the people a number of the poorer families of the community would certainly suffer for bread before another harvest could be gathered. President Young therefore visited in person every store and place in the city, wherever he thought that flour could be obtained, securing, regardless of cost, every pound which the holders did not require for the use of their own families. He had it gathered together, into a place prepared for it, then dedicated, consecrated and blessed it in the name of the Messiah., When this was done, President Young handed the keys of the building to the writer and with much feeling said,
“Brother Park. I entrust these stores to your care. You do as I tell you and all will be right.”
Continuing he said, “I will furnish you with the names of every man and woman in my employ who have a claim upon me for bread, also those who are employed by the Church, and with them I will include the members of my own family, and will designate the amount that you shall hand out weekly to each family according to their numbers. And should any who are well-to-do come with gold in their hand and wish to buy, tell them you have none to sell. But when the aged and the feeble, the widow and the fatherless, and the poor who have nothing to give in exchange come to you, wait upon them and serve them just as you would do the most favored member of my family."
And there were incidents associated with the distribution of that flour to the people that were stranger than a fairy tale, incidents that manifested the prophet’s blessing and the power of God quite as much as did the multiplying of the widow’s oil by the prophet Elisha, according to that beautiful little story recorded in the good book, the Bible.
And thus through the wise policy adopted by President Young, many people were saved from the pangs of hunger until the destroyer was destroyed and the earth again smiled with plenty and our bins were again filled with wheat and fine flour, and thousands praised the Lord and blessed the name of Brigham Young. He was verily and truly a most worthy successor to that noble character, the choice of the heavens and the highly honored servant of the living God. the Prophet Joseph Smith. I might continue these reminiscences indefinitely, but I will close this letter lest I weary you, by wishing every possible success to the Young Woman’s Journal.
Most respectfully,
Hamilton G. Park.
Gates, Susa Young. "Reminiscences of President Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1908. pg. 617-624.
REMINISCENCES OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. BY SUSA YOUNG GATES. When the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, the Patriarch, occurred on the 27th of June, 1844, Brigham Young with others of the Twelve were in Boston preaching the gospel, and advocating the candidacy of the Prophet for president of the United States. Brigham Young was lodging with Apostle Wilford Woodruff when he heard the awful news. Brother Woodruff has said that Brigham Young paced the floor of their lodging room all night, after receiving the news, arid was in such a state of agony of mind that he could not be comforted. In after years President Young himself said that added to his bitter grief over the death of his beloved Prophet, was his despairing wonder as to the condition of the Church, under the blow which had fallen; had the Priesthood, its presiding authority, and its organizing powers, fled with the martyred Prophet? That was the stinging question which whipped round his mind at every lash of despairing remembrance of the martyrdom. Joseph had been supreme in matters temporal and spiritual. Those who had arisen to dispute his authority, or to cast his counsels to the wind, had sunk into obscurity and ruin with terrifying speed. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff; these strong men had seen such calamities happen to those who scorned that little understood power which was wielded by the Prophet, hence they trembled at the very thought of facing life without his guidance. Suddenly, in that tiny lodging room in Boston, Brigham Young was filled with the light of inspiration; he clapped his hand upon his knee as he exclaimed: "The keys of the kingdom are not taken from the earth. The Prophet left them with the Twelve Apostles." When the Apostles gathered in Nauvoo, Sidney Rigdon was making a two-fold claim: he averred that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet, and that the Church must follow him, or they would be destroyed. The claim of Brigham Young was: "Joseph Smith was, is, and ever will be, the Prophet of the nineteenth century. He is in the heavens, side by side with the prophets of old, at the right hand of God. He will stand at the head of this generation, and no man can take his place here or hereafter. The policy, the plan, the order, the works of Joseph, are to be the guide of the Saints.'' That was the powerful claim set forth in the very voice and looks of the Prophet himself, in that wonderful meeting in the Nauvoo bowery. And the people answered the call of Brigham Young with high-uplifted hands, and a united Amen. To his dying day, Brigham Young proudly maintained such deep loyalty to his leader. Joseph's ideas, his designs, the revelations of God to him, all these were studied daily and hourly by his supremely fearless and passionately devoted follower. Never, in all the troubled after years, did Brigham Young feel a quiver of fear or a spasm of doubt or gloom regarding the mission of Joseph Smith. The Prophet once said that Brigham Young was his safest friend. It is a beautiful thought to those who love and honor them both, to reflect upon their united and glorious labors while in this world, and their union on the other side. The life, the labors, the whole purpose of Brigham Young was dedicated to the carrying out of the plans and general policy of the Prophet. Not because they were Joseph's, but because Joseph Smith was, is, and ever will be the Prophet and leader of the Church of Christ in this dispensation; because Joseph Smith lived, loved, suffered and freely gave his life to carry out the plans and purposes of the Lord; because Joseph Smith was the new revealer of Jesus Christ to this day and generation. As Joseph Smith was the friend and devoted follower of the Savior, so Brigham Young was the friend and devoted follower of Joseph Smith. The feeble lips of Brigham Young, as he lay dying on that August 29, 1877, uttered the all- abiding thought and purpose of his life; they murmured, "Joseph—Joseph—Joseph — Joseph." Together in life, together in death, these two, with a supreme loyalty surpassing that of David and Jonathan, have passed to the great beyond, and are laboring there as a perfect unit. As Joseph loved Jesus, so Brigham loved Jesus and Joseph. The following extracts from the words and writings of Brigham Young, which have never before been printed, will add to the testimonies of his love and loyalty for his prophet leader: On Tuesday, February 22, 1847, President Young met with the brethren of the Twelve in the Historian's office, Winter Quarters. Conversation ensued relative to emigrating westward. President Young related the following dream: "While sick, and asleep, about noon-day of the 17th inst., I dreamed that I went to see Joseph. He looked perfectly natural, sitting with his feet on the lower round of his chair. I took hold of his right hand and kissed it many times, and said to him, 'Why is it that we cannot be together as we used to be? You have been away from us a long time, and we want your society, and I do not like to be separated from you.' "Joseph, rising from his chair and looking at me with his usual earnest, expressive and pleasing countenance, said, 'It is all right.' ''I replied, I do not like to be away from you.' "Joseph said, 'It is all right; we cannot be together yet; we shall be, by-and-by; but you will have to do without me awhile, and then we shall be together again.' “I then discovered there was a hand right between us. Joseph stood by a window, and to the southwest of him it was very light. I was in the twilight, and to the north of me it was very dark. I said, 'Brother Joseph, the brethren, you know them well, better than I do, you raised them up, and brought the Priesthood to us, the brethren have a great anxiety to understand the law of adoption, or the sealing principles; and if you have a word of counsel for me, I should be glad to receive it.' "Joseph stepped toward me, and, looking very earnestly, yet pleasantly, said, 'Tell the people to be bumble and faithful, and be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small, still voice; it will teach what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to convictions, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, strife and hatred, and all evil, from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord, they will go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and. if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in heaven, before they came into the world. Our Father in heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion.' "Joseph then showed me the pattern, how they were in the beginning. This I cannot describe, but I saw it, and saw where the Priesthood had been taken from the earth, and how it must be joined together, so that there would be a perfect chain from Father Adam to his latest posterity. Joseph again said, 'Tell the people to be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and follow it, and it will lead them just right.'" Brigham Young arrived in Nauvoo after the martyrdom in the latter part of July; and as he left his motherless daughter, Vilate, in Boston, in care of the president of the branch at that place. Elder N. H. Felt, he was very anxious for her, when he wrote her the following letters, dated August, 1844: I do not know when I shall go East again. The Church are not willing to have Brother Kimball or myself go from this place at all. Then, in another letter dated August 11, 1844, to Vilate, who was with the family of N. H. Felt, he gives a sketch of his journey from the East by way of Buffalo, Detroit, Galena, St. Croix, and Nauvoo, he says: A brother came to us in Galena and told us Brother Samuel Smith had died with billions fever. We found many of our friends coming down the river. They were very glad to see us. We came with perfect safety; arrived home on Tuesday evening just at dusk. Our families and the brethren were overjoyed to see us come home, for they were like children without a father, and they felt so, you may be sure. All things are now reviving again. The brethren prayed with all faith for us to return. I cannot say much about the families of Brothers Joseph and Hyrum, for I have not had time to call on them yet. I have been in council almost the whole time since I arrived here. But this much I can say: The spirit of Joseph and Hyrum is here, though we cannot enjoy', their presence. Because of the great anxiety of the Church, there was a conference held last Thursday. The power of the Priesthood was explained, and the order thereof; on which the whole Church lifted up their voices and hands for the Twelve to move forward and organize the Church, and lead it as Joseph led it, which is our indispensable duty to do. The brethren feel well to think the Lord is still merciful to us as a people. The temple is going forward with greater rapidity than ever before; the brethren are very anxious to have it finished, so they can receive their blessings. I want you to be steady, go to school, and practice on the piano. Get all you can while you have the opportunity. You must be a good girl and pray for me and all the rest of us, that we may live long upon the earth to do good. Take the counsel of Brother and Sister Felt, and see Sister Cobb as often as you can, and hearken to her instruction. A word to Brother Felt: I am happy to say to you that all things are going pretty well here at present. I think the mob are satisfied, now they have killed Joseph and Hyrum. It has been a time of mourning; the day that Joseph and Hyrum were brought from Carthage, to Nauvoo, it was judged by many, both in and out of the Church, that there were more than five barrels of tears shed. I cannot bear to think anything about it. The Twelve will govern all Church affairs. We have appointed the two oldest bishops of the Church for trustees, who will take charge of all temporal affairs, while we attend to the spiritual affairs. We shall organize all the Church throughout the world, as soon as possible—with presidents, bishops, patriarchs, yearly and quarterly conferences. I would say to such as want to come up, to come. The temple is going ahead faster than ever. We shall push it with all our might. Crops are fine, wheat forty cents a bushel. The river keeps up high. I must say farewell. You may read this where you please. — Brigham Young. The following letter was written to Vilate Young by her aunt, Fannie Murray, a childless widow who was own sister to Brigham Young. The touching spirit of the letter is only exceeded by its fine literary quality: Emma has a young son, three months old perhaps; she calls him David Hyrum; says Joseph named it before he died—they call him the young prophet. To my own dear Vilate:—(In November). Alone in the old log house I sit me down this morning to write a few lines to the dear child who lives forever in my warmest affections, and whose welfare and happiness lies near my heart, and causes many an anxious sigh to escape my breast—little can you realize, my dear Vilate, the heart-aching hours and hard-wrung tears I have wept for you —yet these have passed away. And I now view you pleasantly situated, surrounded with friends and the comforts of life—friends, too, who possess sentiments of the most refined sensibility, and who are trustworthy; this comforts my heart and reconciles me to your absence. We talk about you, and dream about you, and our hearts leap forward to the day when we can embrace and kiss you and weep with joy at your return. I must now beg to tell you the news, but where shall I begin? You have doubtless heard of your Uncle Greene's death; this was a great grief to me, I have few more such friends to lose; however, all is right; I have no cause to complain. Your aunt, Angeline, with her husband, has gone off with the Rigdonites, and many others are gone with them. Mr. Rigdon says Joseph was a fallen prophet. and the people must follow him, Rigdon, or they will all be lost. Vilate, you must read the Book of Mormon a great deal, it will show you what is coming to pass in these last days. It has been a season of trouble and distress here, since last June, yet my heart rejoices to see the work of the Lord roll on. ' Court has been sitting in Carthage for two or three months; broke up yesterday—thirteen men were indicted for the murder of Joseph and Hyrum. I know not how it terminated; but the probability is, if they put them in jail, they would soon find the way out again. A man by the name of Daniels, who has turned State's evidence says: that he drove the wagon from Warsaw that contained the coffin made for Joseph. He was sent by the man he was working for, and knew not why he was going, until he got fairly in the job; he then thought he would go along, and see what they would do. He did so; and when they were within a few miles of Carthage some men met them and told them to make haste for everything was ready. The governor was gone to Nauvoo, and the guard had got their guns prepared in a way that would not hurt them if they should fire upon them, which they would be obliged to do to save their credit. Then they hastened on, and consummated their horrid work. He saw Joseph when he was in the window and heard him say, "Lord God, what shall I do?" He then fell from the window apparently dead, although a ball had not struck him. But as soon as he fell, four men discharged the contents of their rifles upon him. At that instant, a light like lightning flashed by them and spread around the body of Joseph. This so astonished and frightened the four that shot him, they could neither speak nor stir, but sallied back against a fence, as motionless, as unable to flee, as the body they had murdered. There was one appointed to take his head off, which they were going to send to Missouri, and his body was going to be cut in pieces, and sent around among his enemies. But behold, they could not fulfil the purpose which their hearts had decreed! The captain ordered the four motionless, stiffened men that shot him, put into a baggage wagon and thus carried them home; and one of them has been confined to his bed from that hour to this. I heard last week he was dead, but know not whether it be true. Vilate, you must pray much for your father, that he may have great wisdom; and likewise that he may be delivered from those wicked murderers, for they seek his life as they did Joseph's. He enjoys good health, but the cares that are upon him are all that he can bear. He prays for his own little Vilate and those she is associated with, every day. I heard the Missourians were gathering on the other side of the river, and we were likely to have trouble here. I thought I would wait and see how it terminated. The result was, there came a snowstorm and drove them all home. How long will they let us rest? I know not; but they seem bent on mischief, and I fear they will never again rest till there is more blood shed. At court, in Carthage, there were a number of Indians came peeping about to find Joseph's blood; it frightened the people very much. I must rectify a mistake I made about Mr. Daniels. He did indeed go to Carthage with. the company that killed Joseph, and he saw everything as I have related, but had nothing to do with it; and tried to get to the governor to let him know, but found he could do nothing. He then thought he would see all he could, and bear testimony of it. But it was young Bracken who drove the wagon with the coffin—and who turned State's evidence. I had the two blended together in my mind. I have scarcely had a moment with your father since I returned from Quincy. A visit with him would be a great treat. — Fannik Murray. Salt Lake City, Utah. |
Brigham Young.
From an oil painting, painted in Philadelphia, and finished the day he was forty years old, 1841. Sidney Rigdon.
Brigham Young's Home in Nauvoo.
Carthage Jail as it was in 1844.
The Mansion House, Nauvoo, Ill.
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Kimball, Solomon F. "President Brigham Young's Excursion Party." Improvement Era. January 1911. pg. 189-201.
President Brigham Young's Excursion Party. BY SOLOMON F. KIMBALL. I. Many old-timers will remember with pleasure a trip made by President Brigham Young and company to St. George, Utah, in 1864. It was customary in those days for the authorities of the Church to visit every settlement of consequence throughout Zion, at least once a year. There were no railroads then, nor telegraph communication, to make travel easy, or to disturb the quietude of the people, and every settlement constituted a little world within itself. The Saints always looked forward with joy and satisfaction to these annual visits. Notwithstanding their straightened circumstances, they did what they could to make pleasant the presence of those who had come so far—frequently under trying circumstances— to feed them the bread of life, and to teach them how to prosper as citizens in a land so far from civilization. They realized that none but men of God would leave their own home affairs, and spend the greater portion of their time helping to build up others, to whom they were in no particular way obligated. During the early 60's the Saints of Southern Utah had grown so prosperous that they urged President Young to bring along with him more of the younger people than usual in his visits, as they were then in a position to entertain them. They believed that a change of this kind would go far towards making their long and often tedious journey more pleasant and prove a blessing to all concerned. Their great leader listened with interest, looked wise, but said nothing as to what he intended doing. The next year, however, he dispatched messengers on horseback to notify the Saints of Southern Utah that his large W m excursion party was ready to start to "the land of cotton," and for them to govern themselves accordingly. They were asked to announce that the party was to consist of thirteen light vehicles, and two baggage wagons, and would be composed of the following persons: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Eliza R. Snow, Vilate M. Kimball, Robert T. Burton, John R. Winder, Theresa Burton, Amelia F. Young, David O. Calder, Anna H. Calder. John T. Caine, David McKenzie, Philip Margetts, Harry Bowring, Sarah Alexander, George D. Watts, Hamilton J. Park, Agnes Park, Willard Richards, A. Milton Musser, Peter Horrocks, Catherine D. Horrocks, John Squires, Lewis Robinson, Seymour B. Young, Fannie Young, Thomas Jenkins, Janette Young, Louis S. Hills, Ella Young, Emily Young, James T. Little, Leonard Rice, William VanNetta, Theodore Calkins, Mary E. Kimball, Elvira F. Kimball, Richard J. Taylor, Byron Roberts, Chariton Jacobs, Oscar S. Young, Hyrum S. Young and the writer. On Monday morning, September 1, 1864, at 9:45 o'clock, one of the jolliest crowds that ever left Salt Lake City started on its journey. They drove to pleasant Grove without a stop. Between Lehi and American Fork they encountered one of the severest hail storms that ever visited that part of Utah. The next day they reached Payson. As they passed through Provo, they picked up William B. Pace, and a first-class string band. Wilson and Warren Dusenberry were two of the members. A meeting was held in the evening, at which Apostles Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards were the speakers. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 3rd, the company arrived at Salt Creek, now Nephi. The farther from home, the greater the enthusiasm became, and the more anxious the people were to see them. By this time things were growing attractive. Even some of the older members of the party began to have their interests awakened. It seemed as if every man, woman and child in the place was out in holiday attire. They lined both sides of the streets for blocks, and shouted praises to their leaders as they passed by. A brass band at the head of a company of cavalry, with colors flying, came out to meet the party, and discoursed sweet music to the satisfaction of all. Enthusiasm was at a high pitch, and all enjoyed themselves to the fullest extent. Two meetings were held during the day, and a dance at night ended the third day's program. The next morning there was another meeting, and President Young delivered an excellent discourse, which gladdened the hearts of hundreds. By this time the excursionists were becoming better acquainted, and a spirit of mirthfulness began to crop out in various forms, After dinner they kidnapped the Salt Creek brass band, body and breeches, taking it right along with them. This amusing incident, in connection with other pranks that were indulged in, added to the feeling of merriment that possessed the whole company. For the remainder of the trip the band was an important division of the party. The party drove to Round Galley that day, and arrived at Fillmore the next afternoon. Here they remained two days and nights, enjoying a continuous feast of pleasure. When they arrived within two miles of Fillmore, they met one of the jolliest escorts that ever led a presidential party into a Utah town. Judging by the number it consisted of nearly every man and boy in Millard county—each of whom was mounted on some kind of an animal: narrow-backed horses of wide experience, and long-haired mules that mocked the Missouri mob — played prominent parts in the procession that proceeded down Fillmore's principal avenue. When this gallant gang of armed guardsmen galloped into line at the head of the president's party, and proceeded on their way through a cloud of dust, peals of laughter rang out from a hundred throats. This was the comical straw that broke the camel's back, and everybody was convulsed with laughter. As this peculiar procession passed down Fillmore's main street, terrific blasts from the kidnapped brass band, playing one of their fantasias in B., caused the excited crowd to wonder what thing was coming next. Just before the procession reached the Capitol Building, anvils boomed, cows bellowed, horses bucked, donkeys brayed, women shouted, youngsters yelled, and dogs yelped; while savage red men looked on, wondering what pranks the pale face people would play next. After the deafening din died down, the squawking of yellow-legged chickens and the quacking of big, fat ducks could be heard in all parts of town, as the high executioners of Fillmore were dexterously performing the ax act. At that time Fillmore was the home of the Lymans, the Callisters, the Kings, the McBrides, and many other good and broad-minded people who never did things by halves. Before the president's party had fairly time to arrange their toilets, the big feast began in earnest. Brother John Squires, the rough and ready razor man of the company, was so rushed that when it came the boys' turn to be shaved, he dexterously, but not very mildly, made the fur fly from their fuzzy faces. Great preparations for the banquet had been going on for days, no other incident of like importance having occurred before, south of Salt Lake City. Armful after armful of the choicest fruits, meats and vegetables of every variety were placed upon the tables before them, until the master of ceremonies was compelled to call a halt for further arrangements to be made. Waiters actually groaned and tables tottered under the heavy weight of custard pies, frosted cakes, preserved fruits, and scores of other delicious delicacies awaiting the hungry Salt Lakers. Before darkness brooded over this land of good things, a grand ball was opened in honor of this eventful visit, which was so far ahead of the ordinary country dance that comparison would be out of the question. It took place in the large and commodious twenty-eight thousand dollar Capitol Building, which had been thoroughly renovated and elaborately decorated for the occasion. Excellent music was furnished by the famous "Fillmore Fiddle-band," under the superior leadership of Daniel Olson, one of the noted violinists in the western country. Prominent citizens came from far and near to have a good time, and the spirit of dance seemed to be in the very air. The older members of the party retired early, leaving the dance to the middle aged and young, who moved things along with vim and dispatch. After a late supper, it was hard to tell which division of the party was getting the best of the situation, as all seemed to be enjoying themselves to the very limit. "Highland Flings," "Pigeon Wings" and other fancy steps taken by the Fillmoreites, surely demonstrated that they were more than equal for the occasion. Phil Margetts. Harry Bowring, Sarah Alexander and a dozen other fun-makers, in the way of innocent amusement, captured the best corner in the Capitol, and such capers as they cut were never before dreamed of by the unsuspecting citizens of Southern Utah. Daylight finally brought everything to a standstill, and what few live roosters were left in town were exerting every vocal power imaginable to impress upon the minds of the happy party that the time was fully ripe for them to be moving on. At 5 a. m. the kidnapped brass band came to life, and played "Oh, Dear, What can the Matter Be?" so long and loud, that everybody gathered from every direction to learn, if possible, what was the matter. Brother George A. Smith, the only 300- pound man in town, mounted an old workbench, and, with stentorian voice, informed the feasting excursionists that there were other settlers south of Millard county anxiously awaiting an opportunity to entertain them on the fat of the land, and that the frightened fowls of Fillmore were right—that it was about time "for them to be moving on." Saturday evening put a stop to the festivities. Everything of a light-minded nature was dropped. The Sabbath of the Lord was at hand, and the Saints, who had enjoyed themselves to the uttermost, were now ready for the solemn change. The authorities, thus far, had done what they could to make the journey a joyful one, but they never permitted recreative pleasure to interfere with sacred things. While visiting the Saints in these far-off settlements where there were no amusements to speak of , it was necessary to say and do things that would bring cheer to the hard-working settlers. Even in meeting it was, therefore, not unusual, in those days, for the speakers lo refer to conditions, circumstances and situations that were both amusing and pathetic, often causing the congregation to alternate between laughter and tears. The talks, in this way, entered their lives, and consequently the instructions were long remembered, and aided greatly in keeping the people in good spirits until their leaders came again. President Young had brought this jolly crowd with him for this very purpose, and their presence did the Saints a world of good. Sunday morning, September 7, at 10 o'clock, the largest congregation ever assembled in Millard county gathered to listen to the inspired remarks of Apostles Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Ezra T. Benson, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff. In the afternoon Apostle Orson Hyde, who joined the party at Sevier bridge, and President Brigham Young, occupied the time. Such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit was never felt before in that part of Zion. In the cool of the evening, in order to shorten the next day's drive, the company proceeded to Corn Creek, now Kanosh, Apostle Amasa M. Lyman accompanying them. The next day they reached Beaver, after the hardest day's drive of the trip. All day long they faced a blinding dust storm. A meeting was called in the evening, but the majority of the company went to rest early, as they were pretty well tired out. Miss Mary White, a resident of Beaver, joined the party here, and remained with it until they returned to Salt Lake City. Tuesday, at 5 p.m., they arrived at Parowan, the home town of Apostle George A. Smith, and on the following day drove to Cedar City. Meetings were held at both places, and a spiritual feast was enjoyed by the multitude that came from far and near. The Saints throughout the country had harvested a bountiful crop, and the people on all sides were praising the Lord. It seemed like the very windows of heaven had been thrown wide open, and blessings poured out upon the Saints, until there was hardly room to contain them. Orchards and gardens were teeming with good things, and everybody had plenty and to spare. Wagon-loads of melons and choice fruits of many varieties were lavishly bestowed upon their welcomed guests, who richly enjoyed the gifts as they proceeded on their way from town to town. On the night of the 11th, the company stopped at a little place called Pinto, and the next day reached Pine Valley, a way up in the mountains, some six thousand feet above St. George. It was a perfect little paradise, surrounded on three sides by groves of pine trees and meadows of rich bunch grass. A more beautiful spot could scarcely be imagined. The company greatly enjoyed the change, and would have remained here several days had time permitted. A meeting was held in the afternoon, and a dance given at night. President Young, however, instructed the members of his party to retire to rest early, as the hardest day's journey of the entire trip lay before them. The next morning at daylight the company, which now numbered not less than one hundred, started on its down-hill journey. Many loads of hay, grain and provision were brought along by the thrifty settlers, to help feed the multitude that was already gathering at St. George. The distance was about forty miles, and the road in some places was well-nigh impassable. When they came to the "Washboard," just north of "Jacob's Twist," all but the drivers were compelled to walk, the road being extremely steep and rocky. As they neared the "land of cotton," the weather became quite tropical. The volcanic rock, strewn over the country, shone like black diamonds, and the craters from whence they had come appeared like mountains of coal. After viewing the crater for a short time the company drove near to the brink of a deep chasm, where they remained about thirty minutes. The timid excursionists peered into the rugged depths until their heads reeled. After throwing a ton or two of rock into the pit, the company drove on. They arrived at St. George just in time to see the sun hide his smiling face behind the rocky cliffs of Utah's "Dixie." Apostles Orson Pratt, Erastus Snow, and other distinguished citizens of St. George, were on the spot to welcome the president's party to their southern home. Their guests were soon distributed in carriage-load-lots over the town, where they were made more than welcome for the next three days and four nights. The Saints of St. George were in comfortable circumstances, all things considered, and a more hospitable community of people never lived. The majority of them had comfortable homes, and seemed to be happy and contented. Their city was a little gem set in the midst of a sandy desert, surrounded on all sides by the rugged mountain cliffs. None but men of God, endowed with great wisdom and faith from above, could have built a city so beautiful in so remarkably short a time. It was located in 1861, in which year large companies of people were called from the northern counties of the territory to settle on the Rio Virgen and Santa Clara. The city of St. George stands today as a splendid monument to their honored names. Sunday, September 14, was a day of rest in very deed. After traveling three hundred and sixty miles over a dusty road, the president's party was pretty well tired out. Even the jaded animals showed their appreciation of the change, as they lay stretched out beneath the shady groves of the Garden City. At 10 a. m., a large congregation gathered under the spacious bowery, which had just been erected for the occasion. On the sand sat the great "Mormon" leader, President Brigham Young, surrounded on three sides by the following intellectual giants and mighty men of God: Apostles Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Amasa M. Lyman, Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards. Six meetings were held during a two days' conference, and a sweet and peaceful spirit permeated the large assemblage. Everyone present felt the solemnity of the occasion, as they listened in earnest silence to their great leaders, whom they sincerely revered and regarded with love and admiration. Tears trickled down the cheeks of the faithful Saints, many of whom, without a murmur, had turned their backs on comfortable homes in the northern counties, and, in obedience to God's servants, settled in this far-off, desert land. The almost insurmountable difficulties which they overcame, the trials through which they passed, and the sacrifices which they made for the cause of Zion, will never be known nor understood this side of the Millennium. God bless their posterity forever! |
From a photograph taken in 1864.
President Brigham Young. JOHN TAYLOR
WILFORD WOODRUFF.
AMELIA F. YOUNG
WILSON DUSENBERRY
Born April, 1811. WARREN DUSENBERRY
Born Nov. 1, 1836. LORENZO SNOW.
FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS
EZRA T. BENSON.
EMILY YOUNG, in 1863.
Born March, 1849. FANNIE YOUNG (THATCHER)
Born January 25, 1849. DAVID MCKENZIE,
Born December 27. 1833 FRANCIS. M. LYMAN
THERESA BURTON.
Born March 26, 1848. LOUIS S. HILLS, IN 1865.
Born March 8, 1836. Capitol building, Fillmore.
GEORGE A. SMITH.
JOHN SQUIRES.
Born December 23, 1820. Died November 13, 1901 DANIEL OLSON.
Born at Copenhagen in 1831: Died May 9, 1893. JANETTE YOUNG EASTON.
Born December, 1849. HARRY BOWRING, PHIL MARGETTS.
ORSON HYDE.
SARAH ALEXANDER.
AMASA M. LYMAN.
ORSON PRATT.
MARY WHITE.
Born November 7, 1840 ERASTUS SNOW.
DIAMOND VALLEY CRATER, TWELVE MILES NORTHWEST OF ST. GEORGE.
JACOB'S TWIST, NEAR ST. GEORGE.
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Kimball, Solomon F. "President Brigham Young's Excursion Party." Improvement Era. February 1911. pg. 311-321.
President Brigham Young's Excursion Party. BY SOLOMON F. KIMBALL. II. The party attended one of the most glorious two-days' conferences (September 14-15, 1864) ever held in Southern Utah. Besides this spiritual enjoyment, they feasted upon everything that could be desired in the shape of food. The younger members of the president's party, at the close of this spiritual and temporal feast, were up and doing. The first thing on the docket was a visit to the Sugar-loaf, a huge, square elevation on the hills back of St. George. On the evening before the visit, a picnic party was organized, and by sunrise the ascent was made. The tug of war came, however, after the summit of the hill was reached. On the north side of this monster rock, some enterprising individual had chiseled out from the base to the top of it, niches sufficiently deep to allow one to get a finger- and foot-hold. The men, with considerable difficulty, managed to scale the summit, but the ladies required help. Ropes were lowered to the base, some forty feet below, for this purpose. These were then securely fastened under the ladies arms. As they climbed up, one by one, the men above gently pulled on the ropes, and in this way the ladies were assisted to the summit. A number of field glasses were soon brought into requisition, and some time was spent gazing over the desolate valley of the Rio Virgen, and in viewing the distant craggy peaks surrounding. It was plainly seen from this eminence that St. George is really and truly an oasis in the desert. While contemplating this remarkable scene, peculiar feelings passed through the mind. One's thoughts naturally reverted back to the terrible hardships through which the Latter-day Saints had passed for the cause of Zion, and a spirit of sadness seemed to sink deep into every soul. After several songs had been sung, and a prayer offered, the company enjoyed their luncheon. The Sugar-loaf visitors then returned to St. George in time to accompany the president's party to Santa Clara, six miles west. Here a Swiss colony of Saints were building substantial homes and surrounding themselves with the comforts of life. Tables were spread beneath a cool bowery, and a late dinner occupied the time of the company for the next thirty minutes or more. After an interesting talk by President Young, all returned to St. George. At night a grand ball and banquet was given. Brother John T. Caine acted as master of ceremonies, and all had a good time. It was a splendid social affair, and a good spirit prevailed. The Provo band furnished the music, which kept the dancers busy until a late hour. Strange to say, the spirit of merriment which permeated the party on its way south had disappeared to some extent, and a more serious feeling prevailed. Probably this was due to the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was felt by the multitude during the two days' conference which had just adjourned. President Young remarked several times that nothing like it had been experienced south of Salt Lake City. It may be that at this very time the authorities decided to build the St. George temple, the first house of the Lord to be erected in the valleys of the mountains. Wednesday morning, at ten o'clock, the President's party bade farewell to the good people of St. George and turned their faces toward the north. Arriving at Rocky Ridge, three miles northeast of St. George, they faced one of the steepest and rockiest pieces of road encountered during the whole trip. There was no road to speak of over the ridge, and all but the drivers were compelled to walk. A mile or two farther, and the company came across an old gentleman with a heavier load than his team could pull over a bad place on the road. President Young stepped out of his carriage, and with a wave of his hand cried out, "Come on, boys, let's help this good old farmer out of his troubles!" In a few moments the old gentleman was on his way again, with a smile playing on his countenance that could be seen afar off. President Young never passed any one in trouble without lending him a helping hand. He was not only great in big things, but was a remarkable man in small matters. He was extremely fond of children, and was ever ready to give wise counsel to both the weak and the strong with whom he came in contact. Many a time he stopped his company long enough to investigate children's little troubles, and never failed to send them on their way rejoicing. He generally carried some trinkets along with him for this very purpose. One day he spied some little boys playing marbles with pebbles. He stopped his carriage and gave them a full set of genuine marbles. Even the Indians were not long in discovering the noble traits of this kind-hearted man, and they often laid their troubles before him. He dealt with them a good deal as he did with the children, and they generally went their way admiring "Peup Captain Bigkum" the man who never talked two ways. The company arrived at Washington at 12:30, and remained there until the next day, being feasted upon the good things of Zion. Orchards and vineyards everywhere were loaded with the choicest kinds of fruit, and hundreds of tons were spoiling for want of help to take care of it. The Lord had surely blessed the Saints throughout this whole region of country, so that a spirit of rejoicing, over temporal blessings, prevailed everywhere. At supper, the lady of the house asked President Young if he would have a cup of tea or coffee. He said, "Neither; just give me a little hot water in a cup, and I will fill it with cream. With a little sugar in it, this will suit me better than any other drink you can give me." President Young was naturally a temperate man, but was not unreasonable with others in relation to such matters, and did not consider it unwise for feeble old people to indulge in a cup of tea or coffee when in real need of it. He was a great stickler on the subject of order and cleanliness. Many a quiet lesson he gave the Saints upon these important themes. The next morning, after prayers, the president instructed the teamsters to get ready for a mountain drive. After breakfast, he led the way over a hilly, sandy country, until he came to a steep mountain called Hurricane Hills. The summit was finally reached without accident, where an hour or more was spent viewing the rugged mountain scenery. As a diversion, stones were rolled down the rock-ribbed mountain sides. The east side was almost perpendicular, about a thousand feet high. It was an interesting sight to watch the stones as they went bounding, crashing into the big boulders below. It was also amusing to the young people to observe President Young and the apostles taking just as much interest, apparently, in the lively sport as the younger members of the company. The president and his brethren believed that healthful recreation is a part of religious work. As Apostle Wilford Woodruff was in the act of lifting a large stone from its place, a big scorpion drove its poisonous sting full length into his middle finger, causing a painful sensation to extend the whole length of his arm. A crowd soon gathered around, prescribing all kinds of remedies, but none of them had the medicine they recommended. Some advised the drinking of liquor to kill the poison, and others the use of tobacco. A search was made for both, but not a drop of liquor could be found. They were successful, however, in finding a man who used tobacco. A chew of this remarkable herb was bound on Brother Woodruff's finger, and in a short time the poison was killed. The company then drove on to Toquerville, where the remainder of the day was spent in getting ready for a hard jaunt up the Rio Virgen. The next morning, at 9 o'clock, the president's party began its journey up the river. After a hard drive over a rough road they reached Grafton in time for a late dinner. The scenery along the route was grand beyond description. At Grafton the company remained until morning. A meeting was held in the afternoon and evening. The discourse—a synopsis of which was taken by George D. Watts—delivered by President Brigham Young, here appears in print for the first time: Brethren and sisters, we have again visited you for the purpose of teaching you and cheering your hearts. We certainly need to be taught in things both temporal and spiritual; but almost everything is temporal that we have to do with. This has been the case with the Saints in all ages. When we read the history of the City of Enoch, we find it a beautiful city. So will it be with the Zion of God in the last days, which we are called upon to build. * * * This cannot be done without temporal labor. We have been here but a short time, and .yet you want to see Zion in its glory, but it will take the whole people to build up Zion. The presidency and twelve apostles cannot do it alone. We should learn how to build a home, if it is nothing more than a log cabin. Zion will be composed of cities, farms, orchards and vineyards. There must be a place for everything, and everything in its place. This is Zion. North and South America is Zion. We want to adorn this place first, for it is a good hiding place. I want you to build on higher ground, above the stream, so that you will not be washed out. * * * By and by, when we come to visit you, we shall come via the Sevier river. You will soon have plenty of grain, potatoes and fruit. I wish you to cultivate here everything, and make the earth as beautiful as the Valley of the Nile. When I saw the Illinois prairie, I rejoiced in the Lord to see what God had done; so I feel about this mountainous region. I thank God for the rugged mountains and barren hills, as a defense for the Saints of God. I want you to pray that you may have the Spirit of God to be with you. I have not been in a house or a congregation in the South, but what I have felt a good spirit there. If it were my lot to live here, I could be happy. I hope that I shall live to see the day when we shall not have sin in our midst. If it were not for the foothold that we have in this strong, mountainous country, our enemies would drive us out; but the country is so barren and rugged that our enemies find no place to get a foothold. The Saints have taken up most places fit for cultivation. How Brother Joseph Smith would have rejoiced if he could have been with us! If we are the people and the kingdom of God that Daniel saw, we are in the place the prophets said we would be. How could we be a stone cut from the mountains, if we were not in the mountains? I do wish that you would go to work and build some good stone houses for meetings, schools, and a theatre, if you want it. But in all your recreation, do not commit sin. Seek to obtain that knowledge which will be useful to you. Learn architecture and mechanics. Where is the man who knows how to lay the corner stones of the walls of Zion. Any man who wants to leave this country, and not fulfil his mission, let him do it; and any man who wishes to come and settle here, let him do it. I have a great deal of temporal business to transact, and when any business comes before me, I attend to it. I know what to do all the time, and when I transact my business, I let it go out of my mind. Then I take up the next thing that comes along, and after it is done, I do not think of it any more. I shall be glad to see the day when labor will be classified, and we will all fare alike. I shall not live to see it, but the time will come when this order of things will be established. We are still in the school of learning. All the blessings we obtain are the gifts of God. It is the Lord who gives the wheat, and not man; we cannot make a blade of grass grow. I have never sold fruit of any kind from my trees, but have given it away, and my orchards have never failed. I know how you feel in these small settlements. You do not wish to go to meeting to hear those preach who live with you. You say, "I know as much as he does;" but if you will come in the Spirit of God, and bring it with you, you can edify the people, and all can partake of the Spirit together. May God bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen. |
Sugar Loaf 200x600 feet, about fifty feet high
Just north of Social Hall, near St. George MOUTH OF JOHNSON'S CANYON, NEAR ST. GEORGE.
GEN. R. T. BURTON.
Born October 25, 1821. Died November 11, 1907. COL. JOHN R. WINDER.
Born December 11, 1821. Died March 27, 1910. JOHN T. CAINE.
Born January 8, 1829. MARY YOUNG.
ROCKY RIDGE, EAST OF ST. GEORGE, UTAH.
DAVID O. CALDER.
Born June 18, 1823. Died July 3, 1884. MRS ANNA H. CALDER.
Born 1809. Died December 2. 1901. The Descent into Grafton.
Showing the town down on the Virgen River bottom, the great Smithsonian Butte in the distance. From a photograph by H. L. A. Culmer.
TRIASSIC TERRACES OF THE VIRGEN RIVER VALLEY. Hamilton G. Park
AGNES PARK.
Photo by H. L. A. Culfner.
THE ORGAN, IN LITTLE ZION VALLEY. from a photograph by H L. A. Culmer.
TOWER OF ROCKVILLE, FROM CRAWFORD'S RANCH IN LITTLE ZION VALLEY. From a photograph by H L. A. Culmer.
THE NARROWS, IN LITTLE ZION VALLEY. PETER HORROCKS.
CATHERINE D. HORROCKS
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Kimball, Solomon F. "President Brigham Young's Excursion Party." Improvement Era. March 1911. pg. 415-421.
President Brigham Young's Excursion Party. BY SOLOMON F. KIMBALL. III. When daylight dawned on the morning of September 20, 1864, the president's party left Grafton and continued their journey up the Rio Virgen until they came to Rockville, which is the last settlement on the river. Here they remained several hours, gazing with wonder and admiration on the magnificent scenery that surrounded them on all sides. Utah's celebrated landscape artist, Mr. H. L. A. Culmer, paints in words the sky-scraping cliffs of this canyon as follows: The cliffs are as high as in Yosemite, but very much finer in color and sculpture. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone does not compare with it, and even the splendor of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, in Arizona, fails before it; for the cliffs, rising sheer three to four thousand feet above the sparkling river, hem in the little valley on every side, and present scenes of grandeur in every direction. It is a region of romance and beauty, wonderful beyond the power of the imagination to conceive, awe-invoking, tremendous, sublime, proving once more that in Utah the scenery of the world reaches its climax. Of "The Narrows," a portrait of which place is found in a previous article in this series, page 320, he says: At a point about half way up Little Zion Valley, the walls come so closely together that the vigorous stream occupies almost the entire space between them. This place is called "The Narrows," and here the river makes a great tumult in the midst of echoing cliffs that darken the passage below. "The Narrows" also marks the entrance to the upper valley, where the scenery is even more stupendous than that around Rockville. Gorge after gorge, spires and towers, temples, crags and pinnacles, are thrown together in confusion, and on such gigantic scale that it seems as if the very heavens mingle with the earth itself. President Brigham Young was a great lover of natural scenery, and while journeying through these valleys of the mountains, whenever he came to beautiful landscapes, or discovered anything of unusual interest in the heavens, he nearly always stopped long enough to point out to his traveling companions such sights, giving them a touch of his own admiration, and what he himself so much enjoyed. He was one of the most interesting men to travel with that one could imagine. No matter what the conditions were, he was ever equal to the occasion, and his fellow-travelers almost idolized him. He always planned his trips before leaving home, and determined the day and almost the hour that he would visit each settlement. He then sent runners ahead on horseback to notify the Saints of his coming. He never failed to keep his appointments, even if he had to drive all night to do it. In times of peace he always led the way, while others followed in their order, according to the positions they held in the Church. At 1:30 p. m. the party started on its down hill journey, reaching Toquerville in time for a late supper. When the company were seated at the table, President Young noticed that the teamsters were not present, to which he took exception. He always insisted upon the drivers eating at the first table, and often said, "They do the work while we play." The next day the party drove to Kanarra for dinner, and arrived at Cedar City at 5 p. m. A meeting was held in the evening, and President Young occupied all the time. A synopsis of his remarks, as reported by Apostle Wilford Woodruff, is here published for the first time: Dear Brethren and Sisters: This is the first time I have had an opportunity to speak to you in public, this season. It is a great comfort to visit the Saints. It seems that we must learn more rapidly than we do. We have a warfare to combat, as evil is in the world. All have sinned, and we should have patience with each other. It should be our delight to do the will of God; but to learn to do it takes time. Where is the man who feels that God reigns within him who fears for a moment that we will not be victorious, and that we shall not do the will of God? All such have confidence in God when the Spirit of God reigns within them. When we turn to our farms, our merchandise and our temporal affairs, we sometimes neglect our spiritual duties. Then we feel differently; we lose the Spirit of God and forget. We must take the things of the world as we find them, and not make a bad use of them, but learn to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things. The people are trying to live their religion, and when they are devoted to God they will have peace within, as well as without. We will feel to say, "I have given all to God's cause." If in our day we are called to do something that goes against our feelings, and we feel that we cannot do it, yet if we go ahead and do what is required of us by the Lord, we will always find a blessing attending it. We believe that this is the Church and kingdom of God, and that Joseph Smith was his prophet. Those who follow the kingdom of God feel well, and have a testimony that we are led by God's power. What if I were to ask you to give deeds of all your property to the trustee-in-trust for the use of the Church, don't you think that there would be an enquiring? I think there would. That would try the people, and we would know what we are made of. I know that you send your teams across the plains to bring the poor to this place, but this does not take all you have. One poor brother sent his only yoke of oxen for the poor, and he gathered more volunteer wheat than he would have gathered had he cultivated the land. There is no mother who has more care for her children than the Lord has for this people, nor half as much. The Lord observes every hair that falls from our heads. Our children do not see. the light they are walking in. I know that our children are wayward and do not appreciate the light they enjoy. I will give you a comparison: If you had lived in the light of the sun all your days what would you think of darkness? Nothing! Neither would any man who was born blind have any conception of light or darkness. A blind man was once asked what he considered color to be. He said that red, he thought, was like the sound of a drum. So our children do not know much about the light they are walking in. They walk in the light of revelation from heaven, but they do not realize it. They do not know the contrast, for they have not been in the darkness. Many men will embrace the gospel, go on missions, labor for years in the kingdom of God, and then fall over some little temptation or trial. We should live so that we may walk in the light of God, and know what to do. This is his work, and he is gathering his people together, and building up Zion, and doing a good work. How do I know this? By the revelation of Jesus Christ, and by no other way. Let the minds of men be opened to see the things of God, and it is a feast to them. What a consolation it is to know the destinies of the nations of the earth! Our children know more than all the world combined, because they can tell the world what awaits them. . . If a stranger were to ask our children what would be the consequences if our people were driven from here, what would they say? They would say, "You could not live here—the Indians would kill you. They would destroy your vegetation, and you would starve to death." I might say that it is hard for the Saints of God to live here, but the Lord has made it so that the wicked will not remain here. Thomas S. Williams, the merchant, once said "the Lord would favor those who had the biggest guns and the most ammunition." We have seen what respect the Lord has for big guns and plenty of ammunition, right in our own nation. Joseph the Prophet said the Lord would give the people of Missouri all the mobbing they wanted. Is it not so? Men have been sent to the territory to find gold and riches in these mountains, but they will not find them until the right time comes. I told them so. I have heard some of them say that they have tried to find it, but they were not successful. Messrs. Box and Shirtz are trying to find gold mines, but they will not find them. They are employed by the soldiers. I am sorry that Mr. Shirtz is acting so foolishly. The people of no new country will prosper who depend upon gold mines for their support. If we want riches, let us secure unto ourselves eternal life, then shall we be rich. The Lord holds the riches of the earth in his hands, and will give them to whom he pleases. Then let us seek for wisdom. May the Lord bless you. Amen. When President Young was returning home after being absent for some time, as the saying goes, "he never allowed the grass to grow under his horses' heels," nor lost any time listening to long, dry yarns. Fifty miles a day over a dusty road was no unusual day's travel, and sometimes he drove as many as sixty or seventy miles in that length of time. Out of fifteen carriage loads of excursionists who left Salt Lake City, on the first of the month, there were only three who returned with the same animals that they had when they started. They were Lewis S. Hills, Willard Richards and the writer. Following is an extract from Mr. Hill's journal, September 22: President Young's party left Cedar City at 5:30 a. m. Watered animals at Antelope Springs. Stopped to feed teams five miles beyond. Reached Beaver at 5:30 p.m. Traveled fifty-seven miles. One of President Young's and both of Brother Musser's horses died. September 23, left Beaver 5:45 a. m., Cove Creek, 12 m. Arrived at Corn Creek at 5:15 p. m. Traveled forty-six miles over a rough, rolling country. On the ridge northwest of Cove Creek met Colonel Heber P. Kimball and Captain Nelson A. Empey, direct from Salt Lake, with important news concerning Indian troubles. One of Oscar Young's horses died. The purport of the message to President Young was that a band of friendly Indians living in Uintah valley, had sent runners to Salt Lake City, notifying the authorities there that a band of renegade Ute Indians were laying plans to attack from ambush the president's party, as it passed through what they termed their country. This startling news afterwards proved to be the distant rumblings of what was later known as the ''Black Hawk War," which cost the citizens of Utah not less than $1,500,000, besides the loss of many lives. The next day the company drove to Round Valley, now known as Scipio. On the way they met LeGrand Young and George W. Thatcher, who had accompanied the Kimball party as far as Fillmore. By this time the "Minute Men," who were really a part of the territorial militia, were pretty well aroused, and there was "something doing" from that on until the president's party reached home. |
Photograph loaned by Alfred Lambourne.
'THE CAPTAIN," SCENE ON THE RIO VIRGEN. H. L. A. CULMER.
Photo by H. L. A. Culmer.
THE RIO VIRGEN, NEAR ROCKVILLE. This is the Indian Valley of Mu-kun-tu-weap, or the "Valley of Babbling Waters," afterward called Tattle Zion Valley, by the settlers. ELIZA R. SNOW.
VILATE M. KIMBALL.
A. MILTON MUSSER.
THOMAS JENKINS.
WILLARD RICHARDS.
MARY E. KIMBALL.
HEBER P. KIMBALL.
NELSON A. EMPEY
LE GRAND YOUNG.
GEORGE W. THATCHER.
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Kimball, Solomon F. "President Brigham Young's Excursion Party." Improvement Era. April 1911. pg. 507-512.
President Brigham Young's Excursion Party. BY SOLOMON F. KIMBALL. IV. When the company arrived at the Sevier river, near the place where Captain Gunnison and party were massacred in 1854, they met a large company of cavalry from Sanpete valley who had come as guards prepared to escort them through the rough, hilly country. They reached Manti on the morning of September 26, 1864. A strong guard having accompanied them all the way from Fillmore. Many "Minute men" were scouring the country in every direction in search of hostile Indians, and the excitement was at a high pitch. Meetings were held at Manti in the morning and afternoon. The speakers were John T. Caine, David 0. Calder, Lewis Robinson, Hamilton G. Park, and Leonard Rice, who was President Young's teamster. A grand ball and banquet were given at night, but the majority of the company went to rest early, preparatory to three days hard journey before them. On the following day the party visited nearly every settlement of consequence in Sanpete valley, arriving at Mount Pleasant just in time to sit down to a public supper. This event caused more merriment than any one thing that had happened during the whole trip. After the company was comfortably seated at the table, and the blessing had been asked, a concealed string band began playing the "Highland Fling" with considerable vim. This undreamed of occurrence caused quite a stir among the hungry excursionists. However, they soon caught the spirit of the joke, and began to keep time with the music, as they partook of the good things before them. To add fuel to the fire of fun that was already raging, that wide-awake Scandinavian band turned loose on the "Sailor's Hornpipe" with full head on. This was crowding things beyond human endurance, and to give vent to the occasion, Sarah Alexander, the noted ballet dancer, scarcely through with her dinner, lightly tripped into the middle of the floor and danced as graceful a hornpipe as was ever witnessed in Sanpete county. The younger members of the party were not slow in following, and then the fun began in earnest. From the Phil Margetts end of the room could be heard, above the deafening din, a song for the occasion, in the chorus of which everybody joined. The dance and feasting went on until everybody was satisfied, when President Young, who probably was the silent originator of this amusing affair, took his lady by the hand and went marching out of the room, keeping time to the music as he went. His good-natured company went dancing along behind him with smiles that lingered long after they reached home. The kidnapped brass band played "Hail Columbia, Happy Land," "In Dixey Land We'll Take Our Stand," and several other soul-stirring airs; then bade farewell to their traveling companions and returned home via Salt Creek canyon. They were as jolly a lot of fellows as ever lived, and did more than their share towards making President Brigham Young's excursion party a grand success. Here let me present a letter from H. F. McCune, one of the three surviving members of the band, dated Ogden January 2, 1911: Dear Brother:—I am very pleased with your article in the January, 1911, number of the Era, entitled, "President Brigham Young's Excursion Party," more especially as I was one of the party, being a member of the Nephi brass band, or the kidnapped brass band, as you are pleased to term it; and thinking you would like to have a roster of that band for publication, as you have of the main body of the party, I herewith give you our names, and the instrumental list: John S. Hawkins, captain, clarinet; Henry F. McCune, piccolo; William Worwood, cornet; Gustave Henriod, cornet; Thomas Midgley, ophicleide; James B. Darton, slide trombone; John Andrus, slide trombone; Henry Henriod, snare drum; Charles Sperry, bass drum; and Israel Hoyt, teamster. Seven of the above members formed an excellent orchestra, which played for all the parties during the trip. It consisted of three violins, clarinet, piccolo, cornet and bass, Charles Sperry being the leader, with George Wardle, prompter. There are but three of that brass band now living; namely, Charles Sperry, of Nephi; William Worwood, of Bozeman, Montana; and myself, of Ogden. With kindest regards, and best wishes for a prosperous new year, I remain your brother, etc., H. P. McCune. The company arrived at North Bend, the last settlement in the valley about dark. There were but few houses here, hence nearly all the men slept wherever they could find shelter from the storm that raged all night. The next morning at daybreak the party made another start. By this time it resembled more a military expedition than a pleasure party. There were four hundred and seventeen men in line, three hundred and seventy-seven of whom were mounted on good horses, and "armed to the teeth," as the saying goes. Spanish Fork canyon, through which they were about to pass, was where the hostile Utes would naturally have attacked the president's party, hence so many armed men. The company arrived at Springville, at 6:30 a. m., and drove home the next day, a distance of sixty miles. When they arrived at Gardner's mill, on Big Cottonwood, they met Presidents Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells at the forefront of the finest turnout that ever greeted a "Mormon" presidential party. It seemed as if all the people in Salt Lake county were in line: companies of cavalry, state officers, county officials. There were the city fathers, brass and martial bands, private citizens, and everybody who could muster an outfit. And how they made the dust fly from then on until they reached President Young's residence on Brigham street, at just 5:15 o'clock p. m. Here the company disbanded, going to their several places of abode, congratulating themselves that they had enjoyed the time of their lives. The following is a concise statement of the main points of the trip as dictated, to Reporter Watt, by President Brigham Young, on his return home: September 1, 1864, at 9:45 o'clock a. m., the president's party left Great Salt Lake City to visit the southern settlements. We were absent from home twenty-nine days, traveled upward8 of eight hundred miles, visited thirty-seven settlements, held thirty-nine meetings, and delivered one hundred and twenty-four discourses. There was no formal organization in traveling. Ever person knew his place and duty. Not a murmur of discontent, unhappiness or faultfinding occurred to ruffle the continued peace that prevailed throughout the whole journey. The teachings were rich in counsel, and, if observed, will bring to the Saints spiritual as well as temporal salvation. The Holy Spirit was enjoyed by every honest heart, which greatly strengthened them in their faith. The receptions given the president's party, evidenced the universal confidence and good will of the Saints throughout the southern part of the territory. The visit was made a time of public feasting and rejoicing. The school children were out, headed by their teachers, giving their joyous bows of welcome as we passed. Young men and maidens said, "Welcome, President Young and company." The stalwart farmers, mechanics and lumber-men ceased for a time their labors, to join in the general rejoicing and merrying-making. Even the aged veterans bared their silvered heads in token of welcome and respect. Companies of horsemen and bands of music, with colors flying, came out to greet us. In some instances platoons of handsome young ladies, all dressed in white, met the company and escorted it to their homes. It would be no easy task to say too much in praise of the brethren who composed the Salt Creek brass band. They were ready on all occasions to awaken the beautiful strains of music, to the comfort of both man and beast. It formed an important part of the company, and they will be held in grateful remembrance by those who were inspired by their sweet music. The land where the water was not, and the soil barren, is now a land of flourishing cities, farms, orchards, gardens, and fragrant flowerbeds. The company was regaled with melons and fruit of many varieties. Wheat and corn in abundance are produced on the rim of the "Great Basin." Wherever the Saints have settled, God has healed the waters and blessed the land. It was said anciently, "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall seethe glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." This has been verified before our eyes on this trip. When the company descended to the settlements south of the "Rim," they feasted upon the fruits of the vine. The cotton plant was exposing its fiber to the busy fingers of the gatherers, and every person seemed alive in the work of improvement and self-preservation. May the heavenly impressions received during this trip South never be effaced from the minds of the participants. — George D. Watt, Reporter. (the end.) |
President Brigham Young's Residence
The "Lion" and "Beehive" Houses and President's Office in the center. One of the familiar and historical sites of Salt Lake City. Since this photo was taken, the stone wall has been supplanted by a modern fence, and other improvements have been made. President Joseph F. Smith occupies the "Beehive" house to the right; the "Lion" house to the left is used by the Latter-day Saints' University, and the central building is still occupied by the offices of the First Presidency of the Church. RICHARD J. TAYLOR
H. S. YOUNG
ELLA YOUNG EMPEY.
SOLOMON F. KIMBALL.
JAS. T. LITTLE.
John S. Hawkins
OSCAR B. YOUNG.
GEORGE D. WATT.
CHARITON JACOBS.
ELVIRA F. KIMBALL.
SEYMOUR B. YOUNG.
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Young, Seymour B. "The Loyalty of Brigham Young--An Open Letter to lieut. Hobson." Improvement Era. May 1911. pg. 603-612.
The Loyalty of Brigham Young.
An Open Letter to Lieut. Hobson, Whose gallant service in the sinking of the “Merrimac” largely contributed to the victory of the American Navy.
BY DR. SEYMOUR B. YOUNG, OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF SEVENTY.
The statement of some thoughtless person, published in a prominent periodical, was called to my attention recently in regard to the loyalty of President Brigham Young, of the ''Mormon" Church, to our government. The rabid statement, as I now recall it, was from a lady by the name of Owen:
Brigham Young was always a traitor to the general government, and lived and died a traitor.
When this language, Lieut. Hobson, was brought to your attention, I am informed you made this reply:
If it can be satisfactorily proven that Brigham Young was a traitor to our government, I, too, would object to having his monument and statue engraved on any piece of silver service belonging to the battleship Utah.
I was pleased to read this statement, for in it I thought I could recognize the sentiment that if it could be shown that Brigham Young was loyal to our country, you would be equally willing to defend Utah's rights, and have his monument or statue engraved on the silver service of the battleship Utah.
Brigham Young, pioneer of the great West, prepared a highway which led to the settlement and building of a mighty western empire, for, Salt Lake City, of his founding, soon became the Mecca of western emigrants, seeking not only the precious metals of the hills and mountains, but homes to locate upon the virgin soil, not only in Utah, but on territory in the states of Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and California; proving, indeed, that he was the founder of a great empire.
My memory goes back to 1846, when Brigham Young with his followers, numbering some fifteen thousand souls, left their beautiful city of Nauvoo, because of persecution from their neighbors in Illinois and Missouri, crossed the Mississippi river, and wended their way westward over the then uninhabited territory of Iowa. At the end of a journey of three hundred and fifty miles, the vanguard with Brigham Young arrived at Council Bluffs, a place of renown as its name implies, where the Indians were in the habit of gathering in the council of their nations. From their city of exodus, (Nauvoo) were scattered along this trail of emigrating "Mormons," these companies of emigrants, small and large. At Garden Grove, some sixty miles west of Nauvoo, a small town was located, a place for halting and rest for the later companies. Mount Pisgah, for the same purpose, was established, this latter town being about one hundred and fifty miles west from Nauvoo.
Oregon, at that time, was in the possession of the United states, and President Polk had recommended to Congress that stockade forts be built along the overland route to that distant part, as a protection to emigrants. In anticipation of a law being passed to this effect, the Saints endeavored to secure the work of building the forts. They knew they could do the work as well and as cheaply as any others, as they expected to travel some distance in that direction. Besides, the means to te earned by such work would greatly aid in supporting them; and the fact of their being in the employ of the government might serve as a guaranty of their good faith and their protection.
In alluding to this in a circular issued by the High Council at Nauvoo, by the direction of President Brigham Young, January 20, 1846, it was stated that,
Should hostilities arise between the government of the United States and other powers, in relation to the right of possessing the territory of Oregon, we are on hand to sustain the United States government to that country. It is geographically ours; and of right no foreign power should hold dominion there; and if our services are required to prevent it, those services will be cheerfully rendered according to our ability.
President Young also wrote to Elder J. C. Little, who was presiding over the Saints in the New England States, on the 26th of January, 1846, as follows:
If our government should offer facilities for emigrating to the western coast, embrace those facilities if possible. As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can. Be thou a savior and a deliverer of the people, and let virtue, integrity and truth be your motto, salvation and glory the prize for which you contend.
Elder Little remained at Washington several days, awaiting definite instructions in regard to the matter, and in the meantime addressed an appeal to the president, setting forth some of the grievances of the Saints, alluding to their intention to journey westward and testifying to their loyalty.
Afterwards, Elder Little had an interview with the president, who informed him that he had read the petition with interest, and that his people should be protected as good citizens, which he believed them to be.
Before leaving, however, the elder learned, by a subsequent interview, that the design of the president had been changed, and that five hundred men would be called for as U. S. volunteers, to join General Taylor in Mexico. He also learned that the president had instructed the secretary of war to make out dispatches to Colonel Kearney, commander of the army of the West, relative to the contemplated "Mormon" Battalion.
From the time the Saints first concluded to leave Nauvoo in order to secure freedom from persecution, rumors and speculations were rife as to their probable destination. It was confidently asserted by many persons in authority that the government would interfere to prevent them if they attempted to journey west to the Rocky mountains. Governor Ford, in writing to Sheriff Backenstos, as early as December 29, 1845, expressed the belief that the government would prevent their removal, as they would be likely to "join the British." Soon afterwards Amos Kendall, ex-postmaster general, who claimed to be familiar with the plans of the president and cabinet, also informed Elder Samuel Brannan that such was the intention. They were to be prevented upon the plea that it was contrary to law for an armed force from the United States to invade the dominion of another government. Of course, the Saints did not propose to go as a hostile force, but as peaceable citizens seeking a home. They had, however, suffered so much in the past without cause, that this new threat was regarded with apprehension. Letters were therefore written from Nauvoo to Hon. Stephen A. Douglas and several other members of Congress to secure their influence in favor of the ''Mormon" people. Efforts were also made by the authorities of the Church to obtain government patronage while journeying westward, with a view to securing protection from persecution, as well as a means of subsistence.
The following letter explains itself:
Sir—It is understood that there is a large body of "Mormons'' who are desirous of emigrating to California, for the purpose of settling in that country, and I have, therefore, to direct that you will proceed to their camps and endeavor to raise from among them five companies of volunteers to join me in my expedition to that country, each company to consist of any number between seventy-three and one hundred and nine; the officers of each company will be a captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant, who will be elected by the privates and subject to your approval, and the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned officers, also subject to your approval. The companies, upon being organized thus, will be mustered by you into the service of the United States, and from that day will commence to receive the pay, rations and other allowances given to the other infantry volunteers, each according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into service the fifth company, be considered as having the rank, pay and emoluments of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and are authorized to appoint an adjutant, sergeant-major and quartermaster sergeant for the battalion.
You will give the "Mormons" distinctly to understand that I wish to have them as volunteers for twelvemonths; that they will be marched to California, receiving pay and allowances during the above time, and at its expiration they will be discharged and allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to them at the post.
Each company will be allowed four women as laundresses, who will travel with the company, receiving rations and other allowances given to the laundresses of our army.
With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby pledged to the "Mormons," and which will be faithfully kept by me and other officers in behalf of the government of the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will, in a few days, be able to raise five hundred young and efficient men for this expedition.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed) S. F. Kearney,
Colonel of First Dragoons.
To Captain James Allen, First Reg. Dragoons, Fort Leavenworth.
In a circular to the "Mormons,” Col. Allen said:
I have come among you, instructed by Colonel S. F. Kearney of the U. S. Army, now commanding the Army of the West, to visit the "Mormon" camps, and to accept the service for twelve months of five companies of "Mormon" men, who may be willing to serve their country for that period in our present war with Mexico, this force to unite with the Army of the West at Santa Fe, and be marched thence to California, where they will be discharged.
They will receive pay and rations, and other allowances such as volunteers or regular soldiers receive, from the day they shall be mustered into the service, and will be entitled to all comforts and benefits of regular soldiers of the army, and when discharged as contemplated at California, they will be given, gratis, their arms and accoutrements, with which they will be fully equipped at Fort Leavenworth.
This is offered to the "Mormon'' people now. This gives an opportunity of sending a portion of their young and intelligent men to the ultimate destination of their whole people, and entirely at the expense of the United States, and this advanced party can thus pave the way and look out the land for their brethren to come after them. Those of the "Mormons" who are desirous of serving their country, on the conditions here enumerated, are requested to meet me without delay at their principal camp at Council Bluffs, whither I am going to consult with their principal men, and to receive and organize the force contemplated to be raised.
I will receive all healthy, able-bodied men of from eighteen to forty-five years of age.
J. Allen, Captain First Dragoons.
Camp of the "Mormons," at Mt. Pisgah, one hundred and fifty miles east of Council Bluffs, June 25, 1846.
Note:—I hope to complete the organization of this battalion in six days after my reaching Council Bluffs, or within nine days from this time.
When this officer, Colonel Allen, arrived at Mt. Pisgah he was referred, with his request for volunteers, to President Brigham Young, who was then with the first companies of "Mormon" emigrants encamped near Council Bluffs, same two hundred miles further west, as before stated. Colonel Allen immediately took up his journey westward, and reaching Council Bluffs made known his errand to President Young. President Young called his leading men around him, and laid the matter before them. Not all the leading men viewed this request in the same light, and some of them were decidedly unfriendly to it, but Brigham Young closed all dissenting arguments with the statement that the five companies required by the general government must be furnished from the "Mormon" camps. He further stated that though men inhabiting the states of Missouri and Illinois had expelled them from their homes, that the general government of the United States had never wronged them, and that the constitution of the United States was an instrument inspired by revelation from God, to our forefathers and to the patriots who cemented and builded this great, free government with their labor, with their toil, with their sweat and with their blood, and if the government required our help, the help of the "Mormon" people, to maintain or enlarge this great, free republic, they should have it, and we would aid to the fullest extent of our power. This word was sent from camp to camp by Brigham Young, carried on swift horses by express riders.
The result of this service was fraught with all the good to the "Mormon" people that was anticipated by Brigham Young and the brave boys, the "Mormon" volunteers. For, from the time of their enlistment until the "Mormon" people left the Missouri river on their march toward the Great Salt Lake basin, in the year 1847, they were not menaced nor threatened by their enemies, because, said they, their young men have gone to the war, and hence the "Mormon" people who were left without their protection on the prairie are under the protection of the general government.
The history of the "Mormon" Battalion is too well known to need any further comment at this time from me, but it must be borne in mind that Brigham Young was the leader of the "Mormon" people, that he was a Moses and a law-giver to them, and at the time this request came for five hundred able-bodied men to enlist as U. S. volunteer soldiers, to march to Mexico in the defence of the United States, the "Mormon" encampments were scattered for several hundred miles along their trail westward; and although their leader, Brigham Young, saw clearly that this enlistment of his young and able men meant a delay of at least a year in their march to the Rocky mountains, yet he earnestly counseled and insisted that the required number of volunteers should be immediately furnished.
When their service in the army was completed, and the "Mormon" Battalion was disbanded at San Diego, California, Col. P. St George Cook stated to them his approval of their conduct as United States volunteers, and said to them:
Fellow Soldiers'—You have performed a march without a parallel in the history of infantry soldiers, and you have endured uncomplainingly the hardships and deprivations of the journey, with the bravery and fortitude of veterans. You have been obedient to command, and patient under conditions of intense suffering, during your march, many times deprived of rations and water. Napoleon crossed the Alps, but you have crossed a continent.
I call your attention to this service, Lieut. Hobson, and will further refer you to other incidents bearing me out in the statements as to the loyalty of Brigham Young and his people to his country and to the government of the United States.
In 1862, during the War of the Rebellion, there were two expeditions called for, consisting of mounted cavalrymen for protection on the plains against marauding bands of Indians. The first called out was the latter part of the month of April, 1862, under command of General Robert T. Burton of the Utah militia. The order coming from acting Governor Frank Fuller of Utah, the purpose was for the protection on his journey to the east of Honorable William H. Hooper, delegate to Congress. General Burton gives the following account of the expedition:
It will be remembered that this was the season of the highest water ever known in the Rocky mountains. As a consequence, travel over these mountain ranges was almost impossible. Some idea may be formed of this matter from the fact that it took my command, with all their energy and exertion possible, nine days to reach Fort Bridger, only one hundred and thirteen miles from Salt Lake. At the fort we abandoned our wagons, and proceeded with pack animals from this point. It is proper also to state here that we received from the government officers at the fort, provisions, tents and equipage necessary for our continued journey. From this point eastward we found all mail stations and also telegraph stations abandoned. Many of them had been burned, and the coaches still standing in the road, perforated with bullets, where the band of marauding Indians had also murdered the drivers and passengers, and taken the horses away with them. In some of the stations we found large numbers of mail sacks, which had been cut open by the Indians, and their contents scattered over the ground, which contents were carefully gathered as far as possible by my company, and carried on to the stations at North Platte, and delivered to the mail agent at that point. We continued on to the Laprelle river station, thirty miles east of North Platte. To this point from the east, the mail coaches still continued to go and come with safety, and we here transferred the Honorable William H. Hooper to the care of this uninterrupted line of travel to the East. This expedition was one of the most toilsome and hazardous we have ever experienced, but we succeeded in going and returning, and accomplishing the safe conduct of Mr. Hooper without the loss of a man or animal.
Two days after this expedition had left Salt Lake as escort to Honorable William H. Hooper, President Lincoln, through Adjutant General Thomas, telegraphed Governor Brigham Young asking him to raise and equip one full company of cavalry for the purpose of protecting the mail and telegraph lines, also to rebuild and restore the stations that had already been destroyed by the Indians between Fort Bridger and the North Platte station, and for establishing protection to those lines. The following telegram was sent in answer:
Salt Lake City, May 1, 1862.
Adj. Gen. L. Thomas,
U. S. Army, Washington, D. C:
On receipt of your telegram April 28, General D. H. Wells, of the Utah militia,, was instructed by me to proceed to raise the company of cavalry to be mustered into the service of the United States for the term of ninety days, for the purpose of re-establishing and maintaining the mail and telegraph service lines, west of the Missouri river. Today, May 1, 1862, the company of seventy-two privates, officered and equipped as directed, with a commissariat of ten wagons, took up their march for Independence Rock, in the region of the North Platte river.
(Signed) Brigham Young.
The officers of the company were as follows: Captain, Lot Smith. First Lieutenant, Joseph L. Rawlins. Second Lieutenant, John Quincy Knowlton. Orderly Sergeant, Richard Atwood. Commissary Sergeant, James M. Barlow. Sergeants: 1. Samuel W. Riter. 2. John P. Wimmer. 3. Howard 0. Spencer. 4. Moses Thurston. Corporals: 1. Seymour B. Young. 2. Newton Meritt. 3. William A. Bringhurst. 4. John Hoagland. 5. Jos. H. Felt. 6. Andrew Bigler. 7. John Neff. 8. Hyrum D. Clemens. Farriers: 1. Ira N. Hinckley. 2. John Helm. Wagonmaster: Soloman H. Hale. Buglers: 1. Josiah Erdley. 2. Charles Evans.
At this time Ben Holliday was government contractor for carrying the United States mail from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast. He at once telegraphed Governor Young his thanks for the prompt response in sending Utah volunteers onto the plains for the protection of the mail and telegraph lines, and stated also that he would replace the coaches and re-establish the mail service immediately, realizing that he would have ample protection from the Utah volunteers.
The Utah volunteers for the above named service, were mustered in on April 30, 1862, at Salt Lake City, Utah, and performed faithfully the service required of them. They were mustered out and paid off on March 22, 1863, at the place of their enlistment.
On October 17, 1861, the Overland or Pacific Telegraph line was completed to Salt Lake City, and the first message was sent to Hon. J. H. Wade, president of the company, at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 18th, by Brigham Young, to whom the first use of the line had been courteously tendered. After congratulations, President Young closed his message with these loyal words:
Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our once happy country, and is warmly interested in such useful enterprises as the one so far completed.
Brigham Young.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, 1898, Major Richard W. Young, grandson of President Brigham Young, and a graduate of West Point, offered his services to the governor of Utah. He was appointed senior captain of the two batteries, A and B. Captain Young's battery A, and Captain Grant's battery B were well posted, and, with the rest of the land forces, assisted Admiral Dewey in the bombarding of Manila, and captured that city with fourteen thousand of the Spanish forces. During the period of conquest which followed, Captain Young was appointed Superior Provost Judge of Manila, and performed the duties of this office in addition to the duties of battalion major, to which he had also been recently appointed. In 1899, Major Young and Captain Grant of the Utah batteries, were granted a leave of absence to visit the ports of Japan and China. On the 4th of February was anticipated a further attack from the Philippines, and to prepare for this, General McArthur requested Major Young, who had now returned with his two batteries, to place himself in readiness, and during the fierce battle which followed and raged from the night of the 4th and all day on the 5th and 6th, these batteries did gallant service in assisting in the capture of General Aguinaldo's forces. During this great battle for two nights and two days, John G. Young, sergeant, and Dr. Harry Young, surgeon and captain, were killed. These young men were both nephews of President Brigham Young. This fact is mentioned to show the fighting stock from which these young men have sprung; for be it remembered, John Young, their grandfather, and the father of President Brigham Young, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and was under the immediate command of General Washington.
In 1901, Major Richard W. Young returned home, and since that time has built up a large and successful law practice, and is one of the honored sons of Utah, both as a soldier and a civilian.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Loyalty of Brigham Young.
An Open Letter to Lieut. Hobson, Whose gallant service in the sinking of the “Merrimac” largely contributed to the victory of the American Navy.
BY DR. SEYMOUR B. YOUNG, OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF SEVENTY.
The statement of some thoughtless person, published in a prominent periodical, was called to my attention recently in regard to the loyalty of President Brigham Young, of the ''Mormon" Church, to our government. The rabid statement, as I now recall it, was from a lady by the name of Owen:
Brigham Young was always a traitor to the general government, and lived and died a traitor.
When this language, Lieut. Hobson, was brought to your attention, I am informed you made this reply:
If it can be satisfactorily proven that Brigham Young was a traitor to our government, I, too, would object to having his monument and statue engraved on any piece of silver service belonging to the battleship Utah.
I was pleased to read this statement, for in it I thought I could recognize the sentiment that if it could be shown that Brigham Young was loyal to our country, you would be equally willing to defend Utah's rights, and have his monument or statue engraved on the silver service of the battleship Utah.
Brigham Young, pioneer of the great West, prepared a highway which led to the settlement and building of a mighty western empire, for, Salt Lake City, of his founding, soon became the Mecca of western emigrants, seeking not only the precious metals of the hills and mountains, but homes to locate upon the virgin soil, not only in Utah, but on territory in the states of Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and California; proving, indeed, that he was the founder of a great empire.
My memory goes back to 1846, when Brigham Young with his followers, numbering some fifteen thousand souls, left their beautiful city of Nauvoo, because of persecution from their neighbors in Illinois and Missouri, crossed the Mississippi river, and wended their way westward over the then uninhabited territory of Iowa. At the end of a journey of three hundred and fifty miles, the vanguard with Brigham Young arrived at Council Bluffs, a place of renown as its name implies, where the Indians were in the habit of gathering in the council of their nations. From their city of exodus, (Nauvoo) were scattered along this trail of emigrating "Mormons," these companies of emigrants, small and large. At Garden Grove, some sixty miles west of Nauvoo, a small town was located, a place for halting and rest for the later companies. Mount Pisgah, for the same purpose, was established, this latter town being about one hundred and fifty miles west from Nauvoo.
Oregon, at that time, was in the possession of the United states, and President Polk had recommended to Congress that stockade forts be built along the overland route to that distant part, as a protection to emigrants. In anticipation of a law being passed to this effect, the Saints endeavored to secure the work of building the forts. They knew they could do the work as well and as cheaply as any others, as they expected to travel some distance in that direction. Besides, the means to te earned by such work would greatly aid in supporting them; and the fact of their being in the employ of the government might serve as a guaranty of their good faith and their protection.
In alluding to this in a circular issued by the High Council at Nauvoo, by the direction of President Brigham Young, January 20, 1846, it was stated that,
Should hostilities arise between the government of the United States and other powers, in relation to the right of possessing the territory of Oregon, we are on hand to sustain the United States government to that country. It is geographically ours; and of right no foreign power should hold dominion there; and if our services are required to prevent it, those services will be cheerfully rendered according to our ability.
President Young also wrote to Elder J. C. Little, who was presiding over the Saints in the New England States, on the 26th of January, 1846, as follows:
If our government should offer facilities for emigrating to the western coast, embrace those facilities if possible. As a wise and faithful man, take every honorable advantage of the times you can. Be thou a savior and a deliverer of the people, and let virtue, integrity and truth be your motto, salvation and glory the prize for which you contend.
Elder Little remained at Washington several days, awaiting definite instructions in regard to the matter, and in the meantime addressed an appeal to the president, setting forth some of the grievances of the Saints, alluding to their intention to journey westward and testifying to their loyalty.
Afterwards, Elder Little had an interview with the president, who informed him that he had read the petition with interest, and that his people should be protected as good citizens, which he believed them to be.
Before leaving, however, the elder learned, by a subsequent interview, that the design of the president had been changed, and that five hundred men would be called for as U. S. volunteers, to join General Taylor in Mexico. He also learned that the president had instructed the secretary of war to make out dispatches to Colonel Kearney, commander of the army of the West, relative to the contemplated "Mormon" Battalion.
From the time the Saints first concluded to leave Nauvoo in order to secure freedom from persecution, rumors and speculations were rife as to their probable destination. It was confidently asserted by many persons in authority that the government would interfere to prevent them if they attempted to journey west to the Rocky mountains. Governor Ford, in writing to Sheriff Backenstos, as early as December 29, 1845, expressed the belief that the government would prevent their removal, as they would be likely to "join the British." Soon afterwards Amos Kendall, ex-postmaster general, who claimed to be familiar with the plans of the president and cabinet, also informed Elder Samuel Brannan that such was the intention. They were to be prevented upon the plea that it was contrary to law for an armed force from the United States to invade the dominion of another government. Of course, the Saints did not propose to go as a hostile force, but as peaceable citizens seeking a home. They had, however, suffered so much in the past without cause, that this new threat was regarded with apprehension. Letters were therefore written from Nauvoo to Hon. Stephen A. Douglas and several other members of Congress to secure their influence in favor of the ''Mormon" people. Efforts were also made by the authorities of the Church to obtain government patronage while journeying westward, with a view to securing protection from persecution, as well as a means of subsistence.
The following letter explains itself:
Sir—It is understood that there is a large body of "Mormons'' who are desirous of emigrating to California, for the purpose of settling in that country, and I have, therefore, to direct that you will proceed to their camps and endeavor to raise from among them five companies of volunteers to join me in my expedition to that country, each company to consist of any number between seventy-three and one hundred and nine; the officers of each company will be a captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant, who will be elected by the privates and subject to your approval, and the captains then to appoint the non-commissioned officers, also subject to your approval. The companies, upon being organized thus, will be mustered by you into the service of the United States, and from that day will commence to receive the pay, rations and other allowances given to the other infantry volunteers, each according to his rank. You will, upon mustering into service the fifth company, be considered as having the rank, pay and emoluments of a lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and are authorized to appoint an adjutant, sergeant-major and quartermaster sergeant for the battalion.
You will give the "Mormons" distinctly to understand that I wish to have them as volunteers for twelvemonths; that they will be marched to California, receiving pay and allowances during the above time, and at its expiration they will be discharged and allowed to retain, as their private property, the guns and accoutrements furnished to them at the post.
Each company will be allowed four women as laundresses, who will travel with the company, receiving rations and other allowances given to the laundresses of our army.
With the foregoing conditions, which are hereby pledged to the "Mormons," and which will be faithfully kept by me and other officers in behalf of the government of the United States, I cannot doubt but that you will, in a few days, be able to raise five hundred young and efficient men for this expedition.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed) S. F. Kearney,
Colonel of First Dragoons.
To Captain James Allen, First Reg. Dragoons, Fort Leavenworth.
In a circular to the "Mormons,” Col. Allen said:
I have come among you, instructed by Colonel S. F. Kearney of the U. S. Army, now commanding the Army of the West, to visit the "Mormon" camps, and to accept the service for twelve months of five companies of "Mormon" men, who may be willing to serve their country for that period in our present war with Mexico, this force to unite with the Army of the West at Santa Fe, and be marched thence to California, where they will be discharged.
They will receive pay and rations, and other allowances such as volunteers or regular soldiers receive, from the day they shall be mustered into the service, and will be entitled to all comforts and benefits of regular soldiers of the army, and when discharged as contemplated at California, they will be given, gratis, their arms and accoutrements, with which they will be fully equipped at Fort Leavenworth.
This is offered to the "Mormon'' people now. This gives an opportunity of sending a portion of their young and intelligent men to the ultimate destination of their whole people, and entirely at the expense of the United States, and this advanced party can thus pave the way and look out the land for their brethren to come after them. Those of the "Mormons" who are desirous of serving their country, on the conditions here enumerated, are requested to meet me without delay at their principal camp at Council Bluffs, whither I am going to consult with their principal men, and to receive and organize the force contemplated to be raised.
I will receive all healthy, able-bodied men of from eighteen to forty-five years of age.
J. Allen, Captain First Dragoons.
Camp of the "Mormons," at Mt. Pisgah, one hundred and fifty miles east of Council Bluffs, June 25, 1846.
Note:—I hope to complete the organization of this battalion in six days after my reaching Council Bluffs, or within nine days from this time.
When this officer, Colonel Allen, arrived at Mt. Pisgah he was referred, with his request for volunteers, to President Brigham Young, who was then with the first companies of "Mormon" emigrants encamped near Council Bluffs, same two hundred miles further west, as before stated. Colonel Allen immediately took up his journey westward, and reaching Council Bluffs made known his errand to President Young. President Young called his leading men around him, and laid the matter before them. Not all the leading men viewed this request in the same light, and some of them were decidedly unfriendly to it, but Brigham Young closed all dissenting arguments with the statement that the five companies required by the general government must be furnished from the "Mormon" camps. He further stated that though men inhabiting the states of Missouri and Illinois had expelled them from their homes, that the general government of the United States had never wronged them, and that the constitution of the United States was an instrument inspired by revelation from God, to our forefathers and to the patriots who cemented and builded this great, free government with their labor, with their toil, with their sweat and with their blood, and if the government required our help, the help of the "Mormon" people, to maintain or enlarge this great, free republic, they should have it, and we would aid to the fullest extent of our power. This word was sent from camp to camp by Brigham Young, carried on swift horses by express riders.
The result of this service was fraught with all the good to the "Mormon" people that was anticipated by Brigham Young and the brave boys, the "Mormon" volunteers. For, from the time of their enlistment until the "Mormon" people left the Missouri river on their march toward the Great Salt Lake basin, in the year 1847, they were not menaced nor threatened by their enemies, because, said they, their young men have gone to the war, and hence the "Mormon" people who were left without their protection on the prairie are under the protection of the general government.
The history of the "Mormon" Battalion is too well known to need any further comment at this time from me, but it must be borne in mind that Brigham Young was the leader of the "Mormon" people, that he was a Moses and a law-giver to them, and at the time this request came for five hundred able-bodied men to enlist as U. S. volunteer soldiers, to march to Mexico in the defence of the United States, the "Mormon" encampments were scattered for several hundred miles along their trail westward; and although their leader, Brigham Young, saw clearly that this enlistment of his young and able men meant a delay of at least a year in their march to the Rocky mountains, yet he earnestly counseled and insisted that the required number of volunteers should be immediately furnished.
When their service in the army was completed, and the "Mormon" Battalion was disbanded at San Diego, California, Col. P. St George Cook stated to them his approval of their conduct as United States volunteers, and said to them:
Fellow Soldiers'—You have performed a march without a parallel in the history of infantry soldiers, and you have endured uncomplainingly the hardships and deprivations of the journey, with the bravery and fortitude of veterans. You have been obedient to command, and patient under conditions of intense suffering, during your march, many times deprived of rations and water. Napoleon crossed the Alps, but you have crossed a continent.
I call your attention to this service, Lieut. Hobson, and will further refer you to other incidents bearing me out in the statements as to the loyalty of Brigham Young and his people to his country and to the government of the United States.
In 1862, during the War of the Rebellion, there were two expeditions called for, consisting of mounted cavalrymen for protection on the plains against marauding bands of Indians. The first called out was the latter part of the month of April, 1862, under command of General Robert T. Burton of the Utah militia. The order coming from acting Governor Frank Fuller of Utah, the purpose was for the protection on his journey to the east of Honorable William H. Hooper, delegate to Congress. General Burton gives the following account of the expedition:
It will be remembered that this was the season of the highest water ever known in the Rocky mountains. As a consequence, travel over these mountain ranges was almost impossible. Some idea may be formed of this matter from the fact that it took my command, with all their energy and exertion possible, nine days to reach Fort Bridger, only one hundred and thirteen miles from Salt Lake. At the fort we abandoned our wagons, and proceeded with pack animals from this point. It is proper also to state here that we received from the government officers at the fort, provisions, tents and equipage necessary for our continued journey. From this point eastward we found all mail stations and also telegraph stations abandoned. Many of them had been burned, and the coaches still standing in the road, perforated with bullets, where the band of marauding Indians had also murdered the drivers and passengers, and taken the horses away with them. In some of the stations we found large numbers of mail sacks, which had been cut open by the Indians, and their contents scattered over the ground, which contents were carefully gathered as far as possible by my company, and carried on to the stations at North Platte, and delivered to the mail agent at that point. We continued on to the Laprelle river station, thirty miles east of North Platte. To this point from the east, the mail coaches still continued to go and come with safety, and we here transferred the Honorable William H. Hooper to the care of this uninterrupted line of travel to the East. This expedition was one of the most toilsome and hazardous we have ever experienced, but we succeeded in going and returning, and accomplishing the safe conduct of Mr. Hooper without the loss of a man or animal.
Two days after this expedition had left Salt Lake as escort to Honorable William H. Hooper, President Lincoln, through Adjutant General Thomas, telegraphed Governor Brigham Young asking him to raise and equip one full company of cavalry for the purpose of protecting the mail and telegraph lines, also to rebuild and restore the stations that had already been destroyed by the Indians between Fort Bridger and the North Platte station, and for establishing protection to those lines. The following telegram was sent in answer:
Salt Lake City, May 1, 1862.
Adj. Gen. L. Thomas,
U. S. Army, Washington, D. C:
On receipt of your telegram April 28, General D. H. Wells, of the Utah militia,, was instructed by me to proceed to raise the company of cavalry to be mustered into the service of the United States for the term of ninety days, for the purpose of re-establishing and maintaining the mail and telegraph service lines, west of the Missouri river. Today, May 1, 1862, the company of seventy-two privates, officered and equipped as directed, with a commissariat of ten wagons, took up their march for Independence Rock, in the region of the North Platte river.
(Signed) Brigham Young.
The officers of the company were as follows: Captain, Lot Smith. First Lieutenant, Joseph L. Rawlins. Second Lieutenant, John Quincy Knowlton. Orderly Sergeant, Richard Atwood. Commissary Sergeant, James M. Barlow. Sergeants: 1. Samuel W. Riter. 2. John P. Wimmer. 3. Howard 0. Spencer. 4. Moses Thurston. Corporals: 1. Seymour B. Young. 2. Newton Meritt. 3. William A. Bringhurst. 4. John Hoagland. 5. Jos. H. Felt. 6. Andrew Bigler. 7. John Neff. 8. Hyrum D. Clemens. Farriers: 1. Ira N. Hinckley. 2. John Helm. Wagonmaster: Soloman H. Hale. Buglers: 1. Josiah Erdley. 2. Charles Evans.
At this time Ben Holliday was government contractor for carrying the United States mail from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast. He at once telegraphed Governor Young his thanks for the prompt response in sending Utah volunteers onto the plains for the protection of the mail and telegraph lines, and stated also that he would replace the coaches and re-establish the mail service immediately, realizing that he would have ample protection from the Utah volunteers.
The Utah volunteers for the above named service, were mustered in on April 30, 1862, at Salt Lake City, Utah, and performed faithfully the service required of them. They were mustered out and paid off on March 22, 1863, at the place of their enlistment.
On October 17, 1861, the Overland or Pacific Telegraph line was completed to Salt Lake City, and the first message was sent to Hon. J. H. Wade, president of the company, at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 18th, by Brigham Young, to whom the first use of the line had been courteously tendered. After congratulations, President Young closed his message with these loyal words:
Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our once happy country, and is warmly interested in such useful enterprises as the one so far completed.
Brigham Young.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, 1898, Major Richard W. Young, grandson of President Brigham Young, and a graduate of West Point, offered his services to the governor of Utah. He was appointed senior captain of the two batteries, A and B. Captain Young's battery A, and Captain Grant's battery B were well posted, and, with the rest of the land forces, assisted Admiral Dewey in the bombarding of Manila, and captured that city with fourteen thousand of the Spanish forces. During the period of conquest which followed, Captain Young was appointed Superior Provost Judge of Manila, and performed the duties of this office in addition to the duties of battalion major, to which he had also been recently appointed. In 1899, Major Young and Captain Grant of the Utah batteries, were granted a leave of absence to visit the ports of Japan and China. On the 4th of February was anticipated a further attack from the Philippines, and to prepare for this, General McArthur requested Major Young, who had now returned with his two batteries, to place himself in readiness, and during the fierce battle which followed and raged from the night of the 4th and all day on the 5th and 6th, these batteries did gallant service in assisting in the capture of General Aguinaldo's forces. During this great battle for two nights and two days, John G. Young, sergeant, and Dr. Harry Young, surgeon and captain, were killed. These young men were both nephews of President Brigham Young. This fact is mentioned to show the fighting stock from which these young men have sprung; for be it remembered, John Young, their grandfather, and the father of President Brigham Young, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and was under the immediate command of General Washington.
In 1901, Major Richard W. Young returned home, and since that time has built up a large and successful law practice, and is one of the honored sons of Utah, both as a soldier and a civilian.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Brigham Young as a Pioneer." Improvement Era. July 1912. pg. 825-828.
Brigham Young As A Pioneer.
My dear brethren and sisters and co-laborers in the Mutual Improvement work: I am indeed pleased to have the honor of meeting with you upon this occasion. I assure you that I feel my inability in attempting to talk to you for a few minutes upon the pioneer labors of our former President, Brigham Young.
The theme covers so many different phases of life, and the results are so uniformly favorable to civilization, that one cannot help but wonder at the magnitude of such remarkable achievements. Surely Brigham Young, as a man, must stand for a unique and remarkable character in the social, political and moral development of our country. He was not a pioneer of chance as was Saul of old, who went to seek his father's asses and found a kingdom. Brigham Young's was one of destiny, he played the noble part allotted to him in the divine plan of life and did it well.
Brigham Young was born in the day-break of the Nineteenth Century. He was born of lowly but honorable parentage, therefore through financial circumstances he received only a common school education.
In the year 1832 he first heard of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the truths therein so greatly impressed themselves upon his mind that he soon made a close investigation of the same and after so doing became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because of his willingness to work in little things he soon was promoted and ordained an apostle in the Church. Six yean later he was appointed and ordained President of that quorum.
He was a great friend of the Prophet Joseph, and defended him during the dark days of Kirtland Apostasy. He passed through the bloody scenes of Missouri, during which period he received valuable in formation that greatly assisted him in later life.
At the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the people looked to him for guidance and consolation, nor did they look in vain, for he soon silenced their divisions, calmed their fears, inspired them with hope and courage, until the Saints felt and confessed that the spirit which hac moved Joseph in his work was living in Brigham Young.
His first active pioneer life started when the Saints were driven from their homes and out of their beloved city, Nauvoo. It was during this period of his life that he shouldered the burden of a Moses to de liver latter-day Israel out of bondage, and after receiving permission from the governor of Iowa to cross the state, he successfully led; small number of his people to the banks of the Missouri river, where they settled Winter Quarters, now Florence, Nebraska.
One writer has said that the work of a pioneer is to blaze the pat! for others, to mark at his peril a road that others may follow in safety therefore, Brigham Young could see this necessity.
Their stop in Winter Quarters was not only to prepare themselves for the great exodus into the wilderness of the West, but to establish ; recruiting station for future emigration.
Brigham Young could see that to make such a journey his people must be thoroughly organized in order to make rapid progress, so through inspiration from the Lord, he organized each company wit! captains over tens, captains over fifties, and captains over hundreds, and a captain over them all.
Just before their departure from Winter Quarters in the early spring of '47, he called his people together and gave these instructions "If any are sick, let those who are well help them. If any are poor, le those who have means divide their substance unto the poor. If there are any who are not of our faith who wish to accompany us into the wilderness for the search of homes, let them come and give them hearty welcome, because I look upon every American citizen as a friend and brother."
With this feeling of brotherly love. Brigham Young and his people turned their faces toward the land of the setting sun, and made one c the greatest pioneering marches ever recorded in history.
It was not a journey of bloodshed and destruction, but one of love and construction, building bridges, making roads through forests and over mountains for a distance of more than one thousand miles.
In order to make such a journey it took a leader at their head with courage to face trials, sorrows, and disappointments : a man who could meet them squarely and move forward unscratched and undaunted, an such a man was Brigham Young.
When his people were in deepest sorrow and tribulation, when hope had fled, when skies were dark, and the only music to their ear was the war whoop of the painted savage, and the dismal howl of the wolf, when thunders rolled and lightning flashed, mid all this despair Brigham Young would sing and shout to his people:
"Come, come ye saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy wend your way;
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Gird up your loins, fresh courage take,
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this truth to tell --
All is well! all is well!"
One writer who is not of our faith compares Brig-ham Young with Christopher Columbus, because both were pioneers, both were dauntless in their courage, both were successful. Columbus said, "Sail on, sail on, and on." Brigham Young said, "Come on, come on, and on."
With such a general, this valiant but small band of exiles were led safely to the valleys of the mountains.
When they saw Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young laid off the cloak of Moses, and took up himself the calling of Joshua to settle his people upon the land of their inheritance, in which he was successful.
Before many years had elapsed, Brigham Young and his people had established a commonwealth that now draws the eyes and the wealth of the world in its direction.
Among the first instructions that Brigham Young gave to his people after arriving in Salt Lake Valley was to redeem the arid lands, and strongly discouraged the desire to hunt for silver and gold. "We cannot eat silver and gold," said Brigham Young, "we need bread and clothing first."
One great reason why we are living in a land of milk and honey today is, because the people then followed his advice.
The "Mormon" people today have credit for being the world's greatest colonizers, and they duly receive that credit because of the lessons taught them by President Brigham Young.
In the beginning of Utah's history, Salt Lake Valley was large enough to hold and sustain all the emigrants that would arrive in years, but only months had passed when Brigham Young was colonizing and settling in counties at the north, counties at the south, east and west. and it became so extensive before his death that you could count states on the north, south, east and west, settled by our people.
Mr. Jordan makes the remark in his little book entitled, "Great Truths," that: "The reformer in morals, in education, in religion, in sociology, in philosophy, or in any line of aspiration is ever a pioneer." Brigham Young cannot be classified under one of the separate headings but his broad scope of qualifications covers them all.
As a reformer in morals he ever stands a pioneer in precept and in example.
In education he ranks second to none, because of the pioneership in that regard. Largely through his efforts, Utah ranks third among the states of the Union in common school education today.
Our Church schools stand as a memorial to the honor of our state, and their foundations were laid by this remarkable man.
To his religion he stood firm and unwavering, and was ever ready to proclaim to the world the convictions of his own heart.
Socially he stood as a pillar of merriment and realized that there is always a social phase to every one's life and that it needed food for development, for which cause he built the Salt Lake Theatre, which was then the best of its kind between St. Louis and the Pacific Coast.
As a philosopher he stood among the statesmen and educators of the world.
He instituted irrigation, redeemed arid lands, built cities and railroads, established newspapers and factories, and made the whole land hum with the wheels of industry.
He was a great lover of architecture, some of the evidences of which. are the Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle, as well as the other Temples in our state, all of which stand as monuments in praise and honor to his name.
He needs no monuments of marble or bronze, because his name and fame are forever enshrined in the temples of history in the Westminster Abbey of the soul.
Because of the development of his great achievements, we can sing the fulfilment of that song:
"Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear.
But with joy wend your way;
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day .
Gird up your loins, fresh courage take,
Our God will never us forsake ;
And now we have this truth to tell --
All is well! all is well!"
LEHI, UTAH.
Brigham Young As A Pioneer.
My dear brethren and sisters and co-laborers in the Mutual Improvement work: I am indeed pleased to have the honor of meeting with you upon this occasion. I assure you that I feel my inability in attempting to talk to you for a few minutes upon the pioneer labors of our former President, Brigham Young.
The theme covers so many different phases of life, and the results are so uniformly favorable to civilization, that one cannot help but wonder at the magnitude of such remarkable achievements. Surely Brigham Young, as a man, must stand for a unique and remarkable character in the social, political and moral development of our country. He was not a pioneer of chance as was Saul of old, who went to seek his father's asses and found a kingdom. Brigham Young's was one of destiny, he played the noble part allotted to him in the divine plan of life and did it well.
Brigham Young was born in the day-break of the Nineteenth Century. He was born of lowly but honorable parentage, therefore through financial circumstances he received only a common school education.
In the year 1832 he first heard of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the truths therein so greatly impressed themselves upon his mind that he soon made a close investigation of the same and after so doing became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Because of his willingness to work in little things he soon was promoted and ordained an apostle in the Church. Six yean later he was appointed and ordained President of that quorum.
He was a great friend of the Prophet Joseph, and defended him during the dark days of Kirtland Apostasy. He passed through the bloody scenes of Missouri, during which period he received valuable in formation that greatly assisted him in later life.
At the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the people looked to him for guidance and consolation, nor did they look in vain, for he soon silenced their divisions, calmed their fears, inspired them with hope and courage, until the Saints felt and confessed that the spirit which hac moved Joseph in his work was living in Brigham Young.
His first active pioneer life started when the Saints were driven from their homes and out of their beloved city, Nauvoo. It was during this period of his life that he shouldered the burden of a Moses to de liver latter-day Israel out of bondage, and after receiving permission from the governor of Iowa to cross the state, he successfully led; small number of his people to the banks of the Missouri river, where they settled Winter Quarters, now Florence, Nebraska.
One writer has said that the work of a pioneer is to blaze the pat! for others, to mark at his peril a road that others may follow in safety therefore, Brigham Young could see this necessity.
Their stop in Winter Quarters was not only to prepare themselves for the great exodus into the wilderness of the West, but to establish ; recruiting station for future emigration.
Brigham Young could see that to make such a journey his people must be thoroughly organized in order to make rapid progress, so through inspiration from the Lord, he organized each company wit! captains over tens, captains over fifties, and captains over hundreds, and a captain over them all.
Just before their departure from Winter Quarters in the early spring of '47, he called his people together and gave these instructions "If any are sick, let those who are well help them. If any are poor, le those who have means divide their substance unto the poor. If there are any who are not of our faith who wish to accompany us into the wilderness for the search of homes, let them come and give them hearty welcome, because I look upon every American citizen as a friend and brother."
With this feeling of brotherly love. Brigham Young and his people turned their faces toward the land of the setting sun, and made one c the greatest pioneering marches ever recorded in history.
It was not a journey of bloodshed and destruction, but one of love and construction, building bridges, making roads through forests and over mountains for a distance of more than one thousand miles.
In order to make such a journey it took a leader at their head with courage to face trials, sorrows, and disappointments : a man who could meet them squarely and move forward unscratched and undaunted, an such a man was Brigham Young.
When his people were in deepest sorrow and tribulation, when hope had fled, when skies were dark, and the only music to their ear was the war whoop of the painted savage, and the dismal howl of the wolf, when thunders rolled and lightning flashed, mid all this despair Brigham Young would sing and shout to his people:
"Come, come ye saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy wend your way;
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Gird up your loins, fresh courage take,
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this truth to tell --
All is well! all is well!"
One writer who is not of our faith compares Brig-ham Young with Christopher Columbus, because both were pioneers, both were dauntless in their courage, both were successful. Columbus said, "Sail on, sail on, and on." Brigham Young said, "Come on, come on, and on."
With such a general, this valiant but small band of exiles were led safely to the valleys of the mountains.
When they saw Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young laid off the cloak of Moses, and took up himself the calling of Joshua to settle his people upon the land of their inheritance, in which he was successful.
Before many years had elapsed, Brigham Young and his people had established a commonwealth that now draws the eyes and the wealth of the world in its direction.
Among the first instructions that Brigham Young gave to his people after arriving in Salt Lake Valley was to redeem the arid lands, and strongly discouraged the desire to hunt for silver and gold. "We cannot eat silver and gold," said Brigham Young, "we need bread and clothing first."
One great reason why we are living in a land of milk and honey today is, because the people then followed his advice.
The "Mormon" people today have credit for being the world's greatest colonizers, and they duly receive that credit because of the lessons taught them by President Brigham Young.
In the beginning of Utah's history, Salt Lake Valley was large enough to hold and sustain all the emigrants that would arrive in years, but only months had passed when Brigham Young was colonizing and settling in counties at the north, counties at the south, east and west. and it became so extensive before his death that you could count states on the north, south, east and west, settled by our people.
Mr. Jordan makes the remark in his little book entitled, "Great Truths," that: "The reformer in morals, in education, in religion, in sociology, in philosophy, or in any line of aspiration is ever a pioneer." Brigham Young cannot be classified under one of the separate headings but his broad scope of qualifications covers them all.
As a reformer in morals he ever stands a pioneer in precept and in example.
In education he ranks second to none, because of the pioneership in that regard. Largely through his efforts, Utah ranks third among the states of the Union in common school education today.
Our Church schools stand as a memorial to the honor of our state, and their foundations were laid by this remarkable man.
To his religion he stood firm and unwavering, and was ever ready to proclaim to the world the convictions of his own heart.
Socially he stood as a pillar of merriment and realized that there is always a social phase to every one's life and that it needed food for development, for which cause he built the Salt Lake Theatre, which was then the best of its kind between St. Louis and the Pacific Coast.
As a philosopher he stood among the statesmen and educators of the world.
He instituted irrigation, redeemed arid lands, built cities and railroads, established newspapers and factories, and made the whole land hum with the wheels of industry.
He was a great lover of architecture, some of the evidences of which. are the Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle, as well as the other Temples in our state, all of which stand as monuments in praise and honor to his name.
He needs no monuments of marble or bronze, because his name and fame are forever enshrined in the temples of history in the Westminster Abbey of the soul.
Because of the development of his great achievements, we can sing the fulfilment of that song:
"Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear.
But with joy wend your way;
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day .
Gird up your loins, fresh courage take,
Our God will never us forsake ;
And now we have this truth to tell --
All is well! all is well!"
LEHI, UTAH.
Young, Levi Edgar "Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1913. pg. 322-329.
Brigham Young.
By Levi Edgar Young.
I—AS LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE.
Brigham Young was like Joseph Smith a child of pioneering poverty. Neither was born to comfortable circumstances. But the family stock of each was good in origin, was noted in all for its thrift and integrity to principle, and was honest and God-fearing. In no place in history do I find a man so well qualified to take up the work of another as was Brigham Young to be the successor of Joseph Smith. Two characteristics are always necessary for a successful continuance of any work undertaken by a man: First, that the successor continue the same institutions and ideals of the man who preceded him; and secondly, that the successor prove his God-given calling by his establishment in society, of great and refining principles that are for the upbuilding of a people. Brigham Young was not only the rightful successor to the founder of “Mormonism,” but his work was complimentary and a continuation in every respect of his great predecessor. At the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young was naturally the leader of his people both by the power of his personality, as well as by the law of his divine calling as an apostle of the Savior of the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints had already attained unto a perfect organization the very life of which depended upon the priesthood of God. It was a theo- democracy, pure and simple, and the best of American civic ideals had grown up in all of its municipal and social life. The Church was bringing together people from every nation and clime. It was uniting them by its innate power as a religious force. Already there had grown an economic, political, and social unity which was a natural result of the divine religious principles which they espoused. The “Mormon” society was intensely idealistic; and yet driven as they were from their homes, and denied the rights of citizenship held sacred by all Americans, it needed not only men of idealistic thoughts and motives, but men who could direct their work, and the work of their followers to the soil, and there build their homes, and maintain in them the culture and refinement that make for the best kinds of citizenship. When Brigham Young began his work as head of his people, he appeared somewhat roughly fashioned, and yet there was “a fine sweet quality in him” that was plainly manifest. Possessed of a store of tremendous force, he had the wisdom and good judgment to use it for the good of his people, who needed him in the hour of their sorrows. He was to his people half mystic, yet extremely practical; he gathered about him the extremes of society, and directed all to the seriousness of life. With the expulsion of the “Mormons” from Nauvoo, he was brought face to face with a problem, which could be handled and solved by only a master mind. Long had it been declared that “Mormonism” would be a thing of the past with the death of Joseph Smith. But God would not have it so, and there were signs of the immediate, present hand of God to give peace of heart- and rest of spirit to His people. They were poor when they left their Illinois homes. They were forced to face the future with a divine responsibility, the seriousness of which ever stirred them to constant activity in the material pursuits of life, and inspired them to strive for that spiritual development which would make them true servants of the Most High God. If history teaches any lesson of magnitude and depth, it is the fact that it is religion, the worship of God and his creation, that has ever been the sublime impelling force in the hearts of men to carry them on to perfection. It was this religious feeling that impelled the “Mormon” people to look to the future; it was their faith in God, and their regard for law and order, that made them look to a divine headship, which should direct them to the establishment of homes and institutions, whereby they might work out their destined mission. To one who sees the logic of events, and understands the meaning of leadership, Brigham Young as leader of his people stands before the world as a “potent exemplar of wisdom, of noble purpose and power, and a standard of character that we contemplate with reverence and aspiration.” As successor to Joseph Smith, his problem loomed great against the future, but he became its master by and through the directive power of his God.
II -- AS COLONIZER.
David Starr Jordan has said that. “Stability of national character goes with foot-hold on the soil,” and Theodore Roosevelt has declared that, “Throughout our history, the success of the home-maker has been but another name for the upbuilding of the nation.” Brigham Young first directed his people to the reclamation of the soil, for, said he, “Agriculture is the highest safeguard to all good government, and the surest means for the building of civic, social, and intellectual life.” The only self-sufficient vocation of man is that of working the earth and utilizing its products in human society. The colonists of Utah in the very early period of the State’s history were forced, like all frontier societies, to the soil; and as products of the land exceeded home supply, markets grew up as a result. All this necessitated the building of roads and bridges, which in time became great highways of commerce and trade. In this regard, Brigham Young’s colonizing schemes were eminently successful, and may be called scientific. While the fundamental ideas of colonization are a movement of population and an extension of political power, the very existence of the migratory host depends upon a systematic method of obtaining food and clothing. Herein did Brigham Young understand the fundamentals of colonizing. One peculiar thing about the colonizing of the American desert is the fact that the physical conditions were so different from what they had been used to, that they called for many vital modifications in their constitution and mode of living. Yet even in the desert waste, nature yielded a liberal return to sturdy effort, and the colonists early learned the law of adaptability to their new environment. Irrigation was a new requirement to make the soil productive, and fitting the needs to the conditions, Brigham Young saw readily the kinds of farms that the future farmer of Utah should till. This State occupying the central portion of the arid region, small areas were tilled, and the Utah farm was smaller than that of any other part of the Union. Irrigating ditches and canals were made by associations of farmers, who in their co-operation made it possible to use the streams that flowed from the canyons into the valleys. The people were directed from the first entrance to the valley of the Great Salt Lake to the reclamation, and the proper*use of the water, and their success was due to their organization, which brought about system in working, and well defined methods in all of their undertakings. In fact Mr. F. H. Newell has been led to declare that “The excellent results attained demonstrate the practicability of industrious pioneers supporting themselves and attaining prosperous homes on small tracts.’’ Foresight and economy in the use of the natural advantages are noticed in the study of all the settlements of Utah. They became economically independent; they settled their own disputes; they lived “under a sort of beneficial regime of neglect and even contempt on the part of their country’’ and in this were they able to work out their own salvation. The population in each new settlement was homogeneous and “politically experienced,” and these together with their economic independence, helped to make of the early day territory, a stable and safe government.
The colonization of Utah under Brigham Young’s leadership is the one great successful scheme of colonization in the history of the United States. This assertion may appear remarkable to one who has read American history and ignored its institutional growth and the psychology of the American people. But the statement is true, and may be verified by a careful study of the American advancement into the far west. The economic institutions of Utah were sound, and morally very high. The people were endowed with heroic virtues; no sacrifice was too great for them to make; they were virile, industrious, their sinews became strong, and their strength increased. They had no love for speculation. They were* honest in their daily labors as they were in their business methods.
Brigham Young directed the colonizing of all these western valleys of the Wasatch range. He chose men of strength and fortitude to go to remote parts and build towns and cities, make roads and bridges, and make the desert waste over into beautiful private gardens. The economic, social, civic, and intellectual life was never to be forgotten, and as he said to John R. Murdock. so did he say to all who colonized under his watchful care: “Build your homes; then your school and meeting house. In your amusements, see to it that they are controlled by the Spirit of God; and teach your children that in their moral and intellectual lives, all should go to the glorification of Almighty God.”
Ill—AS STATESMAN AND LAW GIVER.
In the exodus of the “Mormon” people from Illinois, Brigham Young organized them into a well defined civic society, which resulted in a regard for law and order, and obedience to a higher will. It was an organic society that came to Utah, and with the settlement of Salt Lake Valley, there was a state in embryo. The German writer Seydel says that “A state comes into existence whenever a number of men who have taken possession of a part of the earth’s surface unite themselves together under a higher will.” G. F. De Martens, the French scholar of economics, says: “A state is a certain number of men and of families, who being united and having a fixed home, associate themselves and submit themselves to a common chief with the intention of living together for the safety of all.” The pioneers understood sovereignty and government; they settled upon the new lands; they were an American people, all of which were the indispensable factors that go to make a state, with permanence and continuity. Brigham Young in all of his work never allowed his people to forget the. national government; and to it first and always, was the allegiance of the people given. They forgot their isolation in the far west when it came to the question of government. There was no sectionalism, but everything was nationalistic. The people through their leader and State convention asked for statehood in 1349. Tt was to be the State of Deseret, with all the powers of a free and democratic State of the Union. How well did the "Mormon" leader understand that a territorial government is un-American in its very essence. Tn a territorial government, the people are ruled from Washington: in a state, they rule themselves. The latter is in keeping with our national ideals. Brigham Young asked for statehood for his people on the ground of their being high types of Americans, with all the knowledge of American rights and privileges. Statehood was refused, and Utah Territory was organized instead. Brigham Young was appointed Governor by Millard Fillmore, and as the chief executive of the territory, showed a statesmanship at times that was the equal of a Blaine or a Jefferson. His state papers were characteristically American, and his messages to the different legislative assemblies were marvelous in their broad interpretation of conditions, and their humane recommendations. His broad conception of equity and the needs of the people are shown in his message to the Legislature of 1853, wherein he says:
“Laws suitable to the situation and circumstances of the people, who are to be affected by them, and for the uniform rule of practice and decision of the courts throughout the Territory, are desirable and necessary. It should moreover be the aim of the law-making department, to study simplicity in their enactments, that every person may approach the Temple of justice, either in his own defense, or to obtain that justice which should without unnecessary delay be impartially administered to all. whether rich or poor, bond or free, black or white.”
Brigham Young was a natural diplomat and statesman. In his dealing with men on any subject that pertained to the welfare of his people and commonwealth, he displayed a high regard for justice and truth. Governor Alfred Cumming met a great man when he came to take Brigham Young’s place as Governor of the Territory. A peculiar situation had arisen. “All we want is justice and our rights as citizens of this great nation,” said President Young, and Governor Cumming understood the power in those words. Indian chiefs who came to smoke the pipe of peace were treated along the broad lines of equity, and through his diplomatic treatment of them, many struggles with the Red Men were prevented. In fact Brigham Young understood the totem system of the Indians, and made them always feel his respect for their traditions and their customs. Again in his directive power as a statesman shown in the splendid memorials to Congress in the very early days, when our lawmakers first assembled to legislate for the people. Through his recommendation, memorials were sent to the Congress of the United States requesting an appropriation for the support of schools and the University of Deseret; for the donation of public lands to settlers and for educational purposes; for an electric telegraph from the Mississippi to California; for a Pacific railroad; and a military road from the mouth of the Platte to California.
In his directing the colonizing of the Territory, he understood full well the old Teutonic township form of government, and through his wise and careful policy, he was instrumental in establishing here in the mountains, the best forms of civic life known to history. In all of his interest in his people and the welfare of his commonwealth, he never forgot the Nation to which he gave so well his allegiance. He put away sectionalism and became nationalized from the first. Said he, in 1856, on the occasion of celebrating Independence Day:
“Eighty years ago, on the day we now celebrate, our forefathers, few in numbers, but strong in their united love of right, declared to the mother country and to the world that they were, ‘and of right ought to be free and independent.’ The oppression which hastened this declaration, the long struggle, the sacrifices and hardships that followed, and the glorious results are so well known, that I need not ask your patience by rehearsing them upon this occasion. * * * * Glancing at the past, perhaps we as a people have more reason to respect, honor, love and cherish the government of the United States, her Constitution and her free institutions, than any other people on the face of the earth.
"We are occupying a region well known as being peculiarly desirable, and one hitherto unsettled by the whites. We are almost a thousand miles from the nearest seaport. We are hemmed in by lofty mountains on every side, while numerous isolated ranges, and barren, arid plains so crowd our surface, that but a small portion of it is suited to the purposes of settlement. In even those narrow localities, ditches and canals have to be made by much labor, in order to irrigate soil whereon rain seldom falls from early in spring to late in autumn. And when all has been done that could be, towards supplying the thirsty crops, the husbandman is oft compelled to witness the products of his toil droop and die ere maturity, through the failure of the few small streams, so laboriously brought under control. * * * But amid all these disadvantages we are trying to extend the area of freedom, and to gladden the most uninviting domain of a great nation with the blessings and privileges of her free institutions* * * * The true principles of a republican form of government can be based only in a high tone and sense of honor; liberal, enlightened, and intelligent and extended views of human existence and progress and a faithful, unyielding, rigid and patriotic adherence to the Constitution and laws of the country.”
Brigham Young had political and civic problems to meet in days when all seemed discouraging to his people. He solved them, without sacrificing a single principle of justice and equity. His regard for right was so great that on looking to his character, one discovers that his idea of government was to redress evils, to administer justice, and to mount guard over men’s rights. Said he at one time [this is from the journal of Joseph Young]: “Every Latter-day Saint has but one right, the right to serve God and to be free with everybody else.” Herbert Spencer says of this doctrine: “It is the highest conception of government.”
IV—AS SOCIAL REFORMER.
Brigham Young was confronted by social and industrial problems. He handled them well, for he was never out of touch with the practical daily problems of “Mormon” society. He grasped the actual needs of the people, and understanding them and their wants, he met the situation and gave to them those social activities which people demand, but placed them under the control of the spirit of God. He did not study about the Israelites, the Jebusites, and Hitites in order to solve their social problems; he studied the social needs of his people here in the mountains. He understood their wants. He dedicated his life to the best cause of all. He understood their trials and their labor. He saw with clear vision that he must deal with great human problems, which have to do with nineteenth century living. He knew what God was saying, for he kept close to his people. He encouraged the theatre, the dance, and above all declared time and time again that the schools for the children are the glory of a free people. He was instrumental in establishing the first public school system west of the Missouri River; he established the first university and built a theatre which noted actors have declared is one of the best in the world. Through his instrumentality, the first public library in all the west was opened in 1852, and he carried into practice the simple statement of the prophet of God who preceded him: “The Glory of God is intelligence.” He never tolerated child labor nor the enslaving of Indians. Mark Twain’s bitter satire that the Golden Rule is something to be exhibited on Sundays in the churches in a glass case never applied to the social reforms of Brigham Young. He applied the principles of religion to material conditions, and understood the ways and means of solving social questions. He lived in days of killing toil and social peril at times, and he found his remedy for evils in the Gospel of Christ. He was inspired with noble enthusiasm for humanity, and an intelligent aim to eradicate from the society of his people all that would tend to corruption. Under his direction, the cities and towns of early day Utah were centres of a splendid civic life. The Reverend A. M. Stewart of the Presbyterian Church, in writing on Salt Lake City and the “Mormons” in 1869, says:
“The ‘Mormons’ have been the instruments of saving much life. Had they not occupied that far interior ana intermediate space, when in a fever of excitement, from 1849 and onwards, caravans of men, horses, mules, and oxen left the Atlantic side for the California gold fields, multitudes would have perished. By such processes coupled with economy, industry, home manufacture, and consumption, that far interior community, numbering at present a hundred thousand, is fast becoming one of the wealthiest communities tn the world. They are rich in horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry; in cereals, fruits, and vegetables; in manufactures and money. As to Salt Lake City, it is the most quiet, orderly, and best governed city in the world. Among the ‘Mormons, there is no disorder or outbreak; no profanity or intemperance. The city on the Sabbath is as quiet as a rural parish in Scotland or New England.”
A better picture of the social order in Salt Lake City is given in the journal of a private in the United States army, who came to Utah in 1858 under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnston. He says:
“The city of Salt Lake is beautifully laid out. They have a court house, a council hall, a saint hall, one hotel for the accommodation of tourists, but not a bar-room, grog shop, or any such thing has ever disgraced the city.”
The dance hall was a place of order, and as for the theatre, no people ever held the drama and the theatre on a higher plane than have the “Mormon” people under Brigham Young’s leadership. “All immorality can be eradicated by work and prayer,” said he, and for this reason, he held, like the Prophet Joseph Smith, that our jails and reform schools should be places of work, where the inmates might learn a trade, and be taught that in repentance, they might again receive God’s holy light.
V--- AS A CHARACTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Brigham Young will go down into history as a great American, because he was a constructor of society and a man of especial “God-given” power. In his lectures on hero-worship, Carlyle says that “sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic,” and again he says: “All the great men I ever knew of have sincerity as the primary material of them.” Brigham Young had a remarkable idea of right and wrong, and in all his beliefs, was he absolutely sincere. His nature was impressively large in scale; he was a potent exemplar of wisdom; and in all his activities, he displayed a noble purpose and great intuitive power. American through and through, he understood full well the fundamentals of the best in civic life, and was one of those men who saw in the Constitution of the United States the hand and inspiration of God. He spent his powers upon great objects; and in his daily life he applied his religious principles to the solution of all problems and the accomplishment of all work. He had a moral and intellectual interpretation of life that stamps him as a great man. He had the dynamic force to put his ideals into practical use. He had an ardent sympathy for every man, and as he was able to envisage the future, he could always plan and execute well for his people. As a character in American history, he will be known for his constructive genius, his executive powers, his great regard for intelligence and morality, law and principle, his absolute love of God, and his foresight and prophetic nature. He was the greatest of the American frontiersmen and colonists.
Note.—Brigham Young as Prophet will be treated in a future article.
Brigham Young.
By Levi Edgar Young.
I—AS LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE.
Brigham Young was like Joseph Smith a child of pioneering poverty. Neither was born to comfortable circumstances. But the family stock of each was good in origin, was noted in all for its thrift and integrity to principle, and was honest and God-fearing. In no place in history do I find a man so well qualified to take up the work of another as was Brigham Young to be the successor of Joseph Smith. Two characteristics are always necessary for a successful continuance of any work undertaken by a man: First, that the successor continue the same institutions and ideals of the man who preceded him; and secondly, that the successor prove his God-given calling by his establishment in society, of great and refining principles that are for the upbuilding of a people. Brigham Young was not only the rightful successor to the founder of “Mormonism,” but his work was complimentary and a continuation in every respect of his great predecessor. At the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young was naturally the leader of his people both by the power of his personality, as well as by the law of his divine calling as an apostle of the Savior of the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints had already attained unto a perfect organization the very life of which depended upon the priesthood of God. It was a theo- democracy, pure and simple, and the best of American civic ideals had grown up in all of its municipal and social life. The Church was bringing together people from every nation and clime. It was uniting them by its innate power as a religious force. Already there had grown an economic, political, and social unity which was a natural result of the divine religious principles which they espoused. The “Mormon” society was intensely idealistic; and yet driven as they were from their homes, and denied the rights of citizenship held sacred by all Americans, it needed not only men of idealistic thoughts and motives, but men who could direct their work, and the work of their followers to the soil, and there build their homes, and maintain in them the culture and refinement that make for the best kinds of citizenship. When Brigham Young began his work as head of his people, he appeared somewhat roughly fashioned, and yet there was “a fine sweet quality in him” that was plainly manifest. Possessed of a store of tremendous force, he had the wisdom and good judgment to use it for the good of his people, who needed him in the hour of their sorrows. He was to his people half mystic, yet extremely practical; he gathered about him the extremes of society, and directed all to the seriousness of life. With the expulsion of the “Mormons” from Nauvoo, he was brought face to face with a problem, which could be handled and solved by only a master mind. Long had it been declared that “Mormonism” would be a thing of the past with the death of Joseph Smith. But God would not have it so, and there were signs of the immediate, present hand of God to give peace of heart- and rest of spirit to His people. They were poor when they left their Illinois homes. They were forced to face the future with a divine responsibility, the seriousness of which ever stirred them to constant activity in the material pursuits of life, and inspired them to strive for that spiritual development which would make them true servants of the Most High God. If history teaches any lesson of magnitude and depth, it is the fact that it is religion, the worship of God and his creation, that has ever been the sublime impelling force in the hearts of men to carry them on to perfection. It was this religious feeling that impelled the “Mormon” people to look to the future; it was their faith in God, and their regard for law and order, that made them look to a divine headship, which should direct them to the establishment of homes and institutions, whereby they might work out their destined mission. To one who sees the logic of events, and understands the meaning of leadership, Brigham Young as leader of his people stands before the world as a “potent exemplar of wisdom, of noble purpose and power, and a standard of character that we contemplate with reverence and aspiration.” As successor to Joseph Smith, his problem loomed great against the future, but he became its master by and through the directive power of his God.
II -- AS COLONIZER.
David Starr Jordan has said that. “Stability of national character goes with foot-hold on the soil,” and Theodore Roosevelt has declared that, “Throughout our history, the success of the home-maker has been but another name for the upbuilding of the nation.” Brigham Young first directed his people to the reclamation of the soil, for, said he, “Agriculture is the highest safeguard to all good government, and the surest means for the building of civic, social, and intellectual life.” The only self-sufficient vocation of man is that of working the earth and utilizing its products in human society. The colonists of Utah in the very early period of the State’s history were forced, like all frontier societies, to the soil; and as products of the land exceeded home supply, markets grew up as a result. All this necessitated the building of roads and bridges, which in time became great highways of commerce and trade. In this regard, Brigham Young’s colonizing schemes were eminently successful, and may be called scientific. While the fundamental ideas of colonization are a movement of population and an extension of political power, the very existence of the migratory host depends upon a systematic method of obtaining food and clothing. Herein did Brigham Young understand the fundamentals of colonizing. One peculiar thing about the colonizing of the American desert is the fact that the physical conditions were so different from what they had been used to, that they called for many vital modifications in their constitution and mode of living. Yet even in the desert waste, nature yielded a liberal return to sturdy effort, and the colonists early learned the law of adaptability to their new environment. Irrigation was a new requirement to make the soil productive, and fitting the needs to the conditions, Brigham Young saw readily the kinds of farms that the future farmer of Utah should till. This State occupying the central portion of the arid region, small areas were tilled, and the Utah farm was smaller than that of any other part of the Union. Irrigating ditches and canals were made by associations of farmers, who in their co-operation made it possible to use the streams that flowed from the canyons into the valleys. The people were directed from the first entrance to the valley of the Great Salt Lake to the reclamation, and the proper*use of the water, and their success was due to their organization, which brought about system in working, and well defined methods in all of their undertakings. In fact Mr. F. H. Newell has been led to declare that “The excellent results attained demonstrate the practicability of industrious pioneers supporting themselves and attaining prosperous homes on small tracts.’’ Foresight and economy in the use of the natural advantages are noticed in the study of all the settlements of Utah. They became economically independent; they settled their own disputes; they lived “under a sort of beneficial regime of neglect and even contempt on the part of their country’’ and in this were they able to work out their own salvation. The population in each new settlement was homogeneous and “politically experienced,” and these together with their economic independence, helped to make of the early day territory, a stable and safe government.
The colonization of Utah under Brigham Young’s leadership is the one great successful scheme of colonization in the history of the United States. This assertion may appear remarkable to one who has read American history and ignored its institutional growth and the psychology of the American people. But the statement is true, and may be verified by a careful study of the American advancement into the far west. The economic institutions of Utah were sound, and morally very high. The people were endowed with heroic virtues; no sacrifice was too great for them to make; they were virile, industrious, their sinews became strong, and their strength increased. They had no love for speculation. They were* honest in their daily labors as they were in their business methods.
Brigham Young directed the colonizing of all these western valleys of the Wasatch range. He chose men of strength and fortitude to go to remote parts and build towns and cities, make roads and bridges, and make the desert waste over into beautiful private gardens. The economic, social, civic, and intellectual life was never to be forgotten, and as he said to John R. Murdock. so did he say to all who colonized under his watchful care: “Build your homes; then your school and meeting house. In your amusements, see to it that they are controlled by the Spirit of God; and teach your children that in their moral and intellectual lives, all should go to the glorification of Almighty God.”
Ill—AS STATESMAN AND LAW GIVER.
In the exodus of the “Mormon” people from Illinois, Brigham Young organized them into a well defined civic society, which resulted in a regard for law and order, and obedience to a higher will. It was an organic society that came to Utah, and with the settlement of Salt Lake Valley, there was a state in embryo. The German writer Seydel says that “A state comes into existence whenever a number of men who have taken possession of a part of the earth’s surface unite themselves together under a higher will.” G. F. De Martens, the French scholar of economics, says: “A state is a certain number of men and of families, who being united and having a fixed home, associate themselves and submit themselves to a common chief with the intention of living together for the safety of all.” The pioneers understood sovereignty and government; they settled upon the new lands; they were an American people, all of which were the indispensable factors that go to make a state, with permanence and continuity. Brigham Young in all of his work never allowed his people to forget the. national government; and to it first and always, was the allegiance of the people given. They forgot their isolation in the far west when it came to the question of government. There was no sectionalism, but everything was nationalistic. The people through their leader and State convention asked for statehood in 1349. Tt was to be the State of Deseret, with all the powers of a free and democratic State of the Union. How well did the "Mormon" leader understand that a territorial government is un-American in its very essence. Tn a territorial government, the people are ruled from Washington: in a state, they rule themselves. The latter is in keeping with our national ideals. Brigham Young asked for statehood for his people on the ground of their being high types of Americans, with all the knowledge of American rights and privileges. Statehood was refused, and Utah Territory was organized instead. Brigham Young was appointed Governor by Millard Fillmore, and as the chief executive of the territory, showed a statesmanship at times that was the equal of a Blaine or a Jefferson. His state papers were characteristically American, and his messages to the different legislative assemblies were marvelous in their broad interpretation of conditions, and their humane recommendations. His broad conception of equity and the needs of the people are shown in his message to the Legislature of 1853, wherein he says:
“Laws suitable to the situation and circumstances of the people, who are to be affected by them, and for the uniform rule of practice and decision of the courts throughout the Territory, are desirable and necessary. It should moreover be the aim of the law-making department, to study simplicity in their enactments, that every person may approach the Temple of justice, either in his own defense, or to obtain that justice which should without unnecessary delay be impartially administered to all. whether rich or poor, bond or free, black or white.”
Brigham Young was a natural diplomat and statesman. In his dealing with men on any subject that pertained to the welfare of his people and commonwealth, he displayed a high regard for justice and truth. Governor Alfred Cumming met a great man when he came to take Brigham Young’s place as Governor of the Territory. A peculiar situation had arisen. “All we want is justice and our rights as citizens of this great nation,” said President Young, and Governor Cumming understood the power in those words. Indian chiefs who came to smoke the pipe of peace were treated along the broad lines of equity, and through his diplomatic treatment of them, many struggles with the Red Men were prevented. In fact Brigham Young understood the totem system of the Indians, and made them always feel his respect for their traditions and their customs. Again in his directive power as a statesman shown in the splendid memorials to Congress in the very early days, when our lawmakers first assembled to legislate for the people. Through his recommendation, memorials were sent to the Congress of the United States requesting an appropriation for the support of schools and the University of Deseret; for the donation of public lands to settlers and for educational purposes; for an electric telegraph from the Mississippi to California; for a Pacific railroad; and a military road from the mouth of the Platte to California.
In his directing the colonizing of the Territory, he understood full well the old Teutonic township form of government, and through his wise and careful policy, he was instrumental in establishing here in the mountains, the best forms of civic life known to history. In all of his interest in his people and the welfare of his commonwealth, he never forgot the Nation to which he gave so well his allegiance. He put away sectionalism and became nationalized from the first. Said he, in 1856, on the occasion of celebrating Independence Day:
“Eighty years ago, on the day we now celebrate, our forefathers, few in numbers, but strong in their united love of right, declared to the mother country and to the world that they were, ‘and of right ought to be free and independent.’ The oppression which hastened this declaration, the long struggle, the sacrifices and hardships that followed, and the glorious results are so well known, that I need not ask your patience by rehearsing them upon this occasion. * * * * Glancing at the past, perhaps we as a people have more reason to respect, honor, love and cherish the government of the United States, her Constitution and her free institutions, than any other people on the face of the earth.
"We are occupying a region well known as being peculiarly desirable, and one hitherto unsettled by the whites. We are almost a thousand miles from the nearest seaport. We are hemmed in by lofty mountains on every side, while numerous isolated ranges, and barren, arid plains so crowd our surface, that but a small portion of it is suited to the purposes of settlement. In even those narrow localities, ditches and canals have to be made by much labor, in order to irrigate soil whereon rain seldom falls from early in spring to late in autumn. And when all has been done that could be, towards supplying the thirsty crops, the husbandman is oft compelled to witness the products of his toil droop and die ere maturity, through the failure of the few small streams, so laboriously brought under control. * * * But amid all these disadvantages we are trying to extend the area of freedom, and to gladden the most uninviting domain of a great nation with the blessings and privileges of her free institutions* * * * The true principles of a republican form of government can be based only in a high tone and sense of honor; liberal, enlightened, and intelligent and extended views of human existence and progress and a faithful, unyielding, rigid and patriotic adherence to the Constitution and laws of the country.”
Brigham Young had political and civic problems to meet in days when all seemed discouraging to his people. He solved them, without sacrificing a single principle of justice and equity. His regard for right was so great that on looking to his character, one discovers that his idea of government was to redress evils, to administer justice, and to mount guard over men’s rights. Said he at one time [this is from the journal of Joseph Young]: “Every Latter-day Saint has but one right, the right to serve God and to be free with everybody else.” Herbert Spencer says of this doctrine: “It is the highest conception of government.”
IV—AS SOCIAL REFORMER.
Brigham Young was confronted by social and industrial problems. He handled them well, for he was never out of touch with the practical daily problems of “Mormon” society. He grasped the actual needs of the people, and understanding them and their wants, he met the situation and gave to them those social activities which people demand, but placed them under the control of the spirit of God. He did not study about the Israelites, the Jebusites, and Hitites in order to solve their social problems; he studied the social needs of his people here in the mountains. He understood their wants. He dedicated his life to the best cause of all. He understood their trials and their labor. He saw with clear vision that he must deal with great human problems, which have to do with nineteenth century living. He knew what God was saying, for he kept close to his people. He encouraged the theatre, the dance, and above all declared time and time again that the schools for the children are the glory of a free people. He was instrumental in establishing the first public school system west of the Missouri River; he established the first university and built a theatre which noted actors have declared is one of the best in the world. Through his instrumentality, the first public library in all the west was opened in 1852, and he carried into practice the simple statement of the prophet of God who preceded him: “The Glory of God is intelligence.” He never tolerated child labor nor the enslaving of Indians. Mark Twain’s bitter satire that the Golden Rule is something to be exhibited on Sundays in the churches in a glass case never applied to the social reforms of Brigham Young. He applied the principles of religion to material conditions, and understood the ways and means of solving social questions. He lived in days of killing toil and social peril at times, and he found his remedy for evils in the Gospel of Christ. He was inspired with noble enthusiasm for humanity, and an intelligent aim to eradicate from the society of his people all that would tend to corruption. Under his direction, the cities and towns of early day Utah were centres of a splendid civic life. The Reverend A. M. Stewart of the Presbyterian Church, in writing on Salt Lake City and the “Mormons” in 1869, says:
“The ‘Mormons’ have been the instruments of saving much life. Had they not occupied that far interior ana intermediate space, when in a fever of excitement, from 1849 and onwards, caravans of men, horses, mules, and oxen left the Atlantic side for the California gold fields, multitudes would have perished. By such processes coupled with economy, industry, home manufacture, and consumption, that far interior community, numbering at present a hundred thousand, is fast becoming one of the wealthiest communities tn the world. They are rich in horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry; in cereals, fruits, and vegetables; in manufactures and money. As to Salt Lake City, it is the most quiet, orderly, and best governed city in the world. Among the ‘Mormons, there is no disorder or outbreak; no profanity or intemperance. The city on the Sabbath is as quiet as a rural parish in Scotland or New England.”
A better picture of the social order in Salt Lake City is given in the journal of a private in the United States army, who came to Utah in 1858 under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnston. He says:
“The city of Salt Lake is beautifully laid out. They have a court house, a council hall, a saint hall, one hotel for the accommodation of tourists, but not a bar-room, grog shop, or any such thing has ever disgraced the city.”
The dance hall was a place of order, and as for the theatre, no people ever held the drama and the theatre on a higher plane than have the “Mormon” people under Brigham Young’s leadership. “All immorality can be eradicated by work and prayer,” said he, and for this reason, he held, like the Prophet Joseph Smith, that our jails and reform schools should be places of work, where the inmates might learn a trade, and be taught that in repentance, they might again receive God’s holy light.
V--- AS A CHARACTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Brigham Young will go down into history as a great American, because he was a constructor of society and a man of especial “God-given” power. In his lectures on hero-worship, Carlyle says that “sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic,” and again he says: “All the great men I ever knew of have sincerity as the primary material of them.” Brigham Young had a remarkable idea of right and wrong, and in all his beliefs, was he absolutely sincere. His nature was impressively large in scale; he was a potent exemplar of wisdom; and in all his activities, he displayed a noble purpose and great intuitive power. American through and through, he understood full well the fundamentals of the best in civic life, and was one of those men who saw in the Constitution of the United States the hand and inspiration of God. He spent his powers upon great objects; and in his daily life he applied his religious principles to the solution of all problems and the accomplishment of all work. He had a moral and intellectual interpretation of life that stamps him as a great man. He had the dynamic force to put his ideals into practical use. He had an ardent sympathy for every man, and as he was able to envisage the future, he could always plan and execute well for his people. As a character in American history, he will be known for his constructive genius, his executive powers, his great regard for intelligence and morality, law and principle, his absolute love of God, and his foresight and prophetic nature. He was the greatest of the American frontiersmen and colonists.
Note.—Brigham Young as Prophet will be treated in a future article.
"Brigham Young and the Poor Logger." Improvement Era. January 1915. pg. 264-265.
Brigham Young and the Poor Logger
"A Play-House," by Alfred Lambourne, is a new book just issued from the press of the Deseret News, treating the old Salt Lake Theatre. It is a sketch in the form of three short letters, and contains reminiscences of the scene painter's gallery with glimpses of the pioneers and a number of notables. It contains also a number of very interesting sidelights upon the past votaries of the dramas and tragedies that have been presented in the old play-house. In this work the noted author has crowded into sixty-four pages a story intensely interesting and full of history. The facts lead one to philosophize. The interest is carried from beginning to end, and many notable characters, local and foreign, receive passing consideration. Brigham Young and others are named, and many unnamed local characters are recalled between the lines. Henry Ward Beecher, the younger Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, George Francis Train, Victoria C. Woodhull, Theodore Tilton, Anna Eva Fay, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Charles Bright, John B. Goff, Moody & Sankey, Rev. Joseph Cooke, Dewitt Talmage, Charles Kingsley, Julia Dean, Henry M. Stanley, Edwin Booth, Mary Anderson, Langtry and many others, who have trodden the boards of the historic building, are among the celebrities brought before the reader. Here is a little anecdote of Brigham Young:
"How difficult is it to be in the first class, in the first class as a man, I mean. When the writer used to tell the following little anecdote verbally, he used to spice it with rather a malicious pleasure, perhaps, with the names of the second and third class men. But now they shall be left out. It may be that they are dead, and if yet living, they cannot play the game of little autocrats as once they did!
" 'The Big Picnic,' as pioneers remember, was held at the head of a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains. The pine is yet standing, trimmed of its upper branches, of course, that served as a flag-pole on these occasions. One day, as the string of vehicles that brought back the picnic party at the end of the week was winding its way down the canyon road, it so happened that there was, also, trudging his way homeward, a poor wood-cutter, a logger, a man loaded down with his blankets, his pots and kettles, and making his way but wearily, through the hot dust of the canyon road. Nothing remarkable about that—but wait! Mr. Second-Class-Man went by; Mr. Third-Class- Man went by. Did either of them stop to take up his poor 'brother’? No. Neither one nor the other offered to carry along his road the poor, tired wayfarer. Only there was more dust upon him than there was before. Mr. President's carriage went by. No! that is wrong. Mr. President's carriage did not go by. The man who had been unnoticed or ignored by the many, was taken up by the one. The President of the Church, the Governor, -the Trustee-in-Trust, and what rot, gave a place to the logger, and he was carried homeward, deposited at his very door.
"Not much of an anecdote after all, my friend. Yet I am inclined to believe with Thomas Carlyle: I believe that one such action recorded reveals to us more, a man who once lived, than a thousand glittering generalities." The book is printed in large, clear type, is wide-margined, and embellished with sketches by Geo. M. Ottinger, James T. Harwood, Lee Greene Richards and Mahonri M. Young. Price $1.00.
Brigham Young and the Poor Logger
"A Play-House," by Alfred Lambourne, is a new book just issued from the press of the Deseret News, treating the old Salt Lake Theatre. It is a sketch in the form of three short letters, and contains reminiscences of the scene painter's gallery with glimpses of the pioneers and a number of notables. It contains also a number of very interesting sidelights upon the past votaries of the dramas and tragedies that have been presented in the old play-house. In this work the noted author has crowded into sixty-four pages a story intensely interesting and full of history. The facts lead one to philosophize. The interest is carried from beginning to end, and many notable characters, local and foreign, receive passing consideration. Brigham Young and others are named, and many unnamed local characters are recalled between the lines. Henry Ward Beecher, the younger Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, George Francis Train, Victoria C. Woodhull, Theodore Tilton, Anna Eva Fay, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Charles Bright, John B. Goff, Moody & Sankey, Rev. Joseph Cooke, Dewitt Talmage, Charles Kingsley, Julia Dean, Henry M. Stanley, Edwin Booth, Mary Anderson, Langtry and many others, who have trodden the boards of the historic building, are among the celebrities brought before the reader. Here is a little anecdote of Brigham Young:
"How difficult is it to be in the first class, in the first class as a man, I mean. When the writer used to tell the following little anecdote verbally, he used to spice it with rather a malicious pleasure, perhaps, with the names of the second and third class men. But now they shall be left out. It may be that they are dead, and if yet living, they cannot play the game of little autocrats as once they did!
" 'The Big Picnic,' as pioneers remember, was held at the head of a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains. The pine is yet standing, trimmed of its upper branches, of course, that served as a flag-pole on these occasions. One day, as the string of vehicles that brought back the picnic party at the end of the week was winding its way down the canyon road, it so happened that there was, also, trudging his way homeward, a poor wood-cutter, a logger, a man loaded down with his blankets, his pots and kettles, and making his way but wearily, through the hot dust of the canyon road. Nothing remarkable about that—but wait! Mr. Second-Class-Man went by; Mr. Third-Class- Man went by. Did either of them stop to take up his poor 'brother’? No. Neither one nor the other offered to carry along his road the poor, tired wayfarer. Only there was more dust upon him than there was before. Mr. President's carriage went by. No! that is wrong. Mr. President's carriage did not go by. The man who had been unnoticed or ignored by the many, was taken up by the one. The President of the Church, the Governor, -the Trustee-in-Trust, and what rot, gave a place to the logger, and he was carried homeward, deposited at his very door.
"Not much of an anecdote after all, my friend. Yet I am inclined to believe with Thomas Carlyle: I believe that one such action recorded reveals to us more, a man who once lived, than a thousand glittering generalities." The book is printed in large, clear type, is wide-margined, and embellished with sketches by Geo. M. Ottinger, James T. Harwood, Lee Greene Richards and Mahonri M. Young. Price $1.00.
"Prophecy of President Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. January 1916. pg. 58.
Prophecy of President Brigham Young.
The following incident is related by Elder Riley Davis, of Clifton, Idaho: “In the year 1867, in connection with twenty-three other young men, I was called to meet President Brigham Young and company on their way from Bear Lake to Franklin. We met him on the summit of the Bear Lake mountain and escorted him to Franklin, twelve horsemen riding on either side of his carriage. Franklin at that time was the extreme northern boundary of civilization. Wild animals and Indians roamed over the country. Cache Valley contained a few hundred people and a few small forts or camps. The people of Franklin had erected a bowery that their beloved president might speak to them; they had covered it with green willows and sealed it with house logs.
“I was but fifteen years old at this time. I well remember how noble he looked that day as he arose on that rude stand, how full of inspiration and encouragement were his words, and how majestic the picture as he stretched forth his arm, and waved it from south to north, and said, ‘This valley will soon all be under cultivation; it will be filled with inhabitants and will be almost as one great city; and instead of you people being on the extreme boundary of the stakes of Zion, you will be one of the central stakes’.
“To me it seemed almost impossible, at least for a long time, but I have lived to see it literally fulfilled. Cache Valley is today as a fruitful garden, filled with beautiful cities and villages, and containing splendid homes, churches, and schools, and is one of the very center stakes of Zion.”
Prophecy of President Brigham Young.
The following incident is related by Elder Riley Davis, of Clifton, Idaho: “In the year 1867, in connection with twenty-three other young men, I was called to meet President Brigham Young and company on their way from Bear Lake to Franklin. We met him on the summit of the Bear Lake mountain and escorted him to Franklin, twelve horsemen riding on either side of his carriage. Franklin at that time was the extreme northern boundary of civilization. Wild animals and Indians roamed over the country. Cache Valley contained a few hundred people and a few small forts or camps. The people of Franklin had erected a bowery that their beloved president might speak to them; they had covered it with green willows and sealed it with house logs.
“I was but fifteen years old at this time. I well remember how noble he looked that day as he arose on that rude stand, how full of inspiration and encouragement were his words, and how majestic the picture as he stretched forth his arm, and waved it from south to north, and said, ‘This valley will soon all be under cultivation; it will be filled with inhabitants and will be almost as one great city; and instead of you people being on the extreme boundary of the stakes of Zion, you will be one of the central stakes’.
“To me it seemed almost impossible, at least for a long time, but I have lived to see it literally fulfilled. Cache Valley is today as a fruitful garden, filled with beautiful cities and villages, and containing splendid homes, churches, and schools, and is one of the very center stakes of Zion.”
Nibley, Preston. "The Character of Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1916. pg. 673-681.
The Character of Brigham Young BY PRESTON NIBLEY The recurrence of President Brigham "Young's birthday on the first day of June, naturally leads our thoughts to the great man whose character is so indelibly stamped upon the history of the people he loved and for whom he labored. It might not be amiss to pause in our tasks and contemplate, for a short time, the value of his life and work. He was a shining example of what one man can do who unstintingly gives his talents and his time to the furtherance of the general good ; to the establishment of truth and righteousness among men. The high estimate in which he is held, and the devotion accorded him, are well deserved rewards for his years of loyal and willing service to the people. President Young was asked, at one time, why he did not write something of his life's history. His answer was that he was too busy making history to bother with writing it. His grand maxim was that of the philosopher, "Activity is the soul of life." Throughout the long course of his years, he waged a constant battle with facts and things, fighting his way through with valor and courage ; an up-hill fight, too, from the beginning, but which led finally to a great and splendid achievement. He who would write of President Young must, therefore, look principally to his deeds. In searching the libraries for books which deal with the life and times of President Young, one finds much written and said both for and against him. His enemies were profuse in their abuse of him. By book and magazine writers who passed through Salt Lake City, he was generally worse than misunderstood ; or else they deliberately misrepresented him. On the other hand, by those who knew him best, and were, therefore, his friends, he was idolized. Homage and devotion were paid to him such as have seldom been accorded to any other man. His word was law, but it was just law. As law-giver he held his position by the supreme confidence of the people. It was only among his enemies that he was held in fear and suspicion,—those who sought to destroy what he sought to establish. Yet, as the years go by, behold how the tide of abuse is turned to praise, even among his enemies. The mist and the fog of misunderstanding that hid him from the outside world are generally lifting. More and more, he is coming to be regarded by all as the exceptional and remarkable man that he was. College professors of history, not inclined to believe anything without abundant proof, will now tell you that his name stands pre-eminent in the history of the development of the Western states. As time goes on, and as men and events adjust themselves, in the true and proper light of history, Brigham Young will yet be recognized as one of the foremost characters America has produced. But, to analyze some of those admirable qualities which made President Young stand out as a man among men, made of the rough laboring boy of Port Byron a master statesman, a Prophet of God. It has been said that "Mormonism" made Brigham Young. I think he himself would have been one of the last to deny that ; in fact he often affirmed it. It found him in Western New York, an unlearned boy, with only "eleven days' schooling," painting wooden buckets, repairing canal boats, and turning his hand to whatever work he could do for a livelihood. Through years of bitter toil, yet most loyal and faithful service on his part, by degrees, it elevated him to the very pinnacle of honor and fame. One can well conclude that "Mormonism" made Brigham Young; but it must also be borne in mind that he permitted it to make him, and was ever willing and anxious it should do so. "Mormonism" made Brigham Young largely through Brigham's own efforts. From the very first he labored with his whole heart and soul for it and in it. Of the original twelve apostles, co-workers of the Prophet Joseph, how many of them did "Mormonism" make? Your Church history will tell you that in the midst of trial and heavy opposition some fell away like Autumn leaves. At least half of them were not willing to be "made" at all; constantly setting up their own judgments against a higher judgment; rendering themselves useless ; blocking their own way. But there was Brigham, "being made" by being true, by being willing, faithful, and by rendering devout obedience to the will of God, and loyal service to his Prophet leader ! No system can elevate a man to greatness, without his being willing and anxious for such elevation. Brigham's missionary service illustrates the kind of a man he was. It may be a rather startling revelation to the young missionary of today to read what follows. It shows the self-sacrificing determination of the man. I quote his own words, from a sermon delivered in Salt Lake City, August, 1856: "When the brethren were talking about starting a press in New York, and how it has been upheld, I did wish to relate an incident in my own experience. In company with several of the Twelve, I was sent to England, in 1839. We started from home without purse or scrip, and most of the Twelve were sick; and those who were not sick when they started were sick on the way to Ohio; Brother Taylor was left to die by the road-side by old Father Coltrin, though he did not die. I was not able to walk to the river, not so far as across this block, no, not more than half as far; I had to be helped to the river, in order to get into a boat to cross it. This was about our situation. "I had not even an overcoat. I took a small quilt from the trundle bed, and that served for my overcoat, while I was traveling through the State of New York, when I had a coarse satinet overcoat given to me. Thus we went to England to a strange land to sojourn among strangers. "When we reached England, we designed to start a paper, but we had not the first penny to do it with. I had enough to buy a hat and pay my passage to Preston, for from the time I left home, I had worn an old cap which my wife made out of a pair of old pantaloons; but the most of us were entirely destitute of means to buy even any necessary article." That is the kind of service Brigham Young gave to the Church. That is how "Mormonism" made him. He gave it all he had, and received back his greatness in return. It is highly significant to me, this trip from Nauvoo to England, "entirely destitute of means," wearing "a cap made out of a pair of old pantaloons," that the people of those islands should hear the gospel. Another paragraph from the same speech: "I came into this Church in the spring of 1832. Previous to my being baptized, I took a mission to Canada at my own expense; and from the time that I was baptized, until the day of our sorrow and affliction, at the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, no summer passed over my head but what I was traveling and preaching, and the only thing I ever received from the Church, during over twelve years, and the only means that were ever given me by the Prophet, that I now recollect, was in 1842, when Brother Joseph sent me the half of a small pig that the brethren had brought to him." Twelve years, probably the best years, too, out of the life of a man like Brigham Young! Really it is enough to make some of us of today who talk of our allegiance to the Church humble ourselves to the very dust ! But he was preparing, and the Lord remembered him in after years, both spiritually and with the things of a temporal nature. That Brigham Young was destined to become a great leader is brought out by the fact that he was a great servant, great in what he was able to give! With the possible exception of the Prophet's brother, Hyrum, no one served the cause more loyally, faithfully, intelligently than he. For twelve years, he put his magnificent energy to the wheel, working like a faithful trojan. I fancy Joseph often thanked his Heavenly Father for this loyal, true and willing servant at his side, who was as a strong right arm, with a love between man and man, such as seldom exists. Brigham was the great, true brother friend, warding off enemies, ready to give his life, if need arise; loving his leader more than he loved himself. For example, recall that fateful council held "in the upper room" of the Kirtland temple, in 1837, at which several of the apostles, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and leading elders, were present to depose Joseph. The very heart of the Church, arrayed in foul desertion, bent to destroy the boy Prophet and his work ! They on the one side ; Brigham Young on the other. We are fortunate in having his own words pertaining to his part in the matter: "I rose up and told them, in a plain and forcible manner, that Joseph was a prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail at and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread which bound them to the prophet of God and sink themselves to hell." Those were strong words, but not too strong. As a matter of fact, the "reformers" ran into a stone wall when they tried to divert Brigham Young from his path; a stone wall which almost diverted them in the direction he had foretold they would go. Whither the confusion might spread, and what damage it might have done, had this great friend not thrown his great influence to stem it, cannot be determined. To this principle of intelligent loyalty, more than to any other, I believe can be attributed President Young's rise in the Church. He had the admirable characteristic of persistently standing by what he believed. Naturally, it did not take Joseph long to recognize the value of such a man. The Prophet was harassed, slandered and persecuted by false friends and brethren, as well as by open and avowed enemies. Consider, then, the worth of a friend who was always and forever a friend, who stood as firmly loyal to him in trial and trouble, as in peace and prosperity. At the death of Joseph came the supreme crisis. The founder, the leader, the Prophet, seemingly the very life of the organization, was gone. Dismay was on the faces of the people. The dire news came as a stunning blow. What to do now ? Many asked, and there was no answer! Trembling lips and stunned senses could not speak. But away back in New Hampshire, there was the man who knew what to do. He would speak soon, and with his God-given wisdom and force would save the day. By clear insight, by untiring labor, and by devout humility and divine guidance, he would gather up the scattered forces and build mightily upon a rock, such an edifice as the world before had never seen : "The first thing I thought of was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt sat on my right; we were both leaning back in our chairs. Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said, 'The keys of the kingdom are right here with the Church.' " And it was so. Brigham was one of the first, if not the first, to comprehend it. Then that eventful day at Nauvoo, when a decision must be reached by all the people. There they were assembled, praying in their heart of hearts that the God of Joseph would not forsake them. So much they had suffered for this which they had laid to their souls. Was it all to vanish now, and leave them brokenhearted, deceived, facing, as it were, the black night? But, listen! "Brother Brigham" speaks. What is he saying? "I have spared no pains to learn my lessons of the kingdom, in this world and in the eternal worlds; and if it were not so, I could go and live in peace; but for the gospel and for your sakes, I shall stand in my place. Does this Church want it as God organized it? or do you want to clip the power of the Priesthood and let those who have the keys of the Priesthood go and build up the kingdom in all the world, wherever the people will hear them? If there is a spokesman, if he is a king and priest, let him go and build up a kingdom to himself; that is his right, and it is the right of many here, but the Twelve are at the head of it. If ten thousand men rise up and say they have the Prophet Joseph Smith's shoes, I know they are imposters. I tell you, in the name of the Lord, that no man can put another between the Twelve and the Prophet Joseph! Why? Because Joseph was their file leader, and he has committed into their hands the keys of the kingdom in this last dispensation, for all the world; do not put a thread between the Priesthood and God. We have a head, and that head is the Apostleship, .the spirit and power of Joseph, and we can now begin to see the necessity of that Apostleship. The Twelve can manage the affairs of the Church and direct all things aright. Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work, and we will build upon it; you have never seen the quorums built one upon another. There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world." Well, I would put the hour of that speech as the supreme one in the life of Brigham Young. The hour in which he brought order out of confusion ; giving joy, light and hope to grieved and weary souls, shedding a ray of calm sunshine over the whole scene where the storm had raged and wrecked. The hour in which he drew nearest to God, and in which God drew near to him. What he said and did there meant life to those about him, meant joy and peace to you and me, and to countless thousands yet unborn. One can get an idea, too, of his marvelous, prophetic powers from the last sentence quoted in that great speech. "There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world." I call upon the reader to witness whether that statement, made nearly seventy-two years ago, is true. It is most remarkable, that in those early, struggling days, there was a man who beheld the purposes and will of God relating to us, even better than many of us know it now. Of the treck across the wilderness, and Brigham's selection of these valleys as a permanent home for the Saints, the principal facts are well known. It is sufficient for our purposes to note the part he played and the judgment he rendered. In the first place, there is all the daring that was manifested in the move West. But Joseph had foretold that the Saints would go, and so they went—that was all there was to it, as far as Brigham was concerned. What Joseph prophesied that would be fulfilled. To that thought Brigham had long since dedicated his life. When questioned, on the way West, where the caravan would stop, President Young replied that he would know the place when he saw it. Beholding Salt Lake Valley, he readily declared, "This is the place !" A few weeks previous Samuel Brannan had traveled overland from California to meet the pioneers, and induce them to settle in Sacramento Valley. Sacramento Valley ! then the very cream of all the agricultural land in the West. But President Young stoutly refused to hear of Brannan's proposition. Brannan, discouraged and disappointed, could not understand why the barren desert of Salt Lake Valley, should be chosen in preference to the perfumed, fertile plain, and the perpetual sunshine of the Sacramento. There might have been many who could not understand, but Brigham did. To quote from a sermon of his delivered June 7, 1857, "As I have often said, I am thankful to a fulness that the Lord has brought us to these barren valleys, to these sterile mountains, to this desolate waste, where only Saints can or would live, to a region that is not desired by anyone else on the earth." And again he vehemently declares, "We have come to this place to rear Saints." I will leave it to another than myself to delineate what would have happened had President Young followed Brannan's advice and led the "Mormon" caravans into Sacramento Valley where, within two years' time, there was witnessed the greatest gold rush ever known, and where, within ten years, 456 million dollars' worth of the shining metal was dug from the sands. Of President Young's long period as guide and leader of the Church in these valleys, covering more than thirty years, much might be said. It was a time of continued anxiety, trouble and difficulty. The powers of the great man were often taxed to the limit, yet he stood steadily by his task, without faltering. There was the safe conducting of emigrants across the plains, the founding of new settlements, the Indian wars, the dealings with bitter-minded, prejudiced men sent here to govern, the building of railroads, the erection of great buildings, the combating of enemies, at home, who were bent to destroy, and the preaching of the gospel abroad. In all his varied career, with its many difficult situations, few are the things in which he was not victorious. And throughout, how zealously he labored, the one grand hope of his life being to "do his bit" for the furtherance of the kingdom. It was his all-absorbing ambition. As other men, he had his faults, failings and weaknesses, but how they simmer away when measured up to the mighty efforts he put forth for righteousness ! For thirty years, here in these valleys, he dedicated his life "To build up the Church and Kingdom of God." All around and about us are the evidences of his effort. His calling people to form little settlements in near and remote parts of the Great Basin, and to establish themselves temporally, reflect greatly to the credit of his judgment and wisdom. By encouraging agriculture, and by discouraging vain and silly pursuits after wealth, he saw the whole people gradually root themselves permanently to mother earth where they had chosen to make their home. May he not often have reflected upon that prophecy of his? "There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world." Of his preaching, a word might be said. Up to the time President Young joined the Church, the last thing on earth he ever thought himself to become was a preacher. In fact, he once stated publicly, "had it not been that I clearly saw and understood that the Lord Almighty would take the meek things of this earth to confound the mighty, the wise and the talented, there was nothing that could have induced me or persuaded me to have become a public speaker." He was not naturally an orator, but I do claim that he was a great preacher ; one of the greatest, if not greatest, among the Latter-day Saints, during the time he presided over them. One may go through volume after volume of the Journal of Discourses without finding sermons equal to his. There are interesting, instructive and learned discourses in those volumes, but I would say that Brigham's sermons stand out preeminently as faith-promoting. The kind of sermon which, when a man comes out of a church where he has heard it, he sets his teeth, clenches his fists, and says to himself, "I must, I will be a better man." Brigham Young could preach that kind of a sermon, though he was not skilled in book-learning nor did he strain after oratorical effect at all. Faith-inspiring! Out of the great, genuine personality of the man, who had convinced himself to his heart's core, went the convincing influence into the hearts of his listeners. The Germans have a saying which reads, 'Was aus dem Herze kommt, geht zu Herzen" (What comes from the heart, goes to other hearts.) This is what, to my mind, distinguished Brigham as a preacher, and is, after all, really the kind of preaching worth hearing. Another thing that forces itself to one's attention in reading the sermons of President Young is the clear and distinct knowledge he had of the doctrines, the objects and purposes, of his religion. His purely doctrinal sermons are models of clearness and lucidity. He avoided the speculative and the hazy for the clear. "When I first commenced preaching," he once said, "I made up my mind to declare the things that I understood. The kingdom of our God," he said again, "that is set up on the earth, does not require men of many words and flaming oratorical talents to establish truth and righteousness." (J. D., Vol. 4, page 20). He spoke simply, and of the things he knew : "That the Lord lives, that he has revealed himself in this our day, that he has given us a prophet, and brought forth a new and everlasting covenant for the restoration of Israel." To young Latter-day Saints, fruitful and faith-inspiring hours may be enjoyed by reading with studious care the sermons of President Young. How he dealt with material things, and how he regarded them, throws interesting light upon his character. It is well-known that during his youth and early years, he had known and felt the bitter pinch of poverty; and then, in later life, he acquired wealth, and could command almost all that money could buy. But I want to claim for him that the accumulation of great wealth did not make him a happier nor more blessed man, and did not detract from the humility he manifested in the days of his penury. He knew the uses of wealth, and also its uselessness. He did not need it to be a true Latter-day Saint ; and if God should choose to take it away from him, there would be no drooping of countenance on his part. I find him publicly declaring in the tabernacle, "Brother Brigham can get along with as little as any man in Israel." In a sermon on April 8, 1862, he said: "Riches do not consist, of gold and silver. It may be said that with them we can buy all the comforts we need for the body. That may be so, under certain circumstances; still, gold and silver are merely a convenient means of exchange. The possession of all the gold and silver in the world would not satisfy the cravings of the immortal soul of man. The gift of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, alone can produce a good, wholesome, contented mind." There is a glance into the depths of philosophy! That Brigham Young, the shrewd business man, should make such a statement, reveals the powers and scope of his mind. Finally, let me say of him, that I regard him in the highest measure, as a great, true Latter-day Saint, and servant of God; a chosen man, sent to play his part in the building of a kingdom, "such as there never was in the world." Less than two months after his death, President John Taylor said of him: "Brigham Young needs no fictitious aid to perpetuate his memory; his labors have been exhibited during the last forty-five years. In his preaching, in his writing, in his counsels, in the wisdom and intelligence he displayed in our exodus from Nauvoo, in the building of cities throughout the length and breadth of this territory, in his opposition to vice, and his protection to virtue, purity and right." |
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
GOVERNOR OF UTAH 1850-1858 Copy of the first daguerrotype taken in Utah, Dec. 12, 1850, by C. W. Carter. |
"Brigham Young's Baptism." Young Woman's Journal. October 1916. pg. 646.
Brigham Young’s Baptism.
“April 14, 1832, I was baptized by Eleazer Miller, who confirmed me at the water’s edge. We returned home, about two miles, the weather being cold and snowy; and before my clothes were dry on my back he laid his hands on me, and ordained me an Elder at which I marvelled. According to the words of the Savior, I felt a humble, child-like spirit, witnessing unto me that my sins were forgiven.”[1]
[1] Young Woman’s Journal, vol. 8, p. 442.
Brigham Young’s Baptism.
“April 14, 1832, I was baptized by Eleazer Miller, who confirmed me at the water’s edge. We returned home, about two miles, the weather being cold and snowy; and before my clothes were dry on my back he laid his hands on me, and ordained me an Elder at which I marvelled. According to the words of the Savior, I felt a humble, child-like spirit, witnessing unto me that my sins were forgiven.”[1]
[1] Young Woman’s Journal, vol. 8, p. 442.
"A Word on Tithing from President Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. January 1917. pg. 55-56.
A Word on Tithing from President Brigham Young.
“In regard to this whining of the world about Brigham’s handling the tithing, I can say that he has put in ten dollars where he has taken one out of the treasury, and he has paid more tithing than any other man in the Church. Everybody should pay their tenth. A poor woman ought to pay her tenth chicken, if she has to draw out ten times its value for her support. It is all the Lord’s and we are only His stewards.”[1]
[1]Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, page 45.
A Word on Tithing from President Brigham Young.
“In regard to this whining of the world about Brigham’s handling the tithing, I can say that he has put in ten dollars where he has taken one out of the treasury, and he has paid more tithing than any other man in the Church. Everybody should pay their tenth. A poor woman ought to pay her tenth chicken, if she has to draw out ten times its value for her support. It is all the Lord’s and we are only His stewards.”[1]
[1]Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, page 45.
Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1917. pg. 703.
Brigham Young He was born to be a leader of men. He knew no rank but the front rank. Fearlessly he hurled the banner of truth aloft, and blazed a new trail. With his great faith he did not move mountains, but he crossed mountains which other men had considered impassable. He founded an empire where men foretold that an ear of corn would not grow. His feet rested firmly on the earth, and his tread was sure, but ever before his eye was "The Kingdom of God." In his youth he espoused a feeble and despised Cause, but like a valiant soldier he saw that Cause become a mighty power among men. High honor to his name! Generations may come and go before we look upon his like again. Preston Nibley |
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young and the United Order." Improvement Era. June 1918. pg. 668-670.
Brigham Young and the United Order By Susa Young Gates Saints of mature age are fairly familiar with the inspired efforts put forth by President Brigham Young in the late "60's" and early "70's" to establish cooperative enterprises, looking to the final achievement of the "United Order," or the "Order of Enoch." No doubt he hoped to rally the people around the standard of unselfish devotion to a cause, so that the common problems of daily life might be met in a common council and solved practically, as a whole, rather than by each individual member alone and unguided. Up and down the territory he went preaching the "United Order," urging the people to form close-knit community enterprises, and in some places, such as Orderville, near Kanab, and Brigham City, great success attended this movement. But little was known, however, of the details in management, and there was considerable confusion as a result because of that lack of experience. We read now-a-days of the efforts being put forth to establish what are called "community kitchens and centers;" not alone those teaching "centers" now starting up all over this country, but the recent definite food control in England, now placed under the auspices of the government itself are also reminders of the many truths revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, which have been only partially accepted by this people; these same truths seem to have passed out into the world by a natural psychic process and are being adopted by the children of the world who are always "wiser in their generation than the children of light." Then after it all, these truths return to us and are accepted as remarkable, up-to-date and newly discovered facts and ideas. Sir C. F. Spencer has been appointed by the British government to establish communal cooking on a gigantic scale. We are told that, "Public baths and park buildings will be turned into kitchens, and town halls into dining halls; street cars and omnibuses will carry the finished product to thousands of small distributing stations. Varied meals will be provided for everybody at the lowest possible price, and there will even be special meals at invalid kitchens for those who need them. "We shall, for one thing, place within the reach of the working classes wholesome food instead of makeshift meals. We shall eliminate or minimize their difficulties in buying, and shall release many women from the arduousness of domestic life to do work of national importance. We expect that the scheme will be a means of allaying, at least partially, some of the prevalent discomforts and discontent. "Individual cooking at individual homes is waste of labor, health and material. When you take a thousand homes with a thousand fires and consider the waste of fuel, the multiplicity of operations, and the enormous waste, you must agree that if this could be concentrated in one huge kitchen, and a few stoves and some electric apparatus could do the whole, it would be a saving. "The national kitchens will be worked by the local authorities and an order giving a formal start to the scheme will be issued at once. The government will provide 25 per cent of the initial outlay free, and 25 per cent more in the form of a loan; the remaining 50 per cent will be raised by the local authorities. "The basic scheme which we are suggesting is that of a central station with distributing depots. Food will be passed out to consumers only on tickets, so that their portions may be properly checked up against their regular food cards. Supplies will thus be strictly rationed." This talk is so strongly reminiscent of President Young that one would think the eminent Englishman had been studying his suggestions. We who knew President Young received these same thoughts and even words from his lips, times without number. Our present beloved leader, President Joseph F. Smith, was appointed by President Young to organize the united order in Davis county in those early days. Coming down to the President's office for detailed instruction the young apostle spent a long afternoon in conversation with his pioneer leader. President Young told him that it would be impossible, under the existing laws of the United States government and with the persistent selfishness of men, to establish the Order of Enoch fully at that time. Rather should his attention be turned to grouping into one central organization various small enterprises. Where a county had four grist mills, each struggling with small patronage and fighting others for a chance to exist, all should be united under a joint board, and thus combine resources and machinery into one profitable, wisely-conducted enterprise. The same applies to machinery, so said President Young, which is used for farms; if farmers would unite in purchasing necessary machinery, and cooperate in the use thereof, there would be a great saving of time and means in that way. Domestic labors could be regulated in the same efficient manner, and thus relieve the people from debt, unnecessary labor, and the strain of keen rivalry and business opposition. President Smith's own comments on this order are illuminating. He said recently: "The Order of Enoch is not a communistic order after the manner of men, but a united order in which each man will be his own free agent. God will hold each man accountable for the use he makes of his stewardship and he will be rewarded according to the account which he renders. The Lord's plan is a righteous plan, yet the wise steward who is willing and industrious should not be made to sacrifice his time and substance to support the idle and shiftless." President Young, upon this last point, said in the St. George temple, in one of his discourses at the spring dedication of that temple, April, 1877, that the order did not contemplate turning all the means gathered by the prudent into a common fund for equal division. Said he: "If we were to divide our substance now equally amongst this people, we would have to do it all over again in a year from now, for the thrifty and careful would have a surplus, while the extravagant and shiftless would be without hope and in debt. For," he added half jocularly, "you know there are the Lord's poor, and the devil's poor, and the poor devils, and we have a few of all three in this Church." President Brigham Young was a great and inspired leader. In no one particular did he manifest his leadership more admirably than in the foundation which he laid in his own family, in the State, and in the Church, for the establishment of unselfishness in the daily adjustment of man's relation with man, and, therefore, with his God. |
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
(His last approved portrait) |
Lynch, Annie. "President Brigham Young's Christmas Party." Juvenile Instructor. December 1918. pg. 631-632.
President Brigham Young's Christmas Party
By Annie Lynch
It was Christmas day and a merry group of Busy Bees was preparing for their first "Pioneer Bee." The rooms were gay with holly and fragrant flowers, all generously furnished l)y Brother L . Even the mistletoe was not forgotten, although Ruth laughingly said, "With all the boys at war, what is the good of a mistletoe bough?"
"With the boy at war, you mean," was the laughing answer.
Grandmother, sitting before the grate fire in her comfortable rocking chair, was dreaming of the long ago, of her first Christmas in the valley.
Margaret, in charge of the old-fashioned supper, called from the dining room, "Busy Bees, all is ready; don't it look like special guests ?" as she pointed with pride to the table set with dainty china and silver, a tiny Christmas tree for a centerpiece, and at each place a miniature covered wagon filled with peppermints.
"I don't know when I have been so happy," answered Alice. "I feel it is a privilege to entertain these dear pioneers and to listen to their reminiscences. Margaret, you were 'great' to think of it. It will be a red letter day for all of us and I am going to V and find out about the first Christmas celebration in the valley."
The sleigh, bells announced the arrival of the guests and all hurried to the door to welcome them. After hearty greetings, wraps were removed by loving hands. Soon all were seated before the fire, happy in renewing acquaintances and recalling incidents of their life in Kirtland, Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, of that most wonderful journey across the plains, and of pioneer life after reaching the valley.
"Tell us of the first Christmas celebration in Utah, will you," asked Alice.
"Susan," said Sister Emmeline, "don't you remember the Christmas party at Brother Brigham's? That was the first, wasn't it? It was in lcS40, and Christmas that year came on Tuesday. Christmas eve was enlivened by the firing of cannon and guns in every direction. I was living at Brother Aaron Farr's and remember the band serenaded us. There was a dance Monday at Martin Peck's, to which I was invited. The never-to-be-forgotten event, however, was the party at Brother Brigham's home, the log row. One hundred and fifty guests were invited to share his hospitality and to celebrate Christmas day. We arrived on time and were seated at the long tables filled with all the good things of the valley. Don't you remember the delicious chicken pie, doughnuts, ginger bread, beaten biscuits made by Aunt Jane? I doubt if you domestic science girls can come up to that."
"After the tables were cleared away, dancing was indulged in without interruption, excepting for supper, until a late hour. And such dancing! No ragging, but the stately reels. Sir Roger de Coverley, Money Musk, interspersed with quadrilles. Brother S used to cut the most beautiful pigeon wings. We were all good dancers in those days, for didn't we all attend Brother Gates' dancing class? Father would yoke the oxen to our wagon, and father, mother and the young folks all piled in for our weekly dancing lesson."
"I well remember Brother Brigham's party," answered Sister Susan. "Like the girls of today, on receiving my invitation the first thought was 'nothing to wear.' This was literally true, as all our clothing was shabby and patched. Necessity is the mother of invention, so, after careful consideration, the wagon cover, that had done such faithful service in our journey across the plains, was brought out. We couldn't afford canvas and our cover consisted of several thicknesses of unbleached factory. This was carefully dyed and as good luck would have it, it turned out a very pretty brown. We made this into dresses for myself and sister, trimmed with silk from an old cape of mother's. This cape, black, lined with light brown not only furnished trimming for our dresses, but I made poke bonnets from the black with quilled lining of the light brown. I had embroidered buckskin moccasins with ravellings from a piece of silk, but I believe for this occasion father, who was a shoemaker, made me a pair of slippers from his old boot legs. I tell you my first ball dress was stunning."
"Thank you, that is interesting," said Alice. After several favorite songs were sung by the youthful voices the guests were escorted to supper, where old time delicacies, cooked by the domestic science graduates, were served.
At the close of the banquet, the oldest pioneer present, Brother S said, "Don't you ever tell me our granddaughters can't cook as well as their grandmothers. This sure has been a red letter day. Three cheers for our first "Pioneer Bee," and our "Busy Bees."
President Brigham Young's Christmas Party
By Annie Lynch
It was Christmas day and a merry group of Busy Bees was preparing for their first "Pioneer Bee." The rooms were gay with holly and fragrant flowers, all generously furnished l)y Brother L . Even the mistletoe was not forgotten, although Ruth laughingly said, "With all the boys at war, what is the good of a mistletoe bough?"
"With the boy at war, you mean," was the laughing answer.
Grandmother, sitting before the grate fire in her comfortable rocking chair, was dreaming of the long ago, of her first Christmas in the valley.
Margaret, in charge of the old-fashioned supper, called from the dining room, "Busy Bees, all is ready; don't it look like special guests ?" as she pointed with pride to the table set with dainty china and silver, a tiny Christmas tree for a centerpiece, and at each place a miniature covered wagon filled with peppermints.
"I don't know when I have been so happy," answered Alice. "I feel it is a privilege to entertain these dear pioneers and to listen to their reminiscences. Margaret, you were 'great' to think of it. It will be a red letter day for all of us and I am going to V and find out about the first Christmas celebration in the valley."
The sleigh, bells announced the arrival of the guests and all hurried to the door to welcome them. After hearty greetings, wraps were removed by loving hands. Soon all were seated before the fire, happy in renewing acquaintances and recalling incidents of their life in Kirtland, Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, of that most wonderful journey across the plains, and of pioneer life after reaching the valley.
"Tell us of the first Christmas celebration in Utah, will you," asked Alice.
"Susan," said Sister Emmeline, "don't you remember the Christmas party at Brother Brigham's? That was the first, wasn't it? It was in lcS40, and Christmas that year came on Tuesday. Christmas eve was enlivened by the firing of cannon and guns in every direction. I was living at Brother Aaron Farr's and remember the band serenaded us. There was a dance Monday at Martin Peck's, to which I was invited. The never-to-be-forgotten event, however, was the party at Brother Brigham's home, the log row. One hundred and fifty guests were invited to share his hospitality and to celebrate Christmas day. We arrived on time and were seated at the long tables filled with all the good things of the valley. Don't you remember the delicious chicken pie, doughnuts, ginger bread, beaten biscuits made by Aunt Jane? I doubt if you domestic science girls can come up to that."
"After the tables were cleared away, dancing was indulged in without interruption, excepting for supper, until a late hour. And such dancing! No ragging, but the stately reels. Sir Roger de Coverley, Money Musk, interspersed with quadrilles. Brother S used to cut the most beautiful pigeon wings. We were all good dancers in those days, for didn't we all attend Brother Gates' dancing class? Father would yoke the oxen to our wagon, and father, mother and the young folks all piled in for our weekly dancing lesson."
"I well remember Brother Brigham's party," answered Sister Susan. "Like the girls of today, on receiving my invitation the first thought was 'nothing to wear.' This was literally true, as all our clothing was shabby and patched. Necessity is the mother of invention, so, after careful consideration, the wagon cover, that had done such faithful service in our journey across the plains, was brought out. We couldn't afford canvas and our cover consisted of several thicknesses of unbleached factory. This was carefully dyed and as good luck would have it, it turned out a very pretty brown. We made this into dresses for myself and sister, trimmed with silk from an old cape of mother's. This cape, black, lined with light brown not only furnished trimming for our dresses, but I made poke bonnets from the black with quilled lining of the light brown. I had embroidered buckskin moccasins with ravellings from a piece of silk, but I believe for this occasion father, who was a shoemaker, made me a pair of slippers from his old boot legs. I tell you my first ball dress was stunning."
"Thank you, that is interesting," said Alice. After several favorite songs were sung by the youthful voices the guests were escorted to supper, where old time delicacies, cooked by the domestic science graduates, were served.
At the close of the banquet, the oldest pioneer present, Brother S said, "Don't you ever tell me our granddaughters can't cook as well as their grandmothers. This sure has been a red letter day. Three cheers for our first "Pioneer Bee," and our "Busy Bees."
Penrose, Charles W. "Verses Sung at the Funeral of President Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. June 1919. pg. 311.
VERSES SUNG AT THE FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG, Words by Charles W. Penrose. Music by George Careless. Death gathers up thick clouds of gloom And wounds the soul with anguish deep. Gaunt sorrow sits upon the tomb, And round the grave dense shadows creep. But faith beams down from God's fair skies And bids the clouds and shades begone. We gaze with brightened, tear-dried eyes, And lo! There stands the Holy One! "The Resurrection and the Life," What hope and joy that title brings! Death's but a myth with horrors rife, And flees before the King of kings. Then, shall we mourn and weep today Because our chief has gone to rest? He slumbers not in that cold clay. But lives and moves among the blest. W€ lose a leading Master Mind, And spirit hosts behind the vail. New strength and added wisdom find. To make our mutual work prevail. Hosannas greet his entrance there. And Joseph waits with words of praise, While here sit thousands bowed in prayer, And funeral notes in grief we raise. Farewell, dear Brother Brigham Young, God called thee through the eternal gate, Thy fame shall dwell on every tongue. And Saints thy worth will emulate. Thy work on earth was nobly done. And peace smiles sweetly on thee now. The crown celestial thou hast won, In splendor waits to deck thy brow! Salt Lake City, August 30, 1877. |
Horne, Flora B. "True Pioneer Stories--The Prophet Brigham Young." Juvenile Instructor. July 1919. pg. 358-359.
True Pioneer Stories
Contributed by Daughters of the Utah Pioneers
The Prophet Brigham Young
By Flora B. Horne
June is not alone the month of roses and bridal parties. It is significant to Latter-day Saints as the month when a great modern Prophet and Leader was given to the world.
That prophet has shaped our destinies more than we credit.
June 1, 1801, in the little town of Whitingham, in Windsor Co. Vermont, a son was born to John and Nabby Howe Young.
Naturally, when you mention Vermont, Joseph Smith, the prophet is the thought that follows. These unusual characters, Joseph and Brigham, became fast friends, as they no doubt were in the spirit world.
John Young, the father of Brigham, was of good old Puritan descent, and gave to his son that valiant spirit of defense for truth and right. Let your imagination take you back, for a moment, one hundred years and more. Think of the vast wilderness to be cultivated that breadstuff's might be raised ! There were no idlers then, as now. Their slogan was "Work." Compare the little log school house with its sawed log seats, slates, pencils and readers—yes and the Bible—for that was a school book in those days, with your convenient, well heated, well lighted, well equipped schools, with free books, pencils and papers, etc. If the boys one hundred years of age were fortunate, they attended for a few weeks each year, for two or three years. It is said that the boy Brigham received but thirteen weeks of schooling. He made the best of it.
Poverty forced many into trades. Brigham became an apprentice in a carpenter shop at 16 years of age. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers have the tools he used at that time, in their exhibit at the State Capitol.
"Self effort produces strength," and "The idler must not eat the bread of the laborer," were favorite statements of Brigham Young. In 1824, on Oct. 8, he married Miriam Works, who died in 1832, leaving two little girls, that were cared for by "Aunt Vilate" Kimball.
Brigham and Miriam had both been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was comforted, and rose above sorrow by taking the "Truth" to kin folk and friends.
He soon learned that God is the Great Teacher and Christ the Great Exemplar. In speaking of his visit to Kirtland, Brigham Young says: "In Sept., 1832, Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon. Brother Joseph Young and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way, and some brandies of the Church. We exhorted them and prayed with them and I spoke in tongues. Some pronounced it genuine and from the Lord, and others pronounced it of the devil. We proceeded to Kirtland, and stopped at John P. Greene's who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately repaired to the woods where we found the Prophet, and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us, and bid us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us. In the evening, a few of the brethren came in and we conversed upon the things of the Kingdom. He called upon me to pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees, the brethren flocked around him, and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said "No, it is of God."
After Brigham left the room the Prophet Joseph said, "The time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church."
He surely did. How wonderful to be guided by the Spirit of the Lord! Why did your father and mine, leave civilization and come to a desert land? Because they saw the mantle of the martyred Prophet Joseph Smith fall upon Brigham Young and knew the Lord would direct him to the Rocky Mountains and the Dead Sea as spoken of by Joseph.
He did not fail them.
This month we celebrate the birth of our Nation and the birth of our State. "This is the Place," said Brigham Young. Now we all know this is the place set apart for the Saints, — "a promised land."
Will we celebrate the 4th and 24th of July with gratitude and loyalty in our hearts ? "Aye ! aye !" comes from hundreds of thousands of Utah's sons and daughters.
True Pioneer Stories
Contributed by Daughters of the Utah Pioneers
The Prophet Brigham Young
By Flora B. Horne
June is not alone the month of roses and bridal parties. It is significant to Latter-day Saints as the month when a great modern Prophet and Leader was given to the world.
That prophet has shaped our destinies more than we credit.
June 1, 1801, in the little town of Whitingham, in Windsor Co. Vermont, a son was born to John and Nabby Howe Young.
Naturally, when you mention Vermont, Joseph Smith, the prophet is the thought that follows. These unusual characters, Joseph and Brigham, became fast friends, as they no doubt were in the spirit world.
John Young, the father of Brigham, was of good old Puritan descent, and gave to his son that valiant spirit of defense for truth and right. Let your imagination take you back, for a moment, one hundred years and more. Think of the vast wilderness to be cultivated that breadstuff's might be raised ! There were no idlers then, as now. Their slogan was "Work." Compare the little log school house with its sawed log seats, slates, pencils and readers—yes and the Bible—for that was a school book in those days, with your convenient, well heated, well lighted, well equipped schools, with free books, pencils and papers, etc. If the boys one hundred years of age were fortunate, they attended for a few weeks each year, for two or three years. It is said that the boy Brigham received but thirteen weeks of schooling. He made the best of it.
Poverty forced many into trades. Brigham became an apprentice in a carpenter shop at 16 years of age. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers have the tools he used at that time, in their exhibit at the State Capitol.
"Self effort produces strength," and "The idler must not eat the bread of the laborer," were favorite statements of Brigham Young. In 1824, on Oct. 8, he married Miriam Works, who died in 1832, leaving two little girls, that were cared for by "Aunt Vilate" Kimball.
Brigham and Miriam had both been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was comforted, and rose above sorrow by taking the "Truth" to kin folk and friends.
He soon learned that God is the Great Teacher and Christ the Great Exemplar. In speaking of his visit to Kirtland, Brigham Young says: "In Sept., 1832, Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon. Brother Joseph Young and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way, and some brandies of the Church. We exhorted them and prayed with them and I spoke in tongues. Some pronounced it genuine and from the Lord, and others pronounced it of the devil. We proceeded to Kirtland, and stopped at John P. Greene's who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately repaired to the woods where we found the Prophet, and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us, and bid us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us. In the evening, a few of the brethren came in and we conversed upon the things of the Kingdom. He called upon me to pray. In my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees, the brethren flocked around him, and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said "No, it is of God."
After Brigham left the room the Prophet Joseph said, "The time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church."
He surely did. How wonderful to be guided by the Spirit of the Lord! Why did your father and mine, leave civilization and come to a desert land? Because they saw the mantle of the martyred Prophet Joseph Smith fall upon Brigham Young and knew the Lord would direct him to the Rocky Mountains and the Dead Sea as spoken of by Joseph.
He did not fail them.
This month we celebrate the birth of our Nation and the birth of our State. "This is the Place," said Brigham Young. Now we all know this is the place set apart for the Saints, — "a promised land."
Will we celebrate the 4th and 24th of July with gratitude and loyalty in our hearts ? "Aye ! aye !" comes from hundreds of thousands of Utah's sons and daughters.
Müller, John T. "Character Analysis of President Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. June 1919. pg. 330-332.
Character Analysis of President Brigham Young.
Compiled from Phrenological Books By Dr. John T. Miller.
A man’s character is what he is, his reputation is what people think him to be. When the Apostle Paul went to Rome the people said to him: We want to know what you think about the Christians, because they are everywhere evilly spoken of. Their character did not harmonize with the evil reputation they had. At one time the reputation of the Great Pioneer of the West did not harmonize as well with his character as it does at the present time. At that time it required considerable courage for the writers of books to write favorably of the work of President Brigham Young.
In 1873 Professor O. S. Fowler compiled all his writings and published them in two large books entitled “Human Science,” and ‘‘The Science of Life.” In the “Science of Life” page 117 there is a portrait of President Young and above his head are written the words Nearly Perfect Manhood. He is classed with Daniel Webster, Caeser Augustus, Bismarck, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Baron Cuvier, Henry Clay, and other eminent men.
Professor Fowler gives a picture of President Young to illustrate a union of all the temperaments and says: “Brigham Young has this union of all the temperaments large, yet equal. He is about six feet high, yet perfectly symmetrical, though a little way off he seems too stocky. He is broad from one shoulder to the other, yet also deep through from breast bone to shoulder blades, and his chest runs far down besides. In 1843 he and most of his present apostles came incognito under my hands, and when I came to him, putting my hands on his immense chest, I exclaimed: “You, sir, have vital force sufficient to live a hundred and fifty years.” He is very broad built, yet sharp-featured, and has a muscular system of remarkable power; besides being very florid, thus embodying all the conditions of true greatness, or tremendous power of body and mind; and only one thus organized could have accomplished what he has. His organism corrected and greatly enhanced my estimation of him.”
In a book on the Human Temperaments by D. H. Jacques, M. D., published by S. R. Wells & Co., in 1878, there is a paragraph, “The Mormon Leader,” in which the author says: “A broad chest, a stout body, massive limbs, a full, ruddy face indicate at once to the eye the predominance of the vital system, but a large active brain and a good development of the muscular or motor system (more evident in a photograph now before us than in this engraving), temper this vigorous animality, with a high degree of intellectual power, energy of character, and executive ability. With a smaller brain he might have been a mere vulgar sensualist; with less of the motor element, he would have taken a subordinate place instead of becoming the chief ruler of his people. The basis of his character lay in his massive trunk, the never-failing source of that vital affluence which sustains, vivifies, warms, and quickens body and brain alike. The superstructure had the strength of sinew and the force of character imparted by the muscular constitution, and the intellectual ability and moral influence which comes from a strongly-developed and well-balanced mental organization. The base of the brain was heavy and the neck short and thick, giving the propensities great power and activity, but the high coronal region furnished the strong will and the high moral principles calculated to hold them in check.”
In 1881 Fowler & Wells of New York published the “Phrenological Miscellany” which has on page 70 an engraving of President Young and a note stating that they had just received through the kindness of Mr. C. R. Savage, photographic artist of Salt Lake City, the photograph from which the engraving was made. The article is loo long to copy in full, but the following quotations are taken from it:
“Looked at without the name, what would be the general impression which this likeness would make on the observer? Would he infer that it represents an essentially good man, or an essentially bad man? Without prejudice, bias, or preconceived opinion, reader, what would be your judgment as to the leading traits of this character?
“The photograph from which we copy is a recent one and has been exhibited to large numbers of persons who have called at our office on Broadway and the question has been put to each one on handing him the likeness, ‘What do you think of this?’ The following indicate the general character of the answers we have received: ‘He looks like a good fatherly sort of a man.’ ‘A strong and sensible intellect.’ ‘An exceedingly energetic character.’ ‘A man with a will and a way of his own.’ ‘Kind, but very decided.’ ‘A man of ability and resolution.’ And so on, each inferring what he could from the expression.
“Having met the man, and taken his measure years ago, we are prepared to speak more definitely aid in detail of this remarkable personage.
“First, he is a large, heavy man, weighing not far from 200 pounds, with a broad, firm, deep and capacious chest well filled out in all the vital powers; with lungs, heart, circulation and digestion almost perfect. And on such a physical basis we find, as a fitting superstructure, a very large brain—somewhat exceeding 23 inches in circumference, and it is broad, high, and round. Of course, with such a build and temperament it must be heavy at the base. The propensities are all full or large. There is good appetite, strong social feelings, with the affections, love of home, and all that belongs thereto. He is also broad between the ears—rather than long from front to back—and there is great executiveness, resolution, resistence, self-protection, and fortitude. Aggressive and defensive energy are large, so is acquisitiveness. There is great economy and a high regard for property, constructiveness, and reserve giving policy, management, and power to restrain and regulate. Caution is less distinctly marked, and he is without the feeling of fear. What prudence he exhibits is more the result of intellect than of fear, timidity, or solicitude. Approbativeness is evidently large, and he becomes inspired through his ambition. Words of approval would not be lost on him; still, neither blame nor praise would induce him to change his course when once decided. He is eminently self-relying. Though born with the spirit of a captain, he is not arrogant, over-dignified, or at all distant, but rather easy, familiar, and quite approachable.
“Among the moral sentiments, which are certainly strongly marked in his head, the most prominent is that of veneration, while hope and spirituality are also conspicuously developed. His benevolence will show itself, not in public charities, by building hospitals, asylums, poorhouses, etc., but in a more limited way. He will be kindly to friends, family, the young, and indeed to all his household and people; but for every dollar expended in behalf of any person, he will exact its return with interest. That is a temperament which gets rather than gives money.
“He has large ideality, sublimity, imitation, and mirthfulness; and he is a natural orator, a wit, an actor, and he may be said to be a perfect mimic. He can “take off” the peculiarities of a man or a monkey, and do anything that he sees done. While the intellectual faculties, as a class, are considerably above the average. Casuality and comparison are conspicuously prominent ; nor do we observe any deficiency in either the perceptives or reflectives; all are large or full. Order, calculation, observation, eventuality, size and form are the same. Language is full, and if educated for or trained to either writing or speaking, he would do it with fluency. He also has great power of discrimination, and can read character intuitively.
“In his physiognomy may be seen a prominent and somewhat pointed nose, indicating a resolute spirit and an active mind. He has a large mouth, with lips only moderately full and slightly compressed. There is nothing specially voluptuous in these features. The chin is large and the jaws strong. The upper lip is long, corresponding with his love of liberty and his disposition to lead. The eyes are light, well set, and decidedly expressive; when excited they fairly blaze. The cheeks are full, but not over fleshy. Considering his age, the hardships he has endured, the pioneer life he has led, the cares which he has assumed and the difficulties he has had to contend with, he is an exceedingly healthy and well-preserved old man. He would look well after health, wealth, and the comforts of life. He is also profoundly religious.
“In almost any position in life, such an organization—with such a temperament—would make itself felt, and would become a power within itself. Were the question put as to the most suitable occupation or pursuit we would reply: Being qualified for it by education, he could fill any place, from that of a justice of the peace to that of a commander, a judge, a representative, a senator, a diplomatist, or ambassador down to that of a business man. He would make a good banker, a merchant, a manufacturer, or a mechanic. He has all the faculties required to fill any place or post in private or in professional life. God will hold him accountable for the right use of a full measure of talents. His accountability and responsibility will be in exact accordance with his capability, which is much above that of the common run of men. There is the man.”
Persons who were well acquainted with President Brigham Young will know that this analysis of his character given by Professor Fowler is accurate in every detail. The Professor deserves much credit for saying these truths about the Great Pioneer at a time when he was almost everywhere evilly spoken of.
Character Analysis of President Brigham Young.
Compiled from Phrenological Books By Dr. John T. Miller.
A man’s character is what he is, his reputation is what people think him to be. When the Apostle Paul went to Rome the people said to him: We want to know what you think about the Christians, because they are everywhere evilly spoken of. Their character did not harmonize with the evil reputation they had. At one time the reputation of the Great Pioneer of the West did not harmonize as well with his character as it does at the present time. At that time it required considerable courage for the writers of books to write favorably of the work of President Brigham Young.
In 1873 Professor O. S. Fowler compiled all his writings and published them in two large books entitled “Human Science,” and ‘‘The Science of Life.” In the “Science of Life” page 117 there is a portrait of President Young and above his head are written the words Nearly Perfect Manhood. He is classed with Daniel Webster, Caeser Augustus, Bismarck, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Baron Cuvier, Henry Clay, and other eminent men.
Professor Fowler gives a picture of President Young to illustrate a union of all the temperaments and says: “Brigham Young has this union of all the temperaments large, yet equal. He is about six feet high, yet perfectly symmetrical, though a little way off he seems too stocky. He is broad from one shoulder to the other, yet also deep through from breast bone to shoulder blades, and his chest runs far down besides. In 1843 he and most of his present apostles came incognito under my hands, and when I came to him, putting my hands on his immense chest, I exclaimed: “You, sir, have vital force sufficient to live a hundred and fifty years.” He is very broad built, yet sharp-featured, and has a muscular system of remarkable power; besides being very florid, thus embodying all the conditions of true greatness, or tremendous power of body and mind; and only one thus organized could have accomplished what he has. His organism corrected and greatly enhanced my estimation of him.”
In a book on the Human Temperaments by D. H. Jacques, M. D., published by S. R. Wells & Co., in 1878, there is a paragraph, “The Mormon Leader,” in which the author says: “A broad chest, a stout body, massive limbs, a full, ruddy face indicate at once to the eye the predominance of the vital system, but a large active brain and a good development of the muscular or motor system (more evident in a photograph now before us than in this engraving), temper this vigorous animality, with a high degree of intellectual power, energy of character, and executive ability. With a smaller brain he might have been a mere vulgar sensualist; with less of the motor element, he would have taken a subordinate place instead of becoming the chief ruler of his people. The basis of his character lay in his massive trunk, the never-failing source of that vital affluence which sustains, vivifies, warms, and quickens body and brain alike. The superstructure had the strength of sinew and the force of character imparted by the muscular constitution, and the intellectual ability and moral influence which comes from a strongly-developed and well-balanced mental organization. The base of the brain was heavy and the neck short and thick, giving the propensities great power and activity, but the high coronal region furnished the strong will and the high moral principles calculated to hold them in check.”
In 1881 Fowler & Wells of New York published the “Phrenological Miscellany” which has on page 70 an engraving of President Young and a note stating that they had just received through the kindness of Mr. C. R. Savage, photographic artist of Salt Lake City, the photograph from which the engraving was made. The article is loo long to copy in full, but the following quotations are taken from it:
“Looked at without the name, what would be the general impression which this likeness would make on the observer? Would he infer that it represents an essentially good man, or an essentially bad man? Without prejudice, bias, or preconceived opinion, reader, what would be your judgment as to the leading traits of this character?
“The photograph from which we copy is a recent one and has been exhibited to large numbers of persons who have called at our office on Broadway and the question has been put to each one on handing him the likeness, ‘What do you think of this?’ The following indicate the general character of the answers we have received: ‘He looks like a good fatherly sort of a man.’ ‘A strong and sensible intellect.’ ‘An exceedingly energetic character.’ ‘A man with a will and a way of his own.’ ‘Kind, but very decided.’ ‘A man of ability and resolution.’ And so on, each inferring what he could from the expression.
“Having met the man, and taken his measure years ago, we are prepared to speak more definitely aid in detail of this remarkable personage.
“First, he is a large, heavy man, weighing not far from 200 pounds, with a broad, firm, deep and capacious chest well filled out in all the vital powers; with lungs, heart, circulation and digestion almost perfect. And on such a physical basis we find, as a fitting superstructure, a very large brain—somewhat exceeding 23 inches in circumference, and it is broad, high, and round. Of course, with such a build and temperament it must be heavy at the base. The propensities are all full or large. There is good appetite, strong social feelings, with the affections, love of home, and all that belongs thereto. He is also broad between the ears—rather than long from front to back—and there is great executiveness, resolution, resistence, self-protection, and fortitude. Aggressive and defensive energy are large, so is acquisitiveness. There is great economy and a high regard for property, constructiveness, and reserve giving policy, management, and power to restrain and regulate. Caution is less distinctly marked, and he is without the feeling of fear. What prudence he exhibits is more the result of intellect than of fear, timidity, or solicitude. Approbativeness is evidently large, and he becomes inspired through his ambition. Words of approval would not be lost on him; still, neither blame nor praise would induce him to change his course when once decided. He is eminently self-relying. Though born with the spirit of a captain, he is not arrogant, over-dignified, or at all distant, but rather easy, familiar, and quite approachable.
“Among the moral sentiments, which are certainly strongly marked in his head, the most prominent is that of veneration, while hope and spirituality are also conspicuously developed. His benevolence will show itself, not in public charities, by building hospitals, asylums, poorhouses, etc., but in a more limited way. He will be kindly to friends, family, the young, and indeed to all his household and people; but for every dollar expended in behalf of any person, he will exact its return with interest. That is a temperament which gets rather than gives money.
“He has large ideality, sublimity, imitation, and mirthfulness; and he is a natural orator, a wit, an actor, and he may be said to be a perfect mimic. He can “take off” the peculiarities of a man or a monkey, and do anything that he sees done. While the intellectual faculties, as a class, are considerably above the average. Casuality and comparison are conspicuously prominent ; nor do we observe any deficiency in either the perceptives or reflectives; all are large or full. Order, calculation, observation, eventuality, size and form are the same. Language is full, and if educated for or trained to either writing or speaking, he would do it with fluency. He also has great power of discrimination, and can read character intuitively.
“In his physiognomy may be seen a prominent and somewhat pointed nose, indicating a resolute spirit and an active mind. He has a large mouth, with lips only moderately full and slightly compressed. There is nothing specially voluptuous in these features. The chin is large and the jaws strong. The upper lip is long, corresponding with his love of liberty and his disposition to lead. The eyes are light, well set, and decidedly expressive; when excited they fairly blaze. The cheeks are full, but not over fleshy. Considering his age, the hardships he has endured, the pioneer life he has led, the cares which he has assumed and the difficulties he has had to contend with, he is an exceedingly healthy and well-preserved old man. He would look well after health, wealth, and the comforts of life. He is also profoundly religious.
“In almost any position in life, such an organization—with such a temperament—would make itself felt, and would become a power within itself. Were the question put as to the most suitable occupation or pursuit we would reply: Being qualified for it by education, he could fill any place, from that of a justice of the peace to that of a commander, a judge, a representative, a senator, a diplomatist, or ambassador down to that of a business man. He would make a good banker, a merchant, a manufacturer, or a mechanic. He has all the faculties required to fill any place or post in private or in professional life. God will hold him accountable for the right use of a full measure of talents. His accountability and responsibility will be in exact accordance with his capability, which is much above that of the common run of men. There is the man.”
Persons who were well acquainted with President Brigham Young will know that this analysis of his character given by Professor Fowler is accurate in every detail. The Professor deserves much credit for saying these truths about the Great Pioneer at a time when he was almost everywhere evilly spoken of.
Gates, Susa Young. "The Prophet and Brigham Young." Improvement Era. December 1919. pg. 159-160.
The Prophet and Brigham Young
By Susa Young Gates
Joseph Smith fulfilled in every particular the promise made to him by the angel who told him that his name should be held for good and for evil throughout the whole earth. Few men have been so hated and so loved as was the Prophet of the nineteenth century. Among all his devoted associates none were more loyally attached to him as a man and as a leader than was Brigham Young, his successor and friend. Those who knew Brigham Young intimately heard from his lips in nearly all his private life and public discourses references to this affectionate bond between the two great men.
After the death of the prophet, Brigham Young took up the work laid down by his leader and, humbly yet faithfully, carried out the purposes and plans of the prophet under the direction and inspiration of the Almighty. As a striking evidence of this close union between the two, the following account given by Brigham Young in his private journal is noteworthy and most interesting. January, 1847, at Winter Quarters:
"I told the brethren I dreamed of seeing Joseph the Prophet, last night, and conversing with him; Joseph appeared to feel extremely well, was sociable, and laughed heartily, conversed freely about the best manner of organizing companies for emigration, etc.
"I related the following dream while sick and asleep about noon-day on the 17th inst. I dreamed that I went to see Joseph. He looked perfectly natural, sitting with his feet on the lower round of his chair. I took hold of his right hand and kissed him many times and said to him, 'Why is it that we cannot be together as we used to be? You have been from us a long time, and we want your society, and I do not like to be separated from you?'
"Joseph, rising from his chair and looking at me with his usual, earnest, expressive and pleasing countenance, replied, ‘It is all right.'
"I said, 'I do not like to be away from you.'
"Joseph said, 'It is all right, we cannot be together yet, we shall be, by and by. But you will have to do without me a while, and then we shall be together again.'
"I then discovered there was a hand rail between us. Joseph stood by a window, and to the southwest of him it was very light, I was in the twilight, and to the north of me it was very dark:
"I said, 'Brother Joseph, the brethren you know well, better than I do, you raised them up and brought the Priesthood to us; the brethren have a great anxiety to understand the law of adoption, or the sealing principles, and if you have a word of counsel for me, I should be glad to receive it.'
"Joseph stepped toward me, and, looking very earnestly, yet pleasantly, said, 'Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the still, small voice, it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can distinguish the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits: it will whisper peace and joy to their souls: it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts, and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in heaven before they came, into the world. Our Father in Heaven organized the human family but they are all disorganized and in great confusion.'
"Joseph then showed me the pattern, how they were in the beginning; this I cannot describe, but I saw it, and saw where the Priesthood had been taken from the earth, and how it must be joined together, so that there would be a perfect chain from Father Adam to his latest posterity. Joseph again said, 'Tell the people to be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and to follow it, and it will lead them just right.' "
The Prophet and Brigham Young
By Susa Young Gates
Joseph Smith fulfilled in every particular the promise made to him by the angel who told him that his name should be held for good and for evil throughout the whole earth. Few men have been so hated and so loved as was the Prophet of the nineteenth century. Among all his devoted associates none were more loyally attached to him as a man and as a leader than was Brigham Young, his successor and friend. Those who knew Brigham Young intimately heard from his lips in nearly all his private life and public discourses references to this affectionate bond between the two great men.
After the death of the prophet, Brigham Young took up the work laid down by his leader and, humbly yet faithfully, carried out the purposes and plans of the prophet under the direction and inspiration of the Almighty. As a striking evidence of this close union between the two, the following account given by Brigham Young in his private journal is noteworthy and most interesting. January, 1847, at Winter Quarters:
"I told the brethren I dreamed of seeing Joseph the Prophet, last night, and conversing with him; Joseph appeared to feel extremely well, was sociable, and laughed heartily, conversed freely about the best manner of organizing companies for emigration, etc.
"I related the following dream while sick and asleep about noon-day on the 17th inst. I dreamed that I went to see Joseph. He looked perfectly natural, sitting with his feet on the lower round of his chair. I took hold of his right hand and kissed him many times and said to him, 'Why is it that we cannot be together as we used to be? You have been from us a long time, and we want your society, and I do not like to be separated from you?'
"Joseph, rising from his chair and looking at me with his usual, earnest, expressive and pleasing countenance, replied, ‘It is all right.'
"I said, 'I do not like to be away from you.'
"Joseph said, 'It is all right, we cannot be together yet, we shall be, by and by. But you will have to do without me a while, and then we shall be together again.'
"I then discovered there was a hand rail between us. Joseph stood by a window, and to the southwest of him it was very light, I was in the twilight, and to the north of me it was very dark:
"I said, 'Brother Joseph, the brethren you know well, better than I do, you raised them up and brought the Priesthood to us; the brethren have a great anxiety to understand the law of adoption, or the sealing principles, and if you have a word of counsel for me, I should be glad to receive it.'
"Joseph stepped toward me, and, looking very earnestly, yet pleasantly, said, 'Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the still, small voice, it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can distinguish the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits: it will whisper peace and joy to their souls: it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts, and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in heaven before they came, into the world. Our Father in Heaven organized the human family but they are all disorganized and in great confusion.'
"Joseph then showed me the pattern, how they were in the beginning; this I cannot describe, but I saw it, and saw where the Priesthood had been taken from the earth, and how it must be joined together, so that there would be a perfect chain from Father Adam to his latest posterity. Joseph again said, 'Tell the people to be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, and to follow it, and it will lead them just right.' "
Roberts, Margaret C. "Personal Reminiscences of President Brigham Young." Young Woman's Journal. March 1920. pg. 133-136.
Personal Reminiscences of President Brigham Young.
By Dr. Margaret C. Roberts.
While attending the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Y. L. M. I. A. held in the Bishop’s Building, and beholding the beautiful picture formed by the group of President Young’s daughters and granddaughters, I felt greatly moved upon to tell them of some of my own personal experiences with their honored father and grandfather.
The desire to give expression to these experiences became stronger and stronger—which is the excuse for writing this article. My earnest wish is to portray several different characteristics of his nature. It was my good fortune to spend some of my girlhood days at President Young’s home—the Lion House.
THE PROPHET’S INTEREST IN BOY LIFE.
My father was absent on a mission to St. George, while my mother, my brother, and I remained in this city. My brother was then about thirteen years of age and being anxious to take his part in our home affairs, he borrowed a hand cart of a good neighbor and in company with another lad about his own age, who also had a handcart, they went up City Creek canyon to get some wood. On their return, as they were nearing the Eagle Gate, they were moving slowly,—being very tired. They saw President Young approaching in his carriage, and immediately quickened their steps, for they felt proud of their loads of wood, and did not wish to appear tired. They were hastening along when the president saw them. He stopped his carriage and called to them to come to him. He asked their names, commended their work, and gave them words of encouragement suitable to their age and condition.
How happy the lads were! How strengthened! How helped! All tired feeling was gone, they felt they were walking on air. They hurried home to tell their mothers how good and kind the prophet of the Lord had been to them. Their faces were aglow, and the great man’s words were the topic of conversation at the humble evening meal, and our mother’s heart was made glad to think that the prophet of the Lord had noticed her son.
How true it is that a good deed, a kind word shows like a candle in the window at night to cheer one o’er a nigged path!
A BIT OF HUMOR.
A few years later when my brother was splitting wood the ax glanced and cut his foot. Somehow or other President Young heard of the accident, and as I was visiting his daughters at the Lion House he met me and inquired as to the severity of the injury. Desiring to be precise and equal to the occasion I said with some importance, “My brother cut his large toe.” The president expressed his sympathy and hoped Theodore (my brother), would soon be perfectly well again. That evening when relating the incident to my loved ones, I said, “It seemed to me that President Young almost smiled when I told him about it, why did he?” My dear mother said, “Maggie, did you say large toe?” “Indeed I did,” I replied. “Then,” answered my mother, “I should think he would smile.” My brother who was always quick to take my part said, “That was proper for her to say large toe, it showed more refinement than to say big toe.”
THE SYMPATHETIC SIDE OF THE PROPHET’S NATURE.
My mother made a business trip to San Francisco, where she was taken ill and died. My brother was with her during her illness and death, and he decided that the tenderest way to acquaint my father and myself with mother’s death, would be to send a telegram to President Young and have him inform us of the terrible news. I was visiting with my friend Miss Maria Young at the Lion House when some one brought me word that President Young had a telegram for me from California. Thinking that word had come that my mother would soon be home, I joyously ran to his office and entered bubbling over with anticipation of the good news. President Young looked at me so strangely, and presently said, in a halting manner, “Yes, a telegram came; Brigham (his son) has it and perhaps will soon return with it.” Somewhat crestfallen I left his office, and he remarked to those around him, who also knew of the telegram and its contents, that it was utterly impossible for him to break the sad news to that girl. “Someone else will have to do it,” said he. His heart was too tender to inflict such pain on one who had come into his presence so full of life and joy.
I think I always liked him the better for it. Aunt Zina with whom I had lived was finally delegated to tell me of my mother’s death. The old Lion House then has some memories for me, some joys and this one great sorrow.
A HELPFUL INCIDENT.
My next experience is connected with the old Social Hall, which was in those days the center of our city’s social life. One evening while attending a ball in this place I was sitting on the stage as cotillions were being formed. I was then facing more than one problem in life that perplexed and depressed me. The future seemed full of uncertainty, no gleam of light appeared through its shadows. Even the spirit of hope seemed to have retired out of sight, and I was despondent, and certainly in no humor for the gaiety about me. Just when my despair appeared blackest, I saw President Young approaching. He halted in front of me and said in the cheery tone, which was so natural to him on some occasions, “Now, Maggie, wouldn’t you like to dance with me?” “I should think I would,” I heard myself saying, and I was quickly by his side. And how he did dance! Having finished the first figures, at the call of “All promenade” he gracefully moved (taking me with him, of course) through the adjoining set and back again to our places, as was often his custom, to the amusement of us all. At first I was timid, and I fear awkward, but fear soon left me and I joined in the gaiety of my partner. At the close of our dance he placed my hand upon his arm, took me to my seat, and bowed most courteously. Although not a word was spoken, I felt that he had said, ‘‘Now, my dear sister, take heart, be of good cheer, God is with you.” It was just the uplift that I needed. The gloom fell away. My problems seemed not to loom so large, and hope struck a new note in my soul. His act was indeed like a word in due season. I wondered then, and often since, how did he know that I needed this help? Was it his intuitiveness that took note of my soul’s need? Had he answered my call for help? I have always felt so and accepted his gracious kindliness as a blessing from God for me.
THE DIVINE LOVE IN BRIGHAM YOUNG.
In the course of time my brother, in harmony with the custom of our Church, respecting its young men, was sent to England on a mission.
All men are not equal to bearing the strain that a mission imposes upon them, most of them win their fight for their faith when brought in contact with the world, but it pains me to say that my brother was not among those who thus succeed. Of a keen intellectual temperament, he read widely before and while on his mission and paid much attention to the works of historians and philosophers, some of whose works make for doubt rather than for faith. This resulted first in doubts, then in unfaith, which he frankly confessed to his mission associates. In this frame of mind, of course, he was unsuited for the work of a missionary and the authorities of the British mission advised his return home, but in their unsympathetic policy towards him, furnished means for his fare only to New York. Here he landed without friends or money. In a short time he was stricken with typhoid fever. He wrote me of his condition. Naturally my sympathies went out to him. We had been close companions, and playmates, throughout our childhood days. He had always assumed an air of protection towards me, and in return I admired and loved him as best, gentlest, and most gallant of all brothers. He was my first hero--
“Seemed his triumphs, my success,
Seemed my sadness his own sorrow.”
My disappointment and suffering over his loss of faith were intense, my heart yearned to help him. Not having means myself to send for him (for I wanted him to come home) I appealed to my father, reasoned, begged for him to send the necessary means. Perhaps my father concluded that the experience he was passing through would be good for him and bring him to a realization of the great mistake he had made. Ater spending much time in prayer, I decided to lay the case before President Young. And for this purpose I started for his office. As I reached the gate President Young alighted from his carriage accompanied by several of the brethren, but he passed on without having seen me, and I had not the courage to make any attempt to attract his attention. What to do now I did not know, what I did however was to pray for another chance. In a moment he came back and stood upon the little porch of his office, evidently looking at the sunset glow. Courage came to me and I spoke to him. Doubtless noting my distress he led the way into his office and then I told him the whole story. He quickly remarked, “The brethren should have paid his passage back to his home, where he started from.” I said, ‘‘Yes, but perhaps you do not know that he has lost faith in our Church and its message to the world.” “That makes no difference,” he said, “they should have sent him home.” He asked me if I had any money, I told him no but I had a fine set of furs which 1 would sell if we could find a buyer. Then he inquired if my father had the means. I said, “Yes, but he refuses to send it to him.” He said, “Go and tell your father to come to me, now, this evening [putting his hand tenderly on my shoulder], and don’t suffer any more. Money shall be telegraphed to your brother this night, and I promise you that he shall live, and come home to you. When he lands here bring him to me.” The money, supplied by my father, was telegraphed that night and in due time my brother arrived in our city, thin, weak, and pale.
Although he was older than I was, I felt that I must take his mother’s place. So I urged him to go with me to meet President Young, An interview was arranged. Upon entering this great man’s presence, my brother received a most hearty welcome. The president shook hands with him, called him by his given name— Theodore.—It was like a father welcoming home his son. The interview that followed I cannot write, language fails me. The gentle admonition, his encouraging words, his blessing upon my brother came from the divine spirit in Brigham Young’s soul. It was too grand to have merely a human origin. My brother acknowledged to him that since leaving the Church he had felt himself withering like a leaf from a tree in Autumn. The Prophet advised that Theodore reconsider the questions that brought doubt and darkness into his mind, pray for light, and that when satisfied he could out of a good conscience, renew his covenants in holy baptism. The end of it was that one fine day, a Brother Leaker, a faithful elder from our ward, my brother, and I went up City Creek canyon to a convenient place where baptism could be performed, and there my brother renewed his covenant and regained his fellowship in our Church.
I stood on the bank of the stream during the ceremony. I have never seen a more beautiful sight than that when Elder Leaker and my brother stood in the clear, crystal water while was performed this sacred ordinance. I felt that my sainted mother must be present at such a time and was smiling with satisfaction upon her children.
These several incidents of experience where my life and its affairs touched the sympathetic soul of President Brigham Young endears his memory to me. He treated me in the spirit of a father in each of the above incidents narrated of this contact. I feel that I owe it to myself and to his memory, also to his descendants, to express in this way my grateful appreciation of his kindliness to me and mine.
Personal Reminiscences of President Brigham Young.
By Dr. Margaret C. Roberts.
While attending the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Y. L. M. I. A. held in the Bishop’s Building, and beholding the beautiful picture formed by the group of President Young’s daughters and granddaughters, I felt greatly moved upon to tell them of some of my own personal experiences with their honored father and grandfather.
The desire to give expression to these experiences became stronger and stronger—which is the excuse for writing this article. My earnest wish is to portray several different characteristics of his nature. It was my good fortune to spend some of my girlhood days at President Young’s home—the Lion House.
THE PROPHET’S INTEREST IN BOY LIFE.
My father was absent on a mission to St. George, while my mother, my brother, and I remained in this city. My brother was then about thirteen years of age and being anxious to take his part in our home affairs, he borrowed a hand cart of a good neighbor and in company with another lad about his own age, who also had a handcart, they went up City Creek canyon to get some wood. On their return, as they were nearing the Eagle Gate, they were moving slowly,—being very tired. They saw President Young approaching in his carriage, and immediately quickened their steps, for they felt proud of their loads of wood, and did not wish to appear tired. They were hastening along when the president saw them. He stopped his carriage and called to them to come to him. He asked their names, commended their work, and gave them words of encouragement suitable to their age and condition.
How happy the lads were! How strengthened! How helped! All tired feeling was gone, they felt they were walking on air. They hurried home to tell their mothers how good and kind the prophet of the Lord had been to them. Their faces were aglow, and the great man’s words were the topic of conversation at the humble evening meal, and our mother’s heart was made glad to think that the prophet of the Lord had noticed her son.
How true it is that a good deed, a kind word shows like a candle in the window at night to cheer one o’er a nigged path!
A BIT OF HUMOR.
A few years later when my brother was splitting wood the ax glanced and cut his foot. Somehow or other President Young heard of the accident, and as I was visiting his daughters at the Lion House he met me and inquired as to the severity of the injury. Desiring to be precise and equal to the occasion I said with some importance, “My brother cut his large toe.” The president expressed his sympathy and hoped Theodore (my brother), would soon be perfectly well again. That evening when relating the incident to my loved ones, I said, “It seemed to me that President Young almost smiled when I told him about it, why did he?” My dear mother said, “Maggie, did you say large toe?” “Indeed I did,” I replied. “Then,” answered my mother, “I should think he would smile.” My brother who was always quick to take my part said, “That was proper for her to say large toe, it showed more refinement than to say big toe.”
THE SYMPATHETIC SIDE OF THE PROPHET’S NATURE.
My mother made a business trip to San Francisco, where she was taken ill and died. My brother was with her during her illness and death, and he decided that the tenderest way to acquaint my father and myself with mother’s death, would be to send a telegram to President Young and have him inform us of the terrible news. I was visiting with my friend Miss Maria Young at the Lion House when some one brought me word that President Young had a telegram for me from California. Thinking that word had come that my mother would soon be home, I joyously ran to his office and entered bubbling over with anticipation of the good news. President Young looked at me so strangely, and presently said, in a halting manner, “Yes, a telegram came; Brigham (his son) has it and perhaps will soon return with it.” Somewhat crestfallen I left his office, and he remarked to those around him, who also knew of the telegram and its contents, that it was utterly impossible for him to break the sad news to that girl. “Someone else will have to do it,” said he. His heart was too tender to inflict such pain on one who had come into his presence so full of life and joy.
I think I always liked him the better for it. Aunt Zina with whom I had lived was finally delegated to tell me of my mother’s death. The old Lion House then has some memories for me, some joys and this one great sorrow.
A HELPFUL INCIDENT.
My next experience is connected with the old Social Hall, which was in those days the center of our city’s social life. One evening while attending a ball in this place I was sitting on the stage as cotillions were being formed. I was then facing more than one problem in life that perplexed and depressed me. The future seemed full of uncertainty, no gleam of light appeared through its shadows. Even the spirit of hope seemed to have retired out of sight, and I was despondent, and certainly in no humor for the gaiety about me. Just when my despair appeared blackest, I saw President Young approaching. He halted in front of me and said in the cheery tone, which was so natural to him on some occasions, “Now, Maggie, wouldn’t you like to dance with me?” “I should think I would,” I heard myself saying, and I was quickly by his side. And how he did dance! Having finished the first figures, at the call of “All promenade” he gracefully moved (taking me with him, of course) through the adjoining set and back again to our places, as was often his custom, to the amusement of us all. At first I was timid, and I fear awkward, but fear soon left me and I joined in the gaiety of my partner. At the close of our dance he placed my hand upon his arm, took me to my seat, and bowed most courteously. Although not a word was spoken, I felt that he had said, ‘‘Now, my dear sister, take heart, be of good cheer, God is with you.” It was just the uplift that I needed. The gloom fell away. My problems seemed not to loom so large, and hope struck a new note in my soul. His act was indeed like a word in due season. I wondered then, and often since, how did he know that I needed this help? Was it his intuitiveness that took note of my soul’s need? Had he answered my call for help? I have always felt so and accepted his gracious kindliness as a blessing from God for me.
THE DIVINE LOVE IN BRIGHAM YOUNG.
In the course of time my brother, in harmony with the custom of our Church, respecting its young men, was sent to England on a mission.
All men are not equal to bearing the strain that a mission imposes upon them, most of them win their fight for their faith when brought in contact with the world, but it pains me to say that my brother was not among those who thus succeed. Of a keen intellectual temperament, he read widely before and while on his mission and paid much attention to the works of historians and philosophers, some of whose works make for doubt rather than for faith. This resulted first in doubts, then in unfaith, which he frankly confessed to his mission associates. In this frame of mind, of course, he was unsuited for the work of a missionary and the authorities of the British mission advised his return home, but in their unsympathetic policy towards him, furnished means for his fare only to New York. Here he landed without friends or money. In a short time he was stricken with typhoid fever. He wrote me of his condition. Naturally my sympathies went out to him. We had been close companions, and playmates, throughout our childhood days. He had always assumed an air of protection towards me, and in return I admired and loved him as best, gentlest, and most gallant of all brothers. He was my first hero--
“Seemed his triumphs, my success,
Seemed my sadness his own sorrow.”
My disappointment and suffering over his loss of faith were intense, my heart yearned to help him. Not having means myself to send for him (for I wanted him to come home) I appealed to my father, reasoned, begged for him to send the necessary means. Perhaps my father concluded that the experience he was passing through would be good for him and bring him to a realization of the great mistake he had made. Ater spending much time in prayer, I decided to lay the case before President Young. And for this purpose I started for his office. As I reached the gate President Young alighted from his carriage accompanied by several of the brethren, but he passed on without having seen me, and I had not the courage to make any attempt to attract his attention. What to do now I did not know, what I did however was to pray for another chance. In a moment he came back and stood upon the little porch of his office, evidently looking at the sunset glow. Courage came to me and I spoke to him. Doubtless noting my distress he led the way into his office and then I told him the whole story. He quickly remarked, “The brethren should have paid his passage back to his home, where he started from.” I said, ‘‘Yes, but perhaps you do not know that he has lost faith in our Church and its message to the world.” “That makes no difference,” he said, “they should have sent him home.” He asked me if I had any money, I told him no but I had a fine set of furs which 1 would sell if we could find a buyer. Then he inquired if my father had the means. I said, “Yes, but he refuses to send it to him.” He said, “Go and tell your father to come to me, now, this evening [putting his hand tenderly on my shoulder], and don’t suffer any more. Money shall be telegraphed to your brother this night, and I promise you that he shall live, and come home to you. When he lands here bring him to me.” The money, supplied by my father, was telegraphed that night and in due time my brother arrived in our city, thin, weak, and pale.
Although he was older than I was, I felt that I must take his mother’s place. So I urged him to go with me to meet President Young, An interview was arranged. Upon entering this great man’s presence, my brother received a most hearty welcome. The president shook hands with him, called him by his given name— Theodore.—It was like a father welcoming home his son. The interview that followed I cannot write, language fails me. The gentle admonition, his encouraging words, his blessing upon my brother came from the divine spirit in Brigham Young’s soul. It was too grand to have merely a human origin. My brother acknowledged to him that since leaving the Church he had felt himself withering like a leaf from a tree in Autumn. The Prophet advised that Theodore reconsider the questions that brought doubt and darkness into his mind, pray for light, and that when satisfied he could out of a good conscience, renew his covenants in holy baptism. The end of it was that one fine day, a Brother Leaker, a faithful elder from our ward, my brother, and I went up City Creek canyon to a convenient place where baptism could be performed, and there my brother renewed his covenant and regained his fellowship in our Church.
I stood on the bank of the stream during the ceremony. I have never seen a more beautiful sight than that when Elder Leaker and my brother stood in the clear, crystal water while was performed this sacred ordinance. I felt that my sainted mother must be present at such a time and was smiling with satisfaction upon her children.
These several incidents of experience where my life and its affairs touched the sympathetic soul of President Brigham Young endears his memory to me. He treated me in the spirit of a father in each of the above incidents narrated of this contact. I feel that I owe it to myself and to his memory, also to his descendants, to express in this way my grateful appreciation of his kindliness to me and mine.
Nibley, Preston. "Boyhood and Youth of Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1920. pg. 681-689.
Boyhood and Youth of Brigham Young By Preston Nibley Brigham Young, like most Americans who have made a great name, was born in poor and humble circumstances. When he came into the world, on June 1, 1801, his father was struggling to gain a livelihood on a Vermont farm, where the principal question was to get enough to feed and clothe his family. There were already eight little children, the oldest, a girl, being fifteen. Then came the ninth, a baby boy, whom the parents named Brigham. When the little fellow was two years old his father moved away from Vermont. He had heard that farther west in the state of New York, there were more opportunities and better land; and so, loading his numerous family in his wagon, he set out in the spring of 1804 to find a new home. They journeyed westward about 120 miles, locating in Chenango county, where a settlement was forming, called Sherburn. Here the boy Brigham remained with his parents until he was eleven years old. I presume there was never a day when he had an easy life. There was no silver spoon for his mouth. Years later, addressing the Saints in Salt Lake City, and speaking of himself and Heber C. Kimball, he said: "Brother Heber and I never went to school until we got into 'Mormonism'; that was the first of our schooling. We never had the opportunity of letters in our youth, but we had the privilege of picking up brush, chopping down trees, rolling logs, and working amongst the roots and getting our shins, feet and toes bruised. The uncle of Brother Merrell, who now sits in the congregation, made the first hat that my father ever bought me and I was then about eleven years of age. I did not go bareheaded previous to that time, neither did I call on my father to buy me a five-dollar hat every few months, as some of my boys do. My sisters would make me what was called a Jo Johnson cap for winter, and in the summer I wore a straw hat which I frequently braided for myself. I learned how to make bread, wash the dishes, milk the cows and make butter; and can make butter and beat most of the women in this community at housekeeping. Those are about all the advantages I gained in my youth. I know how to economize, for my father had to do it." Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 97. There you have it in a nut shell: that was the early education of President Brigham Young. For him there was "no opportunity of letters" in his youth. His opportunity was to learn to work, and work at useful and necessary things. Somehow, somewhere, he did manage to get "eleven days' schooling," but his grand university was the school of Hard Knocks, from which he graduated with the highest honors. When the boy Brigham reached his fourteenth year, a great and irreparable sorrow came into his life. His noble and splendid mother, weary and worn with the struggle which life in the frontier had forced upon her, closed her eyes in her last sleep. All honor to her name and memory! Though her struggle was hard, few women have been more fortunate than she was. She was permitted to give the world eleven splendid children. And there was Brigham, her great reward. Her soul was to shine out gloriously in him all his life. Brigham always spoke with the greatest reverence and appreciation of his mother. In a sermon on August 15, 1852, he said: "Of my mother—she that bore me—I can say, no better woman ever Jived in the world than she was. * * * My mother, while she lived, taught her children all the time to honor the name of the Father and Son, and to reverence the Holy Book. She said, 'Read it, observe its precepts and apply them to your lives as far as you can. Do everything that is good; do nothing that is evil; and if you see any persons in distress, administer to their wants; never suffer anger to arise in your bosoms, for if you do, you may be overcome by evil.' “ If I understand the character of Brigham Young aright, I should say that that is the foundation on which he built, all his days. And so, at the age of fourteen, Brigham Young was motherless, cast adrift on the world to make his way as best he could. But you may be assured that this boy who had been taught to work was never idle. He always found something to do, and had something to show for his labor. At the age of twenty-one we find him at Port Byron, a little town on the Erie Canal, able to call himself a "carpenter, joiner, painter, and glazier." As a boy he seems to have been as solid and substantial as he was later on, when grown to be a man. There was a strong religious strain in the family of his father, John Young. By the time Brigham had grown to manhood, his three older brothers, Joseph, John, and Phinehas, were already itinerant preachers in the Methodist Reformed church. When Brigham was twenty-two, he also allied himself with this sect, but I am unable to find that he ever became an "exhorter", as did his brothers. That he went to church meetings is evidenced by the following: "How many times I have attended prayer meetings among the Methodists in my youthful days when perhaps one hundred men and women would be praying aloud at once. I did not then know but that it was alright." Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 42. Brigham never became very enthusiastic about the Methodist Reformed church. There was not sufficient power in it to stir his soul as did the gospel taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Also the ministers and priests of that religion never found much favor with him. On July 26, 1857, he said: "I was a Bible reader before I came into this Church, and, so far as the letter of the Book was concerned I understood it. 1 professed to be a believer in the Bible so far as I knew how; but as for understanding by the Spirit of the Lord I never did until I became a Latter-day Saint. I was well acquainted with many of the priests of the day, and I would frequently think to myself that I would get some knowledge from them. And as I became acquainted with smart, intelligent, literary priests and professors of religion, I thought, 'Now I can obtain some intelligence from this or that man,' and I would begin to ask questions on certain texts of scripture, but they would always leave me as they found me, in the dark. They were there themselves, and I knew of a surety before I heard the gospel that the priests were blind guides, leading the blind, and that there was nothing left for them only to stumble here and there and perhaps fall into a ditch. That much knowledge I had previous to my becoming acquainted with what is called 'Mormonism’.” On October 8, 1824, in the town of Aurelius, Cayuga county, New York, Brigham married Miriam Works. He had turned twenty-three years of age the previous June, and was now fairly prosperous in his occupation as a carpenter. Two of his boy friends at this time were Henry Wells, founder of the Wells- Fargo Express Company, and Isaac Singer, inventor of the Singer Sewing machine. Mr. D. B. Smith, of Cayuga county, who knew Brigham at this time, said later: "Brigham Young was as fine a specimen of young manhood as I have ever known, and would have made his mark in whatever community his lot might have been cast." In the spring of 1829, Brigham left Cavuga county, where he had resided more than sixteen years, and moved about fifty miles westward to Mendon, Monroe county, where his father and most of his brothers and sisters resided. Mendon is only about fifteen miles from Manchester, the boyhood home of the Prophet Joseph, and about the same distance away, a little to the north is Palmyra, where, one year after Brigham settled in Monroe county, the Book of Mormon was printed. The publication of the Book of Mormon created a tremendous stir in the countryside about Palmyra. That Brigham knew about it is evidenced from the following, which he told the Saints in Salt Lake City, years later: "I was somewhat acquainted with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, not only through what I read in the newspapers, but I also heard a great many stories and reports which were circulated as quick as the Book of Mormon was printed, and began to be scattered abroad." Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 249. Not only did Brigham hear stories and reports, but a few weeks after the book was printed and bound into a volume, a copy came into his hands. It happened that Samuel Smith, a brother of the Prophet, who had been sent out by Joseph to circulate the book in the villages near Manchester, succeeded in placing two copies with members of the Young family. Phinehas, who resided at Victor, bought one out of curiosity, and Rhoda, Brigham's sister, was given one by Samuel, because she kindly sympathized with him in his effort to spread the truth. It was the book purchased by Phinehas that fell into Brigham's hands. Phinehas carried it home, read it, and was profoundly impressed by it. Then he gave it to his father, who remarked that "it was the greatest work and clearest of error of anything he had ever seen, the Bible not excepted." Finally it was handed on to Brigham. He was intensely interested in what he read. Phinehas relates that "about this time my brother, Brigham, came to see me, and very soon told me that he was convinced that there was something in 'Mormonism’.” I presume that little did he dream what it would eventually mean to him. The excitement regarding "Mormonism" and the "Golden Bible" died away somewhat in New York when, in the spring of 1831, the Prophet Joseph, his family and most of the Saints moved away to Ohio. I am at a loss to learn whether Brigham, up to this time, had, or had not, ever seen and talked with a member of the Church. But as he fails to mention such an event I am inclined to the belief that no Latter-day Saint ever called at the little town of Mendon until the fall of 1831, when five elders from an isolated branch of the Church in Columbia, Pennsylvania, came into Brigham's neighborhood while making a short missionary tour through New York. Brigham says of this event: "In the fall of 1831, Elders Alpheus Gifford, Elial Strong, and others came to Mendon to preach the everlasting gospel, as revealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet, which I heard and believed." Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 424. It may seem strange to some that while Brigham had had access to the Book of Mormon for more than a year prior to his coming in contact with the elders he had not been led to make any thorough or extensive investigation of "Mormonism." But the explanation I have relied upon is this, that what profoundly influenced Brigham more than the reading of any book was his actual contact with men. The look of the eye, the shake of the hand, the sincerity of the voice, the "spirit" of the person, that, more than all else, impressed him. Speaking of his conversion, President Young once said: "If all the talent, tact, wisdom and refinement of the world had been sent to me with the Book of Mormon and had declared in the most exalted of earthly eloquence the truth of it, undertaking to prove it by learning and worldly wisdom, they would have been to me like the smoke which arises, only to vanish away. But when I saw a man without eloquence, or talents for public speaking who could only say, 'I know by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the Lord,' the Holy Ghost proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and light, glory and immorality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself that the testimony was true." Journal of Discourses: Vol. 1, p. 90. Among the young men in Mendon, at this time, was one to whom Brigham had become particularly attached. This was Heber Chase Kimball, who was engaged with his brother in the pottery business. Like Brigham, he also had shown considerable interest in "Mormonism," and was, consequently, eager to hear the message of the elders. In his autobiography Heber relates as follows: "About three weeks after I joined the Baptist Church (fall of 1831) five elders of the Church of Jesus Christ came from Pennsylvania to the house of Phinehas H. Young, in Victor. Their names were: Eleazar Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis, and Daniel Bowen. Hearing of these men, curiosity prompted me to go and see them, when, for the first time, I heard the fulness of the everlasting gospel. "As soon as I heard them I was convinced that they taught the truth, and that I had only received a part of the ordinances under the Baptist Church. I also heard the gifts of the spirit manifested among the elders, for they spoke in tongues and interpreted, which tended to strengthen my faith. Brigham Young and myself were constrained, by the spirit, to bear testimony of the truth, and when we did this the power of God rested upon us." Deseret News, Vol. 8, No. 4. The five elders from Pennsylvania must have been most excellent and spiritually minded men. It was in their little branch at Columbia that the gift of tongues was for the first time exercised in the Church. They also so thoroughly impressed Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball with the truth of their teachings that these two young men decided to pay them a return visit, which they accomplished a few months later. President Young gives an account of the trip as follows: "In January, 1832, my brother Phinehas and I accompanied Heber C. Kimball, who took his horses and sleigh and went to Columbia, Pennsylvania, where there was a branch of the Church. We traveled through snow and ice, crossing rivers until we were almost discouraged; still our faith was to learn more of the principles of 'Mormonism'. "We arrived at the place where there was a small branch of the Church; we conversed with them, attended their meetings and heard them preach, and after staying about one week we returned home, being still more convinced of the truth of the work, and anxious to learn its principles and to learn more of Joseph Smith's mission. Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 424. To me it is splendid to note Brigham's anxious desire to learn more of the Church and of the divinity of Joseph Smith's mission. Here he was, traveling through snow and ice, crossing frozen rivers until "almost discouraged," to learn about what was, perhaps, the most unpopular movement that he had ever come in contact with. But he was face to face with his greatest problem; namely, that he had an eternal soul to save, and in this newly revealed religion there seemed to be the one and only solution. We may date his complete conversion from this winter trip to Pennsylvania. From that time henceforth until the last day of his life, his constant activity was given to "building up the Church and Kingdom of God." His first missionary trip followed after his return to Mendon. He set out for Canada to impart the glad tidings to his brother Joseph who was a Methodist preacher there. He relates as follows: "Immediately after my return home from Pennsylvania I took my horse and sleigh and started to Canada after my brother Joseph, taking my brother-in-law, John P. Greene, who was then on his way to his circuit, preaching the Methodist doctrine. We rode together as far as Sacketts' Harbor. After finding my brother Joseph and explaining to him what I had learned of the gospel in its purity, his heart rejoiced, and he returned home with me where we arrived in March." Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 424. Following their return to Mendon. there must have been a family council held at which it was decided that Joseph and Father John Young should now make a trip to Pennsylvania and learn more of the newly revealed gospel as Brigham and Phinehas had done. Phinehas accompanied his father and brother. They arrived at Columbia early in April and as evidence that they were all completely convinced of the truth of "Mormonism," Phinehas relates: "In the morning of the 5th of April, 1832, I was baptized by Elder Ezra Landon, and my father, by Elder Daniel Bowen. The next morning, being April 6, 1832, my brother Joseph was baptized by the latter. April 7, my father and I started for home, a distance of 120 miles, where we arrived in health and found our friends and families rejoicing in the fulness of the gospel." Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 376. One of the elders from Pennsylvania must have accompanied Father John Young and Phinehas on their return journey, for we find that an important event occurred in Mendon on the 14th of April, in which Elder Eleazar Miller, of Columbia, figured. Brigham relates it: "April 14, 1832, I was baptized by Eleazar Miller, who confirmed me at the water's edge. We returned home, about two miles, the weather being cold and snowy, and before my clothes were dry on my back he laid his hands on me and ordained me an elder, at which I marveled." Here we have Brigham baptized, made an active member of the Church, and ordained an elder the same day. Now his splendid enthusiasm for the great cause has an opportunity to show itself. He has a firm and definite object in life; he has but one desire, and that is to do his full share in the advancement of the Kingdom. There is a story told, and it bears great semblance to the truth, that at the time Brigham was baptized he was doing carpenter work at Mendon for a man named Hickox. He went to Hickox and said, "I am not going to work for you any longer, sir; I am going to do something better—preach the everlasting gospel." And truly, from this time on, every activity of his life was sub-ordinate to this one object. Brigham Young's explanation of the pre-eminence to which he attained in later life was always that the Lord had greatly favored him. This certainly seems to be true when one looks into the history of his early years. He was without doubt a chosen man, for from the very beginning of his association with the Church he was abundantly blessed by the Spirit. Here is but one instance: "A few weeks after my baptism I was at Brother Kimball's house one morning, and while family prayer was being offered up, Brother Alpheus Gifford commenced speaking in tongues. Soon the Spirit came on me, and I spoke in tongues, and we thought only of the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were clothed upon with cloven tongues of fire." Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439. Such a baptism by the Spirit could not soon be forgotten by a man like Brigham. He-was overwhelmed by the testimony of the truth which the Lord had showered on him. It is interesting to me that the little branch in Mendon was the second place in the Church where the gift of tongues was made manifest, and as nearly as I can learn Brigham was the first recipient of it. Few people can say that their feelings, when they entered the Church, were as Brigham expressed his: "I felt, yes, I can leave my father, my brothers and sisters, and wife and children, if they will not serve the Lord and go with me.** Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, p. 281. Fortunately, however, Miriam Young was of the same belief as her husband, and early in May following, she, too, was baptized. But not long was she to partake of the joy they found in the newly espoused gospel. The fatal malady of "consumption" had seized her, and on the 8th of September, the same year, she died, leaving Brigham with two little daughters, Elizabeth, born September 26, 1825, in Port Byron, and Vilate, born June 1 (Brigham's birthday also), 1830, in Mendon. "In her expiring moments," Brigham says in his autobiography, "she clapped her hands and praised the Lord and called upon Brother Kimball and all around to praise the Lord." The sad occasion of the death of his wife was probably what prompted Brigham to leave the environment of his home for a short trip. A few days after Miriam was buried, we find him setting out to visit the Prophet Joseph at Kirtland. He had never seen the Prophet, although they had lived for years in New York within comparatively, few miles of each other. His two little girls had found a home in the family of his friend, Heber C Kimball. Brigham gave away almost everything he had; he looked forward alone to preaching the gospel. Apparently he had dedicated his life to the cause. Speaking of his early experiences he once said: "When I went to Kirtland I had not a coat in the world, for previous to this I had given away everything I possessed that I might be free to go forth and proclaim the plan of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth. Neither had I a shoe to my feet, and I had to borrow a pair of pants and a pair of boots." Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 128. Further describing his trip to Kirtland he says: "Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon, brother Joseph Young and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way and some branches of the Church. We exhorted them and prayed with them and I spoke in tongues. Some pronounced it genuine and from the Lord, and others pronounced it of the devil. "We proceeded to Kirtland and stopped at John P. Greene's who had just arrived there with bis family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately went to the woods" where we found the Prophet and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be, as a true prophet. He was happy to see us and bade us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us." Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439. The above describes an historic meeting. Here was a young man, destined to be the great leader of a great people, journeying several hundred miles in borrowed clothes, to meet the prophet of his chosen religion, and he found him "chopping and hauling wood." But when Brigham shook his hand he "received the sure testimony" that this man was indeed a prophet. Truly the Almighty does choose the weak things of this world to confound the wise. Who, in all the world, were in more humble circumstances that day than these two young men? It may be said that at the time of this meeting the Prophet Joseph was not quite 27 years of age, and Brigham a few months before had turned 31. Further describing the events of this memorable day, Brigham says: "In the evening a few of the brethren came in and we conversed together upon the things of the Kingdom. He [Joseph] called upon me to pray; in my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees the brethren flocked around him, and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift brother Brigham had, but he said, 'No, it is of God, and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church.' The latter part of this conversation was in my absence." Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439. The Prophet Joseph had never heard the gift of tongues until he heard it from Brigham that day, and by the gift of prophecy he knew that a great man and a great leader had joined his standard. " 'Mormonism' keeps men and women young and handsome; and when they are full of the Spirit of God, * * * they have a glow upon their countenances; and that is what keeps you and me young; for the Spirit of God is with us and within us." — Brigham Young. |
Hayden's Mill, Port Byron
Here Brigham Young worked in the early 20's, at the time of his marriage to Miriam Works. He was engaged in the manufacture of paints and wooden pails. They made the paints and painted the pails. House at Port Byron, New York, where Brigham Young lived after his first marriage.
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Nibley, Preston. "Early Missionary Labors of President Brigham Young." Improvement Era. July 1923. pg. 818-824.
Early Missionary Labors of President Brigham Young
1832-1838—Age 31 to 37
By Preston Nibley
Brigham Young first visited the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, in September, 1832. He had been baptized in the preceding month of April, at Mendon, New York, but had been unable to gather with the Saints in Ohio, probably on account of the illness of his wife, who died September 8, the same year. After his visit with the Prophet, where he "received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe h rm to be, as a true prophet," Brigham returned to his home in Mendon and began preparations for his first missionary journey. His own account of the same follows :
"In company with my brother Joseph I started for Kingston, upper Canada, on foot, in the month of December, the most of the way through snow and mud from one to two feet deep. In crossing: from Gravelly Point to Kingston on the ice which had frozen the night previous, the ice was thin and bent under our feet, so that in places the water was half a shoe deep, and we had to separate from each other, the ice not being capable of holding us. We traveled about six miles on the ice, arrived in Kingston and found a friend who was going that evening near the place where we were first to call. We commenced preaching and bearing our testimony to the people. Proceeding to West Loboro, we remained about one month, preaching the gospel there and in the regions round about. We baptized 45 souls and organized the East Loboro and other branches. In the month of February 1833, we starred for home, crossing from Kingston on the ice just before it broke up." — Ms., 25, p. 439.
Twenty seven years later, in a sermon delivered in Salt Lake City, Brigham again referred to this early missionary journey. The hardships of it had evidently made a lasting impression on his mind.
"The second time I went to Canada, which was after I was baptized, myself and brother Joseph traveled two hundred and fifty miles in snow a foot and a half deep, with a foot of mud under it. We traveled, preached and baptized 45 people in the dead of winter. When we left there the Saints gave us five York shillings with which to bear our expenses two hundred and fifty miles on foot, and one sister gave me a pair of woolen mittens two-thirds worn out. I worked with my own hands and supported myself."—J. D., 6-229.
"I worked with my own hands and supported myself." That has a ring of the true Brigham Young in it. Although he was poor and was giving his time unselfishly to a great and glorious cause, yet he was not going to be an object of charity to anyone. This was a hard and fast principle of his life which he splendidly enunciated years later.
"My experience has taught me, and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing or anything else, if they are able-bodied and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on the earth for them to do." — J. D., 11-297.
For the better part of twelve years following Brigham devoted himself to missionary labors, and by dint of hard work and wise and frugal spending he was able to support himself and family. No collection was ever needed to take care of him as long as he had strength in his body to do a day's work. Regarding Brigham's missionary labors and the compensation he received therefor from the Church, he once had the following to say:
"I came into this Church in the spring of 1832. Previous to my being baptized, I took a mission to Canada at my own expense; and from the time that I was baptized until the day of our sorrow and affliction, at the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, no summer passed over my head but what I was traveling and preaching, and the only thing I ever received from the Church, during over twelve years, and the only means that were ever given me by the Prophet, that I now recollect, was in 1842 when Brother Joseph sent me the half of a small pig that the brethren had brought to him."—J. D., 4-34.
In my study of Brigham Young I have often wondered how this carpenter-farmer boy, with practically no book learning or school education, could suddenly turn preacher, stand up before the people and plead his cause. It was like Peter being called from his fishing nets to expound the doctrines of the meek and lowly Master. Brigham must, at first, have had a severe time of it. He says:
"When I began to speak in public I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be. * * * How I have had the headache when I have had ideas to lay before the people, and not words to express them; but I was so gritty that I always tried my best." — J. D., 5-97.
There again you have the true Brigham Young, strong, virile, "gritty," always determined to do his best. "Grit" is an old-fashioned word, now much out of use, but it was once full of meaning, and signified "unyielding courage," which perhaps was the dominant attribute of Brigham's life. Any man who will walk two hundred fifty miles in the dead of winter through snow and mud, to plead an unpopular cause like "Mormonism" then was, is "gritty" to say the least, and his career can well afford to be watched with interest.
In the Spring of 1833 Brigham went again on a missionary journey to Canada, visiting Lyonstown, Theresa and Indian River Falls, baptizing twenty people and organizing several branches of the Church. In July he gathered together some of his converts and went with them to Kirtland, assisting in locating them there. He relates that he remained in Kirtland a few weeks "enjoying the society of the Prophet," before returning to his home in Mendon.
Brigham's active participation in the affairs of the Church should perhaps be dated from September, 1833.
"In the month of September, in conformity to the counsel of the Prophet, I made preparations to gather up to Kirtland, and engaged passage for myself and two children with Brother Kimball, and sent my effects by canal and lake to Fairport. We arrived in Kirtland in safety, traveling by land, where I tarried all winter and had the privilege of listening to the teachings of the Prophet, and enjoying the society of the Saints, working hard at my former trade."—Ms., 25-440.
If I were asked to point out the principal cause, to which, more than all others, Brigham Young's rise in the Church can be attributed, I should say without hesitation that it was his absolute and unqualified loyalty; loyalty to the Prophet Joseph; loyalty to every principle and doctrine he taught; loyalty to his brethren around him. He had not cast his lot with the Latter- day Saints to disprove their doctrines or thwart their purposes. He had accepted the newly revealed Gospel completely and whole-heartedly as the one thing needful and essential for his temporal and eternal salvation. Consequently there was but one purpose in all his efforts; "to build up the Church and kingdom." Witness this:
"In the Fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland, and not finding suitable employment, and having some difficulty in getting their pay after they had labored, several went off to "Willoughy, Painesville and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the Prophet of God, and I was not going away to Willoughby, Painesville, Cleveland, nor anywhere else to build up the gentiles, but I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertained to the Kingdom of God, by listening to the teachings of His servants, and I should work for my brethren, and trust in God and them that I would be paid. I labored for Brother Cahoon and finished his house, and although he did not know he could pay me when I commenced, before I finished he had paid me in full. I then went to work for Father John Smith and others, who paid me, and I sustained myself in Kirtland, and when the brethren who had gone out to work for the gentiles returned I had means, though some of them were scant." — Ms., 2545 .
In February, 1834, at Kirtland, Brigham married Mary Ann Angel, who proved truly to be an angel in his household. During the following ten years, in the wanderings of the Saints, many trying and bitter experiences came to Brigham and his family, but his heroic wife endured all in the knowledge that they were laboring in a great and glorious cause. Also, during the greater part of this time Brigham was absent on missions, preaching the gospel in this and in foreign lands, and the responsibility of rearing a family alone was upon her. Too much cannot be said in praise of such characters as Mary Ann Angel.
During the year 1834 Brigham was almost constantly at the side of the Prophet Joseph, loyally sustaining him in all his plans and labors. It was in this year that Zion's Camp was organized and the memorable march of 205 men was made from Kirtland to Missouri to aid the suffering and persecuted Saints there. In calling Brigham and his brother the Prophet said, "Brother Brigham and Brother Joseph, if you will go with me in the Camp to Missouri and keep my counsel, I promise you in the name of the Almighty, that I will lead you there and back again and not a hair of your heads shall be harmed." This promise was fulfilled, and Brigham made the trying and difficult march of two thousand miles to Missouri and return without any resultant harm, though several of his brethren died on the journey and at times the whole camp was in danger of annihilation by the Missouri mob.
In the Fall and Winter of 1834 Brigham relates that he "tarried in Kirtland, quarrying rock, working on the Temple, and finishing off the printing office and school room."
On the 8th of February, 1835, the Prophet Joseph called Brigham to his residence in Kirtland and said, "I wish you to notify all the brethren living in the branches, within a reasonable distance from this place, to meet at a general conference on Saturday next. I shall then and there appoint twelve Special Witnesses, to open the door of the Gospel to foreign nations, and you will be one of them." History of the Church, Vol. 2, page 181. Thus Brigham came into prominence for the first time as one of the Church leaders. Heretofore his office and calling had been that of a humble elder, but he had so striven to magnify this position that he was now to take his place in the leading council of the Church, next to the Presidency. His ability and devotion had been recognized. In defining the functions of the newly organized quorum the Prophet said:
"They are the Twelve apostles, who are called to the office of the Traveling High Council who are to preside over the churches of the Saints, among the Gentiles, where there is a presidency established; and they are to travel and preach among the Gentiles, until the Lord shall command them to go to the Jews. They are to hold the keys of this ministry, to unlock the door of the Kingdom of heaven unto all nations, and to preach the gospel to every creature. This is the power, authority and virtue of their apostleship."
From this time henceforth, until the death of the Prophet in 1844, the greater part of Brigham's time was spent in the ministry. He was an indefatigable worker, traveling and paying his own way, spreading the great truths of the Gospel which had been revealed through the Prophet.
About two months after his ordination to the Apostleship Brigham, with his brethren of the Twelve, undertook a mission to the Eastern States. Conferences were held at Westfield and Freedom in Western New York. On the 5th of June at Lyonstown, Brigham left the party and returned to Kirtland as wit ness in a trial of the Prophet Joseph before the county court In his history Brigham relates that as soon as he was "liberated" he again started East and "joined the Twelve in holding conferences, preaching and baptizing, regulating and organizing the churches throughout the Eastern country." On September 25th he, with the others returned to Kirtland.
Recorded in Brigham's history is the following:
"I remained at home during the Fall and Winter, occasionally going out and preaching to the neighboring branches. In the course of the Winter there was a Hebrew school started, which I attended until February 22, 1836, when I was called upon by the Prophet to superintend the painting and finishing of the Temple, upon which I labored until March 27th, when the Temple was so far finished as to be dedicated to the Lord by the Prophet, with the assembled Quorums of the Church, and so many members as could possibly be accommodated. On this occasion the power of God was displayed as recorded in the history of Joseph Smith.
"I attended the solemn assembly and, with my brethren of the Twelve, received my washings and anointings and was privileged to listen to the teachings and administrations of the Prophet of God." — Ms., 25, page 471.
Observe here how the young man's whole heart and soul was in his work. At that time he was only in his 35th year, but he was already one of the stalwarts of the young and growing Church, and able to contribute splendidly to its advancement.
Brigham's "license" as an elder, which is also a certificate of character, was given him about this time by the Prophet Joseph, and is well worth recording.
"To Whom it May Concern"
"This certifies that Brigham Young has been received into the Church of Latter-day Saints, organized on the sixth of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and has been ordained an elder according to the rules and regulations of said Church, and is duly authorized to preach the gospel, agreeably to the authority of that office.
"From satisfactory evidence which we have of his good moral character, and his zeal for the cause of righteousness, and diligent desire to persuade men to forsake evil and embrace truth, we confidently recommend him to all candid and upright people as a worthy member of society.
"We, therefore, in the name and by the authority of this Church, grant unto this our worthy brother in the Lord, this letter of commendation as a proof of our fellowship and esteem; praying for his success and prosperity in our Redeemer's cause.
"Given by the direction of a conference of the elders of said Church, assembled in Kirtland, Geauga county, Ohio, the third day of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
Joseph Smith, Junior, Chairman.
F. G. Williams, Clerk.
Kirtland, Ohio, March 30th, 1836.
During the entire summer of 1836 Brigham was again engaged in missionary labors in the Eastern States. He traveled and preached in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut; everywhere laboring diligently and winning converts to his religion. In September he returned to Kirtland, where, he says, "I remained through the Fall and Winter, laboring with my hands to sustain my family, and preaching to the Saints."
The next year, 1837, proved to be a bitter time for the Church in Kirtland. Brigham relates that "the spirit of speculation, disaffection and apostasy imbibed by many of the Twelve, and which ran through all the Quorums of the Church, prevailed so extensively that it was difficult for any to see clearly the path to pursue." Ms. 25, 487. But it does not seem to have been difficult for Brigham to ascertain what course he was to pursue. He had abandoned everything for his chosen religion and the leadership of his beloved Prophet, and now of all times was the opportunity for him to show his loyalty and sincerity. That he did not fail is attested by the following:
"On a certain occasion several of the Twelve, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and others of the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before them was to ascertain how the Prophet Joseph could be deposed, and David Whitmer appointed President of the Church. Father John Smith, Brother Heber C. Kimball and others were present who were opposed to such measures. I rose up, and in a plain and forcible manner told them that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet of God, and sink themselves to hell."—Ms., 25—487.
The worth of such a man as Brigham to the young Prophet Joseph and to the Church at this critical and uncertain time can hardly be estimated. A few stalwarts like himself stood firm, brooking all opposition. "This was a crisis," Brigham relates, "when earth and hell seemed leagued to overthrow the Prophet and Church of God. The knees of many of the strongest men in the Church faltered." Regarding his own position there was no uncertainty.
"During this siege of darkness I stood close to Joseph, and, with all the wisdom and power of God bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies to sustain the servant of God and unite the quorums of the Church."—Ms., 25-487.
Brigham was not alone able to render moral aid to the Cause. He was also able to render aid with his strong right arm if necessary. It was not safe to antagonize such a man too far. He could fight if he were forced to, to vindicate the truth which had been impressed upon his soul. I cannot refrain from relating an interesting circumstance recorded in Brigham's history which occurs at this time. He says:
"A man named Hawley, while plowing his field in the State of New York, had an impression rest down on his mind with great weight, that he must go to Kirtland and tell Joseph Smith that the Lord had rejected him as a Prophet. * * * He went through the streets of Kirtland one morning after midnight and cried, "Woe! Woe! unto the inhabitants of this place." I put my pants and shoes on, took my cow-hide, went out, and laying hold of him, jerked him round, and assured him that if he did not stop his noise and let the people enjoy sleep without interruption, I would cow-hide him on the spot, for we had the Lord's Prophet right here and we did not want the Devil's prophet yelling round the streets.' — Ms., 25-487.
Later in life Brigham was affectionately called by his people "The Lion of the Lord." Such incidents as the one above related demonstrate how he earned this title. He was absolutely fearless when it came to defending what he knew was true and right.
During the Spring and Summer of 1837 Brigham filled two short missions to the Eastern States. Leaving Kirtland on March 13, he traveled through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. In the latter part of May he returned home "by stage, the ice being still on the lake." Late in July he left again for the East "accompanying the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum, David W. Patten and Thomas B. Marsh, who were on their way to Canada. At Buffalo, Brigham parted with his friends and went on to Albany and New York City. In the latter place he held meetings and preached wherever opportunity afforded. On August 19th he was again at Kirtland.
The spirit of apostasy and evil speaking against the Prophet was at its height in Kirtland during the latter part of 1837 and Brigham's entire time was spent in trying to hold the Church together. It was indeed a dark and trying time for the faithful. Brigham's life was repeatedly threatened by his enemies. Finally, he relates:
"On the morning of December 22nd, I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of the mob and the spirit that prevailed in the apostates, who had threatened to destroy me because I would proclaim, publicly and privately, that I knew, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most High God, and had not transgressed and fallen as the apostates declared." — Ms., 25—518.
Early Missionary Labors of President Brigham Young
1832-1838—Age 31 to 37
By Preston Nibley
Brigham Young first visited the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, in September, 1832. He had been baptized in the preceding month of April, at Mendon, New York, but had been unable to gather with the Saints in Ohio, probably on account of the illness of his wife, who died September 8, the same year. After his visit with the Prophet, where he "received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe h rm to be, as a true prophet," Brigham returned to his home in Mendon and began preparations for his first missionary journey. His own account of the same follows :
"In company with my brother Joseph I started for Kingston, upper Canada, on foot, in the month of December, the most of the way through snow and mud from one to two feet deep. In crossing: from Gravelly Point to Kingston on the ice which had frozen the night previous, the ice was thin and bent under our feet, so that in places the water was half a shoe deep, and we had to separate from each other, the ice not being capable of holding us. We traveled about six miles on the ice, arrived in Kingston and found a friend who was going that evening near the place where we were first to call. We commenced preaching and bearing our testimony to the people. Proceeding to West Loboro, we remained about one month, preaching the gospel there and in the regions round about. We baptized 45 souls and organized the East Loboro and other branches. In the month of February 1833, we starred for home, crossing from Kingston on the ice just before it broke up." — Ms., 25, p. 439.
Twenty seven years later, in a sermon delivered in Salt Lake City, Brigham again referred to this early missionary journey. The hardships of it had evidently made a lasting impression on his mind.
"The second time I went to Canada, which was after I was baptized, myself and brother Joseph traveled two hundred and fifty miles in snow a foot and a half deep, with a foot of mud under it. We traveled, preached and baptized 45 people in the dead of winter. When we left there the Saints gave us five York shillings with which to bear our expenses two hundred and fifty miles on foot, and one sister gave me a pair of woolen mittens two-thirds worn out. I worked with my own hands and supported myself."—J. D., 6-229.
"I worked with my own hands and supported myself." That has a ring of the true Brigham Young in it. Although he was poor and was giving his time unselfishly to a great and glorious cause, yet he was not going to be an object of charity to anyone. This was a hard and fast principle of his life which he splendidly enunciated years later.
"My experience has taught me, and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing or anything else, if they are able-bodied and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on the earth for them to do." — J. D., 11-297.
For the better part of twelve years following Brigham devoted himself to missionary labors, and by dint of hard work and wise and frugal spending he was able to support himself and family. No collection was ever needed to take care of him as long as he had strength in his body to do a day's work. Regarding Brigham's missionary labors and the compensation he received therefor from the Church, he once had the following to say:
"I came into this Church in the spring of 1832. Previous to my being baptized, I took a mission to Canada at my own expense; and from the time that I was baptized until the day of our sorrow and affliction, at the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, no summer passed over my head but what I was traveling and preaching, and the only thing I ever received from the Church, during over twelve years, and the only means that were ever given me by the Prophet, that I now recollect, was in 1842 when Brother Joseph sent me the half of a small pig that the brethren had brought to him."—J. D., 4-34.
In my study of Brigham Young I have often wondered how this carpenter-farmer boy, with practically no book learning or school education, could suddenly turn preacher, stand up before the people and plead his cause. It was like Peter being called from his fishing nets to expound the doctrines of the meek and lowly Master. Brigham must, at first, have had a severe time of it. He says:
"When I began to speak in public I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be. * * * How I have had the headache when I have had ideas to lay before the people, and not words to express them; but I was so gritty that I always tried my best." — J. D., 5-97.
There again you have the true Brigham Young, strong, virile, "gritty," always determined to do his best. "Grit" is an old-fashioned word, now much out of use, but it was once full of meaning, and signified "unyielding courage," which perhaps was the dominant attribute of Brigham's life. Any man who will walk two hundred fifty miles in the dead of winter through snow and mud, to plead an unpopular cause like "Mormonism" then was, is "gritty" to say the least, and his career can well afford to be watched with interest.
In the Spring of 1833 Brigham went again on a missionary journey to Canada, visiting Lyonstown, Theresa and Indian River Falls, baptizing twenty people and organizing several branches of the Church. In July he gathered together some of his converts and went with them to Kirtland, assisting in locating them there. He relates that he remained in Kirtland a few weeks "enjoying the society of the Prophet," before returning to his home in Mendon.
Brigham's active participation in the affairs of the Church should perhaps be dated from September, 1833.
"In the month of September, in conformity to the counsel of the Prophet, I made preparations to gather up to Kirtland, and engaged passage for myself and two children with Brother Kimball, and sent my effects by canal and lake to Fairport. We arrived in Kirtland in safety, traveling by land, where I tarried all winter and had the privilege of listening to the teachings of the Prophet, and enjoying the society of the Saints, working hard at my former trade."—Ms., 25-440.
If I were asked to point out the principal cause, to which, more than all others, Brigham Young's rise in the Church can be attributed, I should say without hesitation that it was his absolute and unqualified loyalty; loyalty to the Prophet Joseph; loyalty to every principle and doctrine he taught; loyalty to his brethren around him. He had not cast his lot with the Latter- day Saints to disprove their doctrines or thwart their purposes. He had accepted the newly revealed Gospel completely and whole-heartedly as the one thing needful and essential for his temporal and eternal salvation. Consequently there was but one purpose in all his efforts; "to build up the Church and kingdom." Witness this:
"In the Fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland, and not finding suitable employment, and having some difficulty in getting their pay after they had labored, several went off to "Willoughy, Painesville and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the Prophet of God, and I was not going away to Willoughby, Painesville, Cleveland, nor anywhere else to build up the gentiles, but I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertained to the Kingdom of God, by listening to the teachings of His servants, and I should work for my brethren, and trust in God and them that I would be paid. I labored for Brother Cahoon and finished his house, and although he did not know he could pay me when I commenced, before I finished he had paid me in full. I then went to work for Father John Smith and others, who paid me, and I sustained myself in Kirtland, and when the brethren who had gone out to work for the gentiles returned I had means, though some of them were scant." — Ms., 2545 .
In February, 1834, at Kirtland, Brigham married Mary Ann Angel, who proved truly to be an angel in his household. During the following ten years, in the wanderings of the Saints, many trying and bitter experiences came to Brigham and his family, but his heroic wife endured all in the knowledge that they were laboring in a great and glorious cause. Also, during the greater part of this time Brigham was absent on missions, preaching the gospel in this and in foreign lands, and the responsibility of rearing a family alone was upon her. Too much cannot be said in praise of such characters as Mary Ann Angel.
During the year 1834 Brigham was almost constantly at the side of the Prophet Joseph, loyally sustaining him in all his plans and labors. It was in this year that Zion's Camp was organized and the memorable march of 205 men was made from Kirtland to Missouri to aid the suffering and persecuted Saints there. In calling Brigham and his brother the Prophet said, "Brother Brigham and Brother Joseph, if you will go with me in the Camp to Missouri and keep my counsel, I promise you in the name of the Almighty, that I will lead you there and back again and not a hair of your heads shall be harmed." This promise was fulfilled, and Brigham made the trying and difficult march of two thousand miles to Missouri and return without any resultant harm, though several of his brethren died on the journey and at times the whole camp was in danger of annihilation by the Missouri mob.
In the Fall and Winter of 1834 Brigham relates that he "tarried in Kirtland, quarrying rock, working on the Temple, and finishing off the printing office and school room."
On the 8th of February, 1835, the Prophet Joseph called Brigham to his residence in Kirtland and said, "I wish you to notify all the brethren living in the branches, within a reasonable distance from this place, to meet at a general conference on Saturday next. I shall then and there appoint twelve Special Witnesses, to open the door of the Gospel to foreign nations, and you will be one of them." History of the Church, Vol. 2, page 181. Thus Brigham came into prominence for the first time as one of the Church leaders. Heretofore his office and calling had been that of a humble elder, but he had so striven to magnify this position that he was now to take his place in the leading council of the Church, next to the Presidency. His ability and devotion had been recognized. In defining the functions of the newly organized quorum the Prophet said:
"They are the Twelve apostles, who are called to the office of the Traveling High Council who are to preside over the churches of the Saints, among the Gentiles, where there is a presidency established; and they are to travel and preach among the Gentiles, until the Lord shall command them to go to the Jews. They are to hold the keys of this ministry, to unlock the door of the Kingdom of heaven unto all nations, and to preach the gospel to every creature. This is the power, authority and virtue of their apostleship."
From this time henceforth, until the death of the Prophet in 1844, the greater part of Brigham's time was spent in the ministry. He was an indefatigable worker, traveling and paying his own way, spreading the great truths of the Gospel which had been revealed through the Prophet.
About two months after his ordination to the Apostleship Brigham, with his brethren of the Twelve, undertook a mission to the Eastern States. Conferences were held at Westfield and Freedom in Western New York. On the 5th of June at Lyonstown, Brigham left the party and returned to Kirtland as wit ness in a trial of the Prophet Joseph before the county court In his history Brigham relates that as soon as he was "liberated" he again started East and "joined the Twelve in holding conferences, preaching and baptizing, regulating and organizing the churches throughout the Eastern country." On September 25th he, with the others returned to Kirtland.
Recorded in Brigham's history is the following:
"I remained at home during the Fall and Winter, occasionally going out and preaching to the neighboring branches. In the course of the Winter there was a Hebrew school started, which I attended until February 22, 1836, when I was called upon by the Prophet to superintend the painting and finishing of the Temple, upon which I labored until March 27th, when the Temple was so far finished as to be dedicated to the Lord by the Prophet, with the assembled Quorums of the Church, and so many members as could possibly be accommodated. On this occasion the power of God was displayed as recorded in the history of Joseph Smith.
"I attended the solemn assembly and, with my brethren of the Twelve, received my washings and anointings and was privileged to listen to the teachings and administrations of the Prophet of God." — Ms., 25, page 471.
Observe here how the young man's whole heart and soul was in his work. At that time he was only in his 35th year, but he was already one of the stalwarts of the young and growing Church, and able to contribute splendidly to its advancement.
Brigham's "license" as an elder, which is also a certificate of character, was given him about this time by the Prophet Joseph, and is well worth recording.
"To Whom it May Concern"
"This certifies that Brigham Young has been received into the Church of Latter-day Saints, organized on the sixth of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and has been ordained an elder according to the rules and regulations of said Church, and is duly authorized to preach the gospel, agreeably to the authority of that office.
"From satisfactory evidence which we have of his good moral character, and his zeal for the cause of righteousness, and diligent desire to persuade men to forsake evil and embrace truth, we confidently recommend him to all candid and upright people as a worthy member of society.
"We, therefore, in the name and by the authority of this Church, grant unto this our worthy brother in the Lord, this letter of commendation as a proof of our fellowship and esteem; praying for his success and prosperity in our Redeemer's cause.
"Given by the direction of a conference of the elders of said Church, assembled in Kirtland, Geauga county, Ohio, the third day of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
Joseph Smith, Junior, Chairman.
F. G. Williams, Clerk.
Kirtland, Ohio, March 30th, 1836.
During the entire summer of 1836 Brigham was again engaged in missionary labors in the Eastern States. He traveled and preached in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut; everywhere laboring diligently and winning converts to his religion. In September he returned to Kirtland, where, he says, "I remained through the Fall and Winter, laboring with my hands to sustain my family, and preaching to the Saints."
The next year, 1837, proved to be a bitter time for the Church in Kirtland. Brigham relates that "the spirit of speculation, disaffection and apostasy imbibed by many of the Twelve, and which ran through all the Quorums of the Church, prevailed so extensively that it was difficult for any to see clearly the path to pursue." Ms. 25, 487. But it does not seem to have been difficult for Brigham to ascertain what course he was to pursue. He had abandoned everything for his chosen religion and the leadership of his beloved Prophet, and now of all times was the opportunity for him to show his loyalty and sincerity. That he did not fail is attested by the following:
"On a certain occasion several of the Twelve, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and others of the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before them was to ascertain how the Prophet Joseph could be deposed, and David Whitmer appointed President of the Church. Father John Smith, Brother Heber C. Kimball and others were present who were opposed to such measures. I rose up, and in a plain and forcible manner told them that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet of God, and sink themselves to hell."—Ms., 25—487.
The worth of such a man as Brigham to the young Prophet Joseph and to the Church at this critical and uncertain time can hardly be estimated. A few stalwarts like himself stood firm, brooking all opposition. "This was a crisis," Brigham relates, "when earth and hell seemed leagued to overthrow the Prophet and Church of God. The knees of many of the strongest men in the Church faltered." Regarding his own position there was no uncertainty.
"During this siege of darkness I stood close to Joseph, and, with all the wisdom and power of God bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies to sustain the servant of God and unite the quorums of the Church."—Ms., 25-487.
Brigham was not alone able to render moral aid to the Cause. He was also able to render aid with his strong right arm if necessary. It was not safe to antagonize such a man too far. He could fight if he were forced to, to vindicate the truth which had been impressed upon his soul. I cannot refrain from relating an interesting circumstance recorded in Brigham's history which occurs at this time. He says:
"A man named Hawley, while plowing his field in the State of New York, had an impression rest down on his mind with great weight, that he must go to Kirtland and tell Joseph Smith that the Lord had rejected him as a Prophet. * * * He went through the streets of Kirtland one morning after midnight and cried, "Woe! Woe! unto the inhabitants of this place." I put my pants and shoes on, took my cow-hide, went out, and laying hold of him, jerked him round, and assured him that if he did not stop his noise and let the people enjoy sleep without interruption, I would cow-hide him on the spot, for we had the Lord's Prophet right here and we did not want the Devil's prophet yelling round the streets.' — Ms., 25-487.
Later in life Brigham was affectionately called by his people "The Lion of the Lord." Such incidents as the one above related demonstrate how he earned this title. He was absolutely fearless when it came to defending what he knew was true and right.
During the Spring and Summer of 1837 Brigham filled two short missions to the Eastern States. Leaving Kirtland on March 13, he traveled through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. In the latter part of May he returned home "by stage, the ice being still on the lake." Late in July he left again for the East "accompanying the Prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum, David W. Patten and Thomas B. Marsh, who were on their way to Canada. At Buffalo, Brigham parted with his friends and went on to Albany and New York City. In the latter place he held meetings and preached wherever opportunity afforded. On August 19th he was again at Kirtland.
The spirit of apostasy and evil speaking against the Prophet was at its height in Kirtland during the latter part of 1837 and Brigham's entire time was spent in trying to hold the Church together. It was indeed a dark and trying time for the faithful. Brigham's life was repeatedly threatened by his enemies. Finally, he relates:
"On the morning of December 22nd, I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of the mob and the spirit that prevailed in the apostates, who had threatened to destroy me because I would proclaim, publicly and privately, that I knew, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most High God, and had not transgressed and fallen as the apostates declared." — Ms., 25—518.
Nibley, Preston. "President Brigham Young's Mission to England." Improvement Era. October 1923. pg. 1119-1124.
President Brigham Young's Mission to England (1839-1841 Age 38-40) By Preston Nibley While residing with his family "in a room in the old military barracks" at Montrose, Iowa, where he had settled after having been driven from Missouri, Brigham began preparations for his mission to England, as he, with the other members of the Twelve had been commanded in the revelation of July 8, 1838. For a time, he relates, "I was delayed by a general siege of sickness which swept over the entire community." It was a form of malaria, due to the low, wet lands along the Mississippi where the Saints had settled. "President Joseph Smith," says Brigham, "had taken the sick into his house and dooryard until his house was like a hospital, and he had attended upon them until he was taken sick himself and confined to his bed for several days." (Ms. 25:645). Finally Brigham, too, was stricken with "chills and fever," but he determined to take his departure as most of the Twelve had preceded him. It is interesting here to inquire into his condition at this time when he was leading his home for England. In his Journal there is this brief mention, under date of September 14, 1839. "I started from Montrose on my mission to England. My health was so poor I was unable to go thirty rods to the river without assistance. After I had crossed the river I got Israel Barlow to carry me on his horse behind him to Heber C. Kimball's, where I remained sick till the 18th. I left my wife sick with a babe only ten days old, and all of my children sick and unable to wait upon each other." (Ms. 25:646.) All the above statements are corroborated by Brigham's friend and fellow apostle, Heber C. Kimball. His account follows: "September 14th, President Brigham Young left his home at Montrose to start on the mission to England. He was so sick that he was unable to go to the Mississippi, a distance of thirty rods, without assistance. After he had crossed the river he rode behind Israel Barlow on his horse to my house, where he continued sick until the 18th. He left his wife sick with a babe only ten days old, and all his children were sick and unable to wait upon each other. Not one soul of them was able to go to the well for a pail of water, and they were without a second suit to their backs, for the mob in Missouri had taken nearly all they had." (Life of Heber C. Kimball, page 275.) While his family did not have "a second suit for their backs," Brigham scarcely had one for his. The cap he had on had been made "out of a pair of old pantaloons," and further, "I had not even an overcoat. I took a small quilt from the trundle bed and that served for my overcoat while I was traveling to the State of New York where I had a coarse satinette overcoat given to me." (J.D. 4-34.) Thus did Brigham Young fare forth on his mission to England, sick, penniless, in threadbare clothing, but within his breast there was the heart of a lion ; a determination to do or to die. Having no means with which to pursue his journey, except what he could earn or borrow along the way, Brigham and his companion, Heber C. Kimball, were helped by their friends. The first fourteen miles out of Nauvoo they were carried in a wagon by "Brother Hubbard's boy." The following day "Brother Duel carried us twelve miles." The third day, with the help of another brother and his team and wagon they arrived at Quincy, Illinois. Here they remained a few days "and began to recover" from their protracted illness, though it did not entirely leave them for many weeks. Proceeding from Quincy, Illinois, they were carried by team and wagon from one settlement to another, having a few dollars given to them here and there, until they reached Pleasant Garden, Indiana, where they took account of their finances and found they had between them $13.50. On the evening of November 3, they arrived at Kirtland, the old home of the Saints, having completed a 400 mile journey from Nauvoo. "I had a York shilling left," Brigham tersely records in his history. At Kirtland the missionaries had a pleasant visit with relatives and friends. Brigham's brother John and his sister Nancy Kent resided there. In the neighborhood there still remained quite a large branch of the Church and meetings were held in the Temple at which the visiting brethren spoke. Their finances being again somewhat replenished by friends and relatives, they proceeded, on November 22, towards Fairport where they took boat for Buffalo, arriving on the 27th. From Buffalo, they began making their way as best they could across the state of New York. Here is a note at this time from Brigham's Journal: "On arriving at Batavia we put up at the Geneses house, dedicated our room to the Lord, and had a prayer meeting, asking the Lord to open up our way." (Ms. 25:654.) Being now in the country where he had spent so many years of his boyhood, Brigham found friends and acquaintances anxious to hear from him, consequently he remained in the vicinity during the month of December, visiting and preaching. It was the 3rd of January, 1840, before he reached Utica, having been carried there in a sleigh. From Utica his funds were sufficient to take him by train to Albany, but it was not until the 30th of the month that he reached New York, in company with George A. Smith, having spent four and one-half months on the journey from Nauvoo. Arriving in New York, he relates: "We left our trunks in the baggage room of the North American House, and soon found Brother P. P. Pratt and family, who lived at number 58 Mott Street. We were heartily received by the family, and returned thanks to God for having preserved us and brought us in safety so far on our mission to the nations of the earth." (Ms. 25:696.) All the Twelve who accompanied Brigham on his mission to England were practically without money when they arrived in New York and it was necessary for them to remain in that vicinity until their finances could be replenished. They were not able to sail until the 9th of March, each doing whatever he could find to do in order to get ship money. "We engaged our passages for Liverpool on board the Patrick Henry, a packet ship of the Black Ball Line, Captain Delino, and paid eighteen dollars each for a steerage passage, furnished our own provisions and bedding and paid the cook one dollar each for cooking. Brother H. C. Kimball and myself occupied a lower berth, Brothers Parley and Orson Pratt, the one over us, Brother George A. Smith and R. Headlock, an upper berth at their feet; two Englishmen occupied the berth below. The brethren in New York furnished us with an ample supply of provisions by donation. The sisters made us ticks and filled them with straw for our beds and filled some bags with straw for our pillows. "A large number of Saints came down to the wharf to bid us farewell. When we got into the small boat to go out to the ship, the brethren sang, 'The gallant ship is under weigh;' we joined them as long as we could hear. * * * We set sail and by sunset lost sight of our native shore. I was sick nearly all the way and confined to my berth. For eight days we had a fair wind, from the eighth to the tenth day, a very heavy gale, from the eleventh to the thirteenth day, part of our bulwarks were washed away and the water ran down the hatches in large quantities." (Ms. 25:172.) On April 6, the Patrick Henry came into dock at Liverpool, and Brigham climbed out of his steerage berth sick and almost penniless. It took his entire capital to buy a hat and pay his fare to Preston, where the headquarters of the mission were located. At Liverpool, however, the brethren "held a meeting, partook of the sacrament, and returned thanks to God for his protection and care exercised over us while on the waters, and asked that our way might be opened up before us to accomplish our mission successfully." (Ms. 25.) Six days after landing in England Brigham, with his characteristic energy, was delivering his message to the people. "April 12 (Sunday) I met with several of the Twelve in the Cockpit, Preston, and bore testimony to a crowded assembly of the truth of the gospel." (Ms. 25:712.) On the 15th and 16th of the same month a general conference of the Church was held at Preston. Brigham, in reporting the same to the Prophet at Nauvoo, wrote as follows: To President Joseph Smith and Counselors: Dear Brethren:—You no doubt will have the perusal of this letter and minutes of our conferences; this will give you an idea of what we are doing in this country. If you see anything in or about the whole affair that is not right, I ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would make known unto us the mind of the Lord and his will concerning us. I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and be a servant of the Church as ever I was in my life; but I can tell you I would like to be with my old friends; I like new friends, but I cannot part with my old ones for them. Concerning the Hymn Book—when we arrived here, we found the brethren had laid by their old hymn books, and they wanted new ones; for the Bible, religion and all is new to them. When I came to learn more about carrying books into the States, or bringing them here, I found the duties were so high that we never should want to bring books from the States. I request one favor of you, that is, a letter from you, that I may hear from my old friends. I trust that I will remain your friend through life and in eternity. As ever, Brigham Young. I shall not attempt to enumerate the details of the great success that attended Brigham and his companions while on this English mission. It was nothing short of marvelous, how the way was opened up for them and the eagerness with which the people heard and believed their message. When one stops to contemplate that these young men had literally worked their way to England, sick and in dire circumstances, consuming more than six months' time in their journey, and arriving there were destitute strangers in a strange land, their accomplishments must be attributed to the Lord and his sustaining power. Brigham remained in England exactly one year and sixteen days, but never in the history of the Church was so much accomplished by a similar group of elders. In later years he was fond of relating the experiences of his English mission. I find the following taken from a sermon he delivered in Salt Lake City on the 31st of August, 1856: "In company with several of the Twelve I was sent to England in 1839. We started from home without purse or scrip, and most of the Twelve were sick; and those who were not sick when they started were sick on the way to Ohio; Brother Taylor was left to die by the roadside, by old Father Coltrin, though he did not die. I was not able to walk to the river, not so far as across this block, no, not more than half as far; I had to be helped to the river in order to get into a boat to cross it. This was about our situation. I had not even an overcoat; I took a small quilt from the trundle bed, and that served for my overcoat, while I was traveling to the State of New York, where I had a coarse satinette overcoat given to me. Thus we went to England, to a strange land to sojourn among strangers. "When we reached England we designed to start a paper, but we had not the first penny to do it with. I had enough to buy a hat and pay my passage to Preston, for from the time I left home I had worn an old cap which my wife made out of a pair of old pantaloons; but the most of us were entirely destitute of means to buy even any necessary article. "We went to Preston and held our conference, and decided we would publish a paper; Brother Parley P. Pratt craved the privilege of editing it, and we granted him the privilege. We also decided to print 3,000 hymn books, though we had not the first cent to begin with and were strangers in a strange land. We appointed Brother Woodruff to Herefordshire and I accompanied him on his journey to that place. I wrote to Brother Pratt for information about his plans, and he sent me his prospectus, which stated that when he had a sufficient number of subscribers and money enough on hand to justify his publishing the paper, he would proceed with it. How long we might have waited for that, I know not, but I wrote him to publish 2,000 papers and I would foot the bill. I borrowed two-hundred and fifty pounds of Sister Jane Benfow, one hundred of Brother Thomas Kington, and returned to Manchester where we printed three thousand hymn books and five thousand Books of Mormon, and issued two thousand Millennial Stars monthly, and in the course of the summer gave away rising of sixty thousand tracts. I also paid from five to ten dollars a week for my board and hired a house for Brother Willard Richards and his wife, who came to Manchester, and sustained them; and gave sixty pounds to Brother P. P. Pratt to bring his wife from New York. I also commenced the emigration in that year. "I was there one year and sixteen days, with my brethren, the Twelve, and during that time I bought all my clothing except one pair of pantaloons, which the sisters gave me in Liverpool soon after I arrived there and which I really needed. I told the brethren in one of my discourses that there was no need of their begging, for if they needed anything the sisters could understand that. The sisters took the hint and the pantaloons were forthcoming. "I paid three hundred and eighty dollars to get the work started in London and when I arrived home in Nauvoo, I owed no person one farthing. Brother Kington received his pay from the books that were printed, and Sister Benbow, who started to America the same year, left names enough of her friends to receive two hundred and fifty pounds, which amount was paid them, notwithstanding I held her agreement that she had given it to the Church. "We left two thousand five hundred dollar's worth of books in the office, paid our passages home, and paid about six hundred dollars to emigrate the poor who were starving to death, besides giving the sixty thousand tracts; and that too though I had not a sixpence when we landed in Preston, and I do not know that one of the Twelve had." (J.D. 4:37.) Nothing could illustrate better than the above President Young's leadership, his business ability and his driving power in getting things done. But great as were his personal qualities, I find that his reliance was always upon the will of his heavenly Father. On leaving Liverpool, on April 20, 1841, to return home from his mission, he records the following in his journal: "It was with a heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, my heavenly Father, that I reflected upon his dealings with me and my brethren of the Twelve during the past year of my life, which was spent in England. It truly seemed a miracle to look upon the contrast between our landing and departing from Liverpool. We landed in the spring of 1840, as strangers in a strange land and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established churches in almost every noted town and city in the kingdom of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand, printed 5,000 Books of Mormon, 3,000 Hymn Books, 2.500 volumes of the Millennial Star, and 60,000 tracts, and emigrated to Zion 1,000 souls, established a permanent shipping agency, which will be a great blessing to the Saints, and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth, which will bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God, and yet we have lacked nothing to eat, drink or wear; in all these things I acknowledge the hand of God." (Ms. 26:7.) The return ocean voyage occupied thirty days on the sail ship Rochester, Brigham and his fellow travelers arriving in New York on the 20th of May. From there the trip homeward was made by way of Pittsburg, down the Ohio to Cincinnati by boat, and thence to Nauvoo, arriving on July 1. Under that date Brigham records in his journal: "We arrived in Nauvoo, and were cordially welcomed by the Prophet Joseph, our families and the Saints." (Ms. 26:71.) |
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG
From a daguerrotype, probably taken at Nauvoo, Illinois, in the fall of 1844, or the spring of 1845, by L. R. Foster. It is supposedly the earliest likeness of President Young taken from life. The daguerrotype was given to him by his wife, Clara Decker Young, whose daughter has courteously allowed it to be copied.—Junius F. Wells, Assistant Church Historian. |
Nibley, Preston. "He Believed." Young Woman's Journal. June 1924. pg. 288-291.
He Believed
By Preston Nibley of the General Board of Y, M. M. I. A.
IF I were asked to point out the misrepresented until it was almost chief thing that made of President Brigham Young the great man he was, I think I should reply without hesitation that it was his faith; his firm, deep, ever-abiding, ever-increasing belief in the great latter day Gospel, restored to earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Of him, almost more than any other man, it might be said: “He believes his religion.” The conviction was there, burned into the very marrow of his bones, that the Gospel was true, and he held to that conviction, from the day he entered the Church by baptism, throughout a long and arduous career, to the last breath of his life.
In those early dark and struggling days of the Church, there was scarcely a thing that went out about it that was not distorted, darkened, and impossible for the casual investigator to tell what was true and what was false. Thousands passed Mormonism by with ridicule, or with a smile, or with bitter hatred. But Brigham, laboring at his carpenter’s bench there in Mendon, New York, was able to distinguish truth from error, and believe with all his soul the message brought to him.
Thus, from the first, faith in the Gospel was not difficult for Brigham Young. What explanation shall we give to this, when the whole world about him was full of doubters? I know of none other except this, “My sheep shall know my voice.” Brigham relates in connection with the visit of the first elder to his home: “The Holy Ghost, proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself that the testimony was true.”
What a blessing it is to be able to recognize God’s word when one hears it. And then to lay it to heart, and have the seed of faith grow until it becomes the great reality of life. This is precisely what happened to Brigham. His heart was ready for the Gospel; he could believe, and what was dark and obscure to some, was clear and transparent to him, “illuminating” his soul.
What a field the Gospel opens up to one who does believe. To Brigham it became the all-absorbing thought and work of his life. His faith fired him with energy and zeal. It was not a weak and passive faith that allowed him to remain idle, and quietly discuss the Gospel with his family and friends. No, he could follow the advice of the Master literally, for he relates, “I gave away everything I possessed that I might be free to go forth and proclaim the plan of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth.” And again, “I felt, yes, I can leave my father, my brothers and sisters, and wife and children, if they will not serve the Lord and go with me.”
And so, inspired by this wonderful faith, he set out almost immediately to manifest it in the work of his life. For faith, be it ever so wonderful, is dead without works.
Brigham believed. Now let us see how he worked. Almost immediately after he was baptized, he set out to proclaim the glad tidings to all who would hear him. Following is his own brief account of his first mission:
“In company with my brother Joseph I started for Kingston, upper Canada, on foot, in the month of December, the most of the way through snow and mud from one to two feet deep. In crossing from Gravelly Point to Kingston on the ice which had frozen the night previous, the ice was thin and bent under our feet, so that in places the water was half a shoe deep, and we had to separate from each other, the ice not being capable of holding us. We traveled about six miles on the ice, arrived in Kingston and found a friend who was going that evening near the place where we were going to call. We commenced preaching and bearing our testimony to the people. Proceeding to West Loboro, we remained about one month, preaching the Gospel there and in the regions round about. We baptized 45 souls and organized the East Loboro and other branches. In the month of February, 1833, we started for home, crossing from Kingston on the ice just before it broke up?’ (M. S. 25, p. 439.)
That is the kind of missionary work Brigham’s faith led him to do within a few months after he was baptized, although he was not a public speaker, and to use his own words, “I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be.” But see him there, walking through the snow and mud to proclaim the gospel.
Shortly after his return from Canada he took his two little motherless children and gathered with the Saints to Ohio. Here again his zealous and burning faith taught him that the labor of his life should be spent in building up the Kingdom. Here is his account of what took place:
“In the fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland, and not finding suitable employment, and having some difficulty in getting their pay after they had labored, several went off to Willoughby, Painesville, and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the Prophet of God. and I was not going away to Willoughby, Painesville, Cleveland, nor anywhere else to build up the Gentiles, but I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertained to the Kingdom of God, by listening to the teachings of His servants, and I should work for my brethren, and trust in God and them that I would be paid.” (M. S. 25, p. 45.)
In a short time a bitter spirit of apostasy swept over the little community at Kirtland, and many of those who were weak in faith were carried away. But a strong believer like Brigham was worth an army of apostates. He threw all his strength into opposing them. Here are his own words regarding one particular event at the time:
“On a certain occasion several of the Twelve, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and others of the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before them was to ascertain how the Prophet Joseph could be deposed, and David Whitmer appointed President of the Church. Father John Smith, Brother Heber C. Kimball, and others were present who were opposed to such measures. I rose up, and in a plain and forcible manner, told them that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet of God, and sink themselves to hell.” (M. S. 25, p. 487.)
That was how the mighty faith and works of Brigham Young helped the Prophet Joseph Smith in perhaps the most critical time the Church has ever seen.
I am going to pass over a few years of Brigham’s life to the time when he was called, sick and penniless, to undertake a mission to England. He was living in Montrose, in one room of an old military barracks, and all his family were sick about him when the day came to take his departure. Did he falter? Did he seek to evade his call? No, for within his soul the flame of faith burned brighter than ever before. He was willing to give his life for the truth’s sake. Heber C. Kimball, who was with him at this time, relates:
“September 14. (1839) President Brigham Young left his home at Montrose to start on his mission to England. He was so sick that he was unable to go to the Mississippi, a distance of thirty rods, without assistance. After he had crossed the river he rode behind Israel Barlow, on his horse, to my house, where he continued sick until the 18th. He left his wife sick, with a babe only ten days old. and all his children were sick, and unable to wait upon each other. Not a soul of them was able to go to the well for a pail of water, and they were without a second suit to their backs, for the mob in Missouri had taken nearly all they had.” (Life of Heber C. Kimball, page 275.)
Perhaps few men in the Church have ever had to exercise more faith than did Brigham on this occasion. But the faith, the belief was there. He reached England, and his accomplishments in that mission stand to his everlasting credit. He was able to say on leaving Liverpool to return home,
“It was with a heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, my heavenly Father, that I reflected upon his dealings with me and my brethren of the Twelve during the past year of my life which was spent in England. It truly seemed a miracle to look upon the contrast between our landing and departing from Liverpool. We landed in the spring of 1840, as strangers in a strange land and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established churches in almost every noted town and city in the kingdom of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand, printed 5,000 books of Mormon. 3.000 Hymn Books, 2.500 volumes of the Millennial Star, and 60.000 tracts, and emigrated to Zion 1,000 souls, established a permanent shipping agency, which will be a great blessing to the Saints, and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth, which will bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God, and yet we have lacked nothing to eat, drink, or wear. In all these things I acknowledge the hand of God.” (M. S. 26, p. 7.)
At the death of the Prophet Joseph there was greater necessity for men of faith than the Church had ever known before. The flock was without a shepherd. The leader, the founder, was gone. But Brother Brigham, the man of faith was there, and he was able to stem the tide of uncertainty, to inspire those who faltered, and guide aright those who did not know which way to go. In that most memorable speech of his on August 8th, 1844, when he stepped forth as the inspired successor of the Prophet, he could say that his faith had never failed him.
“Here is Brigham; have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered?
* * * I have spared no pains to learn my lessons of the Kingdom, in this world and in the eternal worlds; and if it were not so I could go and live in peace; but for the Gospel and for your sakes, I shall stand in my place. * * * Brother Joseph the Prophet has laid the foundation for a great work and we will build upon it; and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world.”
Brigham’s faith had almost reached the stage which we can call perfect: implicit and absolute confidence in all the promises of God. How well this qualified him as a leader and the successor to the Prophet Joseph.
Of the move westward, and the settlement of the Saints in these valleys under Brigham Young’s direction, I maintain that that was done by faith also. There was no precedent for him to go by. There was nothing to prove that a people could be sustained in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. In a sermon delivered May 8th, 1870, he said:
“It was said we could raise nothing when we got here, but I said, ‘We will wait and see. We know that God has led us out here, and we will wait and see what he will do for us*.”
On another occasion he told his people:
“I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our people being moved here; that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of God that wrought out salvation for this people. I never could have devised such a plan.”
Great is faith. Great is belief. One should ask for no greater blessing than to have a mighty faith, an implicit confidence in all the promises and righteous purposes of God.
Brigham’s faith guided him well through this life, and taught him to see far beyond the span of his own years. On March 4th, 1860, he bore this testimony:
“The kingdom of God will roll on, and no power can stop the work that the Almighty has commenced. Kings, rulers, governors, presidents, peoples, and all the armies of hell joined with them will never be able to impede the steady, onward, accelerated progress of this glorious latter- day work. If we should deny the faith of the Gospel and go out of the Church, still it will roll on the same. This kingdom will stand forever. This religion will abide the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and will prepare us to meet him in peace."
He Believed
By Preston Nibley of the General Board of Y, M. M. I. A.
IF I were asked to point out the misrepresented until it was almost chief thing that made of President Brigham Young the great man he was, I think I should reply without hesitation that it was his faith; his firm, deep, ever-abiding, ever-increasing belief in the great latter day Gospel, restored to earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Of him, almost more than any other man, it might be said: “He believes his religion.” The conviction was there, burned into the very marrow of his bones, that the Gospel was true, and he held to that conviction, from the day he entered the Church by baptism, throughout a long and arduous career, to the last breath of his life.
In those early dark and struggling days of the Church, there was scarcely a thing that went out about it that was not distorted, darkened, and impossible for the casual investigator to tell what was true and what was false. Thousands passed Mormonism by with ridicule, or with a smile, or with bitter hatred. But Brigham, laboring at his carpenter’s bench there in Mendon, New York, was able to distinguish truth from error, and believe with all his soul the message brought to him.
Thus, from the first, faith in the Gospel was not difficult for Brigham Young. What explanation shall we give to this, when the whole world about him was full of doubters? I know of none other except this, “My sheep shall know my voice.” Brigham relates in connection with the visit of the first elder to his home: “The Holy Ghost, proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself that the testimony was true.”
What a blessing it is to be able to recognize God’s word when one hears it. And then to lay it to heart, and have the seed of faith grow until it becomes the great reality of life. This is precisely what happened to Brigham. His heart was ready for the Gospel; he could believe, and what was dark and obscure to some, was clear and transparent to him, “illuminating” his soul.
What a field the Gospel opens up to one who does believe. To Brigham it became the all-absorbing thought and work of his life. His faith fired him with energy and zeal. It was not a weak and passive faith that allowed him to remain idle, and quietly discuss the Gospel with his family and friends. No, he could follow the advice of the Master literally, for he relates, “I gave away everything I possessed that I might be free to go forth and proclaim the plan of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth.” And again, “I felt, yes, I can leave my father, my brothers and sisters, and wife and children, if they will not serve the Lord and go with me.”
And so, inspired by this wonderful faith, he set out almost immediately to manifest it in the work of his life. For faith, be it ever so wonderful, is dead without works.
Brigham believed. Now let us see how he worked. Almost immediately after he was baptized, he set out to proclaim the glad tidings to all who would hear him. Following is his own brief account of his first mission:
“In company with my brother Joseph I started for Kingston, upper Canada, on foot, in the month of December, the most of the way through snow and mud from one to two feet deep. In crossing from Gravelly Point to Kingston on the ice which had frozen the night previous, the ice was thin and bent under our feet, so that in places the water was half a shoe deep, and we had to separate from each other, the ice not being capable of holding us. We traveled about six miles on the ice, arrived in Kingston and found a friend who was going that evening near the place where we were going to call. We commenced preaching and bearing our testimony to the people. Proceeding to West Loboro, we remained about one month, preaching the Gospel there and in the regions round about. We baptized 45 souls and organized the East Loboro and other branches. In the month of February, 1833, we started for home, crossing from Kingston on the ice just before it broke up?’ (M. S. 25, p. 439.)
That is the kind of missionary work Brigham’s faith led him to do within a few months after he was baptized, although he was not a public speaker, and to use his own words, “I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be.” But see him there, walking through the snow and mud to proclaim the gospel.
Shortly after his return from Canada he took his two little motherless children and gathered with the Saints to Ohio. Here again his zealous and burning faith taught him that the labor of his life should be spent in building up the Kingdom. Here is his account of what took place:
“In the fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland, and not finding suitable employment, and having some difficulty in getting their pay after they had labored, several went off to Willoughby, Painesville, and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the Prophet of God. and I was not going away to Willoughby, Painesville, Cleveland, nor anywhere else to build up the Gentiles, but I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertained to the Kingdom of God, by listening to the teachings of His servants, and I should work for my brethren, and trust in God and them that I would be paid.” (M. S. 25, p. 45.)
In a short time a bitter spirit of apostasy swept over the little community at Kirtland, and many of those who were weak in faith were carried away. But a strong believer like Brigham was worth an army of apostates. He threw all his strength into opposing them. Here are his own words regarding one particular event at the time:
“On a certain occasion several of the Twelve, the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and others of the authorities of the Church, held a council in the upper room of the Temple. The question before them was to ascertain how the Prophet Joseph could be deposed, and David Whitmer appointed President of the Church. Father John Smith, Brother Heber C. Kimball, and others were present who were opposed to such measures. I rose up, and in a plain and forcible manner, told them that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet of God, and sink themselves to hell.” (M. S. 25, p. 487.)
That was how the mighty faith and works of Brigham Young helped the Prophet Joseph Smith in perhaps the most critical time the Church has ever seen.
I am going to pass over a few years of Brigham’s life to the time when he was called, sick and penniless, to undertake a mission to England. He was living in Montrose, in one room of an old military barracks, and all his family were sick about him when the day came to take his departure. Did he falter? Did he seek to evade his call? No, for within his soul the flame of faith burned brighter than ever before. He was willing to give his life for the truth’s sake. Heber C. Kimball, who was with him at this time, relates:
“September 14. (1839) President Brigham Young left his home at Montrose to start on his mission to England. He was so sick that he was unable to go to the Mississippi, a distance of thirty rods, without assistance. After he had crossed the river he rode behind Israel Barlow, on his horse, to my house, where he continued sick until the 18th. He left his wife sick, with a babe only ten days old. and all his children were sick, and unable to wait upon each other. Not a soul of them was able to go to the well for a pail of water, and they were without a second suit to their backs, for the mob in Missouri had taken nearly all they had.” (Life of Heber C. Kimball, page 275.)
Perhaps few men in the Church have ever had to exercise more faith than did Brigham on this occasion. But the faith, the belief was there. He reached England, and his accomplishments in that mission stand to his everlasting credit. He was able to say on leaving Liverpool to return home,
“It was with a heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, my heavenly Father, that I reflected upon his dealings with me and my brethren of the Twelve during the past year of my life which was spent in England. It truly seemed a miracle to look upon the contrast between our landing and departing from Liverpool. We landed in the spring of 1840, as strangers in a strange land and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established churches in almost every noted town and city in the kingdom of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand, printed 5,000 books of Mormon. 3.000 Hymn Books, 2.500 volumes of the Millennial Star, and 60.000 tracts, and emigrated to Zion 1,000 souls, established a permanent shipping agency, which will be a great blessing to the Saints, and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth, which will bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God, and yet we have lacked nothing to eat, drink, or wear. In all these things I acknowledge the hand of God.” (M. S. 26, p. 7.)
At the death of the Prophet Joseph there was greater necessity for men of faith than the Church had ever known before. The flock was without a shepherd. The leader, the founder, was gone. But Brother Brigham, the man of faith was there, and he was able to stem the tide of uncertainty, to inspire those who faltered, and guide aright those who did not know which way to go. In that most memorable speech of his on August 8th, 1844, when he stepped forth as the inspired successor of the Prophet, he could say that his faith had never failed him.
“Here is Brigham; have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered?
* * * I have spared no pains to learn my lessons of the Kingdom, in this world and in the eternal worlds; and if it were not so I could go and live in peace; but for the Gospel and for your sakes, I shall stand in my place. * * * Brother Joseph the Prophet has laid the foundation for a great work and we will build upon it; and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world.”
Brigham’s faith had almost reached the stage which we can call perfect: implicit and absolute confidence in all the promises of God. How well this qualified him as a leader and the successor to the Prophet Joseph.
Of the move westward, and the settlement of the Saints in these valleys under Brigham Young’s direction, I maintain that that was done by faith also. There was no precedent for him to go by. There was nothing to prove that a people could be sustained in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. In a sermon delivered May 8th, 1870, he said:
“It was said we could raise nothing when we got here, but I said, ‘We will wait and see. We know that God has led us out here, and we will wait and see what he will do for us*.”
On another occasion he told his people:
“I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our people being moved here; that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of God that wrought out salvation for this people. I never could have devised such a plan.”
Great is faith. Great is belief. One should ask for no greater blessing than to have a mighty faith, an implicit confidence in all the promises and righteous purposes of God.
Brigham’s faith guided him well through this life, and taught him to see far beyond the span of his own years. On March 4th, 1860, he bore this testimony:
“The kingdom of God will roll on, and no power can stop the work that the Almighty has commenced. Kings, rulers, governors, presidents, peoples, and all the armies of hell joined with them will never be able to impede the steady, onward, accelerated progress of this glorious latter- day work. If we should deny the faith of the Gospel and go out of the Church, still it will roll on the same. This kingdom will stand forever. This religion will abide the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and will prepare us to meet him in peace."
Nibley, Preston. "Gems of Wisdom by Brigham Young." Improvement Era. December 1924. pg. 146-148.
GEMS OF WISDOM
By President Brigham Young
Selected by Preston Nibley
On coming to Salt Lake Valley.
"I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our people being moved here, that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of God that wrought out salvation for this people. I never could have devised such a plan." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 41.
What he desired to live for.
"All I design to live for is to see the inhabitants of the earth acknowledge God, bow down to him and confess his supremacy. * * * As for me and all I have, it is the Lord's and shall be dedicated to him all my days." — Deseret News, Vol. 4, number 6.
The value of a testimony.
"The world, with all its wisdom and power, with all the glory and gilded show of its kings and potentates, sinks into perfect insignificance, compared with the simple, unadorned testimony of a servant of God." — Deseret News, Vol. 4, number 6.
Preferred farming to "gold hunting."
"I pray you in Christ's stead to let gold hunting alone. * * * Instead of hunting gold, let every man go to work at raising wheat, oats, barley, corn and vegetables and fruit in abundance that there may be plenty in the land." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12, page 202.
What real wealth is.
"We want to understand and do better than we have done, and be governed by the dictates of good, solid, sound sense in the use of the wealth, privileges and talents that are given to us in our present life. Let me ask, what is real wealth? Do you know? I say that Time is all the wealth we have."-—Journal of Discourses, Vol. 17, page 72.
On giving to those who can earn.
"My experience has taught me and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing or anything else, if they are able bodied, and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on earth for them to do." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 297.
Oratory not needed.
"The kingdom of our God that is set up on the earth does not require men of many words and flaming oratorical talents to establish truth and righteousness. * * * When I first commenced preaching, I made up my mind to declare the things that I understood, fearless of friends and threats, and regardless of caresses." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 20.
Take care of your property.
"My implicit confidence in God causes me to husband every iota of property he gives me; I will take the best care of my farm, I will prepare the ground as well as I can, and put in the best seed I have got, and trust in God for the result, for it is the Lord that gives the increase." —Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 26.
On healing the sick.
"It appears consistent with me to apply every remedy within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of the body." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 24.
On reading books.
"I might read books until Doomsday, and unless I apply the knowledge thus obtained I should know but little. Without the application of knowledge acquired by reading, it makes mere machines of us. We can tell what others have done but we know nothing ourselves."' Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, page 39.
Treasure up wisdom.
"Since I have been in this Church and kingdom I have endeavored to learn and treasure up wisdom and good understanding, and then not to forget them. I have endeavored to gather to myself every principle that would promote righteousness in me and those who would hearken to my counsel." — Deseret News, Vol. 7, page 38.
What to pray for.
"Let every Saint, when he prays, ask God for the things he needs to enable him to promote righteousness on the earth. If you do not know what to ask for, let me tell you how to pray. When you pray in secret, or with your families, if you do not know anything to ask for, submit yourselves to your Father in heaven and beseech him to guide you by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and to guide this people and dictate the affairs of his kingdom on the earth." — Sermon, Nov. 15, 1857.
On giving to the poor.
"I recollect once, when preaching in England, that I passed through Smithfield market, in Manchester, and I saw some very fine grapes just arrived from France. I spent a penny for some of them, but I had not taken half a dozen steps from the stand where I purchased them, before I saw an old lady passing along, who, I could tell by her appearance, was starving to death. Said I, 'I have done wrong in spending that penny. I should have given it to that old lady.' " — Sermon on May 6, 1870.
The Kingdom will abide forever.
"The Kingdom of God will roll on, and no power can stop the work that the Almighty has commenced. Kings, rulers, governors, presidents, peoples, and all the armies of hell joined with them, will never be able to impede the steady, onward, accelerated progress of this glorious latter-day work. If we should deny the faith of the holy gospel and go out of the Church, still it will roll on the same. This Kingdom will stand forever. This religion will abide the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and will prepare us to meet him in peace."' — Sermon, March 4, 1860.
The plan of salvation.
"For me the plan of salvation must be a system that is pure and holy in all its points; it must circumscribe the knowledge that is upon the face of the earth; it must reveal things that no other church or kingdom can reveal, or it is not from God. Such a plan incorporates every system of true doctrine that is upon the earth, whether it be ecclesiastical, moral, philosophical, or civil; it incorporates all good laws that have been made from the days of Adam until now; it swallows up the laws of nations, for it exceeds them all in knowledge and purity; it circumscribes the doctrines of the day, and takes from the right and the left, and brings all truth together in one system, and leaves the chaff to be scattered hither and thither." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, page 148.
GEMS OF WISDOM
By President Brigham Young
Selected by Preston Nibley
On coming to Salt Lake Valley.
"I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our people being moved here, that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of God that wrought out salvation for this people. I never could have devised such a plan." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 41.
What he desired to live for.
"All I design to live for is to see the inhabitants of the earth acknowledge God, bow down to him and confess his supremacy. * * * As for me and all I have, it is the Lord's and shall be dedicated to him all my days." — Deseret News, Vol. 4, number 6.
The value of a testimony.
"The world, with all its wisdom and power, with all the glory and gilded show of its kings and potentates, sinks into perfect insignificance, compared with the simple, unadorned testimony of a servant of God." — Deseret News, Vol. 4, number 6.
Preferred farming to "gold hunting."
"I pray you in Christ's stead to let gold hunting alone. * * * Instead of hunting gold, let every man go to work at raising wheat, oats, barley, corn and vegetables and fruit in abundance that there may be plenty in the land." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 12, page 202.
What real wealth is.
"We want to understand and do better than we have done, and be governed by the dictates of good, solid, sound sense in the use of the wealth, privileges and talents that are given to us in our present life. Let me ask, what is real wealth? Do you know? I say that Time is all the wealth we have."-—Journal of Discourses, Vol. 17, page 72.
On giving to those who can earn.
"My experience has taught me and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing or anything else, if they are able bodied, and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on earth for them to do." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 297.
Oratory not needed.
"The kingdom of our God that is set up on the earth does not require men of many words and flaming oratorical talents to establish truth and righteousness. * * * When I first commenced preaching, I made up my mind to declare the things that I understood, fearless of friends and threats, and regardless of caresses." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 20.
Take care of your property.
"My implicit confidence in God causes me to husband every iota of property he gives me; I will take the best care of my farm, I will prepare the ground as well as I can, and put in the best seed I have got, and trust in God for the result, for it is the Lord that gives the increase." —Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 26.
On healing the sick.
"It appears consistent with me to apply every remedy within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of the body." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 24.
On reading books.
"I might read books until Doomsday, and unless I apply the knowledge thus obtained I should know but little. Without the application of knowledge acquired by reading, it makes mere machines of us. We can tell what others have done but we know nothing ourselves."' Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, page 39.
Treasure up wisdom.
"Since I have been in this Church and kingdom I have endeavored to learn and treasure up wisdom and good understanding, and then not to forget them. I have endeavored to gather to myself every principle that would promote righteousness in me and those who would hearken to my counsel." — Deseret News, Vol. 7, page 38.
What to pray for.
"Let every Saint, when he prays, ask God for the things he needs to enable him to promote righteousness on the earth. If you do not know what to ask for, let me tell you how to pray. When you pray in secret, or with your families, if you do not know anything to ask for, submit yourselves to your Father in heaven and beseech him to guide you by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and to guide this people and dictate the affairs of his kingdom on the earth." — Sermon, Nov. 15, 1857.
On giving to the poor.
"I recollect once, when preaching in England, that I passed through Smithfield market, in Manchester, and I saw some very fine grapes just arrived from France. I spent a penny for some of them, but I had not taken half a dozen steps from the stand where I purchased them, before I saw an old lady passing along, who, I could tell by her appearance, was starving to death. Said I, 'I have done wrong in spending that penny. I should have given it to that old lady.' " — Sermon on May 6, 1870.
The Kingdom will abide forever.
"The Kingdom of God will roll on, and no power can stop the work that the Almighty has commenced. Kings, rulers, governors, presidents, peoples, and all the armies of hell joined with them, will never be able to impede the steady, onward, accelerated progress of this glorious latter-day work. If we should deny the faith of the holy gospel and go out of the Church, still it will roll on the same. This Kingdom will stand forever. This religion will abide the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and will prepare us to meet him in peace."' — Sermon, March 4, 1860.
The plan of salvation.
"For me the plan of salvation must be a system that is pure and holy in all its points; it must circumscribe the knowledge that is upon the face of the earth; it must reveal things that no other church or kingdom can reveal, or it is not from God. Such a plan incorporates every system of true doctrine that is upon the earth, whether it be ecclesiastical, moral, philosophical, or civil; it incorporates all good laws that have been made from the days of Adam until now; it swallows up the laws of nations, for it exceeds them all in knowledge and purity; it circumscribes the doctrines of the day, and takes from the right and the left, and brings all truth together in one system, and leaves the chaff to be scattered hither and thither." — Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, page 148.
"Brigham Young as Seen by Mr. Werner." Improvement Era. January 1925. pg. 297-298.
Brigham Young as Seen by Mr. Werner
The first number of a series of seven articles promised on "Brigham Young" appeared in the- December issue of the. Ladies' Home Journal, published at Philadelphia, the author, M. R. Werner. All are well aware that when anything connected with "Mormonism", when presented in the magazines and in other public press, is usually filled with deliberate misrepresentation. We welcome, therefore, such an attempt as this first article of the series, to present the facts regarding our history and our great leader. Brigham Young, as Mr. Werner has been able to find and understand them. The facts and the history presented in this first article, the millions of readers of the Ladies' Home Journal will aid in clearing the atmosphere for the true presentation of the gospel by our elders and Saints in the United States and Canada, and wherever the Journal circulates.
The inaccuracies in the article, we believe, are not deliberate, but rather the result of misunderstanding on Mr. Werner's part. When he states that Brigham Young was "shrewd enough, skeptical enough, and well enough acquainted with the progress of religious speculation in his neighborhood to realize that as a business proposition this new religion ('Mormonism') might be worth looking into," he is far from a correct understanding of President Young as he was known to the Saints throughout his life. Joining the Church was not a "business proposition" with Brigham Young. Neither did he make the Church, but rather the Church made him. It was the salvation of his eternal soul that concerned him, and the gospel brought him so much joy that he was anxious to proclaim it to all the world. Here are his own words, "When I went to Kirtland I had not a coat in the world, for previous to this I had given away everything I possessed that I might be free to go forth and proclaim the plan of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth." That does not look much like a "business proposition," giving away everything one possesses.
When Mr. Werner was in Salt Lake last summer, he was told that he would find it difficult to understand Brigham Young except by the same spirit that actuated him. Unless one has the spirit of the gospel, and feels it in his soul, he cannot understand the Latter-day Saints, nor what they are about. "No man knoweth the things of God except by the Spirit of God." However, we hope that succeeding articles will be no less fair and just than this first one appears to be.—A.
Brigham Young as Seen by Mr. Werner
The first number of a series of seven articles promised on "Brigham Young" appeared in the- December issue of the. Ladies' Home Journal, published at Philadelphia, the author, M. R. Werner. All are well aware that when anything connected with "Mormonism", when presented in the magazines and in other public press, is usually filled with deliberate misrepresentation. We welcome, therefore, such an attempt as this first article of the series, to present the facts regarding our history and our great leader. Brigham Young, as Mr. Werner has been able to find and understand them. The facts and the history presented in this first article, the millions of readers of the Ladies' Home Journal will aid in clearing the atmosphere for the true presentation of the gospel by our elders and Saints in the United States and Canada, and wherever the Journal circulates.
The inaccuracies in the article, we believe, are not deliberate, but rather the result of misunderstanding on Mr. Werner's part. When he states that Brigham Young was "shrewd enough, skeptical enough, and well enough acquainted with the progress of religious speculation in his neighborhood to realize that as a business proposition this new religion ('Mormonism') might be worth looking into," he is far from a correct understanding of President Young as he was known to the Saints throughout his life. Joining the Church was not a "business proposition" with Brigham Young. Neither did he make the Church, but rather the Church made him. It was the salvation of his eternal soul that concerned him, and the gospel brought him so much joy that he was anxious to proclaim it to all the world. Here are his own words, "When I went to Kirtland I had not a coat in the world, for previous to this I had given away everything I possessed that I might be free to go forth and proclaim the plan of salvation to the inhabitants of the earth." That does not look much like a "business proposition," giving away everything one possesses.
When Mr. Werner was in Salt Lake last summer, he was told that he would find it difficult to understand Brigham Young except by the same spirit that actuated him. Unless one has the spirit of the gospel, and feels it in his soul, he cannot understand the Latter-day Saints, nor what they are about. "No man knoweth the things of God except by the Spirit of God." However, we hope that succeeding articles will be no less fair and just than this first one appears to be.—A.
"President Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles." Improvement Era. December 1925. pg. 94.
PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES IN 1853
This plate was dedicated to President Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was published by Elder Samuel W. Richards and M. Cannon in Liverpool, England, January 1, 185 3. It is a remarkable and interesting group of photographs, and is as far as known the very earliest ever taken of the combined membership of the Twelve and the First Presidency. Presumably the daguerreotypes were made in Salt Lake City in 1852 by M. Cannon and forwarded to Samuel W. Richards, at that time presiding over the European mission.
This plate was dedicated to President Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was published by Elder Samuel W. Richards and M. Cannon in Liverpool, England, January 1, 185 3. It is a remarkable and interesting group of photographs, and is as far as known the very earliest ever taken of the combined membership of the Twelve and the First Presidency. Presumably the daguerreotypes were made in Salt Lake City in 1852 by M. Cannon and forwarded to Samuel W. Richards, at that time presiding over the European mission.
Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young in Nauvoo Up to the Death of the Prophet Joseph Smith Age 40." Improvement Era. December 1925. pg. 95-107.
BRIGHAM YOUNG IN NAUVOO Up to the Death of the Prophet Joseph Smith — Age 40 By Preston Nibley Summer, 1841 Arriving in Nauvoo from England, Brigham at once became active in the affairs of the Church. The labor that he loved was "building up the Kingdom" as he so often expressed it, in later years. It was only in spare time when the Church did not demand him, that he looked after his personal affairs. The prophet was no doubt aware of the sacrifices he had made, for I find this entry made in Brigham' s journal, nine days after he arrived home: "President Smith called on me at my house, when he received the following revelation: 'Dear and well-beloved brother, Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you: My servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me. I have seen your labor and toil in journeying for my name. I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever. Amen'." (Doc and Cov. 126.) The permission to devote some time to his family was no doubt very welcome to him. During his absence in England his family had managed somehow with temporary shelter, and on his arrival home he found them in very uncomfortable circumstances. He relates: "On my return from England I found my family living in a small unfinished log-cabin, situated on a low, wet lot. so swampy that when the first attempt was made to plow it the oxen mired; but after the city was drained it became a valuable garden spot. And again, although I had to spend the principal part of my time at the call of brother Joseph in the service of the Church, the portion of time left me I spent in draining, fencing and cultivating my lot, building a temporary shed for my cow, chinking and otherwise furnishing my house, and as the ground was too damp to admit of a cellar underground, I built one with two brick walls about four or six inches apart arched over with brick. Frost never penetrated it, although in summer articles would mildew in it." (Ms. 26:88.) On the 15th of August, Brigham was in attendance at a conference held in the settlement of Zarahemla. The next day he presided at a special conference in Nauvoo. It was at this latter that the Prophet Joseph inaugurated a new order of Church government which moved Brigham a little closer towards the important position he was to occupy within a few years. The prophet said that, "The time had come when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to the First Presidency and attend to the settling of emigrants and the business of the Church at the stakes, and assist to bear off the Kingdom victorious to the nations; and as they had been faithful and had borne the burden in the heat of the day, that it was right that they should have an opportunity of providing something for themselves and families." (Church History, Vol. 4:403.) Brigham, as President of the Twelve, now stood next to the First Presidency. In this capacity he was as usual extremely energetic. Under date of October 2, 1841, at Nauvoo, he records the following in his journal: "I attended conference; much valuable instruction was given by the President, Joseph Smith. "I addressed the conference with regard to the appointment of suitable missionaries, and in regard to the importance of teaching abroad the first principles of the gospel, and letting alone those principles they did not understand; also on the propriety of many of the elders remaining at home, and working on the Lord's House, and the necessity of more liberal consecrations and more energetic efforts to forward the work of building the temple and Nauvoo House. The congregation was immense, and the greatest unanimity prevailed." (Ms. 26:104.) And again, under the date of November 8: "I attended the dedication of the baptismal font in the Lord's House: President Smith called upon me to offer the dedicatory prayer. This is the first font erected and dedicated for the baptism for the dead in this dispensation." (Ms. 26:104.) Almost daily Brigham was in contact with the Prophet Joseph, whom he loved more than any other man, and whom he looked to constantly for guidance and inspiration. Here are two brief mentions of this association from his journal: "Nov. 28, 1841.—Brother Joseph and the Twelve spent the day in council at my house." "Nov. 30.—Met in council with Joseph and the Twelve at my house, in relation to the Times and Seasons." As the year 1841 drew to a close in Nauvoo, the white blanket of winter was spread over the land. Peace and prosperity reigned among the Saints. Verily the Kingdom was advancing and being built up, due to the noble, unselfish and splendid efforts of its leaders and members, not the least of whom was Brigham Young. Christmas day was no doubt a time of rejoicing in Brigham's home. It was a humble little home, but he was there to enjoy the day with his wife and children, the first Christmas he had had with them in nearly three years. That he was also enjoying the society of his brethren is evident from the following: "I partook of a Christmas supper with the Twelve at Brother Hiram Kimball's." 1842 Brigham's activities during 1842 were confined almost entirely to Nauvoo and the surrounding branches of the Church, with the exception of one short missionary trip he made in September, and which took him as far as Springfield, 111. But he was extremely active at home. His duties as President of the Twelve kept him almost constantly engaged in Church work, and by Church work is meant, in this instance, supervision and regulation of all the activities of the Saints. Next to Joseph the burden of "building up the kingdom," was upon the shoulders of Brigham. During January, February and March, Brigham was in daily conference with the Prophet and the Twelve regarding a variety of subjects. He bought the printing office of the Times and Seasons from Ebenezer Robinson, "at an exorbitant price." He went to Zarahemla and discontinued the stake organization there by order of the Prophet Joseph. Under date of February 21, he says, "I wrote a letter calling upon the churches to forward their tithings and donations to the Trustee-in-Trust, that the Temple may go on, and the new translation of the Bible." (Ms. 26:119.) Also, he was a member of the Nauvoo city council, which occupied a great part of his time and attention. Now, considering the above it is interesting to learn that Brigham received no money nor material compensation for all his labors. He had to provide food and clothing for himself and family by the work he could do in his spare hours when the Church did not require him. I recall at this point a sermon delivered in Salt Lake City, August 31, 1856, in which he said: "I came into this Church in the spring of 1832. Previous to my being baptized I took a mission to Canada at my own expense; and from the time that I was baptized until the day of our sorrow and affliction at the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, no summer passed over my head but what I was traveling and preaching, and the only thing I ever received from the Church, during over twelve years, and the only means that were ever given me by the Prophet, that I now recollect, was in 1842, when brother Joseph sent me the half of a small pig that the brethren had brought to him." That was the kind of service Brigham Young gave to the Church in its early struggling days, and his reward was—that he had the opportunity to do the work. For work there was to do in great abundance, but the money to do it with was scarce, and no one entertained any thought of being rewarded in money for what he could do to assist the growing kingdom. At this point I desire to include a short description of Nauvoo, taken from the August number of the Millennial Star, 1842, as it well describes the scenes of Brigham's labors during the time of which I write: "Nauvoo has, in the short space of three years, become one of the largest towns in the West, containing within its corporation, something like 10,000 inhabitants, while many thousands more are settled and are improving the country around, and hundreds and thousands more are arriving almost daily, as emigrants, from various states and nations. It is more than probable that in the course of twelve months this city will number from fifteen to twenty thousand inhabitants. The buildings are mostly temporary cabins, built of wood, and are very small, unfinished, and inconvenient; but they are such as are generally erected in the beginning of new settlements in every part of the country, and will soon give place to those of brick and stone. Indeed, several brick buildings are already erected, and hundreds of others are in process of erection. The temple, which is now in progress, is built entirely of stone. It is designed to be about 128 feet long, 88 feet wide, and 150 feet high to the top of the spire. The Nauvoo House is a building of stone and brick; it is designed about 240 feet in length, fronting on two streets in form of an 'L'; forty feet deep and four stories high. This is. designed as an hotel, or home for travelers and strangers. The streets are regularly laid out from north to south, and from east to west; they are broad and pleasant, but not yet paved." (Ms., Vol. 111:67.) So much for Nauvoo, the "City of the Saints," situated on a beautiful bend of the Mississippi river, about two hundred and fifty miles above St. Louis, which, until the settlement of the Saints there in 1839, was considered nothing more than prairie. Under date of May 4, 1842, Brigham records in his journal, "I met with Joseph, Hyrum, Heber, Willard, Bishops Whitney and Miller, and Gen. James Adams in Joseph's private office, where Joseph taught the ancient order of things for the first time in these last days, and received my washings anointings and endowments." (Ms. 26:134.) Again, on the 18th: "I was appointed in connection with brothers H. C. Kimball, Hyrum Smith and Geo. A. Smith, as a committee to wait upon the immigrants, and give them counsel and aid in procuring them places on which to settle." On the 26th, (Sunday) at Nauvoo, "I addressed the Saints on the principle of union in building up the city, and sustaining the poor by providing labor for them. Six p. m. I attended council at brother Joseph's, to take into consideration the situation of the pine country and lumbering business, and other subjects of importance to the Church; after which we spent a season in prayer, that the Lord would deliver us from the power of our enemies, and provide means for us to build houses, as he had commanded his people." (Ms. 26:135.) The Church in those days never seemed to be without its serious trouble and the summer of 1 842 was darkened by the apostasy of John C. Bennett, mayor of Nauvoo, and one who stood high in the councils of the Church. Never did a more bitter and vindictive enemy turn loose calumny and vituperation upon an innocent people. He went about writing for newspapers, lecturing and effectively poisoning the public mind against the Prophet and the people. His book, Mormonism Exposed, I regard as the bitterest attack ever made against the Church, even to this day. The brethren were so aroused in Nauvoo that they had to bend their entire activities to offset Bennett's tirade of abuse. Brigham was- there, ready to defend the Church with all the power that was in him. I will here copy a considerable amount from his journal to show with what zeal he labored. Beginning under date of August 26, 1842: "Met in the evening in Council with the Prophet Joseph and some of the Twelve. We received much good instruction and counsel from Joseph, relative to the situation of the Church, and the policy to be pursued in sending many Elders through the States to preach the Gospel and disabuse the public mind in relation to the false statements of Dr. J. C. Bennett. "The Prophet also directed us to call a special conference on Monday next, and nominate the Elders to go on this important mission, and give them their instructions; and that we should also get the affidavits against Dr. Bennett published, so that the Elders might have authentic and strong testimony to lay before the public in relation to those matters. "27.—Engaged with brother Joseph and others, preparing affidavits for the press. "29.—Conference convened. Presidents Joseph and Hyrum Smith addressed the Saints; 3 80 Elders volunteered to go immediately on the contemplated mission. "September 6.—With Elders Kimball and Lyman, I called upon the Prophet to counsel concerning our mission to the branches and people in the states. "9.—I attended City Council, and gave in my notification of absence, and started on my mission and went to Lima. "10.-—I preached in Lima. Here brothers H. C. Kimball, George A. Smith, and Amasa Lyman overtook us. We remained over Sunday, the 11th, and preached to a large congregation at the Grove, in Lima, and showed the falsity of Bennett's statements. We ordained 19 Elders and baptized 12. "17 and 18.—Elders Kimball, Smith, Lyman and myself held a Conference at Quincy, in the Court House. We exposed the course of Bennett and the mobocrats, and disabused the public mind, to some extent, of the prejudices recently imbibed. Governor Carlin attended one meeting. "24 and 2 5.—Attended Conference at Payson; Elder Kimball and myself preached. "I endeavored to get the affidavits against Dr. J. C. Bennett inserted in the Whig and Herald, at Quincy, but they refused to print them on any terms. I returned to Nauvoo, and had a number of them struck off as hand-bills for circulation. "I proceeded to Atlas, and found Elder Kimball. We preached in Col. Ross' brick house. "October 8 and 9.—Attended conference at Pittsfield. Elders Kimball, Smith. Lyman and myself preached. We proceeded to Glasgow, and held a two-day's meeting. I sharply reproved Elder Howard Smith, the presiding elder, for his indolence and folly. He attempted to instruct me how to preach, in a foolish braggadocio manner. "15 and 16.—We attended conference at Apple creek. Elders Kimball, Smith. Lyman and myself preached. Brother Kimball and I staid at Esq. Walker's. "Elder Kimball and I went to Jacksonville, and preached. We proceeded to Springfield, and preached. From thence we returned to Jacksonville, and attended a two-day's meeting in the Court House, which Elders George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman also attended. We went to Morgan City, and held a two day's meeting; staid with brother Augustus Farnham. Nearly all these Conferences and meetings were numerously attended. We continued preaching from place to place until, "November 4, when I returned to Nauvoo with Elder Kimball." (Ms. 26:151- 152.) This strenuous campaign undertaken by the brethren to offset the bitter attacks of Bennett undoubtedly proved too much for Brigham's health for I find this in his journal under date of November 26, a few weeks after his return home, "I was suddenly attacked with a slight fit of apoplexy. Next morning I felt quite comfortable; but in the evening, at the same hour that I had the fit the day before. I was attacked with the most violent fever I ever experienced. The Prophet Joseph and Elder Willard Richards visited and administered unto me; the Prophet prophesied that I should live and recover from my sickness. He sat by me for six hours, and directed my attendants what to do for me. In about thirty hours from the time of being attacked by the fever, the skin began to peel from my body, and I was skinned all over. I desired to be baptized in the river, but it was not until the 14th day that brother Joseph would give his consent for me to be showered with cold water, when my fever began to break, and it left me on the 18th day. I laid upon my back, and was not turned upon my side for eighteen days. "I lay in a log-house, which was rather open; it was so very cold during my sickness, that brother Isaac Decker, my attendant, froze his fingers and toes while fanning me, with boots, greatcoats and mittens on, and with a fire in the house, from which I was shielded by a blanket. "When the fever left me on the 18th day, I was bolstered up in my chair, but was so near gone that I could not close my eyes, which were set in my head—my chin dropped down and my breath stopped. My wife, seeing my situation, threw some cold water in my face; that having no effect, she dashed a handful of strong camphor into my face and eyes, which I did not feel in the least, neither did I move a muscle. She then held my nostrils between her thumb and finger, and placing her mouth directly over mine, blew into my lungs until she filled them with air. This set my lungs in motion, and I again began to breathe. While this was going on I was perfectly conscious of all that was passing around me; my spirit was as vivid as it every was in my life, but I had no feeling in my body." (Ms. 26:167.) 1843 On January 18, 1843, Brigham was able to leave his house for the first time following his illness. It was the occasion of a "feast" at the home of the Prophet Joseph, to celebrate two events in the Prophet's life; his release from the "Missouri writ, by the United States District Court," and the fifteenth anniversary of his marriage. The Prophet records in his history: "President Brigham Young was present, although very feeble. This was the first time he had been out of his house since he was taken sick." (H. of C, Vol. 5:253.) Two days after this event however, Brigham began meeting regularly with his quorum. On the 18th, he directed a letter to the branch at La Harpe, asking that the Saints there bring into Nauvoo their surplus provisions and donate them to the Prophet, so that he would be free to devote his whole time to Church affairs. On March 1, a similar letter was sent to the branch at Ramus. On March 11 Brigham accompanied the Prophet to Ramus to hold meeting there on Sunday the 12th. The Prophet spoke in the forenoon and Brigham in the afternoon. On the 14th, they returned to Nauvoo, "After a severely cold ride in a heavy snow-storm." On Monday, April 1 0, a special conference of elders was held at Nauvoo and many were set apart to fill missions. Brigham. as president of the Twelve, was called upon to address them. His sermon on this occasion (he was still a young man, but forty-one years of age) is so full of practical common sense and wisdom, which marked him as a great leader in later years, that I desire to copy it as it was written down that day. "President Young instructed the Elders not to go from church to church for the purpose of living themselves or begging for their -families or for preaching, but to go to their places of destination, journeying among the world and preaching by the way as they have opportunity; and if they get anything for themselves, they must do it in those churches they shall build up or from the world, and not enter into other men's labor. "Several Elders have been presented to us as having traveled extensively the past season, preaching but little or none, living on the brethren and begging for their own emolument. Such Elders, be they where they may, far or near, are instructed to repair forthwith to Nauvoo and give an account of their stewardship, and -report the amount of leg service performed by them, and on their return be sure to keep out of the churches. "It is wisdom for the Elders to leave their families in this place when they have anything to leave with them; and let not the Elders go on their missions until they have provided for their families. No man need say again, "I have a call to travel and preach," while he has not a comfortable house for his family, a lot fenced, and one year's provisions in store, or sufficient to last his family during his mission or means to provide it. "The Lord will not condemn any man for following counsel and keeping the commandments; and a faithful man will have dreams about the work he is engaged in. If he is engaged in building the Temple, he will dream about it; and if in preaching, he will dream about that; and not, when he is laboring on the Temple, dream that it is his duty to run off preaching and leave his family to starve. Such dreams are not of God. "When I was sick last winter, some of the sisters came and whispered in my ear, 'I have nothing to eat.' 'Where is your husband?' 'He is gone a-preaching.' 'Who sent him?' said I; 'for the Lord never sent him, to leave his family to starve.' "When the Twelve went to England, they went on a special mission, by special commandment, and they left their families sick and destitute, God having promised that they should be provided for. But God does not require the same thing of the Elders now, neither does he promise to provide for their families when they leave them contrary to counsel. The Elders must provide for their families. "I wish to give a word of advice to the sisters, and I will give it to my wife. I have known Elders who had by some means got in debt, but had provided well for their families during their contemplated mission; and after they had taken their departure, their creditors would tease their wives for the pay due from their husbands, till they would give them the last provision they had left them, and they were obliged to subsist on charity or starve till their husbands returned. Such a course of conduct on the part of the creditor is anti-Christian and criminal; and I forbid my wife from paying one cent of my debts while I am absent attending to the things of the kingdom; and I want the sisters to act on the same principle." (History of the Church. Vol. 5:350.) That is the kind of practical and plain advice that Brigham was giving to the Saints in the days of the Prophet Joseph. His wisdom was sound. He knew exactly what should be done by the people "to build up the Church and Kingdom." and he was willing to shoulder his part of the responsibility, though little did he dream, I fancy, that in slightly more than a year hence, the entire burden of leadership would be upon him. On May 26th, at Nauvoo, there was another important event in Brigham's life. He records in his journal: "Met with the Prophet Joseph, the Patriarch Hyrum, brothers Kimball and Richards, Judge James Adams and Bishop N. K. Whitney, receiving our endowments and instructions in the Priesthood. The Prophet Joseph administered to us the first ordinances of endowment, and gave us instructions on the Priesthood, and the new and everlasting covenant." (Ms. 26:184.) This will be readily understood by all members of the Church, and the great significance of it in Brigham's life is known to them. On the 31st, of the same month there is this item which gives us practical insight into his manner of living. "I moved out of my log cabin into my new brick house, which was 22 feet by 16. two stories high, and a good cellar under it, and felt thankful to God for the privilege of having a comfortable though small habitation." (Ms. 26:184.) I have visited this little house in Nauvoo, and was told there by President Joseph F. Smith, that Brigham did most of the carpenter work on it himself. On June 1, (Brigham's forty-second birthday) he made arrangements to visit the neighboring branches of the Church to solicit funds for the building of the Temple and the Nauvoo House. The Prophet gave him a written recommendation in which he referred to him as "one of the Lord's noblemen," And again, "I can fervently say, may the Lord bless his way before him, and bless him, and bless those who obey his teachings wherever there are ears to hear and hearts to feel. He is worthy to be received and entertained as a man of God." On July 7, Brigham departed from Nauvoo on a mission to the eastern branches of the Church, accompanied by his brethren of the Twelve, and all making their way as best they could without funds or support from the Church. This mission was to occupy his time until late in October. On the 8th of July he was at St. Louis "and called on the Saints." On the 12th he reached Louisville, Ky., where he remained until the 17th. On the 16th (Sunday) his journal relates, "In the afternoon we visited the Licking Branch in Kentucky, where the Saints were in a very backward state, their hearts being more engaged in the welfare of 10 or 15 acres of strawberries and raspberries they were cultivating than in the things of the kingdom of God." And again on the 19th, "Visited brother David Martin, who never asked our names; we staid with him over night, and lay on a bedstead that creaked so dreadfully that we could neither sleep nor dream." (Ms. 26:231.) Brigham was intensely sincere and earnest in all labors, but he did not lack in sense of humor. I dare say that he and brother Woodruff had a good laugh over that creaking bedstead. Brigham was extremely human withal, and no doubt greatly enjoyed life, taking it as it came. But always and forever the labor of "building up the Church" was foremost in his mind. On July 20, "we walked fifteen miles to Cincinnati," and on the 22nd. "we took steamer for Pittsburgh” It appears that there was quite a large branch of the Church at Pittsburgh, just how many I have been unable to learn, but Brigham was busily occupied there, holding meetings and speaking to the people until August 1. Addressing the Saints on Sunday, July 30, he said among other things: "Who is the author of this work and gathering? Joseph Smith, the Prophet, as an instrument in the hands of God, is the author of it. He is the greatest man on earth. No other man at this age of the world, has power to assemble such a great people from all nations of the earth, with all their varied dispositions, and so assimilate and cement them together that they become subject to rule and order. This the Prophet Joseph is doing. He has already gathered a great people who willingly subject themselves to his counsel, because they know it is righteous." (Ms. 26:247.) "He is the greatest man on earth." There in a nutshell is Brigham's opinion of the Prophet and I should say that it is proof of Brigham's greatness, that he was able to recognize in Joseph Smith, his fellow mortal, with whom he was in constant association, and whose weaknesses were apparent to him, the greatness which the world is gradually beginning to accord to him. How fortunate, how very fortunate, for Brigham that he was so close to this inspired leader. On August 1, Brigham and his companion, Wilford Woodruff, pushed on to Alleghany City, and on the next day "Charles Beck gave us $48 to help us to Baltimore." From Baltimore they traveled "by railroad to Newcastle, and thence by ( steamboat to Philadelphia where we arrived at 4 o'clock in the morning of the 5th." Next afternoon, Sunday, the 6th, "We met with about 300 Saints in the Canaanite church. I preached at considerable length and said that a man or woman may ask of God, and .get a witness and testimony from God concerning any work or messenger that is sent unto them; but if a person ask for a thing that does not concern him, such as governing the Church, as a member of the Church, inquiring concerning the duty of a presiding elder, what the Prophet or the Twelve ought to do, he will not get an answer; if he does it will not be from God." (Ms. 26:263.) That is another sample of Brigham's wise and practical advice to the Saints. On the 10th, there is this interesting note: "In company with Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, I visited the State House and the Independence Hall, where the patriots signed the Declaration of Independence. We sat in the chair which John Hancock occupied when he signed that instrument. We saw a statue of Washington, the portraits of La Fayette and others and the painting presented by Benjamin West to the city corporation, representing the situation of Paul and Barnabas when they were set apart to the ministry." (Ms. 26:279.) On the 18th of August, Brigham with other members of the Twelve departed for New York traveling by steamer or by coach, as occasion required. At Bordertown, New Jersey, there was this event, which Brigham treats humorously: "Brother George A. Smith and I staid over night with Brother Atkinson who lived in a very large frame house, said to have stood 150 years, and which was so infested with bed-bugs that we could not sleep. Brother George A. gave it as his legal opinion, that there were bed-bugs there which danced to the music at the battle of Trenton, as their heads were perfectly grey." Reaching New York City on the 26th, they attended the same day a meeting of the Saints at Columbian Hall, Grand Street. Brigham addressed the meeting "upon the importance of building the Nauvoo House and Temple, also upon the subject of the Priesthood, showing it was a perfect system of government." The following day he notes in his journal, "my health is /feeble, never having wholly recovered from my last winter's illness." From September 5 to 29, Brigham labored in Boston and vicinity and was busily engaged proclaiming his message to the Saints and their friends. On the 30th, he began his 'return journey to Nauvoo, stopping and holding meetings in New York and Philadelphia. They passed through Pittsburgh on the 8th of October, Cincinnati on the 12th and arrived in Nauvoo on the 22nd, having been away nearly four months. The next day, With Elders H. C. Kimball and George A. Smith I visited the Prophet Joseph, who was glad to see us. We paid him every cent of the means we had collected for the Temple and Nauvoo House. He taught us many principles illustrating the doctrine of celestial marriage, concerning which God had given him a revelation July 12." During November and December, Brigham was busily engaged with his duties at home. On November 7 he was made a member of a committee of the Twelve, who were appointed "to raise $500 to procure paper on which to print another edition of the Doctrine and Covenants." This gives us an idea of the straightened condition of the Saints. On December 10, he records the following, which to me is extremely significant for this man of faith: "I attended prayer-meeting in the Assembly Room. President Joseph Smith being absent I presided and instructed the brethren upon the necessity of following our file leader, and our Savior, in all his laws and commandments, without asking any questions why they were so." (Ms. 26:31 1.) At a meeting at the home of Wilford Woodruff on the 28th, Brigham relates, "I exhorted the Saints to be subject to the powers that be; said our sufferings are permitted that we may learn by experience the contrast between good and evil, in order to obtain power: never suffer anger to find a seat in your breast, never get angry, treat all mildly, govern yourselves, control your passions and it will give you power." (Ms. 26:312.) And so ended the year 1843, which was to be the last of Brigham's apprenticeship. Little did he know or realize the great responsibility soon to be placed upon him. 1844. During January and February Brigham was actively engaged in his ministry in Nauvoo and the surrounding settlements' of the Saints. "The grand object before us," he told the people, "is to build the Temple this season." But there was another proposition before the brethren which was to have a great and far reaching effect. This was the move to the Rocky Mountains, already contemplated by the Prophet Joseph. In Brigham's journal under date of February 21, 1844, I find this item: "I met in Council. Brother Joseph directed the Twelve to select an exploring company to go to California to select a location for the settlement of the Saints; Johnathan Dunham, David Fulmer, Phineas H. Young and David D. Yearsly volunteered to go, and Alphonso Young, James Emmett, George D. Watt and Daniel Spencer were selected to go. "Feb. 23.—I met with the Presidency and Twelve in relation to the Rocky Mountain Expedition, eight more volunteers gave in their names. Brother Joseph gave instructions in relation to the fit out needed. It was agreed that the company should number twenty-five." This information may come as a surprise to some that it was not Brigham Young who devised the westward move of the Latter-day Saints. But the facts are here that such a move was contemplated and discussed by the Prophet Joseph. Upon Brigham, however, was to fall the task of leadership in this tremendous undertaking. Another factor entered into the lives of the Saints during this critical period. The year 1844 was a presidential year and politics were being discussed on every side. At a meeting of the leading brethren, held January 29, it had been decided that the Saints could support neither Martin Van Buren nor Henry Clay. Both had refused to do anything to help them obtain redress for the wrongs done them in Missouri, Clay's reply being, "You'd better go to Oregon for redress." Consequently it was natural that Willard Richards should put a motion before the brethren to this effect: "That we will have an independent electoral ticket and Joseph Smith be a candidate for the next Presidency; and that we use all honorable means in our power to secure his election." I (H. of C, Vol. 6:188.) At the April conference, 244 elders volunteered to go throughout the states and present the Prophet's name and his "Views on the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States" to the people. Brigham had under his direct supervision the activity of these elders and their assignments to their fields of labor. In his instructions to them he said, that they were to seek diligently to get Electors who would vote for Joseph Smith for the Presidency, and also, they were to be faithful '"in preaching the gospel in its simplicity and beauty, in all meekness, humility, long-suffering and prayerfulness; and the Twelve will devote the season to traveling, and will attend as many conferences as possible." (H. of C, Vol. 6:340). Thus the work for the summer of 1844 was laid out before him. During the latter part of April and the early part of May he was busily occupied making preparations to leave. Finally, on May 21, he records in his journal: "I started on my mission to the East in company with Elders H. C. Kimball and L. Wight on board the steamer Osprey." Little did Brigham realize when he waved "good-bye" to the brethren on shore that never again in this life would he look upon the face of his beloved Prophet. The tragedy at Carthage was only six weeks away. May 22, the following day, Brigham was at St. Louis; on the 26th, he had reached Cincinnati, and on the 30th, Pittsburgh. From Pittsburgh he made a short side-trip to Kirtland, where for several days1 he visited with his brother John and his sister Nancy Kent. Proceeding onward he went through Buffalo and Albany, arriving in Boston on June 16. Nine days later, on June 27, there is this note from his journal: "Spent the day in Boston with Brother Woodruff, who accompanied me to the railway station, as I was about to take cars for Salem. In the evening while sitting in the depot waiting I felt a heavy depression of Spirit, and so melancholy I could not converse with any degree of pleasure. Not knowing anything concerning the tragedy enacting at this time in Carthage jail I could not assign any reason for my peculiar feelings." (Ms. 36:343.) It was not until the 9th of July that Brigham he ire! rumors of the death of the Prophet. But thinking them to be rumors only he continued on with his missionary work, and went with Orson Pratt to Petersboro, N. H. There on the 16th, he records the following: "While at Brother Bement's house in Petersboro, I heard a letter read which Brother Livingston had received from Mr. Joseph Powers, of Nauvoo, giving particulars of the murder of Joseph and Hyrum. The first thing I thought of was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth; brother Orson Pratt sat on my left; we were leaning back on our chairs. Bringing my hand down on my knee I said, 'The keys of the kingdom are right here with the Church.'' (Ms. 26:35 9.) Brigham no doubt was stunned and dismayed on hearing the terrible news of the death of his beloved Prophet and yet his first thoughts were for the Kingdom. Would it all end now, that which he had labored, sacrificed and suffered for, for twelve years? No, "the keys of the Kingdom are right here with the Church," and it no doubt flashed across Brigham's mind at that moment that the burden of leadership was upon him. For while many were confused and uncertain as to the proper course to pursue, Brigham's mind grasped the situation instantly and the duty before him was clear. On the following day, July 17, Brigham arrived in Boston. Wilford Woodruff, who was there, recorded the event as follows: "Elder Brigham Young arrived in Boston this morning. I walked with him to 57 Temple St., and called upon Sister Vose: Brother Young took to the bed and gave vent to his feelings in tears." The great, stout heart of the man was broken by the news of the death of his beloved Prophet, and he had to give "vent to his feelings in tears." I fancy that he never bore such love for any other man as he did for the Prophet Joseph. His devotion to him had almost amounted to worship, and now he was gone, and Brigham was left alone! But he rose from that bed of tears with one overpowering determination, and that was to carry on the great work which the Prophet had been the instrument in the hands of God in founding. |
Above. View Nauvoo. looking south from the temple site: below, Residence of Brigham Young, Nauvoo
|
Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young as Successor to Joseph Smith The Prophet." Improvement Era. June 1926. pg. 772-776.
BRIGHAM YOUNG AS SUCCESSOR TO JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET
By Preston Nibley, Member General Board Y. M. M. I. A.
President Brigham Young was doing missionary work in Peterboro, New Hampshire, on the 16th of July, 1844, when he learned of the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith. News traveled slowly in those days, and it was not until nineteen days after the martyrdom that this terrible and disheartening word reached him. Being president of the Twelve, he realized immediately, no doubt, that the burden of leadership of the Church now rested upon him. Nothing in our history is more beautiful and inspiring to me than the way in which this man, chosen of God, stepped forth and took command. The prophet, the founder, the leader, was gone—but a new leader, equal to every emergency, a new general, born to command, stood in his place. While others were in doubt and consternation, not knowing which way to turn or what to do, this man knew instantly, and he stepped out and shouldered his task like a true man.
Ten of the quorum of the Twelve were at this time scattered throughout the eastern states, doing missionary work. The first problem, therefore, was to gather them together and proceed immediately to Nauvoo. Brigham's journal gives us a few general items relating to his return journey. Beginning under date of July 16, when the news of the death of the Prophet reached him, he writes:
"I started for Boston; stayed at Lowell all night.
"July 16—Arrived in Boston; found Brothers Kimball and Woodruff.
"July 18—I met in council with Elders H. C. Kimball, O. Pratt and W. Woodruff, preparatory to returning to Nauvoo.
"July 21—Elder Kimball and I attended meeting in Boston and preached to the Saints.
"July 23—We attended meeting in the evening and ordained 32 elders. Lyman Wight, for whom we had waited in Boston about a week, arrived.
"July 24—I left Boston for Nauvoo, in company with Brothers Kimball and Wight, and on our arrival at Albany were joined by Brothers Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff, who had just arrived from New York. We continued to journey night and day, by railroad, stage and steamboat, via Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago and Galena, and arrived in Nauvoo on the 6th day of August, where we were received with joy by our families and friends."
Wilford Woodruff relates that the boat bearing the brethren docked at Nauvoo at 9 o'clock in the evening. "When we landed, a deep gloom seemed to rest over the city of Nauvoo, which we never experienced before." I fancy that "a deep gloom" hardly describes the condition of the people in Nauvoo at this time. They were without their great and inspired leader, the man who had gathered them from various parts of the earth, the one to whom they had looked for guidance and inspiration. They were a flock without a shepherd. What should they do now? No one knew. Sidney Rigdon, close associate of the Prophet for nearly fourteen years, and his counselor in the First Presidency, hastened from Pittsburg, where he had been attempting to build up a branch of the Church, and offered himself a9 "a guardian" to the people. The following day after Brigham's return home, August 7, at a meeting of the Twelve, the High Council and High Priests, in "Seventies Hall," Sidney formally presented himself. He said:
"I have been called to be a spokesman unto Joseph, and I want to build up the Church unto him, and if the people want me to sustain this place, I want it upon the principle that every individual shall acknowledge it for himself. I propose to be a guardian to the people; in this I have discharged my duty and done what God has commanded me, and the people can please themselves whether they accept me or not."
After fourteen years of almost constant labor in the Church, that was all that Sidney Rigdon seemed to know about Church government. A guardian? The suggestion was hardly believable. But Sidney's plea, because of his attitude, had little or no weight with the members of the quorum of the Twelve and the others who heard him.
At the meeting held August 7, Sidney's claim fell with dead weight on the ears of Brigham Young. When he had ceased speaking, President Young (just past 43 years of age at this time) arose and defined his position. His words were clear and decisive enough and left no doubt in the minds of his hearers. He said, speaking for the Twelve:
"Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away, and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve, in this world or in the world to come.
"How often has Joseph said to the Twelve, I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the Kingdom rests.'
"My private feelings would be to let the affairs of men and women alone; only go and preach and baptize them into the Kingdom of God; yet, whatever duty God places upon me, in his strength I intend to fulfil it."
However, this stern rebuke did not effectually dampen the determination of Sidney. He was to make one more grand attempt on the morrow. The remainder of the evening he was busy stirring up the interest of his friends, and through William Marks, president of the Nauvoo stake, he called a meeting of all the people to convene the next morning, August 8, at 10 o'clock.
Promptly on the morrow, a great multitude assembled. Sidney was the first speaker, and he harangued before the people for "two hours." But his words were like chaff on the wind and no great impression was made by him. He was his own undoing. Following his remarks, President Young arose and stated that he would answer Sidney at two o'clock the same afternoon, and again the multitude assembled, for the interest was intense. We are fortunate in having even a meagre account of President Young's great speech. Such account as we have was taken down that day in long hand, and is brief and disconnected. But it reveals the soul of the man, and the great earnestness and faith that were in him. It was on this occasion that he established himself in the hearts of the people as their leader:
Synopsis of President Young's Speech
The meeting being opened, President B. Young arose and said: Attention all! This congregation makes me think of the days of King Benjamin, the multitude being so great that all could not hear. I request the brethren not to have any feelings for being convened this afternoon for it is necessary; we want you all to be still and give attention, that all may hear. Let none complain because of the situation of the congregation; we will do the best we can.
For the first time in my life, for the first time in your lives, for the first time in the Kingdom of God in the 19th century, without a prophet at our head, do I step forth to act in my calling in connection with the quorum of the Twelve, as apostles of Jesus Christ unto this generation — apostles whom God has called by revelations through the Prophet Joseph, and who are ordained and anointed to bear off the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world.
This people have hitherto walked by sight, and not by faith; you have had the Prophet in your midst. Do you all understand? You have walked by sight, and without much pleading to the Lord to know whether things were right or not.
Heretofore you have had a Prophet as the mouth of the Lord to speak to you, but he has sealed his testimony with his blood, and now, for the first time are you called to walk by faith—not by sight.
The first position I take in behalf of the Twelve and the people is to ask a few questions. I ask the Latter-day Saints, do you, as individuals, at this time, want to choose a prophet or guardian? Inasmuch as our Prophet and Patriarch are taken from our midst, do you want some one to guard, to guide and lead you through this world into the kingdom of God, or not? All that want some person to be a guardian, or a prophet, a spokesman, or something else, signify it by raising the right hand. (No votes.)
When I came to this stand I had peculiar feelings and impressions; the faces of this people seemed to say, we want a shepherd to guide and lead us through the world. All that want to draw away a party from the Church after them, let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper.
If any man thinks he has influence among this people to lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is power with the Apostles, which will carry them off victorious through all the world and build up and defend the Church and kingdom of God.
What do the people want? I feel as though I wanted the privilege to weep and mourn for thirty days at least, then rise up, shake myself, and tell the people what the Lord wants of them. Although my heart is too full of mourning to launch forth into business transactions and the organization of the Church, I feel compelled this day to step forth in the discharge of those duties God has placed upon me.
I now wish to speak of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If the Church is organized, and you want to know how it is organized, I will tell you. I know your feelings—do you want me to tell your feelings?
Here is President Rigdon, who was counselor to Joseph. I ask, where are Joseph and Hyrum? They are gone beyond the veil; and if Elder Rigdon wants to act as his counselor, he must go beyond the veil where he is.
There has been much said about President Rigdon being President of the Church and leading the people, being the head, etc., etc. Brother Rigdon has come 1600 miles to tell you what he wants to do for you. If the people want President Rigdon to lead them, they may have him; but I say unto you that the quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the Kingdom of God in all the world.
The Twelve are appointed by the finger of God. Here is Brigham. Have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered? Here is Heber, and the rest of the Twelve, an independent body, who have the keys of the Priesthood, the keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the world; this is true, so help me; God. They stand next to Joseph and are as the First Presidency of the Church.
I do not know whether my enemies will take my life or not; and I do not care, for I want to be with the man I love.
You cannot fill the office of a Prophet, Seer and Revelator; God must do this. You are like children without a father, and sheep without a shepherd. You must not appoint any man at our head; if you should the Twelve must ordain him. You cannot appoint a man at our head, but if you do want any other man or men to lead you, take them and we will go our way to build up the kingdom in all the world.
I know who are Joseph's friends, and who are his enemies. I know where the keys of the kingdom are, and where they will eternally be. You cannot call a man to be a prophet; you cannot take Elder Rigdon and place him above the Twelve; if so, he must be ordained by them.
I tell you there is an over anxiety to hurry matters here; you cannot take any man and put him., at the head, you would scatter the Saints, to the four winds, you would sever the priesthood; so long as we remain as we are, the heavenly head is in constant co-operation with us; and if you go out of that course, God will have nothing to do with you.
Again, perhaps some think that our beloved brother Rigdon would not be honored, would not be looked to as a friend; but if he does right and remains faithful, he will not act against our counsel, nor we against his, but act together, and we shall be as one.
I again repeat, no man can stand at our head, except God reveals it from heaven.
I have spared no pains to learn my lesson of the kingdom in this world, and in the eternal worlds; and if it were not so, I could go and live in peace; but for the gospel, and your1 sakes, I shall stand in my place. We are liable to be killed all the day long. You have never lived by faith.
Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work, and we will build upon it; you have never seen the quorums built one upon another. There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world; we can build a kingdom faster than Satan can kill the Saints off.
What do you want? Do you want a Patriarch for the whole church? To this we are perfectly willing. If Brother Samuel H. Smith had been living, it would have been his right and privilege; but he is dead, he is gone to Joseph and Hyrum; he is out of the reach of bullets and spears, and he can waft himself with his brothers, his friends and the Saints.
Do you want a Trustee-in-Trust? Has there been a Bishop who has stood in his lot yet? What is his business? To take charge of the temporal affairs, so that the Twelve and the elders may go on with their business. Joseph condescended to do their business for them. Joseph condescended to offer himself for President of the United States, and it was a great condescension.
Do you want a spokesman? Here are Elder Rigdon, Brother Amasa Lyman (whom Joseph expected to take as a counselor) , and myself. Do you want the Church properly organized, or do you want a spokesman? Elder Rigdon claims to be a spokesman to the Prophet. Very well, he was; but can he now act in that office? If he wants now to be a spokesman to the Prophet he must go to the other side of the veil, for the Prophet is there, but Elder Rigdon is here. Why will Elder Rigdon be a fool? Who knows anything of the priesthood, or of the organization of the kingdom of God? I am plain.
Does this Church want it as God organized it? Or do you want to clip the power of the priesthood, and let those who have the keys of the priesthood go and build up the kingdom in all the world, wherever the people will hear them?
If there is a spokesman, if he is a king and priest, let him go and build up a kingdom unto himself, that is his right, and it is the right of many here, but the Twelve are at the head of it.
I want to live on the earth and spread truth through all the world. You Saints of latter days want things right. If 10,000 men rise up and say they have the Prophet Joseph Smith's shoes, I know they are impostors. In the priesthood you have a right to build up a kingdom, if you know how the Church is organized.
Now, if you want Sidney Rigdon or William Law to lead you, or anybody else, you are welcome) to them; but I tell you, in the name of the Lord, that no man can put another between the Twelve and the Prophet Joseph. Why? Because Joseph was their file leader, and he has committed into their hands the keys of the kingdom in this last dispensation for all the world. Don't put a thread between the Priesthood and God.
I will ask, who has stood next to Joseph and Hyrum? I have, and I will stand next to them. We have a head, and that head is the apostleship, the spirit and power of Joseph, and we can now begin to see the necessity of that apostleship.
Brother Rigdon was at his side—not above. No man has a right to counsel the Twelve but Joseph Smith. Think of these things. You cannot appoint a Prophet, but if you let the Twelve remain and act in their place, the keys of the kingdom are with them, and they can manage the affairs of the Church, and direct all things aright.
Now all this does not lessen the character of President Rigdon; let him magnify his calling, and Joseph will want him beyond the veil; let him be careful what he does, lest that thread which binds us together is cut asunder. May God bless us all.
Following this great speech by President Young, a vote was taken and "the Twelve" were unanimously sustained as head of the Church; the claim of Sidney Rigdon to act as "guardian" being rejected. The fears of the people were allayed: the orderly process of Church government had been carried out.
BRIGHAM YOUNG AS SUCCESSOR TO JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET
By Preston Nibley, Member General Board Y. M. M. I. A.
President Brigham Young was doing missionary work in Peterboro, New Hampshire, on the 16th of July, 1844, when he learned of the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith. News traveled slowly in those days, and it was not until nineteen days after the martyrdom that this terrible and disheartening word reached him. Being president of the Twelve, he realized immediately, no doubt, that the burden of leadership of the Church now rested upon him. Nothing in our history is more beautiful and inspiring to me than the way in which this man, chosen of God, stepped forth and took command. The prophet, the founder, the leader, was gone—but a new leader, equal to every emergency, a new general, born to command, stood in his place. While others were in doubt and consternation, not knowing which way to turn or what to do, this man knew instantly, and he stepped out and shouldered his task like a true man.
Ten of the quorum of the Twelve were at this time scattered throughout the eastern states, doing missionary work. The first problem, therefore, was to gather them together and proceed immediately to Nauvoo. Brigham's journal gives us a few general items relating to his return journey. Beginning under date of July 16, when the news of the death of the Prophet reached him, he writes:
"I started for Boston; stayed at Lowell all night.
"July 16—Arrived in Boston; found Brothers Kimball and Woodruff.
"July 18—I met in council with Elders H. C. Kimball, O. Pratt and W. Woodruff, preparatory to returning to Nauvoo.
"July 21—Elder Kimball and I attended meeting in Boston and preached to the Saints.
"July 23—We attended meeting in the evening and ordained 32 elders. Lyman Wight, for whom we had waited in Boston about a week, arrived.
"July 24—I left Boston for Nauvoo, in company with Brothers Kimball and Wight, and on our arrival at Albany were joined by Brothers Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff, who had just arrived from New York. We continued to journey night and day, by railroad, stage and steamboat, via Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago and Galena, and arrived in Nauvoo on the 6th day of August, where we were received with joy by our families and friends."
Wilford Woodruff relates that the boat bearing the brethren docked at Nauvoo at 9 o'clock in the evening. "When we landed, a deep gloom seemed to rest over the city of Nauvoo, which we never experienced before." I fancy that "a deep gloom" hardly describes the condition of the people in Nauvoo at this time. They were without their great and inspired leader, the man who had gathered them from various parts of the earth, the one to whom they had looked for guidance and inspiration. They were a flock without a shepherd. What should they do now? No one knew. Sidney Rigdon, close associate of the Prophet for nearly fourteen years, and his counselor in the First Presidency, hastened from Pittsburg, where he had been attempting to build up a branch of the Church, and offered himself a9 "a guardian" to the people. The following day after Brigham's return home, August 7, at a meeting of the Twelve, the High Council and High Priests, in "Seventies Hall," Sidney formally presented himself. He said:
"I have been called to be a spokesman unto Joseph, and I want to build up the Church unto him, and if the people want me to sustain this place, I want it upon the principle that every individual shall acknowledge it for himself. I propose to be a guardian to the people; in this I have discharged my duty and done what God has commanded me, and the people can please themselves whether they accept me or not."
After fourteen years of almost constant labor in the Church, that was all that Sidney Rigdon seemed to know about Church government. A guardian? The suggestion was hardly believable. But Sidney's plea, because of his attitude, had little or no weight with the members of the quorum of the Twelve and the others who heard him.
At the meeting held August 7, Sidney's claim fell with dead weight on the ears of Brigham Young. When he had ceased speaking, President Young (just past 43 years of age at this time) arose and defined his position. His words were clear and decisive enough and left no doubt in the minds of his hearers. He said, speaking for the Twelve:
"Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away, and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve, in this world or in the world to come.
"How often has Joseph said to the Twelve, I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the Kingdom rests.'
"My private feelings would be to let the affairs of men and women alone; only go and preach and baptize them into the Kingdom of God; yet, whatever duty God places upon me, in his strength I intend to fulfil it."
However, this stern rebuke did not effectually dampen the determination of Sidney. He was to make one more grand attempt on the morrow. The remainder of the evening he was busy stirring up the interest of his friends, and through William Marks, president of the Nauvoo stake, he called a meeting of all the people to convene the next morning, August 8, at 10 o'clock.
Promptly on the morrow, a great multitude assembled. Sidney was the first speaker, and he harangued before the people for "two hours." But his words were like chaff on the wind and no great impression was made by him. He was his own undoing. Following his remarks, President Young arose and stated that he would answer Sidney at two o'clock the same afternoon, and again the multitude assembled, for the interest was intense. We are fortunate in having even a meagre account of President Young's great speech. Such account as we have was taken down that day in long hand, and is brief and disconnected. But it reveals the soul of the man, and the great earnestness and faith that were in him. It was on this occasion that he established himself in the hearts of the people as their leader:
Synopsis of President Young's Speech
The meeting being opened, President B. Young arose and said: Attention all! This congregation makes me think of the days of King Benjamin, the multitude being so great that all could not hear. I request the brethren not to have any feelings for being convened this afternoon for it is necessary; we want you all to be still and give attention, that all may hear. Let none complain because of the situation of the congregation; we will do the best we can.
For the first time in my life, for the first time in your lives, for the first time in the Kingdom of God in the 19th century, without a prophet at our head, do I step forth to act in my calling in connection with the quorum of the Twelve, as apostles of Jesus Christ unto this generation — apostles whom God has called by revelations through the Prophet Joseph, and who are ordained and anointed to bear off the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world.
This people have hitherto walked by sight, and not by faith; you have had the Prophet in your midst. Do you all understand? You have walked by sight, and without much pleading to the Lord to know whether things were right or not.
Heretofore you have had a Prophet as the mouth of the Lord to speak to you, but he has sealed his testimony with his blood, and now, for the first time are you called to walk by faith—not by sight.
The first position I take in behalf of the Twelve and the people is to ask a few questions. I ask the Latter-day Saints, do you, as individuals, at this time, want to choose a prophet or guardian? Inasmuch as our Prophet and Patriarch are taken from our midst, do you want some one to guard, to guide and lead you through this world into the kingdom of God, or not? All that want some person to be a guardian, or a prophet, a spokesman, or something else, signify it by raising the right hand. (No votes.)
When I came to this stand I had peculiar feelings and impressions; the faces of this people seemed to say, we want a shepherd to guide and lead us through the world. All that want to draw away a party from the Church after them, let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper.
If any man thinks he has influence among this people to lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find out that there is power with the Apostles, which will carry them off victorious through all the world and build up and defend the Church and kingdom of God.
What do the people want? I feel as though I wanted the privilege to weep and mourn for thirty days at least, then rise up, shake myself, and tell the people what the Lord wants of them. Although my heart is too full of mourning to launch forth into business transactions and the organization of the Church, I feel compelled this day to step forth in the discharge of those duties God has placed upon me.
I now wish to speak of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If the Church is organized, and you want to know how it is organized, I will tell you. I know your feelings—do you want me to tell your feelings?
Here is President Rigdon, who was counselor to Joseph. I ask, where are Joseph and Hyrum? They are gone beyond the veil; and if Elder Rigdon wants to act as his counselor, he must go beyond the veil where he is.
There has been much said about President Rigdon being President of the Church and leading the people, being the head, etc., etc. Brother Rigdon has come 1600 miles to tell you what he wants to do for you. If the people want President Rigdon to lead them, they may have him; but I say unto you that the quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the Kingdom of God in all the world.
The Twelve are appointed by the finger of God. Here is Brigham. Have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered? Here is Heber, and the rest of the Twelve, an independent body, who have the keys of the Priesthood, the keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the world; this is true, so help me; God. They stand next to Joseph and are as the First Presidency of the Church.
I do not know whether my enemies will take my life or not; and I do not care, for I want to be with the man I love.
You cannot fill the office of a Prophet, Seer and Revelator; God must do this. You are like children without a father, and sheep without a shepherd. You must not appoint any man at our head; if you should the Twelve must ordain him. You cannot appoint a man at our head, but if you do want any other man or men to lead you, take them and we will go our way to build up the kingdom in all the world.
I know who are Joseph's friends, and who are his enemies. I know where the keys of the kingdom are, and where they will eternally be. You cannot call a man to be a prophet; you cannot take Elder Rigdon and place him above the Twelve; if so, he must be ordained by them.
I tell you there is an over anxiety to hurry matters here; you cannot take any man and put him., at the head, you would scatter the Saints, to the four winds, you would sever the priesthood; so long as we remain as we are, the heavenly head is in constant co-operation with us; and if you go out of that course, God will have nothing to do with you.
Again, perhaps some think that our beloved brother Rigdon would not be honored, would not be looked to as a friend; but if he does right and remains faithful, he will not act against our counsel, nor we against his, but act together, and we shall be as one.
I again repeat, no man can stand at our head, except God reveals it from heaven.
I have spared no pains to learn my lesson of the kingdom in this world, and in the eternal worlds; and if it were not so, I could go and live in peace; but for the gospel, and your1 sakes, I shall stand in my place. We are liable to be killed all the day long. You have never lived by faith.
Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work, and we will build upon it; you have never seen the quorums built one upon another. There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world; we can build a kingdom faster than Satan can kill the Saints off.
What do you want? Do you want a Patriarch for the whole church? To this we are perfectly willing. If Brother Samuel H. Smith had been living, it would have been his right and privilege; but he is dead, he is gone to Joseph and Hyrum; he is out of the reach of bullets and spears, and he can waft himself with his brothers, his friends and the Saints.
Do you want a Trustee-in-Trust? Has there been a Bishop who has stood in his lot yet? What is his business? To take charge of the temporal affairs, so that the Twelve and the elders may go on with their business. Joseph condescended to do their business for them. Joseph condescended to offer himself for President of the United States, and it was a great condescension.
Do you want a spokesman? Here are Elder Rigdon, Brother Amasa Lyman (whom Joseph expected to take as a counselor) , and myself. Do you want the Church properly organized, or do you want a spokesman? Elder Rigdon claims to be a spokesman to the Prophet. Very well, he was; but can he now act in that office? If he wants now to be a spokesman to the Prophet he must go to the other side of the veil, for the Prophet is there, but Elder Rigdon is here. Why will Elder Rigdon be a fool? Who knows anything of the priesthood, or of the organization of the kingdom of God? I am plain.
Does this Church want it as God organized it? Or do you want to clip the power of the priesthood, and let those who have the keys of the priesthood go and build up the kingdom in all the world, wherever the people will hear them?
If there is a spokesman, if he is a king and priest, let him go and build up a kingdom unto himself, that is his right, and it is the right of many here, but the Twelve are at the head of it.
I want to live on the earth and spread truth through all the world. You Saints of latter days want things right. If 10,000 men rise up and say they have the Prophet Joseph Smith's shoes, I know they are impostors. In the priesthood you have a right to build up a kingdom, if you know how the Church is organized.
Now, if you want Sidney Rigdon or William Law to lead you, or anybody else, you are welcome) to them; but I tell you, in the name of the Lord, that no man can put another between the Twelve and the Prophet Joseph. Why? Because Joseph was their file leader, and he has committed into their hands the keys of the kingdom in this last dispensation for all the world. Don't put a thread between the Priesthood and God.
I will ask, who has stood next to Joseph and Hyrum? I have, and I will stand next to them. We have a head, and that head is the apostleship, the spirit and power of Joseph, and we can now begin to see the necessity of that apostleship.
Brother Rigdon was at his side—not above. No man has a right to counsel the Twelve but Joseph Smith. Think of these things. You cannot appoint a Prophet, but if you let the Twelve remain and act in their place, the keys of the kingdom are with them, and they can manage the affairs of the Church, and direct all things aright.
Now all this does not lessen the character of President Rigdon; let him magnify his calling, and Joseph will want him beyond the veil; let him be careful what he does, lest that thread which binds us together is cut asunder. May God bless us all.
Following this great speech by President Young, a vote was taken and "the Twelve" were unanimously sustained as head of the Church; the claim of Sidney Rigdon to act as "guardian" being rejected. The fears of the people were allayed: the orderly process of Church government had been carried out.
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young, American Patriot." Juvenile Instructor. June 1926. pg. 291-299.
Brigham Young, American Patriot By Susa Young Gates This is the Sesqui-Centennial year of American autonomy, and all United States loyalists are 'looking back into the scenes and incidents which gave us freedom and liberty. What of our forefathers? What of Brigham Young ? Was Brigham Young a patriot ? Did I hear that question asked ? Who of his friends or descendants can doubt the answer ? Born of a Revolutionary War veteran father, John Young, and a loyal Puritan family mother, Abigail Howe, what more and what less could he be? Who could doubt Brigham Young, whose birth, boyhood and maturity was an embodied Declaration of American Independence. Can you ask that question about Brigham's friend and prophet leader, Joseph Smith ? When both were sired by American patriots and whose families and descendants have proven their loyalty in the subsequent wars of the United States of America! Joseph Smith, and his brother, the majestic Patriarch Hyrum Smith, had one forefather who was at the elbow of Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga, another with Stark at Bennington, and still another, a sailor boy, in the first naval battle fought by America against Great Britain. The Smith family descendants in the World War numbered 86 valiant youths. While Brigham Young's sons and descendants distinguished themselves not only in the Civil War service, the Philippine and Cuban War but also marched out under the colors in the late war, at least 53 of them, clean, honorable stalwart American boys that they were. The green hills of Vermont cradled Brigham Young's infancy, while his forefathers were settlers in Boston, and later, in that back-state Boston offshoot, Hopkinton, Mass. His grandfather, Joseph Young, was in the French and Indian Wars, and was at the siege of Fort William Henry, 1757; his great-grandfather, William Young, was one of the worshipers at the Old South Church in Boston during the first quarter of the Eighteenth Century (1718-1730), while still finding time and means to assist in colonizing the lower New Hampshire towns of Barrington and Nottingham along the Lamphrey river. William, his American progenitor, moved west about 30 miles from Boston in the 1730’s over into Hopkinton, whose few inhabitants were staunch, independent American settlers. With the seething dissatisfaction of the Colonies over the exactions of Great Britain, from 1740-1777, the little, loyal town of Hopkinton was in full sympathy. William Young passed on in 1747. His son. Dr. Joseph, lived in the Young place on Saddler's Hill in Hopkinton, busy with pioneering and Indian War problems. But he, too, died early through an accident, in 1769, when only 39 years of age. When the Stamp Act was passed, 1765, Hopkinton people rose up en masse. There was a town meeting called 27 November, 1767:[1] "To consider some measures lately proposed by Boston: It is resolved: that we use our utmost endeavors unitedly to save this Province from Poverty and Ruin: By using the strictest frugality and economy; by encouraging to the utmost of our power our own Manufacturers, not only such as we have been heretofore in the possession of, but also by introducing new ones; by discouraging to_ the utmost of our power the importation of European goods, particularly the articles enumerated in the town of Boston: Relating thereunto, voted: That the town will take all the produce and manufactures of this Province; and to lessen the use of Superfluities and particularly the following enumerated articles imported from abroad, viz: Loaf Sugar, Cordages, Anchors, Coaches, Chases and Carriages of all sorts, House Furniture, Men's and Women's Hats, Men's and Women's Apparel, Ready-made Household Furniture, Gloves, Men's and (Women's Shoes, Sole Leather, Sheeting and Deertails, Gold and Silver Thread, Lace of all sorts, Gold and Silver Buttons, Wrought Plate of all sorts, Diamonds, Stone and Plate Ware, Snuff, Mustard, Clocks and Watches, Silversmith's and Jeweler's Ware, Boardcloths that costs above 10s per yard, Muff, Furs and Tippetts, and all sorts of Millinery Ware, Starch," Women and Children's Stays, Fire Engines, China Ware, Silk and Cotton Velvets, Gauzes, Peuterers' Hollow Ware." The intimate domestic side-lights given through this document are as illuminating as the overtones of stern loyalty. These lessons of loyalty, frugality and home industry were grafted into the sons and grandsons of William, then of Dr. Joseph Young. When the reverberating shot was fired at Lexington, 1775, every home in Hopkinton was already in action. A contingent of farmer soldiers went over at once to the scene of action. Mrs. Elizabeth Hayden-Young was at this time a widow, Dr. Joseph dying with an accident in 1769, in the, midst of the political turmoil. But .his boys were there; and youthful as they were, all three enlisted in the early companies of the army from Hopkinton. William, age 17 enlisted in 1776, when he was 15 years old, to serve throughout the War. John, left at home with his widowed mother, could not be restrained. In 1777 he entered his company when he was 13 years old. His little brother, Joseph, only 13 years of age, next joined in 1779 leaving the widowed mother alone. This little town of Hopkinton, had but two hundred families living within its border, but 425 men marched out from there "making a record unsurpassed by any. New England town."[2] John Young, so Massachusetts state records tell us, fought throughout the war, two engagements under General Washington, and in all served without pay. He carried a cannon ball on foot to his home, and that relic is still kept in New York State, where John removed in later years. John married a Hopkinton girl, Abigail Howe, from another patriotic New England family, in 1785, and then, developing the pioneer urge, especially begotten by the restless effects of the war, he moved his rapidly increasing family northward into Vermont. After trying out a two years' residence in Whittingham, Vt., where his ninth child and fourth son, Brigham, was born, 1st June, 1801, he finally settled in Western New York State, where he and his family later (1830-32) heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in power and truth, all of them entering the Church in 1832, and all of them, father, mother, six daughters and five sons, remaining true to their covenant —baptism in the restored Gospel. Brigham Young, a student of religion, of politics, of history, and of men, would gather about him, even in his early youth, the boys of the village of Mendon, New York, drilling them in platoons and leading them in cries of "Hurrah for Andy Jackson," as they marched through the village..- Patriot first, efficiency engineer always, he put his father's historic cannon ball to grinding paint in a deftly constructed water-power apparatus in his employer's factory. Once a member of the Church of Christ, he informed all his subsequent activities with the glow of his loyalty to God and to the country which was founded on the divinely inspired Constitution. His was the task of assisting the Prophet Joseph to develop the plans and principles revealed from heaven. That Prophet whose sires had been officers, soldiers and sailors in the Revolutionary War. To Kirtland, to Far West, to Nauvoo, Brigham followed his leader, and when the awful debacle occurred in Nauvoo and Carthage, through which a people lost their adored Prophet, Brigham picked up the loosened reins of Church leadership, and, with keen, appraising, American loyalty and courage, he bade the people draw a sharp distinction between corrupt government officials, and that free governmental spirit and power which their stars and stripes symbolized. Driven again by wicked armed mobs under the sanction of the complaisant Governor of Illinois, they left Nauvoo in February, 1846, crossing the Mississippi River on the ice, and entered the unknown wastes of the great Western plains, mountains, and deserts. A few weeks later, when these refugees from a loved city and country, were camped at a spot near Omaha on the Missouri River, there came a call to Brigham Young from President Polk at Washington for five hundred able-bodied men to go out with the expedition which was to make of the California wilderness an American possession, freeing the country from Mexican interference. Five hundred men! Out came the American flag from the wagon store-houses, up it flew to the tree-pole mast, fifes and drums swirled with the thrill of "Yankee Doodle" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me" while loyal, brave men crowded around Brigham's improvised wagon-tongued elevation to sign up for the Battalion. In his address to the U. S. officials and to the three thousand refugees who massed close under the challenging voice of their adored leader, Brigham Young said: "The question might be asked, shall we enlist to defend our country? If we answer, all would be ready to go. Suppose we were admitted into the union as a state and the government did not call on us, we would feel ourselves neglected. Let the Mormons be the first to set their feet on the soil of California. I propose that the five hundred volunteers be mustered and I will do my best to see all their families brought forward, as far as my influence extends, and feed them when I have anything to eat myself." "I want to say to every man, the Constitution of the United States, as framed by our fathers, was dedicated, was revealed, was put into their hearts by the Almighty — And I tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, it is as good as ever I could ask for. I say unto you, magnify the laws. There is no law in the United States or the Constitution, but I am ready to make honorable." "After we get through talking, we will call out the companies, and if there are not young men enough, we will take the old men; and if they are not enough, we will take the women." Colonel Kane's report to the Government contains this passage: "A central mass meeting for council, some harangues at the more remotely scattered camps, an American flag brought out from the storehouse of things rescued, and hoisted to the top of a tree-mast, and in three days the force was reported, mustered, organized and ready to march." The Mormon Battalion of 500 men went out to California under Col. St. George Cooke. Sweethearts, wives, parents whom they were leaving behind, made merry at a farewell party with the simple country dances and pioneer singing before parting for a long, uncertain season. The pioneers, led by Brigham Young, came on to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains which Brigham had seen in a vision months before, and there they settled. That vision, vouchsafed to him after the martyrdom when the people were all praying in mob-invested Nauvoo, 1845, for light, for direction as to where the Lord willed to lead His people, showed Brigham Young a sunbaked, crag-encircled, snow-capped mountain-rimmed valley with one sentinel point upon which was then settling down an American flag or ensign. "Build under where you see the colors fall," said the vision-voice of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "and you will have peace and prosperity." No wonder when, two years later, he came out of the Canyon defile and looked northward to that towering northern sentinel peak, he exclaimed, "This is the place, drive on." Brigham's first act was to set up the American flag on Ensign Peak and take possession of the surrounding territory in the name of the United States government. He chose a spot upon which to erect a temple of the living God. He invited women to vote on all civil as well as religious questions, and as acknowledged by Hurbert Howe Bancroft in his History of Utah, "this was the first time women voted in the United States." Brigham Young opened schools, first in the fort, then in each settlement and ward; called a legislative assembly to draft a provisional government ; opened a direct mail route to the Mississippi River, and west to San Bernardino—which was a pioneer Mormon settlement founded by the Mormon Battalion boys. And he himself was elected by a provisional territorial government the governor of the Territory of "Deseret," as he named it. Afterwards he was appointed, September 28, 1850, by President Millard Fillmore as the officially recognized governor of the Territory of Utah, which it was then called. He was governor until 1857. From the first year, 1848, the Fourth of July was celebrated in Utah in the fine old Yankee style, flags flying, columns marching with the banners bearing loyal mottoes, bands playing "Yankee Doodle," boys in play uniforms with mottoed banners, girls in red, white and blue sashes carrying the long pendant streamers from flags and banners, orators declaiming, the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and the dawn and twilight booming of cannon in honor of the day. Some Indian troubles followed, and a territorial militia was formed, but Brigham's unwavering advice was : "Feed the Indians ! Don't fight them ! Show them you are their friends by teaching them to be honest and industrious. Never lie nor cheat in your dealings with them, and they will soon learn that the Mormons are to be trusted." Already mutterings of the coming Rebellion in the South was filling Congress with wordy conflicts over “State Rights," to coin metal, to decide tariff schedules or even to declare war. Like his predecessor, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young held that slavery of black men was all wrong ; he regretted their importation into this country, but being here they had a proper place on an equal political footing with white men. When the great Civil War was blazing its pioneer trails across this distracted country, the Utah telegraph line was built by Brigham Young, thus completing the span of communication from ocean to ocean. The first telegram sent was from Brigham Young to the President of the Pacific Overland Company. It read : "Utah has not seceded, but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our once happy country." In 1862, President Lincoln, through Adjutant-General Thomas, called upon ex-Governor Young to raise, arm and equip a company of cavalry to be employed in protecting the property of the Telegraph and Overland Mail companies in and about Independence Rock, the scene of a late Indian disaster. The call was responded to with alacrity, as the following telegram will testify : "Great Salt Lake City, "May 1, 1862. "Adjutant-General L. Thomas, "U. S. A., Washington, D. C. "Immediately on the receipt of your telegram of the 28th, ult., at 8:30 p. m., I requested General Daniel H. Wells to proceed at once to raise a company of cavalry to be mustered into the service of the United States for ninety days, as per your aforesaid telegram. General Wells forthwith issued the requisite orders, and yesterday the captain and other officers were sworn by Chief Justice J. F. Kinney, the enrolling and swearing in of the privates attended to, and the company went into camp adjacent to this city. "Today the company, seventy-two (72) privates, officered as directed, and ten (10) baggage and supply wagons, with one assistant teamster deemed necessary, took up their line of march for the Neighborhood of Independence Rock." (Signed) Brigham Young. On June 15th following. Major Lot Smith in charge of the expedition wrote President Brigham Young from Pacific Springs stating that he "had an interview with Brig. General Craig, who expressed himself as much pleased with the promptness of our attention to the call of the General Government and that he had telegraphed to President Lincoln to that effect." The famous Ben Holladay was then proprietor of the Overland Stage Line, to protect which, Captain Smith's company went forth. He at once telegraphed from New York his thanks to Governor Young for his prompt response to President Lincoln’s request. Utah, said President Lincoln, was perfectly loyal and as far as he knew always had been. In the Utah Militia, which served the Government under the name of the Nauvoo Legion, were the two grown sons of Governor Brigham Young, Joseph A. Young was Aide-de-camp to Major Burton in 1856 when he was 22 years old. Later he served General Daniel H. Wells, 1857, going out with him into the Echo Canyon War. Brigham Young, Jr., was color bearer at this time, being but 20 years of age. The third son, John W., was but 12 years of age during these troublesome days. Later he enlisted in the Legion. On the flag pole of Brigham Young's home, the Bee-Hive House, on all the public buildings for holidays and high days, hung the stars and stripes all down the pioneer times. From the flag pole in the Fort, 1847, hung that glorious emblem of liberty until public halls were erected and the sacred flag was thereafter there displayed. Brigham Young's powerful voice was hushed in 1877. But his lessons in patriotism and in devotion to his country were not forgotten by his loyal sons and descendants. At least fifty-three of his sons and grandsons answered the call of the country. Two grandsons are still in Army Service, Captain Sidney Young and Captain Lyman Young. Brigham Young's son, Colonel Willard Young, was sent east by his father, and commenced his military career in 1871, when he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as a cadet, graduating therefrom in 1875, [with the rank of Second Lieutenant (Corps of Engineers.) He was with the Engineer Battalion at Willett's Point, New York, from October 1, 1875 to August 17, 1877, and acted as assistant engineer under the orders of Lieutenant Wheeler in the geographical survey, west of the one hundredth meridian, from September 18, 1877 to August 28, 1879. Returning to West Point he was appointed instructor of civil and military engineering, August, 1879 to August, 1883. Later he acted as assistant to Captain Power and to Major Jones, and had local charge of the construction of the Cascade Locks, Oregon, from October 4, 1883 to July 16, 1887, being appointed captain of a corps of engineers October 12, 1886. From July, 1887 to October, 1889 he was in Portland having charge of various river and harbor improvements and surveys in Oregon. From October, 1889 to June, 1890, he was at Memphis, Tennessee, in charge of the third district of the Mississippi River. He resigned from the army in 1891. On April 5, 1896, he was appointed Brigadier-General of the National Guard of Utah, and held that position until the breaking out of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when, after having assisted in organizing the Utah volunteers, he was appointed Colonel of the Second Regiment, U. S. volunteers, and served in the United States and in Cuba until May 16, 1899. During the World War, he was appointed United States agent under the chief of .^engineers, .United States Army, September 1, 1897, and was stationed at Kansas City, Missouri, in charge of the Kansas City Engineer District, Western Division, and was engaged in improvement of the Missouri, Osage, Gasconade and Kansas Rivers, and also on work for the preservation of the bank line of the Republican River, in front of Fort Riley (Kansas), Military Reservation, in which capacity he served until July 1, 1919. Brigham Young's grandson, Richard W. Young, in 1878, was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy, at West Point. He graduated in 1882, and for six years served as Lieutenant of the third and fifth regiments. United States Artillery, and as Captain and acting Judge Advocate, on the staff of General W. S. Hancock. In 1884 he graduated from the law school of Columbia College, New York City, and was admitted to the bar of the State of New York. He wrote a work on "Mob and Military," in 1887. In 1894 he was made Brigadier- General, commanding the National Guard of Utah. At the outbreak of the Spanish American War, Richard W. Young was made Captain of Battery A, Utah Light Artillery, May 4, 1898. Two months later (July 12, 1898), he was appointed Major, commanding Utah Light Artillery. As a soldier, Major Young made an excellent record, participating in the capture of Manila and in about twenty-five other engagements in the Spanish- American War and the Filipino Insurrection. From May, 1899 to June, 1901, he served as associate justice and president of the criminal branch of the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands. The following is a partial list, as given in the Deseret News, of Brigham Young's descendant soldiers, who served in the World War : Colonel Willard Young, in charge of the Kansas Engineering District. Brigadier-General Richard ,W. Young, in command of the Utah Battalion who crossed to France. Captain Sidney Young, son of Colonel Willard Young, entered West Point in 1913 and graduated in 1917. He went to France with the 38th Infantry. He served under General U. S. McAlexander at the battle of Chateau Thierry and was given rank of Captain and had command of the machine guns of the 38th Infantry in the St. Mihiel and Argonne campaigns. He was seriously gassed in the Argonne and was seventeen months in the hospital. He served at Camp Lewis in Washington and for three years in the Canal Zone in Panama and is now Captain in the 34th Infantry serving at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Cited in Army orders and awarded silver star by Commander-in-Chief. Joseph S. Young, who arrived overseas August 26, 1918 as a member of the 325th Supply Company and served with the Base Quartermaster Department at St. Nazaire, France. Lorenzo S. Young, who saw action with, the 91st (Wild West) Division at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne Forest. Was wounded while in the Battle of Gesnes on September 29, 1918. Gaylen S. Young, who saw action with the 91st (Wild West) Division at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne Forests, and was gassed on the nights of October 11 and 12th, 1918 while holding Hill 288 on the last named front. He also served in Flanders. Joseph S., Lorenzo S., and Gaylen S. Young are sons of Mr. and Mrs. B. M, Young. Lorenzo S. and Gaylen S., by chance, got in the same company and went together to France, saw active service, came home and were discharged together at Fort Russell, Wyoming, on May 1, 1919. Both had many narrow escapes during the days of battle. Wesley Clawson, stationed at Aviation Camp in Illinois. Nelson A. Young, Hospital Corps, Fort Russell, Wyoming. J. Wesley Young, stationed at Aviation Camp in Texas. Feramorz Young, 148th Field Artillery, Camp Mills, Long Island. S. Grant Young, 145th Field Artillery, Camp Kearney. Lawrence Held, United States Infantry. Jean Held, United States Infantry. Brent T. Lynch, Naval Reserves, Newport, Rhode Island. Arden Brockbank, Naval Reserve Training Station, San Francisco. George Spencer Young, II volunteered in April, 1916, at Driggs, Idaho, for service on the Mexican Border, but the official date is given as July 5, 1916, at Boise, Idaho. He served on the Border from July 11, 1916 to December 19, 1916. He was the first man in Driggs, Idaho, to volunteer for service after the Declaration of War with Germany, and was therefore with the first company of volunteers from Idaho. He spent 23 months in France and was gassed twice, spending several weeks in the hospital after being gassed the second time. He participated in the following offensives while in France: Lorraine, 2-28-18 to 6-18-18; Champagne-Marne, 7-14-18 to 6-18- 18 ; Aisne-Marne, 7-26-18 to 8-4-18 ; St. Mihiel, 9-12-18 to 9-26-18; also Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector. He received the Distinguished Service Medal and clasps for the following: Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector. Sergeant Daniel Y. Spencer and Sergeant Julian Y. Burton were volunteers with the French Army, Colonial Division. Enlisted in the American Army in France, June, 1917, before Pershing landed. Julian received French Foreign Legion medal, two sectional citations, Crois de Guerre, personal letter from Marshal Foch. He had personal citations, Crois de Guerre. Five major engagements: Aisne, Marne, St. Mihiel, Chateau Thierry, Chemin de Dames. Julian came in June. Daniel was transferred to the Intelligence Corps at Luxemburg. Returned in October, 1919. Curtis Y. Clawson, Captain. Adjutant of 2nd Battalion 145th Field Artillery. Has been commissioned Major, commanding 1st Battalion. Also associated with National Guard for many years. Saw service on Mexican Boarder and in late war. Horace Andrus of Idaho Falls, 20th Infantry, Fort Douglas. Edmund Frank Ellsworth of Rigby, Idaho, stationed at Post Falls, Idaho. Bryant Young Ellsworth of Rigby, Idaho, Goat Island Naval Training Station, San Francisco. Richard W. Burton, 145 Field Artillery, Camp Kearney. Oroat Taylor. Brigham Winfred Witt remained with the Army of Occupation in Germany until 1920. Was 22 months overseas with the 1st Division of Engineers, and at the front during all that time. George Homer, Melborn Barker, Vern Hardy, Henry Young, Edmund Spencer, Fred Thomas, Major Mark Croxall, Ross Beatie, Brigham Hardy. 1st Sergeant Percival Young, Marion Lyman Young, Clark Young, Dale Young, Ernest I. Young, George B. Young, Gordon L;. Young, Captain Aaron Y. Hardy, 17th Cavalry, Douglas, Arizona. Irwin Y. Clawson, who went overseas with the Utah Division ; Dilworth Young, 145th Field Artillery, Camp Kearney ; Heber Young, Bland Sorenson, Charles C. Budd, Linden Clayton, Moses Lynch. Young. Said the Master : "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew, chapter 7, verses 16 to 20.) Judged by this standard, Brigham Young, his sires, his sons, his daughters, and his grand-sons and grand-daughters are loyal, true Americans who are willing to die for the flag, and, far greater, they are glad to live under the laws and protection of the heaven-inspired government of the United States of America. [Note: This story is a chapter from the unpublished history of Brigham Young, by his daughter, Susa Young Gates, who has kindly given us permission to use it for the benefit of Juvenile Instructor readers.—Editor.] [1] History of Middlesex County, Mass., Vol. 3, Part 2, Page 788. [2] History of Middlesex, |
BRIGHAM YOUNG AND SOME OF HIS PATRIOTIC DESCENDANTS
1. Colonel Willard Young. 2. Brigadier-General Captain Richard W. Young. 3. Captain Sidney H. Young. 4. President Brigham Young. 5. Sergeant Julian Y. Burton. 6. Gaylen S. Young. 7. Sergeant Daniel Y. Spencer. 8. Major Curtis Y. Clawson 9. Richard W. Burton. 10. Joseph S. Young. 11. Lorenzo D. Young. All the group surrounding the President are grandsons except Colonel Willard Young, son, and Julian and Richard W, Burton, great grandsons, |
"Brigham Young's Wisdom of Choice." Improvement Era. June 1927. pg. 675-676.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S WISDOM OF CHOICE
In the Spring of 1847, Samuel Brannan, who in 1846 sailed from New York to San Francisco with a company of Saints, crossed the Sierras and traveled east, by way of Fort Hall, as far as Green River. Here he met President Brigham Young and the other pioneers, and used every influence in his power to have the Saints settle in California, instead of Salt Lake Valley. President Young, however, could not be changed in his decision that, "This is the Place," notwithstanding Brannan's insistence that the Salt Lake Valley was no place for an agricultural people. It was cold, he declared, every month in the year; the ground was too dry to start the seeds without irrigation, and if irrigated with the cold mountain streams, the seeds planted would be chilled and prevented from growing, or if they did grow, they would be sickly and fail to mature. The Saints could not possibly subsist there. But Brigham Young prevailed, and remained.
Brigham Young, the great pioneer of Western America, was born June 1, 1801, in Whittingham, Windham county, Vermont, of purely American stock, dating back many generations. On this one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of his birth, it is fitting to refer to his faith and steadfastness in the vision of Joseph Smith, wherein the Prophet saw that the Saints would become a great and mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. The late Hon. Joseph A. West called attention in an article on the "Construction of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads," some years ago, to his wisdom of choice, in these words:
"Brigham Young claimed not to be a visionary man, for he was practical to the minutest detail in all the affairs of life; yet in his journey to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 he traversed the route of the transcontinental railroad, which was built twenty years later, almost the entire distance, and for the construction of which he and hi9 people petitioned Congress many times and long before it was ever thought of outside of Utah. When Samuel Brannan met him and his pioneer band at Green River and pictured to them the beauties of California, with its broad, fertile plains bedecked with wild flowers and its balmy semi-tropical climate, and contrasted it with the desolate wilderness between the mountains just beyond, and the Sierra Nevadas, and tried to induce him to make the Pacific coast the home of hi9 exiled people, he very emphatically declined to do so, but settled in a wilderness that has since become a wonderfully fertile state, possessed of a greater variety and quantity of primeval wealth than any state in the Union, despite its limited area. When, in the mountains east, Brigham Young first saw the great Salt Lake Valley in all the bleakness of a July day, with the dead sea of America glittering in the shimmering rays of a hot July sun, he said after a moment's hesitation, as if comparing it with something that he had previously seen, 'This is the place, drive on' ; when, in first walking over the present site of Salt Lake City, he came to a certain spot, he struck his cane to the ground and said, 'Here we will build the Temple of our God,' which temple his people completed at a cost of many millions of dollars, just forty years later, after plans that had been minutely drawn under his direction; when he selected the sites of Salt Lake City and other cities of Utah, and laid them off with their broad streets pointing to the meridian, and their blocks four-square—he manifested a wisdom of choice, plan and purpose so marvelous that one can scarcely think it all done by his unaided mind alone. So also when he obtained a large tract of land west of Ogden City and offered it free to the Union and Central Pacific Railroad companies for depot' purposes, and even broke ground and with appropriate ceremonies dedicated a site thereon for a union depot building, which depot was- built on the site selected twenty-one years later, something more than the wisdom of man must have directed him, great though he was. He attributed it to the inspiration of the Lord, and why should we not believe him?"
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S WISDOM OF CHOICE
In the Spring of 1847, Samuel Brannan, who in 1846 sailed from New York to San Francisco with a company of Saints, crossed the Sierras and traveled east, by way of Fort Hall, as far as Green River. Here he met President Brigham Young and the other pioneers, and used every influence in his power to have the Saints settle in California, instead of Salt Lake Valley. President Young, however, could not be changed in his decision that, "This is the Place," notwithstanding Brannan's insistence that the Salt Lake Valley was no place for an agricultural people. It was cold, he declared, every month in the year; the ground was too dry to start the seeds without irrigation, and if irrigated with the cold mountain streams, the seeds planted would be chilled and prevented from growing, or if they did grow, they would be sickly and fail to mature. The Saints could not possibly subsist there. But Brigham Young prevailed, and remained.
Brigham Young, the great pioneer of Western America, was born June 1, 1801, in Whittingham, Windham county, Vermont, of purely American stock, dating back many generations. On this one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of his birth, it is fitting to refer to his faith and steadfastness in the vision of Joseph Smith, wherein the Prophet saw that the Saints would become a great and mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. The late Hon. Joseph A. West called attention in an article on the "Construction of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads," some years ago, to his wisdom of choice, in these words:
"Brigham Young claimed not to be a visionary man, for he was practical to the minutest detail in all the affairs of life; yet in his journey to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 he traversed the route of the transcontinental railroad, which was built twenty years later, almost the entire distance, and for the construction of which he and hi9 people petitioned Congress many times and long before it was ever thought of outside of Utah. When Samuel Brannan met him and his pioneer band at Green River and pictured to them the beauties of California, with its broad, fertile plains bedecked with wild flowers and its balmy semi-tropical climate, and contrasted it with the desolate wilderness between the mountains just beyond, and the Sierra Nevadas, and tried to induce him to make the Pacific coast the home of hi9 exiled people, he very emphatically declined to do so, but settled in a wilderness that has since become a wonderfully fertile state, possessed of a greater variety and quantity of primeval wealth than any state in the Union, despite its limited area. When, in the mountains east, Brigham Young first saw the great Salt Lake Valley in all the bleakness of a July day, with the dead sea of America glittering in the shimmering rays of a hot July sun, he said after a moment's hesitation, as if comparing it with something that he had previously seen, 'This is the place, drive on' ; when, in first walking over the present site of Salt Lake City, he came to a certain spot, he struck his cane to the ground and said, 'Here we will build the Temple of our God,' which temple his people completed at a cost of many millions of dollars, just forty years later, after plans that had been minutely drawn under his direction; when he selected the sites of Salt Lake City and other cities of Utah, and laid them off with their broad streets pointing to the meridian, and their blocks four-square—he manifested a wisdom of choice, plan and purpose so marvelous that one can scarcely think it all done by his unaided mind alone. So also when he obtained a large tract of land west of Ogden City and offered it free to the Union and Central Pacific Railroad companies for depot' purposes, and even broke ground and with appropriate ceremonies dedicated a site thereon for a union depot building, which depot was- built on the site selected twenty-one years later, something more than the wisdom of man must have directed him, great though he was. He attributed it to the inspiration of the Lord, and why should we not believe him?"
Richards, Lula Greene. "First of June and Brigham Young." Juvenile Instructor. June 1927. pg. 300.
First of June and Brigham Young
(May be sung to the air of "Earth With Her Ten Thousand Flowers")
Pure as infant newly born
Wakes the Summer's first fair morn.
Nature's voices gaily swell--
Earth rejoices. All is well.
Zion's children join in tune--
With the joyous First of June!
Why should Zion's hosts sustain
First of June in glad refrain?
'Tis the birthday of a man
Chosen in God's rescue plan.
Sing, these mountain vales among--
First of June and Brigham Young.
Joseph's mantle on him fell
He must gather Israel.
Lead the stalwart Pioneers
Like brave soldier, volunteers
To this place—oh wondrous boon!
Brigham Young and First of June.
Joseph's message he explained,
How salvation must be gained.
God, through prophets guideth yet,
And His Saints will not forget--
While His gracious praise is sung--
First of June and Brigham Young.
—Lula Greene Richards.
First of June and Brigham Young
(May be sung to the air of "Earth With Her Ten Thousand Flowers")
Pure as infant newly born
Wakes the Summer's first fair morn.
Nature's voices gaily swell--
Earth rejoices. All is well.
Zion's children join in tune--
With the joyous First of June!
Why should Zion's hosts sustain
First of June in glad refrain?
'Tis the birthday of a man
Chosen in God's rescue plan.
Sing, these mountain vales among--
First of June and Brigham Young.
Joseph's mantle on him fell
He must gather Israel.
Lead the stalwart Pioneers
Like brave soldier, volunteers
To this place—oh wondrous boon!
Brigham Young and First of June.
Joseph's message he explained,
How salvation must be gained.
God, through prophets guideth yet,
And His Saints will not forget--
While His gracious praise is sung--
First of June and Brigham Young.
—Lula Greene Richards.
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences." Juvenile Instructor. May 1928. pg. 240-244.
Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences By Susa Young Gates Brigham Young as statesman, as pioneer, as President of the Twelve Apostles and later as the successor of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a familiar historical personage. But Brigham Young, as a missionary, traveling without purse or scrip, on foot, on occasional boats, in wagons on horseback or in the newly established railroad trains, is a new concept of the man who talked much to others and said many things about others, but whose own experiences and exploits rarely found place in his discourses. Brigham Young spent the first twelve years of his Church life, 1832- 1844, in constant traveling and preaching. The revelation given in 1841 through the Prophet Joseph Smith (Sec. 126 Doc. and Cov.) to Brigham releasing him from his unflagging efforts to preach the Gospel abroad was followed for over a year. Then came other calls and other missions, until June, 1844, when the Martyrdom occurred. Brigham was in Boston at that time, on a combined political and proselyting mission. His return to Nauvoo completes the cycle of his missionary experiences; unless, one might call the Exodus across the Plains in 1846-1847, and his annual and semiannual trips up and down the valleys of Utah, Colorado and Idaho missions, a part of such experiences. From Brigham's own published journal, in the Star, Vol. 25-26, are found the following succinct stories of his missionary travels. He kept a journal from the time he entered the Church till the Martyrdom, when he appointed Wilford Woodruff, his close friend and frequent traveling companion, to write his history for him. Brigham was born June 1st, 1801, in Whitingham, Wyndham County, Vermont, the son of John and Abigail Howe Young. His father had moved from Hopkinton to Vermont in 1800 and remained only two years there, taking his wife and nine children down to Smyrna, Western New York state ; two other sisters of Brigham's were born in Smyrna, the mother, Abigail, dying in 1815. Brigham was apprenticed out to learn the carpenter's trade to which he added painting and glazing. Many of the illustrations herein used are new and form interesting side lights on those early scenes, and persons. Brigham Young left Auburn and Port Byron in 1824 ; went to Aurelius, New York ; married Miriam Works in 1824; moved to Mendon, Monroe County, 1829. He joined the Church at Mendon, April 14, 1832; went on personal mission to Sackett Harbor, Canada, to preach to his brother Joseph, February, 1832 ; preached during summer of 1832 in regions 'round about Mendon ; went to Kirtland to see the Prophet, Sept., 1832, and returned home in October, 1832. In January, 1833, on foot, he went on a mission to Canada, in West Lorboro ; was gone six weeks, baptized over forty ; back in Mendon, February, 1833; preached around there during the winter. April 1st, 1833, went back to Canada ; at Leyon's-town baptised 13 ; ordained Jonathan Hampton a priest and took him along; then on to Theresa, near Ogdensburg, Indian Falls River, where he found David W. Patten ; baptized 7 persons. Went to Odgensburg, then to Kingston, on to Earnestown, then West Lorboro, preaching and baptizing along the way. He went to Kirtland July, 1833; moved there in September, 1833, spending the winter with the Prophet, carpentering and preaching. Zion's Camp Experiences Went to Missouri in Zion's Camp the 5th of May, 1834; returned July, 1834. His journal records: "In the fall of 1843, Denis Lake instituted a lawsuit before justices Dowen and Hanson, against Brother Joseph Smith, charging him $30 a month for going up in Zion's camp to Missouri, alleging that joseph had promised him a lot of land. I was called up by the attorney for the prosecution, General Paine, and questioned. I was asked if I went up to Missouri with the said camp? I answered I did. I was asked what tools I took with me. I replied, a good gun and bayonet, plenty of ammunition, a dirk, and axe, a saw, a chisel, spade, hoe, and other necessary tools. I was asked what I meant to do with my gun and ammunition. I replied, I meant to defend my property, myself and my brethren from thieves and robbers. I was asked how much I understood a 'lot' of land to mean. I told them, in the burying yard it generally meant six feet. Joseph's attorney, Mr. Bissell, hearing me answer these and similar questions so readily and definitely, punched the prosecuting attorney on the shoulder and asked him if he had any more questions to ask that witness. He said no." ("Mill. Star," Vol. 25, p. 455.) February 14, 1835, Brigham was chosen by revelation as an Apostle. He was called to open the Gospel door to the Indians May 2, 1835. He left Kirtland, stopped at Dunkirk May 4th, preached, went to Westfield ; held conference. Returned to Kirtland to be witness for Joseph Smith. Then went East again holding conferences, preaching and baptizing, regulating and organizing the churches through the Eastern country. Returned to Kirtland September 25th, 1835. His certificate reads as follows: "To Whom It May Concern: "This certifies that Brigham Young has been received into the Church of the Latter-day Saints, organized on the sixth of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and has been ordained an Elder according to the rules and regulations of said Church, and is duly authorized to preach the Gospel, agreeably to the authority of that office. . . "From the satisfactory evidence which we have of his good moral character, and his zeal for the cause of righteousness, and diligent desire to persuade men to forsake evil and embrace truth, we confidently recommend him: to all candid and upright people as a worthy member of society. "We, therefore, in the name, and by the authority of this Church, grant unto this, our worthy brother in the Lord, this letter of commendation as a proof of our fellowship and esteem; praying for his success and prosperity in our Redeemer s cause. "Given by the direction of a Conference of the Elders of said Church, assembled in Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio, the third day of March, in the year of or Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six. "Joseph Smith, Jun., "Chairman. "F. G. Williams, Clerk, "Kirtland, Ohio, March 30, 1836." "This certifies that the within license was recorded on the 30th day of March. 1836, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the License Records, Book A, page 5. "Thomas Burdick, "Recording Clerk." ("Mill. Star," Vol. 25, p. 472.) In the spring of 1836, with his brother Joseph, Brigham Young visited relatives in the eastern states. He preached and baptized as he went through New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts; met the Prophet Joseph Smith at Salem, Massachusetts; then up to Portland, Maine, and on to Newry, Oxford County. Here he held Conference, and was called to preside. At this conference, 17 branches with 317 Saints were represented. Baptized two there ; returned to Boston ; baptized 17. Then on to Providence, Rhode Island ; here also he preached. On to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York ; back to Kirtland, preaching in nearly all the large towns he passed through. Friday, January 22, 1837, was blessed and anointed in Kirtland Temple. March 13, 1837, he started with Willard Richards for the Eastern States on a special mission. Through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, they traveled. Stopped over in Canandaigua; visited Martin Harris there two days, then went on to Albany and Troy. Bought tavern in Auburn. Then on they went to West Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where they visited "father" Richards. Then to New Haven, New York City, on to Boston, Lynn, Salem, Utica, New York, Buffalo and back to Kirtland. June 1, 1837, the first missionaries were sent to England, led by Brigham's uncle, Phineas Richards, or his maternal grandfather, Heber C. Kimball. Brother Kimball was anxious for Brigham Young to go, but the Prophet announced that he needed Brigham at home with him. Brigham went to Buffalo, New York, to see party off. July 25, 1837, he baptized his cousin Albert P. Rockwood, whom he had converted in July, 1837. In July, he started east on a mission with the Prophet. They were detained in Painesville, Ohio, by a lawsuit against the Prophet. After three vexatious trials, the Prophet and Brigham started east again. They took passage at Buffalo; Brigham gave his valise to the Prophet Joseph Smith for a pillow, and used the Prophet's boots under his own head. Joseph went on up to Canada, but Brigham went over to Utica with A. P. Rockwood; then on to Albany, and to New York. He called at Elijah Fordham's, and found Parley P. Pratt preaching on board a schooner at the foot of Canal Street. He held three meetings in New York ; predicted that a branch of the Church should be raised up in Hilliston, Massachusetts. Then he started back home to Kirtland. Here he remained for two months. December 22, 1837, he left Kirtland to escape the mobs. He went to Dublin, Indiana, where he found his brother Lorenzo and Isaac Decker. Brigham now helped the Prophet to get money to go on westward. He followed and overtook the Prophet four miles west of Jacksonville; then on to Quincy, where they found the ice on the river strong enough to bear up teams. Brigham hauled the wagon through a boat on to the ice by hand, led the horses across the river by attaching a rope to the wagon and to the team so that they could be some distance apart. The last horse on the ice was the Prophet's favorite, Charlie, who broke the ice at every step. Brigham's journal records : "After leaving the boat we struck out in a long string, and passed over in safety. Two or three hours afterwards Brother Decker and family, and D. S. Miles, crossed on our track, but it was with great difficulty and risk that they got across, many times having to separate from each other and get on to a solid cake, the ice was so near breaking up. "We traveled from the river about six miles and camped for the night; next morning proceeded on our journey. When we arrived at Salt River we found that the ice had broken up so that we could not cross. The ferry-boat was sunk, and we tarried a day or two at this place. "Brother Joseph said to me one morning, 'Let us go and examine the ice on the pond.' We found the old ice had sunk and had not left the pond when the river was broken up, and there had another foot of ice frozen over; and by plunging our wagons two and a half or three feet into the water, we could gain the solid ice on the pond; at the other shore we found the same. "We got our wagons and horses across the ice, then took a canoe which lay in the pond, and placed one end of it on the shore and the other on the solid ice, and walked through the canoe on to the ice, and pulled the canoe across the ice to the other shore. "In this way we crossed the families and landed directly in the woods, on a very steep, sideling hill. We managed to get our wagons along the cleft of the bank; six or eight men held them up, and thus we worked our way on to the road. "We proceeded on our journey to Huntsville, where we met some of the brethren from Far West. Brother John P. Barnard had come from Far West with a carriage, into which he put Joseph's family, and we proceeded on our journey. "One day while crossing a large prairie, six or eight miles from any house, we crossed a small stream. The ground was frozen deep on each side, and we sprung one of the axel-trees of Brother Barnard's 'carriage. Brother Barnard said we could not travel with it any farther. Brother Joseph looked at it and said, 'I can spring that iron axle tree back, so that we can go on our journey.' Brother Barnard replied, 'I am a blacksmith, and used to work in all kinds of iron, and that axle tree is bent so far round that to undertake to straighten it would only break it.' Brother Joseph answered, 'I'll try it.' He got a pry, and we sprung it back to its place, and it did not trouble us any more till we arrived at Far West March 14, 1837. Brother Barnard, seeing this done, concluded that he would never say again that a thing could not be done when a prophet said it could." ("Mill. Star," Vol. 25, pp. 519-520.) Brigham traveled on to Far West, reaching there the 14th of March, 1837. He located his family on Mill Creek, fenced in a farm, bought up land and obtained deeds for the same. Mobs drove the people out, Brigham leaving February 14, 1839; he left Missouri and went to Quincy, Illinois, where he preached. Here he put the Twelve under solemn covenant to cease not their efforts till every Saint was moved out of Missouri and away from the fury of the mobs. The covenant was fulfilled. He left his family eleven times to go back with his teams and bring on the poor, in order to fulfill this covenant. |
VILLAGE OF WHITINGHAM, VERMONT
Birthplace of Brigham Young SPOT WHERE BRIGHAM YOUNG WAS BORN MARKED BY MAX STANDING IN CENTER OF THE PICTURE
OLD BARN NEAR MENDON, N. Y.
Used by Early Methodists Brigham Young preached here PARLEY P. PRATT
WlLLARD RICHARDS
|
Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young as Seen in 1860." Improvement Era. June 1928. pg. 651-657.
Brigham Young as Seen in 1860 By Preston Nibley TOWARDS the close of day, on August 25, 1860, there might have been seen, emerging from the mouth of Emigration canyon and following the dusty road across the bench into Salt Lake City, the Overland Stage, completing the last few miles of its long and arduous trip across the plains from its starting point at St. Joseph, Missouri. By frequent change of horses, and by pursuing the journey from early morning until late at night, this particular stage had completed 1,136 miles in nineteen days. Among the weary passengers who glanced eagerly ahead for a first view of the "City of the Saints," was one Richard F. Burton, 39 years of age, captain in the English Army, fellow and gold medalist of the Royal Geographical Society, and one of the most renowned travelers of his day. The first Englishman to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, the first to penetrate the lake regions of Central Africa, he had now arrived in Salt Lake valley, to see and write a book about "the 'Mormons,' and their Kingdom." As I write I have this volume before me, a book of more than five hundred pages, written in a hasty, rather careless manner, and filled with many ill-timed personal comments, but a true book withal, and, I think, the very best account of Salt Lake City we have from a non- "Mormon" in those early days. More than sixty-seven years have passed since Captain Burton rode into town on that August afternoon, and a second generation has come on the scene, to whom those early days are, we might say, lost and unknown. It might not be amiss, therefore, to pause for a moment and glance back at the life of our people as Captain Burton saw it, making due allowance always that he did not and could not see truly into conditions as we know them to have been. There were many plans formulated and executed in this valley in 1860, by President Brigham Young and his associates, of which Captain Burton never dreamed. The eye of the traveler could see, and the hand could record, but the heart and the mind could not understand. What burned in the souls of the pioneers as they trudged wearily into this valley, and sought to establish themselves here? Who can describe it? But to our story—relating the events of his entrance into the valley on that August afternoon, Captain Burton writes: "In due time, emerging from the gates and portal and deep serrations of the upper course, we descended into a lower level. Emigration Canyon gradually bulges out and its steep slopes of grass and fern, shrubbery and stunted brush, fall imperceptibly into the plain. The valley presently lay full before our sight. * * * The sublime and the beautiful were present in contrast. Switzerland and Italy lay side by side. * * * The hour was about 6 p. m.; the atmosphere was touched with a dreamy haze, as it generally is in the vicinity of the lake; a little bank of rose-colored clouds, edged with flames of purple and gold, floated in the upper air, while the mellow radiance of an American autumn, that bright interlude between the extremes of heat and cold, diffused its mild, soft lustre over the face of earth." There is a picture of our beautiful valley that has hardly been excelled to this day. And again: "In some parts, the valley was green; in others, where the hot sun shot its oblique beams, it was of a tawny yellowish-red, like the sands of the Arabian desert, with scatters of trees, where the Jordan of the West rolls its opaline waves through pasture lands of dried grass dotted with flocks and herds, and fields of ripening yellow corn. Everything bears the impress of handiwork, from the bleak benches behind to what was once a barren valley in front. Truly the 'Mormon' prophecy has been fulfilled: already the howling wilderness-—in which twelve years ago a few miserable savages, the half-naked Digger Indians, gathered their grass seed, grasshoppers, and black crickets to keep life and soul together, and awoke with their war cries the echo of the mountains; and the bear, the wolf and the fox prowled over the site of a now populous city—has blossomed like the rose." Jogging along in the rolling and jolting stage, our captain soon had his first view of the city, which he estimated to have a population of "between nine and twelve thousand souls." "The city revealed itself as we approached, from behind its screen, the inclined terraces of the upper table-land, and at last it lay stretched before us as upon a map. At a little distance the aspect was somewhat Oriental. None of the buildings except the Prophet's house were whitewashed. The material—the thick, sun-dried adobe, common to all parts of the Eastern world,—was of a dull leaden blue, deepened by the atmosphere to a gray, like the shingles of the roofs. The numbers of gardens and compounds, the dark clumps and lines of bitter cottonwood, locust or acacia, poplars and fruit trees, apples, peaches and vines—how lovely they appeared after the baldness of the prairies!—and finally the fields of long-eared maize and sweet sorghum strengthened the similarity to an Asiatic rather than to an American settlement. The differences presently became as salient. The farm houses with their stacks and stock strongly suggested the Old Country. Moreover, domes and minarets—even churches and steeples —were wholly wanting, an omission that somewhat surprised me. The only building conspicuous from afar was the block occupied by the present head of the Church. The courthouse, with its tinned Muscovian dome, at the west end of the city; the arsenal, a barn-like structure on a bench below Ensign Peak, and a saw-mill built beyond the southern boundary, were the next in importance." So much then for the first impressions of our alert and inquisitive captain. As the stage descended the last hill and rolled into the city there is this, which one might reasonably expect, "I looked in vain for the out-house harems, in which certain romances concerning things 'Mormons' had informed me that wives are kept, like any other stock." No, my good friends, wives were not kept in that fashion, as you will soon learn. "I presently found this but one of a multitude of delusions. Upon the whole, the 'Mormon' settlement was a vast improvement upon its contemporaries in the valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri." Turning suddenly to the right, the stage entered "the main thoroughfare, the center of population," and drew up before a hotel, the "only establishment of the kind in New Zion," the Salt Lake House, "a two-storied, pent-roofed building," where our captain was to make his headquarters during his twenty-four-day visit in the city. The hotel he found to be comfortable and convenient "despite the closeness of the atmosphere," the swarms of "emigration flies," and a certain "populousness of bedstead." So then, the traveling captain is at last set down in Salt Lake City, the place which he has come so far to see, and from which wild and speculative rumors have gone around the world. On the morrow he will walk about a little and try to get a look at these "Mormons" and what they have accomplished. Perhaps, too, if he is lucky, he will get an interview with "Mr. Brigham Young". It is this man, more than all others, about whom he is curious. Bright and early the following morning he began to walk about the city. "I was surprised to find that every meridinal street is traversed on both sides by a streamlet of limpid water—supplied from City Creek, Red Butte and other canyons lying north and east of the settlement." Main street, he observed, was 132 feet wide, "including the sidewalks, which are each twenty, and like the rest of the principal avenues is planted with locust and other trees." On the temple block Captain Burton was disappointed in finding that the temple was only "a hole in the ground," and he doubted that it would ever be completed. Little did this man realize the hardships of our people in locating in this valley, and the long years of sacrifice and patient toil it took to erect the magnificent "Mormon" temple. To our visitor the task looked hopeless. The afternoon he spent with Governor and Mrs. Alfred Cumming, at their commodious house on North Temple street. One would like to know the conversation that went on between these two gentlemen regarding President Young and our people. There is not much said, except in praise of Governor Cumming's "scrupulous and conscientious impartiality," and his resolution to treat Saints and Gentiles alike. Monday morning, in company with Elder T. B. Stenhouse, the captain started out for what is now Fort Douglas reserve, to witness the arrival of a group of hand-cart pioneers. He graphically describes the event as follows: "As we issued from the city we saw the smoke-like column which announced the emigrants were crossing the bench land; and people were hurrying from all sides to greet and get news of friends. Presently the carts came. All the new arrivals were in clean clothes, the men washed and shaved, and the girta, who were singing hymns, habited in Sunday dresses. The company was sunburned, but looked well and thoroughly happy, and few, except the very young and the very old, who suffer most on such journeys, troubled the wains." Mingling in the crowds as the new-comers were greeted by their friends, Captain Burton comments on the dress of the women: "A sun-bonnet is here universally used, with the difference however, that the 'Mormons' provide it with a long, thick veil behind, which acts like a cape or shawl." And then there is this very pretty compliment: "I could not but observe in those born hereabouts the noble, regular features, the lofty, thoughtful brow, the clear, transparent complexion, the long, silky hair, and, greatest charm of all, the soft smile of the American woman when she does smile." During the afternoon a visit was made to City Creek, or "Northern Kanyon," as our author calls it, also, to the "Thermal Springs," north of the city, which have come down in history as the "Warm Springs." And now, as the fifth day of Captain Burton's visit to Salt Lake rolled around, there came this little note to Governor Alfred Cumming in response to one of his own requesting that he might call on President Brigham Young and bring with him the distinguished visitor: Great Salt Lake City, Aug. 30, 1860. Governor A. Cumming, Sir: In reply to your note of the 29th inst., I embrace the earliest opportunity since my return to inform you that it will be agreeable to me to meet the gentleman you mention in my office at 11 a. m., tomorrow, the 31st. Brigham Young. The day following, Captain Burton and Governor Cumming were promptly on hand, and we can thank the Captain for this most excellent look at President Young. He is here in life to us, our great President,—Utah's most distinguished man. I am inclined to think that the portrait is as clear as the Captain could make it: "I met Governor Cumming in Main street, and we proceeded together to our visit. After a slight scrutiny, we passed the guard—which is dressed in plain clothes, and to the eye unarmed—and walking down the veranda, entered the Prophet's private office. Several people who were sitting there rose at Mr. Cumming's entrance. At a few words of introduction, Mr. Brigham Young advanced, shook hands with complete simplicity of manner, asked me to be seated on a sofa at one side of the room, and presented me to those present. * * * "The Prophet was born at Whittingham, Vermont, on the 1st day of June, 1801 ; he was consequently, in 1860, fifty-nine years of age; he looks about forty-five. I had expected to see a venerable looking old man. Scarcely a gray thread appears in his hair, which is parted on the side, light colored, rather thick, and reaches below the ears with a half curl. He formerly wore it long, after the western style; now it is cut level with the ear lobes. * * * The eyes are between gray and blue, with a calm, composed, and somewhat reserved expression; a slight droop in the left lid made me think he had suffered from paralysis; I afterwards heard that the ptosis is the result of neuralgia which has long tormented him. For this reason he usually covers his head, except in his own house or in the Tabernacle. * * * The nose, which is fine and somewhat sharply pointed, is bent a little to the left. The lips are close, like the New Englander's, and the teeth, especially those of the under jaw, are imperfect. The cheeks are rather fleshy, and the line between the alae of the nose and the mouth is broken; the chin is somewhat peaked, and the face clean shaven, except under the jaws, where the beard is allowed to grow. The hands are well made, and not disfigured by rings. The figure is large, broad-shouldered, and stooping a little when standing. "The Prophet's dress was neat and plain as a Quakers, all gray homespun, except the cravat and waistcoat. His coat was of antique cut, and, like the pantaloons, baggy, and the buttons were black. A neck-tie of dark silk, with a large bow, was loosely passed around a starchless collar, which turned down of its own accord. The waistcoat was of black satin—once an article of almost national dress—single-breasted, and buttoned nearly to the neck, and a plain gold chain was passed into the pocket. The boots were Wellingtons, apparently of American make." That constitutes the appearance of President Brigham Young to Captain Burton's eye. Again we thank him for having left this portrait to us. Nothing can be of greater interest in early Utah history than the doings, sayings and appearance of this great man, the chief character in it. There are a few things here mentioned especially worthy of note: that clear, steady eye of his, and calm expression of face; the "close" lips. Not a darting, quick-glancing eye, but used to fixed, steady gaze, piercing past the appearance and into the soul of things. The calm, composed expression of the face, indicating that this man was well acquainted with the battle of life, its defeats and its victories, and that he trusted completely in his Maker that the ultimate outcome would be right. The "close" lips, showing determination—to continue doing his duty to the last breath of his life. Continuing, Captain Burton comments: "Altogether the Prophet's appearance was that of a gentleman farmer in New England. * * * He is a well preserved man. * * * His manner is at once affable and impressive, simple and courteous. * * * He shows no signs of dogmatism, bigotry, or fanaticism, and never once entered—with me at least—on the subject of religion. * * * He impresses the stranger with a certain sense of power. * * * His temper is even and placid. * * * His powers of observation are intuitively strong, and his friends declare him to be gifted with an excellent memory, and a perfect judgment of character. * * * His life is ascetic. His favorite food is baked potatoes with a little buttermilk, and his drink, water. * * * Finally, there is a total absence of pretension in his manner, and he has been so long used to power that he cares nothing for its display." Here we take leave of "Brother Brigham" as he stood before the world on August 31, 1860. It will do us good to return to him, time and again. Leaving the President's office and walking toward Main street, Captain Burton noted: "On the extreme west of this block, backed by a pound for estrays, which is no longer used, lies the Tithing House and Deseret Store, a long, narrow, upper-storied building, with cellars, store-rooms, receiving rooms, pay rooms and writing offices. At this time of the year it chiefly contains linseed and rags for paper making; after the harvest it is well stuffed with grains and cereals, which are taken instead of money payment." And now there is one item that has more than particular interest to me and which I trust I may be pardoned for including in this account. The Captain 'remarks that on the evening of the third of September, "while sauntering about the square," he became interested "in a train of twenty-three wagons which had just bivouacked." These were immigrants under the command of Captain Charles E. Ross, and they had just arrived in the valley that day. Playing about one of the wagons, or perhaps climbing in and out of it, rejoicing with the others at the termination of the long journey, and looking with wonderment at the strange scenes about him, clad only in a shirt and pair of trousers, which his mother had made him out of an old tent, was a little barefoot lad, eleven years of age. It was my honored father, President Charles W. Nibley, who, with his poor emigrant parents, brothers and sisters, had traveled all the way from Scotland to this New Zion in the wilderness. What the family possessed, with the exception of their oxen, was in their prairie wagon. The father had been a coal miner and had saved for years to obtain means sufficient for the long journey. Now they had arrived in the valley and their lot was to be cast with the Saints. They thought their difficulties were over, but, as subsequent events proved, they were only just beginning. On the same day, Captain Burton made a trip to Sugar House with "Mr. John Taylor." "He pointed out to me on the left the mouths of the several canyons, and informed me that the City Creek and Red Butte on the northeast, and the Emigration, Parley's, Mill Creek, Great Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood canyons to the east and southeast, all head together in two points, thus enabling troops and provisions to be easily and readily concentrated for the defense of the eastern approaches. When talking about the probability of gold digging being developed near Great Salt Lake City, he said that the 'Mormons' are aware of that, but that they look upon agriculture as their real wealth. "Returning, we visited the garden of Apostle Woodruff, who introduced us to his wife, and showed us work of which he had reason to be proud. Despite the hard, ungrateful soil which had required irrigation for the last ten years, there were apricots from Malta, the Hooker strawberries, here worth $5 the plant, plum trees from Kew Gardens, French and California grapes, wild plum and buffalo berry, currants, peaches and apples;—with which last we were hospitably loaded in numbers." From the 3rd until the 19th of September, Captain Burton made side trips to Brighton, in Big Cottonwood canyon, Camp Floyd in Cedar valley, and to Black Rock where he enjoyed a swim in the lake. On the 20th he climbed into a "buck-board" and, accompanied by "Judge Flennikin, who had been transferred to Carson valley," set out overland for California. "The day was fine and wondrous clear, affording us a splendid back view of the happy valley, before it was finally shut out from sight, and the Utah Lake looked a very gem of beauty, a diamond in its setting of steely blue mountains." |
President Brigham Young
Whose birthday anniversary was observed on the 1st of June "The Prophet's Block," Salt Lake City
As viewed in September, 1860 The Salt Lake House
Where Captain Burton stayed while visiting in the "City of the Saints," September, 1860 |
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences." Juvenile Instructor. June 1928. pg. 306-311.
Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences By Susa Young Gates II April 18, 1839, Brigham Young left Quincy for Far West to dedicate the Temple and fulfil the Revelation given July 8, 1838: "April 21.—We passed through Huntville, crossing a nine-mile prairie; the roads were full of the Saints, who were fleeing from Missouri to Illinois, having been driven from their houses and lands by the exterminating order of Governor Boggs, and that, too, against all the laws of the State and Constitution of the United States. "We met brother John E. Page and his family on a sideling hill, with his load turned bottom-side upwards; among other things, he had upset a barrel of soft soap, and he was elbow-deep in the soap, scooping it up with his hands. I told him I wanted him, to go to Far West with us. He replied, he did not see that he could, as he had his family to take to Quincy. I told him his family would get along well enough, and I desired him to go up with us. He asked how much time I would give him to get ready. I answered, five minutes. We assisted in loading his wagon; he drove down the hill and camped, and returned with us. We traveled 30 miles and camped for the night. "April 23.—We rode 36 miles, and camped for the night on a creek near a grove six miles east of Tenney's Grove. Elder Maginn went out to buy corn, and as he tarried all night we felt afraid lest he might have fallen into the hands of the mob. "April 24.—We remained at the grove where Elders Elias Smith, Theodore Turley and Hyrum Clark, (of the committee who were left to attend to the removal of the poor), who had been driven from Far West, met us; they informed us that on the 16th, the mob came into Far West and tantalized the committee on the subject of the revelation, saying that was one of Joe Smith's revelations which could not be fulfilled, as the Twelve and the Saints were scattered to the four winds; and threatened them severely if they were found In Far West next day. They turned round, and on the 25th accompanied us to father Timothy B. Clark's, near Far West. "Early on the morning of the 26th of April, we held our Conference, cut off 31 persons from the Church and proceeded to the building spot of the Lord’s House where Elder Cutler, the master workman of the house, then recommenced laying the foundation agreeably to revelation, by rolling up a large stone near the southeast corner. “The following of the Twelve were present: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John E. Page and John Taylor; we proceeded to ordain Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the office of the Twelve, to fill the places of those who had fallen.” (“Mill. Star,” Vol. 25, pp. 568, 583.) May 2, 1839, he arrived at Quincy, Illinois. He left there the 16th of May, 1839, to join the Prophet at Commerce (Nauvoo.) He was allowed to remain there only four months, when he was again sent forth to preach, this time going to Europe to organize and set in order the newly established English Mission. The English Mission was opened by Apostle Heber C. Kimball, accompanied and assisted by Apostle Orson Hyde and Elders Willard Richards and Joseph Fielding.[1] These men had arrived in Liverpool, England, July 20, 1837, to find the city decorated with banners as it was a royal celebration of Queen Victoria’s parliament and cabinet election. Above their heads waved an inscription: “Truth will prevail.” Verily so. Heber C. Kimball with his powerful personality, his eloquence and zeal, Orson Hyde’s devotion and oratorical gifts. Willard Richards’ scholarly attainments and Joseph Fielding’s poised enthusiasm, had conducted a whirlwind proselyting campaign of eleven months, when Elder Kimball returned home leaving Joseph Fielding to preside over the few branches in and about Manchester and Preston, assisted by Willard Richards, who had met and married an English girl, Janetta Richards, of Walkerfold, Lancashire. Apostle Kimball returned to Kirtland after eleven months’ strenuous and most successful labor, reaching Kirtland May 22, 1838. They had baptized 1500 persons, and left their English friends with tears or mixed joy and sorry. The Prophet felt the importance of a complete and far-reaching organization of the Church in European countries, and was inspired one year later to send across the seas the majority of the Quorum[2] of the Twelve Apostles, who were empowered to set in motion such plans and forces as would form a definite and solid foundation for missions during the next century. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff, together with Elders George A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, Reuben Hedlock and Theodore Turley, sailed at different dates for Europe. Orson Hyde was sent later by the Prophet to dedicate the land of Palestine for the return of the Jews. Thus there was a vast spiritual machine organized in foreign lands, and the men sent were each fitted to the particular task assigned. The sad and difficult circumstances attendant upon their departure from Nauvoo are well-known history. Poverty, extreme sickness of the men and of their families left behind, have been recorded in biographies and Church history. The simple story told by Brigham in his journal is like his own character, devoid of high lights or grewsome details. Facts are recorded. The rest must be supplied from readier pens, more voluminous writers. Let it be remembered, however, that Brigham Young was but one of a company of virile men, powerful preachers, and faithful followers of the beloved Prophet Joseph Smith, who, himself, was but the new witness of God and His Son Jesus Christ in the latter days. Brigham writes:[3] 'September 14, 1839—1 started from Montrose on my mission to England. My health was so poor I was unable to go thirty rods to the river without assistance. "After I had crossed the river I got Israel Barlow to carry me on his horse, behind him, to Heber C. Kimball's, where I remained sick till the 18th. I left my sick wife, with a babe only ten days old. and all my children sick and unable to wait upon each other." "September 17—My wife crossed the river and got a boy with a wagon to bring her up about a mile to Brother Kimball's to see me. "I remained until the 18th at Brother Kimball's, when we started, leaving his family also sick. “Brother Charles Hubbard sent his boy across the prairie fourteen miles to a shanty on the railroad, where Brother O. M. Duel lived. Sister Duel helped the boy to get our trunks out of the wagon. We went into the house, feeling very much fatigued. We tarried there one night. "In the morning. Brother Duel took us in his wagon and carried us as far as Lima, about twelve miles. When Brother Duel left us he gave each of us a dollar to help us on our journey. A brother then took us into a wagon and carried us to Father Mikesell's near Quincy. "We tarried in Quincy a few days, and began to recover, and preached a few times. We procured a meetinghouse close to the Congregationalists, and we began at different hours from them; but taking a notion to disturb us, they rang their bell furiously after we had commenced our meeting. Elder Page was preaching, and he preached so loud that he drowned the bell, and thus brought out hundreds who otherwise would not have come to meeting. We received some little assistance from the brethren. "Lyman Wight took us in a one-horse wagon, and carried us to a Brother C. C. Rich's at Burton, where we stayed over night. "Next morning Brother Rich carried us to Brother Wilbur's. We tarried over night, and Brother Wilbur took us in a buggy and carried us to Father James Allred's, in Pittsfield, where we remained all night; and Father Allred carried us to the neighborhood where Brother Harlow Redfield lived, where we preached at a small branch of the Church. Next day the brethren carried us to Scott County to Brother Decker's, near Winchester." "October 1st—Went to Lorenzo D. Young's, where we tarried and recruited." "October 4th—Brother Lorenzo carried us to Jacksonville. We stayed over night. A sister in the Church hired a man and buggy to carry us to Springfield, where we were kindly received by the brethren. Here I was sick and confined to my bed for a few days. Brother Libeus T. Cahoon, who was then practising medicine, waited upon and nursed me. "On the 11th, I resumed my journey in company with Brothers H. C. Kimball, George A. Smith, Theodore Turley, and Brother Kimball's father-in-law, Mr. Murray. The brethren had exchanged horses at Springfield, and with a little assistance from the brethren there, we obtained a two-horse wagon. The sisters fitted me up a bed in the wagon to ride on, as I was unable to sit up." "We pursued our journey and arrived at Terre Haute on the 17th. Brother Kimball and myself put up at Dr. Modisett's, who belonged to the Church. The other brethren put up at Milton Stowe s. who lived in one of the doctor's houses. "In the evening the doctor called in to see them, Brother Stowe being very poor, and the brethren quite ill in health. The doctor expressed great sympathy for them when he returned to his house relating over the poverty of Brother Stowe and the brethren's ill health. He shed many tears, but he did not have quite sympathy enough to buy them a chicken or give them a shilling, though he was worth some four or five hundred thousand dollars. "In the course of the evening Brother Kimball became very ill. The doctor said he could give him something that would help him, but the old man was so drunk he did not know what he did do, and he gave Brother Kimball a teaspoonful of morphine. His wife saw him pour it out, but dare not say a word, but believed it would kill Brother Kimball. A few minutes after he took it, he straightened up in his chair, and said he felt very strange, and thought he would lie down; and on his making a motion to go to bed, he fell his length upon the floor. I sprang to him, rolled him over on his back, and put a pillow under his head, and began to inquire what the doctor had given him. I learned he had given him morphine. Brother Kimball soon came to, and spoke faintly and said, 'Don't be scared, for I shan't die.' We got him on the bed, and I nursed him through the night. I changed his underclothing five times, and washed him previous to changing his clothes. I found him covered with sweat, at first like thin honey. This gradually wore out towards morning, and he sweat naturally. He was scarcely able to speak, so as to be understood, through the night. "The next day .Brothers George A. Smith, Theodore Turley, Reuben Hedlock and Mr. Murray, started with the wagon and three horses for Kirtland, Ohio — the horses had pretty well given out. "We tarried in Terre Haute until the 22nd. We remained there a few days preaching to the few brethren and others who wished to bear."[4] "While in Pleasant Garden we obtained some money, so that with the five dollars we previously had, amounted to $13.50. When we got into the stage, we did not expect to be able to ride but a short distance. We rode as far as Indianapolis, paid our passages, and found we had sufficient means to take our passages for Richmond, Iowa. "When we arrived at this place we found we had means to take us to Dayton, to which place we proceeded and tarried over night, waiting for another line of stages. We expected to stop here and preach until we got means to pursue our journey. I went to - my trunk to get money to pay my bill, and found that we had sufficient to pay our passages to Columbus, to which place we took passage in the stage and tarried over night. "When I paid my bill I found I had sufficient to pay our passage for Wooster. When we arrived there I went to my trunk again to get money to pay our bill, and found sufficient to pay our passages to Cleveland." (Mil. Star, Vol. 25, p. 648.) The Apostles Reach Kirtland "Nov. 3 (Sunday)—Brother Kimball and I attended the Episcopalian Church in the forenoon. We proceeded to Kirtland, and arrived that evening, where we found a good many friends and brethren who were glad to see us. I had a York shilling left; and on looking over our expenses I found we had paid out over $87.00 out of the $13.50 we had at Pleasant Garden, which is all the money we had to pay our passages, to my certain knowledge, to start on. We had traveled over 400 miles by stage, for which we paid from 8 to 10 cents a mile, and had eaten three meals a day, for each of which we were charged fifty cents, also fifty cents for our lodgings. "We spent our time in Kirtland in visiting the brethren and recruiting our health." "Nov. 17 (Sunday)—I preached in the forenoon, Brother Taylor in the afternoon. In the evening I anointed Brother Taylor in the House of the Lord. He had previously washed himself in pure water with castile soap; then we all went to the Temple. Brother Kimball opened the meeting by prayer; I then anointed Brother Taylor with pure sweet oil, and pronounced such blessings as the Spirit gave utterance. Brother Taylor then arose and prayed for himself. Brother Turley, one of the Seventies, was anointed by D. S. Miles, one of the, Presidents of Seventies, which was sealed by loud shouts of hosannah; then their feet were washed and the meeting closed. "We disposed of our wagon, horse and harness, and picked up what money we could gather, which was insufficient to convey us to New York. There was not a healthy man among us, and some more fitted for a hospital than a journey." "Nov. 22—Elders Kimball, Taylor, G. A. Smith, Hedlock, Turley, and myself, proceeded to Fairport. The lake was so rough that no boat came into port until the 26th, when we went on board the steamboat Columbus, at one o'clock, and arrived in Buffalo next morning. We had an excellent time on the lake. The wind rose about one o'clock in the morning. I went upon deck and felt impressed in spirit to pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, for a forgiveness of all my sins, and then I felt to command the winds to cease, and let us go safe on our journey. The winds abated, and I felt to give the glory and honor and praise to that God who rules all things." "Nov. 27—We took passages on the stage. On arriving at Batavia, we put up at the Genesee House, dedicated our room to the Lord, and had a prayer meeting, asking the Lord to open up our way. "We took the cars for Rochester. Elder Kimball left us at Byron to visit his friends. Arriving at Rochester, we took the stage and rode all night, and arrived at Auburn at 10 a. m. Here, being short of means, Elders Taylor and Turley proceeded to New York, and Brother George A. Smith and I concluded to stop and preach until the Lord should open the way. "We visited my cousin, George Brigham, who listened very attentively to our teachings. He took us to a hotel, where we slept in a damp room and took additional cold. "We walked to Moravia, and found Brother Isaac C. Haight and a small branch of the Church, which had recently been built up in that neighborhood. I preached several times. Brother George A. Smith's lungs were so bad he could not preach." (Mil. Star, Vol. 25, pp. 663-664.) "December 6—Brother Haight took his team, and we rode with him to Brother Joseph Murdock's, in Hamilton, Madison County, where we arrived on the 7th, in the evening. Brother George A. Smith was confined to his room sick, and received a thorough series of Thompsonian nursing. I found the Saints in confusion; they had the gift of tongues among them and the interpretation, and they were so ignorant of the nature of these gifts that they supposed that everything which was spoken in tongues was immediate revelation from God; a false spirit had therefore crept in, and division was the result. I taught them that when they spoke in tongues they spoke the things which were in their hearts, whether they were good or evil; the gift of tongues was given for a blessing to the Saints, but not to govern them, nor to control the Elders, or dictate the affairs of the Church. God had placed in the Church different gifts; among which were Apostles. Prophets, helps and governments, and wisdom was profitable to direct. Before leaving, the Saints came to an understanding on these matters. The brethren were very kind to us; Brother Benager Moon gave me sattinette to make me an overcoat; Sister Lucetta Murdock made it for me; this was a great blessing to me, as I had worn a quilt, with a comforter run through it, in lieu of an overcoat, all the way from Nauvoo, which had not much of a ministerial appearance. Held meetings on Tuesday and Thursday evenings." "December 15 (Sunday)—Preached in Waterville at Brother Gifford's and returned on Monday to Hamilton." "December 20—Went to Eaton, and visited cousins Fitch and Salmon Brigham, and on Saturday to Hamilton, and called on Phinehas Brigham. While at Cousin Phinehas Brigham's he had many inquiries to make about the Prophet. I preached the Gospel to him so plainly that he could not make any reply, but had to acknowledge that what I taught was scriptural and reasonable, and he could not gainsay it, but being a very staunch Baptist and a deacon, too, he regretted very much his son was not there, who was educated for a Baptist priest. He thought If his son was there he might be able to enlighten my mind and point out my errors, although he was not able to do it himself. "We had not conversed an hour before his son, the priest, came in, to whom he introduced me, and then sat down with a great deal of composure, believing the son would be able to rebut the doctrine I had advanced. The son, with all the solemnity and air of a priest, commenced to ask questions. I answered them, and. in return, asked him a few questions, giving him the liberty to rebut any statement I had made by, bringing Scripture testimony, as I had read my doctrine from the Bible: but he could not give me any light, neither could he answer the questions I asked him, and he was too much of a gentleman—young and inexperienced— to commence a tirade of abuse, as older priests generally did on the character of Joseph Smith ' and the Book of Mormon, consequently he sat mute as a stock. "I continued my visit with the family for a short time, and when I was about to leave I told them that Baptism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Quakerism, Shakism, and every other ism, I had studied and learned, for I desired to know the truth, and found I could put all their doctrines, when simmered down to truth, into a snuffbox of the smallest class, put it into my vest pocket and go on my way: but, when I found "Mormonism," I found that, it was higher than I could reach with my researches, deeper than, I was capable of comprehending, and calculated to expand the mind and lead mankind from truth to truth, from light to light, from grace to grace, and exalt him in the celestial kingdom, to become associated with the Gods and the angels. I bade them good night, and went over the hill to Hamilton, and stayed at Brother Murdock's." "Dec. 22, 1839 (Sunday)—Preached at Brother Murdock's, and went to Waterville on Monday, 23rd, with Brother Gifford."[5] "Jan. 2, 1840—Brother Gifford carried us to Utica." "Jan. 3—Went by railroad to Albany, and put up at the Railroad House." "Jan. 4—Found Brother Robert Campbell, who lived with his mother, and stayed with him. I went to Troy, and proceeded to Lansingburg. I went to meeting where Phineas Richards[6] was preaching," "Jan. 5 (Sunday)—I preached in Lansingburg, and returned to Troy and preached in the evening. "Jan. 6—Returning to Albany." "Jan. 12 (Sunday)—We had a meeting at William Parson's; Brother Jonathan O. Duke preached." "Jan. 17—Edwin Pearson took his horse and cutter, and brought us to Canaan, Litchfield County, Connecticut. In some places the snow was fifteen feet deep. We stayed at Gibson Smith's, and visited the Saints on Canaan Mountain, and preached at Brother Francis Benedict's." "Jan. 19 (Sunday)—We preached at Sheffield Mills. We visited the scattered Saints in this vicinity, and on Sunday, the 26th, I preached a lengthy discourse at the house of Brother French." "Jan. 27—Brother French carried us in a sleigh to New Haven. We put up at Lemis' Tavern, where we anxiously waited for a steamboat. We visited the New Haven Museum." "Jan 30—We took steamboat and started, but on getting out a few miles a portentous cloud in the east caused the captain to return, and we went back to the hotel." In New York City "Next day we took steamboat and went within eighteen miles of New York. When we came into the channel of East River, we found it frozen over. The captain ran his boat as far into the ice as he could, but the ice was so thick he had to land us at Frog's Point, where we hired a Paddy's dirt-cart to carry our luggage a mile, when, with other passengers, we hired a market-wagon to carry us to Harlem, paying all our money on our arrival there. It was late in the evening, and all the stages had left for New York but one, which had only two horses; sixteen of us got on to it, and we arrived in New York at 10 p. m. When we landed I observed Captain Stone, the commander of the steamer, come out of the coach, and asked him if he would have the goodness to pay this gentleman's fare and mine (pointing to Brother George A. Smith). He replied, "With pleasure." I thanked him. He said it was all right, and shaking hands with us both, bade us God speed. We left our trunks in the baggage-room of the North American House, and soon found Brother P. P. Pratt and family, who lived at No. 58, Mott Street. We were heartily received by the family, and returned thanks to God for having preserved us and brought us in safety, so far on our mission to the nations of the earth." "February 1—Spent the day at Brother Pratt's; my health was feeble." "February 2 (Sunday)—Attended three meetings at the Columbian Hall, Grand Street. Elder George A. Smith and myself preached. "I attended a meeting in some part of the city every evening during the week, and on Sunday, 9th, preached three times in the hall. I again attended meetings every night during the week, and was constantly conversing with people and teaching them the principles of the Gospel. Passing from Brooklyn to New York, I jumped on to the ferry-boat with my left arm extended, meaning to catch hold of the stanchion, but I fell on a large iron ring on the deck, which put my shoulder out of joint. I asked Brother Hedlock to roll me over on my back, which he did; I directed Brother Kimball and Hedlock to lay hold of my body, and Brother Pratt to take hold of my hand and pull, putting his foot against my side, while I guided the bone with my right hand back to its place. The brethren wound my handkerchief round my shoulder and helped me up. When I came to a fire I fainted, and was not able to dress myself for several days " (Mil. Star, Vol. 25, pp. 695-696.) [1] This corrects a typographical error concerning the opening of the British Mission, contained in the Juvenile Instructor for May, 1928. [2] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [3] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [4] Mil. Star, Vol, 25, p. 647. [5] Mil Star, Vol. 25, pp. 678-679. [6] Cousin of Brigham Young |
Brigham Young
INTERIOR OF KIRTLAND TEMPLE
JOHN TAYLOR
|
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences." Juvenile Instructor. July 1928. pg. 368-373.
Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences By Susa Young Gates Brigham Young reached New York and took passage for Liverpool, March 8, 1840. He writes of this event: Outward Bound "We engaged our passages for Liverpool on board the Patrick Henry, a packet ship of the Black Ball Line, Captain Delino, and paid $18 each for a steerage passage, furnished our own provisions and bedding, and paid the cook $1 each for cooking. Brother H. C. Kimball and myself occupied a lower berth, Brothers Parley and Orson Pratt the one over us, Brothers George A. Smith and R. Hedlock an upper berth at their feet; two Englishmen occupied the berth below. The brethren in New York furnished us with an ample supply of provisions by donation; the sisters made us ticks and filled them with straw for beds and filled some bags with straw for pillows." "March 9—A large number of Saints came down to the wharf to bid us farewell. When we got into the small boat to go out to the ship, the brethren sang, 'The Gallant Ship is Under Way'; we joined them as long as we could hear. When we got on board, the vessel weighed anchor; the steam-tug took us out to Sandyhook. Brother L. R. Foster, the presiding Elder of the New York Branch, came out to the Hook and returned with the tug. We set sail, and by sunset lost sight of our native shore. I was sick nearly all the way and confined to my berth. For eight days we had a fail wind, from the eighth to the tenth day a very heavy gale, from the eleventh to the thirteenth day part of our bulwarks were washed away and the water ran down the hatches in large quantities." Arrive in Liverpool "April 6—We landed in Liverpool; 1 got into a boat with Elders Kimball and P. P. Pratt, and when I landed on the shore I gave a loud shout of hosannah. We procured a room at No. 8, Union Street. The ship failing to get into the dock with the tide, I sent a boat for Brothers O. Pratt, George A. Smith, and R. Hedlock. "We held a meeting, partook of the sacrament and returned thanks to God for His protection and care exercised over us while on the waters, and asking that our way might be opened before us to accomplish our missions successfully." "April 7—We found Elders John Taylor and John Moon, with about thirty Saints who had just received the work in that place."[1] Almost upon arrival in England, Brigham and his associates called a general conference of all the branch officials and converts to meet in Preston, April 14, 15, 16. At this conference some of the great and most far-reaching institutions and organizations were founded, their results reaching across time into eternity. Willard Richards, who had been named in a revelation the year before but who was in England, was ordained an Apostle. The Millennial Star was founded. Committees were named to copyright and publish the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants in Europe, to lessen the cost of those precious books for English converts, and much local business was transacted. A Hymn Book was decided upon and Brigham was made chairman of that committee. This conference was held in the famous old Cockpit at Preston. Brigham thus summarizes the historic gathering: "April 8—Went to Preston by railroad, and found a multitude of Saints who rejoiced at our arrival and made us welcome." "April 9—Brother Willard Richards, who is the son of my mother's sister, Rhoda Howe Richards, came to Preston. I was so emaciated from my long- journey and sickness that he did not know me. He gave us an account of the condition of the Churches in the British Isles. I wrote for Brother Woodruff to come to Preston and attend conference with us." "April 12 (Sunday)—I met with several of the Twelve in the Cock-pit, Preston, and bore testimony to a crowded assembly of the truth of the Gospel." "April 14—I met in council with six of the Twelve in Preston, viz., Heber C. Kimball, P. P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor and George A. Smith, this being the first council held by a majority of the quorum of the Twelve in a foreign nation. Elder Willard Richards was ordained to the office of an Apostle, and received into the Quorum of the Twelve by unanimous vote, agreeable to a revelation given to Joseph Smith in Far West, July 8, 1838. I was chosen standing President of the Twelve by unanimous vote." "April 15 and 16—Attended a general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in the Temperance Hall, Preston, Lancashire, England. Elder Heber C. Kimball was chosen to preside, and Elder William Clayton, clerk. There were represented 1,671 members, 34 elders, 52 priests, 38 teachers and 8 deacons. "During this conference we resolved to publish a monthly periodical in pamphlet form, to be edited by Elder P. P. Pratt, also to publish a selection of hymns, and that Elders P. P. Pratt, John Taylor, and I, select said hymns. "It was also resolved that Elders H. C. Kimball, P. P. Pratt and myself be a committee to secure the copyright of the Book of Mormon, and book of Doctrine and Covenants, as soon as possible.”[2] Thus briefly does Brigham dispose of the vast enterprises projected at that first Conference of the Twelve Apostles in Europe. It is noticeable that Brigham, when recording the various committees, fails to state that he was made chairman of all of them. Then or never did Brigham Young parade his own powers or place. He possessed a humility which few understood. Following this Conference, Brigham wrote the following letter to the Prophet at Nauvoo: "April 16, 1840. “To President Joseph Smith and Counselors: "Dear Brethren-- "You no doubt will have the perusal of this letter and minutes of our conferences; this will give you an idea of what we are doing in this country. "If you see anything in or about the whole affair that is not right, I ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would make known unto us the mind of the Lord and His will concerning us. "I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and be a servant of the Church as ever I was in my life; but I can tell you I would like to be with my old friends; I like new friends, but I cannot part with my old ones for them. "Concerning the Hymn Book—when we arrived here, we found the brethren had laid by their old hymn books, and they wanted new ones; for the Bible, religion and all is new to them. When I came to learn more about carrying books into the States, or bringing them here, I found the duties were so high that we never should want to bring books from the States. "I request one favor of you, that is, a letter from you, that I may hear from my old friends. I trust that I will remain your friend through life and in eternity. As ever "Brigham Young."[3] The great soul of the Prophet was stirred by the humility of this letter, and he ,saw at once the possibilities of growth and progress outlined by his friend and associate Apostle. His answer indicates his own wisdom and his confidence in Brigham and the brethren who were in Great Britain: "There are many things of much importance on which you ask counsel, but which I think you will be perfectly able to decide upon, as you are more conversant with the peculiar circumstances than I am; and I feel great confidence in your united wisdom, therefore you will excuse me from entering into detail; if I should see anything that was wrong, I should take the privilege of making known my mind to you."[4] Brigham's brief journal record goes on: "April 18—1 accompanied Elder Woodruff to Burslem by railway and stage; stayed at Brother Samuel Johnson's." "April 19—I preached to the people in Hanley in the forenoon and evening; partook of the sacrament with the Saints in the afternoon. After evening meeting I accompanied Brother Woodruff and other brethren to Stoke-upon-Trent, and spent the night with Brother Hulme." "April 20—In company with Brother Woodruff I rode to Stafford, and from thence to Wolverhampton." April 21—We took coach to Dudley, and had a plain view of the old Dudley Castle, the age of which is not known; it is partly in ruins. We rode to Worcester, and spent several hours in the city, visited the noted ancient Cathedral, which is 400 feet in length, and contains, many fine specimens of sculpture of ancient bishops, lords and princes, some of which, historians say, have been there for 700 or 800 years, and are reported to be as fine specimens of statuary as can be found in Europe. Nearly every portion of this majestic edifice is carved out of solid marble; the pulpit is carved out of one block. It also contains, a small chapel hewn out of solid marble. The Church of England holds service in this cathedral twice each day in the year; we remained during the afternoon service, at the close of which we rode to Ledbury. "On the road we passed through the town of Malvern, at the base of Malvern Hills, the most beautiful range of hills in England, being among the highest and affording the most splendid prospect of the surrounding country for 30 miles. Surrounding one of the highest hills, which is called the Herefordshire Beacon, are many large intrenchments, one above another, supposed to have been made by the ancient Britons for a retreat in time of war. These hills have been a famed place of resort for the kings, queens, princes, lords and noblemen, and also the poets of England during the summer season. We had a view of Eastner Castle as we passed along. We spent the night at Mr. Francis Pullen's, having traveled 51 miles."[5] Brigham Young Visits John Benbow There lived at Froom's Hill a wealthy farmer, named John Benbow. Apostle Woodruff, who landed in England two months ahead of Brigham Young, had made fast friends and converts among the "United Brethren" of which sect Mr. Benbow was an influential member. After the Conference in Preston, Brigham Young accompanied his friend, Wilford Woodruff, over to the potteries of Staffordshire, traveling, preaching and baptizing in and around that vicinity for over a month. He does not enumerate all his baptisms or detail his labors, but what he tells is interesting as a proselyting document: "April 22—We walked to Froom's Hill and called upon Brother John Benbow, who received us kindly. We also had an interview with Elder Thomas Kington, and in the evening we held a meeting at Stanley Hill Branch, and ordained four priests and one teacher." "April 23—We walked to Morrends Cross, where I remained, and Elder Woodruff walked to Malvern Hills and preached." "April 24—1 preached at Malvern Hills and returned to John Benbow's, at Froom's Hill, where I remained till the 30th, preaching and writing letters to E. Robinson and Don C. Smith, also my wife and my brothers, John, Joseph and Lorenzo D. I baptized four. Elder Woodruff returned, having preached at Crowcut, Moorends Cross, and Ashfield, and baptized thirteen. I walked in company with Brother Woodruff to Dymock, where we met' Brother Willard Richards at Elder Kingston's, and spent the night together." "May 1—We walked to Ledbury, and mailed our letters; from thence to Froom's Hill, and stayed all night." "May 2—1 returned to Ledbury, where I remained preaching and baptizing until the 6th, when I proceeded to Lugwardine, _ and preached in the evening, and confirmed several." During the next two weeks Brigham traveled around preaching and baptizing. He visited Marden, Shucknell Hill, Lugnardine, Ledburg, Dymock and Turkey Hill. He writes: "May 17 (Sunday)—We met at Gadfield Elm chapel. Elder Woodruff preached in the forenoon; and while I was preaching in the afternoon, several opposers endeavored to raise a disturbance. I commanded peace and order in the name of the Lord, and by virtue of the laws of the land. Elder Richards and another brother went to the door, and peace was restored. We administered the sacrament, confirmed five, ordained four priests and one teacher." "May 18—Elders Woodruff, Richards and myself went to Brother Kington's, in Dymock, and baptized several. As it had been customary for the United Brethren, over whom Elder Kington had presided for several years, to have a feast on that day, Elder Kington prepared a least, and at 4 p. m. about 100 Saints congregated. I addressed them, much assisted by the Spirit of God, and asked the Lord to bless the food prepared for us, when we sat down and partook of the bounties presented on the occasion. Elder Richards made some appropriate remarks, and I followed him; after which we confirmed three, and ordained one elder and six priests. Three were baptized after meeting, making twenty baptized that day." "May 19—Brothers Richards, Woodruff and myself went to Keysend Street. I preached. After meeting Brother Woodruff baptized four, and Brother Richards and I confirmed them."[6] Wilford Woodruff's report of his friend's work in this place recorded in the Star, Vol. 1, Page 82: "Elder Young labored with us about one month, during which time many were baptized, confirmed, and numbers ordained to preach the Gospel; and the Saints were edified and their hearts made glad with the teaching and instruction of Elder Young." Supervises the Choice of Hymns. Publishes Book of Mormon and Hymn Book "May 20—Brothers Woodruff, Richards and myself went on to the top of the Herefordshire Beacon, where, after prayer, we held a council and agreed that, since we had obtained 250 pounds from Brother John Benbow, and 100 pounds from Brother Kington, towards publishing the Book of Mormon and Hymn Book, I should repair immediately to Manchester, and join the brethren appointed with me as a committee, and publish 300 copies of the Hymn Book without delay. It was also voted that the same committee publish 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon, with an index affixed."[7] Generous Farmer John Benbow! English converts and all musicians should honor his name. "May 21—Went to Burslem, and found Elders George A. Smith and Theodore Turley. Brother George A., approved pf the proceedings of the Beacon Council. I remained in Burslem until the 23rd, when I proceeded to Manchester and found Brother P. P. Pratt and the brethren all well." "May 24 (Sunday)—Met with the Saints at Manchester, and preached. Waited upon publishers to find out their prices, etc.[8] It is to be remembered that Brigham Young had worked in a printing office in his boyhood days. "Elder Taylor and Elder Kimball arrived in Manchester. The committee on the Hymn Book commenced, and we continued selecting hymns until the 30th, when in company with Elders Kimball and Taylor, I went to ^Liverpool and preached on Sunday, 31st."[9] First Company of Emigrants to Zion Brigham Young's organizing genius was never more ably demonstrated than in the simple yet effective manner in which he founded the European Emigration system. The Star, Vol II, page 3, announces that near 1,000 persons were emigrated during the first year, June, 1840 to May, 1841. Brigham writes: "June 1, 1840 (His birthday)—Brother Kimball and I met with the brethren about to sail for America, and organized the company." "June 6—The first company of Saints from England, numbering forty-one. souls, sailed for the land of Zion; John Moon, president." "June 11—Went to the Zoological Gardens. It rained, and I returned, thankful that I had a comfortable lodging place in my own hired house. After a conversation with Brother Pratt on the necessity of the elders having the power of God with them, I retired to my bed and soon fell asleep, and had a dream about my family being well."[10] An interesting side-light is thrown upon the screen in connection with this dream by Lorenzo Snow, who was called to go on a European mission in the spring of 1840. Before leaving Nauvoo he called at the homes of some of the Apostles' wives. He says in his history (Page 47) : "I found Sister Young occupying an unfinished log hut, with a loose floor and no chinking- between the logs; consequently the sides and ends of the hut were open, leaving the inmates exposed to wind and storms. When I called, she had just returned from a long, fatiguing and fruitless search for her milk cow, which had strayed the day before, and on which she depended for sustenance for her little ones. On my asking her what she wished me to say to her husband, she replied: 'You see my situation, but tell him not to trouble, or worry in the least about me—I wish him to remain in his field of labor until honorably released.' Her apparent poverty-stricken, destitute condition deeply stirred my sympathy. I had but little money—not sufficient to take me one-tenth the distance to my field of labor, with no prospect for obtaining the balance, and was then on the eve of starting. I drew from my pocket a portion of my small pittance and presented it, but she refused to accept. it. Partly with purpose, the money dropped on the floor, and rattled through the loose boards, which settled the dispute. Bidding her goodbye I left her to pick it up at her leisure." Of such women are the queens of heaven ! Does anyone wonder that Brigham Young loved and trusted his wife and wives? "June 21 (Sunday)—Brother P. P. Pratt and I preached to the Saints in Carpenter's Hall, for the first time after I had hired it. I remained with Brother Pratt, preparing the Hymn Book, until the 22nd, when I returned to Liverpool, to attend to the printing of the Book of Mormon. I went to Manchester on Friday, the 26th, and on Sunday, 28th, preached in the Hall. We finished the collection of hymns, and prepared the index for the press."[11] Brigham Young was a musician, a natural one, and a wise man, so that he was of great help to the poet-printer, Parley P. Pratt. Concerning the Hymn Book, the Prophet wrote to Brigham Young later: "I have been favored by receiving a Hymn Book from you, and as far as I have examined it, I highly approve of it and think it to be a very favorable collection. "You can use your own pleasure respecting the printing of the Doctrine and Covenants; if there be a great demand for them I have no objections but would rather encourage it. I can say, that as far as I have been acquainted with your movements, I am perfectly; satisfied that they have been in wisdom; and I have no doubt that the Spirit of the Lord has directed you, and it proves to my mind that you have been humble, and your desires have been for the salvation of your fellow-man and not for your own aggrandizement."[12] [1] Mil. Star, Vol. 25, pp. 711-712. [2] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [3] Mil. Star, Vol. 25, p. 727. [4] Mil. Star, Vol. 1, p. 266. [5] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [6] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [7] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [8] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [9] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [10] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [11] Mil. Star, Vol. 25. [12] Mil. Star, Vol. 1, page 267. |
Wilford Woodruff
HOME OF JOHN BENBOW, FROOM'S HILL, ENGLAND
Where Wilford Woodruff Preached L. D. S. SUNDAY SCHOOL, EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA
Organized December 5, 1926 |
Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences." Juvenile Instructor. August 1928. pg. 422-427.
Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences By Susa Young Gates IV. British Sunday Schools Considered by Brigham Young Following the July Conference in Manchester, Brigham recommended Parley P. Pratt to return to New York to get his wife and family. Parley was to be permanently located at Manchester, editing the Star and attending to other publication matters, as the rest of the Twelve were constantly traveling and preaching. While Parley was away, Brigham edited the Star, superintended the Hymn Book and Book of Mormon, read proof and remained in Manchester from July till October. It was during this period that a series of questions were asked by Elder Joseph Fielding of the Editor of the Star, and among these questions was one which pertained to Sunday Schools. These questions and answers were published in the August number, 1840, and the 10th question read: "Would it be well to establish Sunday School in the Church?" How like Brigham Young is the succinct yet comprehensive answer which might apply as aptly to the Sunday Schools of today as to those contemplated in the reply given eighty-eight years ago. "Answer: Certainly; let the elders gather the people together, old and young, every Sabbath day, in the streets, if no more convenient place offers, and teach them the first principles of the Gospel of Christ, viz.—faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, for the first lesson; eating and drinking at the table of the Lord, laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment for the second lesson; and for the third lesson, let parents teach their children obedience, and train them in the way they should go; and finally, let the elders, brothers and sisters, with one accord, teach their friends and neighbors, and all within their reach, those principles which will make them virtuous and wise unto salvation, and practice what they preach on the Sabbath and six other days in each week, even unto the end. And they will find it a very profitable school and receive a glorious reward for their labors." (Vol. I, pp. 95, 96.) Takes Full Charge of Editing the "Star," the Hymn Book and Other Publications "July 12—I preached in Carpenter's Hall in the morning, and brother Woodruff in the evening. We confirmed four. Soon after our conference brother P. P. Pratt started for America to bring his family to England, and I took charge of the Millennial Star, and edited the same, assisted by Brother W. Richards. I was much confined to the office for several months, proof-reading the Hymn Book, conducting and issuing the Millennial Star, Hymn Book and Book of Mormon, giving counsel to the elders throughout the European Mission, preaching, baptizing and confirming." Sends Second Company of Emigrants to Zion "September 5—I went from Manchester to Liverpool, accompanied by Brother W. Richards, and in the evening organized a company of Saints to sail for the land of Zion. Elder Theodore Turley was appointed to preside, with six counselors. 8—The "North America" sailed with 200 souls. Brother Richards and I accompanied the Saints about fifteen or twenty miles; left them in good spirits and returned to Manchester on the 10th." "Brother John Benbow, who had furnished two hundred and fifty pounds sterling towards printing the Hymn Book and Book of Mormon, relinquished all claim to said money, except such assistance as his friends, who might wish to emigrate to America the next season, might need, leaving the remainder at the disposal of Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff and myself, who borrowed said moneys for the benefit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints forever: also the avails of the Gadfield Elm Chapel, when sold, which money we paid out in emigrating brethren to Nauvoo." God bless the memory of John Benbow! "Manchester, October 6—I attended a general conference held in the Carpenter's Hall. Elders H. C. Kimball. O. Pratt, W. Richards, W. Woodruff and George A. Smith, were present. Elder O. Pratt was chosen to preside, and Elder George Walker, clerk. There were represented 3,626 members, 81 Elders, 222 Priests, 74 Teachers and 26 Deacons, showing an increase for the last three months of 1,113 members, 25 Elders, 96 Priests, 15 Teachers and 13 Deacons. A call being made for volunteers to labor in the ministry, 10 High Priests, 13 Elders and 19 Priests gave in their names. A fund was established by the voluntary contributions of the Saints for the support and clothing of laborers in the vineyard, whose circumstances might require it." This was an increase of over 2,000 converts in the six months work of the Apostles in England. "7—I sat in council with the Twelve and several other officers. In the evening attended a discussion between Elder Alfred Cordon and Mr. John Berry, who attempted to prove the Book of Mormon false, and baptism by immersion not essential to salvation. Elder Cordon replied, proving the Book of Mormon true, and baptism by immersion a Gospel ordinance and essential to salvation. There were about 1,500 people present. "8—Attended council with the Twelve, when it was voted unanimously that Elder Richards take charge of the Millennial Star." "11 (Sunday)—I preached in the morning in the Carpenter's Hall. Afternoon, Elders Kimball and Woodruff confirmed nine. We administered the sacrament. 1 preached in the evening to an attentive congregation of about 1,500." "Preston, October 21—Went to Preston with Brother Kimball. Stayed with Brother Burrows." While in and around Preston for the next ten days, meeting's and councils were held daily. Baptisms were frequent. "29--Elder Kimball and I went to Southport, accompanied by Elders Peter Melling, James Whitehead, Robert McBride and wife, and Sister Alice Highton. The Patriarch blessed us, and prophesied, that there were those present who should not sleep in the grave until they should see the Son of man come in His glory — namely, Bi-6ther Kimball and myself." Brigham notes travelling by coach to Liverpool on the 30th. He had walked hundreds of miles already. Brigham Introduces Street Preaching "8 (Sunday)—I had organized the Priesthood in Manchester to meet every Sabbath morning, and distribute themselves throughout the different parts of the city to preach in the streets. In this way they occupied about forty preaching stations, at each one of which the congregation was notified of our regular meetings in the Carpenter's Hall. This so annoyed the sectarians, particularly the Methodists, that they made complaints to the mayor, who issued an order to have all street preachers arrested. I went to the Priesthood meeting in the morning, and felt impressed to tell the brethren to go home. The police, who had been instructed to arrest all street preachers that morning, took up about twenty, who all proved to be Methodists. When the magistrate learned they were not 'Mormons,' they were dismissed."[1] "15 (Sunday)—I went to Duckinfield with Elder Charles Miller, and preached in the forenoon. In the interval heard a gentleman and his daughter play beautifully on a double harp. Met with the Church in the afternoon; then went to Stockport and preached in the evening, and returned to Manchester." "21—In company with Brothers Levi and Willard Richards, I went to Bolton and attended council meeting in the evening with the authorities of the Branch. Stayed with Brother Adam Young."[2] "24—I started for London in company with Elder Kimball. Went by railway to Stockport, and from thence by coach to Macclesfield, and stayed with Brother James Galley, the presiding elder, and counseled the Saints."' "30—We took the cars[3] for London, where we arrived at 6 p. m., and found Brother Woodruff well and in good spirits." "31—We visited the Tower of London, the Horse Armory, the Jewel Room and the Thames Tunnel. I preached in the evening in Barrett's Academy." "5—I walked out with Brother Woodruff to try and find the Book of Mormon, having heard that it was published and for sale by some unknown person, but could not learn anything about it." Attends Cathedral Services in St. Paul's "6 (Sunday)—With Elder Kimball and Robert Williams I attended service at St. Paul's Cathedral this morning. Met with the Saints at Barrett's Academy at 3 p. m.; Brother Kimball preached; about fifty present. In the evening I preached, and was followed by Brothers Kimball and Woodruff. We had a very interesting meeting; one person applied for baptism. Several of the Aitkenites were present; they wished us to call upon them — thought they would be baptized; one of them purchased a hymn book. Afterwards the Saints met at Father Connor's, and partook of the sacrament."[4] "December 7—Elders Kimball, Woodruff and I accompanied Dr. Copeland to the College of Surgeons, and went through every department of it. We also visited the National Gallery. Brother Kimball baptized one." "9—We visited St. Paul's Cathedral, and went through each apartment from the crypt to the ball, which is about 400 feet high. We crossed London Bridge and the Iron Bridge over the Thames, and also visited the British Museum." "10—We walked over Blackfriar's Bridge and called at Zion's Chapel, to attend a sacrament meeting of the Aitkenites, but they refused us admittance, fearing lest we should break up their society. In the evening. Elder Woodruff preached, and Brother Kimball and I bore a plain and forcible testimony." Visits Ledbury, Herefordshire "20 (Sunday)—I preached in the morning at Froom's Hill, and in the afternoon and evening at Stanley Hill. Stayed at brother Oakey's, and had a good time with the Saints." "21—Attended conference at Stanley Hill. I find fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, wherever I go." "25—I attended a conference at Hanley, Staffordshire Potteries, with Elder Geo. A. Smith. There was represented an increase of 6 Elders, 26 Priests, 10 Teachers, 9 Deacons, and 356 members since last July conference. We had a good time, and gave the Saints much instruction. We ordained 6 Elders, 4 Teachers and 3 Deacons. Stayed with Brother Geo, A., at Samuel Johnson's." "29—Went to Liverpool and paid the printer an installment of money. Brother Taylor had gone to Harden.'' "January 1, 1841—I attended a conference in Liverpool, Elders P. P. Pratt and John Taylor were present. The work of God was reported to be progressing favorably in the regions round about, and also in Wales and Ireland." Prepares Article for the "Star" "Brother Willard Richards and I wrote a lengthy article on Election and Reprobation for the Millennial Star." "6—We went to Longton and saw Brother William Blackhurst, from America. Found him well and administered to him. He brought us good news from our families. We returned to Preston, where we remained until the 8th, visiting among the Saints." "9—We went to Clitheroe and found Elder Richards. Stayed at Brother Stephen Longstroth's."[5] "10—We attended conference and preached to the Saints. We had a profitable time, and remained with the brethren until the 12th, when Brother Richards went to his father-in-law's, the Rev. John Richards, minister of the Independent Church, and I went to Manchester, where I found Brother Pratt's family all well." An interesting side-light on the first publication of the Book of Mormon in Europe, is given by the Historian Tullidge who wrote: "Before leaving England, Brigham Young, who had succeeded in raising means to publish the Book of Mormon, gave direction for copies to be specially prepared and richly bound for presentation to her Majesty and the Prince Consort. The honor of this devolved _ on Lorenzo Snow, who was at that time president of the London conference. The presentation was made in 1842 through the politeness of Sir Henry Wheatley; and it is said her Majesty was pleased with the gift." ( Women of Mormondom, p. 79.) Proof-Reads the Book of Mormon "18—Brother Willard and I commenced reading the Book of Mormon, and preparing an index to the English edition, "21—.We completed the index, which was immediately put in type, and finished the printing of the first English edition of 5.000 copies. I preached at Brother Green's." Sends Third Company of Emigrants to Zion "6—Elders Richards, Taylor and I met at Brother Richard Harrison's, and organized the company of Saints emigrating on the ship "Sheffield," Capt. Porter, Elder Hyrum Clark, president." "7—The "Sheffield" sailed with 235 Saints." "11—I met in counsel with Elders Richards and Taylor, and set apart the presidency over the ship "Echo," Daniel Browett, president. I was engaged in writing letters to the Twelve and presiding elders throughout the kingdom in relation to emigration. I wrote to Elder Geo. A. Smith in relation to the Twelve returning home, and as to emigration; also informing him that the Book of Mormon was bound, and for sale at 5 s. per copy, retail." Fourth Company Emigrated "16—I remained in Liverpool. The ship "Echo," Capt. Wood, sailed with 109 souls."[6] Fifth Company Emigrated "1—Elder Kimball and I went to Liverpool, where we met Elders Richards and Taylor, and appointed Thomas Smith and William Moss to take charge of the Saints about to sail on the ship "Alesto." In the evening attended a blessing-meeting." "12:—Attending to the brethren about to sail for America, and in the evening attended a blessing-meeting at Brother Mitchell's. 17.—The "Alesto" sailed with 54 Saints. With Brother Reuben Hedlock I visited the Saints in Harden; he preached in the evening. Stayed all night with Brother Joseph Ellis." "25, 26, 27—Brother Richards and myself were detained at the Liverpool post office as witnesses in the case of 'The Queen v. Joseph Holloway,' for not delivering letters in due season. We were also engaged packing and sending off Books of Mormon to pay those who had loaned us money to carry forward the printing and binding."[7] "April 15—Elders O. Pratt, W. Richards, George A. Smith, Levi Richards and myself, having bid the Saints in Manchester good-bye, went to Liverpool, and arrived in time to attend a tea-party at the Music Hall, where 200 Saints were seated at table together. I addressed the meeting a short time, and was followed by several of the Twelve. At the close of the party the Twelve met a few moments, and agreed to sail on Tuesday." Prepares to Return to Zion "19—We spent the day in getting our baggage on board, intending to draw out into the river, but the wind being unfavorable, we remained on shore." "20—Elders H. C. Kimball, O. Pratt, W. Woodruff, J. Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, W, Richards and family, myself and a company of 130 Saints, went on board the ship 'Rochester,' Captain Woodhouse, at Liverpool, for New York. We gave the parting hand to Elders O. Hyde and P. P. Pratt, and a multitude of Saints who stood upon the dock to see us start. We drew out into the river Mersey, and cast anchor in sight of Liverpool, where we spent the day and night." Brigham Young Summarizes His Own and Associates' Labors in Establishing the European Mission "It was with a heart full of thanksgiving and gratitude to God, my Heavenly Father, that I reflected upon His dealings with me and my brethren of the Twelve during the past year of my life, which was spent in England. It truly seemed a miracle to look upon the contrast between our landing and departing from Liverpool. We landed in the spring of 1840, as strangers in a strange land and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established Churches in almost every noted town and city in the kingdom of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand, printed 5,000 Books of Mormon, 3,000 Hymn Books, 2,500 volumes of the Millennial Star, and 50,000 tracts, and emigrated to Zion 1,000 souls, established a permanent shipping agency, which will be a great blessing to the Saints, and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth, which will bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God, and yet we have lacked nothing to eat, drink, or wear; in all these things I acknowledge the hand of God." On Board Ship "April 21—The wind is favorable; busily engaged nailing down and lashing our luggage to prepare for sea. The anchor weighed and sails spread at 12 m. We had a good breeze through the day, but nearly all the passengers were sea-sick and vomited at a dreadful rate. The Twelve and the Saints occupied the second cabin, other passengers occupied the steerage. The fare was 3 pounds 15s." "The 'Rochester' was a fast sailing- ship, about 900 tons burthen, and passed all the ships that went out of port with us, among which was the 'Oxford,' of the Black Ball Line.”[8] "April 28—Strong head winds, which increased to a tempest. The sails were close reefed, the tempest raging furiously, sea running mountains high. We shipped heavy seas, and, while in the midst of this scenery, the cry of help was heard in our cabin; we rushed to the scene and found the ropes giving way and breaking which held about 40 tons of luggage, piled up between decks, consisting of heavy trunks, chests and barrels, which, if once liberated from their confinement, would with one surge be hurled with great force into the berths of men, women, and children, and would have endangered the lives of all. "On seeing the foundation of this mass giving way, Elders Richards, Woodruff, Pratt and others sprang to the place of danger and braced themselves against the baggage and held it for a few moments until we partially secured it, when the captain sent several sailors with ropes, who made the same fast and secure. When this was done I repaired to the aft quarterdeck with brothers Kimball. Richards, Woodruff and Smith and gazed upon the grandeur of the raging tempest and the movements of the ship for a short time. We all went below, except Elders Woodruff and Richards, who remained until a heavy sea broke over the quarter deck, which thoroughly drenched Brother Woodruff; Brother Richards was partially saved by throwing himself under the bulwarks; they then thought it best to leave, and followed our example by coming below. We did not sleep much during the night, for boxes, barrels and tins were tumbling from one end of the cabin to the other, and in the steerage 15 berths were thrown down, nine at one surge, all the men, women and children thrown together in a pile; but no lives were lost nor bones' broken." "29—The gale has ceased; sea rough; sun shines pleasantly; a fair wind for the first time since the day of sailing. We are sailing ten knots an hour; nearly all had a good night's rest; I was very sick and distressed in my head and stomach." "30—Fine breeze; sailing ten knots an hour; fears entertained that the ship was on fire, as smoke arose, but it was found to come from the cook's galley. Brother Woodruff, in the morning, was requested to carry the dishes to the cook for washing; he got his hands full of dishes of various kinds, and, as he stepped to the door of the galley, the ship gave a dreadful lurch and rocked until her studding sails reached the water; this unexpected heave plunged Brother Woodruff head foremost about ten feet, the whole width of the galley. The cook, in trying to save him, fell on the top of him. As this was his first introduction to the galley since he had been at sea, he begged the cook's pardon for such an abrupt entrance and withdrew, leaving the cook with three smashed fingers to pick up his dishes at leisure, they being scattered from one end of the galley to the other. When the cook saw me, he beseeched me very earnestly, whoever I sent to the galley, for mercy's sake never to send Mr. Woodruff again, as he came nigh getting killed by him."[9] "May 7-—Head winds and very foggy. A storm arose in the evening from the southwest. The sail-s were close reefed, the heavens gathered blackness, and the sea piled up into mountains. In the midst of this a fight ensued between the cook and the Irish, which was stopped by the first mate. We had the roughest night we had experienced on the voyage;, the soars and other things were afloat on the main deck."[10] Lands on American Shores "20—Warm, pleasant weather. We commenced early in the morning to get our luggage on deck. There was a fight between the carpenter and second mate, which was ended by the first mate striking the carpenter with a junk bottle, and, as he went to strike the second blow, I caught his arm and prevented him." "Two quarantine lighters came alongside the 'Rochester' and took all the passengers and baggage to the Custom House, where we had to unload all the baggage, which was inspected by the officers, after which we reloaded on board the lighters, which took us to New York City." "When we arrived at the docks, we found' them covered with horses and drays and a great crowd of draymen and pick-pockets who stood ready to leap on board and devour all our baggage, and, because we were unwilling to be robbed and felt disposed to do our own business without being forced to measures by draymen, they cursed and swore at a dreadful rate, and acted more like savages than civilized men; but, after much difficulty, we got our goods out of the lighters and loaded on drays, and had to keep constant guard over them to keep them from being stolen. Many attempts were made to steal our baggage. I collared some of the thieves, and threatened to throw them overboard if they would not let it alone. I was under the necessity of striking their fingers to keep them from carrying off the trunks they laid hold of." "We were until ten o'clock at night getting from the docks to an inn. We were all very much fatigued, for we had been constantly handling boxes, chests, barrels and trunks from sunrise till ten p. m., without eating or drinking. We took supper about midnight, and laid down to rest at the Battery Pavilion." "21—Brother Kimball, O. Pratt and myself took lodgings at the house of Elder Adams." "22, (Sunday)—The Twelve met in council in the morning. Elders Kimball, Pratt, Woodruff and myself gave an account of our mission to England to the Saints in the Columbian Hall, Grand Street."[11] Returns to Nauvoo "June 1—I returned to New York, and on the 4th, in company with Elders Kimball and Taylor, I left for Nauvoo by way of Philadelphia. "July 1—We arrived in Nauvoo, and were cordially welcomed by the Prophet Joseph, our families and the Saints." Released from Further Missionary Labors Through Revelation "9—President Smith called on me at my house, when he received the following revelation: "Dear and well-beloved Brother Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me; I have seen your labor and toil in journeyings for my name. I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this time, henceforth, and forever. Amen."[12] [1] Mil. Star, Vol. 25, pp. 759-761. [2] No relation to Brigham Young. [3] Stephenson's Pioneer R. R. System between Manchester and London was but ten years old at this time. [4] Mil. Star. Vol. 25, pp. 775-776. [5] Grandfather of Apostle George F. Richards. [6] MiI. Star, Vol. 25, p. 807. [7] Mil. Star, Vol. 25, p. 808. [8] Mil. Star. Vol. 26, p. 7. [9] MilI. Star, Vol. 26, p. 24. [10] Mil. Star, Vol. 26, p. 40. [11] Mil. Star, Vol. 26, p. 71. Also Sec. 136 Doc. and Cov. [12] Mil. Star, Vol. 26, p. 71. |
BRIGHAM YOUNG
HEBER C. KIMBALL.
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Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences." Juvenile Instructor. September 1928. pg. 477-480.
Brigham Young's Missionary Experiences By Susa Young Gates V. — Conclusion Brigham Young's return to Nauvoo was hailed with joy by the Prophet Joseph, and at once he was commissioned to perform local missionary work, such as calling out other missionaries, purchasing Church lands, and settling of Saints and emigrants thereon. August 16, 1841, Brigham was called to preside over a special conference. The minutes state : "At a special conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in the city of Nauvoo, August 16th, 1841, Elder Brigham Young was unanimously appointed to preside over the conference and Elias Smith and Lorenzo Barnes were appointed clerks. "Singing by the choir; conference opened by prayer by the President. "The object of the conference was then presented by the president, who stated that President Joseph Smith (who was then absent on account of the death of his child) had called a special conference to transact certain items of business necessary to be done previous to the October conference, such as to select men of experience to send forth into the vineyard, take measures to assist emigrants who may arrive at the places of gathering, and prevent impositions being practiced upon them by unprincipled speculators, etc., and he hoped that no one could view him and his brethren as aspiring, because they had come forward to take part in the proceedings before them, for he could assure the brethren that nothing could be further from his wishes, and those of his Quorum, than to interfere with Church affairs at Zion and her stakes; for he had been in the vineyard so long, he had become attached to foreign missions, and nothing could induce him to retire therefrom and attend to the affairs of the Church at home but a sense of duty, the requirements of heaven, or the revelations of God, to which he would always submit, be the consequence what it might; and the brethren of his Quorum responded, 'Amen.' " At the close of this conference the Twelve called at the home of the Prophet, who was ill, to report proceedings and "to comfort the Prophet in his afflictions." The Prophet attended the next meeting, and the minutes continue : "President Joseph Smith now arriving, proceeded to state to the conference, at considerable length, the object of the present meeting, and in addition to what President Young had stated in the morning said that the time had come when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to the First Presidency, and attend to the settling of emigrants and the business of the Church at the stakes, and assist to bear off the kingdom victorious to the nations; and as they had been faithful and had borne the burden in the heat of the day, that it was right that they should have an opportunity of providing something for themselves and families, and at the same time relieve him, so that he might attend to the business of translating." When the baptismal font of the Temple was dedicated, Nov. 8, 1841, the Prophet called upon Brigham to offer the dedicatory prayer. Brigham said : "This is the first font erected and dedicated for the baptism of the dead in this dispensation." On the 21st, Brigham baptized forty persons in the font for their dead,. Brothers Richards, Woodruff and George A. Smith confirming. Brigham records that "these were the first baptisms for the dead in the font." Thus he was called by God, under the inspiration of his beloved Prophet Joseph Smith, to open the door of earthly vicarious missionary work for the spirits in prison. How significant is this fact in viewing his future Temple labors in the Rocky Mountains. On May 26th, 1842, Brigham, Heber, Willard and Bishop Whitney received their endowments under the hands of the Prophet. Brigham Young remained in and around Nauvoo for one year in executive labor. Brigham moved his family into his new house June 1st, 1843, his birthday. That same evening he was called by the Prophet to take another mission east, to obtain funds and donations with which to build the Nauvoo House and to complete the Nauvoo Temple. He visited many localities where the saints were; preached in Louisville, Kentucky; on to Cincinnati; took steamer for Pittsburg, preaching and counseling by the way. Through Alleghany City and on to Baltimore he and his brethren, Elders Page and Kimball, took their way. In Baltimore he listened to a Millerite preacher holding forth about the Jews—who would not go back to their old home but unite with other nations against Jerusalem. Brigham scored such false interpretations of Bible prophecies. He went on to Philadelphia, then to New York, While there Brigham spoke about the need of Temples, closing his remarks thus : "The scriptures have been mystified to that degree, that the greatest divines of the day are as ignorant as the dumb ass concerning the things of God; comparatively they don't know their right hand from their left. We are trying to revere the scriptures, and to make them so simple that the people can understand them. Place a man in this room who is ignorant of science, and take everything out that we can see, and then ask him if there is anything in the room. He will say no, only we two. I tell him that there are millions of live animals in the room, that we even breathe them, and I will show him by the aid of the microscope, that there are live animals in a drop of water, which appear to be eight feet long; but he won't believe it until he sees them through the magnifying glass. So with the unbeliever in revelation—he does not believe in God, in angels, or in spirits, because he cannot see them; but let him have spiritual glasses, or obey the commandments of God, get the spirit of God, and then he can see the truth." Brigham then visited Boston, the Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, Lynn, Salem, and Marble Head, returning to New York and starting on the return trip Oct. 1st, 1843, by way of Philadelphia, reaching Nauvoo Oct. 22, 1843. The following winter he labored on the Nauvoo Temple and Nauvoo House, and had charge of settling newcomers onto lands and farms around Nauvoo, and was constantly in council with the Prophet and his associates. Meanwhile, the political situation in the U. S. was at fever heat with the questions of slavery and states rights fermenting in every convention and governmental policy. The Prophet was persuaded by his friends to enter the national campaign as a presidential candidate. His close friends in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles started out on a joint political and proselyting campaign, going from Nauvoo, May 21st, 1844, east to St. Louis, to Pittsburg and all the large cities. Brigham notes his arrival in Cincinnati and his visit with Lyman Wight, his stay at Kirtland, and then on to Buffalo. He visited Salem, Mass., where his daughter Vilate was going to school and studying music. Then to Boston, where he was June 27th, the day of the Martyrdom, and he speaks of the heavy depression which rested upon himself and companion, Wilford Woodruff, during that awful day. He went on up to Peterboro and surrounding towns, back to Peterboro, July 16th, where the news of the Nauvoo tragedy first reached him. He called in the Twelve by letter, to hasten their return to Nauvoo, himself reaching there, Aug. 6th, 1844. Thus ended the individual travelling labors of Brigham Young the missionary. From that hour he travelled and preached as the leader and representative of the Church of Christ. In the twelve years of his active personal missionary labors Brigham visited most of the Eastern cities, Canada, and travelled one year throughout England. He had covered over 15,000 miles in the U. S. and Europe, baptized hundreds if not thousands, and as he once said, "his zeal was like a flaming fire that almost consumed his very bones." He was not an orator as were Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. and Orson Pratt, but he had an inspired power that penetrated the souls of his hearers, leaving them convinced if not converted. Missionary Work Among the Indians or Lamanites. Perhaps no phase of missionary activity was so complete, so far-reaching as the work established by Brigham Young among the various tribes of Indians in the Western lands. It is interesting to note that the Prophet Joseph himself called Brigham to go and preach to the Indians in May, 1853. "This," said the Prophet, "will open the doors to all the seed of Joseph." Brigham started on his mission in company with the Twelve, returning to Kirtland in September.[1] The blessing given for that appointment promised Brigham that he should be looked upon by these dusky tribes, even as a god. Not until, however, the Exodus and settlement of Utah and surrounding territories was this prophecy fulfilled. Brigham's policy of friendly arbitration, of friendship and honest dealings with the Indians, as man to man, won the reverence, nay almost the worship of the dusky tribes who roamed about these valleys. "Feed the Indians, don't fight them," was his mottoed policy. He sent out hundreds of friendly and wise scouts to carry these ideas and ideals. What names of brave men and wise Indian ambassadors are thereby inscribed on the annals of Utah history as the scroll of memory enrolls. Chief among them being, Dimick B. Huntington, Ammon Tenny. The Perpetual Emigration Fund. The long trail undertaken by Brigham Young and his associates, beginning in Nauvoo Feb. 15, 1846, and ending July 24, 1847, was both a mission and an exodus; but before leaving Nauvoo, in the midst of mobs and drivings, Brigham called and organized missions and missionaries to countries far and near. The Prophet had established proselytingcontacts with nine missions, one in the United States, one in Canada, one in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales each, one in Australia, one in Palestine, and one in the Society Islands, between the years 1830 and 1844. Brigham Young established missions in twenty countries between 1847 and 1853, and five others between 1861 and 1876. He might not take part in this glorious work himself, but he could and did call other men by the thousands, to enjoy this exalted privilege. Then he undertook the organization of a Bureau or a Fund which should operate through raising means among the Saints in Zion to emigrate the poor from foreign lands. This was the famous Perpetual Emigration Fund, organized September 9, 1849, and later incorporated and functioning under the charge of the Presiding Bishop of the Church. It was operated on the principle of perpetual succession, the sums loaned to emigrants to be returned when the converts could repay after locating in Zion. This fund had reached a total of $1,604,000 in 1880, when, at the Jubilee Conference, one half of the debt was remitted in favor of the most worthy of the emigrants. Many had neglected or were unable to pay. The Church was a lenient friend and many were forgiven. Between the years 1852 and 1883 over 78,219 emigrants sailed from Liverpool to Salt Lake City. What a stupendous enterprise and what glorious results! Brigham Young, as a missionary President, traveled up and down this and surrounding states and territories from Idaho to Colorado, preaching, exhorting, comforting and blessing the people from the time that he founded Utah till his peaceful death, Aug. 29, 1877. He was and is today a lowly follower of the Master Missionary, Jesus of Nazareth. Brigham himself describes his mission. Said he: “When I came into this Church, I started right out as a missionary and took a text, the Gospel of Salvation my subject, and the world my circuit.”[2] One may well add, “The world of spirits in prison is now the missionary circuit of Brigham Young.” Once a missionary, always a missionary in this Church and Kingdom. [1] Tullidge's Life of Brigham Young, p. 81. [2] Journal of Discourses, 9:7. |
President Brigham Young and Family
Painted in the Mansion House, Nauvoo, about 1844, by a Brother Rogers, whose first name is unknown. Left to right: Brigham Young, Joseph A. Young, Brigham, Jr. and twin, Mary Ann Angell Young (wife of Brigham Young, child on her knee, John W. Young), child by her side, Alice; child standing by Brigham Young, Luna. BRIGHAM YOUNG'S RESIDENCE IN NAUVOO, STILL STANDING. BUILT IN 1843.
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Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1929. pg. 619.
Brigham Young A FEW weeks ago, Mrs. Maria Y. Dougall, a daughter of President Brigham Young and now in her eightieth year, presented me with the original picture of President Young shown on the opposite page. When or where it was taken there is nothing to indicate, but I have consulted with Brother Junius F. Wells, who is a connoisseur of early- Utah pictures, and our joint opinion is that this is one of the very earliest photographs ever made in Utah, taken perhaps in the early 50's when President Young was Governor of the State. June 1 marks the 128th anniversary of President Young's birth, and it is almost 52 years since he passed beyond, here in the city that he founded, but his memory is ever present with us. For he was truly a great man, a hero, a prophet, a peerless leader of a great people. I like to regard his fine features as shown in this splendid photograph. That calm yet determined expression, which is so expressive of all his acts, for early in his youth, this man set himself to but one task—"To build up the Church and kingdom of God." For over forty years, he labored and continued at it with all his heart and soul, to the last breath of his life. Having once determined upon his duty, he continued on and on until the victory was won. What an example President Young is to the youth of Zion. He exemplifies all the good attributes that a Latter-day Saint should have. A religious mind, the desire to worship, loyalty to his Church, and to his leaders, the ability to work intelligently, fearlessness, courage, and the will to succeed. Such a man is truly a gift from Heaven, a precious heritage to all who come after him. Preston Nibley. |
President Brigham Young
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Gates, Susa Young. "Brigham Young's Testimony." Improvement Era. June 1929. pg. 637-638.
Brigham Young's Testimony
By His Daughter Susa Young Gates
AS Joseph Smith was a humble follower of the Savior, so likewise was Brigham Young. He added to that passionate devotion to the Master a fervent loyalty to the mission and message of the new witness for Christ, the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Brigham was 31 years old when converted to "Mormonism." He had long been a student of the scriptures and ancient prophecies. From the hour he struck hands with Joseph, he was his friend and supporter. Church history demonstrates that loyalty. No greater proof of the majesty of the Prophet's character and the lofty standard of his message ever came to me in the days of my youth than the love and profound respect felt by my father for him.
Father did not appear prominently in Church events and history until after the martyrdom. My study of those early scenes, the corroborating testimony of such men as Presidents Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon, together with that of my dear Aunt Emily Partridge Smith-Young, have convinced me of his devotion. Subsequent historians have featured him in those early days, because of his later life's history. He was intensely loyal then to his adored leader, whose own close associates weakened at times, and some of them apostatized. But Brigham Young never wavered. He stood at the gateway of deceit and betrayal, by some of the Church leaders, and denounced them bitterly. He even horse-whipped one apostate who was crying in the Kirtland streets. "Joseph is a fallen prophet."
All this I did not know in my youth. I only saw my own father as supreme leader that he was, "pioneer, statesman, prophet," as his memorial tablet recently prepared declares.
My father was not only loved and honored by the people; he was adored by his own large family. They might, at times, disagree with each other—we are all human—but none of them, neither wife nor child, ever disagreed with him as far as I ever heard. And that not because of fear. Oh, no, never fear! But because we loved him so well, and he loved us so devotedly.
When I was in my early twenties and struggling to get a testimony of the truth, I went to my father with my problem. He did not argue with me: he did not quote scripture. He said simply:
"There is only one way, daughter, that you can get a testimony, and that is the way your mother got hers and the way I got mine. Go down on your knees in humble prayer, and God will answer your petition."
I spoke about his greatness and his wondrous life, and expressed my gratitude that I had been permitted to come to earth as his and my mother's child. He—Oh, he was my wonderful ideal, and he had so powerful a testimony. I longed to have one like his.
"My daughter, what am I?" he said humbly. "If it hadn't been for the message of Joseph Smith, I would today be a carpenter in a country village."
And then he added solemnly:
"Sooner than do anything to lose my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I would be cut into inch pieces every night of my life and put together again to take up the labors of the day."
His last words on earth as he was falling asleep in the arms of death were: "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph!"
His face was transfigured with the joy of that heavenly reunion.
Can I doubt his testimony?
Brigham Young's Testimony
By His Daughter Susa Young Gates
AS Joseph Smith was a humble follower of the Savior, so likewise was Brigham Young. He added to that passionate devotion to the Master a fervent loyalty to the mission and message of the new witness for Christ, the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Brigham was 31 years old when converted to "Mormonism." He had long been a student of the scriptures and ancient prophecies. From the hour he struck hands with Joseph, he was his friend and supporter. Church history demonstrates that loyalty. No greater proof of the majesty of the Prophet's character and the lofty standard of his message ever came to me in the days of my youth than the love and profound respect felt by my father for him.
Father did not appear prominently in Church events and history until after the martyrdom. My study of those early scenes, the corroborating testimony of such men as Presidents Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon, together with that of my dear Aunt Emily Partridge Smith-Young, have convinced me of his devotion. Subsequent historians have featured him in those early days, because of his later life's history. He was intensely loyal then to his adored leader, whose own close associates weakened at times, and some of them apostatized. But Brigham Young never wavered. He stood at the gateway of deceit and betrayal, by some of the Church leaders, and denounced them bitterly. He even horse-whipped one apostate who was crying in the Kirtland streets. "Joseph is a fallen prophet."
All this I did not know in my youth. I only saw my own father as supreme leader that he was, "pioneer, statesman, prophet," as his memorial tablet recently prepared declares.
My father was not only loved and honored by the people; he was adored by his own large family. They might, at times, disagree with each other—we are all human—but none of them, neither wife nor child, ever disagreed with him as far as I ever heard. And that not because of fear. Oh, no, never fear! But because we loved him so well, and he loved us so devotedly.
When I was in my early twenties and struggling to get a testimony of the truth, I went to my father with my problem. He did not argue with me: he did not quote scripture. He said simply:
"There is only one way, daughter, that you can get a testimony, and that is the way your mother got hers and the way I got mine. Go down on your knees in humble prayer, and God will answer your petition."
I spoke about his greatness and his wondrous life, and expressed my gratitude that I had been permitted to come to earth as his and my mother's child. He—Oh, he was my wonderful ideal, and he had so powerful a testimony. I longed to have one like his.
"My daughter, what am I?" he said humbly. "If it hadn't been for the message of Joseph Smith, I would today be a carpenter in a country village."
And then he added solemnly:
"Sooner than do anything to lose my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I would be cut into inch pieces every night of my life and put together again to take up the labors of the day."
His last words on earth as he was falling asleep in the arms of death were: "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph!"
His face was transfigured with the joy of that heavenly reunion.
Can I doubt his testimony?
Miller, John T. "Character of President Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1929. pg. 639-641.
Character of President Brigham Young
By Dr. John T. Miller
IN celebrating the birthday of the great pioneer of the West, Brigham Young, the time is opportune to call attention to the high estimate of him given by the leading students of human nature in America who were personally acquainted with him.
The Science of Life, by Prof. O. S. Fowler, issued in 1873, contains a photo of President Young and above his head are printed the words, "Nearly Perfect Manhood." He is classed with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Bismarck and other leading characters of the world. In his book, Human Science, issued during the life of Brigham Young, Prof. Fowler describes the human temperaments and then says: "Brigham Young had this union of all the temperaments, large yet equal. He is about six feet high, yet perfectly symmetrical, though a little way off he seems too stocky. He is broad from one shoulder to the other, yet also deep through from breast bone to shoulder blades, and his chest runs far down besides. In 1 843 he and most of his present apostles came incognito under my hands, and when I came to him, putting my hands on his immense chest, I exclaimed: 'You, sir, have vital force sufficient to live a hundred and fifty years.' He is very broad-built yet sharp-featured, and has a muscular system of remarkable power; besides being very florid thus embodying all the conditions of true greatness or tremendous power of body and mind, and only one thus organized could have accomplished what he has. His organization corrected and greatly enhanced my estimation of him."
The best book on the human temperaments that has been written is by D. H. Jacques, M. D., first issued more than half a century ago. He devoted a part to "The Mormon Leader." He makes many favorable remarks about the character of Brigham Young and concludes with this statement: "The basis of his character lay in his massive trunk, the never-failing source of that vital affluence which sustains, vivifies, warms, and quickens body and brain alike. The superstructure had the strength of sinew and the force of character imparted by the muscular constitution, and the intellectual ability and moral influence which come from a strongly developed and well balanced mental organization. The base of the brain was heavy and the neck short and thick, giving the propensities great power and activity, but the high coronal region furnished the strong will and the high moral principles calculated to hold them in check."
During the life of President Young, C. R. Savage of Salt Lake City, the well-known photographer, sent a photo of that great pioneer to Fowler & Wells Company of New York. They exhibited it at their studio on Broadway and wrote a long article about it, from which the following is quoted:
"Looked at without the name, what would be the general impression which this likeness would make on the observer? Would he infer that he represents an essentially good man, or an essentially bad man? Without prejudice, bias, or preconceived opinion, reader, what would your judgment as to the leading traits of this character be?
"The photograph from which we copy is a recent one and has been exhibited to large numbers of persons who have called at our office at Broadway and the question has been put to each one on handing him the likeness, 'What do you think of this?' The following indicate the general character of the answers we have received: 'He looks like a good, fatherly sort of a man.' 'A strong and sensible intellect.' 'An exceedingly energetic character.' 'A man with a will and a way of his own.' 'Kind, but very decided.' 'A man of ability and resolution.' And so on, each inferring what he could from the expression.
"Having met the man, and taken his measure years ago, we are prepared to speak more definitely and in detail of this remarkable personage.
"First, he is a large, heavy man, weighing not far from 200 pounds, with a broad, firm, deep and capacious chest, well filled out in all the vital powers; with lungs, heart, circulation and digestion almost perfect. And on such a physical basis we find as a superstructure, a very large brain—somewhat exceeding 23 inches in circumference, and it is broad, high and round. Of course, with such a build and temperament it must be large at the base. There are strong social feelings with the affections and love of home. He is eminently self-relying. Though born with the spirit of a captain, he is not arrogant, over-dignified or at all distant, but rather easy, familiar and quite approachable.
"Among the moral sentiments, which are certainly strongly marked in him, the strongest is veneration, while hope and spirituality are also strong. He will be kind to friends, family, the youth, and indeed to all his household and people. He is a natural orator, a wit, an actor, and he may be said to be a perfect mimic. If educated for or trained to either writing or speaking, he would do it fluently. He also has great power of discrimination and can read character intuitively. Considering his age, the hardships he has endured, the pioneer life he had led, the cares which he has assumed, and the difficulties he has had to contend with, he is an exceedingly healthy and well-preserved old man.
"In almost any position in life, such an organization—with such a temperament—would make itself felt and would become a power within itself. Were the question put as to the most suitable occupation or pursuit we would reply: Being qualified for it by education, he could fill any place, from that of a justice of the peace to that of a commander, a judge, a representative, a senator, a diplomatist, or ambassador, down to that of a business man. He would make a good banker, a merchant, a manufacturer, or a mechanic. He has all the faculties required to fill any place or post in private or in professional life. God will hold him accountable for the right use of a full measure of talents. His accountability and responsibility will be in exact accord with his capability, which is much above that of the average man."
Many more favorable statements regarding the character of President Young have testified to the accuracy of the statements made about his character by these eminent students of human nature at a time when his reputation was not as good as it is now. The science of human nature gives the ability to tell whether the reputation of a person fits his character or not. Its principles are expressed in the Sunday School song, "We are sowing, daily sowing, countless seeds of good or ill. * * * In our words and looks and actions lie the seeds of death and life." The same truth is expressed in the following lines by the poet:
The human face I love to view
And trace the passions of the soul,
On it the spirit writes anew
Each changing thought as upon a scroll.
There the mind its evil doings tells,
And there its noblest deeds do speak
Just like the ringing of the bells
Proclaim a knell or wedding feast.
How beautiful Love's features are.
Enthroned on Virtue's radiant face.
Like some jewel bright and rare,
Worn by the fairest of the race.
But vice and hatred, how they mar
The form and face of man!
And from the choicest pleasures bar
All who fail to do the good they can.
The students of human nature read the character of President Young and said most favorable things about him at a time when his reputation suffered most. The character is what one is, the reputation is what others think about one.
Character of President Brigham Young
By Dr. John T. Miller
IN celebrating the birthday of the great pioneer of the West, Brigham Young, the time is opportune to call attention to the high estimate of him given by the leading students of human nature in America who were personally acquainted with him.
The Science of Life, by Prof. O. S. Fowler, issued in 1873, contains a photo of President Young and above his head are printed the words, "Nearly Perfect Manhood." He is classed with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Bismarck and other leading characters of the world. In his book, Human Science, issued during the life of Brigham Young, Prof. Fowler describes the human temperaments and then says: "Brigham Young had this union of all the temperaments, large yet equal. He is about six feet high, yet perfectly symmetrical, though a little way off he seems too stocky. He is broad from one shoulder to the other, yet also deep through from breast bone to shoulder blades, and his chest runs far down besides. In 1 843 he and most of his present apostles came incognito under my hands, and when I came to him, putting my hands on his immense chest, I exclaimed: 'You, sir, have vital force sufficient to live a hundred and fifty years.' He is very broad-built yet sharp-featured, and has a muscular system of remarkable power; besides being very florid thus embodying all the conditions of true greatness or tremendous power of body and mind, and only one thus organized could have accomplished what he has. His organization corrected and greatly enhanced my estimation of him."
The best book on the human temperaments that has been written is by D. H. Jacques, M. D., first issued more than half a century ago. He devoted a part to "The Mormon Leader." He makes many favorable remarks about the character of Brigham Young and concludes with this statement: "The basis of his character lay in his massive trunk, the never-failing source of that vital affluence which sustains, vivifies, warms, and quickens body and brain alike. The superstructure had the strength of sinew and the force of character imparted by the muscular constitution, and the intellectual ability and moral influence which come from a strongly developed and well balanced mental organization. The base of the brain was heavy and the neck short and thick, giving the propensities great power and activity, but the high coronal region furnished the strong will and the high moral principles calculated to hold them in check."
During the life of President Young, C. R. Savage of Salt Lake City, the well-known photographer, sent a photo of that great pioneer to Fowler & Wells Company of New York. They exhibited it at their studio on Broadway and wrote a long article about it, from which the following is quoted:
"Looked at without the name, what would be the general impression which this likeness would make on the observer? Would he infer that he represents an essentially good man, or an essentially bad man? Without prejudice, bias, or preconceived opinion, reader, what would your judgment as to the leading traits of this character be?
"The photograph from which we copy is a recent one and has been exhibited to large numbers of persons who have called at our office at Broadway and the question has been put to each one on handing him the likeness, 'What do you think of this?' The following indicate the general character of the answers we have received: 'He looks like a good, fatherly sort of a man.' 'A strong and sensible intellect.' 'An exceedingly energetic character.' 'A man with a will and a way of his own.' 'Kind, but very decided.' 'A man of ability and resolution.' And so on, each inferring what he could from the expression.
"Having met the man, and taken his measure years ago, we are prepared to speak more definitely and in detail of this remarkable personage.
"First, he is a large, heavy man, weighing not far from 200 pounds, with a broad, firm, deep and capacious chest, well filled out in all the vital powers; with lungs, heart, circulation and digestion almost perfect. And on such a physical basis we find as a superstructure, a very large brain—somewhat exceeding 23 inches in circumference, and it is broad, high and round. Of course, with such a build and temperament it must be large at the base. There are strong social feelings with the affections and love of home. He is eminently self-relying. Though born with the spirit of a captain, he is not arrogant, over-dignified or at all distant, but rather easy, familiar and quite approachable.
"Among the moral sentiments, which are certainly strongly marked in him, the strongest is veneration, while hope and spirituality are also strong. He will be kind to friends, family, the youth, and indeed to all his household and people. He is a natural orator, a wit, an actor, and he may be said to be a perfect mimic. If educated for or trained to either writing or speaking, he would do it fluently. He also has great power of discrimination and can read character intuitively. Considering his age, the hardships he has endured, the pioneer life he had led, the cares which he has assumed, and the difficulties he has had to contend with, he is an exceedingly healthy and well-preserved old man.
"In almost any position in life, such an organization—with such a temperament—would make itself felt and would become a power within itself. Were the question put as to the most suitable occupation or pursuit we would reply: Being qualified for it by education, he could fill any place, from that of a justice of the peace to that of a commander, a judge, a representative, a senator, a diplomatist, or ambassador, down to that of a business man. He would make a good banker, a merchant, a manufacturer, or a mechanic. He has all the faculties required to fill any place or post in private or in professional life. God will hold him accountable for the right use of a full measure of talents. His accountability and responsibility will be in exact accord with his capability, which is much above that of the average man."
Many more favorable statements regarding the character of President Young have testified to the accuracy of the statements made about his character by these eminent students of human nature at a time when his reputation was not as good as it is now. The science of human nature gives the ability to tell whether the reputation of a person fits his character or not. Its principles are expressed in the Sunday School song, "We are sowing, daily sowing, countless seeds of good or ill. * * * In our words and looks and actions lie the seeds of death and life." The same truth is expressed in the following lines by the poet:
The human face I love to view
And trace the passions of the soul,
On it the spirit writes anew
Each changing thought as upon a scroll.
There the mind its evil doings tells,
And there its noblest deeds do speak
Just like the ringing of the bells
Proclaim a knell or wedding feast.
How beautiful Love's features are.
Enthroned on Virtue's radiant face.
Like some jewel bright and rare,
Worn by the fairest of the race.
But vice and hatred, how they mar
The form and face of man!
And from the choicest pleasures bar
All who fail to do the good they can.
The students of human nature read the character of President Young and said most favorable things about him at a time when his reputation suffered most. The character is what one is, the reputation is what others think about one.
"Editorial: Sayings of President Brigham Young." Instructor. June 1930. pg. 346-347.
Sayings of President Brigham Young
Eternal Progression
Life is an accumulation of every property and principle that is calculated to enrich, to ennoble, to enlarge, and to increase, in every particular, the dominion of individual man. To me, life would signify an extension. I have the privilege of spreading abroad, of enlarging my borders, of increasing in endless knowledge, wisdom, and power, and in every gift of God. To live as I am, without progress, is not life, in fact we may say that is impossible. There is no such principle in existence, neither can there be. You may explore all the eternities that have been, were it possible, then come to that which we now understand according to the principles of natural philosophy, and where is there an element, an individual living thing, an organized body, of whatever nature, that continues as it is ? It cannot be found. All things that have come within the bounds of man's limited knowledge—the things he naturally understands, teach him that there is no period, in all the eternities, wherein organized existence will become stationary, that it cannot advance in knowledge, wisdom, power, and glory.
If a man could ever arrive at the point that would put an end to the accumulation of life—the point at which he could increase no more, and advance no further, we should naturally say he commenced to decrease at the same point. Again, when he has gained the zenith of knowledge, wisdom, and power it' is the point at which he begins to retrograde ; his natural abilities will begin to contract, and so he will continue to decrease, until all he knew is lost in the chaos of forgetfulness. As we understand naturally, this is the conclusion we must come to, if a termination to the increase of life and the acquisition of knowledge is true.
The Comprehensiveness of The Plan of Salvation
For me, the plan of salvation must be a system that is pure and holy in all its points ; it must reveal things that no other church or kingdom can reveal ; it must circumscribe the knowledge that is upon the face of the earth, or it is not from God. Such a plan incorporates every system of true doctrine on the earth, whether it be ecclesiastical, moral philosophical, or civil ; it incorporates all good laws that have been made from the days of Adam until now ; it swallows up the laws of nations, for it exceeds them all in knowledge and purity, it circumscribes the doctrines of the day, and takes from the right and the left, and brings all truth together in one system, and leaves the chaff to be scattered hither and thither. That is the proof to me, and has been from the beginning, that the principles are pure and holy ; and every person living to them will attain through them sanctification.
* * * *
I never passed John Wesley’s church in London without stopping to look at it. Was he a good man ? Yes I suppose him to have been, by all accounts, as good as ever walked on this earth, according to his knowledge. Has he obtained a rest? Yes, and greater than ever entered his mind to expect and so have thousands of others of the various religious denominations. Why could he not build up the Kingdom of God on the earth ? He had not the Priesthood. That was all the difficulty he labored under. Had the Priesthood been conferred upon him, he would have built up the Kingdom of God in his day as it is now being built up. He would have introduced the ordinances, powers, grades, and quorums of the Priesthood ; but, not holding the Priesthood, he could not do it. Did the Spirit of God rest upon him? Yes, and does, more or less, at times, upon all people.
Sayings of President Brigham Young
Eternal Progression
Life is an accumulation of every property and principle that is calculated to enrich, to ennoble, to enlarge, and to increase, in every particular, the dominion of individual man. To me, life would signify an extension. I have the privilege of spreading abroad, of enlarging my borders, of increasing in endless knowledge, wisdom, and power, and in every gift of God. To live as I am, without progress, is not life, in fact we may say that is impossible. There is no such principle in existence, neither can there be. You may explore all the eternities that have been, were it possible, then come to that which we now understand according to the principles of natural philosophy, and where is there an element, an individual living thing, an organized body, of whatever nature, that continues as it is ? It cannot be found. All things that have come within the bounds of man's limited knowledge—the things he naturally understands, teach him that there is no period, in all the eternities, wherein organized existence will become stationary, that it cannot advance in knowledge, wisdom, power, and glory.
If a man could ever arrive at the point that would put an end to the accumulation of life—the point at which he could increase no more, and advance no further, we should naturally say he commenced to decrease at the same point. Again, when he has gained the zenith of knowledge, wisdom, and power it' is the point at which he begins to retrograde ; his natural abilities will begin to contract, and so he will continue to decrease, until all he knew is lost in the chaos of forgetfulness. As we understand naturally, this is the conclusion we must come to, if a termination to the increase of life and the acquisition of knowledge is true.
The Comprehensiveness of The Plan of Salvation
For me, the plan of salvation must be a system that is pure and holy in all its points ; it must reveal things that no other church or kingdom can reveal ; it must circumscribe the knowledge that is upon the face of the earth, or it is not from God. Such a plan incorporates every system of true doctrine on the earth, whether it be ecclesiastical, moral philosophical, or civil ; it incorporates all good laws that have been made from the days of Adam until now ; it swallows up the laws of nations, for it exceeds them all in knowledge and purity, it circumscribes the doctrines of the day, and takes from the right and the left, and brings all truth together in one system, and leaves the chaff to be scattered hither and thither. That is the proof to me, and has been from the beginning, that the principles are pure and holy ; and every person living to them will attain through them sanctification.
* * * *
I never passed John Wesley’s church in London without stopping to look at it. Was he a good man ? Yes I suppose him to have been, by all accounts, as good as ever walked on this earth, according to his knowledge. Has he obtained a rest? Yes, and greater than ever entered his mind to expect and so have thousands of others of the various religious denominations. Why could he not build up the Kingdom of God on the earth ? He had not the Priesthood. That was all the difficulty he labored under. Had the Priesthood been conferred upon him, he would have built up the Kingdom of God in his day as it is now being built up. He would have introduced the ordinances, powers, grades, and quorums of the Priesthood ; but, not holding the Priesthood, he could not do it. Did the Spirit of God rest upon him? Yes, and does, more or less, at times, upon all people.
Gates, Susa Young. "The Life Story of Brigham Young." Improvement Era. August 1930. pg. 699-700.
The Life Story of Brigham Young,
THIS is the title of a biography of the great "Mormon" leader written by his daughter, Susa Young Gates, and his granddaughter, Leah D. Widtsoe. Viewed from any standpoint it is an unusual work, written by one who was intimately acquainted with her subject during his lifetime and who has made a constant study of his life since his demise. It is one of the few, if not the only, pro- "Mormon" book written by a Church member which has been put out by a great publishing house without any kind of a financial guarantee—published entirely on its merits.
The British edition has come from the press of Jarrolds of London. The Macmillan Company will have the American edition ready at an early day.
EDITORIALLY the Millennial Star, under the title "A Great Biography," has this to say:
The second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was born June 1, 1801, and died August 29, 1877. Like his predecessor, the Prophet Joseph Smith, his name has been known for good and evil throughout the earth. However, the years have brought perspective. Today, Brigham Young is recognized as one of the great men of his generation, who rendered distinguished service to his fellow-men, both in a temporal and a spiritual sense; and he is acknowledged to have been a man of honor and purity, who dealt justly and kindly by all, and was greatly beloved by those who knew him. He was an empire builder of first rank, both in the wastes of Western America and in the souls of men. That he has been subjected to merciless criticism is only a part of the price that greatness must pay.
The recent publication by Jarrolds of London and the fine reception by critics and readers of the Life Story of Brigham Young, written by Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, daughter and granddaughter of President Young, indicate the changing sentiment towards the Latter- day Saints. It was impossible, in an enlightened age, that the clumsy untruths circulated about "Mormon" history, doctrine and motives, could continue to hold sway. Truthful narratives are the most interesting; and humanity yet prefers truth to untruth.
The Life Story of Brigham Young is a book of unusual power and beauty. It portrays in vivid, truthful language, with a wealth of fact and anecdote, the romantic beginnings of the Latter-day Saints, and the absorbing story of the course of life and action of a genuine and humble man, Brigham Young, who was lifted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ into prominence and enabled to render magnificent service to the world. The critics agree that the book is an admirable biography, and a thrilling, readable story, one of the best ever written by a close relative of a notable individual, and praise it for its wealth of accurate, intimate history. The book is filled with illustrations, many of them never before published. It is well printed and bound. It is good reading.
The introduction to the book, written by Mr. Harold J. Shepstone, F.R.G.S., an honest and fair-minded man, not a member of the Church, is published in this number of the Millennial Star, along with an extract from the literature advertising the book. These articles, together with the following table of chapters, summarize briefly the contents of the book: Youth and Early Manhood — Early Activities in the Church—Growth in the Church—His Call to Leadership —-The Exodus of Modern Israel—The Trail Westward—Temporary Camps: The Mormon Battalion—The Trek—Entrance into "The Valley"—The First Winter—Life in the Valley—-Brigham Young and Irrigation—The Indians Other Churches and Non-Mormons Government and Loyalty—The "Echo Canyon War"—The Army in Utah- Practical Sociology—Industrial Independence— Architecture and Temple Building— Patron of the Arts-Music—Recreation and Amusement—Literature and the Drama—Brigham Young and Education —Attitude to Woman's Activities—Persecution and Some Faults—His Home Life—His Morale—Home Practices—His Last Days—The Measure of a Man.
The book is a valuable addition to the world's biographical literature, of especial interest to the Latter-day Saints, who seldom have had the privilege of telling their entrancing story, unobscured by the fog of prejudice, to the readers of the world. The Latter-day Saints of Europe are grateful to the gifted authors for this splendid portrayal of the life and times of one of their foremost leaders — a world figure in human service.
THE following paragraphs are from Mr. Shepstone's introduction:
While sojourning in Salt Lake City I met Mrs. Gates, a lady of great charm and grace, at a gathering held in the beautiful home of Mr. Anthony W. Ivins, senior counselor of the First Presidency. It was his seventy-fifth birthday and many friends had gathered to wish him well. I spoke to Mrs. Gates about her journalistic efforts and she very kindly permitted me to read some of the chapters. I was amazed at the wealth of detail they contained and recognizing the importance of the work and believing it should be given as wide a publicity as possible I offered to render any assistance I could towards its publication.
It resulted in the manuscript being handed to me by Mrs. Gates' son-in-law, Dr. John A. Widtsoe, an Apostle of the Church and a distinguished scholar, and head of the "Mormon" Mission in Europe. Then came the task of condensing the material into the covers of a single work, the original record being too bulky for ordinary publication. The decision to produce an abridged edition of the original was only undertaken after much careful consideration and solely resorted to so that the work should enjoy as wide a circulation as possible. Despite their laborious efforts extending over many years the authors very wisely decided that they were called upon to appeal to the many and not to the few.
While it has not been found possible to incorporate all that the authors have written, the salient facts of this remarkable life have not been omitted. It will be found to be ,an entrancing story, recording not only Brigham Young's marvelous temporal achievements, but revealing something of his soul and those high principles that guided all his actions. He was without question one of the world's greatest exponents of truth and righteousness, loyal as he saw it to his country, to his people and to his God. We may not all agree with Brigham Young's outlook and beliefs, but we nevertheless have to admit that he stands out as one of the great figures in modern history, a remarkable man who accomplished much and wrought for the good of his people and for that cause which he had at heart.
Knowing the "Mormon" people as I do from intimate knowledge and contact with them, both in Utah and in this country, I can truthfully say though not of their persuasion, that this work is not sent forth in any boastful spirit, or as a piece of propaganda, or even with the idea of foisting their beliefs upon the world; but for the sole purpose of enabling "Mormon" and Gentile alike, and the world at large, to learn something of the truths that guided Brigham Young and led him to establish a thriving commonwealth, founded on love, justice and mercy to all, in the barren wastes of the Rocky Mountains.
THE London Times, probably the earth's greatest newspaper, has this to say:
The Life Story of Brigham Young, by Susa Young Gates (Jarrolds, 18s. net), is written by a daughter of the Mormon leader. ,Mrs. Gates was the first of Young's children to be born in the Lion House which he built in Salt Lake City to accommodate his large family of wives and children. To Mrs. Gates her father and Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, are great and good men. Those two men, she writes, possessed the gift of leadership "which drew people not to themselves as super-men, but rather to God and Christ, whom they worshipped and served, and whose humble instruments they were." Mrs. Gates speaks of her father's work of community founding in what had been a desert with fiery enthusiasm. Her zeal apart, she has written an important chapter of history in her accounts of the daring trek of the Mormons across the desert, their struggles with the natives and with Washington, and the building of the settlements. Interesting light is thrown on the manner of life in polygamous households.
Many other British papers reviewed the work in a highly complimentary manner. Aunt Susa, as she is affectionately known in this community, is to be congratulated on her unusual achievement.
The Life Story of Brigham Young,
THIS is the title of a biography of the great "Mormon" leader written by his daughter, Susa Young Gates, and his granddaughter, Leah D. Widtsoe. Viewed from any standpoint it is an unusual work, written by one who was intimately acquainted with her subject during his lifetime and who has made a constant study of his life since his demise. It is one of the few, if not the only, pro- "Mormon" book written by a Church member which has been put out by a great publishing house without any kind of a financial guarantee—published entirely on its merits.
The British edition has come from the press of Jarrolds of London. The Macmillan Company will have the American edition ready at an early day.
EDITORIALLY the Millennial Star, under the title "A Great Biography," has this to say:
The second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was born June 1, 1801, and died August 29, 1877. Like his predecessor, the Prophet Joseph Smith, his name has been known for good and evil throughout the earth. However, the years have brought perspective. Today, Brigham Young is recognized as one of the great men of his generation, who rendered distinguished service to his fellow-men, both in a temporal and a spiritual sense; and he is acknowledged to have been a man of honor and purity, who dealt justly and kindly by all, and was greatly beloved by those who knew him. He was an empire builder of first rank, both in the wastes of Western America and in the souls of men. That he has been subjected to merciless criticism is only a part of the price that greatness must pay.
The recent publication by Jarrolds of London and the fine reception by critics and readers of the Life Story of Brigham Young, written by Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, daughter and granddaughter of President Young, indicate the changing sentiment towards the Latter- day Saints. It was impossible, in an enlightened age, that the clumsy untruths circulated about "Mormon" history, doctrine and motives, could continue to hold sway. Truthful narratives are the most interesting; and humanity yet prefers truth to untruth.
The Life Story of Brigham Young is a book of unusual power and beauty. It portrays in vivid, truthful language, with a wealth of fact and anecdote, the romantic beginnings of the Latter-day Saints, and the absorbing story of the course of life and action of a genuine and humble man, Brigham Young, who was lifted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ into prominence and enabled to render magnificent service to the world. The critics agree that the book is an admirable biography, and a thrilling, readable story, one of the best ever written by a close relative of a notable individual, and praise it for its wealth of accurate, intimate history. The book is filled with illustrations, many of them never before published. It is well printed and bound. It is good reading.
The introduction to the book, written by Mr. Harold J. Shepstone, F.R.G.S., an honest and fair-minded man, not a member of the Church, is published in this number of the Millennial Star, along with an extract from the literature advertising the book. These articles, together with the following table of chapters, summarize briefly the contents of the book: Youth and Early Manhood — Early Activities in the Church—Growth in the Church—His Call to Leadership —-The Exodus of Modern Israel—The Trail Westward—Temporary Camps: The Mormon Battalion—The Trek—Entrance into "The Valley"—The First Winter—Life in the Valley—-Brigham Young and Irrigation—The Indians Other Churches and Non-Mormons Government and Loyalty—The "Echo Canyon War"—The Army in Utah- Practical Sociology—Industrial Independence— Architecture and Temple Building— Patron of the Arts-Music—Recreation and Amusement—Literature and the Drama—Brigham Young and Education —Attitude to Woman's Activities—Persecution and Some Faults—His Home Life—His Morale—Home Practices—His Last Days—The Measure of a Man.
The book is a valuable addition to the world's biographical literature, of especial interest to the Latter-day Saints, who seldom have had the privilege of telling their entrancing story, unobscured by the fog of prejudice, to the readers of the world. The Latter-day Saints of Europe are grateful to the gifted authors for this splendid portrayal of the life and times of one of their foremost leaders — a world figure in human service.
THE following paragraphs are from Mr. Shepstone's introduction:
While sojourning in Salt Lake City I met Mrs. Gates, a lady of great charm and grace, at a gathering held in the beautiful home of Mr. Anthony W. Ivins, senior counselor of the First Presidency. It was his seventy-fifth birthday and many friends had gathered to wish him well. I spoke to Mrs. Gates about her journalistic efforts and she very kindly permitted me to read some of the chapters. I was amazed at the wealth of detail they contained and recognizing the importance of the work and believing it should be given as wide a publicity as possible I offered to render any assistance I could towards its publication.
It resulted in the manuscript being handed to me by Mrs. Gates' son-in-law, Dr. John A. Widtsoe, an Apostle of the Church and a distinguished scholar, and head of the "Mormon" Mission in Europe. Then came the task of condensing the material into the covers of a single work, the original record being too bulky for ordinary publication. The decision to produce an abridged edition of the original was only undertaken after much careful consideration and solely resorted to so that the work should enjoy as wide a circulation as possible. Despite their laborious efforts extending over many years the authors very wisely decided that they were called upon to appeal to the many and not to the few.
While it has not been found possible to incorporate all that the authors have written, the salient facts of this remarkable life have not been omitted. It will be found to be ,an entrancing story, recording not only Brigham Young's marvelous temporal achievements, but revealing something of his soul and those high principles that guided all his actions. He was without question one of the world's greatest exponents of truth and righteousness, loyal as he saw it to his country, to his people and to his God. We may not all agree with Brigham Young's outlook and beliefs, but we nevertheless have to admit that he stands out as one of the great figures in modern history, a remarkable man who accomplished much and wrought for the good of his people and for that cause which he had at heart.
Knowing the "Mormon" people as I do from intimate knowledge and contact with them, both in Utah and in this country, I can truthfully say though not of their persuasion, that this work is not sent forth in any boastful spirit, or as a piece of propaganda, or even with the idea of foisting their beliefs upon the world; but for the sole purpose of enabling "Mormon" and Gentile alike, and the world at large, to learn something of the truths that guided Brigham Young and led him to establish a thriving commonwealth, founded on love, justice and mercy to all, in the barren wastes of the Rocky Mountains.
THE London Times, probably the earth's greatest newspaper, has this to say:
The Life Story of Brigham Young, by Susa Young Gates (Jarrolds, 18s. net), is written by a daughter of the Mormon leader. ,Mrs. Gates was the first of Young's children to be born in the Lion House which he built in Salt Lake City to accommodate his large family of wives and children. To Mrs. Gates her father and Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, are great and good men. Those two men, she writes, possessed the gift of leadership "which drew people not to themselves as super-men, but rather to God and Christ, whom they worshipped and served, and whose humble instruments they were." Mrs. Gates speaks of her father's work of community founding in what had been a desert with fiery enthusiasm. Her zeal apart, she has written an important chapter of history in her accounts of the daring trek of the Mormons across the desert, their struggles with the natives and with Washington, and the building of the settlements. Interesting light is thrown on the manner of life in polygamous households.
Many other British papers reviewed the work in a highly complimentary manner. Aunt Susa, as she is affectionately known in this community, is to be congratulated on her unusual achievement.
"The Life Story of Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. December 1930. pg. 685.
“The Life Story of Brigham Young"
A VERY valuable contribution to biographical literature is "The Life Story of Brigham Young," by his daughter, Susa Young Gates, in collaboration with her daughter, Leah D. Widtsoe. Brigham Young is an interesting .character from any viewpoint. Many look upon him as a divinely inspired leader, while others are interested in him as a great pathfinder and colonizer. An earnest effort has been made to give, in this volume, a true picture of this great, many-sided man. One charm of the book is in the intimate things recounted that only a member of the family could tell, while his life history as wrought in the public eye stands out in bold relief.
The book is beautifully printed and illustrated, and is published by The Macmillan Company.
“The Life Story of Brigham Young"
A VERY valuable contribution to biographical literature is "The Life Story of Brigham Young," by his daughter, Susa Young Gates, in collaboration with her daughter, Leah D. Widtsoe. Brigham Young is an interesting .character from any viewpoint. Many look upon him as a divinely inspired leader, while others are interested in him as a great pathfinder and colonizer. An earnest effort has been made to give, in this volume, a true picture of this great, many-sided man. One charm of the book is in the intimate things recounted that only a member of the family could tell, while his life history as wrought in the public eye stands out in bold relief.
The book is beautifully printed and illustrated, and is published by The Macmillan Company.
Young, Lucy B. "Brigham Young." Instructor. June 1931. pg. 327.
Brigham Young, Our cover picture this month is that of President Brigham Young, printed in honor of the 130th anniversary of his birth, which occurred June 1st, 1801, at Whitingham, Vermont. It is said by members of the Young family to be their favorite picture of the president. Much has been written, of late, concerning the (illustrious pioneer, therefore The Instructor will not attempt to repeat any of his history. The following letter however, is new and will be of interest to those studying the character of this truly great man. It was written to Brigham Ceil Gates by Lucy -B. Young, the tenth wife, when she was seventy years old, and twenty-two years after the leader's death. At the time the letter was written she was in Berlin, living with her grand-daughter Emma Lucy Gates (now Bowen), who was studying music in the German Capitol : "Bulow Strasse 40 A Hof. Berlin September 4, 1899. "My darling grandson Brigham Cecil: "I have been wanting to write you ever since I have been requested by our highly esteemed Professor Haag, to write something of President Young as a husband. But ah, me ! I know of no words in which to express my conception of his character as a husband and father. However, if I could have, for a few short moments, the pen of the most talented author or the tongue of an angel, I would proclaim my estimate of him in letters of gold to all the world. In this particular, as in all others, he excelled all men. He was never commanding or authoritative. He was gentle as a lamb with his wives and family. Loving and inoffensive as an angel. In all his words and actions he was just, and he proved by his daily life that his own words, "I am for God and His Kingdom in all righteousness," were true. "Come thou," he told his family, "and follow me, as I follow Christ." He seemed to feel that woman was his equal ; and always modestly yet quietly, giving her the preference. And those who knew him best loved him most. * * * (Signed) Lucy B. Young." |
Widtsoe, Leah D. "Brigham Young and the "Youth Movement."" Improvement Era. June 1935. pg. 354-356, 382-384.
BRIGHAM YOUNG and the "YOUTH MOVEMENT" By LEAH D. WIDTSOE In this article is to be found in succinct English the attitude of the Pioneer -president of the Churchy Brigham Youngs toward the ever-present “Youth Movement.” In this article Mrs. Widtsoe has caught the spirit of the western empire builder and has given us a recapitulation of his views. SINCE the time when Cain distressed our. first parents with his wayward tendencies there has always been a "youth problem." There always will be one, unless parents learn to keep young with their children and sense with them the conditions of every new day. Even so, there will always be some divergence in evaluating life's problems, for the adult is bound to have a background of experience which is manifestly impossible for youth. For that reason experience and inexperience may seldom sense the same reactions from life. Father and mother or grandparents are too apt to feel and say, "Well, they certainly didn't do so and so in our day—what are the youth of today coming to?" However, the world wags on with marked general improvement, though with certain ever-recurring problems. Parents of today undoubtedly feel that their problems are distinctly different and more complex than were those experienced in any former age. Today has the telephone, the automobile, the radio, and the "movie," to name but a few of the many modern devices of so-called civilization which children take for granted from infancy and which were unknown and almost undreamed of in the days of their grandparents. One must admit that a childhood spent in steam-heated homes with buzzing radios to accompany daily tasks is quite different from that of their grandparents, who slept in ice-cold rooms and had to break the ice in the water jugs to get a wash before or after morning chores. Granted that "times have changed," yet it is certain that there must have been a distinct "youth problem" for our pioneer ancestors. They had come from many different countries and conditions in life, and for half a generation had been misjudged, hounded, persecuted, and finally driven from civilization. The needs of the day were so engrossing that young and old together must bend their entire energy to escape the dangers which beset them on every side, to save themselves from utter starvation and even from annihilation. Then came the days of comparative peace in the Valley; the elements had been harnessed, food was no longer scarce, and the gold-rush to California had brought into their midst people who sought only gold and the things which gold could buy. The ox team had been the means of transportation for their parents, but now the children were driving spirited horses with buckboards and buggies. Children would naturally clamor for "their rights" and resent the implication that they must all be as sober and religious as were their parents. Life was easier for them—why should they be so serious about it? Our interest centers in the query: How did the people of that day meet this challenge?—for meet it they did, as their descendants may testify. Possibly their methods and principles may throw some light on the problems of today. To answer this query we shall review briefly the expressions and experiences of Brigham Young toward the Youth Movement" of his day. As leader of the Pioneers, he was able to lead the youth of Israel as well as he led their parents, because he understood the needs of youth and provided righteous means for acceding to their worthy demands. Preparation of Youth HE held that the preparation of youth for maturity is a paramount issue of life and sensed that the responsibility of parenthood is almost the most important duty in life. He taught that this preparation must begin and end by implanting within the souls of children a love of God, a desire to live His earth laws, and an equal desire to serve their fellowmen by helping them to do likewise. He presented in fact a three-fold program of youth preparation to include first, the formation of correct '^f ideals of conduct; second, education for the soul and hand as well as for the mind; and third, a chance for youth to gain experience for themselves in the joys of righteous living. To foster the right kind of education and to prove his great desire for youth to be well prepared to meet all the issues of life with intelligence, he encouraged the establishment of common schools throughout the territory and later established two institutions of higher learning, the Brigham Young Academy, at Provo, and the Brigham Young College at Logan. These were to care for the building of character and feeding the souls of their students as well as to develop their minds and bodies. His record as an educator of youth is clear. The Demands of Youth These demands are fairly constant for every age and may be summarized thus: (1) Freedom to think for self; (2) to act for self; (3) to seek adventure; (4) to enjoy the pleasures of life; (5) to seek social equality and advancement. The more serious minded youth may and should ask for preparation in the pursuit of their life work later on. If the youth of any age as a class are thwarted either in their preparation for life or their worthy demands, a warped humanity is bound to result. Occasionally an individual may survive a youth so hampered and prove to be a benefactor to others through his own unhappy experiences. Such was Brigham Young. Brigham's Preparation for Youth Leadership HIS own youth was well remembered by him and gave him a first-class key to the situation. Let him tell of his own experiences; "When I was young, I was kept within very strict bounds, and was not allowed to walk more than half-an-hour on Sunday for exercise. The proper and necessary gambols of youth having been denied me, makes me want active exercise and amusement now. I had not a chance to dance when I was young, and never heard the enchanting tones of the violin until I was eleven years of age; and then I thought I was on the highway to hell, if I suffered myself to linger and listen to it. "I shall not subject my little children to such a course of unnatural training, but they shall go to the dance, study music, read novels, and do anything else that will tend to expand their frames, add fire to their spirits, improve their minds, and make them feel free and untrammeled in body and mind. Let everything come in its season, place everything in the place designed for it, and do everything in its right time." (J. D. 2:94.) This expresses in very essence the crux of the Youth Movement of our day, or any day. However, after this provision for the development of youthful freedom is made, youth itself must make a decided effort always to do right and shun evil. Brigham hints at this constant struggle when he tells of one of his own weaknesses. He was never a self-righteous man and never claimed to be free from faults and shortcomings. On one occasion he said; "I was brought up as strictly as any child ever ought to be, with regard to morality; yet, when I went into the world, I was addicted to swearing, through hearing others. I gave way to it, but it was easily overcome when my judgment and will decided to overcome it." (J. D. 8:320.) Note how he emphasized the method of overcoming every evil practice: the use of one's judgment and will power—that is most important for young people to understand. If one's will power is used nothing may stand in its way. Loving kindness as an integral character bulwark is essential for all who would lead youth. Many are the stories of Brigham's appreciation of children, and the general kindness of his heart as expressed to those who were weak or in trouble. One such is taken from a description of a presidential excursion party as told by Solomon F. Kimball and printed in volume 14 of the "Era." "A mile or two farther, the company came across an old gentleman with a heavier load than his team could pull over a bad place on the road. President Young stepped out of his carriage, and with a wave of his hand cried out, 'Come on, boys, let's help this good old farmer out of his troubles!' In a few moments the old gentleman was on his way again, with a smile playing on his countenance that could be seen afar off. President Young never passed anyone in trouble without lending him a helping hand. He was not only great in big things, but was a remarkable man in small matters. "He was extremely fond of children, and was ever ready to give wise counsel to both the weak and the strong with whom he came in contact. Many a time he stopped his company long enough to investigate children's little troubles, and never failed to send them on their way rejoicing. He generally carried some trinkets along with him for this very purpose. One day he spied some little boys playing marbles with pebbles. He stopped his carriage and gave them a full set of genuine marbles. Even the Indians were not long in discovering the noble traits of this kindhearted man, and they often laid their troubles before him. He dealt with them a good deal as he did with the children, and they generally went their way admiring 'Peup Cap'n Bighum,' the man who never talked two ways." A CLASSIC story of Brigham's love of children is the one told by our present Prophet and Leader, Heber J. Grant, as he related it to the writer's mother: "When I was about six years of age I jumped on the back of his sleigh with the intention of dropping off after riding a short distance and walking home. His team went so fast I dared not do so, fearing I would be seriously hurt. We came to 356 a stream a mile or two south from my home. As the driver was about to cross the stream President Young saw me for the first time and he called out: 'Brother Isaac (his negro coachman) , Brother Isaac, stop. Pick up that child. He is almost frozen.' I was tucked under a warm lap robe, and when we had gone a little distance your father asked 'Are you warm, my boy?' I answered 'Yes.' He said, 'Be happy then for we are going to take you for a long ride and when we come back we will land you at your home.' He asked my name, and when I answered he told me how he had loved my father and what a good man he was and he also told me to ask my mother to send me up to his office in a few months that I might visit with him. When I went to his office he remembered me and chatted with me pleasantly, and from that day to the day of his death he treated me with the utmost courtesy and took a personal interest in my welfare, and this naturally inspired me with a deep love for him." A REAL love of fellowman is an imperative factor of all leadership, whether of youth or age. Some there were who felt that Brigham in later life was narrow and hard to all who were not of his faith. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In this regard he once said: "Some may imagine and really believe that I am opposed to the great majority of the inhabitants of the earth—to the religious and political parties of the day; but it is not so. To individuals, as such, I am not opposed. The doctrine I preach is not opposed to an individual upon the earth. If I am opposed to anything, it is to sin—to that which produces evil in the world. I believe that I may say with perfect safety that I am as clear as the stars that shine in the heavens with regard to opposing any mortal being on the earth, though many construe the opposing of their sins into an opposition to themselves. I do not feel opposed to any individual on the earth. I have not any enmity in my heart, or at least I should not have. If I have, I am thus far wrong." . . , "Would I admire the conduct of a jurist on the bench who would decide for the Latter-day Saint if he were guilty? If he would justify a Latter-day Saint and condemn a Methodist? No, I would despise him in my heart. ... As to evil speaking, I will say that if men will do the will of God and keep his commandments and do good, they may say what they please about me." (J. D. 6:331; 15:17; 7:228.) Such a man could really lead youth or age. Pioneer Pleasures THOUGH life was hard, and stern realities were ever present for the people, yet they were taught that work and play must have their proper place for complete living. Even in the journey across the plains this need was not neglected. In a letter to his friend Orson Spencer in England, Brigham described a New Year's party given at Winter Quarters: "The instrumental band was then called upon to perform, when its heavenly vibrations fell on the tender nerve of the ear, accompanied by the Spirit of God, and the Saints shouted, 'Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb. Amen, amen, and amen!' led by Brother George A. Smith. The conference lasted four days. We had indeed an excellent time, and on the 16th of January I attended another meeting, convened by the Seventies, which they called a Jubilee; but I told them it could not be considered a Jubilee spoken of in the Revelations, for all bands were not broken, and I called it a Jubilo—when the Saints assembled and spent the Sabbath in preaching and exhortation. And on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we had preaching and teaching concerning the organization of companies for traveling westward—then we had music, and other recreations. "We had a blessed meeting—all hearts were comforted and lifted up above our trials and persecutions, and went home rejoicing in the benefits and privileges of the liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and I pray that they may thereby be stimulated to pursue the path of righteousness, and fill up the remainder of their days in promoting the kingdom of peace and happiness on the earth." Is not the desire of every righteous person on earth today, whether young or old, to live in "a kingdom of peace and happiness?" A worthy goal for all is to establish such a condition in our own mountain home or wherever we may live. A Pioneer "Fun-Hall" IN later life Brigham Young tells about the building of the Social Hall. He said: "Brother E. D. Woolley and myself had some conversation on this subject, and he thought he would build a house to accommodate social gatherings, but could not at that time very well do it, so I built the hall which is called the Social Hall. In it are combined a dancing-room and a small stage for theatrical performances. That is our fun-hall, and not a place in which to administer the sacrament. We dedicated it to the purpose for which it was built, and from the day we first met there until now I would rather see it laid in ashes in a moment than to see it possessed by the wicked. We prayed that the Lord would preserve it to the Saints; and if it could not thus be preserved, let it be destroyed and not be occupied by the wicked. You know what spirit attends that room. There we have had governors, judges, doctors, lawyers, merchants, passersby, etc., who did not belong to our Church, and what has been the universal declaration of each and every one? 'I never felt so well before in all my life at any party as I do here;' and the Saints do not feel as well in any other place of amusement." (J. D. 9:194.) He advised other communities to do likewise. On one of his trips to the settlements he said: "I would be very pleased to learn that your Bishop, Brother Miller, was preparing a place for parties; with a little pond to float boats on, and other means of enjoyment, where the people could assemble to have their exercises. Get the young minds to follow after you in these things, and they will follow after you in every precept that is good. And I would like to hear of other Bishops taking steps to prepare suitable places for the same purpose." (J. D. 12:239.) Pleasures of Salt Lake FROM the first the people were advised to enjoy the pleasures of boating and bathing in the Salt Lake and also to use the hot springs for their health as well as their pleasure. During the near-famine of 1848 when so many crops had been destroyed by the crickets, the people were bent on using every 382 possible means of increasing the food supply. Brother Thomas J. Thurston, one of the resourceful men of that day, decided to build a boat and explore the islands in the lake on a chance of adding somewhat to their food prospects. His daughter, Mrs. Julia Cordelia Thurston Smith, wrote feelingly of this event : "Because of the scarcity of food, people were investigating every avenue that seemed possible to furnish food and my father, Stephen Spaulding, William W. Potter and Joseph Mount built a boat with which to explore Salt Lake and the large island lying west of the city and with Jedediah M. Grant and Parley P. Pratt as invited guests were the first of our people to navigate the lake. They named their boat the 'Mud Hen' on account of the game they killed on their trip. "The boat was built in our house. Mother had a beautiful oiled tablecloth, pale blue with cross bars in the center and flowers on the edge, much too good to use on our rough table, and so she kept it carefully rolled up on a roller. . . . You may imagine how I felt when my father tore this beautiful cloth into strips two or three inches wide and covered it with black tar and 'corked' the boat with it!" The young people of that day, however, enjoyed the pleasures of the lake, as they do today. Dancing and Social Diversion WISE leaders recognize that young people must have an outlet for their youthful energies and if it can be made legitimate and up-building then their whole being is benefited. The people were encouraged to dance away their cares as well as to sing away their gloom. Brigham's opinion is thus expressed: "Our work, our every-day labor, our whole lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practise. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that He never commands. I have frequently heard my old brethren in the Christian world make remarks about the impropriety of indulging in pastimes and amusements. The Lord never commanded me to dance, yet I have danced ; you all know it, for my life is before the world. Yet while the Lord has never commanded me to do it. He has permitted it. I do not know that He ever commanded the boys to go and play at ball, yet He permits it. I am not aware that He ever commanded us to build a theatre, but He has permitted it, and I can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as necessary to our well-being as are the more serious pursuits of life. There is not a man in the world but what, if kept at any one branch of business or study, will become like a machine. Our pursuits should be so diversified as to develop every trait of character and diversity of talent. If you would develop every power and faculty possessed by your children, they must have the privilege of engaging in and enjoying a diversity of amusements and studies; to attain great excellence, however, they cannot all be kept to any one individual branch of study." (J. D. p. 60-61.) His view of dancing as a diversion is wholesome. President Woodruff tells us that: "The following are the words of President Young which gave his views of the ball room, and which he gave on the evening of the 2nd, 1854: 'I consider this a suitable place to give some instructions. The world considers it very wicked for a Christian to hear music and to dance. Many preachers say that fiddling and music come from hell, but I say there is no fiddling, there is no music in hell. Music belongs to heaven, to cheer God, angels, and men. If we could hear the music there is in heaven, it would overwhelm us mortals. Music and dancing are for the benefit of holy ones, and all those who come here tonight who are not holy and righteous and do not worship God have no right to come here.' . . . Dancing is no part of our religion; but when we attend to it for our amusement, we do it in the name of the Lord, just as we attend to any other business." (History of Wilford Woodruff, p. 354.) LEST some might misinterpret his position, he said further on this topic: "I want it distinctly understood that fiddling and dancing are no part of our worship. The question may be asked. What is it for then? I answer, that the body may keep pace with the mind. My mind labors like a man logging all the time; and this is the reason why I am fond of these pastimes; they give me a privilege to throw everything off, and shake myself, that my body may exercise, and my mind rest. What for? To get strength, and be renewed and quickened, and enlivened, and animated, so that my mind may not wear out. Experience tells us that the most of the inhabitants of the earth wear out their bodies without wearing their minds at all, through the sufferings they endure from hard labor, with distress, poverty and want. While on the other hand, a great portion of mankind wear out their bodies without laboring, only in anxiety." (Mill. Star, 1852, pp. 261-262.) The attitude of the leaders toward the drama, music, and the arts was just as comprehensive and encouraging as it was toward dancing, picnics, or the more quiet social affairs of life. More aesthetic pleasures were not forgotten. Debating and Literary Societies were formed, chief of which was the so-called Polysophical Society. One of these sessions is described as follows: "The Polysophical Society held a very brilliant celebration on the 24th and 25th of July in the Social Hall. Two bands of music were in attendance, a choir, a glee party, a serenade band, and a comic singer. There were also two pianos, which were played upon alternately by ladies, and appropriate addresses, essays, and poems were delivered by the various members, male and female. Altogether it was a rich intellectual feast." (George A. Smith, Mill. Star, Vol. 17, p. 651.) THESE entertainments, remember, were held in 1855 in an outpost of civilization. The celebration of National and State holidays was sane and furnished the people, young and old, with safe outlets for their emotions. The excursions which the leaders made to visit the settlements were always great events and gave the people much pleasure and recreation. At one of them Brigham said: "The brethren here have caught us as they generally do. I had no thought of any person coming to meet us, nor of seeing the schools lining the road. I thank them for their good feelings to the Elders of Israel. But is there any good in it? Yes, it attracts the attention of the young people—that is, I mean all under a hundred years old—elevates their feelings, and is calculated to induce reflections and thoughts of a life that is useful; and they will think when are we going to have another meeting? When is Brother Brigham coming to see us again; with Brother Wells, and Brother Cannon, and others?' It will have the effect of drawing them to good, and they will follow after good continually. Is there any harm in Sunday School parties? No! It is one of the most harmless kinds of enjoyment when conducted aright. If they wish to dance. let them dance; let them talk and play; but not do any wrong." (J. D. 12:239.) The Power of Evil NO one recognized more keenly than did Brigham Young that the evil one is ever on the alert to make the downward path seem alluring and glamorous. The young people of his day were not tempted with the social cigarette or cocktail being offered them on every hand and at any and all times, as they are today, but they unquestionably had to meet and overcome temptation. The leaders understood that most young people desire to do right and that only a very few perverts prefer evil to good. However, evil often comes in the guise of something socially correct and may be recognized only by the fact that its cumulative effects are demoralizing. No one ever does a great wrong at once; even the murderer has prepared himself for his final crime by a series of countless tiny offenses not essentially wicked in and of themselves. His downward course may have begun with the creation of an abnormal appetite and its indulgence with a harmless (so-called) little "Whiteslaver" or a "pick-me-up." Many find too late that indulgence of unnatural appetite leads to harm eventually—it cannot be otherwise —even though some through control may stop short of crime against anyone but themselves. Brigham well understood these truths and taught them. On one occasion he told in a rather graphic way how he had encountered evil and had won. He says: "I remember that when I made a profession of religion, after being called an infidel by the Christians, I often used to get a little puzzled. The Evil One would whisper to me that I had done this, that, or some other thing wrong, and inquire whether that looked like a Christian act, and remark. 'You have missed it; you have not done right, and you know it; you did not do as well in such a thing as you might; and are you not ashamed of yourself in saying that you are a Christian? You profess the religion of Jesus Christ, and now manifest such weakness!' Said I, 'Mr. Devil, it is none of your business. You may go behind, or before, or in any other direction; but you and I have dissolved partnership; and what I do, I am accountable for to a more glorious Being than you are. So long as we were in partnership, I had to give an account of my doings to you; but now it is not for you to fret yourself about my doing, for you have no interest whatsoever in the matter.' And thus I have acted with him from that time until now." (J. D. 7:6.) The Apex of the "Youth Movement" IN nothing did Brigham Young prove his wise grasp of the problems of youth more than in sponsoring the organizations for the young people of the Church. For nothing may we give him greater honor and gratitude, for the youth of today are the citizens of tomorrow and their welfare is paramount. In these organizations the preparation and demands of youth may be successfully met. They were organized by a wise leader that they might be conducted by young people for young people, to secure the permanent advancement of youth. The young women were the first to be organized. This began as a retrenchment society for his daughters. His words on that occasion are pregnant with deep meaning: "We are about to organize a Retrenchment Association, which I want you all to join, and I want you to vote to retrench in your dress, in your tables, in your speech, wherein you have been guilty of silly, extravagant speeches and lightmindedness of thought. Retrench in everything that is bad and worthless, and improve in everything that is good and beautiful. Not to make yourselves unhappy, but to live so that you may be truly happy in this life and the life to come." (History of the Y. L. M. I. A.) The young men were organized six years after the young women, with similar aims for self-expression and self-improvement. Junius F. Wells, who was called by Brigham Young to organize the Y. M. M. L A., explains how the name came into being : "The question came up as to what the society should be called; and as nearly as I can recall his (Brigham Young's) words they were as follows: 'We want to organize the young men into an association —an improvement association—a mutual improvement association—Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. There's your name.' That is how we came by our name. Then he went on speaking in regard to our exercises. He said we should have a roll of all the members, and at the first meeting commence at the head of the roll and call upon them to arise and speak. Said he: 'We want to get our boys into the habit of trying to say something in the name of the Lord. More people have received testimonies on their feet than down on their knees praying for them." (History of the Y. L. M. I. A., ch. 4, p 61.) THESE two associations have worked along parallel lines, but only in meetings of joint interest do they combine forces, Brigham Young opposed making the young ladies as individuals or as a ward unit, an adjunct to the young men's association. He said the girls needed the training and experience to be gained only when they were left to function as a separate organization, carrying out their own public activities. They met, as they do today, with the young men to combine programs and efforts in ward amusements, in monthly open programs, and the annual conferences in the big Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Otherwise, the girls are allowed to work out their own problems. These two powerful youth organizations have done "a marvelous work and a wonder" for the young people, many thousands of whom are now parents and grandparents of the youth of today. The good they have accomplished cannot be over-estimated. AS a final message to young people Brigham Young might say as he did on one occasion: "In their youth they ought to learn the principles and doctrines of their faith, the arguments for truth, and the advantages of truth. "I wish the daughters of Israel to far exceed their mothers in wisdom. And I wish the young men and boys to far exceed their fathers. I wish my sons to far exceed me in goodness and virtue. "I say to our young men, be faithful, for you do not know what is before you, and abstain from bad company and bad habits. Let me say to the boys, sixteen 384 years old and even younger, make up your minds to mark out the path of rectitude for yourselves, and when evil is presented, let it pass by unnoticed by you and preserve yourselves in truth, in righteousness, virtue and holiness before the Lord. "If the law of Christ becomes the tradition of this people, the children will be brought up according to the law of the celestial kingdom, else they are not brought up in the way they should go." (J. D. 3:327; 11:118; 2:17; 15:83.) The Call of Youth BRIGHAM YOUNG'S life expressed always a keen appreciation for and an understanding of the problems of youth. Could he speak with them today, knowing the many temptations which beset them, he would advise them to realize their privileges and opportunities before they are squandered in useless chasing after social prestige or other unworthy pursuits. He would assure them that the new modes of thought as developed from the great advance of science and philosophy may all fit into the gospel scheme, for that embraces all truth. A youth truly educated, or prepared for life, with as much time and thought being, given to the development of the spirit or soul as to the mind, will never wander into the slough of doubt or despair and will always be protected from great temptation and sin. A youth prepared from childhood with ideals of truth and honor ingrained in his soul may demand from the future all the success and happiness to which man is heir. He cannot fail. For in the fine mechanism of character development planned for youth by Brigham Young and the Pioneers, full scope is given for the exercise of every latent gift and power of every one of the youth of modern Israel. trusted to exercise full freedom to think and act for self in all the affairs of life ! they understand that life is a great adventure and to succeed and live to the full they must give as prompt and intelligent obedience to the "rules of the game" in their religion (which are comprised in the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ) as they would respond to the directions of the captain of their football squad. No one resents obeying the rules or following direction of the captain of his team. So it is with life. Christ is our Captain and if we listen to His direction we are bound to win, ultimately. Nor is the "Youth Movement" as planned by Brigham Young and his successors a solemn affair. All the joys of life (not the dissipations) belong by right to youth, who are given full freedom to grow in the exercise of every legitimate pleasure and pastime. The privilege of freedom to think, to act, to enjoy, to live wholly belongs in every age to those who choose to do right. The challenge is yours, oh Youth of Today! What are you going to do with it? How are you going to meet it? We bespeak success for you, as Brigham Young would do were he here today to give you his personal message of faith in your desire for righteousness and trust in your power for progress. You must "make good," for on your shoulders rests the future responsibility of the Cause of Truth which you must teach to the world for its regeneration. Truth and brotherly love alone may save the world from utter degeneration and darkness, and yours is the privilege to spread the Light. The "Youth Movement" today as always is merely an attempt to find the better way of life and in that there is no safer guide than that prescribed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I LOVE the acquaintance of young people," said Dr. Samuel Johnson; "Because in the first place, I do not like to think myself growing old. In the next place, young acquaintances must last longest, if they do last; and then, sir, young men have more virtues than old men; they have more generous sentiments in every respect." |
LEAH D. WIDTSOE
A HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED PHOTOGRAPH OF
BRIGHAM YOUNG AND HIS WIFE, MARGARET PIERCE. Brigham Young, the man of action and the lover of youth.
A PAINTING OF PRESIDENT YOUNG'S FAMILY IN NAUVOO—MARY ANN ANGELL—MOTHER YOUNG, AS SHE WAS LOVINGLY CALLED.
A picture of Brigham Young as a young man, said to have been taken while on his mission to England, 1839.
THE ANGEL MORONI AND JOSEPH SMITH FROM A MURAL IN A SALT LAKE CITY CHAPEL. PHOTO BY RICHARD RUST
"REEFED"
Photo by R. Warner Davidson, Vanguard Leader, Huntington Park Ward, Los Angeles. |
Grant, Brigham Frederick. "The Kindness of Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. June 1935. pg. 362-367.
The Kindness of Brigham Young By Brigham Frederick Grant MY father died when I was only a few weeks old. Mother made moccasins out of deer skins, and sold them to the stores at a very small margin of revenue to her. She did housework for different families when it was obtainable. When I was two years old, mother married outside of the Mormon Church. As she was going to Denver, Colorado, to live, grandmother persuaded her to leave me in her care. Grandmother was a cripple. It was difficult for her to care for a little boy and so after a time, she gave me to Beason Lewis, who lived in Richmond, Cache Valley. I remained with this family until I was between eleven and twelve years old. About this time mines were discovered in Montana and trains passed through Utah buying flour, butter, eggs, etc., to be carried to the Montana mines. One of these trains stopped at the Lewis place for a few months to make repairs to their wagons. I made arrangements to run away from home and go with this train to Montana. I remained there until I was 14. The terminus of the Union Pacific was located at Corinne, where the freight from Montana was delivered. I met one of the freighters, who, learning that I was a son of Jedediah M. Grant, invited me to go back to Utah with him. I returned to Salt Lake City when I was between fourteen and fifteen years of age. I went to work in a coal and wood yard. I had been in Salt Lake City only a short time when in some way President Young learned where I was and what I was doing. President Young's son, Feramorz, and my brother Heber, at the request of President Young, searched me out and informed me that the President wanted to see me. The next day I called on him at his office, and he happened to be alone. I told him who I was, and he did not merely reach out his hand to shake mine, but he arose from his chair and gave me a father's handshake. In so doing he discovered that the callouses on my hands were thick and hard, and he remarked, "My boy, what kind of work are you doing?" I replied, "I am unloading coal and chopping wood." He then resumed his seat and continued his inquiry regarding my past life and what I had been doing. He remarked, "Isn't it pretty heavy work, shoveling coal and chopping wood, for a boy of your age?" I replied, "No, sir, I have been used to hard work all of my life." He answered, "Wouldn't you like to have something easier than your present work, for instance, a position in a store?" I replied, "I haven't got sense enough to work in a store." He said, "What do you mean by that?" I replied, "I can neither read nor write." I discovered this good and great man's heart was touched by this remark ; I saw tears rolling down his cheek, and he took his handkerchief and wiped them off and said, "My boy, come and live with me ; I will give you a home ; I will clothe you ; I will send you to school ; and you can work during the vacation for me." I accepted his kind offer. He became a father to me. He furnished me a home ; he clothed me ; and provided an opportunity for me to at tend school ; and gave me $5.00 a week for spending money, which was a very princely allowance in those days of hardship and trials. His own sons would laughingly tell me they thought I was their father's pet. Soon after I went to live with President Young, I was given a team and was doing general work on his farm and performing other duties incident to Pioneer life. Many a time I have passed him on the road with a load of gravel, sand or other materials, and I don't remember an instance in my life that this great man, if he saw me, ever failed to recognize me by waving his hand. I cannot help but think, where in the world could you find another man of his importance and busy life who would condescend to recognize or speak to a boy such as I ? In addition to his large family at the time I was living with him, there were six orphaned boys and girls who were being cared for by him. I lived with one of his families and was treated most royally by all the members ; in fact, I felt I was indeed a real member of the family so far as treatment was concerned. During the vacation when I was driving a team, at times breakfast would be served a little late. There was a certain time when every team was supposed to be hooked up and going to its work. When breakfast was late I could not always be on time with my team. The foreman complained to me about this and I told him that I milked the cows and fed the pigs and did the chores, but could not go to work without my breakfast. One morning he became angry and told me if I couldn't get out on time to quit. I, boy like, took his advice without calling on President Young, left, and went to work at the coal yard again. President Young was soon informed of this and sent for me. When I went into his office he shook my hand and wanted to know why I left home. I told him the boss had discharged me. "Oh," he said, "the boss? Who is he?" I gave the foreman's name. He laughed, and said, "No, my boy, I am the boss. Didn't I make arrangements for you to come and live with me?" I replied, "Yes, sir." He then said, "Remember, when you are discharged I will attend to it myself ; now, go back, get your team and go to work." I replied, "I don't know whether---------- will allow me to go to work now." "Never mind, my boy," he assured me, "I'll attend to it myself." The next morning when I went to the barn to get my team I found there was a new foreman. I never did learn why this change was made, but I had a boy's suspicion. On special occasions, I drove President Young's carriage, and I can assure you that when these opportunities came I was all puffed up and thought I was some boy ! The house where I was born stood where the Z. C. M. I. now stands. I helped to tear down the old home, and plowed the first furrow marking the place for the foundation of the Z. C. M. I., with President Young, cane in hand, pointing the line for me to follow. In those early days President Young established woolen mills, flour mills and other institutions to supply such much needed materials and food supplies. Men working for him received merchandise orders on his store for part of their wages. The Z. C. M. I. at this time was issuing what was known as "Z. C. M. I. scrip" or "orders," and the employees received these orders as wages. An amusing incident happened to me with my first pay day. I received these orders but not being able to read or write I did not detect that part of the orders were on his store for cloth and flour and other supplies used in a home, and jumped to the conclusion they were all on the Z. C. M. I., I went to the store, bought some things and passed my order out. The clerk looked at it and remarked, "This order isn't any good." I said, "Don't you take your own orders?" He replied, "Yes, can't you read? This order is on President Young's store." I said, "I guess they have made a mistake." I went back to the bookkeeper and told him they had made a mistake and given me the wrong orders, "No," he remarked, "that is what we all receive." "Well," I said, "I can't use the B. Y. orders." He replied, "If there is any change made, President Young will have to make it himself, I can't." I then went to the President's office and explained to him what had happened. He smiled and said, "I guess, my boy, you could not use them." He arose from his chair, went from his office into the main business office and instructed the bookkeeper to pay me in cash. From that time I did not receive any more orders, but it became a sort of a "hiss and a byword" with the bookkeeper and others in the office, who made this significant remark in my presence : "He's the only one who receives all cash"—which was a fact. DURING the holidays and cold winters, many a time I was sent with my team to President Young's store where my wagon was loaded with cloth, flour, coal and vegetables. Then I was given a list of widowed women and told to deliver the goods to these women with President Young's blessing and kind remembrance. At times when his store house was depleted, I was sent to the general tithing office where I obtained such supplies as they had in the way of vegetables and other food stuffs and delivered them to these widowed mothers and their families. Some people who, I am sure, were not possessed of the spirit of giving, and lacking proper information, made the remark that President Young was kind to the widows but it was with the general tithing funds that did not belong to him. I desire, out of respect for this good man and the sympathy in his heart for widows and orphans, to say that never, during the time that I lived with him, did I ever receive one single, solitary article from the tithing office without getting a memorandum of all goods I received, and this ticket was delivered by me in the business office of President Young to be checked with the one coming from the general tithing office. HAVING a great desire to get out and see something of the world, I conceived the idea of going to California, where I had a friend about my age. He informed me that by working in the saw mills in the summer time and the placer mines in the winter time there would be steady employment, and that they were paying $100.00 a month in gold. At that time currency was worth from 65c to75c on the dollar. At this time I was just starting in the grammar grade in the school. Not realizing the importance of continuing at school, I decided to go to California. I called on President Young and explained to him what I intended doing. He replied, "My boy, haven't you had enough ups and downs in life to know that the most important thing for you to do is to remain in school ? You should know from your past experience that in this cold world no one will have any personal interest in you. Remember, that I am your friend, and you had better remain with me." After this kind, fatherly talk and advice, I decided to remain ; but it was only for a short time. I was receiving letters from my boy friends in California telling of the wonderful opportunities for making money in the mines and saw mills. I again went to President Young and told him I had changed my mind and was going to California. He tried, I believe with more persistency than most fathers would use with their own boys, to explain to me what a mistake it would be to leave school and the home he had provided for me ; but I was determined to go. When he saw this, he arranged for his wife Amelia and myself to meet him in his office. There he explained to her that I was going to leave home, and told her to go with me to the Z. C. M. I. and buy whatever she thought I would need and have them send the bill to him. I went with Mrs. Young to Z. C. M. I. and she certainly fitted me out royally. She started with a trunk and had it filled with wearing apparel and all that could be crowded into it. I have no idea what the cost was but it must have been quite a considerable amount for those days. I remember the night before I was leaving for California. Family prayers were held in the Lion House, and on this particular occasion special care was taken to notify the boys and girls that I was going to leave for California and for them to be present at the evening prayer service. At that time I did not understand the object of this meeting. President Young took occasion, I can now see, to talk to me in the presence of his boys and girls, and impress upon them what it would mean for a boy or a girl to leave home. I never listened to another such talk in my life, nor do I expect to hear another like it. There was not a dry eye in the room, and I am sure it must have made a lasting impression on the hearts of his children, as it did on me. But with all that it did not change my plans to leave the next day for California. HE told me before leaving to come into the office and bid him goodbye. I did so, and he gave me another of those kind fatherly talks with advice suited to a boy in my condition. His last message to me was, "Now, my boy, you are going out into a cold world, and you will meet with many hardships and rebuffs. You will go to California and then return. You will return worse off than when you go, but remember that Brother Brigham is your friend and if you want to come home and haven't the money, write to me and I'll send it to you." When he shook hands with me, he left a $100.00 greenback in my hand. I broke down and wept. He put his arm around me as he would one of his own sons, and said, "Goodbye, God bless you, my boy." That was the last time I ever saw President Young. He died while I was in California. His words, that I would go to California and return, were literally fulfilled. I went and returned some years later, owing my step- father $300,00, and I did not owe a soul in the world a penny when he made this prediction at the time I left Salt Lake City for California. MY recollection of President Young, as a boy, was that he had two great outstanding personalities : one a very stern and positive way of saying and doing things, and at other times he had a kind and loving way that would be worthy of a loving mother for her child. However, he was possessed of that wonderful spirit of discernment that it seemed to me, at all times he was able to decide which of these attitudes to use in order that justice and right should prevail. With this narrative of my remembrance and experiences of and with President Young, I can only say in conclusion, that I would to God I had the ability and words to express my great appreciation and love for this great Pioneer who led his people, under the inspiration and direction of Almighty God, from the Missouri River over an almost trackless plain to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Never can any of us forget how when he raised himself on his arm from a sickbed and looked on the Valley of the Great Salt Lake for the first time, he remarked prophetically, "Drive on, this is the place." God bless his memory and posterity to the last generation of time. |
President Brigham Young
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Hardy, L. G. "Brigham Young and the True Use of Tongues." Instructor. March 1936. pg. 122.
BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE TRUE USE OF TONGUES
The recent passing of Caleb D. Brinton brings to mind the fact that he was the last living witness of hearing Brigham Young speak to the Indians in their own tongue. The incident occurred near Kanab, Utah, about 1868. The Indians were then on the war path, led by Chief Black Hawk. There were present when this incident occurred, according to Elder Brinton, as he related the circumstance to the writer, himself, Jesse W. Fox, Sr Amnion Tenney, and Jacob Hamblin, the latter being Indian interpreter for the occasion. There were four or five Indian chiefs present including Black Hawk. President Young was very anxious to have the Indians stop their hostilities toward the Mormon settlers. During the conversation through Jacob Hamblin as interpreter, President Young suddenly arose and commenced to talk to these chiefs in their own tongue; and according to Elder Brinton's statement, this talk lasted twenty or thirty minutes. This had much to do with the ending of the Black Hawk War.—L. G. Hardy
BRIGHAM YOUNG AND THE TRUE USE OF TONGUES
The recent passing of Caleb D. Brinton brings to mind the fact that he was the last living witness of hearing Brigham Young speak to the Indians in their own tongue. The incident occurred near Kanab, Utah, about 1868. The Indians were then on the war path, led by Chief Black Hawk. There were present when this incident occurred, according to Elder Brinton, as he related the circumstance to the writer, himself, Jesse W. Fox, Sr Amnion Tenney, and Jacob Hamblin, the latter being Indian interpreter for the occasion. There were four or five Indian chiefs present including Black Hawk. President Young was very anxious to have the Indians stop their hostilities toward the Mormon settlers. During the conversation through Jacob Hamblin as interpreter, President Young suddenly arose and commenced to talk to these chiefs in their own tongue; and according to Elder Brinton's statement, this talk lasted twenty or thirty minutes. This had much to do with the ending of the Black Hawk War.—L. G. Hardy
Morris, Nephi L. "Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership." Relief Society Magazine. June 1938. pg. 368-375.
Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
By Elder Nephi L. Morris
ONE hundred thirty-seven years ago last June first a child was born in the little village of Whittingham, Windham County, Vermont. The parents gave the child the unusual name of Brigham. Little did they think that name would be boldly and legibly written across the western continent particularly from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast. The name of Brigham Young after the lapse of a century and a third, looms with increasing boldness with the passing of each decade.
WOODROW Wilson once said that the eight horses which draw the triumphal chariot of every ruler and leader of free men are: Force of Character, Readiness of Resources, Clearness of Vision, Grasp of Intellect, Courage of Conviction. Earnestness of Purpose, and an Instinct and Capacity for Leadership.
To these outstanding qualities, essential in any great leader, I must, in order to do justice to and complete the character under consideration, add two additional qualifications. They are first, a Love and a Desire to Bless Mankind, and second, the indefinable but unmistakable thing known as Divine Inspiration.
One observation before we proceed : Good leadership is nullified only by poor followers. It can succeed only through good followers. What made Brigham Young's tremendous work successful was the high average quality of his followers. What he didn't know, what he couldn't do, they did know and did do. As a natural result the outstanding success was attained by the happy combination of excellent leadership and as equally splendid quality of following.
Taking up the well defined elements of great leadership let us first consider those of Instinct and Capacity in combination. They are necessarily associated.
IT IS faithfully recorded in Church history that upon the first meeting of Brigham Young and the Prophet Joseph Smith the latter made the statement that Brigham Young would some day preside over this people. Some ten or twelve years later, at the time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, the Saints were for a time in a state of bewilderment and serious confusion. Sidney Rigdon, once counselor to the Prophet and member of the First Presidency, vigorously asserted his claims to a "trusteeship" over the Church. For days he publicly contended before the people that he should be recognized in that capacity.
It should be remembered that authority in the Church was first bestowed by ordination upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Upon their heads was conferred a fulness of Apostolic authority and the Keys of Presidency over the Dispensation established upon the earth were distinctly given to them. In due course of time the Quorum of Twelve was organized and upon the shoulders of the members of that quorum Joseph placed the responsibility and authority of leadership. That is the quorum second in authority and upon the dissolution of the quorum of the First Presidency the right of jurisdiction and authority devolves upon the Twelve. Sidney Rigdon was not a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. With the passing of the Prophet the quorum of the Presidency was dissolved and the successor in authority was the quorum of apostles. By a singular succession of events the senior member of the Twelve, one Thomas B. Marsh, apostatized and had been excommunicated from the Church. The second member in order of seniority was the sainted David W. Patten who suffered martyrdom at the hands of an infuriated mob, about seventy-five in number, on Log Creek, Missouri.
Brigham Young was next in order of seniority. He arrived at Nauvoo some time after Mr. Rigdon had amply set forth his claims. Other members of the quorum had also arrived upon the scene. A public meeting of the members of the distressed. people was called. Brigham Young addressed the multitude. As he proceeded with his counsel to the Church and set before the throng the proper line of procedure the people listened to him with satisfaction. His hearers were amazed at the resemblance of his voice and facial features to those of the martyred Prophet. They are said to have exclaimed in great numbers, “It is the face of Joseph." "It is the voice of Joseph." Confusion and perplexity were removed from their minds and they heeded the voice of a modern Moses whose leadership was so providentially manifest to them.
THE Prophet's prophecy was to be fulfilled. The great body of the Church followed Brigham. He was at once recognized as the presiding member of the Twelve and as such presided over the Church and was soon afterwards formally sustained as President of the Church. This exalted office he successfully administered from then until the day of his demise, in 1877.
In this remarkable manner were the qualities of leadership recognized by the people and indicated by the Almighty. Time vindicated both. Now history gives her generous approval. But more than this, by his selection as a leader of the people, the integrity of church organization has been once for all established and preserved in the Church.
Innocence m childhood, or in the untutored mmd of the savage oftentimes may recognize true character more clearly than the mere subtle minds of cultured and cunning people. I relate an incident in demonstration of this truth because it again demonstrates the conspicuous qualities of leadership inherent in the subject of our sketch.
Many of the Indian tribes were unfriendly to the settlers and travelers here in pioneer days. Unfortunately, in many instances, this attitude was justified. But Brigham Young maintained very friendly relations with the tribes and their chiefs. Two outstanding chiefs, viz., Arapeen and Peteetnit were among that class. Under the Territorial government President Brigham Young was appointed by the Federal government to the position of Indian Agent. He was succeeded in that capacity by one Mr. Farney. Chief Arapeen made a striking observation concerning the two men and the comparative trustworthiness of each. He said: "The words of Farney are mere bawling. What he says goes in to one ear and passes out of the other. When Brigham Young, he speak, what he says goes into both ears and sink down into the heart and stay there."
I repeat, a child, a simple-minded but honest savage may be unerring in his interpretation of human nature. Perhaps it is one of nature's intuitive weapons of self-defense.
IT WILL be remembered that the original band of ''Mormon" Pioneers left Winter Quarters, now called Florence, Nebraska, in April, 1847, and reached the end of their memorable journey on July 24, 1847. It consisted of one hundred forty-eight persons in all and they had seventy-three wagons in their train.
The year before, the unhappy Donner-Reed party of western bound emigrants started from Springfield, Illinois, in the month of May. Their party consisted of approximately ninety people. They traveled along safely and pleasantly as far as Fort Bridger. By the time of their arrival there, their numbers had become greatly augmented by large and small groups uniting with them until they then numbered about four hundred. Donner, because of his age, wealth, experience and influence was chosen leader. Reed was a close second choice and made a substantial contribution to the management of affairs as long as things went well with the sturdy band. Their personnel was made up of a splendid lot of miscellaneous people among whom were many kind, courageous, self-sacrificing and noble men and women. Some of these were cast in the mold from which heroes come. Yet there were among them those who had elements of weakness, selfishness, and treachery. Man for man, however, there appears to be no substantial difference between the two historic pioneering groups—except for one thing and that was in the important matter of leadership and organization. The Donner party at Fort Bridger was persuaded by one Lansford W. Hastings to take an unknown route, supposedly shorter by three hundred miles, which took them around the south shores of Great Salt Lake instead of over the well traveled Oregon Trail via Fort Hall and northwest from that historic early day landmark. This ill-advised decision upon the part of the Donner party resulted in the reduction of the party back to about its original number. Proceeding from Fort Bridger they reached Salt Lake Valley by way of Emigration Canyon.
THEIR trail, the "Mormon" Pioneers faithfully followed into the valley the following season. But this was the end of the journey to the latter group but to the former it was the end of safe and successful travel and resulted finally in their suffering from thirst, food for their cattle, and still more seriously in the loss of unity of effort and complete destruction of leadership and harmony in their now tragic journey. On the treacherous and impassible salt flats the cattle became exhausted and maddened from thirst. Eighteen of the Donner's oxen dashed out on the salt desert to die of thirst and hunger, never to be seen again by man. On and on slowly they trudged over the sterile saline ocean bed, leaving behind them by degrees, excess weight. Utensils, equipment, and finally wagons were abandoned, left to bleach in the summer's sun and the salty waters of the winters. Their tracks are still visible for no white man on wheels has since traversed or even crossed the trail they made. A cruel early winter set in upon their unhoused heads and October snows began to impede their already slow progress. November snows increased the depth and those of December buried them beneath 15 to 20 feet as they reached the beautiful lake since named after their leader. They made rude huts to shelter them from the bitter cold and the constantly deepening snows. Futile efforts were made to cross the Humbolt Mountains. Snow shoes were made of neck-yoke bows and rawhide strips. Death made heavy in-roads. Oxen were killed for food. Finally the hides were eaten and the horrors of hunger ultimately drove these kindly, noble, men, women and children to the last fearful extremity. Lots were cast for the one to take the life of a starving fellow that others might live and probably save the rest. The executioner selected refused, but death took his place and then human flesh was eaten that women and children might be saved from the most terrible of deaths. Beautiful Donner Lake became their burial ground—the saddest, most tragic in all America.
THESE unfortunate people were just as courageous, as valorous, as heroic and as kind as were the followers of Brigham Young. He did not pass through such a hazardous piece of territory. His leadership had inspired him to follow good advice and all information available to him and his associates was carefully weighed and divine guidance fervently sought every step of the way. In comparing Brigham Young with George or Jacob Donner or James Frazier Reed, I do not do so with the least suggestion of criticism or unkindness, but with thanksgiving in my heart that a capable leadership was provided for the ''Mormon" Pioneers that was equal to every emergency that arose in their great undertaking.
To show that Brigham Young and his noble band was threatened by the disintegrating forces of disunion, quarreling and criminal tendencies, which could have easily brought the noble enterprise to complete ruin, I will submit for your consideration a few pages of pioneer history taken from the dependable journal of the intelligent and trustworthy William Clayton, written day-by-day along the way. The crisis of the journey seemed to come to a head on the 29th day of May. The company was near Chimney Rocks, not far from Scott's Bluffs. Brigham Young called a halt on the procedure and told them he felt like holding a meeting as he had some things to say to them.
After defining the causes of past persecutions of his people and the behavior of evil men in seeking the destruction of the Saints, he continued thus: “Nobody has told me what has been going on in this camp, but I have known it all the while. I have been watching its movements, its influence, its effects, and I know the result of it if not put a stop to. If you do not open your hearts so that the spirit of God can enter into your hearts and teach you the right way, I know that you are a ruined people and will be destroyed, and that with out remedy, and unless there is a change and a different course of conduct, a different spirit to what is now in this camp, I go no farther. I am in no hurry. Give me a man of prayer, give me a man of faith, give me a man of meditation, a sober-minded man, and I would far rather go amongst the savages with six or eight such men than to trust myself with the whole of this camp with the spirit they now possess.
Describing their weaknesses, their petty wrong-doings, their idleness, their telling of unworthy jokes, indulging in profanity, (Brigham Young came from a Methodist family) their gambling and giving away to anger and rage, he said, "If you had liquor with you, you would be at each other's throats with a knife."
Then he admonished them, "If you do not wish to obey the laws of the kingdom of God, and seek for the spirit of Christ, walk in unity and humbly, I admonish you to turn around and go back. For I will not go any farther with this company as it is." "Do you suppose that we are going to look out a home for the Saints, a resting place, a place of peace where they can build up the kingdom (of God) and bid the nations welcome, with a low, mean, dirty, trifling, covetous, wicked spirit dwelling in your bosoms ? It is vain, vain ! I now tell you if you do not stop it (that is, your unseemly behavior) you shall be cursed by the Almighty and shall dwindle away and be damned. Such things shall not be suffered in this camp. You shall honor God and confess His name or else you shall suffer the penalty. I am one of the last to ask my brethren to enter into a solemn covenant, but if they will not enter into a covenant to put away their iniquity and turn to the Lord and serve Him and acknowledge and honor His name, I want them to take their wagons and retreat, for I shall go no farther under such a state of things. I think it will be good for us to have a fast meeting tomorrow and a prayer meeting to humble ourselves and turn to the Lord and He will forgive us."
He then called upon all the men present, and there were eight apostles among them, four bishops, fifteen high priests, seventy-eight seventies and eight elders.
ALL covenanted in a solemn meeting, with uplifted hands. Other leaders spoke favorably of the admonitions of the President, and the meeting adjourned and each man went back to his wagon, many expressing gratitude for what had transpired. Brother Clayton adds, "No loud laughter was heard, no swearing, no quarreling, no profane language, no hard speeches to man or beast, and it really seemed as though a cloud had burst and we had emerged into a new element, a new atmosphere and a new society."
In this dramatic crisis which had slowly arisen the great spiritual leadership of Brigham Young was clearly manifest. Through the spirit of God he was able to touch the hearts of unruly and ungodly men and bring them to repentance, — back to their better selves. This incident gives a fine demonstration of instinct and capacity as well as divine inspiration in leadership. From then on the pioneers pursued their way, well-behaved, kind, orderly, happy, singing songs and hymns- -a united band of brethren.
DURING the prolonged series of persecutions suffered by the Latter- day Saints at the hands of mobs and militias in Missouri and Illinois it became very clear to Brigham Young that the body of religious worshippers to which he belonged would never be permanently welcomed in those states. It became increasingly clear to him that the Latter-day Saints, in order to develop as a people and work out their exalted hopes of world reform and salvation must have freedom of opportunity.
As late as 1842 Joseph Smith had prophetically declared that the Saints were destined to become a "mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.” Thus the Prophet had pointed the way to freedom and development. This made the course of procedure still more clear but it involved tremendous responsibility and required great wisdom and skill in planning the great migration. To select a place for the establishment of his people was his supreme task. Such an enterprise and venture involved the fate of his people and their relationship to this country which had now practically expatriated them. The situation was fraught with infinite potentialities. Clear thinking, proper behavior and the preservation of unity among his people were accomplished and the highest aims in respect to each be achieved? That was again his task.
AFTER nearly a decade had passed President Young reviewed this trying situation in a sermon delivered in 1853 from the pulpit of the “Old Tabernacle” (a building which stood about where the Assembly Hall now stands). He said, “I will mention a few things, a few doings, that transpired in Missouri, when they had Joseph and others in prison. General Clark had discretionary power from Governor Boggs to kill man, woman and child, or to spare the women and children, or distribute the whole community of Saints among the other inhabitants, just as he pleased. The cause of this was laid to the ‘Mormon disturbances.’ ‘Mormon troubles,’ though the ‘Mormons’ had not been of their own county, for they owned nearly the whole county where they lived, and they did not go beyond their won boundaries except on lawful and necessary business. We had given up our arms by their request to prove our loyalty to the government and then many of them said, ‘Now G—D--- you, we’ll shoot you,’ and some of the Saints were killed after they had surrendered their arms in faithful compliance with the requirements.
“The starting point of our persecution arose by our enemies setting fire to their own houses, swearing they were burned out by the ‘Mormons.’ This I know for it came under my own observation. When General Clark came into Far West with his army, he sent George M. Hinkle, an apostate, to call out the remainder of the brethren on to the public square, and when they were assembled he surrounded them with his men and said, ‘Gentlemen, I have discretionary power in my hands, and I will tell you what we desire. We wish one to go home with his man, and another with that man, and take your wives and children with you, and distribute yourselves throughout the state. You are the best mechanics and the most industrious people we have, and you have accomplished more in two years than our whole settlers have in twelve. We wish you to live with us. Why cannot you associate with us? Why cannot you associate with us? I want you to scatter among our people and give up your religion and Prophet, for I will tell you now, in the beginning, you will never see your Prophet Joseph Smith again.” (Said I to myself, “that is a falsehood,” quoting Brigham Young.) ‘Only mingle with us and give up your prophet and apostles, and your assembling yourselves together and we wish you to stay with us, for you are the best citizens in the state.’ I thought that these expressions did not correspond well with many of his remarks, and being determined not to give up my religion. I at once concluded that he might go to Hades, and I would leave the state, and so I did, with the balance of the Latter-day Saints, as they had previously killed many."
Observe in the following statement the position of the Latter-day Saints with respect to the Federal Constitution :
''Brethren and sisters, our friends wish to know our feelings toward the government. I answer, they are first-rate and we will prove it, too, as you will see, if you live long enough; for that we shall live to prove it is certain; and when the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will call for the 'Mormon' Elders to save it from utter destruction, and they will step forward and do it."
Another observation: "We love the Constitution of our country. It is all we could ask; though in some few instances there might be some amendments made which would better it, etc."
HE HAD a clear vision as to the future of his people ; a clear vision as to the rights of American citizens, religiously and politically; a clear vision as to the destiny of his people ; that they should not be scattered by distribution even unto obliteration ; a clear vision as to the enjoyment of religious freedom, by any and all Americans ; he had a clear vision as to the nature and value of the Federal Constitution and the propriety of its amendment by lawful and proper procedure.
Here is another instance in which Brigham Young had a clearness of vision in one of his bigger undertakings, which borders upon the superhuman, if it does not go altogether over into the domain of revelation. It is in connection with the building of the great Temple in this city.
This extract is taken from a sermon he delivered in the Old Tabernacle April 3, 1853. Said he, "I do not like to prophesy much, I never do, but I will venture to guess that this day, and the work we have done (the laying of the comer stone of the Temple) will long be remembered by this people, and be sounded as with a trumpets' voice throughout the world, as far, as loud and as long as steam, wind and the electric current can carry it.
"Some will say, 'Do you suppose we shall finish this temple, Brother Brigham?' I do not know. This I do know, there shall be a temple built here. I do know it is the duty of this people to commence to build a temple. Now some will want to know what kind of a temple it will be. I know what it will be. I am not a visionary man. I don't often speak of revelations and so on. I have Brother Kimball do my prophesying, but suffice it to say, five years ago last July (It was 1853 when he was speaking. That would throw the date back to July, 1847.) I was here and saw in the spirit the Temple not ten feet from where we have laid the chief corner stone. I have not inquired what kind of a temple it should be. Why ? Because it was presented before me. I have never looked upon that ground but the vision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it were in reality before me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, it will have six towers, to begin with, instead of one. Now do not any of you apostatize because it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one on each of his temples. It is easier for us to build sixteen than it was for him to build one, and the time will come when there will be one in the center of temples we shall build and on the top groves and fishponds. But we shall not see them here at present.”
Here is a "clearness of vision" which only comes to the average trained mind after much painstaking study and calculation and the well worked out details of the structure as a whole. It was an accurate architectural conception which was afterwards expressed in admirable lines and has served its purpose nobly for upwards of a hundred years and is at present not threatened with obsolescence or deterioration. No small piece of work was this for it required full forty years to build and cost a little less than four million dollars.
AFTER the barbarous expulsion from Nauvoo the exiled Saints were smitten and scattered like sheep upon whom a pack of hungry wolves had ferociously set themselves. To bring about common unity to action was a herculean task. To save them disaster and disintegration was of paramount importance. Of necessity they made a camp which was called Winter Quarters from the cold and inhuman circumstance which forced them to establish a community in the midst of severe winter.
The great western migration was the challenging problem before them. Provisions, equipments and supplies were assembled from all quarters. All property at their command was consequently converted into these necessities. The country into which they were planning to go was without trail or highway so far as they knew. Information from all reliable sources was eagerly sought and carefully assimilated. Aid from Washington was diplomatically and effectively sought. Senator Douglas had sent to them Capt. Fremont's report and topographical maps. These Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball studiously absorbed. Wisely chosen scouts were selected and "set apart" to scout and explore the region they were about to enter for the purpose of "building up Zion," and establishing the kingdom of God.
By the spring of 1847, a carefully selected company of exploring pioneers was assembled, well equipped, properly organized, and formed into smaller groups with capable captains presiding over each group. The utmost care was given to every detail and their safe arrival at their destination while the country was still under the summer's sway is evidence of great resourcefulness and masterful executive ability. Not one member of the company had been lost or seriously injured. All arrived who were expected to. Some few remained at certain posts to aid oncoming companies. And as before stated, the last hundred miles of their journey, though arduous and difficult in every way was made in peace and security and organized harmony prevailed. When the destination was reached, while many were sorely disappointed at the announcement that the end of the long trail had been attained, it was with characteristic clearness of vision and the power to see the resourcefulness of their promised land that Brigham Young uttered those decisive and memorable words: "THIS IS THE PLACE." Reprint—Deseret News
To be concluded in July issue.
Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
By Elder Nephi L. Morris
ONE hundred thirty-seven years ago last June first a child was born in the little village of Whittingham, Windham County, Vermont. The parents gave the child the unusual name of Brigham. Little did they think that name would be boldly and legibly written across the western continent particularly from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast. The name of Brigham Young after the lapse of a century and a third, looms with increasing boldness with the passing of each decade.
WOODROW Wilson once said that the eight horses which draw the triumphal chariot of every ruler and leader of free men are: Force of Character, Readiness of Resources, Clearness of Vision, Grasp of Intellect, Courage of Conviction. Earnestness of Purpose, and an Instinct and Capacity for Leadership.
To these outstanding qualities, essential in any great leader, I must, in order to do justice to and complete the character under consideration, add two additional qualifications. They are first, a Love and a Desire to Bless Mankind, and second, the indefinable but unmistakable thing known as Divine Inspiration.
One observation before we proceed : Good leadership is nullified only by poor followers. It can succeed only through good followers. What made Brigham Young's tremendous work successful was the high average quality of his followers. What he didn't know, what he couldn't do, they did know and did do. As a natural result the outstanding success was attained by the happy combination of excellent leadership and as equally splendid quality of following.
Taking up the well defined elements of great leadership let us first consider those of Instinct and Capacity in combination. They are necessarily associated.
IT IS faithfully recorded in Church history that upon the first meeting of Brigham Young and the Prophet Joseph Smith the latter made the statement that Brigham Young would some day preside over this people. Some ten or twelve years later, at the time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, the Saints were for a time in a state of bewilderment and serious confusion. Sidney Rigdon, once counselor to the Prophet and member of the First Presidency, vigorously asserted his claims to a "trusteeship" over the Church. For days he publicly contended before the people that he should be recognized in that capacity.
It should be remembered that authority in the Church was first bestowed by ordination upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Upon their heads was conferred a fulness of Apostolic authority and the Keys of Presidency over the Dispensation established upon the earth were distinctly given to them. In due course of time the Quorum of Twelve was organized and upon the shoulders of the members of that quorum Joseph placed the responsibility and authority of leadership. That is the quorum second in authority and upon the dissolution of the quorum of the First Presidency the right of jurisdiction and authority devolves upon the Twelve. Sidney Rigdon was not a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. With the passing of the Prophet the quorum of the Presidency was dissolved and the successor in authority was the quorum of apostles. By a singular succession of events the senior member of the Twelve, one Thomas B. Marsh, apostatized and had been excommunicated from the Church. The second member in order of seniority was the sainted David W. Patten who suffered martyrdom at the hands of an infuriated mob, about seventy-five in number, on Log Creek, Missouri.
Brigham Young was next in order of seniority. He arrived at Nauvoo some time after Mr. Rigdon had amply set forth his claims. Other members of the quorum had also arrived upon the scene. A public meeting of the members of the distressed. people was called. Brigham Young addressed the multitude. As he proceeded with his counsel to the Church and set before the throng the proper line of procedure the people listened to him with satisfaction. His hearers were amazed at the resemblance of his voice and facial features to those of the martyred Prophet. They are said to have exclaimed in great numbers, “It is the face of Joseph." "It is the voice of Joseph." Confusion and perplexity were removed from their minds and they heeded the voice of a modern Moses whose leadership was so providentially manifest to them.
THE Prophet's prophecy was to be fulfilled. The great body of the Church followed Brigham. He was at once recognized as the presiding member of the Twelve and as such presided over the Church and was soon afterwards formally sustained as President of the Church. This exalted office he successfully administered from then until the day of his demise, in 1877.
In this remarkable manner were the qualities of leadership recognized by the people and indicated by the Almighty. Time vindicated both. Now history gives her generous approval. But more than this, by his selection as a leader of the people, the integrity of church organization has been once for all established and preserved in the Church.
Innocence m childhood, or in the untutored mmd of the savage oftentimes may recognize true character more clearly than the mere subtle minds of cultured and cunning people. I relate an incident in demonstration of this truth because it again demonstrates the conspicuous qualities of leadership inherent in the subject of our sketch.
Many of the Indian tribes were unfriendly to the settlers and travelers here in pioneer days. Unfortunately, in many instances, this attitude was justified. But Brigham Young maintained very friendly relations with the tribes and their chiefs. Two outstanding chiefs, viz., Arapeen and Peteetnit were among that class. Under the Territorial government President Brigham Young was appointed by the Federal government to the position of Indian Agent. He was succeeded in that capacity by one Mr. Farney. Chief Arapeen made a striking observation concerning the two men and the comparative trustworthiness of each. He said: "The words of Farney are mere bawling. What he says goes in to one ear and passes out of the other. When Brigham Young, he speak, what he says goes into both ears and sink down into the heart and stay there."
I repeat, a child, a simple-minded but honest savage may be unerring in his interpretation of human nature. Perhaps it is one of nature's intuitive weapons of self-defense.
IT WILL be remembered that the original band of ''Mormon" Pioneers left Winter Quarters, now called Florence, Nebraska, in April, 1847, and reached the end of their memorable journey on July 24, 1847. It consisted of one hundred forty-eight persons in all and they had seventy-three wagons in their train.
The year before, the unhappy Donner-Reed party of western bound emigrants started from Springfield, Illinois, in the month of May. Their party consisted of approximately ninety people. They traveled along safely and pleasantly as far as Fort Bridger. By the time of their arrival there, their numbers had become greatly augmented by large and small groups uniting with them until they then numbered about four hundred. Donner, because of his age, wealth, experience and influence was chosen leader. Reed was a close second choice and made a substantial contribution to the management of affairs as long as things went well with the sturdy band. Their personnel was made up of a splendid lot of miscellaneous people among whom were many kind, courageous, self-sacrificing and noble men and women. Some of these were cast in the mold from which heroes come. Yet there were among them those who had elements of weakness, selfishness, and treachery. Man for man, however, there appears to be no substantial difference between the two historic pioneering groups—except for one thing and that was in the important matter of leadership and organization. The Donner party at Fort Bridger was persuaded by one Lansford W. Hastings to take an unknown route, supposedly shorter by three hundred miles, which took them around the south shores of Great Salt Lake instead of over the well traveled Oregon Trail via Fort Hall and northwest from that historic early day landmark. This ill-advised decision upon the part of the Donner party resulted in the reduction of the party back to about its original number. Proceeding from Fort Bridger they reached Salt Lake Valley by way of Emigration Canyon.
THEIR trail, the "Mormon" Pioneers faithfully followed into the valley the following season. But this was the end of the journey to the latter group but to the former it was the end of safe and successful travel and resulted finally in their suffering from thirst, food for their cattle, and still more seriously in the loss of unity of effort and complete destruction of leadership and harmony in their now tragic journey. On the treacherous and impassible salt flats the cattle became exhausted and maddened from thirst. Eighteen of the Donner's oxen dashed out on the salt desert to die of thirst and hunger, never to be seen again by man. On and on slowly they trudged over the sterile saline ocean bed, leaving behind them by degrees, excess weight. Utensils, equipment, and finally wagons were abandoned, left to bleach in the summer's sun and the salty waters of the winters. Their tracks are still visible for no white man on wheels has since traversed or even crossed the trail they made. A cruel early winter set in upon their unhoused heads and October snows began to impede their already slow progress. November snows increased the depth and those of December buried them beneath 15 to 20 feet as they reached the beautiful lake since named after their leader. They made rude huts to shelter them from the bitter cold and the constantly deepening snows. Futile efforts were made to cross the Humbolt Mountains. Snow shoes were made of neck-yoke bows and rawhide strips. Death made heavy in-roads. Oxen were killed for food. Finally the hides were eaten and the horrors of hunger ultimately drove these kindly, noble, men, women and children to the last fearful extremity. Lots were cast for the one to take the life of a starving fellow that others might live and probably save the rest. The executioner selected refused, but death took his place and then human flesh was eaten that women and children might be saved from the most terrible of deaths. Beautiful Donner Lake became their burial ground—the saddest, most tragic in all America.
THESE unfortunate people were just as courageous, as valorous, as heroic and as kind as were the followers of Brigham Young. He did not pass through such a hazardous piece of territory. His leadership had inspired him to follow good advice and all information available to him and his associates was carefully weighed and divine guidance fervently sought every step of the way. In comparing Brigham Young with George or Jacob Donner or James Frazier Reed, I do not do so with the least suggestion of criticism or unkindness, but with thanksgiving in my heart that a capable leadership was provided for the ''Mormon" Pioneers that was equal to every emergency that arose in their great undertaking.
To show that Brigham Young and his noble band was threatened by the disintegrating forces of disunion, quarreling and criminal tendencies, which could have easily brought the noble enterprise to complete ruin, I will submit for your consideration a few pages of pioneer history taken from the dependable journal of the intelligent and trustworthy William Clayton, written day-by-day along the way. The crisis of the journey seemed to come to a head on the 29th day of May. The company was near Chimney Rocks, not far from Scott's Bluffs. Brigham Young called a halt on the procedure and told them he felt like holding a meeting as he had some things to say to them.
After defining the causes of past persecutions of his people and the behavior of evil men in seeking the destruction of the Saints, he continued thus: “Nobody has told me what has been going on in this camp, but I have known it all the while. I have been watching its movements, its influence, its effects, and I know the result of it if not put a stop to. If you do not open your hearts so that the spirit of God can enter into your hearts and teach you the right way, I know that you are a ruined people and will be destroyed, and that with out remedy, and unless there is a change and a different course of conduct, a different spirit to what is now in this camp, I go no farther. I am in no hurry. Give me a man of prayer, give me a man of faith, give me a man of meditation, a sober-minded man, and I would far rather go amongst the savages with six or eight such men than to trust myself with the whole of this camp with the spirit they now possess.
Describing their weaknesses, their petty wrong-doings, their idleness, their telling of unworthy jokes, indulging in profanity, (Brigham Young came from a Methodist family) their gambling and giving away to anger and rage, he said, "If you had liquor with you, you would be at each other's throats with a knife."
Then he admonished them, "If you do not wish to obey the laws of the kingdom of God, and seek for the spirit of Christ, walk in unity and humbly, I admonish you to turn around and go back. For I will not go any farther with this company as it is." "Do you suppose that we are going to look out a home for the Saints, a resting place, a place of peace where they can build up the kingdom (of God) and bid the nations welcome, with a low, mean, dirty, trifling, covetous, wicked spirit dwelling in your bosoms ? It is vain, vain ! I now tell you if you do not stop it (that is, your unseemly behavior) you shall be cursed by the Almighty and shall dwindle away and be damned. Such things shall not be suffered in this camp. You shall honor God and confess His name or else you shall suffer the penalty. I am one of the last to ask my brethren to enter into a solemn covenant, but if they will not enter into a covenant to put away their iniquity and turn to the Lord and serve Him and acknowledge and honor His name, I want them to take their wagons and retreat, for I shall go no farther under such a state of things. I think it will be good for us to have a fast meeting tomorrow and a prayer meeting to humble ourselves and turn to the Lord and He will forgive us."
He then called upon all the men present, and there were eight apostles among them, four bishops, fifteen high priests, seventy-eight seventies and eight elders.
ALL covenanted in a solemn meeting, with uplifted hands. Other leaders spoke favorably of the admonitions of the President, and the meeting adjourned and each man went back to his wagon, many expressing gratitude for what had transpired. Brother Clayton adds, "No loud laughter was heard, no swearing, no quarreling, no profane language, no hard speeches to man or beast, and it really seemed as though a cloud had burst and we had emerged into a new element, a new atmosphere and a new society."
In this dramatic crisis which had slowly arisen the great spiritual leadership of Brigham Young was clearly manifest. Through the spirit of God he was able to touch the hearts of unruly and ungodly men and bring them to repentance, — back to their better selves. This incident gives a fine demonstration of instinct and capacity as well as divine inspiration in leadership. From then on the pioneers pursued their way, well-behaved, kind, orderly, happy, singing songs and hymns- -a united band of brethren.
DURING the prolonged series of persecutions suffered by the Latter- day Saints at the hands of mobs and militias in Missouri and Illinois it became very clear to Brigham Young that the body of religious worshippers to which he belonged would never be permanently welcomed in those states. It became increasingly clear to him that the Latter-day Saints, in order to develop as a people and work out their exalted hopes of world reform and salvation must have freedom of opportunity.
As late as 1842 Joseph Smith had prophetically declared that the Saints were destined to become a "mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.” Thus the Prophet had pointed the way to freedom and development. This made the course of procedure still more clear but it involved tremendous responsibility and required great wisdom and skill in planning the great migration. To select a place for the establishment of his people was his supreme task. Such an enterprise and venture involved the fate of his people and their relationship to this country which had now practically expatriated them. The situation was fraught with infinite potentialities. Clear thinking, proper behavior and the preservation of unity among his people were accomplished and the highest aims in respect to each be achieved? That was again his task.
AFTER nearly a decade had passed President Young reviewed this trying situation in a sermon delivered in 1853 from the pulpit of the “Old Tabernacle” (a building which stood about where the Assembly Hall now stands). He said, “I will mention a few things, a few doings, that transpired in Missouri, when they had Joseph and others in prison. General Clark had discretionary power from Governor Boggs to kill man, woman and child, or to spare the women and children, or distribute the whole community of Saints among the other inhabitants, just as he pleased. The cause of this was laid to the ‘Mormon disturbances.’ ‘Mormon troubles,’ though the ‘Mormons’ had not been of their own county, for they owned nearly the whole county where they lived, and they did not go beyond their won boundaries except on lawful and necessary business. We had given up our arms by their request to prove our loyalty to the government and then many of them said, ‘Now G—D--- you, we’ll shoot you,’ and some of the Saints were killed after they had surrendered their arms in faithful compliance with the requirements.
“The starting point of our persecution arose by our enemies setting fire to their own houses, swearing they were burned out by the ‘Mormons.’ This I know for it came under my own observation. When General Clark came into Far West with his army, he sent George M. Hinkle, an apostate, to call out the remainder of the brethren on to the public square, and when they were assembled he surrounded them with his men and said, ‘Gentlemen, I have discretionary power in my hands, and I will tell you what we desire. We wish one to go home with his man, and another with that man, and take your wives and children with you, and distribute yourselves throughout the state. You are the best mechanics and the most industrious people we have, and you have accomplished more in two years than our whole settlers have in twelve. We wish you to live with us. Why cannot you associate with us? Why cannot you associate with us? I want you to scatter among our people and give up your religion and Prophet, for I will tell you now, in the beginning, you will never see your Prophet Joseph Smith again.” (Said I to myself, “that is a falsehood,” quoting Brigham Young.) ‘Only mingle with us and give up your prophet and apostles, and your assembling yourselves together and we wish you to stay with us, for you are the best citizens in the state.’ I thought that these expressions did not correspond well with many of his remarks, and being determined not to give up my religion. I at once concluded that he might go to Hades, and I would leave the state, and so I did, with the balance of the Latter-day Saints, as they had previously killed many."
Observe in the following statement the position of the Latter-day Saints with respect to the Federal Constitution :
''Brethren and sisters, our friends wish to know our feelings toward the government. I answer, they are first-rate and we will prove it, too, as you will see, if you live long enough; for that we shall live to prove it is certain; and when the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will call for the 'Mormon' Elders to save it from utter destruction, and they will step forward and do it."
Another observation: "We love the Constitution of our country. It is all we could ask; though in some few instances there might be some amendments made which would better it, etc."
HE HAD a clear vision as to the future of his people ; a clear vision as to the rights of American citizens, religiously and politically; a clear vision as to the destiny of his people ; that they should not be scattered by distribution even unto obliteration ; a clear vision as to the enjoyment of religious freedom, by any and all Americans ; he had a clear vision as to the nature and value of the Federal Constitution and the propriety of its amendment by lawful and proper procedure.
Here is another instance in which Brigham Young had a clearness of vision in one of his bigger undertakings, which borders upon the superhuman, if it does not go altogether over into the domain of revelation. It is in connection with the building of the great Temple in this city.
This extract is taken from a sermon he delivered in the Old Tabernacle April 3, 1853. Said he, "I do not like to prophesy much, I never do, but I will venture to guess that this day, and the work we have done (the laying of the comer stone of the Temple) will long be remembered by this people, and be sounded as with a trumpets' voice throughout the world, as far, as loud and as long as steam, wind and the electric current can carry it.
"Some will say, 'Do you suppose we shall finish this temple, Brother Brigham?' I do not know. This I do know, there shall be a temple built here. I do know it is the duty of this people to commence to build a temple. Now some will want to know what kind of a temple it will be. I know what it will be. I am not a visionary man. I don't often speak of revelations and so on. I have Brother Kimball do my prophesying, but suffice it to say, five years ago last July (It was 1853 when he was speaking. That would throw the date back to July, 1847.) I was here and saw in the spirit the Temple not ten feet from where we have laid the chief corner stone. I have not inquired what kind of a temple it should be. Why ? Because it was presented before me. I have never looked upon that ground but the vision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it were in reality before me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, it will have six towers, to begin with, instead of one. Now do not any of you apostatize because it will have six towers, and Joseph only built one on each of his temples. It is easier for us to build sixteen than it was for him to build one, and the time will come when there will be one in the center of temples we shall build and on the top groves and fishponds. But we shall not see them here at present.”
Here is a "clearness of vision" which only comes to the average trained mind after much painstaking study and calculation and the well worked out details of the structure as a whole. It was an accurate architectural conception which was afterwards expressed in admirable lines and has served its purpose nobly for upwards of a hundred years and is at present not threatened with obsolescence or deterioration. No small piece of work was this for it required full forty years to build and cost a little less than four million dollars.
AFTER the barbarous expulsion from Nauvoo the exiled Saints were smitten and scattered like sheep upon whom a pack of hungry wolves had ferociously set themselves. To bring about common unity to action was a herculean task. To save them disaster and disintegration was of paramount importance. Of necessity they made a camp which was called Winter Quarters from the cold and inhuman circumstance which forced them to establish a community in the midst of severe winter.
The great western migration was the challenging problem before them. Provisions, equipments and supplies were assembled from all quarters. All property at their command was consequently converted into these necessities. The country into which they were planning to go was without trail or highway so far as they knew. Information from all reliable sources was eagerly sought and carefully assimilated. Aid from Washington was diplomatically and effectively sought. Senator Douglas had sent to them Capt. Fremont's report and topographical maps. These Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball studiously absorbed. Wisely chosen scouts were selected and "set apart" to scout and explore the region they were about to enter for the purpose of "building up Zion," and establishing the kingdom of God.
By the spring of 1847, a carefully selected company of exploring pioneers was assembled, well equipped, properly organized, and formed into smaller groups with capable captains presiding over each group. The utmost care was given to every detail and their safe arrival at their destination while the country was still under the summer's sway is evidence of great resourcefulness and masterful executive ability. Not one member of the company had been lost or seriously injured. All arrived who were expected to. Some few remained at certain posts to aid oncoming companies. And as before stated, the last hundred miles of their journey, though arduous and difficult in every way was made in peace and security and organized harmony prevailed. When the destination was reached, while many were sorely disappointed at the announcement that the end of the long trail had been attained, it was with characteristic clearness of vision and the power to see the resourcefulness of their promised land that Brigham Young uttered those decisive and memorable words: "THIS IS THE PLACE." Reprint—Deseret News
To be concluded in July issue.
Morris, Nephi L. "Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership." Relief Society Magazine. July 1938. pg. 442-447.
Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
By Elder Nephi L. Morris
(Continued from June issue)
UPON the arrival of pioneer bands in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, President Young assured his people that they had reached their Land of Promise. The day following their arrival happened to be Sunday. Religious services were held and the God of Israel was praised for the deliverance of His people and His leading them to so bounteous a land. In a sort of official manner Brigham Young proclaimed, as the law of the land, that the land was not to be bought and sold nor monopolized; that each man would be allowed ample land for his needs both as to a city home and agricultural acreage. He was to have each according to his ability to cultivate same. Neither the forests nor the water could be appropriated in excess of actual needs. These natural resources were to be preserved for home-dweller and the tiller of the earth.
Due regard was to be shown to the twenty thousand Latter-day Saints who were still camped on the banks of the Missouri River waiting for equipment and approval in making the long journey. First steps were promptly taken in exploration and subsequent colonization in all directions. A territorial government was set up and the boundaries of the proposed commonwealth were at first fixed upon a large scale. The vast area included in addition to Utah, parts of the states of Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and California with a generous coast line along the Pacific. The size and character of the proposed state was commensurate with the intellectual grasp of the great empire builder in charge of the situation.
LEGISLATURES were established and functioned in an orderly manner. Congress was petitioned to receive the State of Deseret into the Union. Industries of fundamental import were established, including the manufacture of sugar, woolen goods, paper, (silk, leather, etc. Churches and schools were erected, The foundation of a university was splendidly laid and the present magnificent state institution is the direct outcome of that early project. The construction of railroads and telegraph lines were inaugurated at a very early day, by reason of which the Territory of Utah was brought the into communication with the nation industrially and politically. With unusual sagacity and statesmanlike wisdom Brigham Young restrained his people from the alluring and demoralizing effects of gold and silver mining and effectively indicated the social, industrial, domestic and spiritual values of sticking close to the dependable soil. In this policy he was abundantly vindicated.
These sound policies, both substantial and practical, indicate an intellectual grasp to be found only in a great empire builder which Brigham Young has long since come to be in the minds of thoughtful observers, In the domain of pioneering, exploration and statecraft the subject of our sketch has been shown to be a person of uncommon capacity and ability. Very few men of this type can step over into the realm of theology and maintain so noble a stride. But here it is that Brigham Young easily glides into the higher realm of thought and philosophy without falling down to the level of illogical, commonplace and petty dogma. It is in this field that he ascends to pure sublimity. As one of many exalted teachings quite common with him I here introduce the biggest idea I have ever encountered. Take it for what you will, it stands almost alone in its magnificence of intellectual comprehension and expression. He was speaking on the eternal nature of man and matter. Here is the idea:
"Mankind are organized of element designed to endure to all eternity ; it never had a beginning and never can have an end. There never was a time when that matter, of which you and I are composed, was not in existence; it cannot be annihilated.
"It is brought together, organized and capacitated to receive knowledge and intelligence, to be enthroned in glory, to be made angels, Gods—beings who will hold control over the elements, and have power by their word to command the creation and the redemption of worlds, or to extinguish suns by a breath and disorganize worlds, hurling them back into their chaotic state. This is what you and I are created for." (J. of D. 3, 356, Dis. of B. Y. 74.)
THE impressive quality of sincerity was always conspicuously manifest in the important affairs that came before him for handling. But at no time in his eventful career did he evince a more sublime courage of his convictions than upon the occasion of his being advised that Johnston's army was on its way to Utah with the avowed purpose of subjecting the people here to military control. The dramatic event occurred at Silver Lake, the head waters of the Big Cottonwood stream. Nearly twenty-five hundred people had gathered there to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their arrival in the valley. While men and women, young and old, and little children were enjoying the relaxation which only the exalted valleys of lofty mountains can give, while bands were playing patriotic airs and choruses were singing anthems and hymns, into the festive camp rode three messengers with the startling announcement of WAR.
Instantly were they all changed from care-free, joyous and happy celebrants to fear-stricken, anxious, and almost dismayed belligerents. To their great leader they confidently looked for guidance and doubted not his being equal to the crisis so suddenly thrust before them. Military control was apparently to be imposed upon them. With a few preliminary observations, he said, "You may as well tell me that you can't make hell out of a powder house as to tell me that they intend to keep an army here (and have peace." Rising to the heights of the emergency and displaying unsurpassed courage he made what I regard, as the most important statement ever made in the State of Utah. He said : "I feel that I won't bear such treatment, for we are just as free as the mountain air. . . . This people are free ; they are not in bondage to any government on God's footstool. We have transgressed no law, neither do we intend so to do ; but as for any nation coming here to destroy this people, God Almighty being my helper, IT SHALL NOT BE."
Brigham Young in this crisis did not indulge in any such delusion as to think that his handful of impoverished followers could successfully set up a military resistance to the armies of the United States. But by bold strategy did he keep that army out on the plains for about a year. During this amazing resistance he communicated with Washington and laid the facts before the President and his cabinet. Friendly intermediaries, conspicuously in this connection, are to be gratefully mentioned. The superb services of a rare and true friend, Thomas L. Kane, than whom our people never had a greater friend, brought both sides to the controversy into conference and when they understood each other the "Utah War" was over.
The bold declaration of Brigham Young was not a threat of violence against the government. It was the declaration of a man whose people were about to become the hapless victims of prejudice and misinformation. Time was needed to lay the facts before the government and things must be held in abeyance till that could be done. The great leader of the Mormon people, with the full courage of the rightfulness of his convictions, successfully set up a defiant resistance. What he really had in mind to do rather than submit to such treatment as he had seen meted out to his people in Missouri and Illinois was to utterly destroy every vestige of civilization and culture existing here at the time. Not a blade of grass, nor a straw of grain or hay would be left in the field. Not a picket of a fence nor a fragment of a house or barn would be left standing. All would be destroyed by fire and they who would undertake to drive them from their homes and dispossess them of their lands, would find the place as barren as the pioneers had found it when they arrived here ten years before.
EARNESTNESS of purpose is the one dominant note that runs all through the intensely serious undertakings of Brigham Young's eventful life. Evidence of insincerity is always destructive of confidence. No man ever enjoyed greater loyalty and more sincere devotion from his followers than did this remarkable man. From the day he first associated with the Latter-day Saints' cause to the end of his outstanding career he was always constantly under test through which only characters of truest steel can pass unimpaired. High-minded, enlightened men, men of character and superior intelligence went at his wishes to colonize or perform missions when and where he advised. To remote and unknown parts they went with their families and established settlements, reclaiming the desert, building up the waste places, extending the influence of the Church and introducing, everywhere, a high order of civilization. This extraordinary man exerted such power over his devoted followers that thousands of lives were definitely shaped under his guidance and friendly counsel. The exercise of such power exists only on the basis of unquestioned sincerity and earnestness of purpose. These qualities are the keys to his great character.
THE great secret of his hold up on his fellows was the consciousness on their part of his sincere desire to promote in every way their welfare and happiness both for this life and the one to come. I tell just one story beautifully illustrative of the bond of sympathy which existed between him and his fellows. This incident was told me by my old, gifted friend, the late Alfred Lambourne. He was a close student of nature in all her various forms, and with the deep insight of both poet and artist human nature was rich in its yield to his searching powers. President Young never forgot his old-time friends and early-day associates. When approaching the sunset of life he habitually paid regular visits to the homes or the shops of those old comrades. On one such occasion he entered the blacksmith shop of such a fellow workman. The President was always graceful and dignified in bearing and appearance. As he approached the blacksmith with the ringing anvil between them he extended his soft, shapely, small hand. Its evident refinement reaching toward him rather dismayed or embarrassed the masculine worker of iron. As he laid the heavy hammer on the vibrant anvil his own hand fell like lead beside his leathern apron. It grew increasingly heavy like the metal it fashioned and hammer it wielded. Its weight increased as the embarrassing moments slowly passed. Another look at his own large hand, black and defaced with labor, and the smith could not lift his hand to meet the President's At this flashing crisis the President stooped low and wiped his soft, white hand in the soot and grime of the floor and then arising again extended it. Instantly in the bonds of an undying comradeship their hands firmly met and their hearts also met, never to be separated.
COLUMBUS had the masterful personality—the earnestness of purpose and the courage to quell the mutineers or America might have remained in obscuration even to this day. Brigham Young had similar and still greater powers to cope with a vicious ruffianism and reckless, unpurposeful attitude at Chimney Rock or this great intermountain empire might to this day be either a sparsely settled country or a nonproductive wilderness. And while he never again had serious rebellion or sedition to contend with in so formidable a manner yet, after the arrival here in 1847, he saw many periods of wavering and a disposition on the part of some to retreat and turn from their noble objective. The cricket war though providentially terminated left many of the pioneers sadly discouraged with respect to their making a go of it in this country. Disappointment led to discouragement and then followed dissatisfaction. Crop failure caused many to regard as futile any further planting of seed in this sterile soil. One said, "I'll save my seed grain to plant in California." Others were bent on returning to the more fertile soil of Ohio or Illinois. The obvious need of an inspired leader to meet these discouragements had arrived. Added to these repellent forces came the allurements of the gold fever which was raging in California in 1848 and 1849. The great qualities of earnestness of purpose, clearness of vision, grasp of intellect, readiness of resources and courage of convictions were all needed to meet this new crisis which had arisen. All such qualities combined were needed to win in this great conflict. To consolidate the ground, they had taken from the desert; to succeed now and here was imminently necessary. To have shifted ground one inch would have been disastrous, more so than at Chimney Rock. Retreat would have been self-admitted defeat. At this last great test of the enterprise there came to Brigham Young all the qualities we have found in him and the one we said at the beginning was necessary to complete the elements of his masterful character, viz. DIVINE INSPIRATION.
LISTEN now to the words of the great pioneer, empire builder and prophet as he addressed himself to the problem of 1848. Said he, "Some have asked me about going to the gold fields of California. I told them that God had appointed this place for the gathering of His Saints, and you will do better right here than you will by going to the gold mines. Some have thought they would go there and get fitted out and come back, but I told them to stop here and get fitted out. Those who stop here are faithful to God and His people will make more money and get richer than you that run after the god of this world; and I promise you in the name of the Lord that many of you will go, thinking that you will get rich and come back, will wish you had never gone away from here and will long to come back, but will not be able to do so. Some of you will come back, but your friends who remain here will have to help you, and the rest of you who are spared to return will not make as much money as your brethren do who stay here and help to build up the Church and Kingdom of God. They will prosper and be able to buy you twice over. Here is the place God has appointed for His people.
"We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire; out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay. God has shown me that this is the spot to locate His people and here is where they will prosper. He will temper the elements for the good of the Saints. He will rebuke the frost and the sterility of the soil, and the land will become fruitful. Brethren, go to now, and plant out your fruit trees. For in these elements are not only all the cereals common to this latitude, but the apple, peach and plum; yea and the more delicate fruits, the strawberry and raspberry, and we will raise the grape here and manufacture wine ; and as the Saints gather here and get strong enough to possess the land, God will temper the climate, and we shall build a city and a temple to the Most High God in this place. We will extend our settlements to the east and west, to the north and south, and we will build towns and cities by the hundreds, and thousands of the Saints will gather in from the nations of the earth. This will become the great highway of the nation. Kings and Emperors and the noble and wise of the earth will visit here, (and they have) while the wicked and ungodly will envy us our comfortable homes and possessions. Take courage, brethren. I can stand in my door and can see where there is untold millions of the rich treasures of the earth gold and silver. But the time has not come for the Saints to dig gold. It is our duty first to develop the agricultural resources of this country, for there is no country on this earth that is more productive than this. We have the finest climate, the best water and the purest air that can be found on the earth. There is no healthier climate anywhere. As for gold and silver and the rich minerals of the earth, there is no other country that equals this, but let them alone; let others seek them, and we will cultivate the soil; for if the mines are opened first we are a thousand miles from any base of supplies, and the people would rush in here in such great numbers they would breed a famine, and gold would not do us or them any good if there were no provisions in the land. People would starve to death with barrels of gold. They would be willing to give a barrel of gold for a barrel of flour rather than starve to death. Then, brethren, plow your land, and sow your wheat, plant your potatoes; let the mines alone until the time comes for you to hunt gold, though I do not think this people will ever become a mining people. It is our duty to preach the Gospel, gather Israel, pay our tithing and build temples. The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth. And yet they have to be tried with riches for they will become the richest people on the earth."
AFTER that all-conquering inspiration the great leader had many secondary vicissitudes to pass through, but victory for the valiant followers was as certain as though God had spoken it. Those words, as Chief Arapeen said later, went into both ears and sank deep into the heart to remain there. Those positive assurances still lie deep in the consciousness of this people even unto the third and fourth generations. What a man was Brigham Young! What a leader was he! ''Where shall we find a greater example of the undiscouraged, resolute, struggling Soul of Man?" These things may in part explain why the name of Brigham Young looms with increasing bigness as the decades unfold. (Reprint Deseret News.)
Brigham Young's Qualities of Leadership
By Elder Nephi L. Morris
(Continued from June issue)
UPON the arrival of pioneer bands in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, President Young assured his people that they had reached their Land of Promise. The day following their arrival happened to be Sunday. Religious services were held and the God of Israel was praised for the deliverance of His people and His leading them to so bounteous a land. In a sort of official manner Brigham Young proclaimed, as the law of the land, that the land was not to be bought and sold nor monopolized; that each man would be allowed ample land for his needs both as to a city home and agricultural acreage. He was to have each according to his ability to cultivate same. Neither the forests nor the water could be appropriated in excess of actual needs. These natural resources were to be preserved for home-dweller and the tiller of the earth.
Due regard was to be shown to the twenty thousand Latter-day Saints who were still camped on the banks of the Missouri River waiting for equipment and approval in making the long journey. First steps were promptly taken in exploration and subsequent colonization in all directions. A territorial government was set up and the boundaries of the proposed commonwealth were at first fixed upon a large scale. The vast area included in addition to Utah, parts of the states of Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and California with a generous coast line along the Pacific. The size and character of the proposed state was commensurate with the intellectual grasp of the great empire builder in charge of the situation.
LEGISLATURES were established and functioned in an orderly manner. Congress was petitioned to receive the State of Deseret into the Union. Industries of fundamental import were established, including the manufacture of sugar, woolen goods, paper, (silk, leather, etc. Churches and schools were erected, The foundation of a university was splendidly laid and the present magnificent state institution is the direct outcome of that early project. The construction of railroads and telegraph lines were inaugurated at a very early day, by reason of which the Territory of Utah was brought the into communication with the nation industrially and politically. With unusual sagacity and statesmanlike wisdom Brigham Young restrained his people from the alluring and demoralizing effects of gold and silver mining and effectively indicated the social, industrial, domestic and spiritual values of sticking close to the dependable soil. In this policy he was abundantly vindicated.
These sound policies, both substantial and practical, indicate an intellectual grasp to be found only in a great empire builder which Brigham Young has long since come to be in the minds of thoughtful observers, In the domain of pioneering, exploration and statecraft the subject of our sketch has been shown to be a person of uncommon capacity and ability. Very few men of this type can step over into the realm of theology and maintain so noble a stride. But here it is that Brigham Young easily glides into the higher realm of thought and philosophy without falling down to the level of illogical, commonplace and petty dogma. It is in this field that he ascends to pure sublimity. As one of many exalted teachings quite common with him I here introduce the biggest idea I have ever encountered. Take it for what you will, it stands almost alone in its magnificence of intellectual comprehension and expression. He was speaking on the eternal nature of man and matter. Here is the idea:
"Mankind are organized of element designed to endure to all eternity ; it never had a beginning and never can have an end. There never was a time when that matter, of which you and I are composed, was not in existence; it cannot be annihilated.
"It is brought together, organized and capacitated to receive knowledge and intelligence, to be enthroned in glory, to be made angels, Gods—beings who will hold control over the elements, and have power by their word to command the creation and the redemption of worlds, or to extinguish suns by a breath and disorganize worlds, hurling them back into their chaotic state. This is what you and I are created for." (J. of D. 3, 356, Dis. of B. Y. 74.)
THE impressive quality of sincerity was always conspicuously manifest in the important affairs that came before him for handling. But at no time in his eventful career did he evince a more sublime courage of his convictions than upon the occasion of his being advised that Johnston's army was on its way to Utah with the avowed purpose of subjecting the people here to military control. The dramatic event occurred at Silver Lake, the head waters of the Big Cottonwood stream. Nearly twenty-five hundred people had gathered there to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their arrival in the valley. While men and women, young and old, and little children were enjoying the relaxation which only the exalted valleys of lofty mountains can give, while bands were playing patriotic airs and choruses were singing anthems and hymns, into the festive camp rode three messengers with the startling announcement of WAR.
Instantly were they all changed from care-free, joyous and happy celebrants to fear-stricken, anxious, and almost dismayed belligerents. To their great leader they confidently looked for guidance and doubted not his being equal to the crisis so suddenly thrust before them. Military control was apparently to be imposed upon them. With a few preliminary observations, he said, "You may as well tell me that you can't make hell out of a powder house as to tell me that they intend to keep an army here (and have peace." Rising to the heights of the emergency and displaying unsurpassed courage he made what I regard, as the most important statement ever made in the State of Utah. He said : "I feel that I won't bear such treatment, for we are just as free as the mountain air. . . . This people are free ; they are not in bondage to any government on God's footstool. We have transgressed no law, neither do we intend so to do ; but as for any nation coming here to destroy this people, God Almighty being my helper, IT SHALL NOT BE."
Brigham Young in this crisis did not indulge in any such delusion as to think that his handful of impoverished followers could successfully set up a military resistance to the armies of the United States. But by bold strategy did he keep that army out on the plains for about a year. During this amazing resistance he communicated with Washington and laid the facts before the President and his cabinet. Friendly intermediaries, conspicuously in this connection, are to be gratefully mentioned. The superb services of a rare and true friend, Thomas L. Kane, than whom our people never had a greater friend, brought both sides to the controversy into conference and when they understood each other the "Utah War" was over.
The bold declaration of Brigham Young was not a threat of violence against the government. It was the declaration of a man whose people were about to become the hapless victims of prejudice and misinformation. Time was needed to lay the facts before the government and things must be held in abeyance till that could be done. The great leader of the Mormon people, with the full courage of the rightfulness of his convictions, successfully set up a defiant resistance. What he really had in mind to do rather than submit to such treatment as he had seen meted out to his people in Missouri and Illinois was to utterly destroy every vestige of civilization and culture existing here at the time. Not a blade of grass, nor a straw of grain or hay would be left in the field. Not a picket of a fence nor a fragment of a house or barn would be left standing. All would be destroyed by fire and they who would undertake to drive them from their homes and dispossess them of their lands, would find the place as barren as the pioneers had found it when they arrived here ten years before.
EARNESTNESS of purpose is the one dominant note that runs all through the intensely serious undertakings of Brigham Young's eventful life. Evidence of insincerity is always destructive of confidence. No man ever enjoyed greater loyalty and more sincere devotion from his followers than did this remarkable man. From the day he first associated with the Latter-day Saints' cause to the end of his outstanding career he was always constantly under test through which only characters of truest steel can pass unimpaired. High-minded, enlightened men, men of character and superior intelligence went at his wishes to colonize or perform missions when and where he advised. To remote and unknown parts they went with their families and established settlements, reclaiming the desert, building up the waste places, extending the influence of the Church and introducing, everywhere, a high order of civilization. This extraordinary man exerted such power over his devoted followers that thousands of lives were definitely shaped under his guidance and friendly counsel. The exercise of such power exists only on the basis of unquestioned sincerity and earnestness of purpose. These qualities are the keys to his great character.
THE great secret of his hold up on his fellows was the consciousness on their part of his sincere desire to promote in every way their welfare and happiness both for this life and the one to come. I tell just one story beautifully illustrative of the bond of sympathy which existed between him and his fellows. This incident was told me by my old, gifted friend, the late Alfred Lambourne. He was a close student of nature in all her various forms, and with the deep insight of both poet and artist human nature was rich in its yield to his searching powers. President Young never forgot his old-time friends and early-day associates. When approaching the sunset of life he habitually paid regular visits to the homes or the shops of those old comrades. On one such occasion he entered the blacksmith shop of such a fellow workman. The President was always graceful and dignified in bearing and appearance. As he approached the blacksmith with the ringing anvil between them he extended his soft, shapely, small hand. Its evident refinement reaching toward him rather dismayed or embarrassed the masculine worker of iron. As he laid the heavy hammer on the vibrant anvil his own hand fell like lead beside his leathern apron. It grew increasingly heavy like the metal it fashioned and hammer it wielded. Its weight increased as the embarrassing moments slowly passed. Another look at his own large hand, black and defaced with labor, and the smith could not lift his hand to meet the President's At this flashing crisis the President stooped low and wiped his soft, white hand in the soot and grime of the floor and then arising again extended it. Instantly in the bonds of an undying comradeship their hands firmly met and their hearts also met, never to be separated.
COLUMBUS had the masterful personality—the earnestness of purpose and the courage to quell the mutineers or America might have remained in obscuration even to this day. Brigham Young had similar and still greater powers to cope with a vicious ruffianism and reckless, unpurposeful attitude at Chimney Rock or this great intermountain empire might to this day be either a sparsely settled country or a nonproductive wilderness. And while he never again had serious rebellion or sedition to contend with in so formidable a manner yet, after the arrival here in 1847, he saw many periods of wavering and a disposition on the part of some to retreat and turn from their noble objective. The cricket war though providentially terminated left many of the pioneers sadly discouraged with respect to their making a go of it in this country. Disappointment led to discouragement and then followed dissatisfaction. Crop failure caused many to regard as futile any further planting of seed in this sterile soil. One said, "I'll save my seed grain to plant in California." Others were bent on returning to the more fertile soil of Ohio or Illinois. The obvious need of an inspired leader to meet these discouragements had arrived. Added to these repellent forces came the allurements of the gold fever which was raging in California in 1848 and 1849. The great qualities of earnestness of purpose, clearness of vision, grasp of intellect, readiness of resources and courage of convictions were all needed to meet this new crisis which had arisen. All such qualities combined were needed to win in this great conflict. To consolidate the ground, they had taken from the desert; to succeed now and here was imminently necessary. To have shifted ground one inch would have been disastrous, more so than at Chimney Rock. Retreat would have been self-admitted defeat. At this last great test of the enterprise there came to Brigham Young all the qualities we have found in him and the one we said at the beginning was necessary to complete the elements of his masterful character, viz. DIVINE INSPIRATION.
LISTEN now to the words of the great pioneer, empire builder and prophet as he addressed himself to the problem of 1848. Said he, "Some have asked me about going to the gold fields of California. I told them that God had appointed this place for the gathering of His Saints, and you will do better right here than you will by going to the gold mines. Some have thought they would go there and get fitted out and come back, but I told them to stop here and get fitted out. Those who stop here are faithful to God and His people will make more money and get richer than you that run after the god of this world; and I promise you in the name of the Lord that many of you will go, thinking that you will get rich and come back, will wish you had never gone away from here and will long to come back, but will not be able to do so. Some of you will come back, but your friends who remain here will have to help you, and the rest of you who are spared to return will not make as much money as your brethren do who stay here and help to build up the Church and Kingdom of God. They will prosper and be able to buy you twice over. Here is the place God has appointed for His people.
"We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire; out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay. God has shown me that this is the spot to locate His people and here is where they will prosper. He will temper the elements for the good of the Saints. He will rebuke the frost and the sterility of the soil, and the land will become fruitful. Brethren, go to now, and plant out your fruit trees. For in these elements are not only all the cereals common to this latitude, but the apple, peach and plum; yea and the more delicate fruits, the strawberry and raspberry, and we will raise the grape here and manufacture wine ; and as the Saints gather here and get strong enough to possess the land, God will temper the climate, and we shall build a city and a temple to the Most High God in this place. We will extend our settlements to the east and west, to the north and south, and we will build towns and cities by the hundreds, and thousands of the Saints will gather in from the nations of the earth. This will become the great highway of the nation. Kings and Emperors and the noble and wise of the earth will visit here, (and they have) while the wicked and ungodly will envy us our comfortable homes and possessions. Take courage, brethren. I can stand in my door and can see where there is untold millions of the rich treasures of the earth gold and silver. But the time has not come for the Saints to dig gold. It is our duty first to develop the agricultural resources of this country, for there is no country on this earth that is more productive than this. We have the finest climate, the best water and the purest air that can be found on the earth. There is no healthier climate anywhere. As for gold and silver and the rich minerals of the earth, there is no other country that equals this, but let them alone; let others seek them, and we will cultivate the soil; for if the mines are opened first we are a thousand miles from any base of supplies, and the people would rush in here in such great numbers they would breed a famine, and gold would not do us or them any good if there were no provisions in the land. People would starve to death with barrels of gold. They would be willing to give a barrel of gold for a barrel of flour rather than starve to death. Then, brethren, plow your land, and sow your wheat, plant your potatoes; let the mines alone until the time comes for you to hunt gold, though I do not think this people will ever become a mining people. It is our duty to preach the Gospel, gather Israel, pay our tithing and build temples. The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth. And yet they have to be tried with riches for they will become the richest people on the earth."
AFTER that all-conquering inspiration the great leader had many secondary vicissitudes to pass through, but victory for the valiant followers was as certain as though God had spoken it. Those words, as Chief Arapeen said later, went into both ears and sank deep into the heart to remain there. Those positive assurances still lie deep in the consciousness of this people even unto the third and fourth generations. What a man was Brigham Young! What a leader was he! ''Where shall we find a greater example of the undiscouraged, resolute, struggling Soul of Man?" These things may in part explain why the name of Brigham Young looms with increasing bigness as the decades unfold. (Reprint Deseret News.)
Bowen, Albert E. "Brigham Young." Instructor. December 1938. pg. 568-569.
BRIGHAM YOUNG: THE PIONEER LEADER By Elder Albert E. Bowen, of the Council of the Twelve A tribute paid at the Conference of the Deseret Sunday School Union, October 8, 1938 President Brigham Young had in superlative degrees four qualities that always go with greatness—intelligence, loyalty, faith, courage. He filled so conspicuous a place in such troublous times as demanded this generous endowment. I shall not try to elaborate these qualities separately for they so stand revealed as an interlaced pattern in almost all his public acts and utterances that an instance cited in illustration of one of them is almost sure to disclose the presence and active operation of the others. When news of the bold and arresting claims of Joseph Smith reached him, Brigham Young was leading a quiet, comfortable, happy family life and by his characteristic industry and frugality was accumulating substance through the pursuit of his craft as painter and glazier. Not a credulous man nor one ever to be hurried in his judgments, he subjected the new religion to the test of careful study and analysis. It took two years for him to accept the Book of Mormon, but when he did, the acceptance was complete. Never once did he waver, either in his devotion to the Prophet, the cause, or the people whose leader he subsequently became. In 1832, at the age of thirty-one, he was baptized and became a member of the Church. From that day until the day of his death, he trod a thorny path mid scenes of turbulence and violence, of which he was for many years the central figure. He was in Boston in the service of the Church when the desolating news of the Prophet's martyrdom reached him. Back in Nauvoo were near twenty thousand people who, through faith in the divine calling of Joseph Smith and supported by the magnetic power of his compelling personality, had endured such mobbings, drivings, spoliations and unspeakable ravishings as it is well-nigh incredible that human beings could bear. Now their idolized leader was dead. The voice of the shepherd was stilled. Already plottings for seizure of power were afoot. As has ever been the case, hostile powers from without have derived large aid and abetment through disloyal acts of traitors within. Here was no exception. Already a council had gathered with the view of taking control of all public matters pertaining to the affairs and possessions of the Church. A day was set for a meeting of the sore-beset and anguished people to decide the momentous question of their future, which it was hoped would occur before the absent members of the Twelve could arrive. By a forced journey and much to the surprise and regret of the aspirants for power, Brigham Young arrived in Nauvoo in time for that meeting. With characteristic confidence and directness, he submitted opposing claims to the voice of the people. The twelve apostles, with him at their head, were all but unanimously sustained as the directing authority of the Church. There Brigham Young, the leader, was born. From the moment he stepped into the pulpit and in ringing tones commanded the attention of the congregation, the issue was never in doubt. Under his masterly guidance and with the cooperation of the great men who formed the leading Council, the spiritual confidence of the people was restored. Through the intervening years Brigham Young had been all unwittingly to himself preparing for this hour. Until that day and always he had submerged himself in the greater personality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Never had he tried to' magnify himself nor to steal from the loved leader the fame which of right came to him. To the day of his death, Brigham Young disclaimed any importance in himself, assuming only to be the humble follower of the Prophet who had revealed to him the Plan of Life. Modestly he says: "I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our being moved here. It was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of God that wrought out salvation for the people. I never could have devised such a plan." He had been among those who journeyed to Far West with the purpose of restoring the dispossessed members of the Church to their possessions, following which he was ordained an apostle. With the Prophet confined in Liberty Jail, he was given charge of the movement of the people from Far West to Nauvoo. How well he accomplished this task is a matter of history. His devotion to the people whose care had been committed to him is revealed in the fact that eleven times on that move he left his own family, almost barren of shelter and destitute of food, to go back and succor other distressed families and bring them a little further out of the way of danger. And then looking back over it in retrospect he said: "I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered -for Christ's sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have enjoyed a great deal, but so far as suffering goes I have compared it a great many times, in my feelings and before congregations, to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered and dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is new, whole and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I think of what I have suffered for the Gospel's sake —I have thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one. No man or woman ever heard me tell about suffering. * * * And you may take the history of the world from the days of Adam down, and I am at the defiance of any historian to prove that the Saints have ever suffered as much as the sinners." Two things of prime importance claimed his attention in Nauvoo. The first was to finish the temple which he declared he would do if it cost every penny that he possessed, declaring that the blessings there to be received would be ample reward. The thing next in importance was the gathering of the scattered members of the Church who dotted the country all the way from Kirtland to Far West and from Far West to Nauvoo. "Not only," said he, "must farms be cultivated, houses built, and mills to grind the corn, but there must be something produced by industry to send off to market in exchange for cash, and for such other articles as we need. This must be produced by the united industry, skill, and economy of the whole people. Men, women and children must be well and constantly employed. In order the more effectually to do this, we must turn our attention to the erection of work-shops for the manufacture of every useful article; and wares thus manufactured must find a market, not in Nauvoo alone, but in all the wide country, and in cities and towns abroad." He established towns, built railroads, telegraphs, industries, banks, factories, mills, schools, colleges, theatres, encouraged literature and art, "planned and erected temples and tabernacles still used by his people today and the wonder of modern architects," at the same time taking care of a constant stream of immigration from the old world and across the American continent, establishing men in places where they could support and subsist themselves, and all the while acting as their great spiritual leader, adviser, and guide. Surveying his marvelous career, Mr. Shepstone says of him that his remarkable life was one of the most astounding that the nineteenth century has produced. He said of himself that all he was he owed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. |
ALBERT E. BOWEN
BRIGHAM YOUNG
|
"Joseph Smith and Brigham Young." Instructor. June 1939. pg. 229-230.
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young A STUDY IN CONTRASTS Joseph Smith died a martyr in June, 1844, and Brigham Young, his successor in the Presidency of the Church, was born in the same month, forty-three years before. Each had a mission to perform on the earth, with exactly the qualities best suited for that mission. But since their missions were different, so, necessarily, were their essential gifts. One can easily believe, therefore, that, like Jeremiah, they were chosen before they were born, "sanctified and ordained", each for his peculiar work. From the larger spiritual point of view, the most important need of the nineteenth century was true Priesthood, with all its rights and prerogatives. This may not be accounted an essential by those who take only an earthly viewpoint, since such a one discounts the past and the future in the history of the human spirit. But to one who is cognizant of the pre-earth and the post-earth life, it is the most vital human need. For through Priesthood (not priestcraft) we get what Jesus spoke of as "Light and Truth". Priesthood, however, involves the power of receiving divine revelation, including open visions, audible voices, and the daily guidance of the Holy Ghost. To perform a mission that requires the Restoration of Priesthood demands, it would seem, a specific, a special gift. That gift must be primarily spiritual. Such a Restorer should be one who is essentially susceptible to spiritual impressions. He must be easily amenable to divine influence, to divine guidance, to the influx of divine truth—which most mundane creatures are not. Joseph Smith was such a man. Spiritual knowledge is just as definite, to say the least, as material knowledge. This is why the Prophet was so positive, so apparently certain, of his pronouncements. "What is the will of the Lord concerning the Saints in Iowa?" That was a question asked him once. His answer was very specific, and prefaced, as most of his official utterances were, with, "Thus saith the Lord!" Who besides a prophet and seer could have given us a description of the "Three Glories?" Or Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants! Or the revelation on Priesthood? Such was Joseph Smith. The foundational truths of life and religion and Priesthood having been made known, with a Church to embody and propagate these, it remained to make this new order of things so firmly rooted in the world that it could never be destroyed or lost. This has been the work of Joseph Smith's successors in the headship of the organization. But Brigham Young's task was to establish a commonwealth in the Rocky Mountains. And this job called for a different talent from that required of a Restorer, or Elias. Fifteen hundred miles lay between Nauvoo and the Salt Lake Valley—fifteen hundred miles of prairie, and hill, and sand. The West was then (in 1846) regarded by statesmen (Webster, for instance) as a wasteland, not worth cultivating. Yet thousands of men, women and children, with provisions and farm implements and animals, had to be transported across this wild area. If anyone thinks a job like that is not actually stupendous, he has only to use his imagination a little. And then, after these thousands had been brought to the Great American Desert ( of all places!), a civilization had to be built up from the foundation. Land had to be cultivated, buildings erected, roads and cities planned and constructed, churches and temples of art established. "Who is the greatest man in American history?" asked an airplane pilot of a ship load of passengers as they approached Salt Lake Valley from the East, and when no one answered, but only looked at him inquiringly, he replied, "Brigham Young, for he made all this"! And no one disputed him. It required a different gift to do that, even with the aid of many able helpers, as Brigham Young had—a gift to see things as they are, an imagination to see things as they should be, a gift to choose men fitted to certain tasks, to organize, to use truth already revealed, to envision a material civilization, to construct, to build, to work with men and material things, to shape them according to a definite plan and ideal. Such a man was Brigham Young. That he actually possessed these qualities anyone may see who will take the time to open his eyes and look at the facts of the case. We should not complain that Joseph Smith was not a great financier, a great modern industrialist. That was not his gift. Nor should we be disappointed when we fail to find in Brigham Young the transcendent spiritual insight of his predecessor. God chooses men for what they are, not for what they are not. And so we shall always value Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, each for his peculiar gift and the use which he made of it. |
Evans, John Henry. "Brigham Young Looks Out of the Documents." Relief Society Magazine. June 1939. pg. 361-365.
Brigham Young Looks Out of the Documents
By John Henry Evans
ONE of the perpetually exciting things (to me) is to watch a man or a woman rise gradually out of an old diary, an old journal, or an old letter, yellowed with age and deeply creased, to re-enact his or her part on an imaginary stage—always heroically, of course, for everyone is a star performer in his own eyes. And the merest bit of faded paper will bring back to life one of the dear departed.
Not long ago, up in Idaho, a woman showed me lovingly an old notebook that had belonged to her grandmother. The grandmother had lived in Huntsville, Utah, and this was her tithing record, neatly penciled and okeyed on each page by Bishop McKay, father of our President McKay. We were standing in line, waiting for our turn to pick up the various items that go into a between-meetings luncheon, and so I had little time to examine the pages of that precious document. But as I thumbed it, there arose before me a picture of its original owner.
A smallish woman, this grand-mother of my imagination, not so very old then. She had on a gray woolen skirt, one of those many-folded affairs, with a capacious pocket hidden away from view. It was from this pocket that she drew the notebook on this occasion. Over her shoulders, slightly bent, was a plaid shawl, on her head a calico sunbonnet stiffened with ribs, and on her arm rested the handle of a wicker basket, in which were some eggs, fresh-laid, and butter, hand-molded and all the water squeezed out. The ultimate destination of these articles was the village store, where she hoped to exchange them for sugar and spices—all but the Lord's tenth, which she delivered to the Bishop as His representative. And when the Bishop wrote the amount and added his signature, how her face lighted up, as one who had never let the Deity down!
IN the case of Brigham Young the picture is more difficult to produce, because the parts of it have to be gathered with infinite pains and pieced together, much as the children put together the parts of a puzzle map. For there are literally hundreds of journals, diaries, letters, statements, what not, by men and women who knew him more or less intimately. Only a few months ago, for in stance, President Grant told us a new story about Brigham Young, in which he himself figured.
President Grant was a boy then. That would be when he was perhaps eight or ten and President Young about sixty-four, bearded and gray. With other boys of his own age, Heber Grant used to jump on the back of a sleigh as it sped past his home on Main Street, ride a block or two, then catch a ride back on another sleigh. And once Brigham Young came along, and Heber leaped on the runner at the rear. But when he thought to drop off, the sleigh was going so fast that he feared lest he light on his head instead of his feet. As they approached a stream coming out of the canyon, with slush in it, the President spied the boy.
"Stop, Brother Isaac!"
Heber, looking a bit scared, was taken into the sleigh, wrapped in a laprobe, and placed by the side of the great man.
Then he was plied with questions. What was his name? Where did he live? ''I knew your father and loved him very much." Was the boy warm and comfortable? And would he come and see me often in the Lion House, which was only a little way off?
"Often," says President Grant, "when the bell at the Lion House rang for prayers at night, I used to go over and kneel down with the family in the front room, and upon more than one occasion, while he prayed, I caught myself looking up to see if the Lord was not actually standing there!"
THAT gives us one peep at the great pioneer*s character. George D. Pyper gives another, in which is revealed the alertness and presence of mind of the President.
George was about ten years old. "The President had purchased a band of small Mexican mules to be used on the street cars. These were first driven into the corral at the rear of the barn, to be lassoed, then manger-broken.
"I opened the door leading from the barn to the corral and stood there watching Charles Crabtree in his effort to catch the mules. Finally he was successful in lassoing one at the far end of the corral. At the same moment the animal caught sight of the open door at which I was standing, and with an awful snort, came toward me like a Bengal tiger.
"I must surely have been killed or at least seriously injured had not a friendly hand grasped me and pulled me out of the doorway, closed the door, and shot the bolt. It was none too soon, for the mule came against the barrier like a catapult. As doors were doors in those days, the brute was stopped.
"I was awfully scared, but wholly reassured when I looked up into the kindly blue eyes of Brigham Young."
THE late Zina Y. Card, daughter of Brigham Young, told me a story that reveals the powerful sympathies of this interesting man.
It was in 1856. The last of the handcart companies was dragging its tired way into the Salt Lake valley from the eastern ridge. The company had been trapped in a late November snow and blizzard back there in the mountains. Many of them had died of starvation and the cold. Rescue parties had been sent from the City, with blankets and food, in wagons that were to bring the fagged and famished survivors to safety and warmth. And now, haggard and beaten in spirit, they were entering the town amidst as much to-do as the circumstances warranted.
On the sidelines was the President. Zina, who was ten, stood by his side, terribly serious, her hand in his. His face was grim and solemn, even before the appearance of the company. Perhaps he was thinking, not of those whose physical vitality had triumphed over hunger and the weather, but rather of those whose bodies had given out under extreme suffering and defeat and were now lying back there under the snow in shallow graves — if the wolves had not dug them up.
Zina felt the big hand clutch and tremble and jerk alternately. Something was the matter. She looked up into her father's face. He was crying! Great tears chased one another over his cheeks and fell into the gray beard.
THEN there is that story of the hard biscuits on the Plains, while the Pioneer Company rested at Garden Grove, on the way between Nauvoo and the Missouri River in Iowa,
Garden Grove was the first stopping place out from the town now being abandoned. Since spring was approaching and the companies would need a fresh supply of foodstuffs, it was decided to make use of the land here. The place was fenced therefore, plowed, seeded to wheat and potatoes, and a large number of cabins erected—all by a community of labor. The houses were to be occupied and the harvest reaped by later comers, after the first company had gone on.
Nelson Whipple, with a companion, was chopping down trees to be used in the cabins. Suddenly, dropping his ax, he sat on a log, completely exhausted. In answer to a question by his friend, he answered, "I’ve had nothing to eat for two days." Nelson Whipple was one of those whose food supply for the journey had become exhausted through giving away more than he should have done to those who were worse off than himself, and he was too proud to ask help of others who might have more. His companion advised him to go to President Young, but this counsel he put off with, "Brother Brigham has more than he can attend to already." However, on being pressed and seeing no other way out, he went to his leader.
''You should have come to me sooner," the President chided mildly. ''I haven't very much myself, only hard biscuits, but you're welcome to what I have."
Thereupon he went to his wagon, took out a small bag of these biscuits, put half of them into another bag, and gave it to the young man, with—"When this is gone, and if you don't get any more by then, come back to me. Only, don't go hungry again, mind!"
BRIGHAM YOUNG had great in sight into character. With many different kinds of jobs to do in the new commonwealth, he sought out men to whom he could trust these tasks. When the first missionaries left the Valley to go to Europe, he adjured them to keep a lookout for skilled workers wherever they went. The result was that there came to Utah such an accumulation of skill as no similar community ever had seen.
Once the President was attending a meeting in Lehi, to the south of Salt Lake City. From the stand, before the services began, he inspected the congregation with those keen blue eyes of his.
Then to the Bishop: “Who is that young man sitting by the window, at the rear left?"
The Bishop cast his eyes in the direction indicated. ''Oh, that is Abram Hatch."
"Have him call at the stand when the meeting's over. I want to see him."
And then, after the lapse of a minute or two: "Who is that young fellow on the seventh row from the back, sitting next to Brother So-and- So?"
''That's John R. Murdock."
"Well, ask him to come up, too."
Both of these young men (they were in their thirties at the time) were sent to open new communities—Murdock to what is now Beaver and Hatch to the Wasatch valley. That Brigham Young's judgment was good is evidenced by the success which these men met with in their pioneering leadership in the two places.
TO conceive large projects and at the same time to attend to small, often petty, details—this is an extremely rare quality in men, even in great leaders. Yet Brigham Young had this quality in a very high degree.
That trek to the West must have been more of a heart-breaking affair than we are apt to imagine. In the first companies there were between twenty-five and thirty thousand men, women, and children. Most of these had insufficient equipment, clothing, provisions, and what not to make a journey of that length. For they had been ejected from their homes, their property taken or disposed of at the most ridiculous prices, and that expulsion had taken place before a decent preparation could be made. Besides, there were fifteen hundred miles between their lost homes and the new home in the mountains — miles that included prairie and hills and sandy desert. While the objective and the general route thither had been chosen by Joseph Smith, yet the responsibility of the trek, the execution of the plan, was left to his successor, and it is responsibility, decision-making, details, that tear at the nerves and break down the strongest men.
On the Plains food had to be grown, Indians conciliated, a battalion of soldiers raised, a pioneer company selected, and a thousand particulars arranged. Besides, on account of the call for soldier-volunteers, the Mormons were on the Plains longer than they had expected. Furthermore, the plan for the trek had been materially altered by that call for five hundred able-bodied men, and their families would have to be taken care of in their absence.
Later, when the stream of immigrants began to pour into the Salt Lake basin, new settlements had to be made, with good leaders, in other valleys—all according to a given plan. For Brigham Young, apparently, had decided to create an Inland Empire under the flag of the United States. It was to cover what is now Utah, Nevada, and California. Latter-day Saints in Canada and this country were to arrive by way of the overland trail; those in European countries, by way of the seas to Panama, across the isthmus, landing at San Diego, thence to be spread out over the Far West. It was a gigantic scheme, the. like of which we find in no other Western pioneer.
To judge the size of a mind, we look into it. When we apply this test to Brigham Young, we cannot but feel that it was of noble texture and dimensional, particularly when to this we add his large executive powers.
With this vast scheme in his mind, however, Brigham Young had yet the ability to look after details and to adjust them. Did a man seek employment? He went to the President, who, instead of giving him the charity that breaks down self-respect and brings on perpetual pauperism, found work for him to do. Did a woman have trouble with her husband? She sought out the President, and laid before him her grievance, and the President invited the fractious spouse to the office, to read him a lesson on domestic fair dealing. Did Brigham Young, on his yearly trips to Southern Utah, sleep in a bed with bugs in it, he said to the housewife the next morning', ''Sister, whitewash will rid you of those pests! He observed whether fences were down, the lack of shade trees or fruit trees, or insufficient care for wife or children and always told how to remedy these. There was more than a religious purpose in the ''all-seeing eye" over the lintel of the first Co-op in Salt Lake city. It typified also the acute vision of its founder.
If ever a man and a job were suited to each other, it was Brigham Young and the task of conducting the Western Trek and establishing a commonwealth under adverse conditions.
Brigham Young Looks Out of the Documents
By John Henry Evans
ONE of the perpetually exciting things (to me) is to watch a man or a woman rise gradually out of an old diary, an old journal, or an old letter, yellowed with age and deeply creased, to re-enact his or her part on an imaginary stage—always heroically, of course, for everyone is a star performer in his own eyes. And the merest bit of faded paper will bring back to life one of the dear departed.
Not long ago, up in Idaho, a woman showed me lovingly an old notebook that had belonged to her grandmother. The grandmother had lived in Huntsville, Utah, and this was her tithing record, neatly penciled and okeyed on each page by Bishop McKay, father of our President McKay. We were standing in line, waiting for our turn to pick up the various items that go into a between-meetings luncheon, and so I had little time to examine the pages of that precious document. But as I thumbed it, there arose before me a picture of its original owner.
A smallish woman, this grand-mother of my imagination, not so very old then. She had on a gray woolen skirt, one of those many-folded affairs, with a capacious pocket hidden away from view. It was from this pocket that she drew the notebook on this occasion. Over her shoulders, slightly bent, was a plaid shawl, on her head a calico sunbonnet stiffened with ribs, and on her arm rested the handle of a wicker basket, in which were some eggs, fresh-laid, and butter, hand-molded and all the water squeezed out. The ultimate destination of these articles was the village store, where she hoped to exchange them for sugar and spices—all but the Lord's tenth, which she delivered to the Bishop as His representative. And when the Bishop wrote the amount and added his signature, how her face lighted up, as one who had never let the Deity down!
IN the case of Brigham Young the picture is more difficult to produce, because the parts of it have to be gathered with infinite pains and pieced together, much as the children put together the parts of a puzzle map. For there are literally hundreds of journals, diaries, letters, statements, what not, by men and women who knew him more or less intimately. Only a few months ago, for in stance, President Grant told us a new story about Brigham Young, in which he himself figured.
President Grant was a boy then. That would be when he was perhaps eight or ten and President Young about sixty-four, bearded and gray. With other boys of his own age, Heber Grant used to jump on the back of a sleigh as it sped past his home on Main Street, ride a block or two, then catch a ride back on another sleigh. And once Brigham Young came along, and Heber leaped on the runner at the rear. But when he thought to drop off, the sleigh was going so fast that he feared lest he light on his head instead of his feet. As they approached a stream coming out of the canyon, with slush in it, the President spied the boy.
"Stop, Brother Isaac!"
Heber, looking a bit scared, was taken into the sleigh, wrapped in a laprobe, and placed by the side of the great man.
Then he was plied with questions. What was his name? Where did he live? ''I knew your father and loved him very much." Was the boy warm and comfortable? And would he come and see me often in the Lion House, which was only a little way off?
"Often," says President Grant, "when the bell at the Lion House rang for prayers at night, I used to go over and kneel down with the family in the front room, and upon more than one occasion, while he prayed, I caught myself looking up to see if the Lord was not actually standing there!"
THAT gives us one peep at the great pioneer*s character. George D. Pyper gives another, in which is revealed the alertness and presence of mind of the President.
George was about ten years old. "The President had purchased a band of small Mexican mules to be used on the street cars. These were first driven into the corral at the rear of the barn, to be lassoed, then manger-broken.
"I opened the door leading from the barn to the corral and stood there watching Charles Crabtree in his effort to catch the mules. Finally he was successful in lassoing one at the far end of the corral. At the same moment the animal caught sight of the open door at which I was standing, and with an awful snort, came toward me like a Bengal tiger.
"I must surely have been killed or at least seriously injured had not a friendly hand grasped me and pulled me out of the doorway, closed the door, and shot the bolt. It was none too soon, for the mule came against the barrier like a catapult. As doors were doors in those days, the brute was stopped.
"I was awfully scared, but wholly reassured when I looked up into the kindly blue eyes of Brigham Young."
THE late Zina Y. Card, daughter of Brigham Young, told me a story that reveals the powerful sympathies of this interesting man.
It was in 1856. The last of the handcart companies was dragging its tired way into the Salt Lake valley from the eastern ridge. The company had been trapped in a late November snow and blizzard back there in the mountains. Many of them had died of starvation and the cold. Rescue parties had been sent from the City, with blankets and food, in wagons that were to bring the fagged and famished survivors to safety and warmth. And now, haggard and beaten in spirit, they were entering the town amidst as much to-do as the circumstances warranted.
On the sidelines was the President. Zina, who was ten, stood by his side, terribly serious, her hand in his. His face was grim and solemn, even before the appearance of the company. Perhaps he was thinking, not of those whose physical vitality had triumphed over hunger and the weather, but rather of those whose bodies had given out under extreme suffering and defeat and were now lying back there under the snow in shallow graves — if the wolves had not dug them up.
Zina felt the big hand clutch and tremble and jerk alternately. Something was the matter. She looked up into her father's face. He was crying! Great tears chased one another over his cheeks and fell into the gray beard.
THEN there is that story of the hard biscuits on the Plains, while the Pioneer Company rested at Garden Grove, on the way between Nauvoo and the Missouri River in Iowa,
Garden Grove was the first stopping place out from the town now being abandoned. Since spring was approaching and the companies would need a fresh supply of foodstuffs, it was decided to make use of the land here. The place was fenced therefore, plowed, seeded to wheat and potatoes, and a large number of cabins erected—all by a community of labor. The houses were to be occupied and the harvest reaped by later comers, after the first company had gone on.
Nelson Whipple, with a companion, was chopping down trees to be used in the cabins. Suddenly, dropping his ax, he sat on a log, completely exhausted. In answer to a question by his friend, he answered, "I’ve had nothing to eat for two days." Nelson Whipple was one of those whose food supply for the journey had become exhausted through giving away more than he should have done to those who were worse off than himself, and he was too proud to ask help of others who might have more. His companion advised him to go to President Young, but this counsel he put off with, "Brother Brigham has more than he can attend to already." However, on being pressed and seeing no other way out, he went to his leader.
''You should have come to me sooner," the President chided mildly. ''I haven't very much myself, only hard biscuits, but you're welcome to what I have."
Thereupon he went to his wagon, took out a small bag of these biscuits, put half of them into another bag, and gave it to the young man, with—"When this is gone, and if you don't get any more by then, come back to me. Only, don't go hungry again, mind!"
BRIGHAM YOUNG had great in sight into character. With many different kinds of jobs to do in the new commonwealth, he sought out men to whom he could trust these tasks. When the first missionaries left the Valley to go to Europe, he adjured them to keep a lookout for skilled workers wherever they went. The result was that there came to Utah such an accumulation of skill as no similar community ever had seen.
Once the President was attending a meeting in Lehi, to the south of Salt Lake City. From the stand, before the services began, he inspected the congregation with those keen blue eyes of his.
Then to the Bishop: “Who is that young man sitting by the window, at the rear left?"
The Bishop cast his eyes in the direction indicated. ''Oh, that is Abram Hatch."
"Have him call at the stand when the meeting's over. I want to see him."
And then, after the lapse of a minute or two: "Who is that young fellow on the seventh row from the back, sitting next to Brother So-and- So?"
''That's John R. Murdock."
"Well, ask him to come up, too."
Both of these young men (they were in their thirties at the time) were sent to open new communities—Murdock to what is now Beaver and Hatch to the Wasatch valley. That Brigham Young's judgment was good is evidenced by the success which these men met with in their pioneering leadership in the two places.
TO conceive large projects and at the same time to attend to small, often petty, details—this is an extremely rare quality in men, even in great leaders. Yet Brigham Young had this quality in a very high degree.
That trek to the West must have been more of a heart-breaking affair than we are apt to imagine. In the first companies there were between twenty-five and thirty thousand men, women, and children. Most of these had insufficient equipment, clothing, provisions, and what not to make a journey of that length. For they had been ejected from their homes, their property taken or disposed of at the most ridiculous prices, and that expulsion had taken place before a decent preparation could be made. Besides, there were fifteen hundred miles between their lost homes and the new home in the mountains — miles that included prairie and hills and sandy desert. While the objective and the general route thither had been chosen by Joseph Smith, yet the responsibility of the trek, the execution of the plan, was left to his successor, and it is responsibility, decision-making, details, that tear at the nerves and break down the strongest men.
On the Plains food had to be grown, Indians conciliated, a battalion of soldiers raised, a pioneer company selected, and a thousand particulars arranged. Besides, on account of the call for soldier-volunteers, the Mormons were on the Plains longer than they had expected. Furthermore, the plan for the trek had been materially altered by that call for five hundred able-bodied men, and their families would have to be taken care of in their absence.
Later, when the stream of immigrants began to pour into the Salt Lake basin, new settlements had to be made, with good leaders, in other valleys—all according to a given plan. For Brigham Young, apparently, had decided to create an Inland Empire under the flag of the United States. It was to cover what is now Utah, Nevada, and California. Latter-day Saints in Canada and this country were to arrive by way of the overland trail; those in European countries, by way of the seas to Panama, across the isthmus, landing at San Diego, thence to be spread out over the Far West. It was a gigantic scheme, the. like of which we find in no other Western pioneer.
To judge the size of a mind, we look into it. When we apply this test to Brigham Young, we cannot but feel that it was of noble texture and dimensional, particularly when to this we add his large executive powers.
With this vast scheme in his mind, however, Brigham Young had yet the ability to look after details and to adjust them. Did a man seek employment? He went to the President, who, instead of giving him the charity that breaks down self-respect and brings on perpetual pauperism, found work for him to do. Did a woman have trouble with her husband? She sought out the President, and laid before him her grievance, and the President invited the fractious spouse to the office, to read him a lesson on domestic fair dealing. Did Brigham Young, on his yearly trips to Southern Utah, sleep in a bed with bugs in it, he said to the housewife the next morning', ''Sister, whitewash will rid you of those pests! He observed whether fences were down, the lack of shade trees or fruit trees, or insufficient care for wife or children and always told how to remedy these. There was more than a religious purpose in the ''all-seeing eye" over the lintel of the first Co-op in Salt Lake city. It typified also the acute vision of its founder.
If ever a man and a job were suited to each other, it was Brigham Young and the task of conducting the Western Trek and establishing a commonwealth under adverse conditions.
"A Letter from Brigham Young to His Family." Improvement Era. July 1939. pg. 413.
A Letter from Brigham Young to His Family WRITTEN ON THE PLAINS AND MADE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN the "Era" by Feramorz L. Clawson, GRAND-NEPHEW OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 9 o'clock p. m. April 20, 1847 Pioneer Camp of Israel, 95 miles from Winter Quarters. My dear Companion Partner in Tribulation: I should have written you by Brother Rockwood but had not the time, the Camp was to be organized and a great deal to be done to prepare for moving. On Sunday I should have written but I did not feel able to. I laid abed and thought of a great deal I should like to say to you. The Camp is in good health and first rate spirits. They have never felt better in their lives I think. My health has been very much improved yesterday and today. You mention in your letter that you heard that I laid on the ground the night I left home. I did but do not think it hurt me, but when I arrived in camp I found myself completely tired out. I thank you a thousand times for your kind letters to me, more especially for your kind acts, and still more for your kind heart. I pray for you and the children continually and for all of our family, I do think the Lord has blessed me with one of the best families that any man ever had on the earth. I do hope the children will be good and mind their mother while I am gone. My son Joseph, you must not go away from home; and Brigham also must stay at home. How do you suppose I would feel when I come home and find one of my children destroyed by the Indians? I pray this may not be the case. You mention there is a great many calls for money. I do not want you to pay any of my debts till I come back. I made arrangements with Brother Whitney to pay all I wish paid. Do you make yourselves comfortable and let other folks do so too. May 4th, 1847, about 20 miles above the head of Grand Island. This morning we have a chance to send letters to Sarpa by some traders; I want to write a long letter but have not the time. We are all pretty well at present though my labor has been very hard for me on the journey. I pray for you continually. The Pawnees have watched us close and we have watched them but they have got two of our horses, Brothers Richards' and Little's. Our cattle stand well. Edmond wants I should say a word to Elizabeth for him. Edmond has been sick but is now well and in good spirits. John Green wants Charles to bring the things that Conn Cane sent him for; he thinks he shall not go back. We stop every Sabbath and have a day of rest. The Lord has blessed us in all things for which we are thankful. I am glad you are not going to come on this summer for I want to be with my family when they come this journey. On Saturday last we saw buffalo for the first time; they went on a chase after them and got four old ones and five calves which has made us plenty of meat. If this letter reaches there before the next company starts they had better fetch the three cannon that are there. Keep up a thorough guard every night, tie the horses nights, keep the cattle close. We shall have to cross the Platte River here on account of feed. The prairie is all burnt over on the North side of the river. The Pawnees have gone ahead of us and burnt it. The next company had better keep up on the North side of the river. I think it is a good route for us hereafter. I want the Brethren to. help my family whilst I am gone and not oppress them. Joseph and Brigham, be good boys and mind your mother and also Caroline and little Johnny and finally all my children and family, be you blest for ever and ever. Brigham Young. |
WRITTEN ON THE PLAINS AND MADE AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN the "Era" by Feramorz L. Clawson, GRAND-NEPHEW OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.
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Young, Brigham III. "Brigham Young's Eyes." Improvement Era. November 1939. pg. 663, 686.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S EYES Youth sees the apparent, as the dim eyes of age look far beyond. By BRIGHAM YOUNG, III (B. S. Young) The fifty-two walled acres of Grandfather's premises made for us half-dozen, restless, barefoot little boys a noble and extensive playground. The big barn filled with horses housed also a grizzled and savage old billy goat, whose villainous odor so tainted all the air that it kept the horses from "ketching epizootic." The barn loft seemed a vast acreage of hay into which we burrowed and fashioned little snuggeries, where we found safe retreat when irate hired men threatened us with dire punishment merely because we had disturbed a noonday nap or eaten their sodden lunch. Then there was the spacious old adobe blacksmith shop with its smoke-blackened roof and wide forges where we sat and watched the hired men shoe horses and caught the pungent odor of burning hoofs as they fitted the hot shoes. One of our special delights was to see them shoe the big work oxen that hauled the jagged blocks of granite from Little Cottonwood to the temple block. Heavy twelve by twelve timbers were framed into a rack of proper width and length to accommodate the huge bodies of these oxen when they were cajoled or forced into the shoeing frame; their heads were securely fastened by strong stanchions, a wide rawhide belt was passed under their paunches, and by means of a rude windlass they were lifted clear of the ground, their feet firmly fastened to the sides of the heavy rack, and thick steel shoes fitted and nailed to each half of their cloven hoofs. The protesting struggles of these lumbering, powerful beasts, accompanied by the creaking and cracking of the massive frames, provided us with many gleeful and ecstatic thrills. The big water wheel adjoined the shop, revolving slowly under a small dribble of water that served to keep it barely moving, furnishing us a cool retreat and refreshing shower as we climbed its treadmill trail. In City Creek, we waded and bathed unmolested by bothering signs warning us of water pollution. Rabbits, too, were found on the hill within this walled enclosure; they served as the lions of our play and were to be exterminated, but their elusiveness assured their safety. In all our play the great achievement was "walking the wall." Starting at the Eagle Gate we made our first objective Canyon Road, clambering over three twelve-foot gates in the nine-foot wall to attain that point; following the curve of the wall along Canyon Road we reached Third Avenue and another twelve foot gate in a right angle jog. The wall here followed the Creek diagonally to Fourth Avenue where began the steep climb to "A" Street; then the three-block straightaway to First Avenue, where a right angle jog of ten rods along First Avenue brought us to the steep declivity leading to South Temple Street, which we carefully negotiated. The home stretch to the Eagle Gate we covered at top speed, where we awaited the tired and usually spent stragglers. These "walk the wall" exploits were not of frequent occurrence, but were made to initiate some newcomer, or to test the nerve and skill of the younger boys. Another adventure was to climb to the fifty-foot platform of the hundred- foot flag pole adjoining the White House, where, on patriotic or holiday occasions, the flag was displayed, as from this eminence it could be seen from nearly all parts of the valley. One evening during those boyhood summers, when darkness would soon end our play about the flag pole, Grandfather emerged from the deep shadows of the trees fronting the White House and called, "Boys!" It was at once a summons and a command. We recognized his voice and raced for him at top speed in anticipation of the treat he invariably supplied. It was a practice with him frequently to inspect his premises, and on such occasions we contrived to be in his immediate vicinity, as out of those capacious barn-door pants pockets he brought a few raisins or some fragments of rock candy or maybe peppermint lozenges, or, failing these, he would take us down to the "commissary" and procure for us what he lacked. The arch enemy of the little boys was the keeper of the "commissary" and from this niggardly official Grandfather would wring the delicacies we so persistently dogged his footsteps to obtain; sweet crackers, maple sugar, or, on rare occasions, the flat and succulent fig. He knew little boys and we loved him because he did. Reaching him, we ranged ourselves before him and waited. Raising his cane he tapped me lightly on the shoulder and inquired; "Who's this?" "Bidum, Grandpa," I replied briskly. Raising his cane a second time he tapped another boy on the shoulder and inquired: "Who's this?" "Richard, Grandpa." "Come here, Bidum and Richard, I want you boys to be my eyes and take me down to the Lion House." Placing his right hand on my shoulder and his left hand on Dick's shoulder, he bade the others a kindly "Goodnight" and we began that all too short and eventful journey; and as I look back along the years I recall no service sweeter nor one more proudly assumed. We guided him across the little flat and down the narrow path that rounded the shoulder of the hill. So narrow was it that he hugged us close against him to give us footing; through the gate, into the dark avenue of mulberry trees that ran past the schoolhouse, down the steps into the roadway that is now State Street, through the big gate into the Bee-Hive yard, down the rocky hill past the weather-beaten iron pump to the Lion House steps. With those strong, tender hands on our shoulders, and in that magnetic presence, we sensed the valor and strength of those old heroes who guarded the kings of ancient Israel. Life seemed but a bauble hardly worth the taking, if it would but insure the safety of our adored Grandpa. Adoration I think it must have been, for we knew then no adoration beyond him. Reluctantly, almost sadly, we came to the end of that sweet pilgrimage. Pausing a moment and looking at us as though he were piercing the depths of our souls, he smiled, as only he could smile, and said: "Thank you for being my eyes; I do not see as well as I once did; be good boys; God bless you; good night." He ascended the steps, and as the door closed behind him, Dick said: "I wouldn't let anybody hurt my Grandpa." He had spoken what was in my full heart. The spirit of a sovereign's guardsmen pervaded our souls; solemnity held us. Proudly and soberly we walked away in the gathering darkness. We did not fully realize then that we had guided the footsteps of a Prophet of God, but what we did know was the sweet elation of having been Brigham Young's Eyes! |
BRIGHAM YOUNG
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Myers, Chester James. "Brigham Young as a Public Speaker." Improvement Era. June 1941. pg. 333, 377-378.
BRIGHAM YOUNG AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER By DR. CHESTER JAMES MYERS This critical analysis and appraisal of the work of Brigham Young as a public speaker is adapted from a larger dissertation on this subject by Dr. Myers in connection with his candidacy at the University of Southern California for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Myers, now of the Department of Speech of the Utah State Agricultural College, has studied and taught speech at both the University of Iowa and the University of Southern California, was a graduate of the University of Utah, and has done graduate work at Northwestern University. Those who think of Brigham Young primarily as a frontiersman must, by the accumulating weight of evidence, revise their views to include matters of state, art, Church doctrine, speech, and many other accomplishments on the list of his gifts and achievements. Brigham Young stood firm for the right of free speech and encouraged his people to use the right granted them by the laws of the land. Technically speaking, Brigham Young's sermons, remarks, instructions, or discourses, as they were called by various persons at different times, were rather exhaustive in treatment, popular by nature, and broad in scope. He kept his ear to the ground, so that his public's problems were his interests. Instructions were given regarding such problems, as the harvest, the home, the building of forts, Indian problems, marriage, missionary work, the Jews, slavery, the Civil War, immigration, persecutions, and political government. Antagonism from without the Mormon ranks was the impelling motive for many of his discourses. His people eagerly listened to his sermons or else waited impatiently to read his words as reported in magazines and newspapers. The exact number of his speeches is not known, but three hundred eighty-five are recorded in the Journal of Discourses. A clerk was nearly always present to record President Young's speeches. The audiences before which Brigham Young spoke were many and varied as to character, size, and interests. The occasions and conditions under which he spoke were just as diverse. However, he was always able to fill the house to overflowing, and always was he able to secure the attention of those before him. His work was to point the way—-theirs to follow. The numerous large audiences before which he spoke demanded much in the way of physical strength, an effort which told on his health in the later years of his life. Brigham Young was a student of good speech. Living as he did in a territory that required so much of his attention for its physical development, it seems almost strange that he should have found time to say so much about speech improvement. He had a most earnest desire to spread the Gospel which he had so wholeheartedly accepted. Through his words he inspired a loyalty among the Saints that was little short of miraculous. He had that element of self-respect which is so important to prophet and speaker. Brigham Young knew his scripture and quoted it often, giving his interpretation to the Holy Writ. He often ran a gamut of broken ideas rather than smoothing the thought to one central idea. His style had a place for comparisons, illustrations, concrete examples, stories, and humor. The element of fear he strongly discouraged in speech making, because to him a clear communication of ideas left no room for fear or timidity. He took delight in simplicity and proper choice of words for all situations. When placed under the measuring standards of good speech for today, Brigham Young's discourses are not found wanting. Above all else he desired the truth to be spoken. He wanted logic rather than emotion in all discourse. He entertained a firm belief in the importance of spiritual help and guidance for speech work, just as he did in every activity throughout his life. He gave premeditation to, and made plans and outlines for, his written messages, but for his oral discourses he relied rather upon his Heavenly Father to guide him as to what should be said at any given time. Such speaking it must be remembered came from one who lived a full and interesting life. That supervised practice would work toward perfection was part of his philosophy in speech education. There seemed no limit to the topics which might be chosen by those who spoke in Church capacities. He took a positive rather than a negative viewpoint in his preaching. Although he advocated short sermons, well done, his own speeches were of good length, and sometimes he gave two discourses within one service. He used gestures sparingly. Those he used were well suited to his thought and executed without attracting undue attention. He was insistent that the sermons given should be heard by those who attended services; he advised the speaker to project his voice and the audience to refrain from making unnecessary noise. In his speeches Brigham Young made good use of such techniques as the following: humor, figures of speech, comparisons and contrasts, and dramatic force. His pleasure was to give several short discourses at one appearance, but his transitions were always marked and clear. He used interesting and unusual phraseology. At times he resorted to irony. For the most part he used short, concrete, complete sentences. However, when he used the more complex forms, they were clear and to the point. His methods for opening and closing his sermons meet well the technique as advocated in current speech texts. His speeches were purposeful and made use of the appeal to life's impelling motives. General contemporary judgment of Brigham Young's ability as a speaker, in spite of some very petty comments to the contrary, was favorable. Brigham Young's life was devoted to a great principle. What he taught he lived, and what he lived he taught. He convinced those who heard him by his good judgment and intense earnestness. Brigham Young was not an orator in the generally accepted sense of the word, but he was thoroughly saturated with the cause he had accepted and with his subject matter; added to this he possessed the gift of repartee. This combination made him a speaker — famous, under any situation, in the eyes of the people whom he led. He made up his mind and gave himself to his cause. He was a practical man and a practical speaker of the truth, because his duty to himself, to his fellow men, and to his God demanded it. His chief method of gaining his desires was through an appeal to the ordinary, the commonplace, the practical. Through his direct, clear-cut, and convincing speech the listener could never doubt the sincerity of the man. His methods of speaking linked with his own great personality and humanitarian interests without a doubt made him a truly great leader of his time. If the results of his speaking may be judged by the quality of its influence, Brigham Young, if not an orator, was certainly a profound speaker. The effects of his speaking in things political, social, educational and cultural, economical, and religious stand as monuments to his memory. The certainty with which his utterances and prophecies have been fulfilled has its effect in the Church even today. What the Church teaches and stands for is embodied in him. The testimony of those remaining few who once knew Brigham Young, is most interesting and sincere with praise for the words of counsel he gave them and for the lasting effect his life produced upon theirs. Coming as he did from comparative obscurity and poverty to the heights which he attained, he was all the more deserving of any power and glory which may have been his. His words and works and the man himself have taken a place in American folklore and tradition. Brigham Young will continue to go down in history because through his power to influence people by means of his speaking: he held the "Mormons" together; he led them to a new home; he taught them to protect themselves against those who would have destroyed them; he trained them to be self-sustaining members of society. His work as Territorial Governor and as President of the Church took him into the settlements, where he spoke to the people, advising them as to proper developments in the new home. Their job was to build up Zion. Brigham Young's speech was an expression of his life. Results of this great life, which was his best sermon, were both immediate, so that he could help reap the benefits, and subsequent, so that the children of posterity might the better rise up and call him blessed. Judged by his effect on his own times and by the later results of his influence, Brigham Young was one of the greatest pioneers of all times. None in the Church has had a greater task to perform, nor has any performed it more fittingly, than the man here termed Brigham Young the speaker. |
BRIGHAM YOUNG, FROM A SKETCH BY JACK SEARS.
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Bennion, Glynn. "Brigham Young and Jim Bridger." Improvement Era. July 1941. pg. 400-401, 438-442.
BRIGHAM YOUNG and JIM BRIDGER By GLYNN BENNION Of the Church Historian's Office Some recently discovered documentary light on a much discussed subject. When the first trail-worn Mormon pilgrims reached the willow thickets and wild meadows that line the clear, cold streams of the northern Uintah foothills, they came upon a species of human beings called variously trappers, scouts, mountain men, squawmen, or just plain outlaws, according to the bias of the person writing or speaking about them. The Mormon Pioneers looked askance at the mountain men, and the latter returned the stare with interest, for about the only characteristic common to both parties was the fact that they were white men in a wilderness. The truth is, the two groups were just about as sharply different from each other as people of the same race can possibly become. For the Mormons were religious refugees, solemnly determined to transplant their faith to the tops of the mountains. Already noted for obedience to what they earnestly believed were the laws of God, the Mormons had come west to subject themselves to still greater rigors of discipline and restraint. However, they were not spiritual idealists only. The Zion they were determined to build was to be a real, earthly one, and so their visions of future glory were never permitted to impair their will industriously to acquire and produce in a very practical manner in the present. But the mountaineers were generally a godless lot. They were white men gone native; some were no better than the beachcombers of the South Seas, except as the rigors of a northern climate stiffened them against deterioration. They had come west during the hey-day of the fur trade, in the bright glory of youth, questing adventure and fortune. A few, hard, furious years of quick riches and dissipation, and then the fur trade bubble had burst, leaving the weaker ones stranded, neither physically nor morally fit to go back into civilized society. They remained in the West to avoid the censure and restraint of any kind of law. Their careless, unkempt existence with their Indian relatives in the dugouts along Black's Fork was like the fulfilment of a bad boy's dream. Let me present several intimate views of these free and easy fellows in their idyllic, not to say alcoholic, setting as seen by non-Mormon observers: From the Narrative of James P. Beckworth, Early Utah Trapper The absent parties began to arrive (summer, 1826), one after the other, at the rendezvous. Shortly after, General Ashley and Mr. Sublet came in, accompanied with three hundred pack mules, well laden with goods and all things necessary for the mountaineers and the Indian trade. It may well be supposed that the arrival of such a vast amount of luxuries from the East did not pass off without a general celebration. Mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, targetshooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of extravagances that white men or Indians could invent, were freely indulged in. The unpacking of the medicine water contributed not a little to the heightening of our festivities. From the Journal of Joseph Williams We are now [July 10, 1842] on the head of the Wintey [Uintah] River, down which we pursued our journey towards Robidoux's Fort. . . . We had to wait there for Mr. Robidoux about eighteen days, till he and his company and horse-drivers were ready to start with us to the United States. This delay was very disagreeable to me, on account of the wickedness of the people, and the drunkenness and swearing, and the debauchery of the men among the Indian women. From a Description of Fort Bridger in 1866 Written by an Officer of the U. S. Army Living on the reservation is another character, almost as generally known as the Judge [W. A. Carter]. I refer to an old trader and mountaineer named Robinson, but passing always under the sobriquet of "Uncle Jack." He has been living on the frontier for nearly forty years, and has. adopted many of the habits of the aborigines, several of whom he has as wives. . . There are always about his premises, from six to a dozen persons, not connected with his family (a few Indians always included), who live at his expense. Persons who know him intimately say he never complains of such imposition, and when advised by friends to send away such loafers, he always has some ready excuse for their idleness, and expresses the hope that they will soon be able to earn something wherewith to pay for their board. There are scores and hundreds of just such worthless, indolent people scattered throughout the Far West. Some of the men have their families with them, and those who have not, usually take squaws, and they eat and sleep away a miserable existence, apparently without any object in life. The outstanding figure among the particular group of mountain men who had anchored themselves along the northern base of the Uintahs was James Bridger, who had come west from Missouri in 1 822 with the Ashley party of trappers. This man attained a considerable reputation as pathfinder and Indian scout, and ranks as a colorful western hero along with Kit Carson and others. But mostly his claim to fame rests on his artistry as an entertainer of tenderfeet. Jim Bridger has the reputation of being the original purveyor of the western tall tale. Now, Bridger claimed that from the governor of Chihuahua he had acquired a Mexican grant of thirty square miles of land on Black's Fork. Bridger claimed thirty miles square or 900 square miles. Of course his claim was purely fictitious, just as Miles Goodyear's Ogden claim proved to be. On this land as early as 1843, he erected a small stockade, a few log huts, secured a few wagon loads of liquor, flour, powder, and lead from St. Louis, and started up a trading post at this the first station on the Oregon trail west of old Fort Laramie. On June 28, 1847, the first company of Mormon pioneers met Jim Bridger on the Little Sandy, and straightway began to ply him with eager questions regarding the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The old frontiersman (Bridger was only forty-three, but camp diet and hard living had made him look old) answered in negative vein, mystifying his interrogators with a description of all the remote and astonishing places he could think of, scattered all over the western half of North America, and in general dwelling on the infertility and harshness of climate of the region in question. But this confusing and forbidding description proved to be no deterrent whatsoever to the zealous pilgrims who four times had been driven from their homes for conscience' sake. In fact, the wild picture of desolation and remoteness which the old squawman drew seemed to sketch the very features of their long-sought Zion refuge, for they had started on their famed march into the wilderness with the desperate intention of going so far away, into a country so desolate, where the work of making a living would be so hard that no one would ever be tempted to follow and despoil them again. So, perhaps to Jim Bridger's surprise and apprehension, the Zion-seeking Saints planted themselves just over the hills, in Bridger's backyard, so to speak. Now, although the Mormons found the deserts of the Great Basin as desolate and remote and hard to subdue as they might have desired, they settled in compact little communities on the best spots they could find in those deserts, and, as with all American colonizing, such "moving in" was not pleasing to the displaced Indians. These Utah Indians under their great leader, Chief Walker, presently joined themselves in an ineffectual attempt to oust the Mormons from their new-found homes before it was too late. This was in 1853. Let me insert here parenthetically a brief statement regarding Mormon treatment of the Indians with whom they had dealings in the West: In general they got along unusually well together. The Mormons preached their religion to the Indians; urged them to forsake war and the chase for an agricultural existence; gave them food, clothing, and implements; tried to teach them how to farm; and offered to share water and land with them. The older chiefs were generally impressed with the sober, industrious "Mormonie-men" and their teachings and tried to persuade the young warriors to follow this counsel; but these frowned on work, yearned to follow their traditional bent, to kill and steal, and found the gambling and drinking and other disorderly didoes of the fun-loving mountain men much more pleasant examples to follow. About this time, word began to sift through the hills to Brigham Young from what he considered reliable sources, both white and Indian, that the mountaineers of what was then part of Utah, and was called Green River County, were inciting the Utes against the Saints and were selling guns and liquor to the Indians. These reports pointed to Jim Bridger as the leader in these unlawful activities. It should be mentioned in passing that in all his enterprises Bridger had a partner named Louis Vasquez, a Mexican trader, who evidently contributed heavily to the financial strength and business ability of the partnership. These two men as early as 1 849, freighted goods into the Mormon capital, Salt Lake City, and for some time kept a store there. On the surface they seemed amiable enough, but proof that Bridger, at least, was really an enemy of the Church and was aiding the Utes against its people, was not wanting. Thus a serious feud grew up between Jim Bridger and President Brigham Young. What law there was in the wilderness was on the side of President Brigham Young. He was governor of Utah Territory in which Bridger's holdings were situated, and also Indian agent for the district. He was responsible to the federal government for preserving the peace, and as leader of his own people it was his duty to defend them against the Ute warriors. He was charged with the execution of the territorial laws. These were framed by the territorial legislature, elected by the people. President Young followed a most humane policy in dealing with the Utes. To him the Indians were the degenerate remnants of a great people with a high destiny, and it was the duty of their white brothers to save rather than destroy them. He adopted a defensive strategy when attacked by the Indians. Instead of retaliating after an Indian raid, and sending out a punitive expedition to exact revenge, Brigham Young's policy was to prevent, if possible, the sale of arms to the savages, withdraw the settlers to the shelter of forts, and maintain such a vigilant guarding of life and property that further raids on the Saints would cost the attackers more than any booty or scalps they might capture were worth. This policy when rigidly carried out invariably brought the Indians soon to sue for peace, and the results in the saving of life and property during the pioneer years of Utah, as compared with losses from Indian warfare in other young states, loudly proclaims the eminent wisdom of Brigham Youngs course. But if President Young was patient and long-suffering in handling ignorant savages, he was quite the reverse when dealing with lawless white men who should know better. When he became convinced that the mountaineers of the Uintahs were supplying Walker's Utes with the means of waging war on his people, Brigham Young, under his official trust as governor and Indian agent, ordered a posse under Sheriff James Ferguson to move on the mountaineers and arrest them for treason. It so happens that this story of Brigham Young's quarrel with the Uintah mountaineers is complicated by the fact that some of these non- Mormon residents of Green River County engaged during the summer season in the business of ferrying travelers over Green River. This business, which they had engaged in before the advent of the Mormons, they now continued to pursue without regard for enactment of the Utah legislature, which took upon itself the regulation of all such business, requiring that the operators of toll roads, bridges, and ferries be licensed by territorial authority before doing business. The old operators not having complied with the Utah law, the right to operate ferries on Green River was awarded by the legislature to several Mormons. But when these went to Green River to ply their business, they were met by the old ferrymen and given to understand that not Utah law but pistol law prevailed at Green River, and anyone trying to muscle in on the ferry business there would straightway get a dose of the latter. The Mormons prudently went back home. So Brigham Young, in frugal pioneer fashion, decided to use Sheriff Ferguson's posse to kill two birds with one stone—straighten up Mr. Bridger on the matter of selling liquor and arms to Indians, and set the Green River men right on the matter of authority over the ferry business. This Green River story is still further complicated by the fact that at this time Green River County was organized, and the man appointed as sheriff of the new county turned out badly. His name was William A. Hickman, and he became a sort of prototype of the notorious Henry Plummer, storied Montana peace officer who used his position as a sort of screen behind which he trafficked with lawless men. Hickman gives us about the only account extant of what Sheriff Ferguson and his posse did to Bridger and the ferrymen. Hickman was a member of the posse, and his account is therefore that of an eyewitness. But the historicity of his account is impaired by the fact that it was written many years after the events of 1853, and at a time when his sly dealings had begun to catch up with him. In those days if a man accused of crime could show that at any time he had been an agent of Brigham Young, it was not hard to win the friendship of federal judges and marshals by blaming his misdeeds on Brigham Young as instigator. This is exactly what Hickman did, and this is exactly how he saved his neck from the 'hangman's noose. His stories are therefore some of them true and some of them false, each variety selected according to the impression he wished to build up to the effect that his crimes had been ordered by Brigham Young. Hickman states that when Sheriff Ferguson reached Fort Bridger he found no one there to arrest, the famous owner of the premises having departed. He had been forewarned of the posse's approach and purpose. Not able to make an arrest, the posse then proceeded to accomplish the other part of its mission at Fort Bridger, namely, to confiscate whatever stores of liquor and arms could be found. None of the latter was found, but plenty of the former, and this, so Hickman says, the posse proceeded to destroy by doses, to the effect that the officers, at least, were all soon intoxicated. Part of the posse was left at Fort Bridger in the hope of capturing the wary old mountaineer in case he should return to visit or take away his squaw and papooses who had remained on the place. But no posse man saw him. Ferguson took the remainder of his force on to Green River where, so Hickman says, he killed two or three of the original ferrymen, drove the rest out, appropriated their cattle and other movable property, and installed Mormons in possession of the ferries. All this sounds like pretty rough treatment meted out to the mountaineers. It affords a basis for the accusation by those who do not like President Brigham Young that whatever the stated purpose of Ferguson's visit to Green River, his real purpose there was to oust the Gentiles from their lucrative positions on the Oregon trail and put their business and property in the hands of members of the Mormon Church. In the absence of detailed information on all phases of this Green River County business, it is hard to arrive at a correct judgment of the matter. The testimony of Bill Hickman, a known murderer and liar, should not be relied upon solely to convict Sheriff Ferguson or anyone else of wrong-doing. If what the Mormon authorities were really after had been the property of the Green River mountaineers, then there would have been no excuse for what was done. It would have been wrong and Brigham Young's rating would have been reduced accordingly. But if, as reported, the mountaineers were actually supplying arms to the Utes with whom the citizens of Utah were at war, and if the ferrymen were operating in defiance of the law, then Brigham Young was only doing his sworn duty. If members of the posse misbehaved on the expedition, as soldiers sometimes do, then they must bear the blame for their misconduct. Next in the list of crimes charged to the Mormons in Green River County is the alleged taking, with or without a forced sale, of Fort Bridger by the agents of Brigham Young. Bridger himself later claimed that the Mormons robbed him of his property, and on the strength of his accusations the government later denied Mormon claims to the place and awarded Bridger's heirs $6,000 as compensation for the army's having occupied it many years as a military reserve. There is no dispute as to the fact of Mormon acquisition of Fort Bridger. All authorities agree on this point. The bone of contention, therefore, is the manner in which the Church came into possession of the property. Most of the support for the charge that Brigham Young made unjust use of force in acquiring Fort Bridger derives from an unfortunate error in the date of the transaction as given by several histories of Utah, including Bancroft's and Whitney's. The historians, evidently copying from a common source, agree upon 1853, as the date of the purchase. Recent research in the office of the Salt Lake County Recorder, however, has uncovered the official recording of the papers in the transaction, which fixes the date at August 3, 1855. Now this matter of the date of the purchase is extremely important. If, as heretofore understood, Fort Bridger was acquired in 1853, at the time a Mormon posse was chasing Jim Bridger through the Wyoming hills on a charge of treason, then there is reason to suspect that something was wrong about such a transfer of property. But now that it has been officially proved that the purchase was made two years later, after peace had been made with the Utes, and the charge against Bridger of unlawful trade with the Indians had been dropped, then the reasons for suspecting President Brigham Young of using unjust methods in securing the property must be cancelled. It might be well to examine briefly certain additional evidence which supports the later date for the purchase of Fort Bridger, not because it is needed to fix the date, but because it throws light on the scruples of Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers, on the one hand, and Vasquez and Bridger on the other: In the first place, it can readily be shown that no effort was made by the Mormons to claim or occupy Fort Bridger until August, 1855. Those interested in casting suspicion on President Brigham Young refer to a colonization expedition sent from Salt Lake City into Green River County in November, 1853, as though that body of pioneers had been instructed to settle on the Bridger claim. When these settlers arrived at Fort Bridger, so the story goes, they found there twelve or fifteen tough-looking mountaineers to challenge their right to the premises, and considering discretion the better part of valor, went several miles away to locate another site for their settlement. This new location was called Fort Supply. Unfortunately for this explanation of the selection of Fort Supply instead of Fort Bridger as a colonization site, there are preserved the letters of Brigham Young to the colonists congratulating them on their choice of location. Anyone acquainted with the nature of Brigham Young would not expect praise from him for disobeying his instructions. The inference is, therefore, that he did not instruct those colonists to occupy Fort Bridger at that time. It is silly to suggest that they didn't take Fort Bridger because they were afraid of those twelve or fifteen rough-looking mountain men. There were thirty-nine well-armed and equipped young men in the expedition. In the same spot four years later, they didn't hesitate to dispute the advance of an army which they were convinced was marching to oppress them. Several of those thirty-nine colonists wrote accounts of the expedition of 1853, some of which have been preserved. In none of these writings is it even suggested that they were instructed to occupy Fort Bridger. Indeed, James S. Brown, one of the colonists, wrote that when they left Salt Lake City they expected to settle, not in the vicinity of Fort Bridger at all, but farther down toward Green River on Henry's Fork. On hearing at Fort Bridger, however, that many of the mountaineers had already preempted that locality, the Mormon colonists decided to turn aside at Smith's Fork because that place was as yet unclaimed and unoccupied by anyone. In the second place, contemporary letter writers and diarists, both Mormon and non-Mormon, fix the date of the Fort Bridger purchase at 1855. For example, the entry in the Historian's Office Journal for October 18, 1858, states that on that date Louis Vasquez appeared and was paid $4,000, acknowledged that he had received a similar amount on August 3, 1855, and executed a bill of sale of Fort Bridger. This bill of sale has not yet been found. In his autobiography even Bill Hickman states that he assisted in conveying that first payment of $4,000 in gold from Salt Lake City to Fort Bridger in 1855. In a letter dated August 31, 1855, President Heber C. Kimball wrote to Franklin D. Richards the following: "The Church has bought out Bridger's ranch and one hundred head of horned stock, seven or eight horses, some flour and goods that he had, and paid $8,000 for it, and Mr. Bridger is gone." This letter contained the current Utah news. Elder Richards was presiding over the British Mission in 1855. If the purchase had been made in 1853, it would not have been news to President Richards, since he was in Utah at that time. ON August 9, 1855, Brigham Young wrote his agent, Lewis Robison, congratulating him on having made the "deal," the nature of which is indicated by reference to "Bridger's ranch." Direction is given Robison to sell the flour at "two bits" a pound and beef at twelve cents to the passing emigrant trains, besides other instructions for managing the newly acquired property which could fit no other place than the Bridger station. From August, 1855, until September, 1857 when Robison himself set fire to Fort Bridger just before the arrival of U. S. troops, frequent notices in The Deseret News fix Robison at Fort Bridger as Brigham Young's agent in charge of that property. Judge W. A. Carter, an army sutler who came to Fort Bridger with Johnston's army in 1857, wrote that Vasquez arrived from the Missouri at Fort Bridger in 1 858 with a train of supplies for the army. Before returning to the "states," Vasquez made a trip to Salt Lake City, so Carter states, and upon his return informed Carter that he had received from Brigham Young all the money due Bridger and himself on the Bridger place, and had transferred to Brigham Young a lease which Bridger had in the meantime arranged with Captain John H. Dickerson for the use by the army of the premises. It will be remembered that Vasquez was co-owner of the Bridger place, that so far as is known no charges of law violation had ever been lodged against him by the Utah authorities, and that all the time he was free and empowered to act for the partnership in the care or disposal of their property as though both were together. The foregoing provides proof that Brigham Young bought Fort Bridger from the Bridger-Vasquez partnership around August 3, 1855, and that no unjust pressure was brought to bear on the firm to force them to sell, despite Bridger's assertion that he was robbed. While on the subject of Bridger's part in the affair, it might be well to dwell a moment on this matter of the leasing of Fort Bridger by its former owner to the U. S. army in 1857, for the transaction, I think, furnishes a means of estimating the business probity of the old mountaineer and his partner: Vasquez, according to Carter, took with him to Salt Lake City in 1858 the Bridger-Dickerson contract in order to persuade Brigham Young to make the last payment on Fort Bridger. Evidently Bridger and Vasquez feared that, since the property had fallen into the hands of the army, Brigham Young would refuse to pay the last installment, and so this lease, promising $600 annual rental from the army, was held up to the Mormon chieftain in order to induce him to go through with the deal. On his return to Fort Bridger from Salt Lake City, Vasquez evidently boasted to Judge Carter that Brigham Young had swallowed that bait. Vasquez got the $4,000 and Brigham Young got the contract. Where did Vasquez get that contract? Undoubtedly from his partner who made it. And yet at the time this little conspiracy was carrying on, Bridger was convincing army officers that the Mormons had robbed him of his property, and that he, not Brigham Young, was the rightful owner of the premises when the army got there in 1857. That the partners bragged confidentially to their friends that they had foxed Brigham Young on the deal is supported by the gossip picked up around Fort Bridger by later visitors to that place. It is interesting to note that although Federal officials picked up with avidity and repeated as proved facts Bridger's accusations against Brigham Young, they were more critical of what the old mountaineer had to say about other matters. There is, for example, the case of Bridger's later efforts to claim compensation from the War Department under the terms of the Dickerson lease. The government had repudiated the contract on the ground that Bridger's original title to the land had not been substantiated, and now chillingly pointed out the very apparent extravagances in Bridger's claims. As time goes on the kindly, undiscriminating enchantment of the Old West envelops all her buckskin-fringed children in a splendiferous blanket of romance. Personally, I would rather leave Jim Bridger in its generous folds than drag him back from this bright limbo of quasi-heroes and exhibit him as a scamp who would sell the same piece of property as many times as opportunity afforded. Anyway, Jim Bridger did have at least two good qualities to help offset his faults: a diverting sense of humor and an insatiable curiosity. As he wandered over the wild, untouched West he kept poking into all the off-the-trail corners to feast his eyes on the strange wonders of its hidden fairylands. Later, when he tried to describe what he had seen, his unimaginative hearers laughed at his yarns and gleefully invested him with the mantle of Munchausen. Having heard, no doubt, the old poacher's proverb about keeping the game if given the name, Bridger did not scruple to add a few patterns of his own to this classic mantle of exaggeration. But underneath all his tough, frontier-beaten exterior, Bridger must have had a soul-saving zest for the wonderful and the beautiful, or he wouldn't have noticed such things in the first place. But if I find qualities in Jim Bridger to excite my sympathy, I find vastly more to admire in Brigham Young. He has been pictured by his enemies as a harsh dictator, ruthlessly bludgeoning out of the way whatsoever opposed his will. But few such uncharitable critics appreciate the staggering load he had to carry, the terrific pressure he labored under. The character and motives and accomplishments of Brigham Young do not fit into the mold of historic tyrants, for President Brigham Young's life was devoted to the task of elevating the poor. When he is called before the final judgment bar to answer for his mistakes, two hundred and fifty thousand men and women will be there to testify that he helped them to better their circumstances. Among that great and enthusiastic host will be my own grandparents, who were brought from the dark coal mines of Scotland and the tiny farms of England and Wales under the leadership of Brigham Young into a grand new order of opportunity, freedom, and better living in the Rocky Mountains. See him at work in Missouri, when his genius for leadership first found expression. Twelve thousand Mormons were being harried toward the borders of the state during the dreadful winter of 1838-9, many of them miserably afoot and without food, shelterless in the freezing blizzards. Joseph Smith and other leaders had been betrayed into prison. Forty of the Saints had been slaughtered outright; many more had died or been reduced to helplessness as a result of whippings and other barbarous cruelties inflicted upon them; their arms and every means of self-defense had been taken from them; their property, totaling several million dollars in value, they had been forced to sign away at the points of bayonets; arrogant, unpitying officers harangued the beaten, leaderless Saints, ordering them to keep moving and warning them that if more than five were found together they would be fired on; plunder-mad bands of ruffians were riding up and down the countryside, whipping, looting, burning. Such more or less surreptitious meetings of the Elders as could be contrived were concerned with whether to move toward one gathering place outside of Missouri or to scatter out in every direction and remain separated from each other for some time. Most of these weary, heartbroken leaders counseled against trying to keep together, until the fury of persecution should die down. But Brigham Young, who rose to heights during the expulsion of his people from Missouri, clearly saw that the Saints' only chance for survival lay in their being shepherded along together in one flock. If those who had been so fortunate as to save enough of their property to provide wagons and teams for themselves were allowed to get out of the country, then those who had lost all they had would be left behind to perish. So Brigham Young bent every effort to persuade the fleeing Saints to move in one direction. From camp to camp he went, getting signatures to a pledge that all who had anything to spare would devote that surplus to helping the poor out of Missouri. His exactions upon himself and all others who could help were without mercy. Back and forth along that trail of misery he went at the risk of his life, directing the procuring of teams and the placing of depots of provisions along the way for moving the destitute Saints to the new gathering place in Illinois. This sort of thing was the outstanding characteristic of the leadership of Brigham Young all the rest of his life. During the exodus from Nauvoo, only seven years later, when again the Saints had to flee into the wilderness to escape the intolerance of their neighbors, this insistence that the strong must help to carry along the weak became the keynote of his activity. And after sanctuary had been found and established in the mountainous deserts of the far West, this stout-hearted Moses of the latter days organized the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, called on each of the newly made settlements to furnish its quota of men with teams and provisions to go back each year to the Missouri River and assist the streams of emigrant converts across the plains, and instituted in Utah his scheme of colonization so that these poor people might be brought to a place where they could obtain homes and property and grow into a sturdy and independent citizenry. Brigham Young had the vision to see the potential strength of the decent poor: that by saving the weak and oppressed and setting them in the way of a better life, energies are liberated that build the greatness and prosperity of a people. The foregoing briefly sketches the life work of Brigham Young. His efforts to uplift the Indians belong in this same program. As far as the Indians themselves were concerned, Brigham Youngs Indian policy was more or less a failure, because the Indians refused to cooperate. But it bore splendid fruit in saving the lives and the souls of his own people. But if President Brigham Young was full of compassion for the poor, and drove himself and the Church to uplift them, he was fury itself in chastising those who would prey upon and demoralize them. It is out of this circumstance, I am convinced, that have come these charges of harshness and dictatorship against Brigham Young. With this thought in mind, let us look again at those degenerate whites who lounged along the Oregon Trail, preying upon and spreading a vicious influence among both the Indians and the sick and weary converts as the latter plodded along the trail to Zion. Who would blame Brigham Young for wanting to drive out an element that was undoing his best efforts to regenerate the Indians and give the poor a good start? Good men in other places in the raw, young West were using at that very moment harsher methods than Brigham Young did in order to make decency prevail, and they have been praised for it. At this dispassionate and philosophical distance from the emotional stresses of early Mormon history, it is easy to make a show of being nonpartisan and unbiased and to deplore any possible manifestations of intolerance or injustice on the part of Brigham Young in handling the mountaineers of Green River County. But who could have marched through all those terrific scenes and preserved a neutral spirit? |
BRIGHAM YOUNG AS HE APPEARED IN 1850, AS GOVERNOR OF THE TERRITORY.
JIM BRIDGER
FORT BRIDGER, 1866.
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"Letter from Brigham Young to His Wife, Mary Ann Angell." Improvement Era. July 1941. pg. 405, 422.
Letter from BRIGHAM YOUNG to his wife MARY ANN ANGELL "Lanke County, Fairport, June 12, 1844. “My beloved wife, while I am waiting for a boat to go to Buffalo, I improve a few moments in writing to you. I have been to Kirtland, left there about one o'clock this morning in order to take the morning boat, and I have been so haunted with foul spirits that I could hardly sleep a wink in the place. I saw Father Angell; he is well and in good spirits. He has sold his farm for four hundred dollars in cash to old Elijah Smith, got all his money but Mother's third, he (Smith) has kept back for her till she signs the deed. Tell Mother she had better attend to it immediately and get the money. It amounts to one hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents. She can come or send deed to Elijah Smith by some trusty man that will do the business and get the money for her. Father Angell is coming up in the fall. He wants to see you more than all the rest of his children. If he gets there before I return, bid him welcome to our house. Brother John Young will come up with Brother Lorenzo. His family are as usual. Brother Flint's family are well. Sister Nancy wants very much to come to Nauvoo. Abigail is moved and got a fine little boy. She is coming up in the fall. So will Mary Morrison and her husband. "Your Sister Phely is in Newbury. They are very poor Father says, and he has got to help them to the west this fall. I think the prospect is that your friends will all come to Zion as well as my friends. Took the steamboat Illinois a little after 1 o'clock p. m. This is a pleasant evening on the lake, but I feel lonesome. O, that I had you with me this moment. I think I should be happy. Well I am now, because I am in my calling and doing my duty. But the older I grow the more I desire to stay at my own home instead of traveling. I left Pittsburgh a week ago last Monday in company with Brother Brooks, found Dr. F. D. Richards at Big Beaver We came on in company together as far as Kirtland, found Brother Gee's family in Shalorsville. They were very glad to see us. We found Dr. Snow in Mantua. He came to Kirtland with us. I called on Brother Flint's family and Father Angell coming in to Kirtland. Found them well. Put up with Brother Reuben McBride. Preached in the Lord's house Sunday morning, but oh, how it looked to me to see the house once crowded with Saints now occupied by a few dozen would-be good Saints and devils in human bodies, no necessity for going into divine; there's human bodies plenty for them. I could hardly content myself to stay over the Sabbath. Brother F. D. Richards preached in the afternoon. I gave a lecture on the location of Nauvoo, connected with other things in the evening. I had a pretty good congregation. They said it was interesting to them. I then gave an appointment for to deliver a political lecture on Tuesday at 6 p.m. I delivered my lecture. The people were well satisfied. Said they would go for the Prophet, both gentlemen and ladies. Wherever I have spoken on the subject it has taken beyond my expectation. I went and stayed with Brother Bond's folks on Monday night, but when I came to go to bed, it seemed as though there were scores of devils around me, not because I was at Brother Bond's but in place and design in something of mischief against me. But I lay abed till morning but spent a horrid day on Tuesday. I asked my Heavenly Father to preserve me till I got away from Kirtland. I got a testimony that He would. We left about one o'clock and I thank the good Lord that I am safe away from that place. I think it may be some time before I go there again. I have no more business there. I have done my part for the present. Friday 14. I stopped writing, the boat shook so Wednesday night. I am now in Albany. Left Buffalo yesterday morning, a quarter past eight o'clock a. m. Arrived here half past ten a. m. I left Brother Richards in Buffalo. He was going among the brethren through the west part of New York, to meet us in New York at the conference. I have ridden pretty comfortably but have not slept but very little since Sunday night and am pretty well tired out. Last night I felt for some time as though I had got to get a new constitution [?] or not last long. How I do want to see you and the children. Kiss them for me and kiss [?] twice or more. Tell her it is for me, give my love to all the family. I need not mention names. I shall start for New York this evening at five o'clock. Shall stay as long as it seems to be necessary and then shall start for [not decipherable] and then attend the Boston Conference and shall make my way homeward as soon as convenient. Write to me at New York and [?] I can hear from you. Don't you want for anything if you can borrow money to get what you want. I shall write about once in two weeks and pay the postage on all the letters I send to you. I shall write to Brother W. Richards [?] After taking a great share of my love to yourself then deal it out to others as you please. For thirty-six hours past I have traveled about five hundred miles. To Mary A. Young, Brigham Young." |
PHOTOGRAPH OF INSIDE SHEETS OF LETTER
FIRST PAGE OF LETTER AND FOLD USED AS ENVELOPE.
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Bruce, Donald M. "Brigham Young and Horace S. Eldredge." Improvement Era. April 1942. pg. 214-215.
BRIGHAM YOUNG and HORACE S. ELDREDGE By DONALD M. BRUCE ONE of the lesser known of our pioneer leaders, Horace S. Eldredge was nevertheless one of the most ardent Church workers of his time. He was born in the town of Brutus, New York, on February 6, 1816. Before he was twenty years old, he heard a sermon preached by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After further investigation he concluded that it was the only true order and decided to unite his destiny with that of the Saints, and moved to Nauvoo. He was present there during the exodus and moved into Winter Quarters. Although some of his relatives left for the West the first year, he stayed until 1848, when in Brigham Young's company he arrived in Great Salt Lake Valley on September 22, 1848, after three months on the way. There were few men that enjoyed the confidence of Brigham Young as Brother Eldredge did. That confidence is shown by the fact that during his first winter in the valley, he was appointed by Brigham Young to be marshall of the territory of Utah, assessor and collector of the taxes. In the fall of 1852 he was called to serve a mission to the East. There he presided over the St. Louis Conference, and acted as General Church Agent. Some idea of the immense amount of work covered by that last title may be gained from the fact that he was in charge of all immigration, both from Europe and from America. In 1853, over four hundred wagons and two thousand head of cattle started across the plains. The following year there was an even greater number, and Brother Eldredge was pressed to find the needed conveyances to transport them to the valley. In June of 1854, he left the East to return to Great Salt Lake City, where he served as a member of the Territorial Legislature, and in 1854 he became one of the General Authorities of the Church as a member of the First Council of the Seventy. Brigham Young wrote many letters to Brother Eldredge while he was in the east, either on Church business or buying for the Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. Most of the letters were written while the U. S. troops were here intercepting the mails and making things generally uncomfortable for the Saints. In some of his letters, Brigham Young made reference to this interruption of the mail service. The contents of the letter in the accompanying photograph is given in its entirety, just as it was written over eighty years ago. Great Salt Lake City, Feby. 4, 1858. “Pres. Horace S. Eldredge, “Dear Brother:-- “Your letter of Novr. 14th arrived by the Cal. mail or the 3 instant, and its contents caused neither surprise nor discouragement, as they correspond with what we had anticipated from the movements of late. All circumstances considered, it will probably be best for you to at once arrange your affairs as to be able to leave for the mountains at any moment your judgment may dictate. And should you be unable to pay off all indebtedness, inform the creditors that we have plenty of funds to pay them, but since we have no communication except by Panama, and mail by that route is often carefully overhauled after it leaves our borders, they must patiently wait the progress and issue of the present disturbance is entirely the fault of our enemies on account of our religion, and we are only acting in self defense. Under the present aspect of affairs, I am unable to counsel you in regard to this year’s immigration, any further than to say to you and all others to make your way to Utah as soon and in the best manner, and by the best route you can. Our enemies have gone into winter quarters near the ruins of Fort Supply and Bridger, (which you are aware were evacuated and burned by us last fall), and for some weeks past we have not heard, though we are making such preparations as may be necessary for the preservation of our rights and lives. Please bring with you as much unruled paper like the small sample enclosed, as you can conveniently. Send all your letters by way of Panama, for no letters, papers, or mails have reached here from Independence since Mr. Kimball’s contract was annulled. “For explanation I enclose a copy of the current account between you and Br. Groesbeck. “Ever praying for your prosperity and welfare in the Kingdom of God, I remain, as ever, your Brother in the Gospel.” “Brigham Young.” “P. S. Mr. Postmaster and all others:--When you have read this letter please forward it to its destination, for keeping it can be of no possible benefit to you.” “B. Y.” |
"An Official Communication from Brigham Young, Governor." Improvement Era. July 1942. pg. 443.
AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION FROM "BRIGHAM YOUNG, GOVERNOR" Under recent date, Harold A. Lafount enclosed the document reproduced below, with this comment in a letter to Dr. John A. Widtsoe: A good friend of mine found an old document in an old bookstore in Boston which he thought would be of interest to me. He purchased it and mailed it to me. The document I am enclosing because it may be of interest to others as well as to myself. If it has value, then perhaps somewhere in the Church files or museum this may be placed, so that others may have an opportunity to see it. I should appreciate your turning this over to whomever you consider would be the proper party to retain and preserve this old document. Cordially your friend and brother, Harold A. Lafount. It is interesting to note that Brigham Young as governor made faithful reports to the department in charge of his work in Washington. The letter reads: Honorable Thomas L. Smith 1st Auditor U. S. Treasury Washington, D. C. Sir: This is to certify that I have not been absent from the Territory of Utah or the scene of my Official duties a day since my appointment to the Office of Governor, neither do I expect to be for the next ensuing Quarter. Most respectfully, Brigham Young, Governor. |
"Excerpts from Letters of Brigham Young to His Wife, Harriet Cook." Improvement Era. September 1942. pg. 564.
EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS of BRIGHAM YOUNG To His Wife HARRIET COOK With the passing years, new facets of greatness appear to add lustre to the revered name of Brigham Young. Through unpublished letters which are now being brought to the attention of this generation, the tenderness with which Brigham Young regarded his family and his acquaintances is evidenced. Even in the trials of his westward march with the advance company of the Pioneers, he took time to write words of encouragement, advice, and affection to those whom he left behind. The letters published in this article were written to his wife, Harriet Cook. No dissertation on Brigham Young's love of family can equal in eloquence his own words incorporated in these letters. Richardson's Point Camp of Israel March 15/46 55 miles from Nauvoo Sister Harriet Cook, my dear wife. I address a few lines to you by Brother Joseph B. Noble who is going to return home immediately after his family. I have written to a number of the friends since I left. I expected to have returned to Nauvoo, but it looks so much like a prison to me that I think I shall go farther west instead of going east at present. Brother J. B. Noble will see that you are provided for to come comfortably, and I want you to come with him. I hope Brother Joseph Young will come with him. I expect Brother Ballott will get a good carriage or wagon and team for you and others. Brother Noble will get a good man to drive it. It is likely Brother John Young and Evan Greene, Sister Faney and others of my friends will come at the same time. I want you to see Sister Powers and have her watch her opportunity and take what she can get. Go to the store when Davis and Powers is gone out and trade a few hundred dollars and start with some one that will bring her a peace with speed, and then come with you. I want you to see Sister Mary and Margaret Pearce, Brother Robert Pearce's daughters and see if their father is (—coming—-?) if not get them along with you if you can. Bro. Noble will bring the sister that is there. Sis. Betsy Fairchild wish you could bring. Give my love to them all. I want to see you and the little boy. Tell Sister Augusta Colle I hope she will be blest. I want (?) see her again but it is a matter of doubt whether I can (?) for sometime. Be cheerful and of good courage Sister Harriet. We shall soon meet again. We feel quite happy here in camp and are bound for the west. Give my love to Brother and Sister Ashly (?) and the children. I remember their kindness. They shall be blest, for my heart blesses all such; there are so many talking to me I cannot write. May the Lord bless you and all the Saints. I wish you to read this to Sisters Cobb, Powers, & Pearce. /s/ Brigham Young. Mrs. Harriett Cook Chariton River, March 25th 1846—100 M. W. Nauvoo I read your letter to Luca. I was glad to hear from you. I wish Brother John and Evan had put two horses before the carriage and taken you along with them. We all want to see very much. I should come back but feel that it would not be safe for me to come to Nauvoo again very soon. Kiss the babe for me. The girls talk a great deal about you and wish you with them. They have a tent to themselves. Mary Ann is very kind to them. We have enjoyed ourselves very well on our journey though we had much bad weather. I hope you will overtake us before long. Brother Joseph B. Noble will possibly bring you and I hope Sister Powers. See Sisters Mary and Margaret Pearce if you can see when they are coming. Give my love to them all to Brother and Sister Ashley and the children. They are a blest family I think. Sister Harriet, bring a few tin plates, cups, and etc. and etc., if you can get them. They will be convenient on the journey. Earthen is not worth much and the girls are thereby scanty for such things. May the Lord bless you and the little boy. B. Young Harriet Cook Camp of Great Council Bluffs June 23d 1846 My dear Harriet, I have just heard you talked of going east. Now I pray you, harken to my counsel and come to the west; if you have no way to come with the Brethren where I have made provision, write to me the first opportunity and I will send a team after you or come myself. Edman might bring you or you can come with Sister Janey. I cannot have the thought of your going east. You will not enjoy yourself if you go. Come here, your friends are here. We enjoy ourselves first rate. I long to see you safe to camp with your babe. May the Lord bless you and yours. Give my best love to Brother Ashly family and all of my friends. Br. Bickford the bearer of this is now waiting and I must stop writing. Brigham Young. Mrs Harriet Cook. (Sent to the Era by Edith Young Booth) |
Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young in Mendon, New York." Improvement Era. July 1943. pg. 400-401.
Brigham Young in Mendon, New York By Preston Nibley ABOUT twenty miles southwest of Palmyra, New York, in the rolling hills of Monroe County, is the little village of Mendon. It is a very quiet, old-looking town, the intersection of two roads forming the business district, in which may be found perhaps a half dozen time-ravaged brick and frame buildings. The atmosphere of the place is that of a village slumbering, waiting for final decay and ruin. About a mile, or a mile and a half to the west of Mendon is a modern-looking, well-kept farm, owned by two brothers named Hutchinson. They will tell you that part of their farm, on which one of the houses is built, was owned more than a century ago by a man named Brigham Young. Tradition has it, they will tell you, that he was the builder of the house which stands before you, and that "yonder" in the southwest part of the field, by a small stream, he erected a water-wheel and a small brick carpenter shop, where he made chairs and tables and other articles of furniture, to be sold to the farmer-folk about the countryside. The father of the Hutchinson brothers, while plowing in his field some years ago, turned up a brick on the site of the carpenter shop, on which had been cut, evidently before it was burned, the initials B.Y. The brother who talked to us had saved that brick for several years. While we waited, he hunted for it in his woodshed, but was unable, after diligent searching, to find it. Other than this farm and house and mill site, there is no visible evidence that the man Brigham Young once lived and labored in this quiet village. We shall have to turn to the old histories to find a record of his residence here. Brigham Young himself has left us little of his early history. He was not a man to look backward; he looked forward. What was before him was always the thing of immediate concern. However, after he came to Utah, someone did convince him that he should dictate an account of his life, and in 400 1863 there was published in the Millennial Star, a brief, crisp, but accurate autobiography of the man, titled "History of Brigham Young." I have turned to this account for further information regarding his life and activities at Mendon. Brigham was twenty-eight years of age when he came to this quiet village; he was married and the father of a little daughter, Elizabeth, aged four. For a number of years he had lived at Port Byron, on the Erie Canal. Here he had married Miriam Works. If you go to Port Byron today, the little house he built there will be shown you—just off the main street, now neglected and unoccupied. Why Brigham decided to leave this home and journey to Mendon, fifty-five miles west, I cannot say, nor does he anywhere inform us, except to state that his father resided there. After some searching I have found that most of his brothers and sisters were also residents of Mendon and vicinity. We believe that when he arrived in Mendon, he acquired a small tract of land and set up a carpenter shop, as related in the opening paragraphs. Brigham had been in Mendon about one year when strange rumors began to float over the countryside. These rumors were to the effect that at Palmyra, twenty miles eastward, a young man named Joseph Smith had found a "Golden Bible" in a hill near Palmyra, and that he had translated the ancient record and had published the same in book form. The book was known as The Book of Mormon. A few weeks after the rumors began to circulate, a Book of Mormon came into Brigham s hands. Samuel Smith, younger brother of the Prophet, had been sent out by Joseph to circulate the Book of Mormon in the countryside about Palmyra. At the town of Victor, he had sold a copy to Phinehas Young, Brigham Young's brother. It was this book which first introduced Mormonism to Brigham. As he read it, he pondered upon its teachings. Phinehas relates that "about this time, my brother, Brigham, came to see me, and very soon told me that he was convinced that there was something in Mormonism." Little did he know what it would eventually mean to him. On the first of June, 1830, a second daughter, named Vilate, was born to Brigham and Miriam at Mendon. This must have been a happy occasion, as the child arrived on Brigham's twenty-ninth birthday. From this time until the autumn of the following year, 1831, we have no information regarding Brigham's activities. We know that he was a dependable man; diligent and faithful in his business; prompt in his appointments; reliable and trustworthy; a man whose word was as good as his bond; a man capable of doing a great work in the world, should he be given the opportunity. The opportunity came to him suddenly, in unexpected manner. He relates it as follows: In the fall of 1831, Elders Alpheus Gifford, Elial Strong, and others, came to Mendon to preach the everlasting gospel, as revealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet, which I heard and believed. He heard and he believed! He found out now that there was other and more important work for him to do in the world than to make chairs and tables for the country-folk about Mendon. He could leave that to someone else, and spend his time working at a higher task, building up the Church and kingdom of God. After a winter trip to Columbia, ** Pennsylvania, where he visited with the elders who had brought the gospel to him, Brigham was ready for baptism. He tells us: ... on April 14, 1832, I was baptized by Eleazer Miller, who confirmed me at the water's edge. We returned home about two miles, the weather being cold and snowy, and before my clothes were dry on my back he laid his hands on me and ordained me an elder, at which I marveled. A few weeks after Brigham's baptism, there came to him this additional, marvelous witness of the Spirit: I was at Brother Kimball's house one morning, and while family prayer was being offered up, Brother Alpheus Gifford commenced speaking in tongues. Soon the spirit came on me, and I spoke in tongues, and we thought only of the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles were clothed upon with cloven tongues of fire. The experience of speaking in tongues, an unusual thing to happen to a strong, practical-minded carpenter, was overwhelming testimony to him that he was engaged in the work of the Lord. From this time on until his death more than forty-five years later, he gave his time, his energy and his splendid ability to the advancement of his chosen cause. There was great joy in this man's life while he resided in Mendon; there were also deep sorrow and bitter tears. The fatal malady of "consumption" had seized upon his wife, Miriam, and in the fall of 1 832 she was taken from him in death. Of the details of her funeral and burial we have no word from any source. A few months ago Brother John Giles and I searched in vain through the little cemetery at Mendon for Miriam's grave. Perhaps it was to turn his mind from the loss of his wife that Brigham set out, a few weeks after Miriam's death, on a journey of 250 miles to visit the Prophet Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio. He had never seen the Prophet, yet he had accepted his teachings fully and completely. His own account of this visit is as follows: Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon, Brother Joseph Young and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way and some branches of the Church. We exhorted them and prayed with them and I spoke in tongues. Some pronounced it genuine and from the Lord, and others pronounced it of the devil. We proceeded to Kirtland and stopped at John P. Greene's, who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately went to the woods, where we found the Prophet and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be, as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us and made us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us. In the evening a few of the brethren came in and we conversed together upon the things of the kingdom. He (Joseph) called upon me to pray; in my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees the brethren flocked around him and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said, "No, it is of God, and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this Church." The latter part of this conversation was in my absence. After this visit to Kirtland, Brigham returned to his home in Mendon. During the winter he undertook a short mission to Canada, where he succeeded in establishing a branch of the Church at East Loboro. In the spring of 1833 he again returned to Canada and succeeded in baptizing twenty people and organizing several branches of the Church. Returning to Mendon, he began preparations to sell out his holdings and move to Kirtland where he could give his entire time to the Church. He tells us: In the month of September, in conformity to the counsel of the Prophet, I made preparations to gather up to Kirtland, and engaged passage for myself and two children with Brother Kimball, and sent my effects by canal and lake to Fairport. We arrived in Kirtland in safety, traveling by land, where I tarried all winter and had the privilege of listening to the teachings of the Prophet, and enjoying the society of the Saints, working hard at my former trade. As far as I have been able to learn, Brigham never again returned to Mendon and the quiet scenes where he had first heard the gospel message. His devotion to the latter-day work was to carry his name far beyond the borders of that little village. |
The old hotel at Mendon as it appears today
Brigham Young's first home in Port Byron after his marriage to Miriam Works
"Brigham Young Lived Here"
John D. Giles, director of the Bureau of Information at the Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, and Mrs. Giles, by the sign which directs the visitor in Brigham Young's house |
Nibley, Preston. "The Friendship Between the Prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. June 1944. pg. 291-295.
The Friendship Between the Prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Elder Preston Nibley
[Editor's Note: June 1 is the natal day of Brigham Young, and June 27, 1944 will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.]
ONE of the most interesting and dramatic events in our Church history was the occasion when the Prophet Joseph Smith and Brigham Young met for the first time. This meeting occurred at Kirtland, Ohio, in September 1832. The young Prophet Joseph was only twenty-six years old at the time, but he had already made a remarkable record. The Book of Mormon had been translated and printed; the Church had been organized and had acquired upwards of 2,000 members; a gathering place for the Saints had been designated in Jackson County, Missouri; missionaries were being sent to many of the states and Canada, and the Gospel was being preached with power and effectiveness to all who would hear.
Among the converts who had been baptized in the spring of this year, 1832, was a young man, thirty years of age, named Brigham Young. He had joined the Church in his home town, Mendon, New York, through the preaching of five elders who came to Mendon and vicinity from Columbia, Pennsylvania. He was a strong, vigorous young man—a carpenter and furniture maker by trade—who had established himself in his community as a reliable, honest, diligent, and honorable citizen. He looked forward to a life of peace and happiness in his quiet countryside. Then came the story of the young Prophet, his visions, and the establishment of the Church. Brigham Young, according to his own words, "heard and believed." A new world was opened to him. He found out that there were other and greater tasks for him to do than to make furniture and till his little farm at Mendon. He could save his own soul; he could bring the light of knowledge and truth to those who dwelt in darkness.
A branch of the Church was established in Mendon, and among the members were Joseph Young, Brigham Young's brother, and Heber C. Kimball. In the month of September 1832, these three young men decided to make a journey to Kirtland, Ohio, and there meet and visit with the Prophet of their chosen religion. The distance was about two hundred and forty miles; they traveled with a team and wagon, and two weeks' time was consumed in making the journey. On their arrival, their first object was to find the Prophet. I shall let Brigham Young relate that part of the story in his own words:
We proceeded to Kirtland, and stopped at John P. Greene's who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately went to the woods, where we found the Prophet and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and I received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us and made us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us.—Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439.
Brigham Young had traveled two hundred and forty miles to see the Prophet of his chosen religion, and he found him ''chopping and hauling wood." But when Brigham took Joseph Smith by the hand, and looked into his eyes, the Spirit bore witness to him that this young man before him ''was all that any man could believe him to be as a true Prophet." Brigham Young was satisfied. Then and there he pledged his abiding loyalty to his youthful leader—a loyalty which continued until the Prophet's death, and beyond.
Other significant events happened on this memorable day. They are described by Brigham Young as follows:
In the evening a few of the brethren came in and we conversed together upon the things of the Kingdom. He (Joseph) called upon me to pray; in my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees the brethren flocked around him and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said, "No, it is of God, and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this church." The latter part of this conversation was in my absence.—Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439.
It is apparent from the above that the Prophet Joseph understood and could foresee the mission which was to be performed by the stalwart young man whose acquaintance he had made this day. He urged Brigham to join the Saints in Kirtland as soon as it was convenient for him to do so, and to give his time and efforts to the cause in which they all were engaged. Brigham gave heed to this advice, and the following year sold his possessions in Mendon and moved to the gathering place. From that time on, the balance of his life was spent in assisting the Prophet, and "building up the Church and Kingdom of God" to the fullest extent of his time and talents.
In 1835, the first Quorum of Twelve Apostles was organized and Brigham Young was selected as one of the number. Thus he came into prominence for the first time as an official of the Church, and his qualities of leadership were soon in evidence. He carried out every order given him by the Prophet, and worked at every task assigned to him without any thought of compensation. His whole thought was to sustain the Prophet in his great efforts to establish the Kingdom.
The year 1837 was the time of the great apostasy in Kirtland. Many rebelled against the leadership of the Prophet. Several of the Twelve Apostles and the witnesses of the Book of Mormon held a meeting to depose Joseph from the presidency of the Church and install David Whitmer in his stead. Brigham Young attended this meeting and took a stand that thwarted their purpose. Here are his own words:
I rose up and in a plain and forcible manner told them that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could but destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet of God, and sink themselves to hell.—Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 487.
That was the kind of loyalty that Brigham Young gave to the Prophet in one of the most critical times in our Church history. There is every evidence that it was duly appreciated.
During the winter of 1837-38, the Prophet, accompanied by Brigham Young and others, made the long journey from Kirtland to Missouri. But there they found troubles greater than those they had experienced in Kirtland; the Missouri mobs rose against them and it was not long before all the Latter-day Saints, numbering between 12,000 and 15,000, were being driven from that state. The Prophet was taken to Liberty Jail where he was kept for five months. Many of the prominent men of the Church renounced the leadership of the Prophet at this time, but again Brigham Young stood firm and used his energy and talents to restore order and find a haven of refuge for the scattered and persecuted people.
THE mission to England, undertaken in the fall of 1839 by Brigham Young and the members of the Twelve, is one of the most heroic episodes in our Church history. These men went in illness and in poverty, trusting in the providence of God to sustain them and take them to their field of labor. They arrived in England and began their efforts, which resulted in the greatest ''harvest of souls" in the history of the European Mission.
Two weeks after his arrival in England, Brigham Young pledged his loyalty to the Prophet in a letter addressed to "President Joseph Smith and Counselors" in Nauvoo:
I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and be a servant of the Church as I ever was in my life. But I can tell you I would like to be with my old friends; I like new friends, but I cannot part with my old ones for them ....
I request one favor from you, that is, a letter from you, that I may hear from my old friends. I trust that I will remain your friend through life and eternity. — Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 727.
Brigham Young was destined to remain Joseph Smith's friend throughout 'life and eternity."
After a most successful mission in England, during which time the brethren baptized "between seven and eight thousand people," the apostles returned to their homes in Nauvoo in the summer of 1841. Nine days after Brigham Young's return, the Prophet called at his home, and while there dictated the following revelation:
Dear and well-beloved brother, Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you: My servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me. I have seen your labor and toil in journeyings for my name, I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever. Amen. —Doc. & Cov., Sec. 126.
The above makes plain the feelings which the Prophet himself held for his devoted follower and assured him of the approval of his Heavenly Father.
From this time on, during the balance of the year 1841 and all of 1842, the Prophet and Brigham Young were almost in constant association. In November 1842, Brigham Young suffered a very severe illness. He remained in bed for several weeks. At one time it was thought that he was very near to death. He tells us that the Prophet Joseph sustained him during this illness:
The Prophet Joseph and Elder Willard Richards visited and administered unto me; the Prophet prophesied that I should live and recover from my sickness. He sat by me for six hours and directed my attendants what to do for me. — Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 167.
It was no small honor to Brigham Young to have the Prophet Joseph Smith sit by his bedside for six hours, during this desperate illness. There is evidence here that the Prophet was concerned about the life of his dear friend.
On the 28th day of May, 1843, the Prophet Joseph made a significant entry in his History with reference to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. He paid them a wonderful tribute: Of the Twelve Apostles chosen in Kirtland, and ordained under the hands of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and myself, there have been but two but what have lifted their heel against me — namely Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.—Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 412.
In the summer of 1843, Brigham Young went on a mission to the Eastern States. At Pittsburgh, he preached a sermon to the Saints who had assembled to hear him:
Who is the author of this work and gathering? Joseph Smith, the Prophet, as an instrument in the hands of God, is the author of it. He is the greatest man on the earth. No other man at this age of the world, has power to assemble such a great people from all the nations of the earth, with all their varied dispositions, and so assimilate and cement them together that they become subject to rule and order. This the Prophet Joseph is doing.—Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 247.
''He is the greatest man on earth." That, in brief, was Brigham Young's opinion of the man who stood at the head of the Church; the man whom the Lord had selected to found the Kingdom. It is an honor to Brigham Young that he was able to recognize and understand the importance of the Prophet's mission.
The winter of 1843-44 was the last opportunity these two men had to enjoy each other's society. One learns by reading the history that they were in almost daily association. One of their projects at this time was to send a group of men to the Rocky Mountains ''to select a location for the settlement of the Saints."
On May 21st, Brigham Young left Nauvoo and started on a mission to the Eastern States. He intended to be away only about three months. At Petersboro, New Hampshire, on July 16th, 1844, he received a letter which informed him that the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum had been killed by a mob in Carthage Jail, three weeks previously. This news came as a terrible shock to Brigham Young. He immediately made his way to Boston, where he met several of the apostles. Wilford Woodruff recorded the following in his diary under date of July 17th:
Elder Brigham Young arrived in Boston this morning. I walked with him to 57 Temple Street, and called upon Sister Vose. Brother Young took the bed and gave vent to his feelings in tears.—Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 7, p. 195.
The great, strong man Brigham Young, lying on the bed at the home of Sister Vose, weeping on account of the death of his dear friend, leader, and prophet, Joseph Smith that is a picture long to be remembered. But he arose from that bed of tears with the great and unalterable determination to continue on with the work which the Prophet had restored to earth and founded, under divine direction. His task was clear to him. A few weeks later he said in a public sermon in Nauvoo:
Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work, and we will build upon it; . . . There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in this world .... —Documentary History oi the Church, Vol. 7, p. 234.
All of Brigham Young's subsequent life was spent in the magnificent task of ''building up the Kingdom," however, to his dying day, he missed the counsel and leadership of his friend, the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Four days after the arrival of the first pioneers in Salt Lake valley, Brigham Young spoke of his departed leader:
We have come here, according to the direction and counsel of Brother Joseph, before his death, and Joseph would still be alive, if the Twelve had been in Nauvoo when he re-crossed the river from Montrose.— Journal History, July 28, 1847.
In a sermon delivered in the Bowery, on the Temple Block, on October 6, 1855, President Young expressed his satisfaction that he had known the Prophet:
I feel like shouting hallelujah all the time when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up and ordained, and to whom He gave keys and power to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth and sustain it. These keys are committed to this people, and we have power to continue the work that Joseph commenced, until everything is prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.—J. D. 3:51.
Again, in a sermon on August 16, 1868, President Young said:
In the days of the Prophet Joseph, such moments were more precious to me than all the wealth of the world. No matter how great my poverty—if I had to borrow meal to feed my wife and children — I never let an opportunity pass of learning what the Prophet had to impart.
Brigham Young's death occurred in the Lion House in Salt Lake City on the afternoon of August 29, 1877. Anxious watchers at his bedside reported that a few moments before he expired, he gazed fixedly upwards and repeated several times the word ''Joseph, Joseph, Joseph," as though he were speaking to his beloved leader. It is not improbable that the Prophet Joseph was there, to take his devoted follower by the hand.
The Friendship Between the Prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Elder Preston Nibley
[Editor's Note: June 1 is the natal day of Brigham Young, and June 27, 1944 will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.]
ONE of the most interesting and dramatic events in our Church history was the occasion when the Prophet Joseph Smith and Brigham Young met for the first time. This meeting occurred at Kirtland, Ohio, in September 1832. The young Prophet Joseph was only twenty-six years old at the time, but he had already made a remarkable record. The Book of Mormon had been translated and printed; the Church had been organized and had acquired upwards of 2,000 members; a gathering place for the Saints had been designated in Jackson County, Missouri; missionaries were being sent to many of the states and Canada, and the Gospel was being preached with power and effectiveness to all who would hear.
Among the converts who had been baptized in the spring of this year, 1832, was a young man, thirty years of age, named Brigham Young. He had joined the Church in his home town, Mendon, New York, through the preaching of five elders who came to Mendon and vicinity from Columbia, Pennsylvania. He was a strong, vigorous young man—a carpenter and furniture maker by trade—who had established himself in his community as a reliable, honest, diligent, and honorable citizen. He looked forward to a life of peace and happiness in his quiet countryside. Then came the story of the young Prophet, his visions, and the establishment of the Church. Brigham Young, according to his own words, "heard and believed." A new world was opened to him. He found out that there were other and greater tasks for him to do than to make furniture and till his little farm at Mendon. He could save his own soul; he could bring the light of knowledge and truth to those who dwelt in darkness.
A branch of the Church was established in Mendon, and among the members were Joseph Young, Brigham Young's brother, and Heber C. Kimball. In the month of September 1832, these three young men decided to make a journey to Kirtland, Ohio, and there meet and visit with the Prophet of their chosen religion. The distance was about two hundred and forty miles; they traveled with a team and wagon, and two weeks' time was consumed in making the journey. On their arrival, their first object was to find the Prophet. I shall let Brigham Young relate that part of the story in his own words:
We proceeded to Kirtland, and stopped at John P. Greene's who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father's house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately went to the woods, where we found the Prophet and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and I received the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true Prophet. He was happy to see us and made us welcome. We soon returned to his house, he accompanying us.—Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439.
Brigham Young had traveled two hundred and forty miles to see the Prophet of his chosen religion, and he found him ''chopping and hauling wood." But when Brigham took Joseph Smith by the hand, and looked into his eyes, the Spirit bore witness to him that this young man before him ''was all that any man could believe him to be as a true Prophet." Brigham Young was satisfied. Then and there he pledged his abiding loyalty to his youthful leader—a loyalty which continued until the Prophet's death, and beyond.
Other significant events happened on this memorable day. They are described by Brigham Young as follows:
In the evening a few of the brethren came in and we conversed together upon the things of the Kingdom. He (Joseph) called upon me to pray; in my prayer I spoke in tongues. As soon as we arose from our knees the brethren flocked around him and asked his opinion concerning the gift of tongues that was upon me. He told them it was the pure Adamic language. Some said to him they expected he would condemn the gift Brother Brigham had, but he said, "No, it is of God, and the time will come when Brother Brigham Young will preside over this church." The latter part of this conversation was in my absence.—Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 439.
It is apparent from the above that the Prophet Joseph understood and could foresee the mission which was to be performed by the stalwart young man whose acquaintance he had made this day. He urged Brigham to join the Saints in Kirtland as soon as it was convenient for him to do so, and to give his time and efforts to the cause in which they all were engaged. Brigham gave heed to this advice, and the following year sold his possessions in Mendon and moved to the gathering place. From that time on, the balance of his life was spent in assisting the Prophet, and "building up the Church and Kingdom of God" to the fullest extent of his time and talents.
In 1835, the first Quorum of Twelve Apostles was organized and Brigham Young was selected as one of the number. Thus he came into prominence for the first time as an official of the Church, and his qualities of leadership were soon in evidence. He carried out every order given him by the Prophet, and worked at every task assigned to him without any thought of compensation. His whole thought was to sustain the Prophet in his great efforts to establish the Kingdom.
The year 1837 was the time of the great apostasy in Kirtland. Many rebelled against the leadership of the Prophet. Several of the Twelve Apostles and the witnesses of the Book of Mormon held a meeting to depose Joseph from the presidency of the Church and install David Whitmer in his stead. Brigham Young attended this meeting and took a stand that thwarted their purpose. Here are his own words:
I rose up and in a plain and forcible manner told them that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased, they could but destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the Prophet of God, and sink themselves to hell.—Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 487.
That was the kind of loyalty that Brigham Young gave to the Prophet in one of the most critical times in our Church history. There is every evidence that it was duly appreciated.
During the winter of 1837-38, the Prophet, accompanied by Brigham Young and others, made the long journey from Kirtland to Missouri. But there they found troubles greater than those they had experienced in Kirtland; the Missouri mobs rose against them and it was not long before all the Latter-day Saints, numbering between 12,000 and 15,000, were being driven from that state. The Prophet was taken to Liberty Jail where he was kept for five months. Many of the prominent men of the Church renounced the leadership of the Prophet at this time, but again Brigham Young stood firm and used his energy and talents to restore order and find a haven of refuge for the scattered and persecuted people.
THE mission to England, undertaken in the fall of 1839 by Brigham Young and the members of the Twelve, is one of the most heroic episodes in our Church history. These men went in illness and in poverty, trusting in the providence of God to sustain them and take them to their field of labor. They arrived in England and began their efforts, which resulted in the greatest ''harvest of souls" in the history of the European Mission.
Two weeks after his arrival in England, Brigham Young pledged his loyalty to the Prophet in a letter addressed to "President Joseph Smith and Counselors" in Nauvoo:
I believe that I am as willing to do the will of the Lord, and take counsel of my brethren, and be a servant of the Church as I ever was in my life. But I can tell you I would like to be with my old friends; I like new friends, but I cannot part with my old ones for them ....
I request one favor from you, that is, a letter from you, that I may hear from my old friends. I trust that I will remain your friend through life and eternity. — Millennial Star, Vol. 25, p. 727.
Brigham Young was destined to remain Joseph Smith's friend throughout 'life and eternity."
After a most successful mission in England, during which time the brethren baptized "between seven and eight thousand people," the apostles returned to their homes in Nauvoo in the summer of 1841. Nine days after Brigham Young's return, the Prophet called at his home, and while there dictated the following revelation:
Dear and well-beloved brother, Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you: My servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me. I have seen your labor and toil in journeyings for my name, I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take special care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever. Amen. —Doc. & Cov., Sec. 126.
The above makes plain the feelings which the Prophet himself held for his devoted follower and assured him of the approval of his Heavenly Father.
From this time on, during the balance of the year 1841 and all of 1842, the Prophet and Brigham Young were almost in constant association. In November 1842, Brigham Young suffered a very severe illness. He remained in bed for several weeks. At one time it was thought that he was very near to death. He tells us that the Prophet Joseph sustained him during this illness:
The Prophet Joseph and Elder Willard Richards visited and administered unto me; the Prophet prophesied that I should live and recover from my sickness. He sat by me for six hours and directed my attendants what to do for me. — Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 167.
It was no small honor to Brigham Young to have the Prophet Joseph Smith sit by his bedside for six hours, during this desperate illness. There is evidence here that the Prophet was concerned about the life of his dear friend.
On the 28th day of May, 1843, the Prophet Joseph made a significant entry in his History with reference to Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. He paid them a wonderful tribute: Of the Twelve Apostles chosen in Kirtland, and ordained under the hands of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and myself, there have been but two but what have lifted their heel against me — namely Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.—Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 412.
In the summer of 1843, Brigham Young went on a mission to the Eastern States. At Pittsburgh, he preached a sermon to the Saints who had assembled to hear him:
Who is the author of this work and gathering? Joseph Smith, the Prophet, as an instrument in the hands of God, is the author of it. He is the greatest man on the earth. No other man at this age of the world, has power to assemble such a great people from all the nations of the earth, with all their varied dispositions, and so assimilate and cement them together that they become subject to rule and order. This the Prophet Joseph is doing.—Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 247.
''He is the greatest man on earth." That, in brief, was Brigham Young's opinion of the man who stood at the head of the Church; the man whom the Lord had selected to found the Kingdom. It is an honor to Brigham Young that he was able to recognize and understand the importance of the Prophet's mission.
The winter of 1843-44 was the last opportunity these two men had to enjoy each other's society. One learns by reading the history that they were in almost daily association. One of their projects at this time was to send a group of men to the Rocky Mountains ''to select a location for the settlement of the Saints."
On May 21st, Brigham Young left Nauvoo and started on a mission to the Eastern States. He intended to be away only about three months. At Petersboro, New Hampshire, on July 16th, 1844, he received a letter which informed him that the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum had been killed by a mob in Carthage Jail, three weeks previously. This news came as a terrible shock to Brigham Young. He immediately made his way to Boston, where he met several of the apostles. Wilford Woodruff recorded the following in his diary under date of July 17th:
Elder Brigham Young arrived in Boston this morning. I walked with him to 57 Temple Street, and called upon Sister Vose. Brother Young took the bed and gave vent to his feelings in tears.—Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 7, p. 195.
The great, strong man Brigham Young, lying on the bed at the home of Sister Vose, weeping on account of the death of his dear friend, leader, and prophet, Joseph Smith that is a picture long to be remembered. But he arose from that bed of tears with the great and unalterable determination to continue on with the work which the Prophet had restored to earth and founded, under divine direction. His task was clear to him. A few weeks later he said in a public sermon in Nauvoo:
Brother Joseph, the Prophet, has laid the foundation for a great work, and we will build upon it; . . . There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in this world .... —Documentary History oi the Church, Vol. 7, p. 234.
All of Brigham Young's subsequent life was spent in the magnificent task of ''building up the Kingdom," however, to his dying day, he missed the counsel and leadership of his friend, the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Four days after the arrival of the first pioneers in Salt Lake valley, Brigham Young spoke of his departed leader:
We have come here, according to the direction and counsel of Brother Joseph, before his death, and Joseph would still be alive, if the Twelve had been in Nauvoo when he re-crossed the river from Montrose.— Journal History, July 28, 1847.
In a sermon delivered in the Bowery, on the Temple Block, on October 6, 1855, President Young expressed his satisfaction that he had known the Prophet:
I feel like shouting hallelujah all the time when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom the Lord raised up and ordained, and to whom He gave keys and power to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth and sustain it. These keys are committed to this people, and we have power to continue the work that Joseph commenced, until everything is prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.—J. D. 3:51.
Again, in a sermon on August 16, 1868, President Young said:
In the days of the Prophet Joseph, such moments were more precious to me than all the wealth of the world. No matter how great my poverty—if I had to borrow meal to feed my wife and children — I never let an opportunity pass of learning what the Prophet had to impart.
Brigham Young's death occurred in the Lion House in Salt Lake City on the afternoon of August 29, 1877. Anxious watchers at his bedside reported that a few moments before he expired, he gazed fixedly upwards and repeated several times the word ''Joseph, Joseph, Joseph," as though he were speaking to his beloved leader. It is not improbable that the Prophet Joseph was there, to take his devoted follower by the hand.
Widtsoe, John A. "Along the Early Trails of Brigham Young." Improvement Era. October 1944. pg. 596-597, 637-639.
Along the EARLY TRAILS of BRIGHAM YOUNG By Dr. John A. Widtsoe of the Council of the Twelve The reported discourses of Brigham Young had been my reading over a long period of time. I had learned how to know the mighty spirit of the man as he was in maturity. But, of his early life before he joined the Church he said very little. I was curious to know whether the youth foreshadowed the man. So, to satisfy this curiosity, I set out in the spring of 1920 to become better acquainted with Brigham Young, the youth and young man. With the help of Willard Bean, then curator of the Smith Home in Palmyra, N.Y., I began the search. Fortunately, up to his baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young moved within a limited territory, seventy miles or fewer in length, and much narrower. Therefore, the trail was not long. Brigham Young's mother died about 1815, when the boy was fourteen years old. The family was then living in Sherburne, Chenango County, New York, not far from Auburn, New York. Soon afterwards Brigham was sent to learn a trade. Just where he had his first training is not known, but probably in the neighborhood of Auburn, upon one of the streams, where small mills were utilizing the water power. From the scanty available evidence, it appears likely that some of Brigham Young's training was obtained in the home and mill of James Wadsworth, living near Auburn, a scythe-maker from Massachusetts. Brigham Young seems to have been a handy young man, for it is reported that in 1819, when he was eighteen years old, he grafted an orchard for Mr. Wadsworth. It is a tradition of the Wadsworth family that the years that Brigham Young lived with the Wadsworth family, he was energetic, active, and capable. (David M. Dunning, The Deseret News, Oct. 2, 1926.) Upon his own testimony, Brigham Young worked in the city of Auburn about 1823. At that time William Brown, "a prominent man," built a house, still standing. When Governor William H. Seward visited Salt Lake City, in 1869, Brigham inquired about "Squire Brown's" house, and remarked, "I worked on that house as a journeyman carpenter, when they were building it, about the same time that I was employed at the Theological Seminary." (F. W. Seward, Seward at Washington as Senator and Secretary of State, p. HO.) Mr. Brown was one of the charter members of the Auburn Theological Seminary. Much of the fine work on this mansion is credited to Brigham Young's skill and care. While he worked for Mr. Brown, he again displayed his versatility, for he laid out and planted an asparagus bed, which was still producing a crop thirty years later. It was about this time, in his "twenty-second year," that he "became serious and religiously inclined," and joined the Methodist Church. All in all, Brigham Young, during his Auburn days, was held in high repute, as a young man of ability and high character. Soon after helping to build Mr. Brown's house, Brigham Young was employed at Hayden's Mills, on the Owasco Outlet, near Port Byron. Some evidence points to employment there, several years earlier. By way of Auburn I followed the splendid road along the river to Hayden's Mills. The original mill was burned many years ago. There I found the hospitable Weston family, grandchildren of the mill owner of Brigham's day; also Hal L. Hayden, of the old mill family. These good people had many stories to tell of early days, when Brigham Young lived in the neighborhood. Under the center table of the parlor lay a large old-type iron cannon ball, which became the center of a story about Brigham Young. This cannon ball had been carried by one of Brigham's uncles, a Revolutionary War soldier, from one of the battlefields. Brigham, who had secured possession of it, laid great store by it, and took it with him when he left home to work in the mill. The mill made wooden articles, chiefly tubs and buckets, sold far and wide to pioneer homes. Many of these articles, especially those to be subjected to the weather, were painted or stained. The paint chiefly used was made from red iron ore (red ochre) pulverized at the mill, and mixed with oil. There were no ready-made paints available in those frontier days. The ore was crushed and powdered by hand with a pestle in a large iron mortar. This work required much time, without uniform results. One day Brigham, who seemed to be well liked by the mill owner, a Mr. Parks, asked for a day off to make an improvement in the paint-making process. After some rebuffs the request was granted. Brigham made a turntable connected with the water power of the mill, On this rotating table he placed the iron pot or mortar, but at an angle leaning sharply to one side. Then he placed in the mortar some of the ore used, together with his cherished cannon ball. When the power was turned on, the table rotated, the mortar with it. But the cannon ball inside the mortar, at every rotation, climbed up the inclined side of the mortar, then fell with a thump to the bottom of the mortar, crushing the ore. It worked perfectly. A fine powder ready for mixing with oil resulted. The time of the pestlers was saved by the device, and a more uniform powder was obtained. Naturally, the mill owner was pleased. So I learned first of all that Brigham Young had a head even as a young man, and that he used it. To use one's head is good practice for anyone who wishes to succeed in life. The cannon ball was under the parlor table eighteen years later—and was not then for sale. The mill owner's descendants also clung to family traditions. Recently it has been sold to a descendant of Brigham Young. Not far from the fine old dwelling house of the mill owner's people stands a modest but neat cottage, to which Brigham Young brought his bride Miriam Angeline Works, said to have been a relative of the mill owner. The story goes that he did much in the building of the little story and a half house, about sixteen by twenty-four feet. And, further, it is related that one day, Brigham, all spruced up, then twenty-three years of age, drove away with the mill owner’s speaking team and best wagon, to the consternation of the mill owner's wife. The husband merely smiled. He liked the . promising, helpful young man, and had given ' permission. Late in the afternoon, Brigham returned with team and buggy, and his bride by his side. He had driven to a place called Halfacre, in Aurelius township ( townships locally called towns ) , Cayuga County, where the marriage ceremony had been performed. In the Owasco Outlet, in the neighborhood of Hayden's Mills, where Brigham appeared to have worked for himself and for the mill until he was about twenty-five years of age, the old timers had many friendly stories to tell of the youth who was later to achieve worldwide distinction. He was held in high respect by all. Several authenticated stories of Brigham Young's years at Hayden's Mills are available. When the factory caught fire from lightning, his quick organization of a fire brigade saved the building. When the housekeeper rebelled against having to carry water for culinary purposes from a spring forty rods distant, Brigham Young dug a well, which still serves its purpose, near the house, and on an elevation declared to be unsuitable. At another time he dived into the millrace to secure the lost body of a drowned child. He was reputed to be a great Bible reader. In the debating societies of that day he won much fame for his skill. He displayed good common sense. When an inventor explained the merits of a perpetual motion machine, Brigham Young pointed to a basket standing near, and merely remarked, "When one of you will get into that basket and carry himself up that flight of stairs, I will believe it possible to carry out your ideas." (William Hayden, Paper before Cayuga Historical Association, The Deseret News, Dec. 20, 1913.) At the time Brigham worked in the mill and in the neighborhood, the Erie Canal was being constructed. It was formally opened October 26, 1825. (Ground broken July 4, 1817.) Business sprang up along its line. Little settlements on the banks of the canal became, almost overnight, little centers of industry and thriving business. Brigham, now grown to young manhood, and looking towards the future, left the mill section and settled in Port Byron, only a mile or two from the mill. First he was employed in the boatyard as foreman; then he set up his own business as a "painter, glazier and carpenter." The word "Port" indicated that the village was a shipping point on the canal, and Port Byron claimed a corresponding respect from all people. So, after the happy visit to the mill and its generous representatives, I drove to Port Byron. The canal has long since surrendered its pre-eminence to the railroad. The town is not the bustling place it once was, yet remains a worthy representative of the communities out of which flows much of the strength of America. I stopped the first man I met and asked, "Did Brigham Young live in this town?'' "Yes," came the prompt answer. "Can you tell me where I can find the home in which he lived?" To my astonishment my new friend answered, "Yes, it's in Nauvoo." I knew Nauvoo only as a city in the state of Illinois. The mystery disappeared when it was explained that in memory of Port Byron's distinguished son, the part of the town in which he lived was then commonly spoken of as Nauvoo. Recently, a substantial marker on the small public square, by the highway, recounts the residence of Brigham Young in the town and points the way to his house. The house, itself of perennial interest to tourists, is a well-built modest frame house. There Brigham had both his home and his shop. It is doubtful whether Brigham Young built this home. It does not look like his architectural style elsewhere. Everybody whom I met in Port Byron knew that Brigham Young once lived there; and they were proud of it. But as to Brigham's life there they could only repeat traditional stories—that he was an industrious and an excellent workman and a good citizen. One of the oldest men in the town was L. H. King, the editor of the Port Byron Chronicle. He was one of the state's most famous country editors. Politicians and statesmen made stopovers to call on him. I found him in his office, surrounded by paper, type, presses, and the clean smell of printer's ink. He was ready to help me. No, he had not known Brigham Young; but his father had known him well, and had told his son many stories of Brigham's life in Port Byron. This was the most interesting one : Port Byron, a flourishing shipping point on the Erie Canal, attracted ambitious people from many parts of the state. Among those who arrived during Port Byron's heyday were three men who rose to unusual distinction in the world. They are memorialized by the town in simple markers along the main street. In their day, so the editor said, they were spoken of as the "Three Wise Men From the East." One was somewhat younger than the others, but they were congenial; and the younger, as he grew older, became the fast friend of the others. They were Port Byron's foremost group of young people. The editor became dramatic. He took me to a window overlooking the Erie Canal. One of those young men, the younger, he said, was Henry Wells, who began to carry goods for others on the flatboats that traveled up and down the canal. In the end he founded the Wells, Fargo Express Company, one of the first in the country. The editor grew warmer. The second of this trio was named Isaac Singer, who perfected the sewing machine and placed the Singer sewing machine on the world's market to bless humanity, especially womankind. The third, he said, became the greatest of the three, for he showed how the vast deserts of America might be converted into happy homesteads. "He was Brigham Young, founder of Western America," he said. Then he commented ruminatingly, "Great men, weren't they?" To me, seeking for human character, the chief message was that Brigham Young was not only distinguished as a worthy citizen among his fellows from his early years, but that he sought the association of worthy people, the best people. That is a lesson needed by youth today as then. One of the old timers has put on record that "Brigham Young was as fine a specimen of young manhood as he has ever known, one that would have made his mark in whatever community his lot might have been cast." Brigham Young apparently was very successful in his business in Port Byron. Yet, when he was about twenty-seven years of age, he moved to Men- don, New York, about forty-five miles from Port Byron and only fifteen miles distant from Palmyra. His father and other members of the Young family resided there. In our pursuit (Brother Bean had joined me) we drove to Mendon, the town in which the gospel found Brigham Young. It was a warm, sunshiny day. Near the center of the sleepy village four men sat on the side of an empty ditch. We stopped. "What is Mendon famous for?" we asked, fairly certain of the answer. One of the men stretched himself, got up, changed the tobacco quid from one cheek to the other, spat, and pointing to an ancient frame building, now used as a hotel, said, "Strangers, do you see that house? In that house Lafayette slept one night!" Abashed, we sought other sources of information. When Brigham Young first came to Mendon, he worked in several nearby hamlets. He did some work in Canandaigua, for Captain Wilcox, in whose home he lived while building a house. However, he soon settled permanently in Mendon, where he set up his own business. First, we drove to the farm outside of Mendon, then known as the Dunshire farm, where Brigham Young had his small sawmill, and where he lived for some time. There was the little stream that he dammed up to turn the waterwheel. There were the evidences of former use. Down the long lane was his home. To the right, as we faced the mill site, half a mile beyond, was an overgrown cemetery. We found there an old, rotting headboard, on which we read, in faint letters, "Miriam Works"—indicating the grave of the wife of his youth, whom he brought to the mill home with the borrowed team and wagon. When I was there, eighteen years later, the headboard had disappeared, and with it the true location of the grave. ( Elder John D. Giles reports that he has recently located the grave. ) The present owners of the farm," the Hutchinson family, whose grandfather owned part of the farm in Brigham's day, had many a story to tell. Two houses face the gate, the roadway is between them. The smaller one, to the left as we entered, was Brigham's home, and, it is believed, was built by him. The larger was added to by Brigham for the use of the owner's growing family. Both houses were well built and in excellent condition. During his sojourn in Mendon, Brigham Young built or helped build several houses. They were all of the sturdy log variety of pioneer days.. A one-room schoolhouse, built by Brigham Young, stands by the highway. It might be made a monument to the builder who spent his life building houses and men for human good. The sawmill, however, with its turning lathe, was his chief concern in Mendon. There he cut logs and made lumber for the rapidly invading army of settlers. But, more profitably, he rough shaped lumber into the parts of household furniture, such as tables, chairs, beds, and cupboards. Then he would sell this knock-down furniture to be finished and put together by the farmers themselves during the slack winter season. As his time permitted, he also completed many articles of furniture. In the neighborhood are hundreds of pieces of furniture made wholly or in part by Brigham Young. In our quest in Mendon we called on Mrs. Fannie Bushman, then in her seventies, whose grandparents had known Brigham Young. She lived, alone, in the family homestead in Mendon, a traditional "T" house. She told us many stories of the days of Brigham Young in Mendon, as told her by her parents and grandparents. Towards the end of our conversation, I asked, "As you recall the things told you by your parents, do you think that Brigham was an honest man?" She pondered awhile, then walked towards a window looking upon a porch with a southern exposure, built in the T of the house. She said, "Do you see that rocking chair on the porch?" (It was a high-backed, old-fashioned, simply- made rocker. ) "In that chair my grandmother sunned herself every good day. When she died, my mother sunned herself in it. Since her death I have sunned myself in it every good day. That chair is nearly one hundred years old. It is as sound today as it was when first made. That chair was made by Brigham Young. I guess that a man who made so honest a chair must have been an honest man." There was a tug at our hearts as she spoke. The quest had been successful. We had learned much of Brigham Young before he joined the Church. As a youth he had shown intelligence and aptitude and had won the good will of his employers. As a young man he had sought the company of intelligent, ambitious, forward-looking companions, and had won the admiration of his fellow citizens by his industry and good workmanship. As a man entering maturity he had been a useful citizen, a capable worker, an honest man, who had won the confidence of the community. In youth as in age he was a worthy man. We turned our faces homeward with grateful hearts for the leadership of the Restored Church of Christ. Eighteen years later, in company with my wife and President Frank Evans, then in charge of the Eastern States Mission, I revisited these scenes. A new generation was arising, the stories of Brigham Young were fainter, but the pride of the people in his sojourn in their towns was greater, and steps were taken to keep in living memory the life in those parts of the Brigham Young who was a "painter, glazier and carpenter," and a great man of growing worldwide fame and appreciation. (The photographs of Brigham Young's Port Byron home and the "Squire" Brown house, were taken by Elder John D. Giles, who has made a splendid photographic record of early Church scenes.) |
HOUSE AT MENDON PARTLY BUILT BY BRIGHAM YOUNG.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S HOME AT PORT BYRON, CAYUGA COUNTY,
NEW YORK. (CARPENTER SHOP IN BASEMENT.) WHITINGHAM WHERE BRIGHAM YOUNG WAS BORN. THE MAN STANDS ON PROPERTY OWNED BY JOHN YOUNG. BRIGHAM WAS
PROBABLY BORN IN A HOUSE NO LONGER STANDING, BUT WITH A MARKER, ON A HILL TO THE RIGHT. THE "SQUIRE BROWN" HOUSE, AUBURN, NEW YORK, PARTLY BUILT BY BRIGHAM YOUNG
OLD BARN IN MENDON, NEW YORK, USED AS MEETINGHOUSE
IN WHICH METHODISTS AND BRIGHAM YOUNG PREACHED HOUSE TO WHICH BRIGHAM YOUNG TOOK HIS WIFE, MIRIAM WORKS (HAYDEN'S MILLS).
DR. AND MRS. JOHN A. WIDTSOE AT PORT BYRON
THE AUTHOR AT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S WELL NEAR PORT BYRON, N.Y.
|
"Brigham Young and the Pioneers." Improvement Era. December 1946. pg. 778.
Brigham Young and the Pioneers
December 1846
"I exhorted the high council to faithfulness in their duties, . . . for it would not do for this people to go into the wilderness and forget their God. Remarked, that if I had been intent on getting riches I never should have had the knowledge God has bestowed upon me, some one else would have stood in my place."—December 13, 1846.
"I have told those who expected to journey with us that they should help the poor whether they belonged to the Church or not; and said, if the Saints would reform and act upon the knowledge revealed to them, floodgates of knowledge would be opened to them and they would be filled with light and intelligence, but if they did not the gates of knowledge were closed against them and would remain so."—December 20, 1846.
President Brigham Young desired the Twelve Apostles, the high council, and the twenty-two bishops at Winter Quarters should each bring a log twenty-five feet long that they might build a council house near his house. —December 13, 1846.
President Brigham Young desired the bishops to report the organizations of their wards, their business, number of men, women, and children, how many sick, tithing paid, etc., with their totals, that their reports could be seen at a glance. There are twenty-two bishops here [Winter Quarters] their reports should all be read in forty-four minutes.— December 15, 1846.
President Young reported that the lower story of the flouring mill was completed, George A. Smith had been putting dirt on the roof of his house, Orson Pratt was studying the polarization of light, Heber C. Kimball had built thirteen cabins with the help of those living with him and had also built about as many more by hired help. —December 19, 1846.
It was thirty minutes past two p.m. when Brigham Young met in council in Elder H. C. Kimball's house with Elders Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, Amasa M. Lyman, George A. Smith, Newel K. Whitney, Peter Haws, Albert P. Rockwood, Ezra T. Benson, Joseph Young, George D. Grant, and they were shortly joined by Elders Wilford Woodruff and P. H. Young.
Brigham Young and the Pioneers
December 1846
"I exhorted the high council to faithfulness in their duties, . . . for it would not do for this people to go into the wilderness and forget their God. Remarked, that if I had been intent on getting riches I never should have had the knowledge God has bestowed upon me, some one else would have stood in my place."—December 13, 1846.
"I have told those who expected to journey with us that they should help the poor whether they belonged to the Church or not; and said, if the Saints would reform and act upon the knowledge revealed to them, floodgates of knowledge would be opened to them and they would be filled with light and intelligence, but if they did not the gates of knowledge were closed against them and would remain so."—December 20, 1846.
President Brigham Young desired the Twelve Apostles, the high council, and the twenty-two bishops at Winter Quarters should each bring a log twenty-five feet long that they might build a council house near his house. —December 13, 1846.
President Brigham Young desired the bishops to report the organizations of their wards, their business, number of men, women, and children, how many sick, tithing paid, etc., with their totals, that their reports could be seen at a glance. There are twenty-two bishops here [Winter Quarters] their reports should all be read in forty-four minutes.— December 15, 1846.
President Young reported that the lower story of the flouring mill was completed, George A. Smith had been putting dirt on the roof of his house, Orson Pratt was studying the polarization of light, Heber C. Kimball had built thirteen cabins with the help of those living with him and had also built about as many more by hired help. —December 19, 1846.
It was thirty minutes past two p.m. when Brigham Young met in council in Elder H. C. Kimball's house with Elders Kimball, Orson Pratt, Willard Richards, Amasa M. Lyman, George A. Smith, Newel K. Whitney, Peter Haws, Albert P. Rockwood, Ezra T. Benson, Joseph Young, George D. Grant, and they were shortly joined by Elders Wilford Woodruff and P. H. Young.
Bruce, Donald M. "A Letter from Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1947. pg. 363, 400.
A Letter from Brigham Young By Donald M. Bruce Brigham Young seemed to possess an amazing faculty for expressing his personal feelings in writing. This is aptly shown in the many excellent articles which he wrote during his period of Church leadership, but even a better example of this faculty is in the many letters he wrote to friends and business associates and which he dictated to a scribe. It is my good fortune to possess a number of letters which he wrote to my great-grandfather, Horace S. Eldredge. Most of these letters were written in the late 1850's and the early 1860's to Grandfather Eldredge while he was in the Eastern States on Church business. Perhaps one of the more startling facts about these letters, is that each one, as well as containing an object lesson, contains a wealth of cheerfulness and humor. The ability to include all these things in his writings, makes these letters very interesting reading even to a layman who has no knowledge of the background of the Church. To anyone knowing the history of the territory of Utah and the struggle of the Saints in those early years, these letters hold a "gold mine" of information and interesting data. Many of Horace S. Eldredge's trips to the East were made under the direction of Brigham Young, carrying bills of lading and orders to fill in the East for the benefit of the Saints in Utah. During these many trips, he acted as general Church agent, and as such was in charge of many companies of converts that made their way across the plains to their land of Zion. It was on one of these treks that a company he directed, consisting of seventy-two wagons and other outfits, made the trip in seventy-two days. This is considered to be the fastest time ever made by a company of that size. The letter reproduced in part here, was written to Elder Eldredge in St. Louis on October 20, 1858. This was his second trip to the states that year. It was during the time when the United States troops were occupying some of the com munities of the Saints. This letter was written on blue paper, with a heavy weave, and evidently a good linen content. The ink is still dark and is very well preserved considering the letter is almost ninety years old. It is interesting to note that in this letter Brigham Young deals very much with his desire to have the territory of Utah become a part of the Union. The fact that he mentions the power of the press to bring unfavorable comment against the Saints, and his attempts to turn the power of the newspapers to our favor, through the writings of Brother George Q. Cannon, show how farsighted this great leader was. His relating of the slaying of a brother in the line of his duty as a policeman, and his outcry against the unfair persecution of the brethren, is typical of his letters. Perhaps strikingly outstanding in this letter is the statement, "How long must we submit to having our best citizens shot down with impunity? This is the civilization, the Christianity that our enemies would fasten upon us." This is a typical letter of Brigham Young's during the trying and stormy days of the early settlements in Utah. It is reproduced in part, as it was written in 1858. G. S. L. City, U.T. Octr 20th, 1858 Horace S. Eldredge, Esqr. St. Louis Dear Brother: We have received advices from Liverpool from which we learn that our St. Louis indebtedness is liquidated, and a fair prospect for additional assistance if you shall need. We consider, therefore, that prospects justify the expectation that you will be able to fill all our bills. As you are aware, it is exceedingly desirable for us to gain your admission into the Union, let all our friends put their faith and efforts together so far as they can consistently to promote this object. Encourage the Brethren to immigrate, and if they cannot come entirely through, come up as far as Florence and Genoa. We contemplate reestablishing our settlement at Deer Creek, and have written to Joseph E. Johnson to gather up a company and to come to this point with his Printing Press, and establish a paper. . . . Our Brother Wm. Cook, late from Australia where he had been on a mission, and whose wife is a teacher of Music, Actress, Gc, was lately shot while in the discharge of his duty as a policeman, by a Camp follower who is believed to have made his escape. Brother Cook died of his wound about a week after, and was buried yesterday the 19th inst. He was a very quiet, inoffensive man and was killed without having given the least provocation. How long must we submit to having our best citizens shot down with impunity? This is the civilization, the Christianity that our enemies would fasten upon us. . . . May God bless you and sustain you and all Israel, and help them triumph over all their enemies. I remain as ever your friend and brother in the gospel of Christ. Brigham Young |
Horace S. Eldredge
A letter from Brigham Young, written by a scribe
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Berrett, William E. "To Brigham Young--A Tribute." Improvement Era. June 1947. pg. 381.
To Brigham Young—A Tribute By WILLIAM E. BERRETT Assistant United States Attorney, Fairbanks, Alaska Brigham Young is dead, many people say, but those who say this have never known him or experienced the wisdom of his counsel; they have denied themselves the reading of his sermons and the warmth of his spirit; they have never gazed upon the great city he founded or felt his presence in the unique house that so long was his home or read the epitaph upon his grave. I want to thank him for the moral strength he has given me in times of crisis and the example he has been to me in right living. I write not alone for myself but give voice to those of my kindred, who, in following Brigham Young, lost their lives upon the great American plains; for those of my kindred who, surviving that journey, battled for existence under his leadership in the valleys of the mountains; and I write also for their numerous progeny who now find happiness and plenty in those same valleys. In the memoirs of. the living and the dead of my kinfolk I find a steadfast devotion to Brigham Young befitting a worthy servant of the Most High. Strange how well I know him! Even in this distant land of Alaska I have almost as clear an image of his face as of that of my own father, and I have a far better knowledge of his thoughts and feelings than I have of most of my contemporaries. I know him, and the knowing is good. I have stood on the site of the old Nauvoo Temple, overlooking the remains of a city once dear to him, and have relived the rich experiences and trying scenes enacted there. I have traveled with mighty speed the great plains he traversed; while my body reclined in the comfort of modern conveyances, my mind was with him in a covered wagon, moving with slow laboriousness over the muddy prairie and dusty plains. I wept silent tears while the dead were buried at Winter Quarters and shivered in the sod huts under the cold blasts of a plains winter. I shall never forget the kindliness and patience and counsel of Brigham Young during that first year upon the plains. They are chronicled in scores of journals and seep between the dry ink and crackling paper like a flood. His steadfast devotion and faith was like a banner. No wonder his followers found the courage to sing And should we die before our journey's through, Happy day! all is well. As a child I played upon the little knoll where Brother Wilford Woodruff stopped his wagon that Brigham Young might view the valley of the Great Salt Lake. I have returned to that spot time and again, and in the chirping of crickets, the buzzing of bees, and the rustling of sego lilies, caught again the vision in your imperishable christening of a great land, "This is the place." These words, even as I write them here, bring a tingle to my spine and renew the longing in my heart to return to Salt Lake valley. And I shall return. The timely celebration marking the one hundredth anniversary of that imperishable moment will find me again upon that tiny knoll paying my small homage to the memory of Brigham Young. Could he but be there upon that occasion, his great heart would fill with pride in the accomplishments of this people and the realization of his own vision. One hundred years! What a short time that is!—the cooling hour in the morning of one of the Lord's days! But what a change has been wrought in Western America: valleys carpeted with green fields and studded with bright dwellings; cities out-sparkling the stars at night; horseless vehicles speeding over broad highways; sky-monsters mocking time and space and the laws of gravity! Brigham Young entered these valleys naked of material wealth — with a people seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and, as the Master foretold, "all these things" have been added. Yes, there are false pride here and love of money and a striving for social prominence and political influence. The battle for the souls of men was not won even by Brigham Young, but, while he lived, the enemy wavered and fell back, and good men breathed more freely. The spirit he engendered and the ground he gained have not been lost. He would love the membership of the Church today as he loved them in his own time. He would find the same weaknesses of the flesh, but he would glory in their spirit of giving, their tithes and offerings, their voluntary services, and their missionary spirit. In a world of temptation and turmoil he would find ten staunch men where but one stood before and he would be satisfied! In every gathering of this people in this centennial year we feel his spirit. It is in the clasp of friendly hands, in the smiles on friendly faces, and echoes in the warmth of children's voices. In this day we have no sensation of having lost Brigham Young; we glory only in having found him. He has been good company for me these many years. I want my sons, and my sons' sons to know him as I have known him. For them and for generations yet unborn I offer my thanks and heartfelt appreciation. |
BRIGHAM YOUNG June 1, 1801 -August 29, 1877
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Stoker, William E. "The Prophet Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. June 1947. pg. 363-366, 431.
The Prophet Brigham Young Elder William E. Stoker Bishop, South Twentieth Ward, Ensign Stake [This article was written by special request in honor of the birthday of Brigham Young who was born June 1, 1801, in Wittingham, Windham County, Vermont.—Ed.] MILLIONS readily acclaim Brigham Young the greatest pioneer of the nineteenth century. William H. Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State, said, "America never produced a greater man/' Some of his critics have said, "Without him Mormonism would have failed/' But few have seen, behind the man, the power of God which made him great. Just as "Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him," Brigham was full of wisdom, for Joseph had conferred upon him the keys of the kingdom through the Priesthood of God. Viewing his accomplishments in these valleys, he said, "It is the Lord who has done this. It is not any man or set of men, only as we are guided by the spirit of truth." Fully aware of the powers of the Priesthood he held, he did not hesitate to speak in the name of the Lord, when occasion required. At the death of Joseph Smith, their leader, a spirit of uncertainty was upon the saints. Various men tried to assume the Church leadership. Prominent among them was Sidney Rigdon, who claimed the right to be guardian of the Church. On August 8, 1844, thousands of the saints gathered at Nauvoo to hear Sidney Rigdon present his claims, but they were unimpressed. Then Brigham Young, as President of the Twelve Apostles, stood up in the wagon, which was being used as a pulpit, and prefacing his remarks with, "Attention All," he proceeded to remind that vast congregation that Joseph had conferred upon the apostles, with Brigham at their head, all of the keys and powers which he, Joseph, had received of the Lord. George Q. Cannon, a witness of this meeting, said: If Joseph had risen from the dead, and again spoken in their hearing, the effect could not have been more startling than it was to the many present at that meeting; it was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as though it was the very person of Joseph which stood before them. The mantle of Joseph had fallen upon Brigham. A sure testimony had been given the people, and from that day forward he was accepted as their leader without reservations. They had heard the voice of the shepherd, and they knew it. The spirit and the power of Brigham Young's calling were already upon him that day in August 1844, when he said: All that want to draw away a party from the Church after them, let them do it if they can, but they will not prosper .... If any man thinks he has influence among this people to lead away a party, let him try it, and he will find that there is power with the Apostles which will carry them off victorious through all the world. JOSEPH had predicted that the saints would go to the Rocky Mountains and become a mighty people, and he had visioned another leader bringing them to the valleys. The Lord had prepared a modern Moses, Brigham Young, for this task. He was sometimes called "the fulfiller." The man for this great undertaking must, of necessity, have been a great spiritual leader, for the saints would have followed no other. Under pressure of the mob, the exodus from Nauvoo, across the Mississippi river, began February 4, 1846. The saints were westward bound, with the few earthly possessions which they could take with them. Their condition was pitiable. They had appealed in vain for governmental protection. June 1846 found them camped on the Indian lands of Towa, poor and in dire want. The United States was at war with Mexico, and Captain James Allen was dispatched to overtake the Mormons and recruit a battalion of 500 able-bodied men from their ranks. This was a test of loyalty seldom asked of any people. But, on the advice of Brigham Young, they were mustered in, and leaving their families, they began the longest and most difficult infantry march in the history of our land. To them Brigham Young said: Now I would like you brethren to enlist and go and serve your country, and if you will do this and live your religion, I promise you in the name of Israel's God that not a man of you will fall in battle. He further promised them, on the same condition, that they would not be required to fight. And so it was. Samuel Brannon, who had brought 235 saints from England around Cape Horn to California on the ship Brooklyn, met the pioneer companies on Green River, June 30, 1847, hoping to persuade Brigham to forsake his intention of settling in the barren desert and to come with him to the paradise he had found in California. Brannan predicted that the saints could not possibly live in Salt Lake Valley because the mountaineers had said that there was frost every month in the year. Brigham replied: If there is any place so poor no one else wants it, that is the place for us. Brannon, unable to persuade his leader, returned to his California paradise, left the Church, became wealthy, and later lost his wealth and was buried in San Diego as a pauper. July 24, 1847, when the main body of the first pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young, ill with mountain fever, was assisted so that he could look over the valley from the site of the 'This Is the Place" monument. After gazing intently for a few moments, he exclaimed: "It is enough, this is the right place, drive on." How did he know? Because previously, in vision, he had seen this valley, with a tent settling down from heaven and resting, and a voice said to him: "Here is the place where my people shall pitch their tents." He told the brethren who preceded him into the valley that they were to bear to the north after entering, that they would find a stream near which they should camp; they were to begin plowing and planting, and if the ground was hard and sterile, as reported, they should throw up a dam and let the water soak up the land before planting. Thus was started the first irrigation by the Anglo-Saxon people. Irrigation has since proved to be the key which has unlocked the hidden wealth of the soil in the entire intermountain territory. SALT Lake Valley was regarded by trappers as a "country God forgot.” Few, if any, believed the saints could live here. Speaking of her first view of Salt Lake Valley, Clara Decker Young said: When my husband said, "This is the place," I cried, for it seemed to me the most desolate place in all the world. But Brigham never wavered in his faith that, under the blessings of God, the saints could live and prosper in the valleys of the mountains and raise anything that would grow elsewhere in a similar latitude. July 28, 1847, Brigham Young pointed out the spot where the Salt Lake Temple was to be built. This temple required forty years of hard labor in its construction, and was built in the poverty of the people. In 1853, at the dedication of one of the cornerstones, Brigham said he had seen the Temple in vision not ten feet from where he then stood. Further he said: I have not inquired what kind of a Temple we should build. Why? Because it was represented before me. I see it as plainly as if it was in reality before me. After the cricket war and near famine, there came the cry of gold from California. This was a great test of the faith of the saints, because of their poverty. In 1848, Brigham wrote, "My greatest fear about this people is that they will get rich and forget God. Some few have caught the gold fever." He counseled them to remain in their comfortable homes and raise grain. Said he: You will do better right here than you will by going to the gold mines .... I promise you in the name of the Lord that many of you that go thinking you will get rich, .... will wish you had never gone away from here, and will long to come back, but will not be able to do so. Some of you will come back, but your friends who remain will have to help you .... Here is the place God has appointed for His people. Some could not be persuaded to remain. The lure of gold took them away from the Church and many of them never returned. Fifty years later, the writer, as a boy, filled a mission in California and met some of these men and their families. They didn't even have the gold. One old man dropped on his knees as we were holding a street meeting in San Diego and said: I haven't heard those hymns of Zion for fifty years. I am out of the Church, and I would crawl on my hands and knees to Utah if only I could get back where I stood with the Lord before I left the saints. Truly, Brigham Young was a great pioneer, but he was much more than that. He was a prophet of the living God to his generation. An apostate later wrote of him: He had the power to center in himself a thousand interests and a thousand hearts. No one could hear him pray and doubt his sincerity. He invited his followers to test his teachings at the Throne of Grace, saying: Every man has the right of receiving revelation for himself. It is the very life of the Church. When the saints have done all they can, the Lord will do the rest. One of his greatest gifts was perhaps that of discernment—the power to choose the right men for special assignments. As he sent these men out from headquarters to settle the valleys close by and afar off, he blessed them by the power of the Priesthood he held. He set them apart for the tasks before them, always promising them, in the name of the Lord, success in their labors on condition of obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. An outstanding example of such promises was the case of Jacob Hamblin, whom he called to labor among the Indians during their early uprisings. Jacob's life frequently hung in the balance, and at times his death at the hands of hostile Indians seemed certain. But, always, his faith was unwavering in the promise of Brigham to him: "If you never shed the blood of a Lamanite, no Lamanite will ever shed your blood" —a promise, in the name of the Lord, to a humble pioneer who never doubted the power or authority of the giver. The saints accepted Brigham Young as God’s mouthpiece to them, and he never failed them. Securely, upon the rock of revelation, he laid the foundations upon which we must build if we would honor our forebears, the pioneers of these valleys. |
The Prophet Brigham Young
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Lundstrom, Harold. "Brigham Young, Nobleman." Improvement Era. July 1947. pg. 440.
Brigham Young, Nobleman
Because the highest use of human memory is to make nobility immortal, anniversaries like the Centennial of Brigham Young's entrance into the valley of the Great Salt Lake are kept. Neither exalted office nor the popular acclaim of his descendants made Brigham Young a nobleman; that came from the native talents of the man himself. A skilled painter and glazier, he was nonetheless an aristocrat; poor stock never yet produced a thoroughbred. He sought fulfilment of his destiny by creative doing—he had purpose. Nobly he aspired to keep untainted his profound convictions; nobly he sought to leave the world better than he found it; nobly he carried high the torch for peace and brotherhood—and nobly must we continue the work of this nobleman, our Brigham Young! — H.L.
Brigham Young, Nobleman
Because the highest use of human memory is to make nobility immortal, anniversaries like the Centennial of Brigham Young's entrance into the valley of the Great Salt Lake are kept. Neither exalted office nor the popular acclaim of his descendants made Brigham Young a nobleman; that came from the native talents of the man himself. A skilled painter and glazier, he was nonetheless an aristocrat; poor stock never yet produced a thoroughbred. He sought fulfilment of his destiny by creative doing—he had purpose. Nobly he aspired to keep untainted his profound convictions; nobly he sought to leave the world better than he found it; nobly he carried high the torch for peace and brotherhood—and nobly must we continue the work of this nobleman, our Brigham Young! — H.L.
Clayton, Lois. "Brigham Young." Instructor. July 1947. pg. 300-301, 347.
Brigham Young
We are honoring on our cover this month one of the colorful characters of American history — Brigham Young, outstanding as a colonizer and spiritual leader. The picture portrays him in his younger years, before the westward exodus, and our sketch of him will attempt to show only a little of his background and early leadership.
His forebears for several generations were Massachusetts Puritans, and only shortly before his birth had his parents moved from Massachusetts to the little town of "Whittingham, Vermont. Here Brigham was born on June 1, 1801, the ninth of eleven children. For three years the Young family stayed in Vermont; then moved to New York state to try farming there. His boyhood was spent in helping clear and cultivate the farm, and his only schooling came through his parents. His mother taught him reading and from his stern father he learned the teachings of the Bible.
At fourteen, soon after his mother's death, he was apprenticed out to learn carpentry, painting and glazing. He took to this trade readily and was able to go into business for himself at sixteen. He married Miss Miriam Works in 1824 in Cayuga County and they remained there until the spring of 1829 when they moved to Mendon, Monroe County, where his father and several others of the family were living.
Although his parents were quite religious and regularly attended the Methodist Church, Brigham in his youth was not a church member and did not manifest serious interest in religion until he was about twenty-two. For several years the priests had been urging him to affiliate with one of the churches, so after some thought about it he joined the Methodists.
His first introduction to the Book of Mormon came in 1830 through his brother Phineas. Samuel H. Smith, a brother of the Prophet and one of the Eight Witnesses to the book, had given a copy to Phineas, who read it through and passed it on to others of his family. Several of them became convinced of its truth. When in the fall of the following year some elders came preaching "Mormonism," Brigham was further strengthened in his belief and determined to learn more of it, so in January of 1 8 3 2 he went with his brother Phineas and Heber C. Kimball to visit a branch of the Church in Pennsylvania. After a week with the members there they returned more than ever convinced of its truth.
In the following April he was baptized, after nearly two years of serious study and prayer. About three weeks later his invalid wife was baptized. Her earthly membership did not last long, for in September she died of consumption, leaving him with two young daughters. They were taken into the home of his beloved friend Heber C. Kimball, and there stayed until he remarried about two years later in Kirtland.
For several years following his baptism he took no prominent place in the Church, his time being spent in preaching and earning a livelihood for his family, but his reputation as a loyal follower of the Prophet Joseph Smith soon became established. He participated in the Zion's Camp march, which was organized to aid the persecuted Saints in Missouri. Later he was active in superintending the painting and finishing of the temple at Kirtland.
When the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized in February of 1835 Brigham Young was chosen as one of them, being third in seniority. David W. Patten's death at the hands of mobocrats in Missouri and the apostasy of Thomas B. Marsh brought him to the head of the quorum and his ability as a leader began to manifest itself. His was the task of leading the exodus of the homeless and suffering Saints out of Missouri into Illinois, and his was the responsibility of directing the mission of the apostles to England in 1840 and '41. After his return from this mission, much of his time was spent in building up Nauvoo and participating in its government.
The shocking news of the Prophet's martyrdom in 1844 reached Brigham Young while he was on a mission to the eastern states. He hastily returned to Nauvoo, arriving there in time to take part in the special meeting called to settle publicly the leadership of the Church. Sidney Rigdon, who had been a counselor to the Prophet, made some claims to the right of "guardian" to the Church, but was rejected by the people. What happened when Brigham Young arose to address the congregation is best told in the words of George Q. Cannon, who was present: "It was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as if it were the very person of Joseph which stood before them." President Young then called for a vote sustaining the Twelve Apostles as the leaders of the Church. It was carried almost unanimously and the Church was enabled to continue progressing. Thus the death of Joseph Smith did not bring about the disintegration of "Mormonism" that his enemies had hoped for.
A short period of peace followed in which President Young continued building Nauvoo and working on the temple. But mob violence again disrupted their activity and he strove to obtain justice for his people, even while he knew they must eventually move to a haven in "the tops of the mountains."
Groups began fleeing from Nauvoo in 1845. President Young left in early 1846, locating the Saints temporarily on the Missouri River before the general exodus to the Rockies. Here was a test of strength for any leader—thousands of homeless people with inadequate provisions looking to him for leadership. But they did endure through the winter, though with much suffering, and in the spring of '47 preparations were made for an advance party to open a road to the west and begin the colonization.
The historic trek began on April 14. For 102 days Brigham Young led his band of 143 men, three children across and through women and two plains, over rivers mountains to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. On July 24 he gazed over the valley from the mouth of Emigration canyon. He knew this was the land where the Saints could build their churches and temples and become "a mighty people." What thanksgiving he must have felt when he could rise from his sickbed in Wilford Woodruff's carriage to say "This is the place." —Lois Clayton
Brigham Young
We are honoring on our cover this month one of the colorful characters of American history — Brigham Young, outstanding as a colonizer and spiritual leader. The picture portrays him in his younger years, before the westward exodus, and our sketch of him will attempt to show only a little of his background and early leadership.
His forebears for several generations were Massachusetts Puritans, and only shortly before his birth had his parents moved from Massachusetts to the little town of "Whittingham, Vermont. Here Brigham was born on June 1, 1801, the ninth of eleven children. For three years the Young family stayed in Vermont; then moved to New York state to try farming there. His boyhood was spent in helping clear and cultivate the farm, and his only schooling came through his parents. His mother taught him reading and from his stern father he learned the teachings of the Bible.
At fourteen, soon after his mother's death, he was apprenticed out to learn carpentry, painting and glazing. He took to this trade readily and was able to go into business for himself at sixteen. He married Miss Miriam Works in 1824 in Cayuga County and they remained there until the spring of 1829 when they moved to Mendon, Monroe County, where his father and several others of the family were living.
Although his parents were quite religious and regularly attended the Methodist Church, Brigham in his youth was not a church member and did not manifest serious interest in religion until he was about twenty-two. For several years the priests had been urging him to affiliate with one of the churches, so after some thought about it he joined the Methodists.
His first introduction to the Book of Mormon came in 1830 through his brother Phineas. Samuel H. Smith, a brother of the Prophet and one of the Eight Witnesses to the book, had given a copy to Phineas, who read it through and passed it on to others of his family. Several of them became convinced of its truth. When in the fall of the following year some elders came preaching "Mormonism," Brigham was further strengthened in his belief and determined to learn more of it, so in January of 1 8 3 2 he went with his brother Phineas and Heber C. Kimball to visit a branch of the Church in Pennsylvania. After a week with the members there they returned more than ever convinced of its truth.
In the following April he was baptized, after nearly two years of serious study and prayer. About three weeks later his invalid wife was baptized. Her earthly membership did not last long, for in September she died of consumption, leaving him with two young daughters. They were taken into the home of his beloved friend Heber C. Kimball, and there stayed until he remarried about two years later in Kirtland.
For several years following his baptism he took no prominent place in the Church, his time being spent in preaching and earning a livelihood for his family, but his reputation as a loyal follower of the Prophet Joseph Smith soon became established. He participated in the Zion's Camp march, which was organized to aid the persecuted Saints in Missouri. Later he was active in superintending the painting and finishing of the temple at Kirtland.
When the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized in February of 1835 Brigham Young was chosen as one of them, being third in seniority. David W. Patten's death at the hands of mobocrats in Missouri and the apostasy of Thomas B. Marsh brought him to the head of the quorum and his ability as a leader began to manifest itself. His was the task of leading the exodus of the homeless and suffering Saints out of Missouri into Illinois, and his was the responsibility of directing the mission of the apostles to England in 1840 and '41. After his return from this mission, much of his time was spent in building up Nauvoo and participating in its government.
The shocking news of the Prophet's martyrdom in 1844 reached Brigham Young while he was on a mission to the eastern states. He hastily returned to Nauvoo, arriving there in time to take part in the special meeting called to settle publicly the leadership of the Church. Sidney Rigdon, who had been a counselor to the Prophet, made some claims to the right of "guardian" to the Church, but was rejected by the people. What happened when Brigham Young arose to address the congregation is best told in the words of George Q. Cannon, who was present: "It was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as if it were the very person of Joseph which stood before them." President Young then called for a vote sustaining the Twelve Apostles as the leaders of the Church. It was carried almost unanimously and the Church was enabled to continue progressing. Thus the death of Joseph Smith did not bring about the disintegration of "Mormonism" that his enemies had hoped for.
A short period of peace followed in which President Young continued building Nauvoo and working on the temple. But mob violence again disrupted their activity and he strove to obtain justice for his people, even while he knew they must eventually move to a haven in "the tops of the mountains."
Groups began fleeing from Nauvoo in 1845. President Young left in early 1846, locating the Saints temporarily on the Missouri River before the general exodus to the Rockies. Here was a test of strength for any leader—thousands of homeless people with inadequate provisions looking to him for leadership. But they did endure through the winter, though with much suffering, and in the spring of '47 preparations were made for an advance party to open a road to the west and begin the colonization.
The historic trek began on April 14. For 102 days Brigham Young led his band of 143 men, three children across and through women and two plains, over rivers mountains to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. On July 24 he gazed over the valley from the mouth of Emigration canyon. He knew this was the land where the Saints could build their churches and temples and become "a mighty people." What thanksgiving he must have felt when he could rise from his sickbed in Wilford Woodruff's carriage to say "This is the place." —Lois Clayton
Josephson, Marba C. "Brigham Young Honored." Improvement Era. June 1950. pg. 485, 494.
Brigham Young Honored By Marba C. Josephson Associate Managing Editor Brigham Young, whose indomitable courage brought his driven people to refuge in a barren waste, has been given the honor of placement in the Capitol Building in Washington, D. C, with a statue carved from Italian marble by Mahonri Young, a grandson. When the matter of a statue for Utah was raised in the state legislature, there was complete agreement as to the man who should be so honored: Brigham Young was the unanimous selection. Each state is entitled to have two statues in Statuary Hall, but this is the first to be placed there for Utah. To date there are thirty-nine statues in Statuary Hall. The program will be presented in the rotunda of the Capitol, but the final placement will be under the dome in the hall, in the southeast corner, facing west. It will stand beside the statue of another Vermonter, Ethan Allen. The Brigham Young Statue Commission was authorized by a joint resolution of the Utah Senate and the House of Representatives, February 27, 1945, under Governor Herbert B. Maw. The commission consisted of seven members with Senator Mrs. E. E. Ericksen as executive chairman. Under Governor J. Bracken Lee, Mrs. Ericksen has continued her work as executive secretary to the commission. The commissions have worked diligently to make the statue a reality, calling into consultation members of the Young family, members of the Church, and representative people throughout the state. The sculptor, Mahonri Young, grandson of Brigham Young, was selected; the plaster model approved; and the final marble statue agreed upon. Mahonri Young went to Italy to select the marble and execute the statue. The program for the presentation of the statue will be June 1, 1950. President George Albert Smith will dedicate the statue, after its unveiling by Mabel Young Sanborn, only surviving child of Brigham Young. Vice-president Alben W. Barkley will also address the assemblage. L.D.S. choruses from New York, Washington, D.C., and Virginia will participate in the program, as will the United States Marine band. On Sunday, May 28, 1950, a monument to Brigham Young will be dedicated at Whitingham Center, Vermont, his birthplace. This monument is being erected by the Sons of the Utah Pioneers, the Church, and descendants of Brigham Young. BRIGHAM YOUNG By Gene Romolo No craven spirit his nor callous heart! Largess of humane love and sympathy, He freely gave as he performed the part Ordained for him, to bless futurity. His vision reached beyond the West's frontiers; He saw unbroken trails that man would tread As he pursued progression through the years; He saw earth's people starving, and he said, "Let gold remain unmined and harvest wheat, And let it in stout granaries be stored, That now and in the future man may eat." Through him thus spoke the wisdom of the Lord. Prophet, pioneer, statesman, friend of man Was he whom God inspired and taught to plan. The design finally decided upon for the monument was one submitted by five architect grandsons of Brigham Young: Don C. Young, Jr., Lorenzo S. Young, George Cannon Young, Georgius Y. Cannon, and Edward P. Young. It is a fluted column of Vermont granite which reaches thirteen feet high and which bears the inscription: Brigham Young, Church Leader, Pioneer, Statesman. Born in Town of Whitingham, June 1, 1801. Led Mormon Pioneers from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Rocky Mountains, reaching the valley of Great Salt Lake, July 24, 1847. Became second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, December 27, 1847. Died at Salt Lake City, Utah, August 29, 1877. His statue occupies a place in Statuary Hall, National Capital, Washington, D. C. This monument erected by Descendants of Brigham Young in cooperation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Smith will participate at these services also, as will Dr. John A. Widtsoe of the Council of the Twelve and John D. Giles of The Improvement Era staff. |
Brigham Young Statue by Mahonri Young to be placed in Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C., June 1, 1950.
Brigham Young Monument at Whitingham Center, Vermont, dedicated May 28, 7950.
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Young, Levi Edgar. "Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. June 1950. pg. 364-372.
Brigham Young President Levi Edgar Young Of the First Council of Seventy NO man ever stretched forth his hands to mankind with a purer gesture; no man ever tried to make people happier than did Brigham Young. His life was one of conflict with his fellow men, for he was compelled to suffer the injustices of men who did not appreciate his ideals of religion and life. His comprehension of the feelings of children and youth gave him an appreciation of their hidden powers which naturally made them love the right. His sense of responsibility and love of duty made him kind. Yet he was a power and gave expressions of justice and the right with words not to be misunderstood. A hard worker and organizer, he led his people as a true leader, for people felt the power of his courage and rare intelligence. The Priesthood of God gave men power, and he awakened that power to activity and ideals for the establishing of faith in God and a rare patriotism which made for the kingdom of the hereafter. Brigham Young may be seen from many viewpoints. Born in a New England cabin in the State of Vermont, June 1, 1801, he knew from the beginning the meaning of pioneer life. When he became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ over which he was destined to preside, he first went forth as a humble missionary. Poor in purse, but rich in spirit, he acquired a knowledge and understanding of people's hearts. He saw men cut down the sturdy oaks of the forests and build cabins for their homes. He knew the hardships of the clearing of the land for corn and wheat fields, and he developed that quick and accurate observation vouchsafed to few men. Large in purpose was the march of the Mormon pioneers to the West under Brigham Young's leadership, for it resulted in the creation of a commonwealth which takes its place industrially, socially, and intellectually among the foremost states of the Union. The winter of 1845-46 was a sorrowful time for the Mormons in Nauvoo. Forced out of their city, they crossed as an organized company the ice bound Mississippi River, and camped on the frozen grounds of Iowa. Nine little babies were born in one night in the snow-beleaguered camps. Men, women, and children had been forced into the wilderness; and anxious, alert, hungry, and weary, they followed their leader and were unafraid. There were no roads, and day by day they were compelled to ford dangerous streams, and to struggle through the mire of the days of melting snows. Into the silent new country beyond the Mississippi they marched on and on, knowing always that in the depths of the western wilds, Indians lurked to beset their paths, But the mists of distance were mellow and golden, and soon the winds of spring blew fresh and fair. In the long march to the country beyond the Rocky Mountains, they realized that the boundaries of spiritual life were broadening; the physical frontier was becoming more flexible and vibrating. They had large problems to solve, and they knew that they could only be solved by open-minded constructive thought. They did not think of themselves alone, but of future generations. As we look back to those days, someone must have carried the chalice; someone must have borne the message of Christ our Lord. Those pioneers believed and proved by their work that art, knowledge, and religion are the unifying powers of life. Yet in the history of human achievement, progress comes as a result of the hands of toil. After their long trek over the plains, the pioneers drank of the waters of the mountain streams and heard the voice of their leader declare that 'This Is the Place," and they realized that the problems of material existence and life must first be solved. They plowed on the first days, they planted their gardens; they turned the waters of the streams upon the land, and dedicated their work to God. The sagebrush waste and Indian wickiup gave way to the things that make for civilization and the larger life. Joseph Conrad, in his novel entitled Lord Jim, has written these words concerning the people who go out into the wilderness to build their homes : To us their less-tried successors, they appear not as agents of trade, but as instruments of a recorded destiny; pushing out into the unknown in obedience to an inward voice, to an impulse beating in the blood, to a dream of the future. Into whatever climes the pioneers went, they were forced to conquer the soil, to dig ditches and canals, to fight the pests, to endure the cold of winter. They sang at their work, for they loved the soil. The blessing of God was over all the land. The sunlight gave forth life; streams and mountains became filled with the power of a new day. The desert was flooded with light; and happiness was in their homes, though they were at first but sagebrush huts and log cabins. WHILE in camp at Winter Quarters, President Young was visited by Indian chiefs who solicited help from him and his people. On this matter Brigham Young wrote to the President of the United States in behalf of his people : NEAR COUNCIL BLUFFS, BUTLER'S PARK Omaha Nation, Sept. 7, 1846 Sir: Since our communication of the 9th ult. to Your Excellency, the Omaha Indians have returned from their summer hunt, and we have had an interview in general council with their chiefs and braves, who express a willingness that we should tarry on their lands, and use what wood and timber would be necessary for our convenience, while we were preparing to prosecute our journey, as may be seen from a duplicate of theirs to us of the 31st of August, which will be presented by Col. Kane. In council they were much more specific than in their writings, and Big Elk, in behalf of his nation, requested us to lend them teams to draw their corn at harvest, and help keep it after it was deposited, to assist them in building houses, making fields, doing some blacksmithing, etc., and to teach some of their young men to do the same, and also keep some goods and trade them while we tarried among them. We responded to all their wishes in the same spirit of kindness manifested by them, and told them we would do them all the good we could, with the same proviso they made, if the President was willing; and this is why we write. Should Your Excellency consider the request of the Indians for instruction, etc., reasonable, and signify the same to us, we will give them all the information in mechanism and farming the nature of the case will admit, which will give us the opportunity of getting the assistance of their men to help us herd and labor, which we have much needed since the organization of the battalion. A license, giving us permission to trade with the Indians while we are tarrying on or passing through their lands, made out in the name of Newel K. Whitney, our agent in camp, would be a favor to our people and our red neighbors. All of which is submitted to Your Excellency's consideration and the confidence of Col. Kane. Done in behalf of the council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the time and place before mentioned, and Camp of Israel. Most respectfully, BRIGHAM YOUNG, President. WILLARD RICHARDS, Clerk To James K. Polk, President U. S. Brigham Young knew that he had settled on the lands that were claimed by the Indians. Justice must be done them. Among his friends from the first was Chief Washakie, who, with a considerable following, arrived in Salt Lake, August 6, 1847. With five of his warriors he called upon Governor Young and expressed a desire to trade with the Mormons, and to conclude a peace with the Ute Indian chief, Walker. Beautifully is the meeting of September 3d described by the historian, Dr. Grace Hibbard: Each chief brought with him about fifty of his warriors, and when Governor Young asked Walker and Washakie if they wished to make peace and to be friends with each other, the answer from both chiefs was, "Yes," whereupon Young requested each warrior who was of the same mind to rise and hold up his right hand. The vote was unanimous. He told them that they must never fight each other again, but must live in peace so that they could travel in each other's company and trade with each other. The pipe of peace was then produced and offered to the Great Spirit. Every one of the Indians smoked in token of lasting friendship. The colonists were constantly admonished by President Young to try to understand the Indians and to deal with them honestly and righteously. He made a remarkable statement, concerning the Indians, in 1856, when he said: Let the millions of acres of land now lying waste be given to the Indians for cultivation and use. Let the poor Indians be taught the arts of civilization, and to draw their sustenance from the ample and sure resources of mother earth, and to follow the peaceful avocations of the tiller of the soil, raising grain and stock for subsistence, instead of pursuing the uncertain chances of war and game for a livelihood. ONE of the first laws of Utah Territory established and provided for a uniform system of schools supported by public taxation. Every county was divided into school districts which were the ecclesiastical and political units of the government. Towns were far apart and communication was difficult, but with the laying out of towns and settlements, a school and meeting house were the first public buildings to be constructed. Schools were thriving in 1850. The Deseret News has this to say in its issue of November 27, 1850: Common schools were beginning in all parts of the city for the winter; and plans for the construction of school houses in every ward were being made, with a view for a general system of school houses throughout the city. One plan had already been submitted, which comprised three large school rooms, a large hall for lecturing, a private study, reading room and library. A parent or High School began on the nth of November; terms, thirty shillings per quarter, under the direction of Chancellor Spencer. It is expected that teachers generally will have access to this school, and through them a system of uniformity will be established for conducting schools throughout the valleys. Elder Woodruff has arrived with nearly two tons of school books. Donations from the states are already arriving in the shape of scientific instruments, and other apparatus for the benefit of the University; also valuable books for the library. Mr. W. I. Appleby is the librarian. In 1852, Robert L. Campbell, the secretary of the Board of Regents of the University of Deseret, said: We are happy to report that many select schools are in successful operation combining the languages and the higher branches of education generally. The founding of the University of Utah was contemporary with the founding of the State. After the harvest of 1848, in which year the gulls saved the crops, the pioneers began to plan for the building of a higher institution of learning, where the 'Vising generation" might partake of the influences conducive to ''good citizenship.'' The people were over a thousand miles from the borders of civilization, and though they were just beginning to build their homes in the very heart of the Great Basin, and were without money, they opened in a very humble manner the first university west of the Missouri River. Soon after the organization of the provisional government of the State of Deseret, Governor Brigham Young signed an act, passed by the first legislative assembly, incorporating the University of the State of Deseret. This ordinance was approved February 28, 1850. The same legislative assembly that created the charter elected Orson Spencer, chancellor, and the following men as regents: Daniel Spencer, Orson Pratt, John M. Bernhisel, Samuel W. Richards, W. W. Phelps, Albert Carrington, William I. Appleby, Daniel H. Wells, Robert L. Campbell, Hosea Stout, Elias Smith, and Zerubbabel Snow. THE University of Utah, or the ''parent school," was opened in the home of John Pack in the Seventeenth Ward of Salt Lake City, November 11, 1850. The Deseret News of November 16th says : The Parent School commenced on Monday at the home of Mrs. Pack in the Seventeenth Ward under the direction and supervision of Professor Orson Spencer. The Board of Regents has employed Dr. Cyrus W. Collins, M. A., for President, who will teach all branches taught in the High School. The prospects are favorable for a rapid advance in the sciences. In the same issue, the News announced the arrival of school books into the valley, which were brought by Wilford Woodruff. The Pack house was located on the corner of West Temple and First North, immediately east of the present Seventeenth Ward chapel. Sessions of the school were held in the parlor, and immediately across the hall was located the first store in Utah, where gold dust and beaver skins were used as mediums of exchange, and where goods were bartered off. In 1855, President Young organized the ''Universal Scientific Society,'' for the purpose of studying the scientific and historical questions and problems. A museum, library, and reading room were to be built, and a resolution was passed by the Board of Control stating that it would act and co-operate with the Board of Regents of the University of Deseret. Governor Young, in addressing the society in the Sixteenth Ward, in 1855, said: We wish you to go ahead and organize the society. Elect good officers and have lectures on every branch of science as often as possible. The members proceeded to organize the society and extended an invitation to all the young men of Salt Lake City and the surrounding settlements to become members, and ''unite in making a systematic study of the fauna and flora of Utah; and do all in their power to keep the history of their towns and to make careful record of Indian legends and traditions." Wilford Woodruff became the first president of the society, and, at a meeting held January 8, 1855, the University of Deseret was solicited to extend its aid in every way possible. JOHN RUSKIN once wrote: "The power of the human mind had its growth in the wilderness: much more must be the conception, the love of beauty be an image of God's daily work." Centers of art and music were built in pioneer days. There was the "Tabernacle in the Wilderness," which is a fine example of the utilizing of the resources of the land for the purpose of having a place of divine worship. The building impresses one as an immense irresistible force, ''humbly superhuman,” and an example of sovereign intelligence and feeling. It is, as the great Ibsen would say, "an illumination of life." Thomas E. Tallmadge says in speaking of Greek classicism found in America: Up and down the Atlantic sea board, through the Western Reserve, along the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi, and over the plains, the Greek Revival spread. I have noticed that the famous Tabernacle built in Salt Lake City by that extraordinary man, Brigham Young, has the tell-tale Greek profiles in its mouldings and cornices. In all these localities, climate, building materials, and even the habits of the people differ enormously. Yet the style of architecture and even its forms are common to all. While from the beginning, it has been a place of divine worship, the great Tabernacle has always been a center for music, and the celebrated artists of the world have sung here. Symphony orchestras from the large musical centers of America have played upon its stage and many of the world’s noted speakers and lecturers have spoken from its rostrum. On July 5, 1860, exercises in honor of Independence Day were held in the Tabernacle, and were attended by the school children of the city, as well as the students of the University of Deseret. The different industries of the Territory were represented, and on the stand in front of the large organ the students of the University displayed a banner, on which were the words, "Protecteriam Scientiarum et Artium." (Let us protect the sciences and the arts.) On another banner was the sentence: ''Our Nation's Prosperity Lies In The Education Of Her Children." On various occasions the National Educational Association has held its sessions here. THEN there was the old Salt Lake Theater, which was patterned after the Drury Lane Theater of London. Prophet as he was of the nobler things of life, President Brigham Young used to say that the drama is irresistible, and that having clean and noble amusements. "Therefore," Said he, "let us organize and build a theater and have a local company of good actors. In this. President Young had his own supreme ideal. The famous old Salt Lake Theater was an expression of the high ideals of the Latter-day Saints. Mr. M. B. Leavitt, in his book entitled Fifty Years of Theatrical Management, says: I appreciate the task of writing a chapter on Salt Lake City with all respect and admiration that dignity, intelligence, honesty and artistic instinct always command. Sweeping as the statement may seem, I do not believe that the theater has ever rested upon a higher plane, both as to its purpose and its offerings, than at Salt Lake City. At the time of its erection, it was not surpassed in magnitude, completeness, and equipment by any other existing house, and it had one of the largest stages in America, The floor of the theater was supported by heavy trunks of pine trees, suggestive of enduring strength. They rested on sandstone bases, as cement was not then in use. In the erection of the building, many difficulties had to be overcome. Iron had to be obtained, and President Young sent men with teams to the plains to gather up the iron in the form of old wagon tires and other junk that had been left by Johnston's army. The theater was opened the night of March 6, 1862, with simple and impressive exercises. The orchestra played the ''Star Spangled Banner," and President Young expressed his hopes that the theater would glorify the work of the Lord. A large orchestra, under the leadership of Professor C. J. Thomas, rendered the musical selections, and the play was 'The Pride of the Market." Before the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, famous actors came to Salt Lake over the plains by stagecoach, and there are people still living who recall the famous stars like John Lyne, John McCullough, Sir George Pauncefort, Julia Deane, and many others who brought a repertory of plays of Shakespeare, Sheridan, and other masters of the art of playwriting. It was a place where the masterpieces of the drama and tragedy were presented for study and stimulation. When one thinks of the old theater becoming the center of the classical drama in days of the stagecoach, one becomes deeply appreciative of the love for art among the Mormon pioneers in that early day. On one occasion Julia Deane spoke before the footlights of the old stage and said: To President Young for many courtesies to a stranger, alone and unprotected, I return my thanks, which are hallowed by their earnestness; and I trust that he will permit me in the name of my art to speak my appreciation of the order and beauty that reigns throughout this house. I would that the same purity prevailed in every temple for the drama's teachings. On March 6, 1912, the fiftieth anniversary of the old theater was held. The house was crowded with a deeply sympathetic audience. Hyrum B. Clawson spoke on the history of the playhouse, and the audience was brought to tears when he quoted Ruskin's words: ''God never forgets any work of labor and love." Then came the venerable “Phil" Margetts who was wheeled upon the stage in a chair. He had gone blind, but with almost superhuman strength and in solemn beautiful voice he recited the lines of Macbeth: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time: And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. A few months later, the noted actor passed away. This article gives just a few highlights of the life of President Brigham Young. Some day he will be evaluated in the light of American history, and will take his place as one of the greatest of Americans. Impressive will be the ceremonies of the unveiling of the monument at his birthplace in Vermont, and the placing of his statue in the Capitol at Washington D. C, June 1, 1950, on the 149th anniversary of the birth of Brigham Young. |
Courtesy, The Salt Lake Tribune
STATUE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG BY MAHONRI YOUNG Placed in Statuary Hall, Washington, D. C. June 1, 1950 (Photograph is of the plaster model exhibited in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1947.) Courtesy, The Deseret News
BRIGHAM YOUNG MONUMENT At his birthplace in Whitingham, Vermont Dedicated May 28, 1950 This monument was designed by five grandsons of Brigham Young: Don C. Young, George Cannon Young, Lorenzo S. Young, Georgius Y. Cannon, and Edward P. Young. Charles R, Savage
SALT LAKE THEATER Opened March 6, 1862 |
M. C. S. "Brigham Young--Loyal and True." Relief Society Magazine. June 1950. pg. 390-391.
Brigham Young—Loyal and True
JUNE 1, 1801 is the birthdate of Brigham Young, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year on June 1 ceremonies will be held in the Capitol at Washington, D. C, commemorating the placing of Brigham Young's statue, executed by his grandson Mahonri M. Young, in Statuary Hall as the representative of the State of Utah in the Hall of Fame.
Today, 149 years after his birth, Brigham Young is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, colonizer in America. To members of the Church, however, this attribute is only one of his many noble endowments which fitted him to be a prophet of the Lord, the one chosen to lead the saints away from the persecutions of the East to a haven in the West in fulfillment of the Prophet Joseph's prophecy that the saints would become 'a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."
From the vantage point of years a man is remembered for his greatness or forgotten in oblivion. In such an appraisal often the great man is considered to be above the common run of men, to be made of a different clay. So to judge greatness is to rob it of its worth, to fail to appreciate the subduing of that baseness found in each person, to omit to acknowledge mastery gained over self.
Other close associates of the Prophet Joseph Smith were accorded higher honors during the lifetime of the Prophet than Brigham Young, mighty as was his calling. Many of those men, nevertheless^ fell from the grace of God through self-esteem. Brigham Young, however, always promoted and cultivated within himself that great attribute of loyalty—loyalty to the Prophet of God. He recognized it as a quality essential in the progress for eternal life, an attribute that suffocates by its own weight those mean and ignoble vices, envy, malice, and selfishness.
Brigham Young's life is a monument to loyalty. In recording his first meeting with the Prophet Joseph Smith in Kirtland, he wrote:
Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure testimony, by the Spirit of prophesy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true prophet (D.H.C. I, page 297).
This allegiance continued in the soul of Brigham Young all his days. During the working of the mob spirit in Kirtland, he was forced to flee for his life because, as the Prophet wrote, ''he would proclaim publicly and privately that he knew by the power of the Holy Ghost that I was a Prophet of the Most High God, that I had not transgressed and fallen as the apostates declared" (D.H.C. II, page 529).
It would seem fitting that the Lord manifested to the saints the proper authority on whom the keys and powers had been conferred by having Brigham Young, as he addressed the saints following the martyrdom, take on the voice and looks of his dearly beloved Prophet.
For thirty-three years afterward, Brigham Young led the saints and exercised great power and authority over them. But throughout those years never did he by word or deed, and one could justifiably add, by thought, manifest any but full and complete loyalty to the Prophet. He firmly believed:
Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it (D. & C. 135:3).
One can hardly write of Brigham Young without also writing of the Prophet. One builded on the foundation the other laid in righteousness. There was no rivalry, no taint of jealousy between them. They fully lived the admonition of the Savior: 'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21).
And, as Brigham Young lay on his deathbed, it would seem his thoughts already turned to eternity and that he saw his beloved Prophet as, gazing upward, he spoke his last words, "Joseph! Joseph! Joseph!"
The soul of a man expands through loving service to his fellow men. So, through his perfect loyalty to the Prophet Joseph, the greatness of Brigham Young glows with deeper significance, as seen in the true light of the perspective of years. —M. C. S.
Brigham Young—Loyal and True
JUNE 1, 1801 is the birthdate of Brigham Young, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This year on June 1 ceremonies will be held in the Capitol at Washington, D. C, commemorating the placing of Brigham Young's statue, executed by his grandson Mahonri M. Young, in Statuary Hall as the representative of the State of Utah in the Hall of Fame.
Today, 149 years after his birth, Brigham Young is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, colonizer in America. To members of the Church, however, this attribute is only one of his many noble endowments which fitted him to be a prophet of the Lord, the one chosen to lead the saints away from the persecutions of the East to a haven in the West in fulfillment of the Prophet Joseph's prophecy that the saints would become 'a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."
From the vantage point of years a man is remembered for his greatness or forgotten in oblivion. In such an appraisal often the great man is considered to be above the common run of men, to be made of a different clay. So to judge greatness is to rob it of its worth, to fail to appreciate the subduing of that baseness found in each person, to omit to acknowledge mastery gained over self.
Other close associates of the Prophet Joseph Smith were accorded higher honors during the lifetime of the Prophet than Brigham Young, mighty as was his calling. Many of those men, nevertheless^ fell from the grace of God through self-esteem. Brigham Young, however, always promoted and cultivated within himself that great attribute of loyalty—loyalty to the Prophet of God. He recognized it as a quality essential in the progress for eternal life, an attribute that suffocates by its own weight those mean and ignoble vices, envy, malice, and selfishness.
Brigham Young's life is a monument to loyalty. In recording his first meeting with the Prophet Joseph Smith in Kirtland, he wrote:
Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure testimony, by the Spirit of prophesy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true prophet (D.H.C. I, page 297).
This allegiance continued in the soul of Brigham Young all his days. During the working of the mob spirit in Kirtland, he was forced to flee for his life because, as the Prophet wrote, ''he would proclaim publicly and privately that he knew by the power of the Holy Ghost that I was a Prophet of the Most High God, that I had not transgressed and fallen as the apostates declared" (D.H.C. II, page 529).
It would seem fitting that the Lord manifested to the saints the proper authority on whom the keys and powers had been conferred by having Brigham Young, as he addressed the saints following the martyrdom, take on the voice and looks of his dearly beloved Prophet.
For thirty-three years afterward, Brigham Young led the saints and exercised great power and authority over them. But throughout those years never did he by word or deed, and one could justifiably add, by thought, manifest any but full and complete loyalty to the Prophet. He firmly believed:
Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it (D. & C. 135:3).
One can hardly write of Brigham Young without also writing of the Prophet. One builded on the foundation the other laid in righteousness. There was no rivalry, no taint of jealousy between them. They fully lived the admonition of the Savior: 'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21).
And, as Brigham Young lay on his deathbed, it would seem his thoughts already turned to eternity and that he saw his beloved Prophet as, gazing upward, he spoke his last words, "Joseph! Joseph! Joseph!"
The soul of a man expands through loving service to his fellow men. So, through his perfect loyalty to the Prophet Joseph, the greatness of Brigham Young glows with deeper significance, as seen in the true light of the perspective of years. —M. C. S.
"Brigham Young--A Great Man." Improvement Era. July 1950. pg. 545-546.
Brigham Young—A Great Man
Remarks of President George Albert Smith at the unveiling ceremonies of the Brigham Young monument, held at Whitingham, Vermont, Sunday, May 28, 1950, at 1:30 p.m.
Brethren and sisters, and fellow Vermonters. My folk came from Vermont, too, and I am glad to come back to this state that has produced so many unusual and outstanding men and women. I have in my hand a list of more than a hundred names of men and women, mostly men, who as pioneers left this wonderful green country and went out into the desert to make their home. The result was that I was fortunate enough to be born out there in Utah.
There is much that has been said already about President Brigham Young, and much more that could be said, and I would like to suggest to you members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are here, that until you have read the history of President Brigham Young, you have failed to observe much worth-while information that you might find in his life.
Reference has been made to the fact that Joseph Smith was born in Vermont. The Quakers came into Massachusetts near Topsfield where the Prophet's forebears were living. It was contrary to the law to feed or entertain the Quakers in those days. Two of them came to the house of Samuel Smith and said, "We can't get anything to eat and have no place to rest. Will you tell us what to do?"
Samuel Smith invited them in. He gave them a place to stay for the night and sent them on their way the next morning, fed and rested. When his neighbors learned what he had done, he was arrested and taken into court where he was sentenced to pay a fine and was imprisoned for entertaining Quakers. That was a forebear of Joseph Smith.
The result was that when Samuel Smith was released from jail, he called his neighbors together and said, "My property is for sale.”
"What do you mean?" they asked, "You have a nice place, why are you selling?"
He replied, "I am going away from here. I will no longer live as a member of a community that would put one of God's sons in prison for entertaining others of his sons when they were in distress. I am going to leave you."
They pleaded with him and told him that he knew before he took the Quakers in, what the penalty was.
He said, "Yes, I knew, and I expected to pay a fine, but I didn't think that my own neighbors would consent to putting me in jail." He sold his property and moved to Vermont and, as a result, it was the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that circumstance has added his illustrious name to the list of other famous people from this state of Vermont.
I was personally acquainted with Brigham Young. I think if I were to tell you of my first introduction to him, you might be interested. I was a little boy, five years of age. I had a black velvet suit, and my hair was nearly as white then as it is now, and I had hair in those days, too. My mother called me in to the house one day and dressed me in my new black velvet suit and put a letter in my pocket. I can see the picture of it now in my mind's eye. My mother told me to go up to President Young's office and ask to see him and give the letter to him and to no one else.
I went up to his home. At that time he lived in what today would be considered a fortress. The Indians were at times troublesome and for safety, the block where President Young lived was surrounded by a strong wall as high as this monument.
I had two long blocks to walk from my house to Brigham Young's. Mother had told me how to get there. When I arrived at the gate, I discovered that it was partly open. It was a large, heavy gate made of two-by-four timbers and fastened by great heavy iron hinges. It took quite a push to open it, it was so heavy, and when it was closed and barred on the inside with timbers that were dropped down into position, it couldn't be opened from without. As I looked inside the gate a large Scotchman by the name of John Smith looked at me and said, "What do you want?" He scared me nearly to death. I told him that I wanted to see Brigham Young, and he said, "President Young has no time for the likes of ye.” He bellowed so that I was nearly ready to faint. But then I looked at the open door of the office and a great big man, nearly six feet tall and with a long white beard and hair, was standing in the doorway and he called to the guard and said, "What's wanted, John?"
John replied, "Here is a little fellow wants to see President Young," and then he roared with laughter. He thought it was a good joke. But with all the dignity in the world, President Young said to him, "John, show him in."
There was nothing else the guard could do then but to let me in and he took me up to the porch where President Young was standing, for it was the President himself.
President Young took me by the hand and led me into his office, sat down at his desk and lifted me up on his knee and put his arm around me. In the kindest way one could imagine, he said, "What do you want of President Young?"
Just think of it! He was President of a great Church and Governor of a Territory, and with all the duties he had to perform, yet I as a little boy was received with as much dignity and kindness as if I had come as a governor from an adjoining state.
I felt in my pocket, took out the envelope, and said, "My mother told me to give this to you."
My father was on a mission in England at that time and that gave my mother and her family some privileges. President Young was president of the railroad that ran between Salt Lake City and Ogden. The letter read, "Dear President Young: I haven't seen my father and mother for some time. I would like to take my family to Ogden to visit with them. I would appreciate it if you would arrange it so I could go.
President Young took a little bell and rang it, and in came one of his secretaries. He handed the letter to the secretary and told him to fulfil the request and bring it back to him. The secretary made out a pass for us to Ogden and return and gave it to President Young, who took a quill pen and signed his name to it. He then took the same envelope that it came in and put the pass in it. (Take note of the fact that he didn't use a new envelope but used the old one.) He then tucked the envelope in my pocket.
While we were waiting for the pass, he had been telling me what a wonderful father and mother I had and what a good boy I ought to be because of them. He walked to the door with me, and as I left, he said, "When you reach home, tell your mother that I hope she and her family will have a pleasant time with her family in Ogden."
I went my way and gave Mother the envelope and the pass and we all went to Ogden to visit another Vermonter, my grandfather, Lorin Farr, who came from Vermont. He was the first mayor of Ogden, Utah, for twenty years served the legislature from that district, built the first sawmill, the first gristmill, and the only woolen mill they have had. He was one of the contractors who built the Central Pacific Railroad from the West to where it joined with the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah, where the gold spike was driven. He was a true Vermonter. He was a hard worker, aid his family, both boys and girls, were taught to work, and I have always considered him a great man.
Do you wonder then, that I am glad to be here today when this monument that is placed here at his birthplace is to be dedicated? I am glad to be with the rest of you and I would like to say that I appreciate the opportunity of being here with you in this glorious sunshine with this beautiful and delightful atmosphere, and to be here with these prominent people from different parts of the country. There would have been many others here if they had been in a position to come, but I am glad to be present. As I look at this lovely monument, I am wondering what President Young would say if he were here. Of course, there are other monuments to him, but this is at his birthplace and where he ought to have a monument.
I would like to say for your information that a number of years ago one of the prominent men of Columbia University wrote what he called, "The Source of Greatness." He meant by that, the birthplace of men and women who had gained fame and recognition in this country. When I went to see him, I asked if we could publish the information in our magazine, The Improvement Era. He consented, and it was published after we had condensed it and had had him check our condensation. Do you know what it showed? There were more scientists born in Utah, in proportion to population, than any other state in the union. Some of them descended from Vermonters; in fact you would be surprised at the number of those descended from Vermonters in that section of the country. There were more men and women of affairs who had attained greatness, who were born in Utah, in proportion to the population, than in any other state in the union. You can see what you Vermonters did! You started a group of people out there in Utah who were not satisfied with ordinary things. To those who have not been out there, I am going to say, "Welcome— the door is open to all our Father's children who desire to come to see us," and if you will come and tell us you are from Vermont, you will perhaps get a little warmer welcome.
I am happy to be here and grateful to be with members of the family of Brigham Young. I have been asked to have you join with me in dedicating this monument. If you will all arise, we will join in saying to the Lord that we are grateful for another blessing.
Brigham Young—A Great Man
Remarks of President George Albert Smith at the unveiling ceremonies of the Brigham Young monument, held at Whitingham, Vermont, Sunday, May 28, 1950, at 1:30 p.m.
Brethren and sisters, and fellow Vermonters. My folk came from Vermont, too, and I am glad to come back to this state that has produced so many unusual and outstanding men and women. I have in my hand a list of more than a hundred names of men and women, mostly men, who as pioneers left this wonderful green country and went out into the desert to make their home. The result was that I was fortunate enough to be born out there in Utah.
There is much that has been said already about President Brigham Young, and much more that could be said, and I would like to suggest to you members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are here, that until you have read the history of President Brigham Young, you have failed to observe much worth-while information that you might find in his life.
Reference has been made to the fact that Joseph Smith was born in Vermont. The Quakers came into Massachusetts near Topsfield where the Prophet's forebears were living. It was contrary to the law to feed or entertain the Quakers in those days. Two of them came to the house of Samuel Smith and said, "We can't get anything to eat and have no place to rest. Will you tell us what to do?"
Samuel Smith invited them in. He gave them a place to stay for the night and sent them on their way the next morning, fed and rested. When his neighbors learned what he had done, he was arrested and taken into court where he was sentenced to pay a fine and was imprisoned for entertaining Quakers. That was a forebear of Joseph Smith.
The result was that when Samuel Smith was released from jail, he called his neighbors together and said, "My property is for sale.”
"What do you mean?" they asked, "You have a nice place, why are you selling?"
He replied, "I am going away from here. I will no longer live as a member of a community that would put one of God's sons in prison for entertaining others of his sons when they were in distress. I am going to leave you."
They pleaded with him and told him that he knew before he took the Quakers in, what the penalty was.
He said, "Yes, I knew, and I expected to pay a fine, but I didn't think that my own neighbors would consent to putting me in jail." He sold his property and moved to Vermont and, as a result, it was the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that circumstance has added his illustrious name to the list of other famous people from this state of Vermont.
I was personally acquainted with Brigham Young. I think if I were to tell you of my first introduction to him, you might be interested. I was a little boy, five years of age. I had a black velvet suit, and my hair was nearly as white then as it is now, and I had hair in those days, too. My mother called me in to the house one day and dressed me in my new black velvet suit and put a letter in my pocket. I can see the picture of it now in my mind's eye. My mother told me to go up to President Young's office and ask to see him and give the letter to him and to no one else.
I went up to his home. At that time he lived in what today would be considered a fortress. The Indians were at times troublesome and for safety, the block where President Young lived was surrounded by a strong wall as high as this monument.
I had two long blocks to walk from my house to Brigham Young's. Mother had told me how to get there. When I arrived at the gate, I discovered that it was partly open. It was a large, heavy gate made of two-by-four timbers and fastened by great heavy iron hinges. It took quite a push to open it, it was so heavy, and when it was closed and barred on the inside with timbers that were dropped down into position, it couldn't be opened from without. As I looked inside the gate a large Scotchman by the name of John Smith looked at me and said, "What do you want?" He scared me nearly to death. I told him that I wanted to see Brigham Young, and he said, "President Young has no time for the likes of ye.” He bellowed so that I was nearly ready to faint. But then I looked at the open door of the office and a great big man, nearly six feet tall and with a long white beard and hair, was standing in the doorway and he called to the guard and said, "What's wanted, John?"
John replied, "Here is a little fellow wants to see President Young," and then he roared with laughter. He thought it was a good joke. But with all the dignity in the world, President Young said to him, "John, show him in."
There was nothing else the guard could do then but to let me in and he took me up to the porch where President Young was standing, for it was the President himself.
President Young took me by the hand and led me into his office, sat down at his desk and lifted me up on his knee and put his arm around me. In the kindest way one could imagine, he said, "What do you want of President Young?"
Just think of it! He was President of a great Church and Governor of a Territory, and with all the duties he had to perform, yet I as a little boy was received with as much dignity and kindness as if I had come as a governor from an adjoining state.
I felt in my pocket, took out the envelope, and said, "My mother told me to give this to you."
My father was on a mission in England at that time and that gave my mother and her family some privileges. President Young was president of the railroad that ran between Salt Lake City and Ogden. The letter read, "Dear President Young: I haven't seen my father and mother for some time. I would like to take my family to Ogden to visit with them. I would appreciate it if you would arrange it so I could go.
President Young took a little bell and rang it, and in came one of his secretaries. He handed the letter to the secretary and told him to fulfil the request and bring it back to him. The secretary made out a pass for us to Ogden and return and gave it to President Young, who took a quill pen and signed his name to it. He then took the same envelope that it came in and put the pass in it. (Take note of the fact that he didn't use a new envelope but used the old one.) He then tucked the envelope in my pocket.
While we were waiting for the pass, he had been telling me what a wonderful father and mother I had and what a good boy I ought to be because of them. He walked to the door with me, and as I left, he said, "When you reach home, tell your mother that I hope she and her family will have a pleasant time with her family in Ogden."
I went my way and gave Mother the envelope and the pass and we all went to Ogden to visit another Vermonter, my grandfather, Lorin Farr, who came from Vermont. He was the first mayor of Ogden, Utah, for twenty years served the legislature from that district, built the first sawmill, the first gristmill, and the only woolen mill they have had. He was one of the contractors who built the Central Pacific Railroad from the West to where it joined with the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah, where the gold spike was driven. He was a true Vermonter. He was a hard worker, aid his family, both boys and girls, were taught to work, and I have always considered him a great man.
Do you wonder then, that I am glad to be here today when this monument that is placed here at his birthplace is to be dedicated? I am glad to be with the rest of you and I would like to say that I appreciate the opportunity of being here with you in this glorious sunshine with this beautiful and delightful atmosphere, and to be here with these prominent people from different parts of the country. There would have been many others here if they had been in a position to come, but I am glad to be present. As I look at this lovely monument, I am wondering what President Young would say if he were here. Of course, there are other monuments to him, but this is at his birthplace and where he ought to have a monument.
I would like to say for your information that a number of years ago one of the prominent men of Columbia University wrote what he called, "The Source of Greatness." He meant by that, the birthplace of men and women who had gained fame and recognition in this country. When I went to see him, I asked if we could publish the information in our magazine, The Improvement Era. He consented, and it was published after we had condensed it and had had him check our condensation. Do you know what it showed? There were more scientists born in Utah, in proportion to population, than any other state in the union. Some of them descended from Vermonters; in fact you would be surprised at the number of those descended from Vermonters in that section of the country. There were more men and women of affairs who had attained greatness, who were born in Utah, in proportion to the population, than in any other state in the union. You can see what you Vermonters did! You started a group of people out there in Utah who were not satisfied with ordinary things. To those who have not been out there, I am going to say, "Welcome— the door is open to all our Father's children who desire to come to see us," and if you will come and tell us you are from Vermont, you will perhaps get a little warmer welcome.
I am happy to be here and grateful to be with members of the family of Brigham Young. I have been asked to have you join with me in dedicating this monument. If you will all arise, we will join in saying to the Lord that we are grateful for another blessing.
Barkley, Alben W. "Brigham Young--A Builder of the West." Improvement Era. January 1951. pg. 29, 50, 52, 54-57.
Brigham Young—A Builder of the West
By the Honorable Alben W. Barkley Vice President of the United States
From an address delivered at the unveiling of the Brigham Young Statue in the Rotunda of the Capital Building, Washington, D. C, June 1, 1950
The concept which no doubt occupied the mind of Congress when it enacted the law providing that each state should be able to authorize the placement of two statues in statuary hall, was an exemplification and emphasis of the right of local choice in the matter of honoring its heroes. This law did not place within the power of Congress the right to select the representatives of the various states. It left that entirely up to the state which desired to honor two of its outstanding citizens. Some of the states have not yet completed the process of honoring two outstanding citizens here, but it will be done. My own state of Kentucky was late in placing in this hall of fame two of her outstanding men. One of them a statesman of worldwide recognition, Henry Clay, and the other a physician who was a pioneer in the science of surgery. Now, Utah comes forth with one of her representatives.
It seems to be entirely fitting that Brigham Young should be one of the representatives of the state of Utah. The history of the expansion of the United States from a territorial standpoint as well as from a standpoint of liberty, law, and the enjoyment of democracy and its expansion was one of the most fascinating stories of nation-making in the entire world.
As a Kentuckian I have always been proud of the exploits of George Rogers Clark, a Virginian who came to Kentucky during the American Revolution, organized a little band of pioneer soldiers, never numbering much more than 125 men who crossed the Ohio River, invaded what was then known as the Northwest Territory, and in the battle at Kaskaskia in Vincennes and other places in that vast territory conquered it for the United States and added it to the thirteen original colonies and made the Mississippi River, rather than the crest of the Allegheny Mountains, the western boundary of the United States. Out of that Northwest Territory came the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, part of Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of the state of Minnesota. Of course the impetus to the expansion of our country which seems to have been inevitable from the beginning, which seems to have been a part of our destiny to march out across the body of the mid-continent to the Pacific Ocean, was stimulated and emphasized and made possible by the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States in 1803.
Jefferson was what was regarded as a strict constructionist, although Claude Bowers has drawn a parallel between Jefferson as a theorist and Jefferson as an administrator. Napoleon was anxious to sell Louisiana. Jefferson was anxious to buy it, but there was no constitutional provision specifically authorizing the president of the United States to purchase territory, and add it to the original territory. So Jefferson fell upon the happy solution that the Constitution did authorize him to make treaties with foreign countries, so he made the treaty with Napoleon by which he purchased the vast territory of Louisiana and opened the gateway across the Mississippi River to the expansion of our country toward the Pacific Ocean. Out of that vast territory of Louisiana was carved not simply the state of Louisiana as we know it today, but a large group of the states west of the Mississippi River which now enjoy the freedom, the self-government, and the pride that comes to them not only because of their pioneer origin, not only because of the fact that they were part of that great Louisiana purchase, but also because they have carried liberty, they have carried justice, they have carried the American Flag and the American Constitution, which they enjoy, and up to which they live as a part of the American democracy and the American tradition.
In this class of pioneers and settlers belong a great number of our heroes, including Lewis and Clark, who followed the trail out as far as Oregon and Washington, and John C. Fremont, the pathfinder. And in this class belongs the man whose statue is unveiled here today, Brigham Young. Brigham Young was no less a builder of a state than was Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark, Lewis and Clark, John C. Fremont-—because Brigham Young was not merely a religious leader, a pioneer carrying throughout the deserts, plains, mountains, and valleys of the West the right of free worship, the right 50 guaranteed under our Constitution, but he was also a statesman. It may not be generally known that Brigham Young in addition to being the leader of his religious group was a governor of the vast territory of Utah which then included not only Utah, but also Nevada, part of Colorado, and a part of the states of Idaho and Wyoming, so that in addition to carrying the torch of religious liberty into that vast part of the United States as it is today, he was an administrator, a skilled administrator, and a proponent of justice and of equality and the sort of democracy in which he believed — the sort of democracy that is guaranteed to us by our Constitution— the sort of democracy for which we are today struggling, and the sort of democracy that we must preserve if democracy is to prevail throughout the world.
Yesterday, in the Library of Congress the Secretary of State delivered what to me was a very impressive and historic address, or a report, to the Congress of the United States. He quoted Mr. Langer who was the Prime Minister of Norway, I believe, or one of those countries, where he said that democracy cannot prevail, democracy cannot survive, if democracies are to be weak and autocracy is to be strong. So these great pioneers of ours who carried democracy, who carried the freedom of worship and the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press and the freedom of assembly out into these vast lands in the West and the Middle West, were building a civilization, building a way of life, building the very bedrock and foundation of all that we cherish today and all for which we are willing to fight as inheritors of that great heritage handed down to us from the past which makes us proud, not simply of our ancestry politically or religiously or otherwise, but also makes us proud of the institutions which they built up and which' it is our mission, as I see it, for us to preserve at all hazards and at all costs.
We have become the leader among the nations of the world. It is not a leadership which we contrived; it is not a leadership which we sought; fate and destiny have put into our hands a torch of leadership.
The world is today divided between two ideologies. One the totalitarian theory, one the autocratic theory, one of the godless and the ruthless theory that only the state counts and that individuals must be crushed, if necessary, in order that the state may rise to power for power's sake. The other is the democratic theory in which we believe all men are created equal and that as such they are endowed by their Creator, not by government, not by Congress, not by governors, not by senators, not by society, but endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are subject to various definitions. We know that we all love life; we cherish it. All nature loves life. We know also that life is drab and fruitless unless it is accompanied by liberty. We know that liberty does not mean license, but it means the right to pursue happiness with the hope that we may overtake it, finally attain it, clutch it to our bosom, hand it down to our posterity. That is the basis and the foundation of the American theory of society.
So, today we honor a great pioneer, a great religious leader, a great political leader, whose very character, whose very sacrifices, and whose very courage and determination and devotion and willingness to suffer, even yet, not only to his immediate followers but to all of us, offer an example which we may well emulate now and in the years to come.
One of the most graphic moving pictures it has ever been my pleasure to see was the moving picture called Brigham Young. That moving picture traced Brigham Young as he led his people from east of the Mississippi River out across the Mississippi over the plains, across the rivers, over the hills and mountains into the valley where he settled in the basin of the Great Salt Lake; and he builded there a great religious foundation based upon the American right to worship Almighty God, which is the first article of the ten amendments to our Constitution. It was submitted following the organization of our government. In the Constitutional Convention there was a strong feeling that there should be a Bill of Rights, but it was not included, and when the Constitution was submitted to the thirteen original states with the provision that nine of them must ratify it in order that there be created a government here, it was ratified in some of the states with the express condition that there should be submitted amendments incorporating what we now know as the Bill of Rights. Those amendments were submitted, twelve of them. Ten of them were ratified, and the other two were never acted upon. Those ten amendments constitute our Bill of Rights today. And the first one of them says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. ..." And by that amendment even in our fundamental law, our Constitution provided for the separation of church and state. While we have it organically, we all know that there is no straight line that any man can draw down his life's pathway and be assured that all on his right belongs to the duties of his state and all on the left belongs to his duty to God. It is why we have separation of the church and state, it is the duty of the state to guarantee the right of every man and woman to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of his conscience.
It is the duty of the state to keep open the channels of morality, the channels of religious freedom, and on the other hand the church will so build its moral foundations, its concept of civilian duties of the relationship of one man toward another that it will make it easier for the state to enforce its laws and carry out its purpose of liberty and justice and equality to all of our people. Brigham Young in his trek across the plains was seeking not only religious freedom. He was not only devoted to religious freedom, but he was likewise in the quest of a great state where the right of men and women to worship as they pleased might be recognized and honored.
So today we honor Brigham Young, not simply as a religious leader, which he was, we honor him also as a statesman, as a builder of a state, as a builder of an order of society, which is admired not only by all those living within the confines of the state of Utah, but also all over the nation. We honor it, and we appraise it in its highest value. Men from every state and every community find their way to Salt Lake City; they find their way into the great Tabernacle of the Church of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. I recall the first time I ever visited that city. Alone as I was, I walked into that great Tabernacle. I sat there and heard the organ peal in the breathless silence of the audience that sweet tune — "Love's Old Sweet Song"—and as I sat there in that great auditorium and recounted the sacrifices that were made and were necessary in order that Brigham Young might lead his people, and that his people might build there with their own hands, this great Tabernacle and this great auditorium, I thought of it as the sacrifices of our pioneer mothers and fathers. Pioneer mothers have never received their just dues, their just recognition for the part they played in the covered wagons as they moved out from east to west. I could not hold back the moistened tears that came into my eyes because of this great American example of liberty; this great American example of tolerance; this great American example of construction; for the future, for our institutions, and as an example to all the world not only to enjoy liberty but also to cherish it and preserve it, hand it down to the generations yet to come, and by our own example and by our own sacrifices which we are making, stimulate other peoples in other parts of the world to follow our example in order that ultimately they may straighten up their bended backs, look their fellow men in the face, free men and free women, enjoying liberty and equality and justice.
I am happy to be here today, I am humble at the same time because I realize that in the midst of all the complexities of our modern lives it is not always easy to understand the processes of government or the processes of religion.
I honor the state of Utah. I have served in the Senate and in the House and some of the finest men with whom I have ever served were from the state of Utah. I am devoted to her institutions. I am proud of her record and of her history, and I am proud that there will stand here forever in this statuary hall this man of God, and this man of the people who was more instrumental than any other one man in establishing the kind of civilization that exists in all that vast territory in which his influence was exerted and in which his memory will be forever cherished.
Brigham Young—A Builder of the West
By the Honorable Alben W. Barkley Vice President of the United States
From an address delivered at the unveiling of the Brigham Young Statue in the Rotunda of the Capital Building, Washington, D. C, June 1, 1950
The concept which no doubt occupied the mind of Congress when it enacted the law providing that each state should be able to authorize the placement of two statues in statuary hall, was an exemplification and emphasis of the right of local choice in the matter of honoring its heroes. This law did not place within the power of Congress the right to select the representatives of the various states. It left that entirely up to the state which desired to honor two of its outstanding citizens. Some of the states have not yet completed the process of honoring two outstanding citizens here, but it will be done. My own state of Kentucky was late in placing in this hall of fame two of her outstanding men. One of them a statesman of worldwide recognition, Henry Clay, and the other a physician who was a pioneer in the science of surgery. Now, Utah comes forth with one of her representatives.
It seems to be entirely fitting that Brigham Young should be one of the representatives of the state of Utah. The history of the expansion of the United States from a territorial standpoint as well as from a standpoint of liberty, law, and the enjoyment of democracy and its expansion was one of the most fascinating stories of nation-making in the entire world.
As a Kentuckian I have always been proud of the exploits of George Rogers Clark, a Virginian who came to Kentucky during the American Revolution, organized a little band of pioneer soldiers, never numbering much more than 125 men who crossed the Ohio River, invaded what was then known as the Northwest Territory, and in the battle at Kaskaskia in Vincennes and other places in that vast territory conquered it for the United States and added it to the thirteen original colonies and made the Mississippi River, rather than the crest of the Allegheny Mountains, the western boundary of the United States. Out of that Northwest Territory came the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, part of Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of the state of Minnesota. Of course the impetus to the expansion of our country which seems to have been inevitable from the beginning, which seems to have been a part of our destiny to march out across the body of the mid-continent to the Pacific Ocean, was stimulated and emphasized and made possible by the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States in 1803.
Jefferson was what was regarded as a strict constructionist, although Claude Bowers has drawn a parallel between Jefferson as a theorist and Jefferson as an administrator. Napoleon was anxious to sell Louisiana. Jefferson was anxious to buy it, but there was no constitutional provision specifically authorizing the president of the United States to purchase territory, and add it to the original territory. So Jefferson fell upon the happy solution that the Constitution did authorize him to make treaties with foreign countries, so he made the treaty with Napoleon by which he purchased the vast territory of Louisiana and opened the gateway across the Mississippi River to the expansion of our country toward the Pacific Ocean. Out of that vast territory of Louisiana was carved not simply the state of Louisiana as we know it today, but a large group of the states west of the Mississippi River which now enjoy the freedom, the self-government, and the pride that comes to them not only because of their pioneer origin, not only because of the fact that they were part of that great Louisiana purchase, but also because they have carried liberty, they have carried justice, they have carried the American Flag and the American Constitution, which they enjoy, and up to which they live as a part of the American democracy and the American tradition.
In this class of pioneers and settlers belong a great number of our heroes, including Lewis and Clark, who followed the trail out as far as Oregon and Washington, and John C. Fremont, the pathfinder. And in this class belongs the man whose statue is unveiled here today, Brigham Young. Brigham Young was no less a builder of a state than was Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark, Lewis and Clark, John C. Fremont-—because Brigham Young was not merely a religious leader, a pioneer carrying throughout the deserts, plains, mountains, and valleys of the West the right of free worship, the right 50 guaranteed under our Constitution, but he was also a statesman. It may not be generally known that Brigham Young in addition to being the leader of his religious group was a governor of the vast territory of Utah which then included not only Utah, but also Nevada, part of Colorado, and a part of the states of Idaho and Wyoming, so that in addition to carrying the torch of religious liberty into that vast part of the United States as it is today, he was an administrator, a skilled administrator, and a proponent of justice and of equality and the sort of democracy in which he believed — the sort of democracy that is guaranteed to us by our Constitution— the sort of democracy for which we are today struggling, and the sort of democracy that we must preserve if democracy is to prevail throughout the world.
Yesterday, in the Library of Congress the Secretary of State delivered what to me was a very impressive and historic address, or a report, to the Congress of the United States. He quoted Mr. Langer who was the Prime Minister of Norway, I believe, or one of those countries, where he said that democracy cannot prevail, democracy cannot survive, if democracies are to be weak and autocracy is to be strong. So these great pioneers of ours who carried democracy, who carried the freedom of worship and the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press and the freedom of assembly out into these vast lands in the West and the Middle West, were building a civilization, building a way of life, building the very bedrock and foundation of all that we cherish today and all for which we are willing to fight as inheritors of that great heritage handed down to us from the past which makes us proud, not simply of our ancestry politically or religiously or otherwise, but also makes us proud of the institutions which they built up and which' it is our mission, as I see it, for us to preserve at all hazards and at all costs.
We have become the leader among the nations of the world. It is not a leadership which we contrived; it is not a leadership which we sought; fate and destiny have put into our hands a torch of leadership.
The world is today divided between two ideologies. One the totalitarian theory, one the autocratic theory, one of the godless and the ruthless theory that only the state counts and that individuals must be crushed, if necessary, in order that the state may rise to power for power's sake. The other is the democratic theory in which we believe all men are created equal and that as such they are endowed by their Creator, not by government, not by Congress, not by governors, not by senators, not by society, but endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are subject to various definitions. We know that we all love life; we cherish it. All nature loves life. We know also that life is drab and fruitless unless it is accompanied by liberty. We know that liberty does not mean license, but it means the right to pursue happiness with the hope that we may overtake it, finally attain it, clutch it to our bosom, hand it down to our posterity. That is the basis and the foundation of the American theory of society.
So, today we honor a great pioneer, a great religious leader, a great political leader, whose very character, whose very sacrifices, and whose very courage and determination and devotion and willingness to suffer, even yet, not only to his immediate followers but to all of us, offer an example which we may well emulate now and in the years to come.
One of the most graphic moving pictures it has ever been my pleasure to see was the moving picture called Brigham Young. That moving picture traced Brigham Young as he led his people from east of the Mississippi River out across the Mississippi over the plains, across the rivers, over the hills and mountains into the valley where he settled in the basin of the Great Salt Lake; and he builded there a great religious foundation based upon the American right to worship Almighty God, which is the first article of the ten amendments to our Constitution. It was submitted following the organization of our government. In the Constitutional Convention there was a strong feeling that there should be a Bill of Rights, but it was not included, and when the Constitution was submitted to the thirteen original states with the provision that nine of them must ratify it in order that there be created a government here, it was ratified in some of the states with the express condition that there should be submitted amendments incorporating what we now know as the Bill of Rights. Those amendments were submitted, twelve of them. Ten of them were ratified, and the other two were never acted upon. Those ten amendments constitute our Bill of Rights today. And the first one of them says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. ..." And by that amendment even in our fundamental law, our Constitution provided for the separation of church and state. While we have it organically, we all know that there is no straight line that any man can draw down his life's pathway and be assured that all on his right belongs to the duties of his state and all on the left belongs to his duty to God. It is why we have separation of the church and state, it is the duty of the state to guarantee the right of every man and woman to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of his conscience.
It is the duty of the state to keep open the channels of morality, the channels of religious freedom, and on the other hand the church will so build its moral foundations, its concept of civilian duties of the relationship of one man toward another that it will make it easier for the state to enforce its laws and carry out its purpose of liberty and justice and equality to all of our people. Brigham Young in his trek across the plains was seeking not only religious freedom. He was not only devoted to religious freedom, but he was likewise in the quest of a great state where the right of men and women to worship as they pleased might be recognized and honored.
So today we honor Brigham Young, not simply as a religious leader, which he was, we honor him also as a statesman, as a builder of a state, as a builder of an order of society, which is admired not only by all those living within the confines of the state of Utah, but also all over the nation. We honor it, and we appraise it in its highest value. Men from every state and every community find their way to Salt Lake City; they find their way into the great Tabernacle of the Church of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. I recall the first time I ever visited that city. Alone as I was, I walked into that great Tabernacle. I sat there and heard the organ peal in the breathless silence of the audience that sweet tune — "Love's Old Sweet Song"—and as I sat there in that great auditorium and recounted the sacrifices that were made and were necessary in order that Brigham Young might lead his people, and that his people might build there with their own hands, this great Tabernacle and this great auditorium, I thought of it as the sacrifices of our pioneer mothers and fathers. Pioneer mothers have never received their just dues, their just recognition for the part they played in the covered wagons as they moved out from east to west. I could not hold back the moistened tears that came into my eyes because of this great American example of liberty; this great American example of tolerance; this great American example of construction; for the future, for our institutions, and as an example to all the world not only to enjoy liberty but also to cherish it and preserve it, hand it down to the generations yet to come, and by our own example and by our own sacrifices which we are making, stimulate other peoples in other parts of the world to follow our example in order that ultimately they may straighten up their bended backs, look their fellow men in the face, free men and free women, enjoying liberty and equality and justice.
I am happy to be here today, I am humble at the same time because I realize that in the midst of all the complexities of our modern lives it is not always easy to understand the processes of government or the processes of religion.
I honor the state of Utah. I have served in the Senate and in the House and some of the finest men with whom I have ever served were from the state of Utah. I am devoted to her institutions. I am proud of her record and of her history, and I am proud that there will stand here forever in this statuary hall this man of God, and this man of the people who was more instrumental than any other one man in establishing the kind of civilization that exists in all that vast territory in which his influence was exerted and in which his memory will be forever cherished.
Arrington, L. J. "Brigham Young and the Transcontinental Telegraph Line." Improvement Era. July 1951. pg. 510-511, 529.
Brigham Young and the Transcontinental Telegraph Line By L. J. Arrington Utah State Agricultural College A LITTLE-KNOWN contribution of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the assistance it rendered in the construction and protection of the transcontinental telegraph line. It furnishes a telling example, not only of the loyalty of the Saints to the Union, but also of the type of empire building at which the Saints were so adept. Soon after the first Mormon settlement in Utah in 1847, agitation began for the construction of a transcontinental telegraph line which would connect Great Salt Lake City with the outside world. The Territorial Legislature, in January 1853, memorialized Congress as follows: The inhabitants of this Territory are situated in the Great Basin of North America, occupying an intermediate position between California and the States on the Mississippi; and being shut out by their isolated position from a ready intercourse from their mother States; the roads passing over arid plains, rough and desert mountains taking a term of thirty days in the best seasons of the year for the mails to pass through from the confines of civilization to this Territory; and considering the obstructions arising from storms, floods, and the depredations of hostile Indians, all combining to render our means of intercourse extremely limited and precarious. The petition then strongly urges that a telegraph line from the East be built by way of Salt Lake City to San Diego, San Francisco, and Astoria, Oregon, and concludes: No movement of Congress could be better calculated to preserve inviolable our glorious Union, than to bind the East and West by an ELECTRIC stream, whereby intelligence and instantaneous intercourse from the eastern to the western limits of our wide-spread country will annihilate the distance, and make the free men of Maine and Oregon, Florida and California immediate neighbors.[1] This transcontinental line—or Overland Telegraph, as it was called—was finally completed in 1861. Hiram Sibley, president of Western Union Telegraph Company, and Edward Creighton, contractor for the company, played the principal roles in promoting the construction of the Overland line.[2] After repeated failures by the telegraph industry to unite behind a scheme to build the line, Sibley finally interested officials of the federal government. The outbreak of the war between the states in 1860 was a causal factor in this stepped-up interest. Congress finally approved the Pacific Telegraph Act which became law June 16, 1860. This act provided a ten-year subsidy of $40,000.00 per annum to the company completing a line from the western boundary of Missouri to San Francisco. Land and rights of way were also a part of the subsidy. With the $400,000.00 guarantee in his pocket, Sibley made arrangements with the newly-organized California State Telegraph Company to run a line east from Carson City, Nevada (to which point a line had previously been built), while eastern companies would cooperate in running the line west from Omaha (to which point Western Union had just finished a line). Creighton was commissioned to take the stagecoach west from Omaha in the latter part of 1860 to survey and make plans for the location of the line. He stopped over in Salt Lake City in December. The Journal History reports under date of December 20, 1860 that, "Mr. Creighton (sometimes spelled "Craton") . . . agent of the Overland Telegraph . . . called on Brigham Young and wished him to take the oversight and superintendency of the telegraph line across the continent." One week later the Journal History records that Creighton wanted the Saints to supply and erect telegraph poles for some five hundred miles of the line.[3] Brigham Young, who was anxious to support the enterprise, promised and Timber for the poles was obtained from Echo and Weber canyons and transported by ox team to points on the line as needed. aid in securing poles, subsistence, and transportation. Upon his return, Creighton recommended that the junction of the eastern and western lines be located at Salt Lake City. Sibley and other promoters organized the Pacific Telegraph Company, with a capital of one million dollars to construct the eleven hundred miles of line from Omaha to Salt Lake City. Creighton was superintendent of the construction of this division.[4] In California the Overland Telegraph Company, with a capital of $1,250,000.00, was organized to run the five hundred odd miles from Carson City to Salt Lake City. James Gamble was appointed construction superintendent of the western division.[5] Construction began in July 1861 at both ends of the transcontinental line and also in both directions from Salt Lake City. Latter-day Saints aided materially in the construction with poles, labor, and food supplies. The chief construction problem was securing the necessary poles for the line. The Overland route west from Omaha was comparatively treeless, and this was even more true of the desert route between Salt Lake City and Carson City. A large share of the poles was supplied from Salt Lake City, under arrangement which Creighton had tentatively made the preceding December with Church leaders. Poles for 750 miles of the eastern line were supplied under a contractual arrangement with Brigham Young, whose son, John W. Young—a lumber dealer—seems to have handled it. Poles for the western line as far as Ruby Valley— some two hundred and fifty miles—were furnished by the Mormon firm of Little and Decker of Salt Lake City.[6] Timber for the poles was obtained from Echo and Weber canyons near Salt Lake City and transported by ox team to points on the line as needed. The Journal History of the Church notes several instances in which this activity was carried on; for example, on the second of September 1861, seven loads of telegraph poles were seen near the Jordan River. They were being hauled by the ox teams of Brigham Young. A story is told in relation to the pole contract entered into between Creighton and Brigham Young's son. Sometime after the contract was signed, The son informed the contractors that his bid on the poles had been too low, and that he was losing money on the job. A new contract was at once made at a higher figure. Not long after the new contract had been drawn up, a messenger came saying that Brigham Young wished to see the telegraph contractor. With considerable apprehension Creighton went to the home of the Mormon leader. Upon being ushered into the library, he introduced himself as the representative of the telegraph company. "Is it true that my son entered into . a contract with you to furnish poles for the telegraph?" inquired Young. "Yes, sir," replied Creighton. "Is it also true that the price agreed upon in this contract was subsequently raised?" Creighton nodded his assent. "Let me see those contracts," said Young. Creighton, taking the documents from his pocket, handed them over. After careful scrutiny Brigham Young crushed the new one in his hand and threw it into the fire. "The poles will be furnished by my son in accordance with the terms of the original contract," he said.[7] President Young received eleven thousand dollars in gold for the telegraph poles he had delivered and erected. After payment was received, Brigham made the following statement, "I did not touch that gold with my fingers or flesh until it was all paid in. ... I then delivered every dime of it over for tithing. I have not used one farthing of it for my own use."[8] President Young also received a gift of $10,000.00 in stock in the Overland Telegraph Company from its President, H. W. Carpentier.[9] Indicative of the importance which both eastern and western divisions of the transcontinental line attached to the assistance rendered by President Young and the Church were their requests that the Church President make the first communication upon the completion of each line in October 1861.[10] The eastern line was completed October 17, 1861[11] and the western line one week later. The first Salt Lake City office was a small adobe house on the east side of Main Street between First and Second South Streets. John Clowes was "imported" to Salt Lake City to manage its first office,[12] and it is interesting to note that he was so impressed with the Latter-day Saints and their religion that he joined the Church and became a staunch member. An important service of the Church to the Union during the war between the states was rendered in 1862 when, upon the telegraphic request of President Lincoln, April 28, 1862, a company of ninety men was raised to protect the property of the Overland Telegraph and Overland Mail Companies between Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie, Wyoming. With the blessings of the Church, this company, under Captain Lot Smith, was raised, outfitted, and on its way within three days.[13] The high cost of telegraphic service prohibited its widespread use for commercial purposes at first. A ten-word message from Salt Lake City to New York City cost $10.00 during the first week of operation, $7.50 for the next year or two, and $6.75 until 1869, after which the prevailing rate was $5.50. The charge had declined to $1.50 by 1880.[14] The contributions of the Church and its members to the telegraph industry did not end with the construction of the transcontinental line. On the very day communication was opened between Salt Lake City and the East, Brigham Young and the Church leadership were planning the construction of a north-south territorial line connecting all settlements, which was to run more than a thousand miles. This line became the Deseret State Telegraph. It was a Church sponsored cooperative project in which thousands of "temporal missionaries" played an important part in its creation and operation. It remained in the hands of the Saints until February 1900 when it was sold to Western Union. [1] Young, Levi Edgar. The Founding of Utah. Charles Schribner's Sons, New York, 1923, pp. 403-4. [2] Thompson, Robert Luther. Wiring a Continent: The History of the Telegraph Industry in the United States 1832-1866. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1947, p. 349. [3] L. D. S. Journal History, 27 Dec. 1860 [4] Thompson, op. cit., pp. 360-1. [5] Thompson, op. cit., p. 360. [6] Neff, Andrew Love. History of Utah 1847 to 1869. Edited and annotated by Leland Hargrave Creer. Salt Lake City: The Deseret News Press, 1940. p. 730 [7] Wilson, B. H., "Across the Prairies of Iowa," Palimpsest, August 1926, p. 249. [8] Journal History, 15 Dec 1861. [9] Journal History, 16 August 1861. [10] Copies of these communications may be found in the Journal History under the dates of 18 and 24 October 1861. [11] Though Thompson says 19 October. Op. cit., p. 366. [12] Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 1. Compiled by Kate B. Carter, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1947, p. 185. [13] Journal History, 28 April, 1 May 1862. [14] Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of Utah, 1540-1886. San Francisco: The History Company, Publishers, 1889, p. 771. Also Neff, op. eft., p. 730; Thompson, op. cit., p. 369; Deseret News, 28 Sept. 1869. |
Timber for the poles was obtained from Echo and Weber canyons and transported by ox team to points on the line as needed.
From an old print in Harper's Weekly, 1861.
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Hinckley, Bryant S. "Brigham Young as I Knew Him." Instructor. June 1956. pg. 163, 172.
Brigham Young as I Knew Him By Bryant S. Hinckley I WAS 10 years of age when Brigham Young died so I knew him only as a small boy would know a, man. He usually went to St. George, Utah, in the winter and returned to Salt Lake City in the spring, and always stayed with our family at Cove Fort both coming and going. This contact was not very frequent, but rather intimate. Careful preparations were always made to receive and entertain him. His carriage was driven into the fort and at night time the ponderous gates were closed for protection. He enjoyed coming to the fort, where he rested in peace and security. The last time I remember seeing him—which, no doubt, was his last trip from St. George —he gave my younger brother, Alonzo,[1] a red apple; but he had only one apple so he gave me, as I remember, a coin. My brother ate his apple, and I spent my coin. If I had only kept it, what a precious treasure it would be now. Usually quite a number of people accompanied the president — his secretary, members of his family and often some of the General Authorities of the Church. Strength of Character I have a rather distinct recollection of his appearance. He wore a beard, was about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed, I am told, about 190 pounds. He had a large head with a strong neck which rested firmly upon his broad shoulders, indicating great strength of character and capacity for doing things. He was always well-groomed and immaculate in his person. I remember one of his visits to Fillmore on his way to St. George. Men and boys of the town turned out and raked the broad and stoney streets with hand rakes. A delegation of leading citizens, with a brass band, welcomed him at the city limits and escorted his company to the State House on the public square. In December of 1872, President Young took with him as his guests to spend the winter at St. George, Col. and Mrs. Thomas L. Kane and their two small sons. Mrs. Kane, who was a writer of ability, wrote a description of the people they met and places they stayed on their journey. One night was spent at Cove Fort, and she writes some interesting things about the old fort. Among other things, she said there was in the family a little daughter two and one-half years old who was the most beautiful child she had ever seen. That child is now a woman 84 years of age. Among Greatest Colonizers In my mature years, long after the president had passed away, and when time had revealed the strength and greatness of his character, I saw him in a different light. Against the background of three-quarters of a century, Brigham Young stands revealed as one of the greatest pioneers and colonizers of all time. Since the days of Moses, no leader has surpassed him in these respects. Brigham Young was a rare combination of the practical and the spiritual. From the baking of bread to the building of an empire — he knew how it was done and could direct the people. At the same time, he had a clear and profound understanding of things spiritual. He talked about the spirit world with the freedom of one who had been there. He was a prophet. He prophesied, and his prophecies came to pass. He was a great preacher of righteousness and a remarkable leader of men. Seventy-three years after his death, a marble statue, chiseled by his gifted grandson, Mahonri Young, was placed in the rotunda of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. It was said of him at the time of the dedication of this statue that the marks of his genius were stamped on Western America, and he was appraised as one of the most outstanding men that the 19th century produced. Herbert Hoover, former president of the United States, said: "One of the finest communities in the whole United States sprung from Brigham's founding." George Bernard Shaw had this to say: "Brigham Young lived to become immortal in history as an American Moses by leading his people through the wilderness into an unpromised land." At the unveiling of this statue, Vice President Alben W. Barkley said: "Brigham Young was no less a builder of state than was Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers Clark, Lewis and Clark or John C. Fremont, because Brigham Young was not only a religious leader, he was a pioneer carrying throughout the plains, deserts, and the mountains and the valleys of the West the right of free worship, the right guaranteed under our Constitution, but he was also a statesman as well." This is President J. Reuben Clark's estimate of him: "Brigham Young — a pioneer unmatched in this whole hemisphere, a statesman with a planned intermountain commonwealth of empire proportions, a friend of the poor, a lover of his fellowmen, moving from Missouri the mob-driven and destitute Saints; an unexcelled leader of men, trekking his people a thousand miles over plains, through mountain vastnesses into barren valleys and holding them there intact while gold seekers eddied about and flowed through and past them; a spiritual giant, loved, honored, obeyed and trusted as in very deed the prophet, seer and revelator of his people."[2] Little did I think as a boy when I looked at him that I would sometime witness the unveiling of a splendid monument to his memory, a monument which stands at the head of Main Street, in the beautiful city which he founded, and that I would live to see his form in marble adorning the Hall of Fame in the United States Capitol — both of which will declare to unborn generations his matchless leadership. [1] Alonzo A. Hinckley was a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles from 1934 until his death in 1936. [2] Hinckley, Bryant S., The Faith of Our Pioneer Fathers, page 19. |
These massive gates at Cove Fort were opened wide in welcome to President Young and his party on their trips to St. George.
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"Missionary Helps: Brigham Young's Counsel to Elders." Improvement Era. May 1958. pg. 317.
Brigham Young's counsel to elders
No instructions to missionaries could be more pertinent and timely than these given by President Brigham Young, August 28, 1852. They are as applicable today as they were then:
"When I heard the brethren exhorting those who are going on missions, I wished them to impress one thing upon the minds of the elders, for it is necessary that it should be uppermost there, which may be the means of preserving them from receiving stains on their characters from which very probably they may never recover.
"If we get a blight on our character before the Lord, or in other words, lose ground and backslide by transgression, or in any other way, so that we are not even with the brethren, as we are now, we never can come up with them again. But this principle must be carried out by the elders wherever they go, whatever they do, or wherever they are.
"One thing must be observed and be before them all the time, in their meditations, and in their practise, and that is, clean hands and pure hearts, before God, angels, and men. If the elders cannot go with clean hands and pure hearts, they had better stay here, and wash a little longer; don't go thinking when you arrive at the Missouri River, at the Mississippi, at the Ohio, or at the Atlantic, that you will purify yourselves, but start from here with clean hands and pure hearts, and be pure from the crown of your heads to the soles of your feet, then live so every hour. Go in that manner, and in that manner labor, and return again as clean as a piece of pure, white paper. This is the way to go, and if you do not do that, your hearts will ache.
"How can you do it? Is there a way? Yes! Do the elders understand that way? They do. You cannot keep your hands clean, and your hearts pure, without the help of the Lord; neither will he keep you pure without your own help. Will you be liable to fall into temptation and be overtaken in sin? Yes, unless you live so as to have the revelation of Jesus Christ continually, not only to live in it today, or while you are preaching in a prayer meeting, or in a conference, but when you are out of the meetings.
"You must have the Holy Spirit all the time, on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every day through the week, and from year to year, from the time you leave home until you return, so that when you come back, you may not be afraid if the Lord Almighty should come into the midst of the Saints and reveal all the acts and doings and designs of your hearts in your missions, but be found clean like a piece of white paper: that is the way for the elders to live in their ministry at home and abroad." Era reprint from volume 15, page 869 (August 1912).
Brigham Young's counsel to elders
No instructions to missionaries could be more pertinent and timely than these given by President Brigham Young, August 28, 1852. They are as applicable today as they were then:
"When I heard the brethren exhorting those who are going on missions, I wished them to impress one thing upon the minds of the elders, for it is necessary that it should be uppermost there, which may be the means of preserving them from receiving stains on their characters from which very probably they may never recover.
"If we get a blight on our character before the Lord, or in other words, lose ground and backslide by transgression, or in any other way, so that we are not even with the brethren, as we are now, we never can come up with them again. But this principle must be carried out by the elders wherever they go, whatever they do, or wherever they are.
"One thing must be observed and be before them all the time, in their meditations, and in their practise, and that is, clean hands and pure hearts, before God, angels, and men. If the elders cannot go with clean hands and pure hearts, they had better stay here, and wash a little longer; don't go thinking when you arrive at the Missouri River, at the Mississippi, at the Ohio, or at the Atlantic, that you will purify yourselves, but start from here with clean hands and pure hearts, and be pure from the crown of your heads to the soles of your feet, then live so every hour. Go in that manner, and in that manner labor, and return again as clean as a piece of pure, white paper. This is the way to go, and if you do not do that, your hearts will ache.
"How can you do it? Is there a way? Yes! Do the elders understand that way? They do. You cannot keep your hands clean, and your hearts pure, without the help of the Lord; neither will he keep you pure without your own help. Will you be liable to fall into temptation and be overtaken in sin? Yes, unless you live so as to have the revelation of Jesus Christ continually, not only to live in it today, or while you are preaching in a prayer meeting, or in a conference, but when you are out of the meetings.
"You must have the Holy Spirit all the time, on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every day through the week, and from year to year, from the time you leave home until you return, so that when you come back, you may not be afraid if the Lord Almighty should come into the midst of the Saints and reveal all the acts and doings and designs of your hearts in your missions, but be found clean like a piece of white paper: that is the way for the elders to live in their ministry at home and abroad." Era reprint from volume 15, page 869 (August 1912).
Baker, Virginia. "Brigham Young, Leader of the Mormons." Instructor. April 1959. pg. 110-111.
BRIGHAM YOUNG, leader of the mormons[1] By Virginia Baker “SOME day Brigham Young will be the President of the Church," remarked the Prophet Joseph Smith. Brother Young's characteristics of leadership were that evident to the Prophet after their first meeting. Within 15 years, this prediction of Joseph Smith had been fulfilled, for Brigham Young became the second President of the Church. A few examples of his capacity for leadership are described below: He listened to others On Dec. 31, 1845, Brigham Young made the following entry in his journal: "Elder Heber C. Kimball and I superintended the operations in the temple, examined maps with reference to selecting a location for the Saints, west of the Rocky Mountains, and read various works written by travelers in those regions." Later, Brigham Young talked with travelers, scouts and mountain men so that he could have a better idea of the country through which he would be traveling. Certainly he relied on inspiration and revelation from God. Yet he knew he had to learn as much as possible about the land so that God could reveal to him which of the places was right. He delegated responsibility and authority When plans were being readied for the trek to Zion across the plains and into the mountains, Brigham Young organized the first wagon train into companies of 100 persons. He placed a captain in charge of each of these groups. Each captain was instructed to divide his company of 100 into groups of 50 and groups of 10. A captain was placed in charge of each of these small units. In this way responsibility for issuing instructions, keeping count and taking care of each person in the train was divided. With this organization, affairs of the train were under control at all times. He set an example The first pioneer wagon train was fully organized and equipped for departure. Because the Church leaders knew they were to settle somewhere in the Great Basin, it would have been easy for Brigham Young to stay with the main body of Saints at Winter Quarters and place another man in charge of that first company. Instead, President Young assumed command himself and took the responsibility of finding the right place in which to colonize. Later, he marked the spot for a temple to be built. Plans for the great immigration which was to follow became his direct responsibility. The task he undertook was carried to completion. President Young not only told the Saints what to do, but he showed them how and where. He planned with care and in detail After the first company of pioneers arrived in Great Salt Lake Valley, plans were expanded for Saints to be gathered in the surrounding mountain valleys. President Young knew that the coming thousands needed land for cultivation and sites for new communities, so scouts were assigned to travel much of the West in search of possible settlement sites. Meanwhile, missionaries were instructed to seek artisans who would immigrate to Zion, for their skills were needed. President Young included these craftsmen with the families called to pioneer a new area. The families selected had as wide a variety of talents as possible. He wanted each group to grow its own food, mill its own flour, make its own clothing and shoes, provide its own teachers for schools, create its own music. In addition, he wanted each settlement to supply something for the common good of the whole territory. Because of President Young's foresight, the area called Deseret grew according to plan and not by chance. He commanded the respect of others In 1857, word came to President Young that part of the Army of the United States under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnston was on its way to Utah. Its mission was to support the newly-appointed governor and federal judges and to "suppress rebellion among the Mormon people." The report of the so-called "rebellion" was an outright falsehood told to the President of the United States by enemies of the Church. The situation seemed to be a repeat of those times in Missouri and Illinois when federal troops called out to "protect" the Mormons gave no such protection. Upon hearing of the approach of General Johnston's armed force, Brigham Young said, "This people are free; they are not in bondage to any government on God's foot-stool. We have transgressed no law, neither do we intend to do so; but as for any nation coming to destroy this people, God Almighty being my helper, it shall not be."[2] Next, as Governor, he placed the territory under martial law, "forbidding all armed forces of every description from coming into the territory, under any pretense whatever." He ordered defenses built in Echo Canyon and led the people in plans for a "scorched-earth" departure from the valley. Fortunately, the next spring through the mediation of Col. Thomas L. Kane, the situation was settled. The new governor and judges were installed, and Johnston's Army marched quickly through the valley and camped some 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The Saints and their property were untouched. He had faith in God Brigham Young learned early that if he would put his trust in God, all would go well with him. An early entry in his journal cites this instance: "In the fall of 1833, many of the brethren had gathered to Kirtland. Not finding suitable employment and having some difficulty in getting their pay after they had labored, several went off to Willoughby, Painesville and Cleveland. I told them I had gathered to Kirtland because I was so directed by the prophet of God; and I was not going to Willoughby, Painesville, Cleveland nor anywhere else to build up the Gentiles. I was going to stay here and seek the things that pertained to the Kingdom of God by listening to the teachings of His servants; and I should work for my brethren and trust in God and then that I would be paid. "I labored for Brother Cahoon and finished his house; and, although he did not know he could pay me when I commenced, before I finished he had paid me in full. I then went to work for Father John Smith and others, who paid me; and I sustained myself in Kirtland. "When the brethren who had gone out to work for the Gentiles returned, I had means though some of them were scant." [1] For Course 7, June 28th lesson, "Brigham Young"; and for Course 11, May 24th lesson, "This Is the Place." [2] Whitney, Orson F., History of Utah, 1892 edition; George Q. Cannon and Sons Co., publishers; Salt Lake City, Utah; Volume I, page 606. |
""Brigham Young Meets Jim Bridger"." Instructor. June 1959. pg. 190.
“Brigham Young Meets Jim Bridger"[1]
THE STORY
When the pioneers reached South Pass the latter part of June, 1847, they were really in the land of the trappers and fur traders. South Pass was a "U" shaped opening into the mountains and had been discovered by William Ashley's trappers some twenty-three years before. From this area they had explored streams and valleys to the west while trapping beaver.
The pioneers were now on the Continental Divide and camped two miles west of the Divide at Pacific Springs. At this camp, on June 27, 1847, the Saints were visited by Major Moses Harris. He told them something about the Great Basin and added that there was a scarcity of timber, making it unfavorable to start a colony there. Shortly after Major Harris had gone, another trapper, Thomas L. Smith, known better as "Peg-leg" Smith, came with other trappers. "Peg-leg" was on his way east from Bear River, where he had a trading post in the vicinity of Soda Springs, Idaho. He advised the Saints to go northward from Fort Bridger into Cache Valley.
About five o'clock the next afternoon, June 28, 1847, the pioneers met three bearded trappers, one of whom was Jim Bridger — a man with great knowledge of the West. Brigham Young was anxious to meet him because it was believed that Jim Bridger had a greater acquaintance with the Great Salt Lake Valley than any other man in the Rocky Mountain region. President Young asked Bridger and his companions to stay overnight and hold counsel with the apostles.
Jim Bridger told President Young that it was unwise to bring a large population into the Great Basin until it was proven that grain could be raised there. The early frosts, he thought, would injure such crops. He gave favorable reports of the country to the north, Bear River Valley and to the south, near what is now called Utah Lake. Even though Brigham Young heard many unfavorable reports along with the other favorable ones, he and his band of pioneers pushed on toward their destination.
A year or so after the Saints reached the valley, Brigham Young said in a sermon: "The mountaineers never thought we could raise grain here. Mr. Bridger said he would give me one thousand dollars if he only knew we could raise an ear of corn. I knew in the Temple of Nauvoo that we could raise grain here."[2]
[1] For Course 7, lesson of June 28, "Brigham Young"; and for Course 11, lesson of September 27, "Pioneer Trail Blazing."
[2] “Extracts from Minutes on File in the Historian's Office," cited by A. William Lund, The Improvement Era, July, 1928.
“Brigham Young Meets Jim Bridger"[1]
THE STORY
When the pioneers reached South Pass the latter part of June, 1847, they were really in the land of the trappers and fur traders. South Pass was a "U" shaped opening into the mountains and had been discovered by William Ashley's trappers some twenty-three years before. From this area they had explored streams and valleys to the west while trapping beaver.
The pioneers were now on the Continental Divide and camped two miles west of the Divide at Pacific Springs. At this camp, on June 27, 1847, the Saints were visited by Major Moses Harris. He told them something about the Great Basin and added that there was a scarcity of timber, making it unfavorable to start a colony there. Shortly after Major Harris had gone, another trapper, Thomas L. Smith, known better as "Peg-leg" Smith, came with other trappers. "Peg-leg" was on his way east from Bear River, where he had a trading post in the vicinity of Soda Springs, Idaho. He advised the Saints to go northward from Fort Bridger into Cache Valley.
About five o'clock the next afternoon, June 28, 1847, the pioneers met three bearded trappers, one of whom was Jim Bridger — a man with great knowledge of the West. Brigham Young was anxious to meet him because it was believed that Jim Bridger had a greater acquaintance with the Great Salt Lake Valley than any other man in the Rocky Mountain region. President Young asked Bridger and his companions to stay overnight and hold counsel with the apostles.
Jim Bridger told President Young that it was unwise to bring a large population into the Great Basin until it was proven that grain could be raised there. The early frosts, he thought, would injure such crops. He gave favorable reports of the country to the north, Bear River Valley and to the south, near what is now called Utah Lake. Even though Brigham Young heard many unfavorable reports along with the other favorable ones, he and his band of pioneers pushed on toward their destination.
A year or so after the Saints reached the valley, Brigham Young said in a sermon: "The mountaineers never thought we could raise grain here. Mr. Bridger said he would give me one thousand dollars if he only knew we could raise an ear of corn. I knew in the Temple of Nauvoo that we could raise grain here."[2]
[1] For Course 7, lesson of June 28, "Brigham Young"; and for Course 11, lesson of September 27, "Pioneer Trail Blazing."
[2] “Extracts from Minutes on File in the Historian's Office," cited by A. William Lund, The Improvement Era, July, 1928.
Cannon, Lucy Grant. "Brigham Young and Heber J. Grant...They Met in the President's Sleigh." Instructor. September 1959. pg. 296-297.
BRIGHAM YOUNG AND HEBER J. GRANT... They met in the presidents sleigh
by Lucy Grant Cannon MY father (Heber J. Grant) was about 6 years old when he first became acquainted with President Brigham Young. The story of their meeting was one of our childhood favorites.[1]
They first met when Father had a sleigh ride with President Young. It was a beautiful sleigh with a handsome team of horses and a good coachman, Isaac Wilson, who loved to take the President for his afternoon drive. The runners of the sleigh protruded behind the body; and children would stand on them, hoping to catch a ride.
One day Father saw President Young's sleigh coming down the street. He ran out and took hold of the back of the sleigh, intending to ride a block or so on the runners and then drop off and walk home.
But Father did not know of Brother Isaac's driving. The coachman drove so swiftly that Father found himself unable to let go. It was not until all had reached the Cottonwoods, a ride of some five miles, that Brother Isaac slowed the team while crossing a creek and Father saw his opportunity to jump off.
President Young saw Father and called to Brother Isaac: "Stop, Brother Isaac, stop. The little boy is nearly frozen. Put him under the buffalo robe to get warm."
Father reports: "After I got warm, President Young inquired my name and then told me about my father and his love for him. He told me to tell my mother that he wanted her to send me up to his office in six months to have a visit with him. . ."
Grandmother saw to it that Father kept that appointment. Six months from that very day, Father was dressed in his best and went to President Young's office for an interview.
Father writes: " From that time until the day of his [President Young's] death, I was intimate with him. I was also intimate with one of his boys, Feramorz L. Young. We grew up together, we played together, we attended Sunday School together, we attended day school together."
In her book, One Who Was Valiant, Clarissa Young Spencer tells of Feramorz and Father making ice cream: "My brother, Feramorz, together with Richard W. Young and Heber J. Grant frequently used our laundry room to make ice cream. Each boy furnished part of the makings' and Mother showed them how to cook the custard, in which art they became quite expert. After it had cooled, they would put it into a pail with a tight lid, set this within a larger pail, and cover it with salt and ice. Then they would take turns twisting and turning the inner pail until the cream was frozen. Of course I never had any part in this procedure, but would sit on the back steps patiently watching and waiting until the lid was raised and a spoonful taken out for 'sampling.' I would usually get a chance to lick the spoon. . ."[2]
President Young's office adjoined the Lion House. It was in the Lion House that the Young family gathered for morning and evening prayers. At about 7 p.m. President Young would come from his office into the parlor of the Lion House. He would take out the large bell called the prayer bell, go to the door in the hall and ring the bell three times. The bell could be heard for some distance from the house. When it sounded, the family would begin to gather. The mothers each had a special place in the parlor where her children would gather around her. President Young would look around and ask about the children, and if any were absent, he inquired as to where they were.
Father reports: "As I say, I was familiar with the Prophet Brigham Young. I knelt down time and time again in his home in the Lion House at family prayers — as a child and as a young man. I bear witness that as a little child, upon more than one occasion, because of the inspiration of the Lord given to Brigham Young while he was supplicating God for guidance, I have lifted my head, turned and looked at the place where Brigham Young was praying to see if the Lord was not there. It seemed to me that he talked to the Lord as one man would talk to another. I can bear witness of his kindness, of his love to me as an individual, of his love of God and of the inspiration of the Lord that came to him as he stood where I am standing [General Conference, 1932], when I had the privilege of being in the audience and listening to his inspired words.
"The last interview I had with Brigham Young was on the very day he was taken sick. I met him coming out of his office with a cape on his arm and I said:
"'President Young, I was elected yesterday the assistant cashier of Zion's Savings Bank; and I have been told this morning that I must give a bond of twenty-five thousand dollars to vouch for my honesty. It occurs to me that it would be very appropriate and a nice thing for the president of the bank to sign the bond of the assistant cashier.'
"He smiled and said: "Heber, I have had a very strenuous day, and I am just going for a ride. I shall be glad to sign the bond. I do not see how I could get out of it because I said so many good things about you in the directors' meeting yesterday — about your honesty and integrity and favoring you for the job.'
"He came home, was taken sick and passed away. . . . During all those years of my acquaintance with him — fully fifteen — I learned to love and respect him as a man of God. . ."
From the time Father was 6 years of age until the time of the passing of Brigham Young, Father bore testimony to his knowledge that Brigham Young was chosen of the Lord to guide His Church. There never was any doubt in Father's mind that President Young was the rightful successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He declared publicly and privately that Brigham Young was a prayerful, humble, obedient man, endowed with all the gifts that make men great; that he was a servant of the Most High — a Prophet of the Living God.
[1] (For Course 7, lesson of November 8, "Our Parents," and lesson of November 15, "Our Ward and Stake Leaders"; for Course 1, lesson of November 8, "Our Family Prayers," arid lesson of December 6, "We Love Our Neighbors and Friends"; for Course 1a, lesson of October 25, "Our Friends and Neighbors"; and for Course 13, lesson of November 8, "Prayer.") Recorded in Gospel Standards, Heber J. Grant, 1942 edition; Deseret News Press, Salt Lake City, Utah; pages 222-225.
[2] Spencer, Clarissa Young, with Mabel Harmer, One Who Was Valiant, 1940 edition; The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho; page 47.
BRIGHAM YOUNG AND HEBER J. GRANT... They met in the presidents sleigh
by Lucy Grant Cannon MY father (Heber J. Grant) was about 6 years old when he first became acquainted with President Brigham Young. The story of their meeting was one of our childhood favorites.[1]
They first met when Father had a sleigh ride with President Young. It was a beautiful sleigh with a handsome team of horses and a good coachman, Isaac Wilson, who loved to take the President for his afternoon drive. The runners of the sleigh protruded behind the body; and children would stand on them, hoping to catch a ride.
One day Father saw President Young's sleigh coming down the street. He ran out and took hold of the back of the sleigh, intending to ride a block or so on the runners and then drop off and walk home.
But Father did not know of Brother Isaac's driving. The coachman drove so swiftly that Father found himself unable to let go. It was not until all had reached the Cottonwoods, a ride of some five miles, that Brother Isaac slowed the team while crossing a creek and Father saw his opportunity to jump off.
President Young saw Father and called to Brother Isaac: "Stop, Brother Isaac, stop. The little boy is nearly frozen. Put him under the buffalo robe to get warm."
Father reports: "After I got warm, President Young inquired my name and then told me about my father and his love for him. He told me to tell my mother that he wanted her to send me up to his office in six months to have a visit with him. . ."
Grandmother saw to it that Father kept that appointment. Six months from that very day, Father was dressed in his best and went to President Young's office for an interview.
Father writes: " From that time until the day of his [President Young's] death, I was intimate with him. I was also intimate with one of his boys, Feramorz L. Young. We grew up together, we played together, we attended Sunday School together, we attended day school together."
In her book, One Who Was Valiant, Clarissa Young Spencer tells of Feramorz and Father making ice cream: "My brother, Feramorz, together with Richard W. Young and Heber J. Grant frequently used our laundry room to make ice cream. Each boy furnished part of the makings' and Mother showed them how to cook the custard, in which art they became quite expert. After it had cooled, they would put it into a pail with a tight lid, set this within a larger pail, and cover it with salt and ice. Then they would take turns twisting and turning the inner pail until the cream was frozen. Of course I never had any part in this procedure, but would sit on the back steps patiently watching and waiting until the lid was raised and a spoonful taken out for 'sampling.' I would usually get a chance to lick the spoon. . ."[2]
President Young's office adjoined the Lion House. It was in the Lion House that the Young family gathered for morning and evening prayers. At about 7 p.m. President Young would come from his office into the parlor of the Lion House. He would take out the large bell called the prayer bell, go to the door in the hall and ring the bell three times. The bell could be heard for some distance from the house. When it sounded, the family would begin to gather. The mothers each had a special place in the parlor where her children would gather around her. President Young would look around and ask about the children, and if any were absent, he inquired as to where they were.
Father reports: "As I say, I was familiar with the Prophet Brigham Young. I knelt down time and time again in his home in the Lion House at family prayers — as a child and as a young man. I bear witness that as a little child, upon more than one occasion, because of the inspiration of the Lord given to Brigham Young while he was supplicating God for guidance, I have lifted my head, turned and looked at the place where Brigham Young was praying to see if the Lord was not there. It seemed to me that he talked to the Lord as one man would talk to another. I can bear witness of his kindness, of his love to me as an individual, of his love of God and of the inspiration of the Lord that came to him as he stood where I am standing [General Conference, 1932], when I had the privilege of being in the audience and listening to his inspired words.
"The last interview I had with Brigham Young was on the very day he was taken sick. I met him coming out of his office with a cape on his arm and I said:
"'President Young, I was elected yesterday the assistant cashier of Zion's Savings Bank; and I have been told this morning that I must give a bond of twenty-five thousand dollars to vouch for my honesty. It occurs to me that it would be very appropriate and a nice thing for the president of the bank to sign the bond of the assistant cashier.'
"He smiled and said: "Heber, I have had a very strenuous day, and I am just going for a ride. I shall be glad to sign the bond. I do not see how I could get out of it because I said so many good things about you in the directors' meeting yesterday — about your honesty and integrity and favoring you for the job.'
"He came home, was taken sick and passed away. . . . During all those years of my acquaintance with him — fully fifteen — I learned to love and respect him as a man of God. . ."
From the time Father was 6 years of age until the time of the passing of Brigham Young, Father bore testimony to his knowledge that Brigham Young was chosen of the Lord to guide His Church. There never was any doubt in Father's mind that President Young was the rightful successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He declared publicly and privately that Brigham Young was a prayerful, humble, obedient man, endowed with all the gifts that make men great; that he was a servant of the Most High — a Prophet of the Living God.
[1] (For Course 7, lesson of November 8, "Our Parents," and lesson of November 15, "Our Ward and Stake Leaders"; for Course 1, lesson of November 8, "Our Family Prayers," arid lesson of December 6, "We Love Our Neighbors and Friends"; for Course 1a, lesson of October 25, "Our Friends and Neighbors"; and for Course 13, lesson of November 8, "Prayer.") Recorded in Gospel Standards, Heber J. Grant, 1942 edition; Deseret News Press, Salt Lake City, Utah; pages 222-225.
[2] Spencer, Clarissa Young, with Mabel Harmer, One Who Was Valiant, 1940 edition; The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho; page 47.
Widtsoe, Leah D. "I Remember Brigham Young." Improvement Era. June 1961. pg. 384-385, 449.
“I Remember Brigham Young”
By Leah D. Widtsoe
Soon after the Mormon pioneers settled in the barren wastes which were then called the "Great American Desert," they built what to them was a large comfortable building to be used for local dramatics and socials of all sorts. It was known as the Social Hall. Among the belongings of the first companies as they came in their covered wagons with ox-teams across the plains was a good-sized bust of William Shakespeare. This was placed in the center of the proscenium arch which separated the stage from the auditorium.
Later the Saints built a larger and most creditable building—the Salt Lake Theatre—which was known and loved by the people, next to their homes and churches, or meetinghouses, as they were called. The pioneers were fond of the drama, and it became one of the favorite amusements of the people of that day. Soon after the settlement of the pioneers in these valleys, gold was discovered in California and by that time San Francisco had become a growing city on the West Coast. The "gold rush" was on, and great numbers of companies passed through Salt Lake City on their way to the Golden Gate and the fortunes which they dreamed were awaiting them at their journey's end. Among these traveling groups, occasional troupes of dramatic performers from the East would break the long journey by staying over a few nights and playing in the great Salt Lake Theatre.
Brigham Young was especially fond of the drama and was indeed a patron of the art. He encouraged the people also in home performances, because he felt that many valuable life lessons may be learned thereby as well as from sermons and exhortations.
The "My Fair Lady" of that day, a play which was known from coast to coast and about which everybody was talking and wishing to see was a play called "Leah, the Forsaken." It was the story of a Jewish girl and her great trials and final triumphs.
I was named Leah in honor of my paternal grandmother. One day when I was a little girl about three and one half years old, and shortly before the death of my grandfather, Brigham Young, my mother said to me:
"How would you like to go and see your grandfather? Would you like to go with mother today to see him?"
Naturally little girls like to go anywhere! So mother "dolled me up" in a sparkling white "Swiss" dress with a pale blue sash and blue ribbons in my very blond hair and took me by the hand up to the Lion House, where my grandfather lived.
As we entered the door of his room, Grandfather was sitting by a table working over some papers. He looked up and noticed his daughter and the little yellow-haired girl with the very rosy cheeks and the big blue eyes, and greeted us with these words:
"Ah, Susie, and here is my little 'Leah, the Forsaken,' only she is not forsaken, for she comes with her mother who I am sure loves her and whom she loves." And with that he rose and came to where we were standing and picked me up to give me a kiss of welcome. I looked at him—an old man unknown to me—and I drew back and refused to kiss him.
"Kiss your grandfather!" said my mother; but no response came from the little girl.
Again came the command more sharply:
"Kiss your grandfather, I tell you!" but I refused flatly. With that my grandfather put me down, and Mother, who was a bit nonplussed, took me by the hand rather harshly and started out of the room where she was going to give me a lesson, as she thought, in good behavior. She said:
"I'll teach you to kiss your grandfather when he asks you!" As she started to take me out of the room to give me "what for," my grandfather said to her:
"Just a minute, Susie, just a minute! I learned a long time ago never to try to make a child do something that I know it won't do." With that remark he again rose from his chair.
Now, all that I have related above I do not remember. My mother has told me about it. But, this I do remember!
I can still see him as he rose from his chair going to a front window in the room, pulling back the red velvet drapery and the white Nottingham lace curtains which hung there and taking from a little tin box on the window sill a piece of candy—a brown square which was called "horehound candy" at that time. Candy was not as plentiful in those days as it is now, and I suppose my eyes began to twinkle as I saw the piece of candy in Grandfather's hand. He held it up temptingly, put it on the table, and with his cane, which stood by his chair, pushed it slowly over to where I was standing. I took the candy as it drew near and, childlike, began to eat it.
With that he asked me: "Do you like candy?" and I nodded my head. Then a little conversation began. He was down to my level, and we were getting acquainted.
"Who made your pretty dress?" he asked.
"My mommie," I answered.
"And that lovely blue sash?" and I patted it as my eyes beamed.
Then he asked about my golden curls and the ribbons in my hair and other things that I could understand. We were becoming friends. We visited, and I discovered that he was a kind grandpa who gave candy to little girls and who also took time to chat with them about things they could understand. When my mother's errand was completed and we started to go, Grandfather rose and this time took me in his arms without my objection, and I willingly kissed him, because I knew him.
That is the only memory of a little girl of her illustrious grandfather; but it is a choice memory one that has been a lesson to me all my life and has helped me in the guidance of my own children, my grandchildren, and now of my great-grandchildren. It shows one of the traits of character which made Brigham Young a successful leader of men from many nations and conditions and backgrounds into builders of the so-called "Empire in the West." He was truly a great* leader of men as well as a great pioneer. It was his gift to understand people.
As the years went by and I grew to young womanhood, my mother and I became friends and co-workers, as well as loved companions. She possessed, to a great degree, many of the gifts of her father, one of which was the gift of expression both of the spoken and the written word. Many of the memories she had of her father she would write down and in time decided to write a book about his life and accomplishments in building a civilization in the West.
Her busy pen was used in the founding of a magazine for young women called the Young Woman's Journal, which she afterward presented to the YLMIA. In time I noticed that she was no longer writing about her father. One day I said to her:
"Mother, what about the book about your father? Aren't you writing it anymore?" She replied, "No, he is too big for me. In other words, I'm not big enough to grasp his greatness and portray it as I should." She said further, "If you are standing beside a mountain, you can't really describe the mountain for you're too near to see it."
"Nevertheless," said I, "you have it to do. Someday you must write that book about your father, and I'll be glad to help you with it."
The time came, when in working over her manuscript, I came across "Nevertheless," said I, "you have it to do. Someday you must write that book about your father, and I'll be glad to help you with it."
The time came, when in working over her manuscript, I came across a statement in one of her chapters in which she said that she had never heard her father speak a harsh word to one of his children. I said to her:
"Mother, I think you have forgotten. I don't believe any man could be the father of such a large family without having occasion to speak harshly at times to some of his children. You mustn't try to make your father a perfect man, or it won't be a good biography. There was only one perfect man, you know, who ever lived on this earth. Your father was a great man with great gifts, but being human he must have had some great faults."
"Well," she said, "I do not mean to imply that we were perfect children who never needed correction or discipline. All I can say is that I never heard him speak harshly to one of us in front of the others."
About two weeks after this conversation, mother invited all of her living brothers and sisters to her home; and after dinner repeated the conversation I had had with her regarding the statement which I have quoted above. Then she asked each one of them in turn if he ever heard his father speak harshly to one of the other children. Not one of them answered in the affirmative. Some of them said that they had memories of being disciplined by their father as they needed it, but he never did it in front of anybody else. He never gave them the humiliation of correcting or punishing them before the other children or before the family or strangers. He took them aside, then or later, and in his kind, fatherly way told them what he felt they had coming to them in the way of correction or discipline. So I had to let her original statements remain in the book, which was later published as The Life Story of Brigham Young by his daughter Susa Young Gates.
Many years later while I was gathering data for a brief history of his life and times, called Brigham Young, the Man of the Hour, I came across his own words in regard to this subject. In one of his sermons he made this statement:
"I will relate a little of my course and experience in my family. I have a large family of children, many of them small, and yet I do not think that you ever saw even four children in one family live together with so little contention. Watch them, and their conduct will prove that there is a good spirit influencing them. I never knew one of them to be accidentally hurt, without more sympathy being extended to that one than the whole of them needed. You may ask how I manage to bring this result. I seldom give a child a cross word; I seldom give a wife a cross word; and I tell my wives never to give a child cause to doubt their word."
My mother has said in speaking of her father: "The world knows Brigham Young as a statesman and colonizer, but to his children he was an ideal father—kind to a fault, tender, thoughtful, just, and firm. He spoke but once and none were so daring as to disobey. That his memory is almost worshipped by all who bear his name is an eloquent tribute to his character. None of us feared him; all of us adored him." Brigham Young considered children as persons to be loved and cherished and guided; not as possessions to be punished or played with as suits the whim or the physical condition of the parents at the moment. Never were his children made to feel insecure or unloved. Children to him were persons as distinct and independent as any of the neighbors or friends of the family, and they were treated as such. They had rules to follow and were taught to respect the rights of others, but they had rights and privileges which were theirs and which the children themselves were to develop under the guidance of wise and loving parents.
One of his practices was: "No child should ever be punished while the parent is angry. The parent should wait until he is calm and over the annoyance or anger which might have been caused by a thoughtless or even intentional act of a small child, who has to learn slowly how to control his own temper and acts."
“I Remember Brigham Young”
By Leah D. Widtsoe
Soon after the Mormon pioneers settled in the barren wastes which were then called the "Great American Desert," they built what to them was a large comfortable building to be used for local dramatics and socials of all sorts. It was known as the Social Hall. Among the belongings of the first companies as they came in their covered wagons with ox-teams across the plains was a good-sized bust of William Shakespeare. This was placed in the center of the proscenium arch which separated the stage from the auditorium.
Later the Saints built a larger and most creditable building—the Salt Lake Theatre—which was known and loved by the people, next to their homes and churches, or meetinghouses, as they were called. The pioneers were fond of the drama, and it became one of the favorite amusements of the people of that day. Soon after the settlement of the pioneers in these valleys, gold was discovered in California and by that time San Francisco had become a growing city on the West Coast. The "gold rush" was on, and great numbers of companies passed through Salt Lake City on their way to the Golden Gate and the fortunes which they dreamed were awaiting them at their journey's end. Among these traveling groups, occasional troupes of dramatic performers from the East would break the long journey by staying over a few nights and playing in the great Salt Lake Theatre.
Brigham Young was especially fond of the drama and was indeed a patron of the art. He encouraged the people also in home performances, because he felt that many valuable life lessons may be learned thereby as well as from sermons and exhortations.
The "My Fair Lady" of that day, a play which was known from coast to coast and about which everybody was talking and wishing to see was a play called "Leah, the Forsaken." It was the story of a Jewish girl and her great trials and final triumphs.
I was named Leah in honor of my paternal grandmother. One day when I was a little girl about three and one half years old, and shortly before the death of my grandfather, Brigham Young, my mother said to me:
"How would you like to go and see your grandfather? Would you like to go with mother today to see him?"
Naturally little girls like to go anywhere! So mother "dolled me up" in a sparkling white "Swiss" dress with a pale blue sash and blue ribbons in my very blond hair and took me by the hand up to the Lion House, where my grandfather lived.
As we entered the door of his room, Grandfather was sitting by a table working over some papers. He looked up and noticed his daughter and the little yellow-haired girl with the very rosy cheeks and the big blue eyes, and greeted us with these words:
"Ah, Susie, and here is my little 'Leah, the Forsaken,' only she is not forsaken, for she comes with her mother who I am sure loves her and whom she loves." And with that he rose and came to where we were standing and picked me up to give me a kiss of welcome. I looked at him—an old man unknown to me—and I drew back and refused to kiss him.
"Kiss your grandfather!" said my mother; but no response came from the little girl.
Again came the command more sharply:
"Kiss your grandfather, I tell you!" but I refused flatly. With that my grandfather put me down, and Mother, who was a bit nonplussed, took me by the hand rather harshly and started out of the room where she was going to give me a lesson, as she thought, in good behavior. She said:
"I'll teach you to kiss your grandfather when he asks you!" As she started to take me out of the room to give me "what for," my grandfather said to her:
"Just a minute, Susie, just a minute! I learned a long time ago never to try to make a child do something that I know it won't do." With that remark he again rose from his chair.
Now, all that I have related above I do not remember. My mother has told me about it. But, this I do remember!
I can still see him as he rose from his chair going to a front window in the room, pulling back the red velvet drapery and the white Nottingham lace curtains which hung there and taking from a little tin box on the window sill a piece of candy—a brown square which was called "horehound candy" at that time. Candy was not as plentiful in those days as it is now, and I suppose my eyes began to twinkle as I saw the piece of candy in Grandfather's hand. He held it up temptingly, put it on the table, and with his cane, which stood by his chair, pushed it slowly over to where I was standing. I took the candy as it drew near and, childlike, began to eat it.
With that he asked me: "Do you like candy?" and I nodded my head. Then a little conversation began. He was down to my level, and we were getting acquainted.
"Who made your pretty dress?" he asked.
"My mommie," I answered.
"And that lovely blue sash?" and I patted it as my eyes beamed.
Then he asked about my golden curls and the ribbons in my hair and other things that I could understand. We were becoming friends. We visited, and I discovered that he was a kind grandpa who gave candy to little girls and who also took time to chat with them about things they could understand. When my mother's errand was completed and we started to go, Grandfather rose and this time took me in his arms without my objection, and I willingly kissed him, because I knew him.
That is the only memory of a little girl of her illustrious grandfather; but it is a choice memory one that has been a lesson to me all my life and has helped me in the guidance of my own children, my grandchildren, and now of my great-grandchildren. It shows one of the traits of character which made Brigham Young a successful leader of men from many nations and conditions and backgrounds into builders of the so-called "Empire in the West." He was truly a great* leader of men as well as a great pioneer. It was his gift to understand people.
As the years went by and I grew to young womanhood, my mother and I became friends and co-workers, as well as loved companions. She possessed, to a great degree, many of the gifts of her father, one of which was the gift of expression both of the spoken and the written word. Many of the memories she had of her father she would write down and in time decided to write a book about his life and accomplishments in building a civilization in the West.
Her busy pen was used in the founding of a magazine for young women called the Young Woman's Journal, which she afterward presented to the YLMIA. In time I noticed that she was no longer writing about her father. One day I said to her:
"Mother, what about the book about your father? Aren't you writing it anymore?" She replied, "No, he is too big for me. In other words, I'm not big enough to grasp his greatness and portray it as I should." She said further, "If you are standing beside a mountain, you can't really describe the mountain for you're too near to see it."
"Nevertheless," said I, "you have it to do. Someday you must write that book about your father, and I'll be glad to help you with it."
The time came, when in working over her manuscript, I came across "Nevertheless," said I, "you have it to do. Someday you must write that book about your father, and I'll be glad to help you with it."
The time came, when in working over her manuscript, I came across a statement in one of her chapters in which she said that she had never heard her father speak a harsh word to one of his children. I said to her:
"Mother, I think you have forgotten. I don't believe any man could be the father of such a large family without having occasion to speak harshly at times to some of his children. You mustn't try to make your father a perfect man, or it won't be a good biography. There was only one perfect man, you know, who ever lived on this earth. Your father was a great man with great gifts, but being human he must have had some great faults."
"Well," she said, "I do not mean to imply that we were perfect children who never needed correction or discipline. All I can say is that I never heard him speak harshly to one of us in front of the others."
About two weeks after this conversation, mother invited all of her living brothers and sisters to her home; and after dinner repeated the conversation I had had with her regarding the statement which I have quoted above. Then she asked each one of them in turn if he ever heard his father speak harshly to one of the other children. Not one of them answered in the affirmative. Some of them said that they had memories of being disciplined by their father as they needed it, but he never did it in front of anybody else. He never gave them the humiliation of correcting or punishing them before the other children or before the family or strangers. He took them aside, then or later, and in his kind, fatherly way told them what he felt they had coming to them in the way of correction or discipline. So I had to let her original statements remain in the book, which was later published as The Life Story of Brigham Young by his daughter Susa Young Gates.
Many years later while I was gathering data for a brief history of his life and times, called Brigham Young, the Man of the Hour, I came across his own words in regard to this subject. In one of his sermons he made this statement:
"I will relate a little of my course and experience in my family. I have a large family of children, many of them small, and yet I do not think that you ever saw even four children in one family live together with so little contention. Watch them, and their conduct will prove that there is a good spirit influencing them. I never knew one of them to be accidentally hurt, without more sympathy being extended to that one than the whole of them needed. You may ask how I manage to bring this result. I seldom give a child a cross word; I seldom give a wife a cross word; and I tell my wives never to give a child cause to doubt their word."
My mother has said in speaking of her father: "The world knows Brigham Young as a statesman and colonizer, but to his children he was an ideal father—kind to a fault, tender, thoughtful, just, and firm. He spoke but once and none were so daring as to disobey. That his memory is almost worshipped by all who bear his name is an eloquent tribute to his character. None of us feared him; all of us adored him." Brigham Young considered children as persons to be loved and cherished and guided; not as possessions to be punished or played with as suits the whim or the physical condition of the parents at the moment. Never were his children made to feel insecure or unloved. Children to him were persons as distinct and independent as any of the neighbors or friends of the family, and they were treated as such. They had rules to follow and were taught to respect the rights of others, but they had rights and privileges which were theirs and which the children themselves were to develop under the guidance of wise and loving parents.
One of his practices was: "No child should ever be punished while the parent is angry. The parent should wait until he is calm and over the annoyance or anger which might have been caused by a thoughtless or even intentional act of a small child, who has to learn slowly how to control his own temper and acts."
Nibley, Preston. "The Last Days of President Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. October 1961. pg. 644-650.
The Last Days of President Brigham Young Part I Preston Nibley Assistant Church Historian AT the conclusion of the Semi- Annual Conference of the Church, held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, on October 8, 1876, President Brigham Young announced that the next General Conference, due to convene on April 6, 1877, would be held in the Temple at St. George" ( J. H., October 8, 1876). The St. George Temple was nearing completion, and the President planned to spend the winter there supervising the work. He, no doubt, felt that it would be stimulating to the saints to see the new building and meet within its walls. On November 1, 1877, President Young, accompanied by a number of Church officials, departed from Salt Lake City, by train, for York, in Juab County. At York, which was the end of the railroad line, they continued the journey with horses and carriages, for eight days, until they reached St. George on November 9th, a distance of approximately 340 miles southwest of Salt Lake. On his arrival, the President moved into his new home — a home which stands to this day and is viewed by many tourists who travel through the southern country. The work on the temple was progressing in a satisfactory manner. On January 1, 1877, President called the saints together, and the lower part of the building was dedicated ''for ordinance work." On that occasion he said: I will say a few encouraging things to the Latter-day Saints. We that are here are enjoying a privilege, that we have no knowledge of any other people enjoying since the days of Adam — to have a Temple completed, wherein all the ordinances of the House of God can be bestowed upon His people. ... All the angels in Heaven are looking at this little handful of people and stimulating them to the salvation of the human family (J. H., January 1, 1877). By April 1, 1877, the ''finishing work" in the temple had been so far completed that the great building was ready for dedication. Members of the Church began to arrive in St. George from all directions. My own dear father, Charles W. Nibley, then twenty-eight years of age, made his way from Logan City, in northern Utah, to St. George, to attend this dedicatory service. Many times I have discussed the events of that occasion with him. Meetings were held for three days and at the opening session the President bore a powerful testimony to the Saints: I would like to say a great deal during this Conference, to the Latter-day Saints, but I shall be able to talk but little, and therefore when I do speak I wish you to listen, and this I believe you will do. . . . We have no business here other than to build up and establish the Zion of our God. . . . This is the work of God, that marvelous work and a wonder, referred to by ancient men of God, who saw it in its incipiency, as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, but which rolled and gathered strength and magnitude, until it filled the whole earth. We will continue to grow, to increase and spread abroad, and the powers of earth and hell combined cannot hinder it. All who are found opposing God and his people will be swept away, and their names forgotten in the earth. And as the Prophets Joseph and Hyrum were murdered, and as they massacred our brethren and sisters in Missouri, so they would have served us years and years ago, if they had had the power to do so. But the Lord Almighty has said, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther," and hence we are spared to carry on his work. We are in His hands; the nations of the earth are in His hands; He rules in the midst of the armies of Heaven, and executes His pleasure on the earth; the hearts of all living are in his hands, and He turns them as the rivers of water are turned (J. H., April 6, 1877). AT the concluding session, the President left his blessings with the people. God bless you. I pray my Father in Heaven to bless my brethren, the Apostles, the High Priests, the Seventies, the Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons. I pray God to bless you, my brethren and sisters, who have come here to give us sweet melody, and I feel to bless every one of the good and honest in heart, all over the earth, and pray that they may receive the truth in their hearts and be gathered with Israel. I ask my Heavenly Father to grant all that has been asked by my brethren in these meetings, and that he will let his spirit rest upon this house, that his angels may visit, and his spirit rest upon those who shall come into this house to labor for themselves or for their dead. ... I feel to bless every one of you, and I do it by virtue of the authority which is in me, and in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen (J. H., April 8, 1877). He also referred to the condition of his health. As to my health, I feel many times that I could not live an hour longer, but I mean to live just as long as I can. I know not how soon the messenger will call for me, but I calculate to die in the harness (J. H., April 6, 1877). President Young was now nearing his seventy-sixth birthday, and he felt the weight of his years. But there were so many things that he wanted to do; he had to crowd them into the remaining months of his life. He told the brethren that on his return trip to Salt Lake City, he wanted to stop at Manti and dedicate a site for a temple there. The President and party left St. George on April 16, 1877, and traveling leisurely, they reached Manti on the 24th. The next day they ascended the hill north and east of the city and dedicated the site for the Manti Temple. The President knelt upon the ground as he offered the prayer. Here is one paragraph, revealing his fervent words and the deep feelings of his heart. We ask thee Holy Father to receive our thanks, and to accept of us at this time, that what we do and say may come up before the Lord as an acceptable offering. We dedicate to thee this ground on which we now are, which has been chosen for Temple purposes. We dedicate the mountain itself and the valley round about, to the name and service of the Lord. . . . We also dedicate unto thee the habitations of thy people, that they may be the sanctuaries of peace and happiness. But especially do we dedicate unto thee this ground, on the southeast corner of which we now kneel, for the purpose of building a Temple to thy most holy name, and we ask that it may be made holy, that the rock and the soil and every part and portion of it may be sanctified for this purpose (J. H., April 25, 1877). The President did not propose to pay wages to anyone in the building of the Manti Temple. After the dedicatory prayer he explained this to the people who were present. We intend building this Temple for ourselves, and we are abundantly able to do it; therefore no man need come here to work, expecting wages for his services. The neighboring settlements will send their men, and they can be changed whenever, and as often as desirable; and they can get credit on Labor Tithing or Donation Account for their services, and we expect them to work until this Temple is completed, without asking for wages. It is not in keeping with the character of Saints to make the building of Temples a matter of merchandise (J. H., April 25, 1877). Leaving Manti immediately after the dedication of the temple site, the President and party drove to Nephi. The following day they continued on to York in Juab County, and from there they journeyed by rail to Salt Lake City. The President had been absent from the headquarters of the Church a little more than five months. THE principal work which President Young now planned for the remainder of the spring and summer was to set in order the stakes of Zion and see that all were working harmoniously together. Therefore, important conferences, one after another, were called. The first was held in Salt Lake City on May 12th and 13th, in the new Tabernacle. One week later on May 19th and 20th, an organization of Cache Stake at Logan was effected, with Moses Thatcher as president, and William B. Preston and Milton D. Hammond as counselors. On May 24th a special conference was called at Ogden, and the city was divided into four wards. Also, outlying settlements of Weber County were all completely organized under their respective bishopries. All this was done under the immediate supervision and direction of President Young, now approaching his seventy-sixth birthday. In writing to Joseph F. Smith in England, under date of June 6th, the President reported as follows: Since you left we have organized stakes in Cache, Weber and Utah Counties, and next Saturday we hope to be in Brigham City, and the next weeks following at Farmington and Tooele. We shall then most probably go down into Sanpete County and so continue until we have organized the Latter-day Saints throughout these valleys, so that all can be known and looked after (M. S. 39, page 444). Again, in a letter to Elder Joseph F. Smith, under date of July 12th, he reported that: With a few of the brethren I started on June 29th to visit the Saints in Juab and Sanpete Counties, and returned on the 10th inst. We had a very enjoyable trip, though the weather was exceedingly hot and the roads excessively dusty. In both counties we organized stakes of Zion, Elder George Teasdale of Salt Lake City being sustained as the president of Juab Stake, and Bishop Canute Peterson of Sanpete County. We found a good spirit prevailing and are well satisfied with our labors during our absence (M. S. 39, page 524). On July 24, 1877, thousands of Sunday School children gathered in the new Tabernacle at Salt Lake City to participate in a pioneer celebration. Among others, President Young addressed them and gave them a splendid recital of the pioneer journey. Exactly thirty years today, myself, with others, came out of what we named Emigration Canyon. We crossed the Big and Little Mountains, and came down into the valley about three quarters of a mile south of this. We located and we looked about and finally we came and camped between the two forks of City Creek, one of which ran southwest and the other west. Here we planted our standard, on this Temple Block and the one above it; here we pitched our camps and determined that we would stop and settle. Children, we are the Pioneers of this country, with one exception, west of the Mississippi river; we established the first printing press in every state from here to the Pacific Ocean, and we were the first to establish libraries, and the first to establish good schools; we were the first to plant our orchards, and to improve the desert country, making it like the Garden of Eden (J. H., July 24, 1877). On Sunday, August 19th, the President was in attendance at a conference in Brigham City, where ''under a large bowery," he addressed a congregation of ''at least two thousand five hundred people." The Box Elder Stake was organized, with Oliver G. Snow as president and Elijah Box and Isaac Smith as counselors. On Monday, President Young and the visiting brethren returned by train to Salt Lake City. THROUGHOUT the Thursday following, while working in his office, the President complained of a feeling of nausea. At eleven o'clock at night, on retiring, he was seized with a severe attack of "cholera morbus" which continued until five o'clock in the morning, when, to relieve his suffering, a mild opiate was administered by Dr. F. D. Benedict and Dr. Seymour B. Young, who had been called to his bedside during the night. All day Friday he was in considerable pain, "but endured it cheerfully, and occasionally made humorous remarks when he saw those about him inclined to be troubled." On Saturday afternoon "inflammation of the bowels" set in. He slept fitfully during the night and frequently moaned in his sleep. When asked if he suffered great pain, he replied, "No, I don't know that I do." On Sunday and Monday he seemed to revive somewhat, "being frequently administered to by some of his brethren," but on Monday evening he sank into a comatose condition, from which it was difficult to arouse him. At four o'clock Tuesday morning, "he sank down in bed, apparently lifeless." Artificial respiration was immediately resorted to, and "hot poultices were placed over the heart to stimulate action." For nine consecutive hours artificial respiration was continued. At that time he seemed greatly revived and spoke to those around him, saying he felt better and wished to rest. On Wednesday, August 29th, it was apparent to anxious watchers at his bedside, that the end was near. His last words, as he gazed fixedly upwards were, "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph," as though he communed with his beloved Prophet. At one minute past four o'clock in the afternoon, his breathing ceased, his great heart was stilled. The mortal life of one of God's noblest sons had come to an end. Note: Part II will appear in a future issue of The Relief Society Magazine. |
Photograph Courtesy of the Church Historian's Office
THE LION HOUSE As it appeared about the time of Brigham Young's death Photograph by C. R. Savage
BRIGHAM YOUNG Photograph taken on his seventy-fifth birthday Photograph Courtesy of the Church Historian's Office
THE ST. GEORGE TEMPLE IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION 1876-1877 Site Dedicated November 9, 1871 Temple Dedicated April 6, 1877 Photograph Courtesy of the Church Historian's Office
THE MANTI TEMPLE IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION Note the pioneer homes and fences, the young Lombardy poplars, and the terraced hill. Site Dedicated April 25, 1877 Temple Dedicated May 21, 1888 Don Busath for Hal Rumel
ROOM IN THE LION HOUSE Showing the corner of the room in which Brigham Young died, as it is furnished today, with authentic pioneer furniture. |
Nibley, Preston. "He Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith--President Brigham Young." Relief Society Magazine. June 1963. pg. 410-411.
He Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith Part I — President Brigham Young Preston Nibley, Assistant Church Historian BRIGHAM Young was born at Whitingham, Vermont, June 1, 1801. He was the ninth of eleven children born to John and Abigale Howe Young. The family was poor and Brigham did not have an opportunity to attend school; the total time that he attended school was only ''eleven days.'' When Brigham Young reached the age of fourteen, his mother died, and from that time on he made his way alone. He went to work and gradually learned the carpenter's trade. At the age of twenty-three he was married to Miriam Works of Port Byron, New York. In 1829 they were living in Mendon, New York, the parents of two daughters. A copy of The Book of Mormon, printed in Palmyra, New York, in his hands. He believed what he read and was baptized and became a member of the Church. Due to his diligence as a member of the Church, his rise was rapid. In 1835, he was chosen as a member of the first Quorum of Twelve Apostles; in 1841 he was made the President of the Twelve, and in 1848, after the death of Joseph Smith, he became the President of the Church. During the twenty-nine years that he led the Church, due to his great ability and judgment, he left it securely founded, as upon a rock. The man who restored the gospel and the organization of the Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith, he regarded as the greatest man who had lived since Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Following are a few of the comments which President Brigham Young made, during his lifetime, about the Prophet Joseph Smith: ''What I have received from the Lord, I have received by Joseph Smith; he was the instrument made use of" (Journal of Discourses 6:280). “I feel like shouting Hallelujah all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet, whom the Lord raised up and ordained, and to whom he gave keys and power to build up the Kingdom of God on earth and sustain it. These keys are committed unto this 1830, was soon afterwards put into people, and we have power to continue the work until everything is prepared for the coming of the Son of Man" (Ibid., 3:51). "Joseph Smith has laid the foundation of the Kingdom of God in the last days; others will rear the superstructure" (Ibid., 9:364). "WHO can say aught against Joseph Smith? I was as well acquainted with him as any man. I do not believe that his father and mother knew him any better than I did. I do not think that a man lives on the earth that knew him any better than I did, and I am bold to say that, Jesus Christ excepted, no better man ever lived or does live upon this earth. I am his witness" (Ibid., 9:332). "Many of the Prophets have sealed their testimony with their blood, that their testament might go forth with force and not return void. As in ancient days, so in modern days. When Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his blood, his testament from that moment was in force to all the world; and woe to those who fight against it" {Ibid., 19:5). ''The question was asked a great many times of Joseph Smith, by gentlemen who came to see him and his people, 'How is it that you control your people so easy. It appears that they do nothing but what you say; how is it that you can govern them so easily?' Said he, 'I do not govern them at all; the Lord has revealed certain principles from the Heavens by which we are to live in these latter days. The time is drawing near when the Lord is going to gather out his people from the wicked and he is going to cut short 1 is work in righteousness, and the principles which he has revealed, I have taught to the people and they are trying to live according to them, and they control themselves" (Ibid., 13:176). "My name is had for good and evil upon the whole earth, as promised me. Thirty years ago Brother Joseph, in a lecture to the Twelve, said to me, 'Your name shall be known for good and evil throughout the world,' and it is so. The good love me, weak and humble as I am, and the wicked hate me; but there is no individual on the earth but what I would lead to salvation, if he would let me. I would take him by the hand like a child and lead him like a father in the way that would bring him to salvation" (Ibid, 10:297). "From the day that Joseph obtained the plates, and previous to that time, the Lord dictated to him. He directed him day by day and hour by hour (Ibid., 8:66). "Joseph continued to receive revelation, ordinance upon ordinance, truth upon truth, until he obtained all that was necessary for the salvation of the human family" (Ibid., 16:42). |
President Brigham Young
From a portrait by C. R. Savage, said to have been one of the last portraits of President Young. |
"Brigham Young Recruiting the Mormon Battalion." Improvement Era. July 1970. pg. 16.
Brigham Young Recruiting the Mormon Battalion In January 1846, Brigham Young sought U.S. government aid to help the Saints migrate west. In June he received an opportunity to enlist 500 Mormon men in the war with Mexico. The so-called Mormon Battalion gave the Saints needed money and U.S. governmental permission to establish temporary residence and stopping places across the plains. The Battalion marched —and at times blazed the trail—from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California, and in 197 days completed what has been termed the greatest infantry march in history. It was a march of approximately 2,000 miles. Some 500 men and more than a dozen families began the march July 16, 1846, and 347 men and five women arrived in San Diego January 29, 1847. At the end of their tour of duty, some of the men reenlisted, while others went northward and cut a wagon path across the Sierras, reaching Salt Lake Valley two months after Brigham Young. A few stayed to work, such as the nine Mormon men at Sutter's Mill who in January 1848 helped find the gold that was to turn the world's eyes toward California. This painting, by Dale Kilbourn, is one of several on the Mormon Battalion theme to be used by the Church at visitors centers at Mount Pisgah, Iowa, and Oakland, California. |
Nibley, Preston. "Brigham Young in Nauvoo, 1841." Improvement Era. November 1970. pg. 54-57.
Brigham Young in Nauvoo
By Preston Nibley
Arriving in Nauvoo from England, Brigham Young at once became active in the affairs of the Church. The labor that he loved was "building up the kingdom," as he so often expressed it, in later years. It was only in spare time, when the Church did not demand him, that he looked after his personal affairs. The Prophet Joseph Smith was no doubt aware of the sacrifices he had made, for I find this entry made in Brigham's journal, nine days after he arrived home:
"President Smith called on me at my house, when he received the following revelation: 'Dear and well-beloved brother, Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you: My servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me. "
“I have seen your labor and toil in journeying for my name.
"I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take especial care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever. Amen.'" (D&C 126.)
The permission to devote some time to his family was no doubt very welcome to him. During his absence in England his family had managed somehow with temporary shelter, and on his arrival home he found them in very uncomfortable circumstances.
He relates:
"On my return from England I found my family living in a small unfinished log-cabin, situated on a low, wet lot, so swampy that when the first attempt was made to plow it the oxen mired; but after the city was drained it became a valuable garden spot.
"Although I had to spend the principal part of my time at the call of brother Joseph, in the service of the Church, the portion of time left me I spent in draining, fencing and cultivating my lot, building a temporary shed for my cow, chinking and otherwise furnishing my house; and as the ground was too damp to admit of a cellar underground, I built one with two brick walls about four or six inches apart arched over with brick. Frost never penetrated it, although in summer articles would mildew in it." (Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 88.)
On the 15th of August, Brigham was in attendance at a conference held in the settlement of Zarahemla. The next day he presided at a special conference in Nauvoo. It was at this latter that the Prophet Joseph inaugurated a new order of Church government which moved Brigham a little closer toward the important position he was to occupy within a few years. The Prophet said that "the time had come when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to the First Presidency, and attend to the settling of emigrants and the business of the Church at the stakes, and assist to bear off the kingdom victoriously to the nations, and as they had been faithful, and had borne the burden in the heat of the day, that it was right that they should have an opportunity of providing something for themselves and families. . . ." (Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 403.)
Brigham, as president of the Twelve, now stood next to the First Presidency. In this capacity he was as usual extremely energetic. Under date of October 2, 1841, at Nauvoo, he records the following in his journal:
"I attended Conference; much valuable instruction was given by the President, Joseph Smith. I addressed the Conference with regard to the appointment of suitable missionaries, and in regard to the importance of teaching abroad the first principles of the Gospel, and letting alone those principles they did not understand; also on the propriety of many of the Elders remaining at home, and working on the Lord's House, and the necessity of more liberal consecrations and more energetic efforts to forward the work of building the Temple and Nauvoo House. The congregation was immense, and the greatest unanimity prevailed." (Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 104.)
And again, under the date of November 8:
"I attended the dedication of the baptismal font in the Lord's House; President Smith called upon me to offer the dedicatory prayer. This is the first font erected and dedicated for the baptism for the dead in this dispensation." (Ibid.)
Almost daily Brigham was in contact with the Prophet Joseph, whom he loved more than any other man, and whom he looked to constantly for guidance and inspiration. Here are two brief mentions of this association from his journal:
Nov. 28, 1841.-"Brother Joseph and the Twelve spent the day in council at my house." Nov. 30.—"Met in council with Joseph and the Twelve at my house, in relation to the Times and Seasons." (Ibid., p. 105.)
As the year 1841 drew to a close in Nauvoo, the white blanket of winter was spread over the land. Peace and prosperity reigned among the Saints. Verily the kingdom was advancing and being built up, due to the noble, unselfish, and splendid efforts of its leaders and members, not the least of whom was Brigham Young.
Christmas Day was no doubt a time of rejoicing in Brigham's home. It was a humble little home, but he was there to enjoy the day with his wife and children, the first Christmas he had had with them in nearly three years. That he was also enjoying the society of his brethren is evident from the following: "I partook of a Christmas supper with the Twelve at bro. Hiram Kimball's." (Ibid., p. 118.)
Brigham Young in Nauvoo
By Preston Nibley
Arriving in Nauvoo from England, Brigham Young at once became active in the affairs of the Church. The labor that he loved was "building up the kingdom," as he so often expressed it, in later years. It was only in spare time, when the Church did not demand him, that he looked after his personal affairs. The Prophet Joseph Smith was no doubt aware of the sacrifices he had made, for I find this entry made in Brigham's journal, nine days after he arrived home:
"President Smith called on me at my house, when he received the following revelation: 'Dear and well-beloved brother, Brigham Young, verily thus saith the Lord unto you: My servant Brigham, it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me. "
“I have seen your labor and toil in journeying for my name.
"I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take especial care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever. Amen.'" (D&C 126.)
The permission to devote some time to his family was no doubt very welcome to him. During his absence in England his family had managed somehow with temporary shelter, and on his arrival home he found them in very uncomfortable circumstances.
He relates:
"On my return from England I found my family living in a small unfinished log-cabin, situated on a low, wet lot, so swampy that when the first attempt was made to plow it the oxen mired; but after the city was drained it became a valuable garden spot.
"Although I had to spend the principal part of my time at the call of brother Joseph, in the service of the Church, the portion of time left me I spent in draining, fencing and cultivating my lot, building a temporary shed for my cow, chinking and otherwise furnishing my house; and as the ground was too damp to admit of a cellar underground, I built one with two brick walls about four or six inches apart arched over with brick. Frost never penetrated it, although in summer articles would mildew in it." (Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 88.)
On the 15th of August, Brigham was in attendance at a conference held in the settlement of Zarahemla. The next day he presided at a special conference in Nauvoo. It was at this latter that the Prophet Joseph inaugurated a new order of Church government which moved Brigham a little closer toward the important position he was to occupy within a few years. The Prophet said that "the time had come when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to the First Presidency, and attend to the settling of emigrants and the business of the Church at the stakes, and assist to bear off the kingdom victoriously to the nations, and as they had been faithful, and had borne the burden in the heat of the day, that it was right that they should have an opportunity of providing something for themselves and families. . . ." (Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 403.)
Brigham, as president of the Twelve, now stood next to the First Presidency. In this capacity he was as usual extremely energetic. Under date of October 2, 1841, at Nauvoo, he records the following in his journal:
"I attended Conference; much valuable instruction was given by the President, Joseph Smith. I addressed the Conference with regard to the appointment of suitable missionaries, and in regard to the importance of teaching abroad the first principles of the Gospel, and letting alone those principles they did not understand; also on the propriety of many of the Elders remaining at home, and working on the Lord's House, and the necessity of more liberal consecrations and more energetic efforts to forward the work of building the Temple and Nauvoo House. The congregation was immense, and the greatest unanimity prevailed." (Millennial Star, Vol. 26, p. 104.)
And again, under the date of November 8:
"I attended the dedication of the baptismal font in the Lord's House; President Smith called upon me to offer the dedicatory prayer. This is the first font erected and dedicated for the baptism for the dead in this dispensation." (Ibid.)
Almost daily Brigham was in contact with the Prophet Joseph, whom he loved more than any other man, and whom he looked to constantly for guidance and inspiration. Here are two brief mentions of this association from his journal:
Nov. 28, 1841.-"Brother Joseph and the Twelve spent the day in council at my house." Nov. 30.—"Met in council with Joseph and the Twelve at my house, in relation to the Times and Seasons." (Ibid., p. 105.)
As the year 1841 drew to a close in Nauvoo, the white blanket of winter was spread over the land. Peace and prosperity reigned among the Saints. Verily the kingdom was advancing and being built up, due to the noble, unselfish, and splendid efforts of its leaders and members, not the least of whom was Brigham Young.
Christmas Day was no doubt a time of rejoicing in Brigham's home. It was a humble little home, but he was there to enjoy the day with his wife and children, the first Christmas he had had with them in nearly three years. That he was also enjoying the society of his brethren is evident from the following: "I partook of a Christmas supper with the Twelve at bro. Hiram Kimball's." (Ibid., p. 118.)