Lion of the Lord (S. Black)

Essays on the Life and Service of Brigham Young

Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, eds.

Deseret Book Company
Salt Lake City, Utah


ï¿½ 1995 Deseret Book Company
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company,
P.O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein
are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company.

Deseret Book is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company.

About This Book

Few leaders of the nineteenth century match the caliber and dogged determination of Brigham Young, the Lion of the Lord. His contributions to the church and
kingdom of God are immeasurable. As president, he faced multiple problems of settling the West, religious persecution, and emigration, yet he never swerved in his
conviction. "We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire," he said, "out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay."

In Lion of the Lord, Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter have compiled sixteen essays by Latter-day Saint scholars on the life and service of Brigham Young. The
essays discuss Brigham Young's early years, his conversion, and his role in

* missionary work and the gathering

* the Quorum of the Twelve

* Church leadership after the death of Joseph Smith

* succession in the Presidency

* the Mormon Battalion

* Winter Quarters and Kanesville

* the colonization of the West

* the building of temples

* the Mormon Reformation

* the coming of the railroad

* the Great Basin economy

* the awakening of Mormon women in the 1870s

* priesthood work at the general and local Church levels

A final essay reflects on the teachings of Brigham Young and provides a subject index to his discourses.

In his later years, Brigham Young advised that at his interment there should be "no crying or mourning with anyone as I have done my work faithfully and in good faith."

"We heartily concur," write the editors. "A life so well lived is a life worth remembering. We appreciate the scholars who have remembered Brigham Young by studying
and writing about his life. Their expertise and meticulous research is conveyed in this volume again and again as they commemorate President Young's life of service."

About the Author

Susan Easton Black joined the faculty of Brigham Young University in 1978 after receiving a bachelor's degree from BYU in political science, a master's degree from
California State University in counseling, and a doctoral degree from BYU in educational psychology.

A professor of Church history and doctrine and an associate dean in General Education and Honors, Dr. Black has been recognized for her teaching and writing over
the past twenty years. She has received the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Teaching Award.

She is married to Harvey B. Black, and together they are the parents of eight children. She is currently serving in a stake Young Women presidency and as an
ordinance worker in the Provo Temple.

Larry C. Porter received his bachelor's degree in history from Utah State University, his master's degree from BYU in history of religion, and his Ph.D. degree from
BYU in history of religion with an emphasis on LDS Church history.

 Copyright
He          (c)eleven
    served for  2005-2009,   Infobase
                      years with       MediaEducational
                                 the Church  Corp.                                                                                               Page
                                                        System before becoming a full-time faculty member at BYU in 1970. He is currently a professor     1 / 128
                                                                                                                                                      of Church
history and doctrine.
Larry C. Porter received his bachelor's degree in history from Utah State University, his master's degree from BYU in history of religion, and his Ph.D. degree from
BYU in history of religion with an emphasis on LDS Church history.

He served for eleven years with the Church Educational System before becoming a full-time faculty member at BYU in 1970. He is currently a professor of Church
history and doctrine.

He has served as a full-time missionary, a bishop, and a high councilor. For eleven years he served on the Church's Correlation Review Committee, including service as
chairman. He is currently a member of the Melchizedek Priesthood Curriculum Writing Committee.

Introduction

Few leaders of the nineteenth century match the caliber and dogged determination of Brigham Young, the Lion of the Lord. From humble beginnings in an obscure
village in Vermont, he rose to the applause of thinking people, but more important, he grew in favor with God. Although most would contend that the arduous toils of
farm labor and unwelcome poverty dominated his early years, it was nevertheless his unwavering search for eternal truth that permeated his thoughts.

Reading the Book of Mormon, listening to missionaries, and baptism brought answers to his search:

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 immortality were before
me.

Anxious to learn more about his new religion, Brigham Young journeyed to Kirtland to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith. "When I went to Kirtland I had not a coat in the
world," he wrote, "neither had I a shoe to my feet, and I had to borrow a pair of pants and a pair of boots." Of his initial meeting with Joseph Smith he recalled:

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.

On 14 February 1835 Brigham Young was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As an Apostle he was zealous in defense of the Prophet. One
evening in Kirtland, overhearing a man loudly rail against Joseph Smith, "Woe! woe! unto the inhabitants of this place," Brigham Young reacted:

[I] put my pants and shoes on, took my cowhide, went out, and laying hold on him, jerked him round, and assured him that if he did not stop his noise and let the
people enjoy their sleep without interruption, I would cowhide 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.

To the faithful, Brigham Young was a compassionate friend. As he witnessed Mary Pitt, an Englishwoman who had suffered from crippling arthritis for eleven years,
being carried on a litter to her baptism, he pronounced a healing blessing: "[I] rebuked her lameness in the name of the Lord, and commanded her to arise and walk.
The lameness left her, and she never afterwards used a staff or crutch." Brigham Young marveled at the miraculous healing and the thousands of converts in the
British Isles who embraced the gospel:

It truly seemed a miracle. . . . 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 . . . and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth.

The darkest day of his life was on 27 June 1844, the day of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith:

Spent the day in Boston with brother Woodruff. . . . 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. . . . I could not assign my reasons for my peculiar feelings.

Twelve days later he learned of the tragic deaths of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum:

The first thing which I thought of was, whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him from the earth. . . . Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said the
keys of the kingdom are right here with the Church.

With renewed conviction he returned to Nauvoo and resolutely declared, "The Twelve are appointed by the finger of God . . . an independent body who have the keys
of the priesthood-the keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the world." The authority of the Twelve was challenged on 8 August 1844 by Sidney Rigdon.
Characteristically, Brigham Young met the challenge with unrelenting steadfastness, and as he spoke before an assembled multitude, he seemed to take on the physical
stature and speech of the Prophet Joseph Smith. William C. Staines wrote, "I thought it was he and so did thousands who heard it."

Determined to carry forward the plans of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young encouraged the completion of the Nauvoo Temple. "We want to build the Temple in this
place," he said, "if we have to build it as the Jews built the walls of the Temple in Jerusalem, with a sword in one hand and the trowel in the other." Yet as the temple
neared completion, threatened violence became unrestrained, and a forced exodus was imminent.

In February 1846 Brigham Young cried, "Flee Babylon by land or by sea." Immediately thousands of obedient Saints responded and fled from the comforts of Nauvoo
to the rigors of Iowa's wilderness. Their sacrifice and suffering from the loess hills of Iowa to the trek across the barren plains of Nebraska through the rigors of the
Rockies marked a historic migration of magnificent proportions.

"This is the right place, drive on," Brigham Young said on 24 July 1847 as he looked over the semiarid desert of the Great Salt Lake Valley. These words were
echoed in correspondence to Charles C. Rich: "Let all the brethren and Sisters cheer up their hearts, and know assuredly that God has heard and answered their
prayers and ours, and led us to a goodly land."

Intending to guide additional Saints to their new home in the Rockies, Brigham Young returned to the bluffs of the Missouri River. There, in Kanesville, Iowa, he was
sustained in December 1847 as prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, fulfilling the prophecy given by Joseph Smith many years
before in Kirtland: "The time will come when Brigham Young will preside over this church."

President Young served faithfully for thirty years. His contributions to the church and kingdom of God are immeasurable. As president he faced multiple problems of
emigration, settling, and religious persecution. Yet he never swerved in his conviction to the faith. "We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire," he said, "out
of the fire into
 Copyright    (c) the middle ofInfobase
                   2005-2009,   the floor, Media
                                           and here we are and here we will stay." He knew that God had revealed to him "that this is the spot to locate His
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here is where they will prosper."

His courageous steadfastness earned for him the title "Lion of the Lord." Even President Abraham Lincoln recognized that the Mormon leader was not someone to
before in Kirtland: "The time will come when Brigham Young will preside over this church."

President Young served faithfully for thirty years. His contributions to the church and kingdom of God are immeasurable. As president he faced multiple problems of
emigration, settling, and religious persecution. Yet he never swerved in his conviction to the faith. "We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire," he said, "out
of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay." He knew that God had revealed to him "that this is the spot to locate His people, and
here is where they will prosper."

His courageous steadfastness earned for him the title "Lion of the Lord." Even President Abraham Lincoln recognized that the Mormon leader was not someone to
offend. "You tell Brigham Young if he will leave me alone, I'll leave him alone," said Lincoln in response to an inquiry. Brigham Young was a man with a mission and
a vision of what the future would hold for the Latter-day Saints:

It has been asked if we intend to settle more valleys. Why certainly we expect to fill the next valley and then the next, and the next, and so on. It has been the cry of
late, through the columns of the newspapers, 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. . . . 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. . . . We will continue to grow, to increase and spread abroad, and the powers of earth and hell combined cannot hinder it.


Brigham Young died at 4:00 p.m. on 29 August 1877 in Salt Lake City after calling the words "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph." In life he had been separated from his beloved
friend the Prophet Joseph Smith, yet in death they were now united. Like Joseph, he had fulfilled the measure of his creation and advised that at his interment there
should be "no crying or mourning with anyone as I have done my work faithfully and in good faith."

We heartily concur. A life so well lived is a life worth remembering. We extend appreciation to the fine scholars who have remembered Brigham Young by studying and
writing about his life. Their expertise and meticulous research is conveyed in this volume again and again as they commemorate President Young's life of service.

We also wish to acknowledge the helpful assistance of William W. Slaughter, photograph archivist, and the staff at the LDS Church Historical Department; Scott H.
Duvall, Special Collections and Manuscripts Chair of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University; Don E. Norton of the BYU English faculty; and Sheri L.
Dew and the publishing staff at Deseret Book Company. We appreciate BYU's Department of Church History and Doctrine for permitting the reprinting of portions of
a few articles on Brigham Young that appeared in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: New York and also the Southern California Quarterly journal.

Notes

  1. Brigham Young, "March of Mormonism-The Power of God and the Wisdom of Man-Good and Evil Influences-The Law of Increase," Journal of Discourses, 26
vols. (Liverpool: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1858), 1: 91.

  2. Brigham Young, "Saints Subject to Temptation," Journal of Discourses, 2: 128.

  3. B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, 1930), 1: 289.

  4. Elden Jay Watson, comp., Brigham Young: A Chronology of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young (E. Watson, 1979), 17-18.

  5. Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), 120.

  6. A Comprehensive History, 2: 86.

  7. Journal of Discourses, 26: 343.

  8. Journal of Discourses, 26: 359.

  9. Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols., 2nd ed. rev. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
1932-51), 7: 233.

  10. William C. Staines as cited in Francis M. Gibbons, Brigham Young: Modern Moses, Prophet of God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 104.

  11. History of the Church, 7: 256.

  12. A Comprehensive History, 3: 224.

   13. Letter of Brigham Young to Charles C. Rich, 2 August 1847, as cited in Leonard J. Arrington, Charles C. Rich, Mormon General and Western Frontiersman
(Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1974), 118.

  14. A Comprehensive History, 1: 289.

  15. James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1900), 121-22.

  16. Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young, American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 195.

  17. Brigham Young, "The United Order, etc.," in Journal of Discourse, 18: 355-56.

  18. Preston Nibley, Brigham Young: The Man and His Work (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1936), 536-37.

CHAPTER 1

Whitingham Vermont

Birthplace of Brigham Young-Prophet, Colonizer, Statesman
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Larry C. Porter
Whitingham Vermont

Birthplace of Brigham Young-Prophet, Colonizer, Statesman

Larry C. Porter

Professor of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University

John Young (1763-1839), the father of Brigham Young, enlisted as a soldier in the Army of the Revolution in June 1780, at sixteen years of age. His enrollment in the
military occurred in his home community of Hopkinton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Hopkinton was just twenty-five miles southwest of Boston, the leading spirit
among communities in that area seeking autonomy for the united colonies. He was initially recruited into the 4th Massachusetts Brigade of Musketry, and he served two
additional terms of enlistment during a period extending to 1783. John saw action in three campaigns in his native state and in one campaign in New Jersey.

After the war, John returned to Hopkinton, and on 31 October 1785 he married nineteen-year-old Abigail Howe, nicknamed Nabby (1765-1815). Although Nabby
had been born in Hopkinton, she was raised in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, eleven miles to the northeast.

The Youngs settled in Hopkinton, where two daughters were born: Nancy in 1786 and Fanny in 1787. John then moved his family into the Platauva District of east-
central New York, locating in what was then the township of Coxsackie, Albany County (where the village of Durham, Green County, now stands). Rhoda was born
there on 10 September 1789.

In this wilderness setting, John dispatched a large, wounded bear, which had attacked him and another man. John jammed a long, sharpened stick into the bear's mouth
and throat, "which after a severe struggle brought the furious animal dead at his feet." Nabby did not adjust well to these primitive surroundings. "Full of fear and cares,
together with a delicate state of health," she wrote her family in Hopkinton, explaining her lonely situation. As soon as the "sleighing was pronounced good," her father,
Phinehas Howe, "started two sleighs after his lost child and her family." All this was done much to the dismay of John Young, who thought their situation a promising
one and resented the intrusion on his affairs. But, constrained by the entreaties of his wife and the teamsters sent by her father, he gave up his New York holdings and
returned to Hopkinton at the end of 1789 or the beginning of 1790.

Here their first son, John, Jr., was born in 1791.   Four more children were born in Hopkinton between 1793 and 1799: Nabby (1793), Susannah (1795), Joseph
(1797), and Phinehas Howe (1799).

Phinehas Howe Young recorded an accident that occurred near the conclusion of the family's stay in Hopkinton, which marks the point of the family's departure for
Vermont: "A short time before I was two years old, [Joseph] cut off my right hand, except a small portion of my little finger, with an ax, while we were at play; my
mother doctored it and saved it. The same winter [1800-1801], or soon after this accident, my father moved to Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont, where we lived
three years."

The Youngs of Whitingham Vermont

John and Nabby's decision to leave their farming pursuits in Hopkinton and move to the wilderness area of Whitingham, Vermont, was obviously influenced by family
ties. John's older sister, Susannah, had married Joseph Mosely, Sr. (also spelled Moseley and Mousley), an enterprising man of apparent substance. His business was
dividing (or buying) and selling acreage in the township of Whitingham. Among those to whom he sold land were Samuel Moseley, Elisha Hale, David Eames, David
Lamb, and Hezekiah Murdock. Numerous land transactions that Joseph Mosely entered into can be traced for over a decade, up until 1806, when he disposed of
his interests in the area. Arthur D. Wheeler, town clerk of Whitingham, commented, "Joseph Mosely was a realtor and working up something."

On 18 November 1800, Joseph Mosely, yeoman, sold to his brother-in-law, John Young, yeoman, two parcels of adjoining land totalling 51 1/2 acres (see aerial
photograph, item no. 1). One parcel contained 50 acres, and the other contained 1 1/2 acres, in Lot No. 21 of Fitches Grant, Whitingham, Windham County,
Vermont. The indenture reads, ". . . beginning at the northwest corner of Lot No. 21. . . ." However, Arthur D. Wheeler cautioned, "John Young's property was not in
the northwest corner of Lot No. 21. That would put it 1,000 feet too far north. The original description is wrong. It should read, 'southwest corner.'"

Some histories have cited the cost of the transaction as being $50; however, an examination of the record clearly stipulates $100. John paid an equitable price for his
land, approximately $2.00 per acre. This amount was appropriate to the times; the price of land in the area was from $1.00 to $3.00 per acre.

It is doubtful that there were any buildings or improvements on John Young's acreage at the time of his purchase. It was probably pristine, covered with a growth of
beech, birch, maple, spruce, hemlock, balsam, and oak trees-all indigenous to the area.

Within two months of the transaction with Joseph Mosely, the Young family, minus eleven-year-old Rhoda, was on its way to Vermont. For unexplained reasons,
Rhoda remained in Hopkinton with her maternal grandparents, Phinehas and Susannah Goddard Howe. Rhoda's brother Joseph said, "[She] did not join her father's
family again until the year 1809. In September of that year she arrived at our humble home on Cold Brook [Smyrna, Chenango County, New York] in company with
old Deacon Abner Morton, our mother's uncle."

The Youngs made the move from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to Whitingham, Vermont, eighty miles directly northwest, in January of 1801. Typhus or typhoid fever
was widespread in this region of Vermont in 1801. Forty adults died, despite the efforts of physicians to control the disease. The John Young family would have
been witness to this suffering. There is no known record of the effects of the sickness on the Youngs.

Birth and Early Life of Brigham Young

Unless John Young had previously constructed a cabin on the site, it is probable that the newcomers located temporarily with their in-laws, the Joseph Mosely family,
or with friends from their same area in Massachusetts. The building of a cabin would have received first priority by the family, and that well in advance of the birth of
their son Brigham the following June. Undoubtedly the log house on John's 51 1/2 acres sheltered the birth of the future prophet.

Comparatively little is known relative to those attending Nabby during the birth of Brigham Young. Brigham's birth date, 1 June 1801, is accepted as authentic;
however, there is some discussion concerning the origin of his given name. Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe affirmed, "His name Brigham was the surname of
his uncle, Phinehas Brigham, who married his mother's sister, Susanna." Leonard J. Arrington, however, stated that Brigham was named "after the surname of
Nabby's maternal grandparents," who were Sibil Brigham and Ebenezer Goddard. Doris Kirkpatrick, local historian, averred that "substantial evidence points to the
fact that John Young named his ninth child 'Brigham' out of respect for his friend and contemporary-John Brigham of Whitingham." This latter assertion is open to
question, because John Brigham reportedly did not arrive in Whitingham until 1808.
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Susa Young asserted that "Brigham and his brothers John and Lorenzo inherited the physical traits of the Howes, while . . . Joseph . . . very much resembled
Youngs, the father, John Young, being a small wiry man." Commenting on Nabby Young's general physical condition, Susa reported, "Not robust in her constitution,
she burned up her fires of youth in impetuous toil while constantly on the move with her pioneering husband. . . . The mother's health was poor for a long time, and it
Nabby's maternal grandparents," who were Sibil Brigham and Ebenezer Goddard. Doris Kirkpatrick, local historian, averred that "substantial evidence points to the
fact that John Young named his ninth child 'Brigham' out of respect for his friend and contemporary-John Brigham of Whitingham." This latter assertion is open to
question, because John Brigham reportedly did not arrive in Whitingham until 1808.

Susa Young asserted that "Brigham and his brothers John and Lorenzo inherited the physical traits of the Howes, while . . . Joseph . . . very much resembled the
Youngs, the father, John Young, being a small wiry man." Commenting on Nabby Young's general physical condition, Susa reported, "Not robust in her constitution,
she burned up her fires of youth in impetuous toil while constantly on the move with her pioneering husband. . . . The mother's health was poor for a long time, and it
was family tradition that Fanny, the elder sister, 'raised' Brigham." Joseph Young confirmed these circumstances. He recounted:

In the spring of the year above named [1801], my father bought a cow of a man by the name of Caleb Murdock. It is worthy of note that the cow gave more milk than
any one I have ever seen since that time. My Brother John has told me that she gave one bushel of milk a day during the season of feed on clover. One particular
incident connected with this circumstance was that the animal would suffer no one to come near her except my sister Fanny and who with the infant Brigham in her arms
performed this service twice each day during the summer time. This was in consequence of the sickness of my mother for the child had to be nursed from the bottle and
no one could pacify him but his sister Fanny, who was passionately fond of him [and] if need be to have laid her life down for him every day.

Fanny left the Young household in 1803; at the age of sixteen she married Robert Carr, who lived in Charleston, Montgomery County, New York. Brigham Young's
oldest sister, Nancy, also married that year; she married Daniel Kent on 13 January. The Kents stayed in Whitingham and lived near the Youngs. Daniel's name is on
the Grand List (which shows assessed value of properties) of 13 December 1803, with an assessed property value of $26.50.

The members of the Young family were raised in a very orthodox religious environment. Lorenzo D. Young said of his father, John Young, "He was at first an
Episcopal Methodist, but afterwards, in common with many others, became a Reformed Methodist [this latter affiliation occurred later in New York]." The
Whitingham Circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church was one of the first three formed in the state of Vermont. The Methodist ministers who preached in Whitingham
were, in 1801, Daniel Bromley; in 1802, Elijah Ward and Asa Kent; in 1803, Phinehas Peck and Caleb Dustin; and in 1804, John Tinkham.

Susa Young Gates said of the Young family, "Father, mother, children, all of them loved and made music. The mother was a choir singer in the Methodist congregation,
where she and her God-fearing husband worshipped. Parents and children read and studied the Scriptures and they were eager students of the primitive schools of their
neighborhood during such periods as their almost nomadic life permitted." Apparently the voices of the Youngs were among those heard in the congregation of the
Methodists in early Whitingham.

Attempting to Pinpoint Brigham's Birth Site

Over a period of years, historians have attempted to pinpoint the exact location of the John Young cabin in an effort to better document the arrival of its famous
occupant, Brigham Young. A notation appearing in Hamilton Child's Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vt., 1724-1884, contains the statement,
"Brigham Young, the Mormon saint was born in Whitingham, on road 40 near the center of town. A part of the cellar walls of the old log house mark the place of his
birth."

Arthur Wheeler stated that he is sure that Hamilton Child arbitrarily numbered the various roads in the town of Whitingham in order to establish direction both for his
descriptions of the area and to match the map that he appended to his Gazetteer. He further explained that what Hamilton Child identified as "road 40" for his own
purposes is now Town Road 33 (Stimpson Hill Road). Town Road 33 runs by "Brigham Young Hill," or "Stimpson Hill," and the monument that has been placed there
to honor Brigham Young (see aerial photograph, item no. 1).

Clark Jillson spent many years in a minute study of Whitingham. In 1894 he published a history of the area, Green Leaves from Whitingham, Vermont. It was his
opinion that Brigham Young was born on John's 51 1/2 acre parcel. Doris Kirkpatrick, writer and historian, reiterated this claim when she observed, "Clark Jillson,
local historian, repeatedly stated that Brigham Young was born on Stimpson Hill [also known as Brigham Young Hill]." Clark Jillson also said that "Hezekiah
Murdock [an early resident] repeatedly stated that Young was born on the hill [Brigham Young Hill or Stimpson Hill]."

The exact site of the John Young cabin on this acreage is unknown today. At some point prior to the turn of the century, a stone memorial to Brigham Young was
placed on the north side of Town Road 33 at the top of Brigham Young Hill or Stimpson Hill (see aerial photograph, item no. 6). This memorial is 0.2 mile up Brigham
Young Hill, west of Brown's General Store and the U.S. Post Office, which are at the bottom of the hill on Vermont State Highway 100. The property on which the
monument is located is presently owned by Raymond A. Purinton, who maintains a summer cabin just a few feet north of the monument.

The inscription on the stone reads, "BRIGHAM YOUNG, BORN ON THIS SPOT 1801, A MAN OF MUCH COURAGE AND SUPERB EQUIPMENT" (see
aerial photograph, item no. 6). It is not known locally who was responsible for the placement of this memorial. Arthur Wheeler explained, "The Brigham Young
monument on Stimpson Hill was put up before the turn of the century. There were postcards of the monument around in 1900. I don't know by whom or exactly when
it was placed there."

John Young owned the property on Brigham Young Hill for a little over one year and ten months. On 24 September 1802, he sold back his 51 1/2 acres to his
brother-in-law, Joseph Mosely, for the original purchase price of $100. It is not known whether he needed the money in order for his family to subsist or for some
other reason. Concerning the sale, Leonard J. Arrington poses two questions, "Did John arrange with Mosely to remain another year after his tentative decision to
leave? Or did John simply sell the land back to Mosely early in order to get back $50 [$100], or whatever was the sale price, to live on?" He may have done both.
His name appears on the Grand List (showing assessed value of properties) for both 30 October 1802 ($26.50), and 13 December 1803 ($20), which is an indication
that the property he was working (probably his own in 1802 and someone else's in 1803) was being assessed to him personally. His name is not on the 1804 Grand
List, consistent with the family's move to New York early in that year.

John apparently then rented from or worked for others; there are no records denoting personal ownership of new property. Whatever the circumstances, John Young
remained in the vicinity. Brigham Young spoke of his father "opening new farms" in Whitingham, indicating more than one property was worked. Arthur Wheeler
suggested that John may have rented or worked land belonging to an absentee owner or owners, of which there were several in the area. John's son, Joseph,
commented: "We changed places 4 times during our stay on Green Mountains. Our last place of residence was over the pond in the Hemlock woods." It is evident
that John was on the move, living in several locations during his remaining time in Whitingham.

When asked about Joseph's description of residing "over the pond in the Hemlock woods," Mr. Wheeler made this observation, "Though there are a few natural ponds
in the area, Sadawaga Pond is the most likely in this setting. Many of the settlers from Massachusetts located together in the area of Sadawaga Pond. Now called
Sadawaga Lake, it is up twelve feet from when the white men first came, because of the various dams that have been placed since. The lake covers a greater area than
the original pond" (see aerial photograph, item no. 4).

At the time the John Young family lived in the area (1801-1804), the emerging village of Whitingham Centre on Town Hill was only in its infancy; it did not see its
 Copyright
primary     (c) 2005-2009,
         development        Infobase
                      as such          Media
                              until after      Corp. of the Youngs for New York (see aerial photograph, item no. 5).
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John Young's former property subsequently became central to the development of the village of Sadawaga (now Whitingham), immediately west of what was old
Whitingham Centre. It was not until 23 February 1882 that Sadawaga became the community of Whitingham (see aerial photograph, item no. 1). It took its name from
the original pond"   (see aerial photograph, item no. 4).

At the time the John Young family lived in the area (1801-1804), the emerging village of Whitingham Centre on Town Hill was only in its infancy; it did not see its
primary development as such until after the departure of the Youngs for New York (see aerial photograph, item no. 5).

John Young's former property subsequently became central to the development of the village of Sadawaga (now Whitingham), immediately west of what was old
Whitingham Centre. It was not until 23 February 1882 that Sadawaga became the community of Whitingham (see aerial photograph, item no. 1). It took its name from
Nathan Whiting, one of the original grantees of the township.

John Young's 51 1/2 acres encompassed a most interesting section of realty in the modern-day village of Whitingham (see aerial photograph, items no. 1, 3, and 6).
Within its boundaries are now the following: (1) a portion of Brigham Young Hill or Stimpson Hill, (2) the stone monument to Brigham Young on Brigham Young Hill or
Stimpson Hill, (3) the Whitingham Historical Society's Green Mountain Hall, (4) the Whitingham Community Church, (5) Brown's General Store, and (6) the U.S. Post
Office. However, the Whitingham town clerk's office is not within the boundaries of John Young's original property.

In addition to John Young's 51 1/2 acre holding, some local traditions also ascribe Brigham Young's birth site to a five-acre parcel of land in Fitches Grant, Lot 22 (see
aerial photograph, item no. 2). The five acres is situated 0.7 mile east of the U.S. Post Office in Whitingham. It is on the left side of the Town Hill Road (Town Road
5). Currently (1995) Donald Boyd owns the five-acre parcel. Clark Jillson, speaking at the Whitingham Centennial celebration on Town Hill, 18 August 1880,
explored some of the local testimonies related to the five-acre lot:

Now comes the more perplexing question; in what locality was he born? Henry Goodnow Esq., of this town, says . . . that Brigham was born in a house that stood on
the five acres of land north of the road from his store, near a small bridge or culvert, before going down the last hill to Gate's and Morse's old tannery. He says that his
mother, the wife of Joseph Goodnow, went to see the baby, Brigham Young, at this house when he was but a few days old, and after he was named Brigham. On the
other hand it was stated that Brigham Young was born in a log house that stood north of the road on the hill near to and westerly from the village of Sadawaga [now
Whitingham]. There seems to be but little doubt that he was carried from this place when his parents left town. He might have been born at this other place [Brigham
Young Hill or Stimpson Hill] and removed to and from the second [five-acre lot]; but all the parties that personally know are dead. It is said that Hezekiah Murdock
repeatedly stated that Young was born on the hill [Brigham Young Hill or Stimpson Hill], but before we allow this statement to crystalize into history and the statement
of Mr. Goodnow declared to be a mistake, we must ascertain whether Mr. Murdock knew any more about it than Mrs. Goodnow, and also whether the facts have
been reported correctly. These facts we shall never know, and we might as well be satisfied with saying that Brigham Young was born in Whitingham June 1, 1801. He
was one of the most remarkable men of any age; and if his great ability had been employed in some rational pursuit he would have taken a prominent place among the
great men of the world. His power as an organizer and a leader has seldom been surpassed.

Mr. Jillson's suggestion that Brigham Young's birth may well have been on Brigham Young Hill or Stimpson Hill, and that the John Young family had simply moved to
the five-acre lot during their tenure in Whitingham and then removed to New York from that place seems very plausible. Commenting on the Goodnow's recollections,
Marjorie W. Graves, local historian, said, "Since the Goodnow family had lived on Town Hill so many years, you might think this was the real story of Brigham Young's
birthplace. All that we really know is that most of the old stories place it somewhere on the slopes of Town Hill."

Doris Kirkpatrick recorded some additional details of the Goodnow recollections: Mrs. Graves [Marjorie W. Graves] uncovered a statement by a Mrs. Joseph
Goodnow who claimed that when John Young's newest child was born, the ninth, she went to visit mother and child in a small cabin at the far end of a five-acre lot
north of the old culvert on the Town Hill road before one came to the Gates and Morse Tannery. The Tannery was located in the Shippee pasture south across the
brook from the Whitingham Cemetery. The five acres known to old-timers as the Putnam or Stebbins lot could have been Brigham's birthplace. The cabin was on the
north side of the lot probably near an old apple tree there.

Joseph Mosely once owned this five-acre parcel. However, Arthur Wheeler stated, "The so-called five-acre 'Brigham Young Lot' went out of Joseph Mosely's hands
in 1797 and apparently didn't come back into Mosely's ownership during the time that Brigham Young was in the area with his parents."

Doris Kirkpatrick believed that the five-acre parcel had at one time belonged to John Young. She mistakenly recorded, "John Young also owned land on Town Hill.
Arthur Wheeler, present-day town clerk and knowledgeable about town history, claims that town records show that John Young owned five acres on Town Hill." I
cited this quote to Mr. Wheeler and asked if indeed John Young had procured the five-acre lot mentioned. He responded, "Doris has mistakenly quoted what I said. I
have found only one deed for John Young, and that deed is for the 51 1/2 acres on Stimpson Hill. The five acres on Town Hill were never owned by John Young, but
they did belong to Joseph Mosely, John Young's brother-in-law. At one time Joseph Mosely owned all of Lot 22 in which the five-acre parcel was located."

Doris Kirkpatrick reported further evidence that the John Young family was living on the five-acre "Brigham Young Lot" when Brigham was born in 1801. She stated:

Mrs. Graves talked with William D. Canedy, a long-time town clerk. He told her that when he was 19 he had discussed the question of Brigham's birthplace with John
Sawyer, a local mill owner, at that time over 90 years old. Mr. Sawyer distinctly remembered being told by Alfred Green, son of Nathan, when Alfred himself was past
90, how as a young fellow of 19 he had assisted John Young in packing his covered wagon for the westward journey in the spring of 1804. One of his last acts of
neighborliness was to hand little Brigham, then almost 3, up to his mother before they drove off. Both Alfred Green and Mrs. Goodnow thought the cabin [on the five-
acre lot] had been Brigham's birthplace.

It is possible that Alfred Green was present when the John Young family bid farewell to Whitingham and commenced their journey to New York in 1804. Perhaps they
departed from Joseph Mosely's home, which could have been located either on the five acres or in the vicinity, as he owned some surrounding properties as well. The
question remains: Was the purported point of departure also the birth site?

Even during Brigham Young's lifetime, there was interest in ascertaining the exact spot of his birth. Clark Jillson quoted President Young's response to a letter of inquiry
that expressly asked the question of location:

Salt Lake City, Utah, May 16, 1874

Dr. Oramel Martin: Dear Sir,-

In reply to your note of inquiry, May 6, at the request of President Brigham Young, I have to inform you that he was born in Whitingham, Vt., June 1, 1801. Dr.
Humphrey Gould of Rowe, Franklin County, Mass., if I am rightly informed, can direct you to the spot in Whitingham where it was said the house stood in which
President Young was born. President Young will be pleased to see you at any time it may suit you to visit this city.

Very Respectfully, Albert Carrington.

Unfortunately,
 Copyright (c) President
                 2005-2009,Young did not
                             Infobase    pinpoint
                                      Media       the site of his birth in his answer, and I have been unable to determine what action may have been taken
                                              Corp.                                                                                                    Pageby Mr.
                                                                                                                                                              6 /Martin
                                                                                                                                                                  128
as a result of this correspondence.

Clark Jillson, Marjorie W. Graves, and Doris Kirkpatrick have rendered a valuable service in attempting to unravel the complexities of the contested birth sites of
President Young was born. President Young will be pleased to see you at any time it may suit you to visit this city.

Very Respectfully, Albert Carrington.

Unfortunately, President Young did not pinpoint the site of his birth in his answer, and I have been unable to determine what action may have been taken by Mr. Martin
as a result of this correspondence.

Clark Jillson, Marjorie W. Graves, and Doris Kirkpatrick have rendered a valuable service in attempting to unravel the complexities of the contested birth sites of
Brigham Young. After trying to balance the pros and cons of the varied claims, Mrs. Kirkpatrick mused, "Each summer visitors from many states pause on Town Hill
and read the legend [inscription on the 1950 monument to Brigham Young] commemorating Whitingham's most famous son-birthplace more or less unknown."

After an examination of related land deeds and a review of the historical elements of the Young family's presence in Whitingham, I asked Arthur Wheeler, Whitingham
town clerk, if he had any assessments to make from the accumulated evidence. He replied, "It makes more sense to have Brigham born on the old property of John
Young on Stimpson Hill than at the five-acre site. The land deeds don't justify the five acres as being the Brigham Young birthplace."

My research persuades me to agree with Mr. Wheeler's judgment that the birthplace would logically have been the John Young cabin, somewhere on John Young's 51
1/2 acre parcel on Brigham Young Hill (Stimpson Hill). For the modern inquirer, there is still much to be rediscovered concerning the obscurities of the Young family
habitation "over the pond in the Hemlock woods" of Whitingham.

The Brigham Young Monument on Town Hill

While the village of Whitingham has persisted, the older settlement of Whitingham Centre on Town Hill entered a period of steady decline during the 1880s and has
now completely disappeared. Doris Kirkpatrick described the transformation in these terms:

Town Hill was once a thriving village where stagecoaches pulled up in front of a commodious tavern; children learned their lessons in a school; a bell tolled from the
church; a store offered merchandise; a militia trained in a field; a blacksmith shod horses and stray animals were rounded up in a pond [pound].

Only a few grass-covered cellar holes remain as mute evidence that Town Hill was once a thriving village. Today it is a popular picnic spot where fieldstone fireplaces
and rustic benches and tables provide for the comfort of the tourist.

The former site of Whitingham Centre has become Town Hill Memorial Park. Here stand memorials to the dead of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and
the Vietnam War. To the south of these memorials stands a twelve-foot Brigham Young monument that was dedicated on Sunday, 28 May 1950 by President George
Albert Smith (see aerial photograph, items no. 5 and 7). An estimated 1,000 persons, including descendants of Brigham Young, gathered to witness the unveiling and to
view the memorial inscription:

BRIGHAM YOUNG

Church Leader-Colonizer-Statesman

Born in the Town of Whitingham, Vermont, June 1, 1801. Leader of Mormon Pioneers from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Rocky Mountains, arriving in the Valley of the
Great Salt Lake July 24, 1847. Second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving from December 27, 1847 until his death at Salt Lake City,
Utah, August 29, 1877.

His statue occupies a place in Statuary Hall, National Capitol, Washington, D.C. This monument erected by Descendants of Brigham Young in cooperation with The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Removal to New York

Unable to better his family's economic condition after three years and four moves in the Whitingham area, John Young sought new farming opportunities 135 miles to
the southwest, in Sherburne, Chenango County, New York. The Daniel Kent family appears to have gone with them. In 1858, Brigham Young informed an inquirer
from Canandaigua, New York, "My father and family removed to Smyrna [Sherburne at the time of the move], Chenango County, N.Y., when I was about eighteen
months old." For Brigham this would place the move in December 1802 or January 1803. However, it would appear that he was mistaken in this calculation. As
previously mentioned, John Young, Sr.'s, name was still on the Grand (tax) List in Whitingham as late as 13 December 1803. And the marriages of Brigham's sisters,
Fanny and Nancy, in Whitingham during 1803 identify the continued presence of the family in Vermont.

Brigham Young's older brother, Joseph, recorded, "We remained in this town [Whitingham] until the winter of 1804 when we moved to the State of New York, the
town of Sherburn[e], Chenango County. The first place of our residence was on one of the hills of what was subsequently called Smyrna (Sherburn[e] was divided
[1808]) at a farmhouse owned by a man by the name of Philip Truax."

Joseph's reference to "the winter of 1804" seems to target the early part of 1804, rather than the latter part of that year, for their move. Further evidence is Louisa
Young's being born to John and Nabby on 26 September 1804, at Sherburne, New York, and Nancy Young Kent's giving birth to Emily Kent on 2 October 1804 at
"Smyrna" [then Sherburne], both in the fall of the year and not yet into a "winter" setting.

In New York, the Young family was ideally situated to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ a quarter of a century later. In the interim period, Brigham Young
found a wide variety of residences and formed a family of his own before his eventual conversion and baptism into the Church on 14 April 1831 at Mendon, Monroe
County, New York.

Notes

  1. M. Hamlin Cannon, "A Pension Office Note on Brigham Young's Father," American Historical Review 49 (October 1944): 82-90; "History of the Church,"
Juvenile Instructor 16 (1 March 1881): 52. For an extended discussion of John Young's age at enlistment and his Revolutionary War record, see also Gene Allred
Sessions, Latter-day Patriots: Nine Mormon Families and Their Revolutionary War Heritage (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1975), 24-28, 192-93.

  2. "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," 1, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS
Church Historical Archives). The township of Coxsackie had been created on 7 March 1788. See Thomas F. Gordon, Gazetteer of the State of New York
(Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, 1836), 472.
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  3. Fanny Young to Phineas Howe Young, 1 January 1845, 42-44; copy of original, microfilm 281261, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

  4. S. Dilworth Young, "Here Is Brigham": Brigham Young-the Years to 1844 (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), 17-18.
  2. "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," 1, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS
Church Historical Archives). The township of Coxsackie had been created on 7 March 1788. See Thomas F. Gordon, Gazetteer of the State of New York
(Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, 1836), 472.

  3. Fanny Young to Phineas Howe Young, 1 January 1845, 42-44; copy of original, microfilm 281261, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

  4. S. Dilworth Young, "Here Is Brigham": Brigham Young-the Years to 1844 (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), 17-18.

  5. "History of Brigham Young," Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 3 February 1858, 377.

   6. Whitingham Town Record Book, 3: 72, 203. This record also shows that on 16 June 1795, Joseph Mosely, Sr., purchased 140 1/2 acres of land in Lots 21 and
22 of Fitches Land Grant, Whitingham Township, Vermont, gaining in the process one-half ownership in a sawmill and corn mill on Sadawaga Brook. During October
of that year, he acquired four more parcels of land in the north half of Lot 7, Fitches Grant, followed by 69 3/4 acres in Lot 22 of Fitches Grant. He then procured the
south end of Lot 21, Fitches Grant, and the whole of Lot 9, Fitches Grant. This last lot totaled 250 acres.

  7. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 17 August 1987, Whitingham, Vermont. Mr. Wheeler served as Whitingham town clerk from 1954 to 1989; his
knowledge of the records, physical location of properties, and history of the region was indispensable to the writer. Joseph Mosely sold his remaining holdings in
Whitingham to Loveil Bullock on 2 June 1806. See Whitingham Town Record Book, 4: 233.

  8. Whitingham Town Record Book, 3: 675; and personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 17 August 1987.

  9. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 17 August 1987.

  10. Clark Jillson, Green Leaves from Whitingham, Vermont: A History of the Town (Worcester, Mass.: Private Press of the Author, 1894), 51.

  11. Joseph Young, Sr., Journal, 10-11, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  12. "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," 1.

 13. Extracts taken from the Gazette and Courier (Greenfield, Massachusetts), 23 August 1880, from the address of Hon. Clark Jillson at the centennial of
Whitingham, 18 August 1880, on Town Hill; located in Marjorie W. Graves File, Whitingham town clerk's office.

  14. Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (New York: Macmillan Company, 1930), 3.

  15. Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 9.

  16. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" Brattleboro Reformer (Brattleboro, Vermont), 1 July 1983, 15.

  17. Leonard Brown, Esq., History of Whitingham from Its Organization to the Present Time (Brattleboro, Vt.: Frank E. Housh, 1886), 169.

  18. Susa Young Gates, "Mothers of the Latter-day Prophets: Abigail Howe Young," The Juvenile Instructor 59 (January 1924): 3.

  19. Ibid., 4-5.

  20. Joseph Young, Sr., Journal, 4-7.

  21. "History of Brigham Young," Deseret News, 27 January 1858, 369.

  22. Whitingham Town Record Book, 1: 77.

   23. Grand List, 1802-1804, for 13 December 1803, Whitingham Town Record Book, vol. 1. Arthur D. Wheeler, town clerk, said that the Grand List is an
assessed value of the property, not the tax that is actually assessed each person. The evaluation of the properties in the whole town would be totaled and a percentage
then charged to the individual property holder, based on that evaluation. From personal interview, 18 August 1987.

  24. James Amesy Little, "Brigham Young," 2, unpublished manuscript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  25. Leonard Brown, Esq., History of Whitingham, 99-100.

  26. Gates and Widtsoe, 3.

   27. Hamilton Child, Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vermont, 1724-1884 (Syracuse, N. Y.: Journal Office, 1884), 304. The "part of the
cellar walls" is not discernable today.

  28. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987. Mr. Wheeler stated that the systematic numbering and posting of roads by civil authorities didn't
occur until sometime after the turn of the century.

 29. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" 15; see also Doris Kirkpatrick, "Brigham Young Just Missed Being Born in Hopkinton,"
Worcester Sunday Telegram (Worcester, Massachusetts), 19 October 1958, sec. F, 7-8. (Doris Kirkpatrick is now deceased.)

  30. Extracts taken from the Gazette and Courier, 23 August 1880, from the address of Hon. Clark Jillson at the Centennial of Whitingham, 18 August 1880, on
Town Hill, located in Marjorie W. Graves File, Whitingham Town Clerk's Office.

  31. Phone interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 21 April 1995.

  32. Ibid. Matthias F. Cowley said that the monument had been placed there by "non-Mormon residents," but did not specify who or when. See "My Acquaintance
with President Brigham Young," Millennial Star, 100 (22 September 1938): 600.
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  33. Arrington, 435, n. 11.
  31. Phone interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 21 April 1995.

  32. Ibid. Matthias F. Cowley said that the monument had been placed there by "non-Mormon residents," but did not specify who or when. See "My Acquaintance
with President Brigham Young," Millennial Star, 100 (22 September 1938): 600.

  33. Arrington, 435, n. 11.

  34. Grand List, 1802-1804, Whitingham Town Record Book, vol. 1.

  35. "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," 1.

  36. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987.

  37. Joseph Young, Sr., Journal, 7, italics added.

   38. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987. Sadawaga Pond or Lake lies between Town Hill and the village of Whitingham. The large body of
water to the west and northwest of the village of Whitingham is the Harriman Reservoir. The reservoir was made possible by an earth-fill dam completed in the spring
of 1923.

  39. Jillson, 227; see also Esther Munroe Swift, Vermont Place-Names, Foot Prints of History (Brattleboro, Vt.: Stephen Green Press, 1977), 512.

  40. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987.

  41. Phone interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 21 April 1995.

   42. Phone interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 21 April 1995; extracts taken from the Gazette and Courier, 23 August 1880, from the address of Hon. Clark Jillson
at the Centennial of Whitingham, 18 August 1880, on Town Hill, and located in Marjorie W. Graves File, Whitingham Town Clerk's Office.

  43. Marjorie W. Graves, "Stories of Whitingham" (n.p.: 1975), 97, copy located in Whitingham town clerk's office. (Marjorie Graves is now deceased.)

  44. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" 15.

  45. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987.

  46. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" 15.

  47. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987, italics added.

  48. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" 15. William D. Canedy served as Whitingham town clerk from 1917 to 1952. Marjorie
Graves reported, "[Alfred Greene] remembered very well that their home [John Young's] was at the far end of the Stebbins lot." See Graves, 96-97.

  49. Extracts taken from the Gazette and Courier, 23 August 1880.

  50. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" 35, italics added.

  51. Personal interview with Arthur D. Wheeler, 18 August 1987. In a phone interview on 21 April 1995, Arthur again reiterated his original assessment that Brigham
Young's birthplace was on John Young's 51 1/2 acres.

  52. Doris Kirkpatrick, "Where Was Brigham Young Born Anyway?" 15.

   53. The monument, standing twelve feet high, is a polished shaft of light granite from Barre, Vermont. Following remarks by LDS Church officials and local civic
leaders, the monument was unveiled by three granddaughters and two grandsons of Brigham Young: Leah Dunford Widtsoe (daughter of Susa Young), Gladys Young
Orlos, Edith Young Booth, Don C. Young, and George S. Young; see "Commemorative Exercises, Unveiling of Monument at Birthplace of Brigham Young,
Whitingham, Vermont, Sunday, May 28, 1950" (program); Clarence S. Barker, "Monument to Brigham Young Unveiled in Fitting Ceremonies at the Birthplace,"
Deseret News, 4 June 1950, Church section, 3, 16; Clarence S. Barker, "From the Green Hills to Statuary Hall," Improvement Era 53 (August 1950): 630-31.

President George Albert Smith followed the ceremony with an address and a dedicatory prayer, petitioning that the Lord's Spirit might be enjoyed by those visiting the
Town Hill memorial. He said:

We are here now to present this monument of granite, the native granite of this great state, that which President Brigham Young himself undoubtedly would choose if he
were here, and, Heavenly Father, we pray that thy Spirit may remain here that those who come to read the inscription on the monument may realize that thou art the
Father of us all and that he whom we are gathered to honor was great enough to assume his responsibilities and carry a tremendous load during his long life (see
President George Albert Smith, "Dedicatory Prayers at Unveiling Ceremonies," Improvement Era, 53 [September 1950]: 693).

President George Albert Smith also gave a second dedicatory prayer the following Thursday in the rotunda of the Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., 1 June 1950, at
the unveiling of the Brigham Young statue placed in Statuary Hall.

  54. "A Letter from Brigham Young," South County Journal (Wakefield, Rhode Island), 25 September 1858, reprinted from The Ontario Republican Times
(Canandaigua, New York).

  55. Joseph Young, Sr., Journal, 7-8. Sherburne was divided and the town of Safford created on 25 March 1808. However, the name of the town of Safford was
soon changed to Smyrna on 6 April 1808. See Hamilton Child, Gazetteer and Business Directory, Chenango County, N.Y. for 1869-70 (Syracuse, N. Y.: The Journal
Office, 1869), 132.

  56. The births and birthplaces of Louisa Young and Emily Kent are found on the TIB cards located in the LDS Church Family History Department, Salt Lake City,
Utah. Daniel Kent appears only in the Grand List for 13 December 1803 ($26.50). See Whitingham Town Record Book, vol. 1. It would seem that the Young and
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  57. For an in-depth examination of Brigham Young and other family members in the state of New York, see Richard F. Palmer and Karl D. Butler, Brigham Young:
Office, 1869), 132.

  56. The births and birthplaces of Louisa Young and Emily Kent are found on the TIB cards located in the LDS Church Family History Department, Salt Lake City,
Utah. Daniel Kent appears only in the Grand List for 13 December 1803 ($26.50). See Whitingham Town Record Book, vol. 1. It would seem that the Young and
Kent families traveled together to Sherburne, New York, in 1804.

  57. For an in-depth examination of Brigham Young and other family members in the state of New York, see Richard F. Palmer and Karl D. Butler, Brigham Young:
The New York Years (Provo, Ut.: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 1982).

CHAPTER 2

Conversion and Transformation

Brigham Young's New York Roots and the Search for Bible Religion

Ronald K. Esplin

Director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University

Brigham Young's New England heritage and his youth and young adulthood in Western New York were the foundation for his later success as a powerful religious
leader. Though his family left New England before Brigham was three years old, their Puritan mores vitally influenced his upbringing and character. The agrarian and
frontier culture of Western New York, along with Brigham's own reactions to the fires of religious revival that seared the region, modified this Puritan heritage. Tracing
his religious roots and his conversion to the restored gospel in New York allows us to see his profoundly religious nature and to understand that, despite having
exceptional practical skills and successes, he was fundamentally a religious leader.

Brigham Young's New England roots ran deep. He numbered among his ancestors several generations of New England Youngs, Brighams, Howes, and Goddards. His
parents, John and Nabby Howe Young, were both natives of Massachusetts, he a poor orphan and she the daughter of an established and respected family. After
John and Nabby were married in 1785, they lived for a time near her family in Hopkinton. Though they were industrious and frugal, a large family soon outstripped their
resources and forced them into several moves in an effort to improve their economic position. One of these moves took the family briefly to Vermont, where
Brigham Young, the ninth child, was born in Whitingham on 1 June 1801. Before Brigham's third birthday, the Youngs moved again, this time to the beautiful Finger
Lakes country of Western New York, where Brigham grew to manhood.

John Young settled his family on new land in communities still without their first decent road or access to market. Laboring on and living off this land with his family,
young Brigham was predictably influenced deeply. Rather than receiving formal schooling, Brigham received an education that consisted of clearing, planting, plowing,
and learning to work with his hands. Speaking later of the background he shared with his New York friend Heber C. Kimball, he said:

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 of getting our shins, feet and toes bruised.

"I have been a poor boy and a poor man, and my parents were poor," he said later. While that description fits most of Brigham Young's childhood, the hardest years
came after the death of his mother soon after his own fourteenth birthday. Without mother keeping house, the older children moved on, and the family was divided.
Brigham and his younger brother Lorenzo accompanied their father, breaking land for a new farm and harvesting sugar maple on isolated acreage near the southern tip
of Seneca Lake. During this difficult period they barely had enough to eat.

Like most youth, Brigham Young enjoyed his times of fun and frolic, "running, jumping, wrestling" and "laying out [his] strength for naught." According to later memory,
such frivolous pursuits stopped rather suddenly when John Young told his sixteen-year-old son, "You can now have your time; go and provide for yourself."

Breaking with the farming of his youth, Brigham Young set out to become a builder and an artisan. As a young craftsman he developed patience with detail and a
concern for honest, reliable work and quality workmanship. More than fifty years later, his response to the letter of an old New York friend stressed his lasting
commitment to those qualities:

I have believed all my life that that which was worth doing was worth doing well, and have considered it as much a part of my religion to do honest, reliable work, such
as would endure, for those who employed me, as to attend to the services of God's worship on the Sabbath.

Young Brigham was conscious of his reputation and his standing in society. Although he recognized in himself "weakness, sin, darkness and ignorance," he sought to use
appropriate language and to conduct himself in business and society "in a way to gain for myself the respect of the moral and good among my neighbors." Those who
knew him in Western New York later reported good of him. In contrast to Joseph Smith, who resided only a few miles away and who was ridiculed because of his
youthful claims of visions, Brigham Young was thought of as upright and sober-until after he joined the Mormons at age thirty-one.

In 1857, one Canandaigua resident who had known the Youngs responded to the publication of an unflattering article about the later Brigham. Stressing that he
defended not the Brigham Young of Utah "but Brigham Young as he was, while in Canandaigua, before he became a Mormon," the writer answered the charge that
Brigham had been poor and indolent. "He was poor but had enough to be comfortable," insisted the writer. "He was not indolent, but was a hard working man, . . .
very handy with tools"; and his neighbors thought him "a consistent Christian."

By the time Brigham Young married on 8 October 1824 at age twenty-three, he was well prepared to provide for a family. He had supported himself for a half-dozen
years as "painter, joiner, glazer," and was accepted as a responsible member of his community. His bride, Miriam Works, was five years his junior. A neighbor
remembered Miriam as a "beautiful blond with blue eyes and wavy air; gentle and lovable," and Brigham as "vigorous, handsome and magnetic . . . as fine a specimen
of young manhood as I have ever known."

Caring for his family and toiling at his trade, however, were but part of his life. He yearned also for religious fulfillment and for answers to nagging questions about life
and salvation.

As with his quest for economic independence, his quest for religious fulfillment was a journey of many years. Raised by parents of Puritan stock in the Western New
York hotbed of religious enthusiasm, young Brigham grew up with religious and moral instruction. Though John and Nabby Young discarded the harsher Calvinist
beliefs of their ancestors and had chosen Methodism, they were strict nonetheless-as Brigham Young put it, "some of the most strict religionists that lived upon the
earth."
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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 [were] denied me. . . . 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 high way to hell, if I suffered myself to linger and listen to it.
As with his quest for economic independence, his quest for religious fulfillment was a journey of many years. Raised by parents of Puritan stock in the Western New
York hotbed of religious enthusiasm, young Brigham grew up with religious and moral instruction. Though John and Nabby Young discarded the harsher Calvinist
beliefs of their ancestors and had chosen Methodism, they were strict nonetheless-as Brigham Young put it, "some of the most strict religionists that lived upon the
earth."

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 [were] denied me. . . . 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 high way to hell, if I suffered myself to linger and listen to it.

His upbringing was so strict that if he exclaimed "Devil," he believed he had sworn "very wickedly." Any violation of family mores meant swift discipline from his father,
whose practice was "a word and a blow . . . but the blow came first." Though his mother mellowed somewhat this stern, emotionally narrow approach, she generally
sustained John's strict religious views.

His parents' good example reinforced for Brigham the moral precepts they taught. For years he worked side by side with his father and saw his integrity firsthand, and
of his mother he once said, "No better woman ever lived in the world than she was." No matter the provocation, neither would permit their children to wrong another.
Brigham idealized his mother and long remembered her bedside pleas to "honour the name of the Father and the Son, and to reverence the holy Book. . . . Do
everything that is good; do nothing that is evil; and if you see any persons in distress, administer to their wants."

This strict moral training was effective. "I do not know that I ever wronged my neighbor, even to the value of a pin," he said, in reference to his parents' teachings. He
said of himself on one occasion that from the days of his youth, he had tried to live a "pure and refined life. . . . I have not infringed upon any law, or trod upon the rights
of my neighbors; but I have tried to walk in the paths of righteousness." Though he sometimes yielded to anger, he had no memory of ever having "stole, lied,
gambled, got drunk, or disobeyed my parents." Indeed, he abandoned his work as a painter when, in his words, "I had either to be dishonest or quit; and I quit."

The strictness of Young's upbringing also showed itself in the control he maintained over feelings and emotions. Not until the sweeping changes in his life brought about
by his conversion to Mormonism and his adoption of Joseph Smith as a model did many of his religious and personal feelings find expression, and throughout his life he
remained reluctant to reveal deep emotion. No doubt this is one reason for the popular image of the later Young as a flinty and unfeeling leader. He once told the Saints
that his heart was so full of tender emotions for them that he could easily weep like a child, "but I am careful to keep my tears to myself."

In temperament Brigham Young was fiercely independent; the urge to be "free and untrammeled" was a vital part of his soul. "I am naturally opposed to being
crowded," he once explained, adding that he instinctively opposed anyone who tried to force him. Although never attracted to drink, he stoutly refused to sign a
temperance pledge when his father urged him to do so. "If I sign the temperance pledge," he told his father, "I feel that I am bound, and I wish to do just right, without
being bound to do it; I want my liberty. My independence," he announced, "is sacred to me." A son of the generation who fought the War for Independence, he saw
himself as free before God, accepting all the rights and responsibilities that entailed.

Not surprisingly, this independence early manifested itself in matters of religion. Instead of accepting all of the strict Methodist views of his parents, Brigham developed
independent ideas even as a youth. Of the existence of God he had no doubt; nothing else made sense. "I co[ul]d not get it into my mind that there was a sun moon &
stars & nobody to make them-I never co[ul]d get it into my head 'heres a book, but there was no printer.'" He felt it "natural . . . to be reverential" toward God and His
creation.

Nor did he have any difficulty following his mother's example of reverence for "the holy Book." At her urging, he read the Bible and tried to understand its precepts and
apply them in his life. Indeed, as with many who rejected the sectarian orthodoxies of that day, he parted with mainstream Protestantism partly because of his
independent reading of the Bible and his inability to reconcile its teachings with the tumultuous world of religion around him. His stubborn independence encouraged him
to chart a personal course as he pondered "these eternal things" amid the multiplicity of religious voices.

Growing up in Western New York, he was early on exposed to contending creeds. "From my youth up," he remembered, "their cry was, 'Lo here is Christ, lo there is
Christ,' . . . each claiming that it had the Savior, and that others were wrong." He decided to join none of them until he could judge for himself, and he often prayed, "if
there is a God in heaven save me, that I may know all and not be fooled." Brought up "amid . . . flaming, fiery revivals" in one of the greatest periods of religious
turmoil ever, Young found it "all a mystery."

I saw them get religion all around me-men were rolling and holloring and bawling and thumping but it had no effect on me-I wanted to know the truth that I might not be
fooled-children and young men got religion, but I could not.

The intensity of the religious climate affected his family as well. When Brigham Young was fifteen, his younger brother Lorenzo had a vivid dream. In this dream
Lorenzo saw a brilliant gold carriage drawn rapidly by a beautiful pair of white horses:

It was manifested to me that the Savior was in the carriage, and that it was driven by His servant. It stopped near me and the Savior inquired, "Where is your Brother
Brigham?" After answering His question He inquired about my other brothers, and concerning my father. . . . He stated that He wanted us all, but especially my brother
Brigham.

The dream left such an impression that Lorenzo remained awake the rest of that night. Seeing no other interpretation, he felt that it portended some great evil about to
befall his brother and perhaps the rest of the family. Though his father felt no such fears about it, such an experience could only have intensified Brigham's religious
yearnings, perhaps suggesting that God was specifically aware of him.

Although the revivals did not move Brigham to a profession of religion, they did have an impact. They reminded him that he was "unchurched" and multiplied his
religious concerns. He turned to his Bible and to family and friends who shared similar concerns. Unsatisfied by revivalist leaders, he concluded that he would gladly
give all the gold and silver he ever could possess to meet "with one individual who could show me anything about God, heaven, or the plan of salvation." Though still a
youth, he embarked on a serious quest for a satisfying religion and "the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven."

Brigham Young actively inquired into the beliefs of the major denominations in his region, and of "almost every other religious ism" as well. Each time, the result was
disappointing. For one thing, it distressed him that the actions of professed Christians were not always in harmony with Christ's example or with his own strict
upbringing. Too often, he thought, they oppressed the poor or cheated their neighbor.

Such hypocrisy was not his main objection, however. He parted company with all of them over doctrine. None preached doctrine that answered his personal yearnings
and growing questions, or that harmonized with his own reading of the New Testament. Though morals, preaching, and intentions were satisfactory, none taught
doctrines that suited him. All had truth, he was certain, but not one could he embrace without reservation. "As far as their teachings were in accordance with the Bible, I
could believe them, but no further."
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Brigham wanted more than moral preaching and generalizations. He yearned for solid doctrine, for explicit teachings about God. He wanted concrete descriptions of
the path to salvation which, he believed, required more than a mere profession of belief. In camp meetings, he observed men and women worked into a trance by
religious excitement, motionless "from ten minutes to probably an hour without the least sign of life." When they awoke, he asked them what they had seen or learned.
Such hypocrisy was not his main objection, however. He parted company with all of them over doctrine. None preached doctrine that answered his personal yearnings
and growing questions, or that harmonized with his own reading of the New Testament. Though morals, preaching, and intentions were satisfactory, none taught
doctrines that suited him. All had truth, he was certain, but not one could he embrace without reservation. "As far as their teachings were in accordance with the Bible, I
could believe them, but no further."

Brigham wanted more than moral preaching and generalizations. He yearned for solid doctrine, for explicit teachings about God. He wanted concrete descriptions of
the path to salvation which, he believed, required more than a mere profession of belief. In camp meetings, he observed men and women worked into a trance by
religious excitement, motionless "from ten minutes to probably an hour without the least sign of life." When they awoke, he asked them what they had seen or learned.
Always the answer was the same: "Nothing or nobody. Nothing at all."

He went to hear the famed preacher Lorenzo Dow, hoping to learn "something about the Son of God, the will of God, what the ancients did and received, saw and
heard pertaining to God and heaven." After an eloquent preachment, Brigham asked himself what he had learned. "Nothing, nothing but morals." Dow could talk about
the Sabbath and tell the people not to lie, steal, or commit adultery, but when it came to teaching the "things of God," for Brigham he was "as dark as midnight."

As Brigham Young grew older and bolder, he began to question the ministers directly: "I read so and so in the Bible, how do you understand it?" Not only did they fail
to enlighten him ("they would always leave me where they found me, in the dark"), when he made known his own feelings, they often called him an infidel. Neither
their creeds nor their preaching gave him solace or taught him how to be saved.

We can best understand Brigham Young's religious longings and his reactions to sectarianism in the context of the widespread "seeker" and "Christian primitivist"
movement of his day. Brigham Young grew to manhood in the time and place since known as "the burned-over district" because of the intense religious enthusiasm that
swept it. Here waves of sectarian revivals provided fertile ground for religious discussion, dissention, and innovation.

Exposed to competing religious claims from his youth on, Brigham developed his own religious philosophy partly in response to these. This philosophy led him, as it did
other like-minded contemporaries, to become a "seeker" and a "primitivist." Dissatisfied with sectarian doctrines and practices-especially the unseemly division and
rivalry-primitivists sought to return to New Testament patterns. Generally anticlerical, with limited formal training and a lay clergy, they remained aloof from existing
denominations.

Although he may not have been even loosely associated with a "primitivist" or "seeker" group until his mid-twenties, he probably had acquaintances and associates who
shared this religious orientation. His disappointments with the sects-and his expectations for religion rooted in the Bible-parallel the assumptions and conclusions of
other primitivists too closely to be entirely coincidental.

In general, primitivists were stirred by the revivals but reacted strongly against the sectarian conflict they fostered. Viewing the old-line churches as corrupt and
apostate, they stressed the need for "a restoration" of the "primitive" faith. Some awaited a new prophet as the best answer to general apostasy. And, like Brigham
Young, primitivists turned to the Bible-their own reading of the Bible-as the only authoritative guide. Brigham Young clearly did not stand alone in these principles. His
reading of the Bible and his understanding of its message owed something to the primitivist movement that had gathered momentum since the turn of the century.

Reading the Bible convinced Young that true religion was more than good morals and professions of belief, but that it needed also authority and structure:

I understood from the Bible that when the Lord has a church upon the earth it was a system of ordinances, of laws and regulations to be obeyed, a society presided
over and regulated by officers and ministers peculiar to itself to answer such and such purposes, and to bring to pass such and such results.

He challenged the ministers to tell him how the kingdom of God should be built up if the New Testament pattern was not the way. "My dear friend," they would answer,
"these things are done away with." Ordinances? Mere matters of ceremony; belief was sufficient. He could not find a religious system that followed the scriptural
pattern. For Brigham the conclusion was inescapable: "I knew that Jesus Christ had no true Church upon the earth."

As Young understood the New Testament pattern, a people "built up and believing" according to its principles would have among them "all the gifts and graces of the
Gospel," including Apostles "to rule, govern, control, dictate, and give counsel." Above all, he longed to associate with a man of God-not a preacher of morals alone,
but a prophet with the knowledge and power of heaven. Later he remembered having felt

that if I could see the face of a prophet, such as had lived on the earth in former times, a man that had revelations, to whom the heavens were opened, who knew God
and his character, I would freely circumscribe the earth on my hands and knees.

Although his convictions about biblical religion had not changed, in 1824, about the time of his marriage, Brigham Young formally associated with the Methodism of his
parents. "I patiently waited until I was twenty-three years old," he said later, and then "to prevent my being any more pestered about it I joined." Was he weary of
being called an unbeliever? Did he respond to his wife's request? Did he seek formal religious association at the time of his marriage to further legitimize his position in
the community? Or was this a response to revivals? According to one scholar, revivals reminded the unchurched that they must belong to a church, "a point about
which they were already feeling guilty." Perhaps repeated revivals finally convinced Brigham that he ought to do what he could, even if it was not all he hoped for.

Clearly he remained concerned about salvation and viewed this as a proper time to "break off my sins and lead a better life." Perhaps a formal religious commitment
would help. The Reformed Methodism that Brigham joined had rejected strict Calvinism and moved in some measure in the directions he sought. Though he did not
agree with all of its teachings, he saw much good in it and no harm in joining. At his insistence, he was baptized by immersion by a society that held that the form of the
ordinance was not important.

Young's formal association with the Methodists was likely brief. Not long after his baptism he found employment in Oswego, New York, where he joined with other
seekers in an informal society of prayer, song, and worship. Soon afterward, he moved to the Canandaigua-Mendon area, where the local Reformed Methodist
organization had been dissolved.

More than thirty years after he left Oswego, Brigham Young received a letter that opens a revealing window on his early religious quest. Hiram McKee (now a
minister), having heard about "Brigham Young and the Mormons," feared that his old friend had lost the piety of his youth. "How sweet was our communion in old
Oswego, how encouraging our prayers, and enlivening our songs," wrote McKee of the association they once shared:

I have often thought of you as I have been engaged in trying to preach the gospel. . . . I have not forgotten your advise, counsel, prayers. My confidence was great in
you, in view of your deep piety, and faith in God. You was one of my early spiritual friends, and guides, and I have often enquired in my mind, I wonder if Brigham
enjoys as much piety now as then, or wheather ambitian, and love of power, and distinction did not hold some sway in that mind, that was once so humble, contrite and
devoted.

Brigham assured
 Copyright       his friend that
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                             Infobase     vividly remembered "the scenes, feelings and experience" of Oswego "when we were fellow seekers after the truths revealed
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from Heaven," adding that "so far as I am able to determine, I feel that I am and ever since have been as honest a seeker after truth as I was during our acquaintance in
Oswego."
enjoys as much piety now as then, or wheather ambitian, and love of power, and distinction did not hold some sway in that mind, that was once so humble, contrite and
devoted.

Brigham assured his friend that he, too, vividly remembered "the scenes, feelings and experience" of Oswego "when we were fellow seekers after the truths revealed
from Heaven," adding that "so far as I am able to determine, I feel that I am and ever since have been as honest a seeker after truth as I was during our acquaintance in
Oswego."

Among acquaintances at this time, Brigham Young was known as honest, sober, and industrious, a "consistent Christian" who was interested in religion but not carried
away by religious enthusiasms. When a Canandaigua newspaper reprinted many years later the charge that Brigham Young had been "very fanatical and consequently
noisy in meetings, shouting, screaming and howling with all his energy," one who had known him well during this period replied. Young's older brother Phinehas, himself
a preacher, may have been "noisy," conceded the respondent, "but it is not true of Brigham. . . . We never thought him fanatical until after he became a Mormon."

Clearly, Brigham was a practical man, not visionary or fanatic. Yet he long remembered a remarkable "vision" that he and others saw in the fall of 1827. Later, in
Nauvoo, he described the remarkable lights that for two hours on a moonless night formed marching armies across the sky. "I gazed at it with my Wife-the light was
perfectly clear and remained several hours-it formed into men like as if there were great armies." Several miles away, Brigham's sister Fanny, father John Young,
brother-in-law John P. Greene, and others witnessed the same display. Heber Kimball told the same Nauvoo audience that "President Young has given a short sketch
of what has been. . . . I distinctly heard the guns crack and the swords clash."

Joseph Young saw this as a sign of the coming of the Son of Man. No doubt Brigham and Miriam also saw it as a sign, but what it portended they did not know. For
several years the experience remained for them a vivid memory without specific meaning.

It was probably soon after this experience that Brigham Young first heard of Joseph Smith's "Indian Bible":

I suppose it was the first time that Joseph Smith gave to his Father the account of the finding of the records, that there was printed in the newspaper a short paragraph .
. . that a young man had seen an angel and [the angel] had told him where to find an Indian Bible.

Living only a few miles from the Smiths, the Youngs heard other stories about the young man and the book, generally negative stories that ridiculed his pretensions or
exaggerated his foibles. But not until several years later did Brigham learn that on 22 September 1827, the very night he and his wife observed the lights, the angel
had delivered to Joseph Smith the gold plates. Brigham also did not know that the mysterious book would be part of his own long quest for personal religious integrity.

In 1829, Brigham and Miriam moved to Mendon and set up shop and home near Heber C. Kimball, a cousin soon to become Brigham's closest and lifelong friend.
Father John Young was already in Mendon; and sisters Fanny Murray and Rhoda Greene, along with brothers Lorenzo and Phinehas, lived nearby. Like Brigham,
some of his relatives and new associates in the Mendon area could be described as seekers. In the words of Heber Kimball, they shared the same principles, "for the
truth was what we wanted and would have." Others, like Phinehas and Joseph Young, associated with the churches and, as lay preachers, taught the religion they
knew.

Here, only a few miles from Palmyra, they would all encounter the Book of Mormon and eventually accept it as new scripture. But that was yet to come. In 1829,
when the local press reported that Martin Harris had been to Rochester to prepare for publication of the Golden Bible, the notice apparently aroused no great sense of
anticipation.

Far from anticipating great things in the future, Brigham Young at this time experienced gloominess, even despair. In part he was despondent over his failure to satisfy
deep religious longings. Poverty and perhaps feelings of inferiority may also have contributed. Frequent moves suggest that he had not yet fulfilled his ambitions or found
his niche in the world. Experience had also discouraged him about human nature in general. Already he had seen firsthand enough examples of how men treated one
another to make him "sick, tired, and disgusted with the world." He felt like withdrawing from society and leaving behind its "vain, foolish, wicked, and unsatisfying
customs and practices"-an impulse that helps us understand his later commitment to establishing a new society apart from the world.

Brigham was not alone in feeling cast down. His friend Heber remembered feeling so gloomy during this period that he wished he were dead. Brigham's brothers
Joseph and Phinehas sometimes expressed the same heaviness. According to Phinehas, both he and Brigham felt so disheartened in the fall of 1829 that they could not
even pray with any enthusiasm. At the time Phinehas, echoing a common primitivist hope, tried to encourage his brother that surely things would soon change: "Hang
on," he said, "for I know the Lord is agoing to do some thing for us."

This, then, was the Brigham Young that Mormonism found. His manner of speech, his practical abilities, and his lack of for mal training and refinement were common in
the developing Western New York of his youth and young manhood. His vision of the good life, his closeness to the soil and to those who produced with their hands,
his knowledge of human nature, were all rooted in the fertile soils of his homeland. A Puritan, disciplined and introspective, he found life less than fulfilling. He was
pessimistic about his own future and the condition of mankind, and he found no solace in the philosophies of his day. Though a man of rough-hewn toughness,
independence, and ability, Brigham had found no belief to unify mind and soul, no key to unlock his energies, no cause to prod him to the growth stoked by great
efforts. Nearly thirty years old, he was liked and respected but not distinguished. He seemed likely to remain a craftsman, or certainly to become nothing more
ambitious than a local politician.

The publication of the Book of Mormon set in motion the process that changed Brigham Young's life, eventually dispelling the gloom, satisfying his deep religious
longings, and sending him in directions never anticipated. He later remembered an awareness of the Book of Mormon, both by news accounts and word of mouth, as
soon as it was published in March 1830, only a few miles away. Had he expected anything important in connection with it, no doubt he would have sought a copy
instead of waiting until it came to him. But he did not.

Joseph Smith's brother Samuel Smith, an early missionary, left two copies of the book with members of the Young family-one purchased by Brigham's brother
Phinehas, and another loaned to Brigham's sister Rhoda and her husband, John P. Greene. Phinehas set aside all other labors, "read it twice through, and
pronounced it true." He then lent the book to his father who, after reading it, said it was "the greatest work and the clearest of error of anything he had ever seen, the
Bible not excepted." Phinehas's sister Fanny Murray got it next, read it "and declared it a revelation." Soon Brigham Young read either Phinehas's or Greene's copy.


Although Brigham apparently had access to the book within a month of its publication, he was slower than others of his family to pronounce the work divine.

"Hold on," says I. . . . "Wait a little while; what is the doctrine of the book, and of the revelations the Lord has given? Let me apply my heart to them"; and after I had
done this, I considered it my right to know for myself. . . . I wished time sufficient to prove all things for myself.

While intent on not being taken in by still another religious novelty, Brigham could not risk passing over something that might satisfy his long-felt desires. He sat down,
alone, to ponder-and
 Copyright             to test Infobase
            (c) 2005-2009,     the book the onlyCorp.
                                         Media   way he knew: slowly, carefully, methodically. As he approached the book, he felt no need for divine Page revelation
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authenticity. His "natural wisdom and judgment" had been sufficient, he thought, to comprehend the deficiencies and discrepancies in the creeds of the day, and he
expected the same to be true with the Book of Mormon. Instead, he found something he could not fully comprehend, either to embrace or discard. As he later told his
assembled kin in Nauvoo, "I could get to the bottom of all religions that I have any knowledge of, but this I reasoned on month after month. . . . This was out of my
done this, I considered it my right to know for myself. . . . I wished time sufficient to prove all things for myself.

While intent on not being taken in by still another religious novelty, Brigham could not risk passing over something that might satisfy his long-felt desires. He sat down,
alone, to ponder-and to test the book the only way he knew: slowly, carefully, methodically. As he approached the book, he felt no need for divine revelation about its
authenticity. His "natural wisdom and judgment" had been sufficient, he thought, to comprehend the deficiencies and discrepancies in the creeds of the day, and he
expected the same to be true with the Book of Mormon. Instead, he found something he could not fully comprehend, either to embrace or discard. As he later told his
assembled kin in Nauvoo, "I could get to the bottom of all religions that I have any knowledge of, but this I reasoned on month after month. . . . This was out of my
reach."

For eighteen months, Brigham Young pondered the book and its message. He compared the book's teachings with the Bible and allowed its ideas to ripen in his mind.
   Though he had long felt that traditions lay heavy upon the Christian world, blinding it to simple Biblical truths, he now struggled with his own traditions and
presuppositions. Not until he had considered the book for more than a year did Brigham inform his brother Phinehas that he was "convinced that there was something in
Mormonism." Phinehas replied that he had long been satisfied of that himself.

As he began to be satisfied in his mind about the Book of Mormon, Brigham desired to meet those "who professed to believe it" and to judge in them the fruit of the
doctrines. Ever practical, he wanted to see "whether good common sense was manifest; and if they had that, I wanted them to present it in accordance with the
Scriptures."

The first Mormon elders that he and his kin encountered were probably those from a small Mormon branch in Columbia, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, who several
times passed through the Mendon area, traveling to or from Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio. Heber Kimball may have listened to them before Brigham-likely in the
spring of 1831, when the Mormon elders traveled to Kirtland for a conference to be held in June. Although Kimball first listened out of curiosity, their message that an
angel had visited Joseph Smith with the fullness of the gospel, calling upon all men to repent, and their promise that the gifts of the Spirit would follow those that
believed, immediately interested him. Said Kimball:

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 saw and heard
the gifts of the spirit manifested by the elders, for they spoke in tongues and interpreted, which tended to strengthen my faith.

Brigham and Heber both heard these elders preach in the fall of 1831 as they returned from Ohio. According to Kimball's account, he and Brigham were "constrained
by the Spirit to bear testimony of the truth which we had heard, and when we did this, the power of God rested upon us and we had a testimony that the work was
true." Young noted simply that they preached "the everlasting Gospel as revealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet, which I heard and believed."

Brigham now pondered not only the Book of Mormon but also the message left by the elders and his feelings upon hearing them. Soon after, Heber Kimball
accompanied Brigham, his brother Joseph, and his father to cut wood for Phinehas. As they labored, Heber related later, they reflected on the things the elders had told
them, especially upon the gathering of the Saints. They felt the glory of God around them and saw in vision

the gathering of the Saints to Zion, and the glory that would rest upon them; and many more things connected with that great event, such as the sufferings and
persecutions which would come upon the people of God, and the calamities and judgments which would come upon the world.

Heber interpreted this experience as a witness that the message of the Restoration was of God.

Although increasingly interested in Mormonism, they still had no opportunity to observe a Mormon meeting or worship with a Mormon family. Soon after the elders left
Mendon, Heber proposed to Brigham and Phinehas that they use his horse and sleigh to visit the Pennsylvania members in their own homes. Apparently Vilate
Kimball remained behind to care for the children so the other wives could accompany their husbands. Miriam must have been as eager to visit the Pennsylvania
Mormons as was Brigham; otherwise she, debilitated by consumption, would not have braved in winter the two hundred and fifty mile round-trip journey. As
Brigham later summarized,

We stayed with the church the[re] about six days, attended their meetings, heard them speak in tongues, interpret and prophecy: these things truly caused us to rejoice
and praise the Lord. We returned home being convinced of the truth of these things . . . and bore testimony to the truth of those things which we had seen and heard to
our friends and neighbors.

As soon as they returned from Pennsylvania, Brigham Young used the horse and sleigh to travel two hundred miles to discuss the gospel with his brother Joseph, then
preaching Methodism in Canada. Although he had now largely satisfied his own mind about Mormonism, he wanted to share his feelings with his respected older
brother and see if Joseph concurred. Young's minister brother-in-law, John Greene, traveling his own preaching circuit, accompanied him partway that February. As
the two men discussed Mormonism, Brigham told Reverend Greene, "If you dont get snagged I'll treat."

Brigham characterized his brother Joseph as a solemn man of sad heart, a "very spiritual man" who was always praying. Like Brigham, after seeking wisdom and solace
from the Bible, he had concluded that there were no "Bible Christians" on the earth. That conclusion left him in despair; he neither laughed nor smiled. "I do not see any
possible escape for the human family," he announced; "all must go to perdition." It was to this older and trusted brother that Brigham Young explained his feelings about
the "folly and nonsense so prevalent in the Christian world" and about what he had found in Mormonism. Joseph Young remembered Brigham reporting to him

many things of interest concerning the signs and wonderful mericales being wraught through the believers in this new faith. I was ripe for receiving something that would
feed my mental cravings, and this seemed to be the food I wanted-nothing could have been more acceptable to my poor famishing soul. I hailed it as my spiritual
jubilee-a deliverance from a long night of darkness and bondage.

Immensely interested, Joseph Young arranged to leave his Canadian ministry and return to Mendon with his brother. In March, shortly after the two arrived in Mendon,
Joseph accompanied his father and his brother Phinehas to Pennsylvania, where the three were baptized. Brigham Young was notably absent. If he had found the
message acceptable, why was he still hesitant to make the commitment?

Brigham recognized that Mormonism presented him with a momentous decision. He must be cautious lest he be deceived. Yet if it was what it professed to be, as he
had progressively come to believe, he must carefully prepare himself for a lifetime commitment. The weight of such a decision intensified his usual caution. He would not
act without "time sufficient to prove all things for myself."

Was he weak and tentative, unable to make up his mind, unwilling to take a risk, awaiting a manifestation so that he could be certain? Some of his later statements
suggest this. Or was he slowly and carefully preparing himself for a decision he understood to be crucial? It seems probable that his hesitancy resulted both from
tentativeness and from a feeling of being inadequately prepared. There likely was, at the time, more tentativeness and unwillingness to be mistaken than is revealed in
later statements that stressed careful preparation.
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In addition to thoroughly examining the Book of Mormon, Brigham Young by this time had listened to the preaching of Mormon elders and had visited the Saints in
their homes. All of this he discussed with family and friends. Gradually his cautious mind became satisfied. Even so, he went to Canada not only to share the tidings with
his brother but also because he was unwilling to trust his own wisdom. He wanted reassurance. "I had more confidence in [Joseph's] judgement and discretion, and in
Was he weak and tentative, unable to make up his mind, unwilling to take a risk, awaiting a manifestation so that he could be certain? Some of his later statements
suggest this. Or was he slowly and carefully preparing himself for a decision he understood to be crucial? It seems probable that his hesitancy resulted both from
tentativeness and from a feeling of being inadequately prepared. There likely was, at the time, more tentativeness and unwillingness to be mistaken than is revealed in
later statements that stressed careful preparation.

In addition to thoroughly examining the Book of Mormon, Brigham Young by this time had listened to the preaching of Mormon elders and had visited the Saints in
their homes. All of this he discussed with family and friends. Gradually his cautious mind became satisfied. Even so, he went to Canada not only to share the tidings with
his brother but also because he was unwilling to trust his own wisdom. He wanted reassurance. "I had more confidence in [Joseph's] judgement and discretion, and in
the manifestations of God to him," he later acknowledged, "than I had in myself, though I then believed the Book of Mormon to be true." He wanted all his doubts
removed; before he acted, he wanted to feel and know he was right. Had this not eventually occurred, he later insisted, "I never would have embraced it to this day."

No matter how diligently Brigham applied himself, his rational, methodical approach to Mormonism was not sufficient. He had found the teachings of Mormonism
reasonable as far as he could understand them, but he was full of questions. Some of the questions must have come from lingering doubts. He understood that the
biblical pattern required Apostles, yet he had heard none preached. If the officers were incomplete, what about the ordinances of the New Testament church: Did
Mormonism have all the ordinances and the authority to administer them? The Restoration message of a prophet on earth again, and of continuing revelation and new
scripture, suggested possibilities for an expanding vista of knowledge that, in Young's words, "led the vision of my mind into eternity" and opened up possibilities
beyond his ability to grasp. Neither his practical approach to Mormonism nor the example of family members who accepted baptism moved him to commitment. He
was determined to pray "and feel right about it" in every respect before he could go ahead.

Brigham also continued to sort out the implications and to test himself. If this were really the Bible religion he had long sought, then, as the Bible challenged, it must take
precedence over all else. He wrestled within, testing his feelings, until he knew "in the vision of my mind" that he could, if required, even leave his family and "know no
other family but the family of God gathered together, or about to be, in this my day."

Later, when commitment to God and religion meant sacrifice, he did not hesitate. The decision had come long before. Because of this preparation, he later could truly
say that his heart, soul, and affections had been with the kingdom of God since the day of his baptism.

"I could not more honestly and earnestly have prepared myself to go into eternity than I did to come into this Church," he later affirmed. Yet it was finally the plain
testimony of a simple elder that firmly launched Brigham Young into Mormonism. His own "judgment, natural endowments, and education" bowed to the direct word of
a man without eloquence who could only say "I know."

The Holy Ghost proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled by them,
and I knew for myself that the testimony of the man was true.

For Young, this testimony "was like fire in my bones. . . . It bore witness to my spirit, and that was enough for me." The experience swept away his doubts and
planted his feet in new directions. Thereafter he could say that when he encountered the Restoration, "I fathomed it as far as I could and then I embraced it for all the
day long."

Eleazer Miller, one of the Pennsylvania elders, baptized Brigham Young on a cold and snowy day, 14 April 1832. With the ordinance came "a humble, child like spirit,"
confirming in his mind that his sins were forgiven, even as the Savior had said. Then Miller astonished him by ordaining him an elder before his clothes were dry.
Three weeks later, Brigham's wife, Miriam, also was baptized. During this same period, in addition to Joseph, Phinehas, and John Young, Brigham also saw Lorenzo
Young, the Kimballs, the Greenes, and other relatives and friends affirm their commitment to the Restoration.

Baptism by immersion is a symbol of death and of a resurrection to new life. Seldom was the symbol more appropriate than in the case of Brigham Young. Instead of
gloom and despair, he was filled with "good feelings, with joy rejoicing," until both man and nature took on new aspects in his eyes. Hope and purpose replaced
discouragement, as if a curtain had been removed from the face of the sun. Instead of sorrow and grief, suddenly it became "Glory! Hallelujah! Praise God!" Indeed,
he later explained, from the day of his baptism forward, he had felt as if he were in another world: "I never look back upon the old world but it is like looking into Hell."


Certain that the restored gospel had the power to revolutionize the world, Brigham Young felt from the time of his baptism an urge to share and to preach. He had
thought society corrupt and foolish; now he felt he knew why: "The whole world . . . was vailed in darkness. . . . What they understood was nothing more than a faint
glimmering of light." He wished to be an instrument to help lift the veil of darkness from others as it had been lifted from him. He would be a messenger not of the
torment awaiting the wicked but of the hope and joy awaiting those who would repent. Truth and the gospel of salvation became his text, he said, and the world his
circuit.

Realistically, Brigham's initial circuit was confined to his own region, where he was assisted by Joseph and Phinehas and Heber. As Brigham Young later summarized
the labors of that first spring and summer, from Mendon they preached in every direction, and "seven months had scarce passed away when there was a dozen
branches raised up." After that, he traveled twice to Canada to preach and twice to Kirtland, preaching along the way. The fire within would not let him rest.

I wanted to thunder and roar out the Gospel to the nations. It burned in my bones like fire pent up. . . . Nothing would satisfy me but to cry abroad in the world, what
the Lord was doing in the latter-days. . . . I had to go out and preach, lest my bones should consume within me.

Because Brigham was a man of humble background and unpolished speech who had not often addressed the public, it is remarkable that he launched at once into
preaching. Though he could express himself adequately in conversation, he was untrained and lacked the confidence to face an audience. Unlike his brothers, Brigham
had no experience as a lay preacher; in public he felt self-conscious and hesitant. He later thought that only his excitement over the message of the Restoration and his
conviction that the Lord could use even the weak things of the world could have persuaded him to become a public speaker.

Young's initiation as a speaker came dramatically the week after his baptism. At a meeting with several experienced Mormon elders, to his surprise they insisted that,
because they did not have the spirit to speak, he must.

I was but a child, so far as public speaking and a knowledge of the world was concerned; but the Spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I felt as though my bones would
consume within me unless I spoke to the people and told them . . . what I had experienced and rejoiced in.

He spoke for over an hour: "I opened my mouth and the Lord filled it." On other occasions as well, it was the "fire" in his bones that motivated him to overcome his
natural timidity. "I was obliged to do it, for I felt as though my bones would consume within me if I did not."

While Young's speech had little in common with the eloquent and studied oratory of the schools, his conversational tone, with illustrations rooted in the experiences and
idioms of the
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                                        Indeed,Corp.
                                                his style came to resemble that advocated by the prominent revivalist Charles Finney, who recommended Pageeven15for/ 128
learned preachers not "splendid exhibitions of rhetoric" but simple language, short sentences, and a colloquial manner, with frequent repetition and parables derived
from the habits of the people. For Brigham this style came naturally.
natural timidity. "I was obliged to do it, for I felt as though my bones would consume within me if I did not."

While Young's speech had little in common with the eloquent and studied oratory of the schools, his conversational tone, with illustrations rooted in the experiences and
idioms of the people, proved effective. Indeed, his style came to resemble that advocated by the prominent revivalist Charles Finney, who recommended even for
learned preachers not "splendid exhibitions of rhetoric" but simple language, short sentences, and a colloquial manner, with frequent repetition and parables derived
from the habits of the people. For Brigham this style came naturally.

His approach to speaking also resembled that urged by the seminarian Lyman Beecher. "Young men," said Beecher to his charges, "pump yourselves brim full of your
subject until you can't hold another drop, and then knock out the bung and let nature caper." In public or in private, in written or spoken language, the vigorous,
colorful mode of discourse rooted in Western New York and developed as a Mormon traveling missionary remained always as part of Brigham Young's personality.

Some of the changes following baptism were subtle and not immediately evident. Here began the process that eventually transformed Brigham Young-the carpenter and
joiner who made fine furniture-into "President Young," committed to "making Saints," to working with people more than things. Here, too, began the process that
eventually transformed an obscure and uneducated working man of upstate New York into a major religious leader and a widely acclaimed pioneer and colonizer of the
West. For Brigham Young, baptism meant new directions, new priorities, and new opportunities. These released and channeled his energies, harnessed his abilities, and
helped him develop new ones. From this time forward, Brigham Young's new religion assumed first importance in his life. Preaching and teaching this new religion
became his first love, seeing its message spread and obeyed his chief satisfaction, and attending to its needs his principal concern.

In addition to new priorities, Brigham still had a family to care for. Miriam, ailing from the progressive disability of tuberculosis, needed assistance and special care,
which he conscientiously provided. His daughter remembered him telling that when Miriam was nearly bedridden, he

got breakfast for his wife, himself, and the little girls, dressed the children, cleaned up the house, carried his wife to the rocking chair by the fireplace and left her there
until he could return in the evening. When he came home he cooked his own and the family's supper, put his wife back to bed and finished up the day's domestic
labours.

Years after Brigham Young left New York, a Canadaigua newspaper printed the charge that he had been indolent, neglected his family, and often left his wife without
provisions. An acquaintance from this period responded, affirming his industry and labeling the charge that he was neglectful of his family

the most unjust charge of all; there could scarcely be a more kind and affectionate husband and father than he was, and few men in his circumstances would have
provided better for their families. Mrs. Young was sick, most of the time unable to do any kind of work, but she was a worthy woman, and an exemplary Christian; she
was well deserving his care and attention, and she had it while she lived in Canadaigua.

While his wife was still alive, Brigham limited his missions largely to his own region; this permitted him to assist Miriam and spend time with her. And Grandma Works,
the Kimballs, and some of the Young family were near enough to assist Brigham's wife and children when he was away.

In September 1832, less than five months after their baptism, Miriam died, leaving Brigham alone with two young daughters. Though Miriam had departed, she and
Brigham shared a conviction that they would meet again. Young later insisted that he did not mourn her passing, though he would have except for the gospel. He was
certain that "because the Priesthood is here," the way was opened from earth to heaven "and my wife was going there." Brigham and his daughters moved in with the
Kimballs, and for the next eighteen months Vilate Kimball mothered her little namesake Vilate Young and Vilate's older sister Elizabeth.

Disestablishing his household after Miriam's death permitted Brigham Young to act on an impulse he had felt since baptism: he gave away many of his possessions and
significantly decreased his business. From the time of his baptism he had felt not only a spirit of unity with all in the new faith but also a conviction that out of that faith
and unity would come a new social and economic order. If they labored together to build up and beautify the earth, he was certain the Saints would produce more than
enough, and that all would share in the plenty.

In the spring, he had commenced to "lay aside his ledgers." Once his daughters were in Vilate's care, he felt he could go further. He felt within himself the urge to be
unencumbered with material things, free to preach the message of joy and peace until Christ should come, and he acted on it.

Later, he would respond to a different agenda as he learned that the road to the new society would be long and difficult and would require more of him and the Saints
than preaching alone. But in 1832, with fire in his bones and filled with the enthusiasm of a new convert, he closed his shop and set out Quixote-like to change the
world.

Notes

  1. Though Latter-day Saint contemporaries recognized the depth of Brigham Young's faith and religious devotion, only the most astute outside observers saw
beyond the "secular" successes to the religious motivations and power behind them. One of these was the Frenchman Jules Remy, who, after visiting Brigham Young
and the Mormons in 1855, commented both on his "remarkable talent and profound ability" and on the depth and sincerity of his religious belief. "We withdrew
perfectly convinced of the sincerity of his faith," concluded Remy. See Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, A Journey to Great-Salt Lake City, 2 vols. (London: W. Jeffs,
1861), 1: 303; see also 1: 201, 210.

  2. For specifics about Young's New England background, see Rebecca Cornwall and Richard F. Palmer, "The Religious and Family Background of Brigham
Young," BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 286-310.

   3. According to Gordon S. Wood, "Evangelical America and Early Mormonism," New York History 61 (October 1980): 359-86, Americans were on the move
during this period like never before. Many families were uprooted several times. Wood suggests that these moves had profound social and psychological implications,
influencing the reactions of those affected to the religious enthusiasms of the period. The Youngs, the Smiths, the Kimballs, and other prominent Mormon families were
among those who experienced repeated uprootings.

  4. Brigham Young, 2 August 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 97. For an imaginative but nonetheless helpful reconstruction of Brigham's frontier education, see S.
Dilworth Young, "Here is Brigham . . ."-Brigham Young . . . the Years to 1844 (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), 39.

  5. Brigham Young, 6 April 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 312; and Cornwall and Palmer, 308.

  6. Lorenzo later remembered an occasion when their father left to take sugar to market. Before his return, the boys had exhausted all the food in the house. Brigham
shot a robin and, with two spoonfuls of flour thumped out of an empty barrel, made robin stew, their only meal in two days. See James A. Little, "Biography of Lorenzo
Dow Young," Utah Historical Quarterly 14 (1946): 130.
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  7. Brigham Young, 12 November 1864, in Journal of Discourses, 10: 360.

  8. Brigham Young to George Hickox, 19 February 1876, Brigham Young Papers, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
  6. Lorenzo later remembered an occasion when their father left to take sugar to market. Before his return, the boys had exhausted all the food in the house. Brigham
shot a robin and, with two spoonfuls of flour thumped out of an empty barrel, made robin stew, their only meal in two days. See James A. Little, "Biography of Lorenzo
Dow Young," Utah Historical Quarterly 14 (1946): 130.

  7. Brigham Young, 12 November 1864, in Journal of Discourses, 10: 360.

  8. Brigham Young to George Hickox, 19 February 1876, Brigham Young Papers, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives). The indispensable reference for Brigham Young's residences, craftsmanship, and economic activity in
New York is Richard F. Palmer and Karl D. Butler, Brigham Young: The New York Years (Provo, Utah: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 1982).

  9. Brigham Young, 12 November 1864, in Journal of Discourses, 10: 360.

  10. See letter of 7 September 1867, published in the Republican Times (Canandaigua), News Clippings Collections, LDS Church Historical Archives. Although
Alonzo Beebe, the author of the first article, is identified, the respondent remained anonymous, perhaps because he was unwilling to be publicly known in 1857 as a
defender of the then "notorious" Brigham Young.

  11. As quoted in Mary Van Sickle Wait, Brigham Young in Cayuga County, 1813-1829 (Ithaca: DeWitt Historical Society, 1964), 39.

   12. Brigham Young, 15 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290; and 6 February 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 94. Little, 28, adds that John Young also
taught his boys never to play cards.

As with many Mormon converts of this era, few contemporary documents detail Young's activities before he joined the Mormons. If he wrote early letters, they are not
extant, and his first diary entry barely mentions his 1832 baptism before continuing as a record of his missionary labors. Of necessity, this reconstruction of his religious
attitudes and experiences before and right after his baptism rests heavily on reminiscences.

  13. Brigham Young, 15 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290; and 5 October 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 112.

  14. Brigham Young, 15 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290; and "History of Brigham Young," Deseret News, 10 February 1858, 385. See also Little,
25. Lorenzo, younger than Brigham, remembered his bedridden mother, dying of tuberculosis, frequently pulling him over and counseling him to be a good man.

  15. Brigham Young, 15 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290; and 11 July 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 41.

   16. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 37-38; and 7 April 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 29. While he never enumerated his youthful
foibles, he did acknowledge elsewhere that "like other young men, I was full of weakness, sin, darkness and ignorance." Brigham Young, 12 November 1864, in
Journal of Discourses, 10: 360.

  17. Brigham Young, 9 April 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 49. See also minutes, 12 February 1849, Brigham Young Papers.

  18. Brigham Young, 23 March 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 248; 27 August 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 225; and 21 May 1853, in Journal of
Discourses, 10: 191. Brigham was probably in his mid-twenties-long accustomed to being on his own-when the temperance pledge incident occurred. The infant
temperance movement that dated from his teens seldom required either a pledge or total abstinence; those developments characterized the vigorous movement of the
mid-1820s. Young was not alone in thinking that those who bound themselves by pledge yielded their self-control, and that abstinence without a pledge was a morally
superior position. See Alice Felt Tyler, Freedom's Ferment: Phases of American Social History from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Civil War (New York:
Harper and Row, 1962), 321-22, 335-36.

  19. Minutes, 17 February 1860, Brigham Young Papers; and Brigham Young, 15 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290.

   20. Gordon Wood, 374, 378, wrote that many of Young's generation came to believe that as in government, so in religion: "The people were their own theologians
and could no longer rely on others to tell them what to believe." According to Wood, independent theology was a theme of the evangelical movement from the early
1800s on. In this context he saw the appeal directly to the Bible as an understandable response to sectarian extremism. Earlier, Whitney R. Cross, The Burned-Over
District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950), 81-82, 109, had noted
that Yankee-bred New Yorkers had a stubborn introspection in the fashioning of personal beliefs, which recognized no authority this side of heaven. Though a minority,
many laymen "thought seriously about religion and took pride in the ability to thresh out things for themselves."

  21. Brigham Young, 7 May 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 112-13; and minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young papers. See also Brigham Young, 6 April
1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 38.

   22. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 37; and 23 June 1874, in Journal of Discourses,
18: 247. According to Wood, 375, "Nowhere else in Christendom was religion so broken apart" as in areas like Young's, swept by revivals in the aftermath of
America's Second Great Awakening. Cross, 29-31, 40, wrote of "a phenomenally intensive religious and moral awareness" in the region, of an "unremitting warfare of
theologies," and of an "interdenominational strife of a bitterness scarcely to be paralleled."

  23. Little, 26.

  24. Brigham Young, 23 March 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 248. No doubt Hill would include Young among those "casualities" of the "Protestant conversion
process, of sectarianism, and especially of revivalism" who eventually accepted Mormonism. See Marvin S. Hill, "The Rise of Mormonism in the Burned-Over District:
Another View," New York History 61 (October 1980): 425-26, and his analysis of the impact of revivals, 421-28, which seems to square with Young's experience.

  25. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 37; and 23 June 1874, in Journal of Discourses, 18: 247.

  26. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 38; and 23 June 1874, in Journal of Discourses, 18: 247. See also 9 October 1872, in Journal of
Discourses, 15: 164-65.

  27. Brigham Young, 9 April 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 90; and 7 May 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 113.

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                                         Journal of Discourses, 14: 197. This encounter with Dow may have occurred in the summer of 1827, when Page          17 /only
                                                                                                                                                      he preached 128a
few miles from Young's residence. See Marvin S. Hill, "The Role of Christian Primitivism in the Origin and Development of the Mormon Kingdom, 1830-1844" (Ph.D.
diss., University of Chicago, 1968), 46. It should be noted that improving the morals of the people was one of the social purposes for revivals, and preaching morals
Discourses, 15: 164-65.

  27. Brigham Young, 9 April 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 90; and 7 May 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 113.

   28. Brigham Young, 3 June 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 197. This encounter with Dow may have occurred in the summer of 1827, when he preached only a
few miles from Young's residence. See Marvin S. Hill, "The Role of Christian Primitivism in the Origin and Development of the Mormon Kingdom, 1830-1844" (Ph.D.
diss., University of Chicago, 1968), 46. It should be noted that improving the morals of the people was one of the social purposes for revivals, and preaching morals
was the order of the day. Young acknowledged in the discourse cited above, 198, that the preachers "can explain our duty as rational, moral beings, and that is good,
excellent as far as it goes." Already blessed with a strict upbringing, he sought something more.

   29. Brigham Young, 3 June 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 197; and 26 July 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 73. See also 7 May 1871, in Journal of
Discourses, 14: 113. It was common for dissenters from the old-line denominations to face the charge of infidelity. Antisectarianism could lead to infidelity and,
according to Hill, primitivists sometimes feared slipping away into total disbelief. See Marvin S. Hill, "The Shaping of the Mormon Mind in New England and New
York," BYU Studies 9 (Spring 1969), 362; and Mario S. DePillis, "The Quest for Religious Authority and the Rise of Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon
Thought 1 (Spring 1966), 75. As with Brigham Young, many of those who disagreed with the preachers and failed to make a profession of faith went to church
regularly and looked for a future conversion experience. Though charged with being irreligious and destitute of the word of God, some responded that, in fact, they had
too much of the word of God "to swallow the disgraceful absurdities" of the preachers. See Cross, 41, 45. Compare this with Brigham Young, 9 October 1872, in
Journal of Discourses, 15: 164-65.

  30. The classic study of the region by Whitney R. Cross appeared in 1950. Seeking an explanation for the unusual religious intensity and reform impulses that
characterized the area, Cross investigated the waves of revivals that swept the region. In a more recent study of the region, Paul H. Johnson analyzed in detail the
social, economic, and religious milieu of Rochester, less than twenty miles from where Young resided when he joined the Mormons. Johnson, moreover, focused on
1830-1831, years that coincide with Young's Mormon conversion. See Cross, The Burned-Over District, and Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society
and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978).

Although Cross's generalizations and interpretations have been challenged, his book remains a useful sourcebook of important information helpful for understanding the
experience of men like Young and Kimball. For critiques of Cross's work as it applies to Mormon origins, see Mario S. DePillis, "The Social Sources of Mormonism,"
Church History 37 (March 1968): 50-79; and Hill, "The Rise of Mormonism." See also James B. Allen and Leonard J. Arrington, "Mormon Origins in New York: An
Introductory Analysis," BYU Studies 9 (Spring 1969): 241-74; Hill, "The Shaping of the Mormon Mind," and DePillis, "The Quest for Religious Authority."

   31. Studies of this "primitive gospel" movement help us understand Young's experiences and lend credibility to his later memories of this period. The key study for
the primitivist movement as it relates to Mormonism is Hill, "The Role of Christian Primitivism." Chapter 1 deals with the movement as a whole, and chapter 2 applies
the analysis to the case of Joseph Smith and the rise of Mormonism. Hill's "Shaping of the Mormon Mind," 352-58, summarizes his argument on the primitivist context
for the rise of Mormonism and the primitivist background of many of his converts. DePillis takes similar ground in his "Quest for Religious Authority," where he analyzes
the appeal of Mormonism to those primitivists searching for an authoritative religion as an answer to sectarian confusion and competition. More recently, Gordon S.
Wood examined the religious setting for the rise of Mormonism, including the primitivist influence, in "Evangelical America."

Perhaps some of Young's reminiscences for this period tell more about what he had become than what he was in the 1820s. No doubt his view of these early years
before his connection with Mormonism became colored by his later experiences. Still, complementary reminiscences, along with studies of his time and place, confirm
that the memory of his experience is a credible one and that we can have confidence in the broad outlines of his story.

  32. See Hill, "Role of Christian Primitivism," chapters 1 and 2. According to Hill, 23, as early as 1802 a number of Baptist ministers had concluded to reject every
doctrine and practice not found in the New Testament. Compare this with Young's statements; see, for example, his discourse on 26 July 1857, in Journal of
Discourses, 5: 72-73.

  33. Brigham Young, 17 June 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 11: 254.

  34. Brigham Young, 7 May 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 122-23; and 28 September 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 104.

  35. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 37; and minutes, 23 September 1849, Thomas Bullock Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives. On
another occasion he said, "I joined the Methodists to get rid of them & all the Sects-same as the girl married the man to get rid of him" (Minutes, 8 January 1845,
Brigham Young Papers).

  36. Hill, "Rise of Mormonism," 422-24; Brigham Young, 3 June 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 197; and 6 October 1870, in Journal of Discourses, 13: 267.

   37. See letter to the Republican Times (Canandaigua), 7 September 1857, Newspaper Clippings Collection. The letter notes that Young had been a Reformed
Methodist before arriving in the area, but the writer doubts that he united with any church while he lived there, "as the R.M. society was broken up, and its members
scattered at that time."

Questions remain about Young's location during the Canandaigua-Mendon years, 1829-1832. In reminiscences he spoke mainly of Mendon. There he built a house for
his father, had his friend Heber Kimball nearby, and at least part of the time maintained a house and shop for himself on land owned by his father. Also, his wife Miriam
was buried there. Most of the letters from New York acquaintances of this period come from the Canandaigua area, however, and he occasionally reminisced about
"old number nine," referring to his Canandaigua residence. It seems likely, if the Canandaigua correspondent is correct, that Young moved first to Canandaigua and
maintained at least a part-time residence there until his baptism. The New York census, listing Young in both communities, supports this possibility. The two locations
are about ten miles apart.

  38. Hiram McKee to Brigham Young, 4 April 1860, Brigham Young Papers.

  39. Brigham Young to Hiram McKee, 3 May 1860, Brigham Young Papers.

   40. See the charge of Alonzo Beebe in a letter to the Republican Times (Canandiagua), 27 August 1857, along with the 7 September reply to the same paper, News
Clippings Collection.

  41. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; "Synopsis of the History of Heber Chase Kimball," Deseret News, 31 March-28 April 1858, 25.

  42. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers.
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  43. See Brigham Young, 28 June 1876, in Journal of Discourses, 16: 67; and 19 July 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 55.

  44. "History of Heber Chase Kimball by his own Dictation," manuscript, Heber C. Kimball Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives. The several versions of this
  41. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; "Synopsis of the History of Heber Chase Kimball," Deseret News, 31 March-28 April 1858, 25.

  42. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers.

  43. See Brigham Young, 28 June 1876, in Journal of Discourses, 16: 67; and 19 July 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 55.

   44. "History of Heber Chase Kimball by his own Dictation," manuscript, Heber C. Kimball Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives. The several versions of this
history, contained in two volumes, have been cited under various headings. The most used version, known in the past as "Journal 94-B" and sometimes cited as "The
Journal and Record of Heber C. Kimball," is here given its original title.

Kimball's experience had been much like Young's, though perhaps not as intense. He also "received many pressing invitations to unite with different sects" and "had
been many times upon the anxious bench" without effect until eventually he joined the Baptists "to be a guard upon me, and to keep me from running into evils," though
they believed things he did not. One of his principal complaints about the churches echoed one of Young's: they would tell him to believe in the Lord Jesus, "but never
would tell me what to do [to] be saved, and thus left me almost in dispair."

   45. This from The Gem of Literature and Science (Rochester, New York), 5 September 1829, 70, is an example of the kind of notice Brigham Young might have
read.

  46. Brigham Young, 15 November 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 39. See also discourses on 17 May 1868, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 271, and 20 April
1856, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 320.

  47. Heber Kimball, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; Phinehas Young to Brigham Young, 11 August 1845, Brigham Young Papers. No doubt in later
remembering the conversation, Phinehas saw it as prophetic of the coming of Mormonism to them. However, the feeling that the world was in such a state that only
God's intervention would save it, and that such intervention was imminent, was not uncommon at that time. See Wood, 376-77.

  48. Brigham Young, 6 April 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 249; and 6 April 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 1-2.

  49. For an account of the Greene volume, see History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 7 vols., 2nd ed., rev. (Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book Co., 1951), 7: 217-18. Phinehas tells in detail about his copy in "History of Brigham Young," 369.

  50. Phinehas Young to Brigham Young, 11 August 1845, Brigham Young Papers; "History of Brigham Young," 377.

  51. In preparing his history, Brigham Young merely noted that the first Book of Mormon he saw was Phinehas's copy; see "History of Brigham Young," 385. B. H.
Roberts was sure that the one Brigham actually read was the Greene copy; see footnote in History of the Church, 7: 218. Preston Nibley, in Brigham Young, The Man
& His Work (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970), 5, was just as sure it was Phinehas's book.

  52. Brigham Young, 8 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 91. "Upon the first opportunity I read the Book of Mormon," he said on another occasion. 6 April
1860, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 38.

  53. Brigham Young, 8 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 91.

  54. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; Brigham Young, 17 April 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 123-24.

For a consideration of the appeal of the Book of Mormon to someone like Young, see Wood, "Evangelical America," 380-83. See also Hill, "Role of Christian
Primitivism," 100-104, 120-21.

  55. Brigham Young, 8 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 91. See also Brigham Young to David B. Smith, 1 June 1853, Brigham Young Papers.

   56. "History of Brigham Young," 377. This would have been the fall of 1831. Lorenzo D. Young later said that Brigham, Heber Kimball, and Joseph Young brought
him the Book of Mormon in February 1831. See Little, 33-34. If the date is correct, however, the circumstances are wrong, for Joseph Young was still in Canada;
also, in spite of Lorenzo's allusion, we have no record of a visit to the Pennsylvania Saints until January 1832. Available evidence suggests that Brigham Young kept his
meditations largely to himself in 1831 and that the religious transformation beginning to take place within him was still unknown-at least to most of his neighbors. One
who knew him well during this period later wrote that two weeks after some Mormon visitors "used their influence to convert him," he and his wife were baptized. See
letter to Republican Times (Canandaigua), 7 September 1851, Newspaper Clippings Collection.

  57. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 38.

  58. "Synopsis of the History of Heber Chase Kimball," 25.

  59. This appears in an early draft of his history, with the phrase and believed added in pencil. See "History of Brigham Young," manuscript no. 1, Historian's Office
Papers; and Kimball, "History of Heber Chase Kimball," manuscript, Heber C. Kimball Papers.

  60. "Synopsis of the History of Heber Chase Kimball," 25.

  61. "History of Heber Chase Kimball," manuscript, Heber C. Kimball Papers. Phinehas later said that at the end of 1831 or the beginning of 1832, he and Brigham
"both became more interested in the subject of Mormonism" and got Kimball to join them in traveling to Pennsylvania. In his history, published as a part of Brigham's,
Phinehas says they left about 20 January 1832. See Phinehas Young to Brigham Young, 11 August 1845, Brigham Young Papers; and "History of Brigham Young,"
369.

This is another indication that Brigham Young had little to do with Mormons until after he had passed judgment on the Book of Mormon. Nor is there any evidence that
Young ever met with any of the Smith family in the Palmyra area, even though they resided less than fifteen miles from Mendon for perhaps nine months after he first
saw the Book of Mormon.

  62. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; and "History of Brigham Young," manuscript no. 2, Historian's Office Papers.

   63. "History of Brigham Young," manuscript no. 1, Historian's Office Papers. In the published version, Young wrote that they left the Pennsylvania congregation "still
 Copyright
more         (c) 2005-2009,
      convinced   of the truth Infobase  Media
                               of the work,     Corp. to learn its principles and to learn more of Joseph Smith's mission." According to Phinehas, they
                                            and anxious                                                                                              Page     19 /home
                                                                                                                                                        "returned  128
rejoicing, preaching the Gospel by the way." "History of Brigham Young," 385, 369.
  62. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers; and "History of Brigham Young," manuscript no. 2, Historian's Office Papers.

   63. "History of Brigham Young," manuscript no. 1, Historian's Office Papers. In the published version, Young wrote that they left the Pennsylvania congregation "still
more convinced of the truth of the work, and anxious to learn its principles and to learn more of Joseph Smith's mission." According to Phinehas, they "returned home
rejoicing, preaching the Gospel by the way." "History of Brigham Young," 385, 369.

  64. Minutes, 8 January 1845, Brigham Young Papers.

  65. Brigham Young, 22 July 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 129; and 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 37. In the latter sermon, Young reminded his
audience they had just heard his brother Joseph say that during this period he did not laugh for two years. "I did not know of his smiling during some four or five years,"
added Brigham.

   66. Fragment of an autobiography of Joseph Young in Franklin Wheeler Young Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives; Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal
of Discourses, 8: 38.

   67. Brigham Young, 8 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 91. Compare this with a discourse of 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 38, where he said
that "when I had ripened everything in my mind I drank it in, and not till then."

  68. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 37; and 8 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 91.

  69. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 38.

  70. Brigham Young, 15 March 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 281-82. Years later he reiterated the same priorities and commitment: "If my Father, Mother,
Brothers and Sisters rejects the gospel Farewell Father Mother Brothers and sisters. I am for the kingdom of Heaven." Minutes, 14 September 1849, Thomas Bullock
Papers. Compare this with Matthew 10: 37; Luke 14: 26.

  71. Minutes, 25 January 1873, General Minutes Collection.

  72. Brigham Young, 6 April 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 38.

  73. Brigham Young, 13 June 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 90; see also 28 July 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 141.

  74. Brigham Young, 31 August 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 364; see also 5 March 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 15-16; and minutes, 8 January 1845,
Brigham Young Papers.

  75. "History of Brigham Young," 385.

  76. Brigham Young was but one of many seekers who found what they sought in Mormonism. He was, in fact, close to the "typical" Mormon convert of this time
described by Marvin S. Hill, "Quest for Refuge: An Hypothesis as to the Social Origins and Nature of the Mormon Political Kingdom," Journal of Mormon History 2
(1975): 13: he was less than middle-class economically, had little formal education, was alienated from the sectarian world, thought old-line clergy corrupt, and saw the
emerging social order as Babylon incarnate. For a description of the social changes that provided the context for this and the appeal of Mormonism for people in that
society, see Wood, "Evangelical America," 373-76, 379-86. For more on the appeal of Mormonism for people like Young, see DePillis, "The Quest for Religious
Authority," 73ff; and Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979),
chapter 2. For other Mormon converts of this period who were much like Young and Kimball, see Hill, "Rise of Mormonism," 424-25.

  77. Brigham Young, 20 April 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 320-21; and 8 July 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 119. In a discourse of 22 July 1860, in
Journal of Discourses, 8: 129, he spoke of the gloom that had cast its pall over his feelings "from the earliest days of my childhood . . . until I heard the everlasting
Gospel." See also discourses of 17 May 1868, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 217; and 4 March 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 8.

  78. Minutes, 7 April 1850, General Minutes Collection.

  79. The quotation is from a discourse by Brigham Young, 26 July 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 73. See also 16 January 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 4-5;
and 15 August 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 291-97.

  80. Brigham Young, 28 July 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 137.

   81. Brigham Young, 20 February 1863, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 313-14. Compare this with Kimball's description: "I received the Holy Ghost, as the disciples
did in ancient days, which was like a consuming fire. . . . I continued in this way for many months, and it seemed as though my flesh would consume away." According
to Kimball, the scriptures were then opened to his understanding by that same spirit ("Synopsis of the History of Heber Chase Kimball," 29).

   82. See his comments in discourses on 17 November 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 99; and 17 August 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 20-21. It is likely
that he had long expressed himself openly and forcefully in daily conversation. See for example his discourse of 29 July 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 141, where
he says that he could easily out-talk those who preached to him.

  83. Brigham Young, 17 July 1870, in Journal of Discourses, 13: 211.

  84. Brigham Young, 28 June 1873, in Journal of Discourses, 16: 69.

  85. For Finney, see Cross, 173-74; for Beecher, Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans, The National Experience (New York: Vintage Books, 1965), 320. Boorstin's
whole section on "American Ways of Talking," 275-324, is useful in assessing Young's language. See also, Ronald W. Walker, "Raining Pitchforks: Brigham Young As
Preacher," Sunstone 8 (May-June 1983): 4-9.

Perhaps it was partly as a reaction to his overly strict upbringing that Brigham Young developed the colorful speaking style that consciously and effectively employed
expressions forbidden to him as a young man. In the John Young home, such mild expressions as "darn it," "curse it," "the Devil," or "I vow" had merited punishment.
See Brigham Young, 15 August 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290. Compare this with his own practice. On one occasion he apologized for using the devil's name,
acknowledging   that many considered
 Copyright (c) 2005-2009,     Infobase such
                                        Mediausage
                                                Corp.a sin. "I do not often use the old gentleman's name in vain," he explained, "and if I do it, it is always in the pulpit, where
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I do all my swearing," which was not strictly so. See Brigham Young, 31 July 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 166. See also 2 August 1857, in Journal of Discourses,
5: 99-100, where he explained why he removed the "sharp words" before publishing his sermons; and 8 October 1868, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 298-99, and 2
March 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 222-23, where he explained why he used them in the first place.
Perhaps it was partly as a reaction to his overly strict upbringing that Brigham Young developed the colorful speaking style that consciously and effectively employed
expressions forbidden to him as a young man. In the John Young home, such mild expressions as "darn it," "curse it," "the Devil," or "I vow" had merited punishment.
See Brigham Young, 15 August 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 290. Compare this with his own practice. On one occasion he apologized for using the devil's name,
acknowledging that many considered such usage a sin. "I do not often use the old gentleman's name in vain," he explained, "and if I do it, it is always in the pulpit, where
I do all my swearing," which was not strictly so. See Brigham Young, 31 July 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 166. See also 2 August 1857, in Journal of Discourses,
5: 99-100, where he explained why he removed the "sharp words" before publishing his sermons; and 8 October 1868, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 298-99, and 2
March 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 222-23, where he explained why he used them in the first place.

 86. For descriptions of Young's style as a speaker after a quarter-century of experience, see Richard F. Burton, The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky
Mountains to California, ed. Fawn M. Brodie (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963), 264-65, 288; and Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, 2: 496.

Brigham Young's later success as a public speaker came only after much effort. Because of his lack of education, his speech was unsophisticated, and he long felt
embarrassed and "destitute of language" before an audience. In spite of these recognized liabilities, he consciously concluded: "I have the grit in me, and I will do my
duty anyhow" (Brigham Young, 2 August 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 97). Here he also commented: "How I have had the headache, when I had ideas to lay
before the people, and not words to express them; but I was so gritty that I always tried my best."

  87. Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1931), 5.

  88. Letter in the Republican Times (Canandaigua), 7 September 1857, News Clippings Collection.

  89. "History of Brigham Young," 385; and Brigham Young, 12 June 1859, in Journal of Discourses, 7: 175. See also Kimball, "History of Heber Chase Kimball."
Miriam Works Young died 8 September 1832.

   90. Brigham Young, 8 October 1876, in Journal of Discourses, 18: 260; 20 February 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 314; and 28 June 1873, in Journal of
Discourses, 16: 69. Young later said that by the time he arrived in 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" (discourse of 17 February 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 128; see also a discourse of 3 February
1867, in Journal of Discourses, 11: 295, for another comment on his penury when he arrived in Kirtland).

CHAPTER 3

Brigham Young and the Transformation of the "First" Quorum of the Twelve

Ronald K. Esplin

Director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized for the first time in this dispensation in February 1835. Revelation and inspired counsel that very spring made
clear their potential, but not until a half-dozen years later, and only after painful turmoil and tribulation, were the relatively young and inexperienced Apostles fully
prepared to shoulder the burdens of leadership. This, briefly, is the instructive story of the transformation of the Twelve from a sometimes petty and divided quorum to
one of unity and power under Brigham Young. It is the story of how Brigham Young helped mold and transform a quorum, which at first had limited jurisdiction, until it
was prepared to stand next to the First Presidency in overseeing the affairs of all the Church.

Initially, in 1835, members of the Quorum of the Twelve were not considered "General Authorities" in any modern sense. These "special witnesses" formed a "Traveling
Presiding High Council," charged to carry the gospel abroad and preside where there were no stakes. But they were explicitly denied authority in the "stakes of Zion,"
where most of the Saints resided and where "standing high councils" served as their counterpart.

Furthermore, despite scriptural models, the office of Apostle did not at first bring with it more prestige than membership on the standing high councils. On the contrary,
the nature of their respective assignments assured that standing high councils had more local visibility and responsibility.

In retrospect, we can see this as an important period of testing and preparation for the Twelve before receiving greater responsibility. But the lack of status within
organized stakes rankled some Ronald K. Esplin of the Twelve, including quorum president Thomas Marsh, and it contributed to misunderstandings and disharmony.
The early quorum was also burdened by pettiness and strife within and, on occasion, conflict with other units. Notwithstanding the dictum in their charter revelation of
March 1835 that quorum decisions must be unanimous in order to have power and validity, they were often divided. Much must change before they would be
prepared to fulfill their promise and stand with the First Presidency.

What follows is an overview of formative events involving the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that transpired before Joseph Smith formally invited them in August 1841
to assist the First Presidency in governing the entire Church. For the Apostles, this was a period of struggling to define the scope of their office and to learn the meaning
of the Apostleship. While the highlights of the period came in connection with important shared experiences in the Kirtland Temple, and later with missionary success in
England, the early history was often characterized more by difficulties, disagreements, and division.

Brigham Young witnessed or participated in all of these experiences, and the negative may have influenced his later leadership as much as the positive. As quorum
president after 1838, Brigham emphasized unity and duty-partly as a reaction against the disharmony and concern for status and authority that he had experienced
earlier. It is only against the backdrop of this formative period that the decimation of the Twelve during the disaffections of 1837-1838 and Brigham Young's leadership
of a revived quorum in 1839 can be adequately understood.

Just as Brigham Young helped set the tone for the quorum that emerged from this era, Thomas Marsh, first President of the Twelve, helped set the tone for the 1835
quorum. President Marsh was among those most concerned that the Twelve were not more prominent. And because he was worried about his prerogatives as
president and tended toward an overblown concern about appearances, his leadership of the quorum was often intrusive and officious. No doubt these characteristics
contributed to the pettiness and self-concern that plagued the quorum.

Disharmony within the quorum cannot all be laid at the feet of Marsh, however. Others, too, had visions of potential authority and prestige greater than the actual,
creating tensions within and leading to anxiety about priority and position. Also, some of the difficulties clearly related to the newness of their office and their own
relative youth and inexperience. Scripture and the Prophet's instructions provided guidelines; but unity and recognition of the precise bounds of their authority and
methods of their work could be the product only of shared experience.

Finally, Joseph
 Copyright      Smith ruffledInfobase
            (c) 2005-2009,    the feelings of his
                                        Media     sensitive Apostles as often as he soothed them. Whether this was a conscious ploy to teach that humility and service must
                                               Corp.                                                                                                  Page 21 / 128
precede authority, as Brigham Young came to believe, or simply a consequence of his own style, the results were the same. Anxious to be powerful men in the
kingdom, some of the Apostles bristled and complained at every slight.
relative youth and inexperience. Scripture and the Prophet's instructions provided guidelines; but unity and recognition of the precise bounds of their authority and
methods of their work could be the product only of shared experience.

Finally, Joseph Smith ruffled the feelings of his sensitive Apostles as often as he soothed them. Whether this was a conscious ploy to teach that humility and service must
precede authority, as Brigham Young came to believe, or simply a consequence of his own style, the results were the same. Anxious to be powerful men in the
kingdom, some of the Apostles bristled and complained at every slight.

Brigham Young was not among the complainers. No doubt reverence for Joseph Smith's authority and a deep sense of duty contributed to his patience. Perhaps a
sense of destiny also contributed-if not of personal destiny, at least a feeling that the fledgling quorum had an important future role and that this stage was a necessary
preparation. Years later he related that when Marsh complained about the Prophet's treatment of the Twelve at this time, he told his president, "If we are faithful, we
will see the day . . . that we will have all the power that we shall know how to wield before God."

In Kirtland, Ohio, on Sunday, 8 February 1835, the Prophet invited Brigham and Joseph Young to his home to sing for him, as they often had done on Zion's Camp
during the previous summer's arduous and dangerous expedition to Missouri to rescue the Saints expelled from Jackson County. There Joseph asked the brothers to
invite all veterans of the camp to an extraordinary conference the following Saturday at which Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris-the Three
Witnesses-would select twelve Special Witnesses "to open the door of the gospel" in foreign lands, as foreseen by revelation nearly six years before.

On Saturday, 14 February, Zion's Camp veterans and others assembled. Explaining that he had seen in vision the calling and order of the Twelve and the Seventy, and
that it was the will of God that those who went to Zion at the risk of their lives fulfill that vision, the Prophet separated the camp brethren from the rest. Then, after being
blessed by the Presidency, the Witnesses named to the Apostleship Lyman E. Johnson, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, David W. Patten, Luke S.
Johnson, William E. McLellin, John F. Boynton, Orson Pratt, William Smith, Thomas B. Marsh, and Parley P. Pratt. All but three of those named-Boynton, McLellin,
and Marsh-had been tested by the wrenching trials of Zion's Camp. Marsh, already in Missouri on the "receiving end" of the expedition, had had no opportunity to
enlist.

Three of those to be ordained Apostles-the Pratt brothers and Thomas Marsh-were not yet in Kirtland. Marsh had left Missouri for Kirtland two weeks earlier, but he
would not arrive nor learn of his call until late April-months after most of the quorum had been ordained, weeks after important instruction and revelation, and only days
before the quorum would be fully organized and dispatched on its first mission. Thomas missed, for example, Oliver Cowdery's impressive charge to the new Apostles
in February, which highlighted the need for brotherhood and unity within the Twelve and warned the Apostles to cultivate humility, beware of pride, and give all credit
to God. Rather than playing to natural strengths, such requirements would challenge Marsh where he was weakest.

As noted, the Apostles at first struggled to understand their proper role and to develop effective ways of working together as a quorum and with other leaders. As they
prepared for their first mission-again, even before Thomas Marsh had arrived from Missouri-Joseph Smith instructed them by counsel and by revelation. In March
1835, feeling unprepared and unworthy, they petitioned the Prophet to "inquire of God for us, and obtain a revelation, (if consistent) that our hearts may be comforted."
    The revelation "On Priesthood" (today Doctrine and Covenants 107) was the result. The Quorum of the Twelve "form a quorum equal in authority and power" to
the Presidency of the Church, declared the revelation, but only when they are united and in harmony as a quorum. Similarly, the Seventy and the "standing high councils,
at the stakes of Zion," are quorums equal in authority to the Twelve. The revelation suggested a hierarchy in which all were equal in authority but not in responsibilities
or assignment: the Presidency directing the Twelve, the Twelve directing the Seventy. But the revelation left ambiguous the relationship between the standing high
councils and the traveling high council, or Apostles.

Minutes kept by the Twelve that first season record the Prophet's additional emphasis on the authority they now held. It was "all important," he declared, that they
understand their priesthood, for otherwise they could not fulfill their responsibilities. And because they now held the authority, it was their duty to unlock the kingdom of
heaven to foreign nations, "for no man can do that thing but yourselves." Though their assignment differed from his, he concluded, "you each have the same authority in
other nations that I have in this nation."

Schooled in such precepts, it is no wonder that the Twelve soon had difficulty reconciling their treatment and actual status with the theology and potential of their office.
Despite the reminder in the revelation on priesthood that relationships must be characterized by "lowliness of heart, meekness and long suffering, . . . temperance,
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity," these men, sensitive about priority and prestige, did not overlook supposed slights and soon felt aggrieved. Even
additional clarification by the Prophet in the months ahead did not erase their concerns. Until experience taught them what it meant to be Apostles, understandably they
would occasionally grope and stumble.

By 12 March 1835, the ten Apostles in Kirtland had already agreed on an itinerary and on an early May departure for their first mission, but not until late April did
Thomas Marsh and Orson Pratt arrive to complete the quorum. After a meeting of the full Quorum of the Twelve on 28 April (at which the Prophet focused on the
need for unity, forgiveness, and mutual love), Joseph Smith convened on 2 May a "grand council" of all Kirtland priesthood leaders. There he reaffirmed that the
Twelve had no authority where existed a standing high council, nor had the standing high councils authority "abroad." The Prophet also told the Apostles that they
should sit in council and preside according to age. By this rule Thomas Marsh, newly arrived and only weeks older than David W. Patten, took his place as President
of the Quorum of the Twelve; Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were next in age or seniority. Although this calling did not immediately offer the visibility and
local honor he had enjoyed as a member of the high council in Missouri, President Marsh was determined that his quorum attain their potential as honored and effective
leaders.

On Monday, 4 May, the new Apostles left Kirtland for their first and only mission under President Marsh as a full quorum. With pointed counsel and revelation vividly
in mind, they labored conscientiously, and the result was good. Throughout New York and New England, the Apostles convened as a high council to regulate branches
and conduct business, giving concrete meaning to their title of "traveling high council." Between appointed conferences they taught and preached. In five months they
covered hundreds of miles by wagon, canal boat, river steamer, railroad, stage, and foot. Traveling without purse or scrip, they experienced both friendship and
rejection. They felt the power of God, and they felt they "had done as the Lord had commanded." This was a promising beginning.

But they returned home that fall not to accolades but to accusations, and these they did not handle well. What should have been minor difficulties arising from affronts or
simple miscommunication aroused intense feelings, and soon the new Quorum of the Twelve found itself immersed in charges and countercharges with the First
Presidency, concerns about position and precedence with the Kirtland High Council, even divisive complaints among its own members. Under President Marsh, the
quorum tended to meet such challenges in a manner that stressed rights, justice, and his (or his quorum's) prerogatives more than brotherhood or humble submission to
counsel.

For the Apostles and other Church leaders in Kirtland, the fall of 1835 should have been a joyful season devoted to preparing hearts and spirits for long-awaited
blessings in the nearly completed Kirtland Temple. Instead, hurt feelings required council after council dedicated to airing complaints, soothing feelings, and generally
working to reestablish brotherhood. These efforts did bear fruit, however, and as far as records reveal, by November comparative harmony seemed to prevail.
Then, without clarifying explanation, on 3 November the Prophet recorded in his diary the following:

Thus came the word of the Lord unto me concerning the Twelve saying behold they are under condemnation, because they have not been sufficiently humble in my
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sight, and in consequence of their covetous desires, in that they have not dealt equally with each other.

The revelation named several as offenders and then concluded that "all must humble themselves before me, before they will be accounted worthy to receive an
working to reestablish brotherhood. These efforts did bear fruit, however, and as far as records reveal, by November comparative harmony seemed to prevail.
Then, without clarifying explanation, on 3 November the Prophet recorded in his diary the following:

Thus came the word of the Lord unto me concerning the Twelve saying behold they are under condemnation, because they have not been sufficiently humble in my
sight, and in consequence of their covetous desires, in that they have not dealt equally with each other.

The revelation named several as offenders and then concluded that "all must humble themselves before me, before they will be accounted worthy to receive an
endowment."

Understandably this caused a stir among the Apostles. The only other revelation addressing them directly had been the great revelation on priesthood, and now, only
months later, this. Records do not preserve President Marsh's response to this chastisement, though we can surmise that he took it personally and was not pleased. But
Joseph Smith did record that Elders Hyde and McLellin, two of those named, stopped by to express "some little dissatisfaction."

Brigham Young, on the other hand, "appeared perfectly satisfied" with the chastisement. Perhaps he felt no need to take it personally or, if he did, he remembered
the inspired counsel of the June 1833 revelation that taught: "Whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for
their deliverance in all things out of temptation."

No doubt Brigham Young also recognized the justice of the rebuke. Not only had the Apostles clashed with other Church officials, they had also experienced jealousy
and pettiness within their own quorum. Years later he characterized the Kirtland Twelve as "continually sparring at each other." To illustrate, he told of once being
summoned to answer for having accepted an invitation to preach. By what authority, demanded his fellow Apostles, had he "presumed to appoint a meeting and
preach" without consulting them? Under Thomas Marsh the Twelve met very often, Brigham continued, "and if no one of them needed cleaning, they had to clean' some
one any how." President Young contrasted his own later style as President, trying to be a father to all, with President Marsh's: "like a toad's hair comb[ing] up and
down."

Clearly, Thomas Marsh was impatient with criticism and tended to view a difference of opinion or even initiative by other Apostles as a challenge to his leadership. And
he was impatient about the status of the Twelve. According to Brigham Young, he was among those who, when Joseph "snubbed" the Apostles, exclaimed, "We are
Apostles[!] it's an insult for us to be treated so."

Brigham, on the other hand, came to see the snubbing, the trials, in a way Thomas never did: as a necessary preparation and testing before they were ready for power.
As he summarized in a quorum meeting three years after the Prophet's death, only when the Apostles "proved ourselves willing to be every bodys servant for Christs
sake" were they "worthy of power." Those who think themselves great are not "fit for power," he deeply believed, and if the Prophet "snub[ed] them a bit it wo[ul]d be
well for them."

By January 1836 the Apostles had settled important differences and had come to enjoy both increased unity within their quorum and general harmony with other
leaders. Thus prepared, they shared with other Kirtland Saints the extraordinary blessings and manifestations associated with the Kirtland Temple in early 1836.

But for the Quorum of the Twelve, unity, harmony, and new spiritual strength did not last. They did not move as a quorum to Missouri once the temple was finished, as
earlier contemplated. Joseph Smith announced that instead of another quorum mission, they were free to move or stay in Kirtland, as each chose; each was free to
preach where he would. This postponed rather than changed their primary duty to take the gospel abroad. But Thomas Marsh and David Patten, the two senior
Apostles, returned to Missouri, while most of the others continued to call Kirtland home. Within a year, the Twelve would be as divided spiritually as they were
geographically.

In 1837 dissension and rebellion swept the Church, especially among the leadership. Most retained faith in the Book of Mormon and believed in the necessity of
restored authority, but not everyone shared the Prophet's enthusiasm for the "ancient order of things." To some, a society modeled after ancient Israel, where prophetic
authority directed all aspects of life (not just the religious), portended a reduction in cherished social and economic freedoms. It was too "Papist," they declared, too
"un-American."

Those concerns underlay the discontent of many who ostensibly blamed Joseph for "meddling" in the Kirtland Bank, which ultimately failed, or who had other
complaints against his conduct of economic or civic affairs. While most members trusted the Prophet and remained loyal, even if they did not yet fully comprehend
his vision, a rift developed between Joseph and many leaders, including some in the First Presidency and the Twelve who were certain they understood some things
better than he. Of the Apostles in Kirtland, only Brigham Young and Heber Kimball expressed unwavering support for Joseph Smith and his program throughout this
difficult period.

When news of the rebellion reached President Marsh in Missouri, he was appalled. Word that several of his own quorum members were prominent among the
dissenters especially humiliated him, because he had envisioned leading a united quorum abroad to introduce the gospel to Great Britain. It also distressed him to learn
that an impatient Parley Pratt intended to leave on a foreign mission without him. Hurt, angry, and determined, Marsh hoped to "right-up" the Twelve and reestablish
himself as an effective leader by holding a dramatic meeting with his quorum in Kirtland, where he would interject himself vigorously into the fray on the side of the
Prophet. On 10 May, he and Elder Patten dispatched an urgent letter to Parley, advising him not to depart for England:

The 12 must get together difficulties must be removed & love restored, we must have peace within before we can wage a successful war without. . . . Shall the 12
apostles of the Lambe be a disorganised body pulling different ways, Shall one [go] to his plough another to his merchandise, another to England &c. No! I even I
Thomas will step in (if their is none other for it is my right in this case) and give council to you.

The letter appointed 24 July for an extraordinary council "to break through every obstacle" and prepare for their mission abroad.

Since at least February 1837, the Apostles in Kirtland had discussed a summer mission to England; Parley Pratt was not alone in his intent. But amid dissension and the
continuing absence of President Marsh, the mission appeared doubtful. Heber Kimball was thus shocked when the Prophet told him in early June that for the "salvation"
of the Church the mission must go forth without delay, and that he must head it. Though Heber pleaded for Brigham to accompany him, Joseph maintained that
Brigham would be needed even more in Kirtland and therefore could not go. Joseph needed Brigham, Parley had now joined the others in rebellion, and the mission
could not wait for Presidents Marsh and Patten. Therefore, Kimball was the man. Begging forgiveness, Orson Hyde sought reconciliation the very day Kimball was set
apart for his mission and asked to join him. Thus it was that Elders Kimball and Hyde, not Marsh and Patten, left Kirtland 13 June to open the work abroad.

A few days later, after Brigham Young tried but failed to reconcile Parley Pratt with Joseph, Pratt suddenly departed for Missouri. Providentially, he encountered
Marsh and Patten en route, and they succeeded in turning him around.

As soon as they reached Kirtland, Brigham Young briefed Elders Marsh and Patten on the perplexing problems. Marsh then went directly to Joseph's home-his
headquarters during his Kirtland stay-and set to work reconciling the disaffected. (David Patten, meanwhile, willing to face the worst, visited the dissenters next and,
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according to Brigham, "got his mind prejudiced" and then, presumably by reciting the charges he had heard, "insulted" Joseph. The Prophet reacted Page strongly23   / 128
                                                                                                                                                                to the
affront which, in Young's view, "done David good" and quickly returned him to his senses.) The Prophet arranged a special meeting at his home for several of the
prominent malcontents, no doubt including Apostles. Marsh "moderated" and, he reported later, "a reconciliation was effected between all parties."
Marsh and Patten en route, and they succeeded in turning him around.

As soon as they reached Kirtland, Brigham Young briefed Elders Marsh and Patten on the perplexing problems. Marsh then went directly to Joseph's home-his
headquarters during his Kirtland stay-and set to work reconciling the disaffected. (David Patten, meanwhile, willing to face the worst, visited the dissenters next and,
according to Brigham, "got his mind prejudiced" and then, presumably by reciting the charges he had heard, "insulted" Joseph. The Prophet reacted strongly to the
affront which, in Young's view, "done David good" and quickly returned him to his senses.) The Prophet arranged a special meeting at his home for several of the
prominent malcontents, no doubt including Apostles. Marsh "moderated" and, he reported later, "a reconciliation was effected between all parties."

Without question, President Marsh contributed to the healing and reconciliation in Kirtland that summer. He labored with the "merchant Apostles," Lyman Johnson and
John Boynton, and with Apostle/constable Luke Johnson. Following their return, Apostles Orson Pratt and Parley Pratt, among others, made public confessions and
expressions of support for Joseph Smith. While neither Marsh nor the Prophet swept away the basic differences in outlook that had sparked dissent, as President of the
Twelve, Marsh was able to return a modicum of civility and unity to his quorum. An early departure for England seemed out of the question, however, and there is no
evidence that Marsh convened the "extraordinary meeting" he had earlier proposed.

Despite modest success, President Marsh remained troubled-troubled that members of his quorum had rebelled, and troubled that missionary work was proceeding in
England without him. Concerned about his own status, wondering if the Lord could still accept the Twelve, he visited with the Prophet on 23 July, the day before his
extraordinary council would have been held. That evening Joseph Smith dictated as Thomas wrote "the word of the Lord unto Thomas B. Marsh concerning the twelve
apostles of the Lamb."

The revelation acknowledged Marsh's prayerful concern for his quorum and counseled him to continue to pray for them and, as needed, to admonish them sharply, for
"after their temptations, and much tribulation, behold, I, the Lord, will feel after them, and if they harden not their hearts, . . . they shall be converted, and I will heal
them." It reproved the Twelve-"Exalt not yourselves; rebel not against my servant Joseph"-and counseled Marsh to be more faithful and humble, reaffirming at the same
time his position as President of the Twelve. It also comforted Marsh-and this is what really concerned him-that despite all the problems, he might yet "bear record of
my name" and "send forth my word unto the ends of the earth." Even though Elders Kimball and Hyde had departed for England, Thomas might yet have his day.

Despite the best efforts of Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney, Thomas, David, and Brigham, the Church could not be saved in Kirtland. Up to this point, the Prophet had patiently
worked with dissenters, bringing back many. But when open rebellion broke out again in the fall of 1837, patience was no longer a virtue, and backsliders were cut off.
Anger mounted, division deepened, apostates grew more bold, and by year's end Brigham Young, the most vigorous and outspoken among the Prophet's defenders,
fled for his life. In early January, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon followed, their families close behind, and by spring most of the faithful were on their way to Missouri.

The Saints in Far West, Missouri, could not have been impressed with the Quorum of the Twelve in the summer of 1838. The Apostles had yet to demonstrate much
unity or power as a quorum, and worse, Joseph Smith had removed four of the Apostles in the aftermath of the Kirtland difficulties. At the conference on 7 April,
David Patten had reviewed the status of each of the Twelve, including his concerns about William Smith and his unwillingness to recommend to the Saints Elders
McLellin, Boynton, Johnson, and Johnson. Later that month the latter four Apostles, along with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, were each formally tried and cut
off. After months of concern and labor with his quorum, Thomas Marsh's twelve now numbered only eight-and one of those could not be relied upon.

Pondering all this in July 1838, the Prophet prayed: "Show us thy will, O Lord, concerning the Twelve." The answer directed that the Twelve be reorganized with John
Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, and Willard Richards replacing "those who have fallen." The revelation also promised that if the Apostles were humble and
faithful, "an effectual door shall be opened for them, from henceforth." The Lord then charged the Twelve to depart on the following 26 April from the Far West
Temple site and to go "over the great waters" to England. Neither the Church nor the Apostles had yet seen the worst of their trials. Nonetheless, this revelation
contained the seeds of renewal-and marks the beginning of the transformation of the Twelve.

The following day, the Apostles convened a formal quorum meeting for the first time in months. They agreed to notify immediately the four newly called Apostles, none
of whom was in Far West, and to prepare for their mission. The anticipated ordination of new quorum members, the return from England later in the month of Elders
Kimball and Hyde, and this renewal of their commission to carry the gospel to the nations seemed to portend a new day for Marsh's shattered quorum. The command
had been given, and the date was known; finally President Marsh would lead his colleagues abroad.

But it was not to be. Before the anticipated mission, even before the existing vacancies could be filled, there would be two more vacancies-one caused by the death of
David Patten during the violence that soon erupted in northern Missouri, and the other caused by the disaffection of President Marsh himself, a by-product of that same
Missouri conflict.

Marsh's disillusionment and decision to leave were the results of many factors. Pride, misunderstanding, hurt feelings, suspicion, and, in Marsh's own later words,
stubbornness and a loss of the Spirit, were all involved. Troubled, feeling himself wavering, he humbled himself before the Lord long enough to receive a revelation.
Marsh later affirmed to Brigham and Heber outside his print shop that the Lord had told him to believe Joseph and sustain him. But then he promptly went out and did
the opposite.

And once his face was set, the stubborn, inflexible Thomas was not a man who could be turned. By removing himself from the Saints when he did, he escaped the
violence that soon decimated Far West and drove his co-religionists from Missouri, but at what cost? As he later acknowledged, his loss was the greater.

The military confrontation in northern Missouri left the Church in disarray. Providentially, Brigham Young, who had not resided in Far West proper, and Heber Kimball,
who had just returned from England, remained to fill the vacuum caused by the disaffection, death, or imprisonment of other key leaders. They faced a formidable
challenge.

From Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith and his counselors, Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, addressed an important letter to "Bros H C Kimball and B Young." The 16
January 1839 letter began with an answer to an earlier query of Young and Kimball about leaving Missouri: "It is not wisdom for you to go out of Caldwell [County]
with your families yet." No doubt the Presidency hoped that they would soon be free and would be able to accompany them. But more vital, with the Presidency in
prison, "the management of the affairs of the Church devolves on you that is the Twelve." With the other leadership quorums in disarray and the Presidency disabled,
suddenly everything came under the jurisdiction of the Twelve Apostles.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles hardly appeared equal to the exigency. Because of apostasy, death, and imprisonment, it was as disorganized as other quorums.
The departure of the Johnson brothers, McLellin, and Boynton had left four vacancies in the quorum, and before those named to fill the vacancies had been ordained,
the disaffections of Marsh and Hyde had created two more. Patten was dead, Parley Pratt was in prison, and William Smith could not be relied upon. Unless Orson
Pratt had recently arrived in Far West from his New York assignment, only Brigham Young and Heber Kimball of the original Twelve could assist the Saints in the
ravished Missouri settlements.

This same January letter from the First Presidency instructed Young and Kimball to implement the July revelation calling new men to the quorum. "Get the twelve
together," they were told; ordain those who have not been ordained (none had), "or at least such of them as you can get" (some were not in Missouri). Then, as a
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quorum, "proceed to regulate the Elders as the Lord may give you wisdom." The letter also named George A. Smith and Lyman Sherman to fill the vacancies          by the
departure of Marsh and Hyde.
ravished Missouri settlements.

This same January letter from the First Presidency instructed Young and Kimball to implement the July revelation calling new men to the quorum. "Get the twelve
together," they were told; ordain those who have not been ordained (none had), "or at least such of them as you can get" (some were not in Missouri). Then, as a
quorum, "proceed to regulate the Elders as the Lord may give you wisdom." The letter also named George A. Smith and Lyman Sherman to fill the vacancies left by the
departure of Marsh and Hyde.

How would the reviving quorum be organized? An important postscript said simply: "Appoint the oldest of the Twelve who were firs[t] appointed, to be the President
of your Quorum." Heber Kimball and Brigham Young, both born in June 1801, had birthdays only a few days apart. By this postscript Brigham Young, not Heber
Kimball, became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Although for now the Twelve must oversee the broader affairs of the Church, the January missive reminded them that their assignment of spreading the gospel
throughout the world was not suspended-"but under wise management can go on more rapidly than ever." In spite of the disasters that had befallen the Saints, the July
revelation appointing the Twelve to a foreign mission still stood. Even if Brigham and Heber moved their families to safety, the letter stressed, they must return to
Missouri in order to depart for their foreign mission from the Far West temple site on 26 April, as the revelation had directed. "If we die for the testimony of Jesus we
die, but whether we live or die let the work of God go on."

This January letter was not required for Young and Kimball to understand their responsibility. Consciously discarding the officious approach Marsh had taken, Young
and Kimball set out to make the Twelve the servants of all. New Apostles were ordained, and for weeks they labored diligently to assist the Missouri Saints and to
reestablish order within the Church. They bound the Saints by covenant to assist the poor and to take all, regardless of means, on the burdensome winter exodus from
Missouri. Available records, though sparse, document the Twelve's involvement in every aspect of Church affairs in this troubled period.

In order to have a properly constituted council to conduct affairs for the Saints, the Apostles began by reorganizing the high council on 13 December. During the
following week, a council meeting presided over by Elders Young and Kimball voted that John E. Page and John Taylor be ordained according to the July revelation.
    The two Apostles then ordained them, thus filling two vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve.

In late January, soon after the letter arrived informing Young and Kimball of the appointments of George A. Smith and Lyman Sherman to the Twelve, Joseph and
Hyrum, still in Liberty Jail, asked their brother Don Carlos to inform George A. of his call. When he did, George A. requested Don Carlos to tell no one else, because
he felt unequal to the station. But learning that Brigham and Heber were leaving to visit the prisoners, George A. overcame his reticence and asked to join them, and the
three mounted horses for the town of Liberty.

At the jail, the visitors spent the supper hour locked up with the prisoners. George A. later remembered that Joseph Smith spent the hour talking with Brigham and
Heber, pausing only to ask him how he felt about his call. The young man replied that he was pleased and would do his best to honor it. Soon after this, Lyman
Sherman died of illness without learning that he had been named to the quorum.

By mid-March Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and John Taylor had joined the Saints gathering near Quincy, Illinois, leaving only Heber Kimball to assist the few
still in Missouri. Once in Illinois, the Apostles moved their families to Quincy, now temporary headquarters, and began meeting and operating as a quorum.

In April 1839 the available Apostles-William Smith was not to be found, Parley Pratt was in prison, and Willard Richards was in England-boldly left Quincy to return to
Missouri, whence they had so recently escaped, to fulfill the July 1838 revelation requiring them to depart 26 April from "the building-spot of my house" in Far West.
Enemies had boasted that the revelation proved that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, since the prophecy could not be fulfilled. Some of the Saints urged that perhaps,
under the circumstances, the Lord would "take the will for the deed." But Brigham Young and his associates were determined to succeed and not allow even supposed
failure to stand as a witness against Joseph.

The enemies in Missouri were so certain that no one would attempt to return to the area that they did not even post a guard at the temple site. Thus, according to
prophecy, in the pre-dawn hours of 26 April, Brigham Young and his associates and a small group of Saints sang hymns, ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A.
Smith Apostles, laid a symbolic cornerstone, excommunicated dissidents, and departed before the first astonished anti-Mormon reached the site.

From Far West, Missouri, the Apostles traveled to the newly designated city on the banks of the Mississippi, which would become Nauvoo, Illinois. There, in May,
they were reunited with Joseph and Hyrum. Even as the Twelve had reentered Missouri, Joseph and Hyrum, finally free of their captors, were making their way out of
the state. In the new gathering place, instead of keeping the Apostles at arm's length as he often had in Kirtland, Joseph Smith embraced them, instructed them, blessed
them, and participated fully in their mission preparations.

No one, however, had the means to help the families of the Apostles. Destitute after the Missouri tragedy, without adequate shelter or provisions, everyone suffered-the
more so when summer diseases befell them in the damp, sickly hollows along the river. Consequently, it was a great test of faith for the Apostles to leave their families
in such circumstances. Essentially they left their families in the hands of God to embark on a mission that could not be postponed and that would eventually transform
the Church.

The same revelation that had commanded their departure for England had also declared: "I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that I will provide for their families."
That promise, not the visible reality, was their comfort. The result of this obedience in difficult circumstances was perhaps the most successful mission in the history of
the Church. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland noted, following this mission "neither this group of men, the British Isles, nor the Church would ever be the same again."

Because they were ill and without means, traveling from the Mississippi to New York and then crossing the Atlantic to Liverpool required several months. Brigham
Young and the four Apostles with him-Heber Kimball, Parley and Orson Pratt, and George A. Smith-arrived in Great Britain in April 1840. Just as Kimball and Hyde
had done when they opened the work in England nearly three years before, they first traveled to Preston. When Elders Woodruff and Taylor, who had preceded them
by two months, joined them there, seven ordained Apostles and Willard Richards convened for what Woodruff called "The First Council of the Twelve among the
Nations." After ordaining Richards, they formalized, for the first time since the apostasy of Thomas Marsh, the presidency of their senior member by setting Brigham
Young apart as "the standing President of the Twelve." Eight of the Twelve now stood ready to fulfill their quorum mission and push forward the vital work in Great
Britain.

Expecting a great deal of himself and others, Brigham Young The eight Apostles in England, 1840-1841 could be firm and demanding. But rather than dictating to his
peers or to the Saints, he consciously sought to promote the collegial fellowship that meant so much to him. Instead of the abrasive leadership often exhibited by
President Marsh, President Young treated his fellow Apostles more as associates than as subordinates.

If Brigham Young took the lead in emphasizing harmony within the quorum, he was not alone. Recognizing the need to conduct themselves differently than previously,
others, too, made good feelings, mutual support, and cooperation high priorities.
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One searches in vain for incidents of division or bad feelings. Instead one finds fellowship, concern for one another, communication, and commitment        to shared
responsibilities. That the records are silent about discord suggests that there was little to note. Records for the Kirtland period were not reticent about acknowledging
difficulties within the Twelve; there had been severe problems earlier, and there would be tensions, at times, in the future. But the evidence suggests that this was a
If Brigham Young took the lead in emphasizing harmony within the quorum, he was not alone. Recognizing the need to conduct themselves differently than previously,
others, too, made good feelings, mutual support, and cooperation high priorities.

One searches in vain for incidents of division or bad feelings. Instead one finds fellowship, concern for one another, communication, and commitment to shared
responsibilities. That the records are silent about discord suggests that there was little to note. Records for the Kirtland period were not reticent about acknowledging
difficulties within the Twelve; there had been severe problems earlier, and there would be tensions, at times, in the future. But the evidence suggests that this was a
period when the Twelve were, as Elder Woodruff recorded, "well united & agree in all things & love one another."

That April, after organizing their quorum and the mission, the Apostles parted for separate fields of labor within Great Britain. Brigham Young and Willard Richards
accompanied Wilford Woodruff to Herefordshire and its environs to assist in ongoing work among a religious fellowship known as the United Brethren. Laboring in the
region since March, Woodruff had already baptized perhaps 160, including more than three dozen lay preachers. Now, for a month, the three colleagues shared days
packed with preaching, teaching, visiting, baptizing, confirming, ordaining, blessing, and counseling. By mid-May, nearly 400 people had accepted baptism. Working as
a team, the Apostles formed the main body of United Brethren into Latter-day Saint branches.

In the eyes of the Apostles and their new coreligionists, God's hand was evident in Herefordshire. For example, on 18 May, traditionally a feast day among the United
Brethren, President Young, "clothed with the power of God," addressed the gathered Saints as a prelude to sharing a large banquet. It was apparently on this occasion
that a "notable miracle was wrought by faith & the power of God." Writing two weeks later, Elder Woodruff recorded that the three Apostles had blessed Sister Mary
Pitt, confined to bed for six years and unable to walk without crutches for eleven, "& her ancle bones received strength & she now walks without the aid of crutch or
staff."

It is hard to imagine better circumstances for developing confidence and leadership. Seldom had these young Apostles felt more needed; never had the results of their
work been more dramatic. Without doubt the experience of transforming the United Brethren into Latter-day Saints helped transform and strengthen the Apostles as
well. Though in scale the United Brethren conversions were extraordinary, Apostles in other fields experienced success and comparable challenges, which similarly
spurred their development as leaders.

When the Twelve met with the Saints in July conference, 842 more members were represented than in April. The Apostles used this general mission conference to
strengthen, counsel, and further regulate the Church. Ordinations, mission calls, interviews, and instruction occupied them for many hours. The Twelve also convened as
a Traveling High Council to formally hear cases of alleged misconduct. Throughout these proceedings, the Saints witnessed the Apostles giving counsel, expressing
love and concern, and functioning with unity and effectiveness. As a quorum and individually, they were gaining an increased sense of authority and ability to perform.

The October conference marked the halfway point in their mission. It also marked a shift to a different managerial style. Joseph Smith had instructed them that, when
united, they had authority as a quorum to conduct business without constant reference to a sustaining vote. So far, however, they had chosen to present most matters
to a conference representing all the British Saints. But as business and numbers multiplied (up 1,115 members since the last conference), it became less practical to
convene a truly general conference, much less to entertain floor motions and discussion on every item of business. The conference accepted President Young's
suggestion that the number of British general conferences be reduced and that ordinations, the regulation of officers, and other business be conducted by the Twelve as
a quorum, or traveling high council.

Administrative duties did not prevent Brigham Young from preaching or insulate him from the pressures and rewards of the front line. In this, too, he attempted to be an
example. "Sence we have ben in Manchester," he wrote his wife Mary Ann, "We have don all that we posably could to spread this work. . . . We keepe Baptiseing
every weak which causes much per[se]cution."

In late October, Elders Young and Kimball, as part of a preaching circuit, traveled to the town of Hawarden, Wales.       There, Brigham Young noted in a letter to
Mary Ann, their preaching elicited a singular response:

We have hered from Wales whare Br Kimball and I went. . . . the report went out that we had the same power that the old apostles had, it is true we did lay hands on
one young man that was quite low with a fevor, we rebuked his fevor and he got well we laid our hands on a woman that had verry bad eyes she emeditly recoverd,
they have a gradel [great deal] to say about our preaching. they say that Elder Kimball has such sharp eys that he can look wright through them, and Elder Young
Preashes so that every Body that heres him must beleve he preaches so plane and powerful.

Young's experiences illustrate the kinds of emotional and spiritual encounters that helped each of the Apostles gain while in Great Britain a sharper awareness of duty
and authority.

Nearly a decade later, Brigham Young and Heber Kimball instructed newly called Apostles about their office. Distilling their own experiences, both compared the
Apostleship to a harness that could not be set aside-not a light "carriage harness" either, insisted Kimball, but "an old Penn Wagon harness" suitable for heavy burdens.
They would not know the weight of the harness, cautioned Elder Young, until they were in the traces under load. Then, especially, "look out how you walk or you will
fall"; be one with the Twelve, for any variance of feeling "will cut."

In Britain, Elders Young and Kimball and their associates learned to wear the harness and pull together. A deep sense of duty, reinforced by the enormous expectations
of the Saints, kept them in the harness and at their task. Having left America in sickness, and then laboring in a far-away kingdom renowned for education and religion,
these young, unsophisticated Americans were intensely challenged on this mission. Reaching beyond what they had done before, beyond even what they thought
themselves capable of doing, they increased in confidence and ability.

On 1 April 1841, the Twelve assembled in Manchester for their final quorum meetings in England. With the addition of Orson Hyde, en route to Israel on a special
assignment, nine Apostles attended, the most seated together since soon after the organization of the quorum in Kirtland six years earlier. These nine later served
faithfully with Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, received temple ordinances at his hands, and, after his death, finished the temple and led the Saints west. This was their
beginning as a close-knit quorum. "Perfect union & harmony prevailed in all the deliberations," wrote Wilford Woodruff of these first meetings of the nine in April 1841.


The Apostles met with the Saints in conference on 6 April 1841, one year after their arrival in England. The accomplishments and changes of the intervening twelve
months exceeded all expectations. "It hath truly been a miricle what God hath wrought by our hands . . . since we have been here," recorded Elder Woodruff, "& I am
asstonished when I look at it." Reports from branches throughout the kingdom showed an increase of nearly 2,200 since the last conference and well over 4,000
over the course of the year in Britain. The influence of the quorum's mission on the lives of thousands of British Saints was profound. The influence on the Church as
thousands of British emigrants began flowing to Nauvoo was likewise substantial and would continue.

The influence of the mission on Brigham Young and his colleagues was similarly enduring. Each of the three Nauvoo Apostles who was not in England in April 1841
was gone from
Copyright       the Church within
            (c) 2005-2009,        a handful
                            Infobase   MediaofCorp.
                                               years. Tempered by their shared British experience and bonded together as a quorum, the Apostles who served in Britain
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went on to provide the Church its top leadership for the remainder of the nineteenth century.

On 15 April, the Twelve completed for publication "An Epistle of the Twelve" to the Saints throughout Great Britain-their last official act as a quorum in England. In it
thousands of British emigrants began flowing to Nauvoo was likewise substantial and would continue.

The influence of the mission on Brigham Young and his colleagues was similarly enduring. Each of the three Nauvoo Apostles who was not in England in April 1841
was gone from the Church within a handful of years. Tempered by their shared British experience and bonded together as a quorum, the Apostles who served in Britain
went on to provide the Church its top leadership for the remainder of the nineteenth century.

On 15 April, the Twelve completed for publication "An Epistle of the Twelve" to the Saints throughout Great Britain-their last official act as a quorum in England. In it
they expressed thanks for the diligence of the Saints in hearkening "to the council of those whom God has seen fit to send among them, and who hold the keys of this
ministry." The result had been union and power. They urged the Saints to remember "that which we have ever taught . . . both by precept and example . . . to beware of
an aspiring spirit." A few days later, they set sail to return home.

A memorable event during the voyage home illustrates the sense the Twelve now firmly shared that the Lord oversaw their lives and labors. At midnight on 24 April,
contrary winds that had blown since soon after their departure increased to gale strength and blew off the fore topsail. The next day the seas were "mountains high."
Most aboard the pitching ship were sick. For days the gale continued, until there was fear that some of the children would die. In spite of the difficulty, Elder Woodruff
judged the Twelve "generally well & vary patient well united & agree in all things & love one another." They prayed together and assisted the sick.

On 28 April, the storm worsened. Berths collapsed. Baggage broke loose, threatening to crush the emigrants. Facing disaster, the Apostles sought the Lord's
intervention. The next day Elder Woodruff noted simply: "the Sun Shines plesent & we have a fair wind for the first time since we left Liverpool."

The following week, Brigham Young noted in his diary:

When the winds ware contr[ar]y the 12 a gread to humble them selves before the Lord and ask him to calm the seas & give us a fair wind, we did so & the wind
emeditly changed and from that time to this it has blone in our favor.

The 1840-41 mission marked the beginning of the Twelve's functioning as a united and effective entity. In Britain, Brigham Young first presided over a quorum of
Apostles unitedly engaged in a common labor. Far removed from Joseph Smith and other leaders, they relied on the Lord and on each other and together achieved a
success unprecedented in the short history of the Church. The results reinforced confidence in the authority of their office, in the leadership of Brigham Young, and in
each other. In Britain the Twelve not only proselyted successfully but also functioned for the first time as an effective agency of ecclesiastical administration. There, also
for the first time, Brigham Young had the opportunity to shape the quorum into a different kind of council than had existed under Thomas Marsh. The Apostles grew
individually-and collectively they nurtured a growing sense of fellowship and collegiality. In the words of Elder Woodruff, writing on the high seas: "I never enjoyed my
self better with the Twelve. . . . . Union prevails among us & we dwell together in love." For the Twelve, this shared mission set a pattern for rela tionships with one
another, set a course for the quorum, and prepared them to receive new responsibilities soon afterward.

Nauvoo Saints, too, came to look upon the Apostles with more respect following their British labors. Extensive news of their ministry that circulated in Nauvoo
increased their stature as leading elders. Without question, in 1841 many more Saints in America looked upon them as effective and trustworthy leaders than would
have thought so previously. Nor did it hurt their reputation among Nauvoo Saints to have been preceded by several hundred British converts singing their praises.

The mission to Great Britain-especially leaving families sick and destitute-had been a test for the men. Wrote Wilford Woodruff, who lost a daughter to sickness while
he served: "Never have I been called to make greater Sacrifices or enjoyed greater Blessings." Undertaking the mission required greater dedication and faith than
had their earlier assignments, yet eight of the Twelve responded to the call. If the thousand-mile march with Zion's Camp had been an important preparation for the
calling of the original Apostles, as they believed, then the British experience of sacrifice, unity, success, and power was of crucial importance to the reconstituted
Twelve. The one helped qualify men to be called as Apostles; the other helped prepare them to serve next to the Presidency as Apostles in deed.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came of age at a time when Joseph Smith had pressing need for their talents and services. Within days of the return of Brigham
Young and several of his associates to Nauvoo, Joseph Smith moved to put them permanently in the harness. On 10 August 1841, the Prophet, meeting with the
Twelve, charged the Apostles to supervise "the business of the church in Nauvoo," marking a dramatic change from their Kirtland role. This assignment substantially
changed the earlier division of responsibility between standing high councils and the Twelve, or traveling high council. Now the Apostles would have churchwide
responsibilities; under Joseph Smith they would administer in Nauvoo just as they had among the branches abroad.

Unwilling to wait for general conference in October to explain this significant change to the Saints, the Prophet appointed a special conference for 16 August. With the
dawn arrival of Willard Richards by riverboat, six of the Twelve assembled with the Saints for this extraordinary conference. Joseph Smith did not attend, due to the
death of his youngest child, so Brigham Young called the meeting to order and was then voted to the chair. He stated that the Prophet had appointed the conference to
transact business that should not wait until the October conference, specifically the calling of missionaries and providing for emigrants.

Conscious that the direction of these matters had not been associated previously with his office, President Young paused to explain that he and the Twelve had not
stepped forward in this matter because of personal aspirations. "Nothing could be further from his wishes, and those of his Quorum," he assured his listeners, "than to
interfere with church affairs at Zion and her stakes." So long had he been in the vineyard, he went on, that nothing could induce him to leave that field to attend to
church affairs at home but the requirement of heaven or revelation "to which he would always submit, be the consequences what it might." Young then read a list of
prospective missionaries and another list of cities needing elders, and "by nomination" the conference began to designate who would go where.

At that point, Bishop Vinson Knight suggested, and the conference agreed, that to expedite the meeting, the Twelve should make the assignments and simply present
them to the conference. That meant, in effect, that the Twelve would conduct the business "as a quorum" rather than by the voice of the conference-just as they had
done in their last conference in England.

Present at the second session, Joseph Smith expanded on Elder Young's cautious remarks about the purpose of the conference. He explained directly

that the twelve should be authorized to assist in managing the affairs of the Kingdom in this place [church headquarters]. which he said was the duties of their office &c.
Motioned seconded and carried that the quorum of the twelve be authorized to act in accordance with the instructions given by president Joseph Smith in regulating and
superintending the affairs of the Church.

For publication, the brief minutes were fleshed out with additional explanations that seem consistent with the Prophet's intent in taking this action. According to the
published account, he 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.

Authorized by Joseph Smith and the sustaining vote of the Saints in special conference, the Twelve now had the mandate to conduct Church affairs in the stakes of Zion
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as elsewhere. A motion that the conference accept the missionary assignments made by the Twelve allowed the Prophet to further clarify the implications of 27
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mandate. According to a published account, he told the conference that as they had already sanctioned the doings of the Twelve, further vote was unnecessary, for
transacting such business with the approval of the Presidency was a part of their office.
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.

Authorized by Joseph Smith and the sustaining vote of the Saints in special conference, the Twelve now had the mandate to conduct Church affairs in the stakes of Zion
as elsewhere. A motion that the conference accept the missionary assignments made by the Twelve allowed the Prophet to further clarify the implications of this
mandate. According to a published account, he told the conference that as they had already sanctioned the doings of the Twelve, further vote was unnecessary, for
transacting such business with the approval of the Presidency was a part of their office.

The manuscript version states without elaboration: "Resolved on Motion . . . that the Twelve be authorised to make the selection of elders independent of the
conference and present them to President Joseph Smith for his approval." The Twelve now had authority and responsibility to administer the affairs of the Church
wherever and whenever Joseph Smith directed.

Willard Richards's terse diary entry adequately summed up the events of the conference: "Conference-Business of the Church given to the 12." Following this
significant realignment, the Twelve stood next to the Presidency in managing all Church affairs. The ambiguity between the high councils and the Twelve that had so
vexed Thomas Marsh and the Kirtland Apostles was over. The Apostles had shown themselves servants of all-and the Prophet judged them, to use Brigham Young's
phrase, "fit for power."

Notes

   1. Parts of this overview of the history of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 to 1841 have been drawn from my dissertation, "The
Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830-1841" (Brigham Young University, 1981), and from in-depth treatment of portions of the
story, which I published earlier in three essays: "Thomas B. Marsh As President of the First Quorum of the Twelve, 1835-1838," in Hearken, O Ye People,
Discourses on the Doctrine and Covenants, BYU 1984 Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (Sandy, Utah: Randall Book, 1984), 167-90; "The 1840-41 Mission to England
and the Development of the Quorum of the Twelve," in Mormons in Victorian England, ed. Richard L. Jensen and Malcolm R. Thorp (Salt Lake City: University of
Utah Press, 1989), 70-91; and "'Exalt Not Yourselves': The Revelations and Thomas Marsh, An Object Lesson for Our Day," in The Heavens Are Open, BYU 1992
Sidney B. Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993), 112-29.

See those sources for additional information, examples, and documentation on this period. Evidence and examples for the conclusions summarized at the beginning of
this essay can be found in the dissertation, especially in chapters 4 and 5.

  2. See D&C 112: 12-13.

  3. See D&C 107: 23-24, 33, 35.

  4. D&C 107: 27.

  5. See Esplin, "Thomas B. Marsh As President."

   6. Brigham Young, 7 October 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 197. Brigham Young later said the Prophet's approach was: "snob [snub?] them a little & if they be
true servants of all then they are to get the power." Minutes, 30 November 1847, Brigham Young Papers, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives).

  7. The account here is based on a variety of sources. See Joseph Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 7 vols., 2d
ed., rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1971), 2: 180ff, for one detailed account; see Esplin, "Emergence of Brigham and the Twelve," 125-27, for additional
sources. D&C 18: 26-37 (June 1829) foresaw the calling of the Twelve, charged to "go into all the world to preach my gospel unto every creature."

  8. See History of the Church, 2: 194-98.

  9. Minutes, 28 March 1835, Kirtland Record Book, 198, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  10. Record of the Twelve, 27 February 1835, LDS Church Historical Archives. See also History of the Church, 2: 198-200.

  11. D&C 107: 30.

   12. "History of Brigham Young," Deseret News, 27 January to 24 March 1858, 386 (10 February 1858); see also History of the Church, 2: 219-20. The principle
of seniority by age applied only to the members of this first quorum, all of whom were called on the same day. Thereafter, seniority would be established not by age but
by date of entrance into the quorum. Records suggest the possibility that Thomas B. Marsh did not know his birthday-something not particularly rare in his day.
According to vital statistics from his birthplace, he was born in 1800, making him younger than David Patten, instead of 1799 as Marsh himself believed. See Vital
Records of Acton, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical Genealogical Society, 1928), pp. 77-81, as cited in A. Gary Anderson, "Thomas
B. Marsh: The Preparation and Conversion of the Emerging Apostle," Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History, New York, ed. Larry C. Porter et al.
(Provo, Ut.: Department of Church History and Doctrine, BYU, 1992), pp. 145, 148.

  13. "History of Heber Chase Kimball," manuscript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

   14. Instructed to raise funds both for "redeeming Zion" in Missouri and for constructing the Kirtland Temple, they were accused of focusing more on land and
ignoring the priority of the temple. Two of the Apostles were charged with (and later admitted) making derogatory comments about President Rigdon, one of the First
Presidency. Because these complaints were aired in meetings where the high council played a role, and because in subsequent conferences the high council was invited
to vote ahead of the Twelve, issues of priority between the standing high council and the traveling high council exacerbated the problems. See Esplin, "Emergence of
Brigham Young," 166-71.

  15. For details, see ibid., chapter 4.

  16. Joseph Smith Diary, 3 November 1835, in Joseph Smith, The Papers of Joseph Smith, Volume 2: Journal, 1832-1842, ed. Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book Co., 1992), 63-64.

  17. Joseph Smith Diary, 5 November 1835, in ibid., 65-66.
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  18. D&C 95: 1.

  19. Historian's Office Journal, 16 February 1859, LDS Church Historical Archives.
Deseret Book Co., 1992), 63-64.

  17. Joseph Smith Diary, 5 November 1835, in ibid., 65-66.

  18. D&C 95: 1.

  19. Historian's Office Journal, 16 February 1859, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  20. Minutes, 12 February 1849, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  21. Ibid., 30 November 1847. Young prefaced this by stating that Marsh's reaction to the Prophet's treatment of the Twelve was "the way T Marsh apostatized."

  22. Ibid. Quotations here are drawn from two versions of the minutes.

   23. The erratic behavior of William Smith, Joseph's volatile younger brother, was one source of difficulty. The problem was mainly between Joseph and William, but
since William was a member of the Twelve, this also affected the quorum. The two were finally reconciled during an emotional New Year's Day meeting presided over
by Father Smith. See Esplin, "Emergence of Brigham Young," 175-80.

  24. For the Kirtland crisis, see ibid., chapters 5-7; and Milton V. Backman, Jr., The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830-1838 (Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983), chapters 17-18; details not otherwise documented are from Esplin.

  25. Brigham Young later said that the fact of "Joseph putting the 12 so far from him was the cause of many apostatizing." Minutes, 30 November 1847, LDS Church
Historical Archives.

  26. Thomas Marsh and David Patten to Parley P. Pratt, 10 May 1837, Joseph Smith Letterbook, Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  27. History of the Church, 2: 489, and "History of Heber Chase Kimball."

   28. Kimball's call and the Kimball-Hyde mission are described in James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission: The Quorum of
the Twelve in the British Isles, 1837-1841 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992), 23-53.

  29. Wilford Woodruff Journal, 25 June 1857, Wilford Woodruff Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  30. Marsh's autobiography was published in Deseret News, 24 March 1858.

  31. See D&C 112.

  32. See D&C 112: 1-17.

   33. Unfortunately, instead of humbly accepting this as a renewed opportunity, Thomas immediately visited Vilate Kimball and, backed by this affirmation, told her
that Heber could not open an "effectual door" in England because he, Thomas, held that responsibility and had not sent Heber! (See Esplin, "Exalt Not Yourselves,"
121-22.)

  34. Esplin, "Emergence of Brigham Young," 329-32.

  35. D&C 118: 1-6.

  36. Esplin, "Emergence of Brigham Young," 335.

   37. Orson Hyde, ill since his return from England and strongly influenced by President Marsh's disaffection, followed his president away from the Quorum and out of
the Church. However, he was reinstated the following year after a humble, deeply penitent letter of apology. See ibid., 342-43, 377-78.

  38. Ibid., 339-43.

  39. Heber C. Kimball, 12 July 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 28-29: "God saw fit to give him a revelation to forewarn him of the course he would take," noted
Kimball, "and still he took that course." For additional details, see Esplin, "Thomas B. Marsh As President," 183-86.

  40. Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, and Hyrum Smith to Heber Kimball and Brigham Young, 16 January 1839, Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical
Archives.

  41. Minutes, 13 December 1838, Far West Record, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  42. Ibid., 19 December 1838. Woodruff and Richards, the other two named in the revelation, were still not available.

   43. George A. Smith, "History of George Albert Smith," manuscript, George A. Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives. Young George A noted: "I had felt
very timid about conversing or making myself familiar with any of the Twelve, as Lyman E. Johnson, John Boynton and some of the others, who formerly belonged to
the Quorum, had treated me rather aristocratically, which, added to the high respect I had for their calling, made me feel embarrassed in their Presence."

  44. See Wilford Woodruff Journal, 17-18, 20 March 1839.

  45. Esplin, "Emergence of Brigham Young," 380-83; see also History of the Church, 3: 322, 336-40.

  46. D&C 118: 3.

  47. Jeffrey R. Holland to Allen, Esplin, and Whittaker, 31 July 1992-this after reading Men with a Mission. See that book for the details of the powerful story only
summarized  here.
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  48. Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, ed. Scott G. Kenney, 9 vols. (Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983), 1: 435 [14 April
1840]; and Minutes, 14 April 1840, LDS Church Historical Archives. Though Orson Hyde passed through briefly on his way to Palestine, only eight Apostles served
  46. D&C 118: 3.

  47. Jeffrey R. Holland to Allen, Esplin, and Whittaker, 31 July 1992-this after reading Men with a Mission. See that book for the details of the powerful story only
summarized here.

   48. Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 1833-1898, typescript, ed. Scott G. Kenney, 9 vols. (Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983), 1: 435 [14 April
1840]; and Minutes, 14 April 1840, LDS Church Historical Archives. Though Orson Hyde passed through briefly on his way to Palestine, only eight Apostles served
in England. William Smith and John E. Page failed to respond to the call, and the twelfth, Lyman Wight, was not named until just before the Apostles returned from
England.

   49. In 1833, Young copied into his diary an especially meaningful passage from a lengthy revelation called the "Olive Leaf," a charter for relationships between men
involved in Kirtland's religious school and anticipated temple. That he copied this passage into a diary whose pages mostly record contacts and travels underscores his
longing for such Christian bonds of fellowship. "Art thou a brother or brethren," reads the passage: "I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in token of the
everlasting covenent; in which Covenant I receive you to fellowship in a determination that is fixed, immoveable and unchangeable to be your fri[e]nd and brother
through the grace of God, in the bonds of love." Brigham Young Diary, undated entry at end of 1833, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives;
compare this with D&C 88: 133.

  50. Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 2: 94 (27 April 1841).

  51. See Allen, Esplin, and Whittaker, 147-55.

  52. Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 1: 455 (3 June 1840).

  53. See minutes in History of the Church, 4: 146-50; and Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 1: 480-82 (6-7 April 1840).

  54. Instructions to Twelve and Seventy, 2 May 1835, in History of the Church, 2: 220; see also Esplin, "Emergence of Brigham Young," 451-52.

   55. See minutes in History of the Church, 4: 214-18. This conference began by considering individual items of business, as had earlier ones. But mid-course, with
time running out, it was agreed that the Twelve handle the remainder.

  56. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 16 October 1840, Blair Family Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  57. Nineteenth-century Mormon sources spell the town as Hardin or Harden. This was most likely Hawarden, a small town of northeast Wales a few miles west of
Chester. Thanks to Peter C. Brown, England, for pointing this out.

  58. Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 12 November 1840, Blair Family Papers, University of Utah Special Collections.

  59. Council Minutes, 12 February 1849, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  60. Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 2: 78 (5 April 1841); see also entries for 2-3 April.

   61. Ibid., 2: 90 (15 April 1841). The entry continues: "during our Stay here we have esstablished churches in all the most noted cities & towns in the Kingdom have
Baptized more then 5,000 souls Printed 5,000 Books of mormon 3000 Hymn Books 2,500 Volumes of the Millennial Star & about 50,000 tracts, & gatherd to the
land of Joseph [America] 1,000 Souls & esstablished a great influence among those that trade in ships at sea & lacked for nothing to eat drink or ware. Truly the Lord
hath been good."

  62. With some excommunicated, hundreds emigrating, and some baptized before the first conference, the total converts for the period the Apostles were in England
was 5,000-6,000.

  63. Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff, Presidents of the Church from 1844 to 1898, were all in Great Britain as members of the Twelve in 1840-
41. Lorenzo Snow, President from 1898 to 1901, served with them in Britain, but was not ordained an Apostle until 1849.

   64. Millennial Star 1 (April 1841): 309-12. No doubt thinking of their own experiences in Kirtland and Missouri, they defined such a spirit as one "which introduces
rebellion, confusion, misrule, and disunion, and would, if suffered to exist among us, destroy the union, spirit, and power which are associated with the priesthood and
can only exist with the humble and meek."

  65. Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 2: 93-96 (24-29 April 1841); and Brigham Young Diary, entries before and after 5 May 1841, Brigham Young Papers.
See also preceding entry and George A. Smith's colorful diary account of 29 April 1841, George A. Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives: "All the Beathren
Were sick we Eat Nothing for th[r]ee Days vomiting Was the Principal Employment We had one Gale."

  66. Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 2: 98 (6 May 1841). That he should write this after several weeks together in close quarters bespeaks genuine harmony
and mutual affection.

  67. Ibid., 1: 487 ("Close of the Year" entry for 1840).

  68. "History of Brigham Young," 2 (10 March 1858); George A. Smith, "History of George Albert Smith."

   69. Several of their new assignments can be seen as an extension of "traditional" ones. They were to call and appoint missionaries, for example, certainly related to
their general charge to preach the message abroad. Similarly, since they had been responsible for teaching the gathering in the eastern United States and in Great
Britain, it was merely an extension to have them also responsible for settling the gathered Saints once they arrived in Nauvoo. Nonetheless, by these new assignments,
the Prophet significantly expanded the scope of their jurisdiction and responsibility.

  70. History of the Church, 4: 402-4; "History of Brigham Young," 2 (10 March 1858).

  71. Minutes, 16 August 1841, LDS Church Historical Archives.
Copyright (c) 2005-2009, Infobase Media Corp.
   72. "History of Brigham Young," 2 (10 March 1858). This version continues with the Prophet's explanation that the Twelve had been faithful, hadPage    born the30burden
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the heat of the day, and that it was right they be able to provide for their families in Nauvoo "and at the same time relieve him, so that he might attend to the business of
translating."
  70. History of the Church, 4: 402-4; "History of Brigham Young," 2 (10 March 1858).

  71. Minutes, 16 August 1841, LDS Church Historical Archives.

   72. "History of Brigham Young," 2 (10 March 1858). This version continues with the Prophet's explanation that the Twelve had been faithful, had born the burden in
the heat of the day, and that it was right they be able to provide for their families in Nauvoo "and at the same time relieve him, so that he might attend to the business of
translating."

  73. Minutes, 16 August 1841, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  74. Willard Richards Diary, 16 August 1841, Willard Richards Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives.

CHAPTER 4

Brigham Young and the Missionary Enterprise

David J. Whittaker

Archivist, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University

Introduction

We tend to remember Brigham Young primarily for his numerous temporal achievements-accomplishments ranging from his leadership in the pioneering and settling of
the Great Basin of the American West to his many economic ventures. Fulfilling such diverse roles as territorial governor, ex officio superintendent of Indian Affairs,
businessman, architect and builder, father and husband to a large family, and Apostle and President of the Church, Brigham Young almost defies the energy and ability
of the modern student to survey and understand such a full and complex life.

It is impossible to study the records of his life without seeing how central his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ was to everything he said and did. Such beliefs and
revelations animated his whole being after his conversion and baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His love for Joseph Smith and the founding
revelations of the last dispensation directed his life and thought.

At the heart of this understanding was his desire to share the truths of the Restoration with all who would listen. As a missionary himself, he traveled without purse or
scrip (see D&C 24: 18) on a variety of missions, and he helped lead the successful missionary efforts in the British Isles. As President of the Church, he continued to
focus on missionary work as much as ever. While a full volume would be required to do justice to this topic, what follows is a survey, suggesting the role of the
missionary enterprise in Brigham Young's life and thought.

Brigham Young As a Missionary

Following his own conversion and baptism in April 1832, Brigham Young served ten missions before the death of Joseph Smith in June 1844. Each experience
broadened and deepened his love for the gospel, his loyalty to Joseph Smith, and his love for Church members. His obedience brought him increased Church
responsibilities, and each mission helped shape his understanding of the missionary enterprise.

His first mission (December 1832-February 1833) followed his initial meeting with Joseph Smith. With his brother Joseph Young, Brigham proselytized in Ontario,
Canada. He returned to this area in April 1833, and in July led thirty converts to Kirtland, Ohio, then the headquarters of the Church.

In 1834, he marched from Ohio to western Missouri as part of Zion's Camp, a mission to redeem Zion and to take supplies to his fellow Saints who had recently been
expelled from Jackson County. Following these experiences he was called to serve as a member of the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in February 1835, a call
that only increased his missionary responsibilities.

From May to September 1835, he labored with his Brethren of the Twelve on missions to the eastern states. Following the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in March
1836, he returned to the East and labored in New England during the summer months. His sixth mission was on Church business in 1837 (March-June) with Willard
Richards, again to the eastern states. A seventh mission to New York and Massachusetts lasted from June to August 1837.

His eighth mission, with his fellow Apostles, is his best known. This mission to Great Britain lasted from 14 September 1839 to 1 July 1841; during that time, on 14
April 1840, he became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. During this mission, his leadership abilities blossomed; in addition to his own personal
development, he helped weld his quorum into a unified, powerful body that provided leadership for this foreign mission, including the beginnings of a massive emigration
system and an important publishing program. Cut off from direct supervision from the Prophet Joseph by the Atlantic Ocean, President Young and his colleagues were
required to make on their own a variety of decisions relating to all phases of Church government. Such responsibilities required prayer, group unity, hard work, and
consecration. Brigham Young would often recall the lessons of his experiences in England as he later counseled members of his own family in private or taught Church
members in public conferences.

On returning home to Nauvoo, Brigham Young and his quorum members were given increased responsibilities both in Church government and in running the affairs of
the city. After proving his solid commitment to the kingdom, he was given a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith in July 1841 that counseled, "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 work abroad, and take especial care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever" (D&C 126: 1-3).

Brigham Young did fulfill two more missions before Joseph's death brought him to the highest levels of Church leadership. From July to October 1843, he traveled in
the eastern states to raise money for the building of the Nauvoo Temple and the Nauvoo House; and in May 1844 he again went east to promote Joseph Smith's
candidacy for president of the United States. Joseph's death in June terminated this mission.

During the subsequent months and years, Brigham Young focused much of his energies on the challenges of succession, schism, and the emigration west. His
knowledge of the role of temple ordinances and the spiritual strength he could draw upon from these sacred rites were central to all the challenges that he would face.
His missionary experiences in dealing with the issues of faith and loyalty, as well as the more practical matters of leadership, immigration, church finances, and
publications, were critical assets in all of the challenges he faced from 1844 to 1847, when he was sustained as the second President of the Church.
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Missionary Work under Brigham Young
During the subsequent months and years, Brigham Young focused much of his energies on the challenges of succession, schism, and the emigration west. His
knowledge of the role of temple ordinances and the spiritual strength he could draw upon from these sacred rites were central to all the challenges that he would face.
His missionary experiences in dealing with the issues of faith and loyalty, as well as the more practical matters of leadership, immigration, church finances, and
publications, were critical assets in all of the challenges he faced from 1844 to 1847, when he was sustained as the second President of the Church.

Missionary Work under Brigham Young

Church membership in 1845 was 30,332; by 1877, the year of Brigham Young's death, the figure was placed at 115,065. (See Table A.) While a significant portion of
this growth came from the missions in Great Britain and Scandinavia, Brigham Young sent missionaries around the world during his presidency.

By today's standards the official missionary force was quite small. In no year before 1877 did the number exceed 222, and the average number was less than 80. (See
Table B.) Excluding the informal missionary work performed by the members themselves (which has always been important), the formal missionary work during
Brigham Young's administration was modest and must be seen as a function of the larger patterns of emigration to and colonization of the American West. Missionaries
tended to be called at an older age than is now the case; this gave rise to the tendency for missionaries to be married. The length of the missionary call was also longer;
for example, when Jesse Haven, the first president of the South African mission, was called, George A. Smith told him, "We are going to send you on a short mission,
not to exceed 7 years." Thus the statistics for formal missionary calls tell only part of the story.

Table a

Church Membership Figures 1845-1877

1845 30,332

1846 33,993

1847 34,694

1848 40,477

1849 48,160

1850 51,839

1851 52,165

1852 52,640

1853 64,154

1854 68,429

1855 63,974

1856 63,881

1857 55,236

1858 55,755

1859 57,038

1860 61,082

1861 66,211

1862 68,780

1863 71,770

1864 74,348

1865 76,771

1866 77,884

1867 81,124

1868 84,622

1869 88,432

1870 90,130

1871 95,596

1872 98,152

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1874 103,916
1871 95,596

1872 98,152

1873 101,538

1874 103,916

1875 107,167

1876 111,111

1877 115,065

Table B

LDS Proselyting Missionary Distribution 1845-1877

Year Number of Missionaries

1845 72

1846 25

1847 26

1848 48

1849 49

1850 50

1851 40

1852 159

1853 33

1854 145

1855 124

1856 144

1857 96

1858 [Utah War]

1859 18

1860 81

1861 16

Year Number of Missionaries

1862 27

1863 48

1864 51

1865 70

1866 32

1867 62

1868 31

1869 222

1870 41

1871 154

1872 73
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1873 80

1874 71
1871 154

1872 73

1873 80

1874 71

1875 202

1876 200

1877 __43

TOTAL: 2533

Although the Church established a missionary fund during Brigham Young's presidency, it remained small. And, as is the case today, local ward assistance and family
support of missionaries were an important aspect of Mormon community life.

Numerous missionary journals survive, as do collections of letters to and from missionaries. Such records are a rich source for Mormon historical study, and they are
the best windows into the lives and faith of those who carried the message of the Restoration throughout the world.

Special calls for a variety of assignments, sometimes announced at general conference or from a local pulpit, were common. This was true for preaching missions, and it
was also true for other assignments. For example, as part of the program of "home missionaries" during the Reformation (1856-57), worthy men were called to reform
and strengthen the faith of members at home. Special assignments for emigration and colonization were also common during this period. It is clear that calls to settle
in a specific place or to engage in a particular occupation demanded the same kind of obedience and consecrated labor as did the proselytizing missions.

Building on earlier success in Britain, Brigham Young directed the expansion of LDS missions into Europe and, following the routes to and locations of the British
Empire, to countries around the world. Before Joseph Smith's death in 1844, a few missionaries had been called to Australia (1840), India (1840), South America
(1841), Germany (1841), Russia (1841), Jamaica (1841), and Tahiti (1843). Not all those called actually went, but an international flavor was evident in LDS
missionary work from its earliest days.

President Young built on and then expanded these pioneering efforts. In 1849 the Italian, French, and Scandinavian missions were opened. In 1850 missionaries were
in Switzerland and Hawaii.

Apostle Parley P. Pratt, assigned to the presidency of the Pacific Region, visited Chile in 1851, published the first Spanish language tract in 1852, and sent missionaries
again to Australia in 1853. In 1852 additional missionaries were called to Gibraltar, South Africa, India, Ceylon, Burma, Siam (Thailand), and Hong Kong. In 1854
New Zealand was opened to missionary work, followed by Tonga in 1862 and Samoa in 1863. In 1865 Hungary and Austria were visited by Latter-day Saint
missionaries, and Mexico received missionaries in 1875.

While most of these initial attempts had limited success, they do reveal that Brigham Young and his associates took very seriously the scriptural injunction to carry the
gospel "unto the inhabitants of the earth" (D&C 1: 8; see also Matthew 28: 19-20). And during several of these missions, the foundation was laid that is still contributing
to the growth and strength of the Church.

One can follow these missionary enterprises through the pages of the Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, a major source for mission history in the nineteenth century.
Established in May 1840 during Brigham Young's English mission, its pages record mission calls, letters to and from missionaries, minutes of mission conferences,
published counsel from mission leaders, and a variety of other matters that reveal the larger story of Mormon missiology.

An important document-Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To all the kings of the world, to the president of the
United States of America; to the governors of the several states, and to the rulers and people of all nations-was composed by Parley P. Pratt and issued by the Twelve
in 1845 in fulfillment of the revelation of 19 January 1841 (see D&C 124: 1-14). Addressed to the kings and rulers of the earth, it announced: "You are not only
required to repent and obey the gospel . . . but you are also hereby commanded, in the name of Jesus Christ, to put your silver and your gold, your ships and steam-
vessels, your railroad trains and your horses, chariots, camels, mules and litters, into active use, for the fulfillment of these purposes." Such audacity has provided the
grist for the Mormon missionary mill throughout the history of the Church.

The Proclamation provided a basic philosophy for those hardy missionaries who fanned out around the world carrying the essential messages of the Restoration in the
nineteenth century. Its basic truths-inviting all to heed the message of the restored gospel and to contribute all to assist with the great work-remain central to the mission
of the Church. Its warning of the consequences of rejection are also contemporary.

The Apostles who were assigned by President Young to lead the various missions published short accounts of their efforts. Lorenzo Snow's work is described in The
Italian Mission (London: W. Aubery, 1851); Erastus Snow's work is described in One Year in Scandinavia; results of the gospel in Denmark and Sweden (Liverpool:
F. D. Richards, 1851); and Orson Spencer's work is recounted in The Prussian Mission (Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1853). Parley P. Pratt's extensive missionary
work is recounted in his Autobiography, first published in 1874.

Brigham Young kept Church membership informed of the missionary work in the "General Epistles" issued by the First Presidency from 1849 to 1856. George A.
Smith, Church Historian and Apostle, also provided a useful history of these missions in The Rise, Progress, and Travels of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Office, 1869; 2nd ed., 1872).

One of the important consequences of these early missions was the translation of the Book of Mormon into non-English languages. Making the "keystone" of
Mormonism available in other languages was a basic goal of President Young, and he rejoiced when these translations appeared in print. It was during his
administration that the first translations appeared: in Danish in 1851; in French, Welsh, German, and Italian in 1852; and in Hawaiian in 1855. Selections from the Book
of Mormon appeared in Spanish in 1875, and an edition in Hindustani was prepared, but apparently not published, in 1855. The Doctrine and Covenants was
translated and published in Welsh in 1851 and in Danish in 1852. The Pearl of Great Price, while not canonized as one of the standard works until 1880, was issued in
a Welsh edition in 1852.

Also important was the creation of the basic missionary literature of the Church. While the story of the emergence of Mormon missionary literature has been told
elsewhere, it is clear that the basic texts and the doctrinal formulas that are used to define and defend the Mormon position were in place before Brigham Young's
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Another perspective on Brigham Young as a missionary can be seen in his relationship to Thomas L. Kane, a non-Mormon friend of the Latter-day Saints and a
a Welsh edition in 1852.

Also important was the creation of the basic missionary literature of the Church. While the story of the emergence of Mormon missionary literature has been told
elsewhere, it is clear that the basic texts and the doctrinal formulas that are used to define and defend the Mormon position were in place before Brigham Young's
death.

Another perspective on Brigham Young as a missionary can be seen in his relationship to Thomas L. Kane, a non-Mormon friend of the Latter-day Saints and a
personal confidant of President Young. Kane became a defender of the Mormon cause following his personal visit during the sojourn at Winter Quarters in 1846. His
friendship with President Young that began at Winter Quarters lasted throughout their lives. President Young realized that Kane's effectiveness in defending the
Mormons before a national audience would be more compelling if Kane was not a member of the Church; but his desire to have his friend embrace the gospel led him
to write a missionary letter to Kane during his visit to Salt Lake City during the Utah War. Addressed to "My Dear and Tried Friend," it read:

Though our acquaintance from its commencement, which now dates from many years past, has ever been marked by that frank interchange of views and feelings which
should ever characterize the communications of those who have the welfare of mankind at heart, irrespective of sect or party, as I am well assured by a long and
intimate acquaintance, is a feeling signally shared by yourself in common with your best friends; yet, so far as I can call to mind, I do not remember to have, either in
correspondence, or in familiar conversation, except, by a casual and unpursed remark, alluded to matters of religious belief, as entertained by myself and others who
are commonly called "Mormons", nor do I remember that you have ever overstepped the most guarded reserve on this subject in all your communications with me. So
invariably and persistently has this peculiarity marked our friendly and free interchange of views, upon policy and general topics, that I have at times imagined, and still
am prone to imagine, that you are more or less inclined to skepticism upon many points commonly received by the religious world.

The faith embraced by the Latter Day Saints is so naturally philosophical, and so consistent with and enforcive of every valuable and true principle that should govern in
every department of life, that I am strongly of the opinion that a plain, candid exposition of the faith of the everlasting gospel, which I have so much at heart, can not,
probably, fail to at least interest a person of your reflective turn of mind. Such being by conviction, your permission to me to converse familiarly with you upon a subject
of so much import, previous to your departure for your home, or to write to you upon your return to the society of your family and friends, will confer a highly esteemed
favor upon, most truly

Your Friend and the Friend of all good and honorable men.

Brigham Young on Missionary Work

Having served as both missionary and mission leader, Brigham Young could draw on a wealth of personal and institutional experience. It is impossible to read through
his over one thousand recorded public sermons and miss the central place missionary work held in his thoughts. We can only sample them here.

For those who wished to withdraw from the world, Brigham retorted: "Some entertain the idea that we came here [to the Great Basin] to hide ourselves up from the
world; but we have soon learned that our light had to be placed where the inhabitants of the earth could see." Thus, "All the real business we have on hand is to
promote our religion." "The Kingdom of God is upward and onward, and will so continue until its power and influence extend to the relief of the honest of all
nations." Expressing sentiment that has been echoed by his successors: "We are to build up and establish Zion, gather the house of Israel, and redeem the nations of
the earth. This people have this work to do, whether we live to see it or not."

His own life was an example: "When I came into this Church, I started right out as a missionary, and took a text, and began to travel on a circuit. Truth is my text, the
Gospel of salvation my subject, and the world my circuit." Because he was the constant missionary, he could counsel: "We wish the brethren to understand the facts
just as they are, that is, there is neither man or woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote
righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life. This
is the mission of every Latter-day Saint."

Brigham Young knew that at the heart of the missionary enterprise of teaching others was the issue of personal worthiness, and he knew just how transforming the
experience would and ought to be. He knew that some would not go on missions because of their possessions; but, reflecting on one of his missions, he recalled that
"I would not exchange the knowledge I received this season for the whole of Geauga County; for property and mines of wealth are not to be compared to the worth of
knowledge."

To a group of departing missionaries, he counseled: "Go forth and preach the Gospel, gain an experience, learn wisdom, and walk humbly before your God, that you
may receive the Holy Ghost to guide and direct you and teach you all things past, present, and to come."

President Young wished the missionaries to go forth worthily. "If the Elders cannot go with clean hands and pure hearts, they had better stay here. Do not go thinking,
when you arrive at the Missouri River, at the Mississippi, at the Ohio, or at the Atlantic, that then you will purify yourselves; but start from here with clean hands and
pure hearts, and be pure from the crown of the head 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."

Brigham Young knew that for each person the mission experience functioned on several levels: knowledge of God and eternal things; knowledge of self and the
personal growth that came from the mission experience; and knowledge of the wider world, its people, and their cultures. Nowhere are these made clearer than in the
letters he sent to his own missionary sons.

To his sons Ernest and Arta, who were laboring in England, Brigham wrote:

I have no doubt but that you appreciate the privileges you possess as ministers of salvation to the nations who sit in the shadow of the darkness of unbelief and of
ignorance of the ways of the Lord. You have also had opened to you an inviting entrance to the living world of human thought and action. You are surrounded by
influences from which you can learn lessons that will be of increasing influence in after years, and by comparing things as you meet them today with what they will be
when the truth holds the sway, you will create within you a becoming respect for the dignity and honor of our sacred religion, and of the responsibilities of your holy
calling. There is no position a man can occupy in this world, be he young or old, rich or poor, wise or simple, wherein he can learn so much of that which is truly
valuable and worthy of acceptation as that of an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ in the active discharge of his calling. The present is the day of your opportunities, to
mold your characters, to strengthen your faith, to develop your powers of mind and thought, and to acquire knowledge of men and manners that no books can teach or
theoretical instruction impart. Stores of information surround you; you are in the midst of the world's activities. The discoveries of science and the masterpieces of
inventive genius are within your reach and you have many bright opportunities of increasing your range of knowledge and widening your views of man and nature.

Several months earlier, he had written Ernest some advice on resisting temptation while on his mission:

ICopyright
  am much gratified, my son,Infobase
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                                        Media    to write: 'I feel good continually, and feel that I am blessed beyond expectation.' It is your privilege to feel thus as a
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laborer in the vineyard of the Lord; for the powers of the heavens are on your side, while you seek to walk in the path of your duty in trying to promote the interests of
Zion. True, you must be tested in the great school of mortal experience. There are, as you properly state, 'many temptations, seen and unseen, to lead one astray, the
tempter being always ready to take advantage where he can.' This is the common lot of man, but especially of the young and inexperienced. There is no exception. It
inventive genius are within your reach and you have many bright opportunities of increasing your range of knowledge and widening your views of man and nature.

Several months earlier, he had written Ernest some advice on resisting temptation while on his mission:

I am much gratified, my son, that you are able to write: 'I feel good continually, and feel that I am blessed beyond expectation.' It is your privilege to feel thus as a
laborer in the vineyard of the Lord; for the powers of the heavens are on your side, while you seek to walk in the path of your duty in trying to promote the interests of
Zion. True, you must be tested in the great school of mortal experience. There are, as you properly state, 'many temptations, seen and unseen, to lead one astray, the
tempter being always ready to take advantage where he can.' This is the common lot of man, but especially of the young and inexperienced. There is no exception. It
was written of our Saviour, that he 'was in all points tempted like as we are.' But our duty is pointed out by him in the words, 'watch and pray that ye enter not into
temptation.'

It should ever be borne in mind that sin does not consist of simply being tempted to do, to say, or to think wrong, but that the sin is in yielding to the temptation.

One strong safeguard against doing evil is to cultivate good thoughts, and when evil ones are presented, to promptly and manfully reject them, to dismiss them from the
mind at once. This habit, together with never knowingly or heedlessly putting yourself in the way of temptation, will greatly aid in proving to you the truth of the scripture
which saith, 'Resist the devil and he will flee from you.' And further, this course will assist in cultivating that high moral and religious tone which is indispensable to those
who would wield the power of the holy priesthood.

Having taught his sons well by precept and example, Brigham Young could write with confidence, as he did to his son Joseph, then serving in Manchester, England:

Joseph, this has been your privilege, to grow as the Church has grown; when it was in its infancy you were dandled on the knees of a tender mother and received the
caresses of an affectionate father, and as you have grown to years of understanding you have had continually the instructions of one who has been appointed to stand at
the head of God's kingdom on the earth, the front of the battle; you have seen his energy, observed his deportment both in private and public. Should not you therefore
eventually prove yourself a skillful general, and even now able to wage war successfully with the powers of darkness, superstition, priestcraft, and ignorance, to
overcome evil however it may present itself and preserve yourself a pure and holy tabernacle for the residence of the Holy Spirit. And by so doing you will never be led
astray.

When his son Willard wrote from West Point, where he was then studying, asking if he ought to attend a religious service of another faith as required by the military
academy (no Latter-day Saint services being then available), Brigham again responded with the surety of a parent who had taught his children well:

With regard to your attending Protestant Episcopal service, I have no objections whatever. On the contrary, I would like to have you attend, and see what they can
teach you about God and Godliness more than you have already been taught. When the Methodist big tent was here I advised old and young to attend their meetings
for that very reason, but I was well satisfied it would not take our people long to learn what Methodists could teach them more than they had already been taught.

As a loving parent, he watched the progress of his children, anxious for their success. Brigham wrote to his son Joseph:

"Morning and evening do I call upon the Lord to bless you in your labors. Your course I watch with the eye of an affectionate and loving parent, whose anxiety for your
welfare, I hope you will repay with a faithful and energetic performance of the duties assigned to you in the ministry. . . .

I look upon this mission as a sort of probation-a kind of middle period between boyhood and manhood-a time which as you improve or neglect, will make or mar your
future career.

Therefore, my son, give heed to the instructions of those who are placed over you to counsel and direct you in the thorny and dangerous paths you now tread, and in
no instance let me hear of your having neglected or disobeyed their injunctions.

While you are absent from the Valley, I wish you to lose no opportunity of making yourself familiar with all that is useful and likely to benefit you, for to be able to
combat with the world we must make ourselves acquainted with the ways of the world. This can only be done by keeping your mind constantly on the alert and when in
society never allow anything to escape your notice. Listen attentively, and observe minutely the manners, customs, and remarks of all, for from the most humble of our
fellow creatures an observing man can learn something that will be useful to him in after life. Such has been my course and, from daily and hourly experience of its
benefits, I recommend you to pursue the same.

To his son Oscar in Liverpool, Brigham wrote what could be considered his missionary manifesto:

It gratifies me to see my sons manifest a desire to magnify the holy priesthood, for I know if they are faithful in the callings of that priesthood, their power and influence
on the earth will increase and they will have the favor of God and His people. You are called in your youth to go forth and bear the message of life and salvation to the
nations of the earth, and this is the most honorable and glorious calling that our Heavenly Father can bestow upon His children in this life. Since you left home you have
no doubt seen considerable of the glory of this world. London is one of the greatest cities in Christendom; the wealth of ages has accumulated there, and human dignity
receives the greatest honor that can be bestowed. But there is no king or queen, or potentate of any kind, whose honor can be compared to that which God bestows
upon men when He gives to them the holy priesthood. Their glory fades away; it lasts only while life endures, but the holy priesthood when received and magnified by
man is an eternal honor, which increases as years roll by, until, by faithfulness, man is brought back into the presence of his Maker, and is crowned with glory,
immortality and eternal lives. By faithfully keeping the commandments of God and living humbly and faithfully before Him so as to partake of His power, while you are
on your present mission, you will lay a foundation for future usefulness in the kingdom of God. If there be any difference in missions probably the first mission that a man
takes has more influence on his future than any that he may take in the after life. On his first mission he lays the foundation and adopts the principles which are to guide
him through his future career, and it has seldom been the case that a young man who has been dilatory and careless while upon his first mission has ever recovered the
ground he then lost or obtained the confidence of his brethren to the extent that he would have enjoyed had he been more faithful. You now have opportunities of
gaining experience in, and a knowledge of, your religion that you could not have obtained and to live so near to the Lord that you will have his holy Spirit to rest upon
you to enable you to teach the people. This experience, if properly appreciated by you, will be of great benefit to you through your future life.

What animated Brigham Young's missionary work was a deep and abiding faith in the ultimate power of God to establish his kingdom on the earth. Men were co-
workers, but it was God's work. When Orson Pratt wrote to Brigham Young in 1853 of his depression and lack of success on the publishing mission he had been
assigned, President Young wrote to him:

It is true your reception at Washington was evil and forbidding, but we observe that your subscription list is increasing and you must be aware, without particularizing it,
that Washington is the very place for you and your operations to hail from. . . . I am aware that the 'let alone' policy would tend to try the feelings of a person of your
zeal and temperament when your appointments have no hearers, and your publications meet with so dull a sale, but never mind and do not be in a hurry, it is all right,
and all will be well.

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                Cannon expressed   Mediaconcerns
                                         Corp. in 1859 during his special mission on the east coast, Brigham Young counseled him:                          Page 36 / 128

Br. George, the casting your bread upon the waters, by way of your efforts in the states in our behalf, may at times appear to you a bootless labor, but it does not and
that Washington is the very place for you and your operations to hail from. . . . I am aware that the 'let alone' policy would tend to try the feelings of a person of your
zeal and temperament when your appointments have no hearers, and your publications meet with so dull a sale, but never mind and do not be in a hurry, it is all right,
and all will be well.

When George Q. Cannon expressed similar concerns in 1859 during his special mission on the east coast, Brigham Young counseled him:

Br. George, the casting your bread upon the waters, by way of your efforts in the states in our behalf, may at times appear to you a bootless labor, but it does not and
at no time has so appeared to me. It is for us to labor, biding our time and resting events with Him who over-ruleth all things for good, caring only that we are lawfully
striving for the right, which I have every reason to be assured that you are doing. The work in which we are engaged has to cope with a powerful array of opposition,
and though our labors may at present seem puny, as they of themselves comparatively are, and the work may seem to progress slowly, yet it is visibly progressing and
its progress will increase with astonishing ration, and the results of our faithful labors, feeble though they be, will rebound to the welfare of ourselves and all who love
righteousness. All is well-be of good cheer.

Conclusion

Many of Brigham Young's leadership and administrative talents were initially developed in a missionary setting. In 1860, Brigham Young provided a good summary of
his philosophy of life and missionary work:

Every sentiment and feeling should be to cleanse the earth from wickedness, purify the people, sanctify the nations, gather the nations of Israel home, redeem and build
up Zion, redeem Jerusalem and gather the Jews there, and establish the reign and kingdom of God on the earth. Let that be the heart's desire and labour of every
individual every moment.

He gave his best to the work and encouraged all members to do likewise:

If you give anything for the building up of the Kingdom of God, give the best you have. What is the best thing you have to devote to the Kingdom of God? It is the
talents God has given you. How many of them? Every one of them. . . . Let us devote every qualification we are in possession of to the building up of God's kingdom,
and you will accomplish the whole of it.

Brigham Young's commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ was focused and total. And, to him, the doctrine of the gathering was threefold:

First, he preached a doctrine of the spiritual gathering. This required a formal missionary enterprise that preached gospel principles to the honest in heart, followed by
the performance of saving priesthood ordinances that spiritually gathered the righteous into Church membership.

Second, he preached a physical gathering of the converts to the Great Basin, where they could help build a latter-day Zion.

Finally, he stressed an educational gathering, a searching out of ideas and truths wherever they could be found. He wanted truth wherever it was and encouraged
members to gather to themselves the best they could find throughout the world.

For missionaries or converted members, the requirements were the same. While the idea of a physical gathering to a central location was modified by President Joseph
F. Smith after 1906, the core of the missionary enterprise remains at the heart of the Mormon approach to life. It remains one of the most important legacies of the
Brigham Young era.

Notes

   1. The Brigham Young Collection is in the Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah
(hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives). It contains well over 100,000 pages of manuscript material ranging from diaries, minutes books, office journals,
and speech files, to a voluminous correspondence collection. In addition, it contains numerous records relating to all aspects of Brigham Young's life and the Church
over which he presided. Many of the collections of the papers of his associates in the leadership of the Church are also located there. While he instructed the Church
Historian's office to protect the privacy of his family, there are records that help the historian understand the history of the Young family. This essay has drawn on all
these sources, but, where possible, cites the more accessible published versions.

The best biography is Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young, American Moses (New York: Knopf, 1985). It contains an extensive bibliography. Other essential works
include Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958); Eugene England,
Brother Brigham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980); Ronald K. Esplin, "From Rumors to the Records: Historians and the Sources for Brigham Young," Brigham Young
University Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 453-65; Dean C. Jessee, "The Writings of Brigham Young," Western Historical Quarterly 4 (June 1973): 273-94; Ronald W.
Walker, "Raining Pitchforks: Brigham Young As Preacher," Sunstone 8 (May/June 1983): 4-9; and Ronald W. Walker and Ronald K. Esplin, "Brigham Himself: An
Autobiographical Recollection," Journal of Mormon History 4 (1977): 19-34.

  2. For the sake of space, we only summarize these missions. More detailed information can be found in the following sources: Ronald K. Esplin, "Conversion and
Transformation: Brigham Young's New York Roots and the Search for Bible Religion," in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint History: New York, ed. Larry C.
Porter, Milton V. Backman, Jr., and Susan Easton Black (Provo, Utah: Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University, 1992); Eugene
England, "Brigham Young As a Missionary," New Era 7 (November 1977): 30-37; Ronald K. Esplin, "Brigham Young in England," Ensign 17 (June 1987): 28-33;
Esplin, "The Emergence of Brigham Young and the Twelve to Mormon Leadership, 1830-1841" (Ph.D. diss., BYU, 1981); and James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin,
and David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission, The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1837-1841 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992). An
excellent overview of the early Mormon missions is S. George Ellsworth, "A History of Mormon Missions in the United States and Canada, 1830-1860" (Ph.D. diss.,
University of California at Berkeley, 1951).

Formal mission calls were not issued to women until 1898, but wives of missionaries occasionally accompanied their husbands into the mission field and were active in
various aspects of missionary work. See, for example, Carol Cornwall Madsen, "Mormon Missionary Wives in Nineteenth Century Polynesia," Journal of Mormon
History 13 (1986/87): 61-88; and Calvin S. Kunz, "A History of Female Missionary Activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1898" (master's
thesis, BYU, 1976).

   3. While on this mission, he wrote to his wife Mary Ann a letter that revealed his struggles with his health that plagued him throughout his life. The letter also revealed
the religious focus of his life: "You and I must take som masurs to re [recover] cut our helth or we shall not last a grate meny years; and I want that we should live meny
years yet and due much good on the earth." Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 17 August-2 September 1843, Philadelphia. Original in uncatalogued manuscripts,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Original spelling retained. The whole letter is printed in Brigham Young University Studies 32 (Summer
1992): 89-92. On Brigham Young's health history, see Lester Bush, Jr., "Brigham Young in Life and Death: A Medical Overview," Journal of Mormon History 5
 Copyright
(1978):     (c) 2005-2009, Infobase Media Corp.
         79-103.                                                                                                                                         Page 37 / 128

  4. Of course this was true for his whole administration, but it was especially critical during this period of challenges relating to his succession to Church leadership.
the religious focus of his life: "You and I must take som masurs to re [recover] cut our helth or we shall not last a grate meny years; and I want that we should live meny
years yet and due much good on the earth." Brigham Young to Mary Ann Young, 17 August-2 September 1843, Philadelphia. Original in uncatalogued manuscripts,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Original spelling retained. The whole letter is printed in Brigham Young University Studies 32 (Summer
1992): 89-92. On Brigham Young's health history, see Lester Bush, Jr., "Brigham Young in Life and Death: A Medical Overview," Journal of Mormon History 5
(1978): 79-103.

  4. Of course this was true for his whole administration, but it was especially critical during this period of challenges relating to his succession to Church leadership.
Useful studies include Andrew F. Ehat, "Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Question" (master's thesis, BYU,
1982); Ronald K. Esplin, "Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve: A Succession of Continuity," BYU Studies 21 (Summer 1981): 301-41; and Esplin, "The Significance of
Nauvoo for Latter-day Saints," Journal of Mormon History 16 (1990): 71-86.

  5. In addition to the references already cited, the following publications are useful studies of the missions most productive of converts during Brigham Young's
administration: P. A. M. Taylor, Expectations Westward: The Mormons and the Emigration of Their British Converts in the Nineteenth Century (Ithaca, New York:
Cornell University Press, 1965); V. Ben Bloxham, James R. Moss, and Larry C. Porter, eds., Truth Shall Prevail: The Rise of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints in the British Isles, 1837-1987 (Solihull, England: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1987); Richard L. Jensen and Malcolm R. Thorp, eds.,
Mormons in Early Victorian Britain (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989); William Mulder, Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia
(Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1957); and Andrew Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press,
1927). The extensive secondary literature on all the various missions is gathered in David J. Whittaker, "A Bibliography of LDS Missions and Missionary Work,"
Mormon History Association Newsletter, no. 69 (July 1988): 5-8; no. 70 (October 1988): 4-8; and no. 71 (January 1989): 3-4. Sources on the important Mormon
Indian Missions are gathered in Whittaker, "Mormons and Native Americans: A Historical and Bibliographical Introduction," Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought
18 (Winter 1985): 33-64.

  6. Jesse Haven, Journal B, 20 March 1854, manuscript, LDS Church Historical Archives. The quote is in a letter to his family, copied into his journal.

  7. See Paul H. Peterson, "The Mormon Reformation" (Ph.D. diss., BYU, 1981), 69-81; and A. Glen Humphries, "Missionaries to the Saints," BYU Studies 17
(Autumn 1976): 74-100.

  8. While this topic is beyond the purpose of this essay, an overview is provided in Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer, 4th ed. (Santa Barbara,
California: Peregrine Smith, 1973). The larger literature is surveyed in Wayne L. Wahlquist, "A Review of Mormon Settlement Literature," Utah Historical Quarterly 45
(Winter 1977): 4-21. See also Dean L. May, "The Making of Saints: The Mormon Town As a Setting for the Study of Cultural Change," ibid., 75-92.

   9. The authorship is made clear in the letter of Brigham Young to Parley P. Pratt, 26 May 1845, Nauvoo, Illinois, manuscript in Newell K. Whitney Collection,
Special Collections and Manuscripts, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Unlike other Christian groups in the nineteenth century,
Mormons did not undertake missionary work among the Jews. Brigham Young did not think they would be converted by mortal missionaries. Land would be
dedicated for their latter-day gathering, but God himself would do the converting. For a discussion, with sources, see Hugh Nibley, Brother Brigham Challenges the
Saints, vol. 13 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, ed. Don E. Norton and Shirley S. Ricks (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., and Provo: FARMS, 1994),
169-72. For the larger context, see Steven Epperson, Mormons and the Jews, Early Mormon Theologies of Israel (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992); and
Arnold H. Green, "Jews in LDS Thought: A Bibliographical Essay," BYU Studies 34, no. 4 (1994-95): 137-64. (Green unfortunately attributes the 1845 "Proclamation
of the Twelve" to Wilford Woodruff rather than to its actual author, Parley P. Pratt.) See also the account of the dedication of Palestine for the return of the Jews-for
the second time, but the first under Brigham Young's direction-in George A. Smith, Correspondence of Palestine Tourists . . . in 1872 and 1873 (Salt Lake City:
Deseret News Steam Printing Establishment, 1875).

   10. The texts of the Twelve "General Epistles," plus other missionary-oriented statements issued by Brigham Young's First Presidency, are most conveniently found
in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency, 6 volumes (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), vols. 1 and 2.

   11. See, for example, the correspondence between Brigham Young and George Q. Cannon during the time the Hawaiian edition of the Book of Mormon appeared
in print. See especially the letters of President Young, 3 January 1856 and 3 April 1856, manuscripts in Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 13, folder 22, Brigham
Young Collection, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  12. Publishing information on these editions can by found in Chad J. Flake, A Mormon Bibliography, 1830-1930 (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1978).
See also L. R. Jacobs, Mormon Non-English Scripture, Hymnals, and Periodicals, 1830-1986: A Historical Bibliography (Ithaca, New York: By the author, 1986).

  13. See Peter Crawley, "Parley P. Pratt: Father of Mormon Pamphleteering," Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Autumn 1982): 13-26; Crawley and
David J. Whittaker, Mormon Imprints in Great Britain and the Empire, 1836-1857 (Provo, Utah: Friends of the BYU Library, 1987); Whittaker, "Early Mormon
Pamphleteering," Journal of Mormon History 4 (1977): 35-49; Whittaker, "Orson Pratt: Prolific Pamphleteer," Dialogue 15 (Autumn 1982): 27-41; and Whittaker,
"Early Mormon Pamphleteering," (Ph.D. diss., BYU, 1982).

  14. A copy of the letter, dated 8 May 1858, is in the Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 4, folder 6, Brigham Young Collection, LDS Church Historical Archives.
This letter should end the speculation that Kane was secretly baptized by the Mormons in 1846. Kane never did join the Church but remained a good friend until his
death in 1883.

   15. The most accessible source for Brigham Young's sermons is the Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool, 1854-1886). About 360 sermons are scattered
throughout these volumes. Typescripts of the remaining talks have been assembled in chronological order, with references to those available in the Journal of
Discourses, in Elden J. Watson, ed., Brigham Young Addresses, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: By the compiler, 1979-1984).

  16. Sermon, 8 October 1867, Millennial Star 29 (30 November 1867): 756-57.

  17. Sermon, 14 June 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 355.

  18. Sermon, 6 April 1868, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 196.

  19. Sermon, 3 June 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 68.

  20. Sermon, 28 July 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 137.

  21. Sermon, 7 April 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 19. An excellent sampling of President Young's statements about missionary work is in Discourses of
Brigham
CopyrightYoung, John A. Widtsoe,
          (c) 2005-2009,  Infobase comp.
                                     Media(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1966), 319-37.
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  22. Sermon, 9 September 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 179.
  20. Sermon, 28 July 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 137.

  21. Sermon, 7 April 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 19. An excellent sampling of President Young's statements about missionary work is in Discourses of
Brigham Young, John A. Widtsoe, comp. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1966), 319-37.

  22. Sermon, 9 September 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 179.

  23. Sermon, 23 October 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 10.

  24. Sermon, 9 September 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 176. See also sermon, 14 April 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 12: 34.

  25. Sermon, 8 March 1867, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 264; sermon, 28 August 1852, in Journal of Discourses, 6: 273.

  26. The following quotes are taken from Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons, ed. Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., in collaboration with the
Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974). Hereafter cited as Jessee.

  27. Letter, 13 December 1875, Jessee, 158.

  28. Letter, 4 February 1875, Jessee, 153.

  29. Letter, 31 August 1854, Jessee, 7.

  30. Letter, 25 July 1871, Jessee, 171.

  31. Letter, 3 February 1855, Jessee, 13-14.

  32. Letter, 16 March 1867, Jessee, 145-46.

  33. Brigham Young to Orson Pratt, 13 December 1853, manuscript, Brigham Young Letterbooks, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  34. Brigham Young to George Q. Cannon, 17 September 1859, Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 5, folder 6, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  35. Sermon, 12 June 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 294.

  36. Sermon, 20 January 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 346.

CHAPTER 5

"The Keys Are Right Here"

Succession in the Presidency

Milton V. Backman, Jr.

Director of Nauvoo Study Program, Professor Emeritus, Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University

While sitting in a railway station in Boston, Massachusetts, with Wilford Woodruff on 27 June 1844, Brigham Young became sorrowful and "felt a heavy depression of
spirit." At the time, he did not understand the reason for his despondency; even on 9 July, nearly two weeks later, when he first heard that Joseph and Hyrum Smith had
been killed, he dismissed the report, assuming that it was a just another vicious rumor. He did not comprehend the tragedy of Carthage until almost three weeks
following the martyrdom, when he read a letter on 16 July that described in some detail the murder of the Prophet and the Patriarch.

The first thing he thought of was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the kingdom with him. But as he and his companion, Orson Pratt, leaned back on their chairs
and pondered the loss of a dear prophet and friend, Brigham Young slapped his knee and said, "The keys of the kingdom are right here with the Church." That
recognition of authority and leadership was unitedly embraced by nine of the Twelve Apostles, the nine who had met as a quorum in Manchester, England, in April
1841.

When Wilford Woodruff learned of the tragedy in Carthage, his immediate response was similar to Brigham Young's:

He [Joseph Smith] told us that he was going away to leave us, going away to rest. Said he, "You have to round up your shoulders to bear up the kingdom. No matter
what becomes of me. I have desired to see that Temple built, but I shall not live to see it. You will; you are called upon to bear . . . this kingdom." This language was
plain enough, but we did not understand it any more than the disciples of Jesus when he told them he was going away, and that if he went not the Comforter would not
come.

Preparing Successors

One of the significant contributions the Prophet Joseph Smith made was to prepare successors, leaders who would continue the work he had established. Although
Joseph Smith recognized that his life would not be taken until his work had been accomplished, he was prepared when he went to Carthage to seal his testimony with
his blood. Before the summer of 1844, he had conferred upon the Twelve the knowledge, authority, and keys necessary to continue the program of restoration.

For many years, Brigham Young was given the opportunities for service that trained him to become the leader of the Church. Following his travels with Zion's Camp,
he commented that he would not have exchanged that experience for all the wealth of Geauga County. When one-third of the General Authorities apostatized in
Kirtland in 1837, Brigham remained a stalwart defender of the Prophet. Because of this loyalty, he also became a target for oppressors and had to flee Kirtland to save
his life. After moving to the Missouri frontier, Brigham Young again supported the Prophet and refused to follow Thomas Marsh-his file leader and senior Apostle-as
Marsh left the Church in apostasy. Marsh was replaced as senior Apostle by David Patten, but within a few days Elder Patten fell a victim of the Battle of Crooked
River, leaving Brigham Young as leader of that quorum.
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Shortly after the death of Elder Patten, the Prophet gave Brigham Young new responsibilities. In late October 1838, when Governor Lilburn BoggsPage        39order
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expulsion from Missouri, Joseph Smith was imprisoned. In January 1839, during the exodus of the Saints from Missouri, the Prophet wrote to Brigham Young and
Heber C. Kimball from prison, instructing them that "the management of the affairs of the Church devolves on you." Accepting this challenge, Brigham Young became
his life. After moving to the Missouri frontier, Brigham Young again supported the Prophet and refused to follow Thomas Marsh-his file leader and senior Apostle-as
Marsh left the Church in apostasy. Marsh was replaced as senior Apostle by David Patten, but within a few days Elder Patten fell a victim of the Battle of Crooked
River, leaving Brigham Young as leader of that quorum.

Shortly after the death of Elder Patten, the Prophet gave Brigham Young new responsibilities. In late October 1838, when Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an order of
expulsion from Missouri, Joseph Smith was imprisoned. In January 1839, during the exodus of the Saints from Missouri, the Prophet wrote to Brigham Young and
Heber C. Kimball from prison, instructing them that "the management of the affairs of the Church devolves on you." Accepting this challenge, Brigham Young became
one of the principal leaders in directing the exodus of Latter-day Saints from Missouri.

The Expanding Role of the Twelve

The preparation of a successor continued during the sojourn of the Saints in Nauvoo. Under the leadership of Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve gained
increased unity while they were on their mission, directing the affairs of the rapidly growing Church in the British Isles. On 14 April 1840, during that mission, Brigham
was chosen as standing President of the Twelve. Following his return, he and other Apostles were given responsibilities both inside and outside the jurisdiction of the
stakes of Zion, functioning immediately under the direction of the First Presidency.

On 9 July 1841 (eight days after Brigham Young returned from England), Joseph Smith received a revelation in Brigham Young's home. In the revelation, the Lord told
the President of the Twelve that he was not required to leave his family as (much as) in times past. Although he was to continue to spread the work abroad, he was to
take special care of his family (see D&C 126: 1-3).

The Prophet Joseph Smith gave some clarification of the meaning of the July revelation on 10 August 1841, when he instructed the Twelve in a private council meeting
to begin supervising "the business of the church in Nauvoo." In order to explain to lay members this organizational realignment, the Prophet called a special
conference on 16 August 1841. He explained that the Twelve would have the responsibilities of directing missionary work and the work of the gathering. "The time has
come," Joseph Smith added, "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."

The new responsibilities of the Twelve included managing the temporal affairs of the Church and assisting in the building of the Nauvoo Temple. While working closely
with the Prophet on many assignments, Brigham Young and other Apostles met frequently with Joseph, receiving from him continual counsel and instruction, and, in
return, assisting him with the burdens of administration. After this August conference, members of the Church in Nauvoo and vicinity became accustomed to being led
by both the Prophet and the Twelve.

Brigham Young's leadership was visible on many occasions. On 8 November 1841, he participated in the dedication of the temple baptismal font. Describing that
occasion, Joseph Smith said that Brigham Young was spokesman at that dedicatory meeting. Reuben McBride recalled that he was the first to be baptized, and added
that he was baptized six times for the dead by Brigham Young.

Restoration of Temple Ordinances

In December 1841, Joseph Smith assigned Brigham Young, as President of the Twelve Apostles, to "instruct the building committee in their duty." In that same
month, the Twelve wrote a letter (published in the Times and Seasons) instructing members regarding building the temple and the blessings they would receive in the
House of the Lord. This letter included instructions on contributions of time and money, the relationship between proselyting missions and laboring on the temple,
temporary housing in Nauvoo, and the need to keep the commandment to build the Temple of the Lord. The Twelve also warned the Saints that the Church would be
"brought under condemnation and rejected with her dead" if they failed to build that house.

Brigham Young was also among the first to receive an endowment and instructions that enabled him to continue the Prophet's program of restoration of temple
ordinances. In 1836, he had received a partial endowment in the Kirtland Temple. He received a more complete endowment from the Prophet on 4 May 1842. Joseph
asked Brigham Young and six other men to gather on the second floor of the Red Brick Store, where he taught them principles relating to the order of the priesthood.
Then he administered to them the washings, anointings, and endowments. Commenting on this experience, Brigham Young said that Joseph introduced to this group
"the ancient order of things for the first time in these last days."

When President Young later described the temple ordinance, he explained: Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are
necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled
to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation.

This sacred ceremony included the story of man's eternal journey, instructions that enable participants to make this journey most meaningful, the making of covenants,
and the receiving of blessings promised to the obedient.

One year later, beginning on 26 May 1843, the Prophet resumed bestowal of the endowment on others. Shortly thereafter, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and
Willard Richards assisted in introducing this temple rite to men and women, including other Apostles. During the summer and fall of 1843 and the winter of 1843-44,
Joseph continued to meet with and teach a select group principles and practices relating to temple blessings.

Some of the most important sessions of learning and bestowing of blessings relating to temple ordinances and worship occurred between December 1843 and early
April 1844. Joseph Smith invited to these sacred sessions nine of the Twelve (the nine who had met in Manchester, England, in 1841), many of their wives, and a few
others who had previously been endowed. In these sessions, he prepared them for additional ordinances relating to the temple. Sometimes this group met all day in the
Brigham Young home or in the Red Brick Store, and in some instances they met at night.

During the same winter months when the Apostles and many of their wives were receiving blessings and instructions relating to temple work, Joseph Smith bestowed on
the nine Apostles all essential keys and authority that he had received from heavenly messengers, and he also gave them a charge to continue the work in which he had
been engaged. This was the only quorum in the Church of which a majority of its members received the intense training, the keys, a fullness of temple blessings, and a
charge of leadership.

After the Martyrdom

Although Brigham Young and other Apostles had received from Joseph knowledge, authority, keys, and the charge "to bear the kingdom" before some of them left
Nauvoo in early April 1844 to serve in the mission field, they undoubtedly did not realize the full significance of these blessings and responsibilities. They probably did
not even imagine that within months the Prophet would be killed and they would be responsible to continue the program of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Like  many others,
 Copyright           when Brigham
             (c) 2005-2009,        Young
                             Infobase       learned
                                        Media       of the tragedy at Carthage, he was temporarily overcome with grief. Yet this grief did not precipitate in him a period of
                                                Corp.                                                                                                    Page 40 / 128
inactivity; instead, he immediately accepted the responsibility of leadership. In his first talks to the Saints in Massachusetts, and again when he returned to Nauvoo and
instructed the people on the principle of succession, Brigham uttered his claim that "the keys of the kingdom are right here" and that the kingdom would roll forth.
Although Brigham Young and other Apostles had received from Joseph knowledge, authority, keys, and the charge "to bear the kingdom" before some of them left
Nauvoo in early April 1844 to serve in the mission field, they undoubtedly did not realize the full significance of these blessings and responsibilities. They probably did
not even imagine that within months the Prophet would be killed and they would be responsible to continue the program of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Like many others, when Brigham Young learned of the tragedy at Carthage, he was temporarily overcome with grief. Yet this grief did not precipitate in him a period of
inactivity; instead, he immediately accepted the responsibility of leadership. In his first talks to the Saints in Massachusetts, and again when he returned to Nauvoo and
instructed the people on the principle of succession, Brigham uttered his claim that "the keys of the kingdom are right here" and that the kingdom would roll forth.

When he arrived in Nauvoo on 6 August 1844, Brigham Young learned that Sidney Rigdon had already returned from Pittsburgh and was claiming that he should be
the guardian of the Church. Sidney said that a guardian was needed because there would never be another like Joseph, that Joseph had died holding the keys of this
kingdom, that Joseph still held them, and that he would continue to do so in eternity. Rigdon also predicted that the Saints would never complete the temple.

The challenge of Sidney Rigdon to the leadership of the Twelve gave that quorum an opportunity to explain to the Saints in Nauvoo what they had learned from the
Prophet Joseph Smith regarding succession in the Presidency. On 7 August 1844, the morning after Brigham Young had returned, he and the other Apostles met at the
home of John Taylor, who was recovering from wounds received in Carthage Jail. After discussing the claims of Sidney Rigdon, the Twelve called a meeting of all high
priests for that afternoon. During that gathering in the Seventies Hall, Brigham Young said:

I have the keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the subject [of succession in the Presidency]. . . . Joseph conferred upon our heads [the Twelve] all the
keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away.

Citing a frequent instruction from the Prophet to the Twelve, Brigham Young continued, "I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders
the kingdom rests."

The following day, 8 August 1844, the Saints gathered in the east grove at 10:00 a.m. in a special meeting called by William Marks, president of the Nauvoo Stake.
"That was a day never to be forgotten," Helen Mar Whitney remembered. "I was among the number that was obliged to stand, it being impossible for half of the
congregation to be seated." It was a cold, wet, rainy Sunday. Because the wind was blowing toward the stand, Sidney Rigdon left the stand and climbed on a wagon
behind the congregation so the people could better hear his voice. The crowd of thousands turned around on their benches and faced the wagon. After Rigdon spoke
for about an hour and a half, presenting his claim to the Presidency, Brigham Young spoke briefly, comforting the Saints.

Many Saints testified that as Brigham Young spoke, he was transfigured into the likeness of Joseph Smith. Benjamin F. Johnson, who attended that meeting, recalled
that as soon as Brigham Young started to speak,

I jumped upon my feet, for in every possible degree it was Joseph's voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance was Joseph himself, personified; and
I knew in a moment the spirit and mantle of Joseph was upon him. . . . I saw in the transfiguration of Brigham Young, the tall, straight and portly form of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, clothed in a sheen of light, covering him to his feet; and I heard the real and perfect voice of the Prophet, even to the whistle, as in years past caused by
the loss of a tooth said to have been broken out by the mob at Hyrum.

Many others who gathered in the east grove on that occasion shared an experience similar to that of Benjamin F. Johnson. Nancy Tracy recalled that Brigham Young's
"voice" and "gestures" were like Joseph's. "It seemed," she added, "that we had him again with us." Mary Winters remembered that after the voice of Brigham Young
seemed to change so that it resembled that of Joseph Smith, people around her rose to their feet "to get a better chance to hear and see. I and my little companion of
the day, Julia Felshaw, being small of stature, stood upon the benches that we, too might behold the wonderful transformation."

And Helen Mar Whitney attested:

I can bear witness with hundreds of others who stood that day under the sound of Brigham's voice, of the wonderful and startling effect that it had upon us. If Joseph
had risen from the dead and stood before them, it could hardly have made a deeper or more lasting impression. It was the very voice of Joseph himself. This was
repeatedly spoken of by the Latter-day Saints.

For many Latter-day Saints, this experience resolved any questions they might have had regarding Brigham Young's divine calling. After hearing the voice of Joseph
as Brigham Young spoke, Zerah Pulsipher said that the people understood that "Brigham stood at the head of the twelve, therefore the church turned to him." Helen
Whitney explained, "Surely it was a most powerful and convincing testimony to them that he [Brigham Young] was the man, instead of Sidney Rigdon, that was
destined to become the 'great leader,' and upon whose shoulders the mantle of Joseph had fallen." John Welch, who also wrote an account of the mantle of Joseph
falling on Brigham Young, concluded, "I was convinced then . . . that Brigham Young was the right man and the man chosen of God to lead the Church."

In the afternoon meeting, Brigham Young spoke for about two hours on the subject of Church government and succession in the Presidency. One theme that he
emphasized in that discussion was his unwavering loyalty to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his earnest desire to continue the program Joseph had restored. "Here is
Brigham," he declared. "Have his knees ever faltered? Have his lips ever quivered?" Then he succinctly explained the question of leadership when he said, "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 Apostleship."

Three Main Concepts Regarding Succession

During that meeting in the east grove on 8 August 1844, and on many other occasions, Brigham Young and other members of the Twelve emphasized three main
concepts regarding the order of succession of leadership.

First, Joseph Smith had conferred upon the Apostles (meaning a majority, and more specifically the eight who responded to the call to serve in the British Mission, and
Orson Hyde, who continued to Palestine) a fullness of temple blessings and the keys of the priesthood, which included the sealing power restored by Elijah. As
Brigham explained, Joseph had bestowed upon the Twelve the "keys of the kingdom in all the world." "The Twelve," he added, "are appointed by the finger of God. . .
. Here is Heber and the rest of the Twelve, an independent body who have the keys of the priesthood-keys of the kingdom of God to deliver to all the world: this is
true."

Orson Hyde wrote and published in the Times and Seasons in September 1844 another enunciation of the position of the Twelve regarding their possession of temple
blessings and essential keys of the priesthood leadership:

Before I went east on the 4th of April last [1844], we [Apostles] were in council with Brother Joseph almost every day for weeks, says Brother Joseph in one of these
councils there is something going to happen; I don't know what it is, but the Lord bids me to hasten and give you your endowment before the temple is finished. He
conducted us through every ordinance of the holy priesthood, and when he had gone through with all the ordinances he rejoiced very much, and says, now if they kill
me you have(c)got
 Copyright         all the keys,Infobase
                2005-2009,        and all the ordinances
                                           Media  Corp. and you can confer them upon others, and the hosts of Satan will not be able to tear down the kingdom.
                                                                                                                                                      Page 41  . . ./ Now
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why did he say to the Twelve on your shoulders will this responsibility rest, why did he not mention Brother Hyrum? The spirit knew that Hyrum would be taken with
him and hence he did not mention his name. Elder Rigdon's name was not mentioned, although he was here all the time, but he did not attend our councils.
Before I went east on the 4th of April last [1844], we [Apostles] were in council with Brother Joseph almost every day for weeks, says Brother Joseph in one of these
councils there is something going to happen; I don't know what it is, but the Lord bids me to hasten and give you your endowment before the temple is finished. He
conducted us through every ordinance of the holy priesthood, and when he had gone through with all the ordinances he rejoiced very much, and says, now if they kill
me you have got all the keys, and all the ordinances and you can confer them upon others, and the hosts of Satan will not be able to tear down the kingdom. . . . Now
why did he say to the Twelve on your shoulders will this responsibility rest, why did he not mention Brother Hyrum? The spirit knew that Hyrum would be taken with
him and hence he did not mention his name. Elder Rigdon's name was not mentioned, although he was here all the time, but he did not attend our councils.

The second principle of succession emphasized by the Twelve on 8 August and at other times was that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles "formed a quorum, equal in
authority and power to the three presidents [First Presidency]." This principle was included in a revelation on priesthood that was recorded in Doctrine and Covenants
107: 24. "They [the Twelve]," Brigham Young explained, "stand next to Joseph, and are as the First Presidency of the Church." According to Wilford Woodruff
during the meeting of 8 August 1844, President Young "emphasized that the first presidency was dissolved with the death of the Prophet. . . . I say unto you," he
added, "that the quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world and would have to ordain any man unto that appointment." Anyone
appointed to that office, he insisted, would have to be ordained by the Twelve.

And third, Brigham Young, in concert with other Apostles, affirmed that he acted in harmony with Joseph's charge to build the kingdom. In order to accomplish that
objective, he declared that he would build the temple in which men and women would be endowed.

Acknowledging the Twelve As Proper Successors

Following his and three other leaders' remarks in the afternoon meeting (all speaking in support of the leadership of the Twelve), Brigham Young asked the
congregation to vote by "uplifted" hands on four questions.

The first question was, "Is it the will of this congregation that they will be tithed until the Temple is finished, as they have hitherto been?" The second question was, "Is it
the mind of this congregation to loose the hands of the Twelve, and enable us to go and preach to all the world?" The third question was, "Will you leave it to the
Twelve to dictate about the finances of the church?" And the fourth question was, "And will it be the mind of this people that the Twelve teach what will be the duties of
the bishops in handling the affairs of the church?"

In all instances, a vast number of arms rose above a sea of heads. Although a few present did not raise their hands in support of the motions by President Young, the
clerks who recorded the minutes of this meeting were not aware of any dissenting votes and recorded in all instances that the voting was "unanimous" in the affirmative.


Many who recalled the significance of that vote on 8 August recognized that they were acknowledging that the Twelve were proper successors to Joseph Smith, that
they acted in the office of the First Presidency, and that Brigham Young was the leader of the Church in that he was the leader of the Twelve.

Although, with the death of Joseph Smith, President Young believed that there was a need to organize a First Presidency, he waited until after he led the pioneers to the
Salt Lake Valley and returned to Winter Quarters to act on that reorganization. On 5 December 1847, the Twelve agreed to organize the First Presidency, and they
ordained Brigham Young as President of the Church. Three weeks later, after he had selected Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as counselors, the First
Presidency was sustained by a vote of the members who had gathered across the river from Winter Quarters at Kanesville, Iowa.

The three basic themes that were reiterated during the meeting of 8 August 1844 were restated during the trial of Sidney Rigdon on 8 September 1844 (published in the
Times and Seasons), during a conference held in Nauvoo in October 1844, and in a proclamation to the Saints abroad written by Parley P. Pratt and published in
the Millennial Star in 1845.

In his "Proclamation," Elder Pratt asserted that before his death, Joseph Smith "from time to time" instructed the Twelve "in all things pertaining to the kingdom,
ordinances and government of God." Elder Pratt added that the Prophet Joseph Smith was constrained to hasten the preparation of the Twelve and conferred upon
them "all the ordinances, keys, covenants, endowments, and sealing ordinances of the priesthood, and so set before them a pattern in all things pertaining to the
sanctuary and the endowment therein." During those gatherings, Elder Pratt testified, Joseph Smith conferred on Brigham Young, President of the Twelve, the keys of
the sealing power as restored by Elijah. This last key pertained exclusively to the First Presidency, "without whose sanction and approval or authority, no sealing
blessing" could be administered. Then, Elder Pratt continued, since Joseph often observed that he was "laying the foundation," he told us that the Twelve should
"complete the building." This charge included doing "all things according to the pattern" he had restored. "Having done this," Joseph rejoiced exceedingly; for said he,
"The Lord is about to . . . let me rest awhile." Therefore, Elder Pratt concluded, "the responsibility of bearing off the kingdom triumphantly now rests upon the Twelve."


Completing the Nauvoo Temple

In implementing the program of the Prophet Joseph Smith, President Young continued directing the building of the Nauvoo Temple. Latter-day Saints who
acknowledged President Young's leadership rallied in support of this project. For about two weeks following the martyrdom, temple work had ceased as laborers
devoted all their energies night and day toward guarding the temple. But work resumed on 8 July, and after the Saints had voiced their support of President Young's
leadership one month later, President Young met regularly with the temple committee (Reynolds Cahoon and Alpheus Cutler) and architect William Weeks. He
encouraged the women of the Relief Society to continue their penny program of raising money to purchase glass and nails. In August 1844, he sent an epistle to
members of the Church, inviting "the brethren abroad, in obedience to the commandments of the Lord, to gather to Nauvoo, with their means to help build up the city,
and complete the Temple." He noted also that the work was "going forward faster than it has at any time since it commenced."

In another progress report on the temple sent to members of the Church in October, the Twelve announced that seven capitals had been set, the walls were ready to
receive other capitals, and the workers were raising timbers and framing the interior of the building. "Let the saints," they solicited, "now send in their young men who
are strong to labor, together with money, provisions, clothing, tools, teams, and every necessary means, such as they know they will want when they arrive, for the
purpose of forwarding this work."

Construction of the temple continued rapidly in 1845. In May, the Twelve informed the membership that the walls had been completed and the roof was nearly finished.
During that same month, President Young directed the architect to place a stone on the west end (front) of the temple with the inscription "Holiness to the Lord." In
August, framing of the interior was finished, and in the fall, the steeple and tower had been completed. By October the building had been enclosed and the interior
completed sufficiently for the first meeting to take place.

President Young presided during the October conference of 1845; in a dedicatory prayer, he declared that the portion of the temple that had been completed was a
monument to the "saints' liberality, fidelity, and faith."
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Meanwhile, in the fall of 1845, partly because of renewed hostility against members of the faith in outlying areas and threats on Nauvoo, Church leaders announced that
they were planning to abandon Nauvoo in the spring of 1846. Latter-day Saints needed time to prepare for the exodus and to complete the temple sufficiently so that
they could receive temple blessings.
President Young presided during the October conference of 1845; in a dedicatory prayer, he declared that the portion of the temple that had been completed was a
monument to the "saints' liberality, fidelity, and faith."

Meanwhile, in the fall of 1845, partly because of renewed hostility against members of the faith in outlying areas and threats on Nauvoo, Church leaders announced that
they were planning to abandon Nauvoo in the spring of 1846. Latter-day Saints needed time to prepare for the exodus and to complete the temple sufficiently so that
they could receive temple blessings.

Under President Young's leadership, they finished the attic of the temple for ordinance work. They created a temporary garden room, using canvas walls for partitions
and beautifying the room with plants; they furnished rooms in the attic with furniture, carpets, and pictures. On 30 November, President Young "dedicated the attic
story of the Temple," and beginning on 10 December, he directed the administration of temple ordinances. In two months, between 10 December 1845 and 7 February
1846, more than 5,500 Latter-day Saints received endowments in the temple.

Beginning 7 January 1846, the first marriages for time and all eternity were performed in the temple. "Such has been the anxiety manifested by the saints to receive the
ordinances [of the Temple], and such the anxiety on our part to administer to them," President Young asserted under the date of 12 January, "that I have given myself
up entirely to the work of the Lord in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours sleep, upon an average, per day, and going home but once a week."
He also noted that Elder Heber C. Kimball "and the others of the Twelve Apostles were in constant attendance but in consequence of close application some of them
had to leave the Temple to rest and recruit their health."

On Sunday, 8 February, after the last endowments had been administered, President Young met with the Council of the Twelve in the southeast corner room of the
attic of the Temple. "We knelt around the altar," he recalled,

and dedicated the building to the Most High. We asked his blessing upon our intended move to the west; also asked him to enable us some day to finish the Temple
and dedicate it to him, and we would leave it in his hands to do as he pleased; and to preserve the building as a monument to Joseph Smith. We asked the Lord to
accept the labors of his servants in this land. We then left the Temple.

Directing the Work of the Church

One week later, President Young crossed the Mississippi to direct the transplanting of the Nauvoo community to the Rocky Mountains. While President Young was
supervising the building of the temple, he continued to direct and expand the Church's missionary work. In 1844, he told the Saints that elders who desired to preach
and build up the kingdom should be ordained seventies. During the October 1844 conference, President Young instructed high priests to prepare to go abroad and
preside in the eastern states.

He also directed a major expansion of the seventies quorums. During this conference, the presidents of the seventies ordained approximately four hundred seventies.
The calling and ordaining of seventies continued to a degree that had not previously occurred in the history of the restoration movement. Whereas only three quorums of
seventies existed prior to the settlement of Nauvoo and only a few others had been constituted prior to the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, in October 1844, President
Young called for a major expansion of this priesthood group. In December, because the seventies' numbers were increasing rapidly, the Twelve presided over the
dedication of the Seventies Hall. By early 1846, thirty-four seventies quorums had been organized, and at that time three-fourths of Nauvoo's male residents were
bearers of the priesthood, approximately 80 percent being seventies.

The colonization of the West was another accomplishment of Brigham Young that fulfilled the charge of the Prophet to build up the kingdom. "I did not devise the great
scheme of the Lord's opening the way to send this people to these mountains," President Brigham Young said. "Joseph contemplated the move for years before it took
place." Brigham told others that he sat for many hours with Joseph conversing about that country. Joseph said, "If I were only in the Rocky Mountains with a
hundred faithful men, I would then be happy." Joseph Smith had also predicted on 6 August 1842 "that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would
be driven to the Rocky Mountains, many would apostatize," he added, and "others would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of
exposure or disease, and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the
Rocky Mountains."

Two years later, on 25 February 1844, Joseph Smith prophesied that within five years the Saints would be out of the power of their old enemies, whether they were
apostates or of the world; and he told the brethren to record it, that when it came to pass they would not say they had forgotten the statement.

As President Young envisioned a significant growth of the Church through increased missionary activity, he recognized a need to find a region where the Saints could
gather and build temples and worship in peace. No such area was to be found in Illinois or east of that state with sufficient land for such a colonization movement.
Serious planning by Church leaders to colonize western America was not revived until 1845.

In January 1845, under the direction of President Young, Church leaders renewed their discussion to send an expedition to California. On 9 September 1845, the
Council of Fifty, a group organized in part to serve as a temporal arm of the Church, "resolved that a company of 1500 men be selected to go to the Great Salt Lake
Valley and that a committee of five be appointed to gather information . . . in regard to the outfitting of families for emigration west of the mountains."

One month later, on 4 October, this committee submitted their report. They identified provisions needed for a family of five, which included food, seeds, cooking
utensils, nails, and goods to trade with Indians. The committee also recommended "1 good strong wagon, well covered, 3 good yokes of oxen between the ages of four
and ten, . . . and . . . sheep if they were available."

The quest to gather information about the West intensified in December 1845. In that month, Church leaders "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." Two of the works they studied carefully during that month
included maps and writings of John C. Fremont and Lansford W. Hastings.

Unusual courage was required to begin the long journey to the Great Basin. As Brigham Young and other leaders studied reports about Western America, they learned
that the area of the Great Basin west of the Rockies was a land where there was a shortage of water and wood. Moreover, because of the harsh climate, many
recognized that the growing season would be short. Many Americans believed that the Great Basin, which was part of the Great American desert, would not sustain a
large population. Latter-day Saints also knew that they would encounter many unforeseen hardships, challenges manifest in the form of drought, crickets, grasshoppers,
and a "cold, sterile climate."

Although President Young knew that the Great Basin was primarily an uninviting desert, he and others recognized that the snow-capped mountains would provide
settlers with water that could be diverted from the mountain streams to the valleys. He recognized that in that unfriendly environment, Latter-day Saints could live in
peace.
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                                                                                                                                                            / 128of
Accepting the new challenge, Brigham Young became a modern Moses, leading his followers in one of the greatest migration and colonizing adventures in the
this world.
Although President Young knew that the Great Basin was primarily an uninviting desert, he and others recognized that the snow-capped mountains would provide
settlers with water that could be diverted from the mountain streams to the valleys. He recognized that in that unfriendly environment, Latter-day Saints could live in
peace.

Accepting the new challenge, Brigham Young became a modern Moses, leading his followers in one of the greatest migration and colonizing adventures in the history of
this world.

Notes

  1. E. Watson, ed., Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 1801-1844 (Salt Lake City: Smith Secretarial Service, 1968), 170-71.

   2. James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin, and David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission 1837-1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles (Salt Lake
City: Deseret Book Co., 1992), 300-302. The eight Apostles who served in England were Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Parley
P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, and Willard Richards. The ninth Apostle, Orson Hyde, attended the conference in Manchester, England, where he was blessed
by the other Apostles, and then continued to Palestine to dedicate that land for the return of the Jews.

  3. Wilford Woodruff, 12 December 1869, in Journal of Discourses, 13: 164. See also Wilford Woodruff, 16 September 1877, in Journal of Discourses, 19: 227-
28.

  4. See History of the Church, 6: 225, 546, and 555 for a few of many statements Joseph Smith made regarding his death.

  5. Brigham Young, 23 October 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 10. See also History of the Church, 2: 23.

  6. Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 60-63, 69.

  7. Arrington, 69; Allen, Esplin, and Whittaker, 55.

  8. Arrington, 81; Allen, Esplin, and Whittaker, 89, 134.

  9. Times and Seasons 4 (1 May 1843): 182-83; Allen, Esplin, Whittaker, 314-17.

  10. Watson, 106; Allen, Esplin, Whittaker, 314-15.

  11. Watson, 108; History of the Church, 4: 403; Times and Seasons 2 (1 September 1841): 521-22.

  12. Allen, Esplin, and Whittaker, 316-18.

  13. History of the Church, 4: 446-47; letter of Reuben McBride to his sister, 1 November 1886, copy of typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young
University.

  14. History of the Church, 4: 470.

   15. Times and Seasons 3 (15 December 1841): 625-27; History of the Church, 4: 473. In 1843, Joseph Smith told Brigham Young and other members of the
Twelve that "they need not spend all their time abroad" but were to spend part of the time assisting in building the temple, collecting funds for the temple, and laboring
for the support of their families. In order to magnify their callings, they were also instructed to receive contributions "to supply their wants" from others. See Times and
Seasons 4 (1 May 1843): 182-83.

  16. History of the Church, 5: 1. The seven men who received this endowment were Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Hyrum Smith, Bishops
Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, and James Adams (of Springfield).

  17. Ibid.

  18. Brigham Young, 6 April 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 31.

  19. Ronald K. Esplin, "Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve: A Succession of Continuity," BYU Studies 21 (Summer 1981): 314-15.

  20. See entries in Journal of Wilford Woodruff, December 1845 to March 1846; Esplin, 315.

  21. Esplin, 318-33.

  22. Wilford Woodruff, 12 December 1869, in Journal of Discourses, 13: 164. See also Wilford Woodruff, 16 September 1877, in Journal of Discourses, 19: 227-
28.

   23. History of the Church, 7: 229; Diary of Joseph Fielding, in "'They Might Have Known That He Was Not a Fallen Prophet'-The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph
Fielding," transcribed and edited by Andrew F. Ehat, BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979): 157.

  24. History of the Church, 2: 415.

  25. History of the Church, 7: 231. The east grove was located 1/4 mile east of the temple on what is today Robinson Street, between Knight and Mulholland streets.
Seven of the Apostles were present (a majority of the quorum). Of the absent ones, John Taylor was confined to his home, not yet recovered from his wounds
obtained in the Carthage Jail. Orson Hyde, John E. Page, and William Smith had not yet arrived in Nauvoo, and Lyman Wight was still in the East.

  26. Helen Whitney, "Scenes in Nauvoo," Woman's Exponent 11 (1882): 130.

   27. Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (Independence, Missouri: Zion's Printing & Publishing Company, 1947), 103-4, 343. Benjamin F. Johnson, like many
others, was not keeping a diary at that time and did not immediately record this experience. Later he explained one reason for his delay in this recording: "This view, or
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vision, although but for seconds, was to me as vivid and real as the glare of lightning or the voice of thunder from the heavens, and so deeply was I impressed           what
I saw and heard in this transfiguration, that for years I dare not publicly tell what was given me of the Lord to see. But when in later years I did publicly bear this
testimony, I found that others would testify to having seen and heard the same. But to what proportion of the congregation who were present I could never know. But I
  26. Helen Whitney, "Scenes in Nauvoo," Woman's Exponent 11 (1882): 130.

   27. Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (Independence, Missouri: Zion's Printing & Publishing Company, 1947), 103-4, 343. Benjamin F. Johnson, like many
others, was not keeping a diary at that time and did not immediately record this experience. Later he explained one reason for his delay in this recording: "This view, or
vision, although but for seconds, was to me as vivid and real as the glare of lightning or the voice of thunder from the heavens, and so deeply was I impressed with what
I saw and heard in this transfiguration, that for years I dare not publicly tell what was given me of the Lord to see. But when in later years I did publicly bear this
testimony, I found that others would testify to having seen and heard the same. But to what proportion of the congregation who were present I could never know. But I
do know that this, my testimony is true" (343).

  28. "Autobiography of Nancy Tracy," typescript, 31, Harold B. Lee Library.

  29. "Autobiography of Mary Winters," typescript, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as
LDS Church Historical Archives), 13-14.

  30. Whitney, 130.

  31. "Autobiography of William Pace," typescript, 7, Harold B. Lee Library.

  32. "Autobiography of Zerah Pulsipher," 20, Harold B. Lee Library.

  33. Whitney, 130.

  34. Deposition by John Welch regarding transfiguration of President Brigham Young, typescript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  35. History of the Church, 7: 233.

  36. History of the Church, 7: 235.

   37. These keys included those which had been conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple in 1836 by Moses, Elias, and Elijah. The
last journal entry in Joseph Smith's 1835-36 Diary was a description of this vision, now found in D&C 110. During that vision, Elijah restored the keys of turning "the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers." After receiving these keys, the Prophet testified that Elijah declared, "The keys of this dispensation
are committed into your hands" (D&C 110: 11-16).

  38. History of the Church, 7: 233. Heber C. Kimball explained that Brother Joseph gave the Twelve endowments and keys and power. He further testified that
Brother Brigham held the keys of this dispensation, which included all the priesthood and keys held during all previous dispensations (in Journal of Discourses, 19: 139-
41; l: 206; 5: 7. See also Journal of Discourses, 3: 137, 315; 4: 275; 13: 164, 359).

  39. "Trial of Elder Rigdon," Times and Seasons 5 (15 September 1844): 647-55; 660-66, italics added.

  40. History of the Church, 7: 233.

  41. Journal of Wilford Woodruff, 8 August 1844. See also History of the Church, 7: 232-41.

  42. History of the Church, 7: 238-39.

  43. History of the Church, 7: 241.

   44. See references to those who witnessed the transfiguration of Brigham Young for responses to the significance of that event. See also Arrington, 153-54, for
information on the organization of the First Presidency under the direction of Brigham Young.

  45. History of the Church, 7: 268-69.

  46. History of the Church, 7: 284-93.

   47. Parley P. Pratt, "Proclamation to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Millennial Star 5 (March 1845): 149-53; dated New York, January 1, 1845.
Other Apostles bore witness that the Prophet conferred upon them the keys of the priesthood and the responsibility of leadership following his death. For example,
according to John Taylor, "Before the Prophet Joseph departed, he said, on one occasion, turning to the Twelve, 'I roll the burden of this kingdom on to you;' and, on
another occasion, he said their place was next to that of the First Presidency." John Taylor, 14 October 1877, in Journal of Discourses, 19: 139-41; 1: 206; 5: 7. See
also Journal of Discourses, 3: 137, 315; 4: 275; 13: 164, 359.

  48. Times and Seasons 5 (15 August 1844): 638.

  49. Times and Seasons 5 (1 October 1844): 668; History of the Church, 7: 281.

  50. Times and Seasons 6 (1 November 1845): 1017-18; History of the Church, 7: 456.

  51. J. H. Buckingham, "Letter from Nauvoo, July 1847," to the Boston Courier; "Illinois as Lincoln Knew It," Harry E. Pratt, ed., Papers in Illinois History and
Transactions for the Year 1937, 171; Don F. Colvin, "A Historical Study of the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, Illinois" (master's thesis, Brigham Young University,
1962), 100-104; Lisle G. Brown, "The Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo: The Assembly Room and the Council Chamber," BYU Studies 19 (1979):
366-74.

  52. History of the Church, 7: 567.

  53. History of the Church, 7: 580.

  54. History of the Church, 7: 307-8.
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  55. Beginning in late 1845, men were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood as a prerequisite to receiving their endowments and celestial marriage. See William G.
Hartley, "Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church's First Wards," BYU Studies 32 (Winter and Spring 1991): 71-76.
  53. History of the Church, 7: 580.

  54. History of the Church, 7: 307-8.

  55. Beginning in late 1845, men were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood as a prerequisite to receiving their endowments and celestial marriage. See William G.
Hartley, "Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church's First Wards," BYU Studies 32 (Winter and Spring 1991): 71-76.

  56. Brigham Young, 31 August 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 41; Brigham Young, 11 December 1864, in Journal of Discourses, 11: 16.

  57. Journal of Discourses, 11: 16.

  58. History of the Church, 5: 85.

   59. Journal of Wilford Woodruff, 25 February 1844; History of the Church, 6: 225. See also History of the Church, 5: 85-86. In addition to describing the area
where the Saints would become a mighty people, Joseph Smith identified individuals who would build cities there, and he instructed others to prepare maps identifying
the future course of Latter-day Saints. See "Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock," typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, 28-29. For additional references to Joseph
Smith's Rocky Mountain prophecy, see the writings of Mary Maughn, John R. Young, George Washington Bean, Nathan Young, Edwin and Theodore Turley, and
Oliver S. Olney, cited in Lewis Clark Christian, "A Study of Mormon Knowledge of the American Far West Prior to the Exodus" (master's thesis, BYU, 1972), 74-
76.

  60. History of the Church, 7: 438-39, 454-55.

  61. History of the Church, 7: 548, 555, 558.

  62. George Albert Smith, 8 October 1865, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 177.

CHAPTER 6

A Prophet Who Followed Fulfilled and Magnified

Brigham Young in Iowa and Nebraska

Gail Geo. Holmes

President of Kanesville Restoration Inc.

In late May of 1846, the Latter-day Saints fleeing west across Iowa entered the Missouri River Valley. This was Indian country, and almost a century and a half of
vigorous fur trade was drawing to a pitiful close. The Mormons' rustic covered wagons, drawn mostly by oxen, slowly but surely cut a permanent track where there
had been none before.

Like putting a lariat on a wild stallion, the Saints cut a road and built bridges and ferries. By 1 July, they had crossed the loess-laden waters of the Middle Missouri
River. After nearly a century and a half of Indian, French, Spanish, and early American river traffic, this area was now crossed by a new stream-on wheels. The Middle
Missouri Valley would never again be the same.

There were about 2250 Pottawattamie/Ottawa/Chippewa Indians in at least five widely scattered villages of southwest Iowa. On the Nebraska side of the Missouri
was a fortified Omaha tepee village of about 1300 Indians, three miles west of the American Fur Company trade post called Bellevue.

Former Methodist pastor John Miller, honored in post-American-Revolutionary style as Major Miller, was, in 1846, the United States Indian agent at Bellevue. His
responsibility to the Indians and to the federal government extended over the Oto/Missouri, the Omaha, and the estimated 4500 Pawnee Indians in east-central
Nebraska territory, which at that time was Indian country. Eight miles southwest of Bellevue's cluster of twelve log cabins was an Oto/Missouri village of about 450
poorly fed, poorly clothed, whiskey-plagued Indians in fire-damaged earth lodges. South across the shallow Nebraska or Platte River were three small, and perhaps
more miserable, Oto/Missouri villages at about five-mile intervals, starting perhaps five miles west of the Missouri River. The total population of Oto/Missouri on both
sides of the Platte numbered an estimated 930 in 1846.

East across the Missouri from Bellevue was a much larger French village. Its residents-Indian wives and children of French, Spanish, and American fur men working up
the Missouri River, out along the Platte, or in the Rocky Mountains for a year or two at a time-called the town "Point aux poules." The name translates into English as
"Prairie Chicken Point." Most river travelers called it "Traders Point." The Saints uniformly referred to it as "Trading Point," which it was, with three small trade houses,
compared to only one on the Bellevue side. William Clayton said Point aux poules had blocks of houses, without giving descriptive detail.

This entire region on both sides of the Missouri River, for perhaps a 50-mile radius around the cluster of trade posts, was known as "Council Bluffs." The name was
coined by fur traders and trappers coming down the Missouri River in 1804. They couldn't remember exactly where American Captains Lewis and Clark had told them
the bluff site was of their historic meeting
3 August 1804 with the Oto/Missouri Indians. That district on both sides of the Missouri River would continue to be called "Council Bluffs" until the city of Kanesville,
Iowa, was renamed "Council Bluffs" in 1853.

Federally aided Baptist and Presbyterian missionaries, government farmers, and government blacksmiths intermittently served the Indians west of the Missouri. Jesuit
missionaries had given up in 1841 after three short years of work with the Pottawattamie/Ottawa/Chippewa in Iowa. The federal government also cut off assistant
government farmer Davis Hardin in 1838 after one year of service. But he and his family continued to live in the area where the Mormons would plant their first
Missouri Valley town, "Council Point," just west of the present-day Lake Manawa. Still maintained in Point aux poules, however, was the office of R. B. Mitchell,
United States sub-agent to the Pottawattamie and their fragment of Ottawa/Chippewa allies.

The country had abundant grass and wild flowers and occasional groves of elm, oak, walnut, white ash, and cottonwood. There were nuts, berries, small game, and
lots of birds and fish. A line of loess hills running gently northwest along the east side of the Missouri River rose intermittently to 200 or 250 feet above the alternately
widening and narrowing flat floodplain of the river.

East of the line of bluffs were much smaller, more rounded hills and vales of rich grassland, with a few trees. Many creeks and some small rivers meandered southwest
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toward       (c) 2005-2009,
        the bluffs, where theyInfobase  Media
                                found low     Corp.to rush through and empty into the Missouri River. Scattered over southwest Iowa were substantial
                                          openings                                                                                                  Page   46of /trees,
                                                                                                                                                      groves       128
which later would shelter or furnish wood for more than eighty Mormon villages.
widening and narrowing flat floodplain of the river.

East of the line of bluffs were much smaller, more rounded hills and vales of rich grassland, with a few trees. Many creeks and some small rivers meandered southwest
toward the bluffs, where they found low openings to rush through and empty into the Missouri River. Scattered over southwest Iowa were substantial groves of trees,
which later would shelter or furnish wood for more than eighty Mormon villages.

Almost destitute by their five-month struggle to cross Iowa in a cold winter and wet spring, the refugee Mormons found the Indians also suffering from a lack of food
and clothing-and from a clouded future. Andrew Jackson's policy of pushing all Native Americans west of the Mississippi River threatened ruin to their ancient
economy of hunting and gathering their needs from the bounties of nature.

Even small tribes required hundreds of square miles of virgin land to hunt wild game and gather nuts, berries, and roots. Each new tribe that was pushed west of the
Mississippi by federal agents, as had been the Pottawattamie in 1835-37 from the Great Lakes area, reduced available lands for hunting. The influx of the Saints further
taxed nature's resources.

The French and Canadians, commencing at least as early as 1714, had come up the Missouri River as traders. The Spanish, continuing the French tradition with mostly
French river and fur men, also came as traders. The Americans changed that, coming both as traders and as trappers-poachers on Indian hunting lands.

The attractive trade goods of the whites could be had in exchange for furs. Native Americans soon forgot how to make useful implements, tools, weapons, and
household items out of stone, bone, and wood. They became dependent on manufactured goods, for which they had to bring in furs-lots of furs.

When the Saints came rolling up to the Missouri River, telling of their woes in Illinois, the Indians felt great sympathy for them, as fellow sufferers. The Indians could not
help but note, however, that the Mormon wagons were relatively full and that their herds of livestock were huge. All of that, and more, was needed for the migrating
Saints. But it nonetheless must have caused doubt in the minds of many hungry Indians.

The Mormons intended to go on west to the Rocky Mountains in 1846, or at least as far as Grand Island in the Platte River of east-central Nebraska. The Indians
welcomed the obviously well-armed Mormons as fellow sufferers and as a potential buffer between them and marauding bands of Dakota Sioux, living then primarily in
what today is South Dakota. Pied Riche, "the great brave" and "interpreter of the nation," said in conference with the Saints:

My Mormon Brethren,

The Pottawattamie came sad and tired into this unhealthy Missouri Bottom, not many years back, when he was taken from his beautiful country beyond the Mississippi,
which had abundant game and timber, and clear water every where. Now you are driven away, the same, from your lodges and lands there, and the graves of your
people. So we have both suffered. We must help one another, and the Great Spirit will help us both. You are now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You
can make all your improvements, and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by us. Because one suffers and does not deserve it, is no reason he shall suffer
always: I say. We may live to see all right yet. However, if we do not, our children will.

It was in this setting that Brigham Young followed the teachings, fulfilled prophecy, and magnified his calling as an Apostle and witness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. As
senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he met many challenges in the Middle Missouri Valley. Indians were an immediate concern, as both the law and
their proximity obliged him to pay special attention to their wishes, wants, and rights. Brigham had to be alert for real or only rumored treachery on the part of
government. Past experiences had demonstrated that even rumors could not be ignored when it came to what government might offer or threaten.

Having spent more than five months coaxing the vanguard of the Mormon exodus across the frozen and then rain-drenched prairies of Iowa, Young found less physical
challenge in seasonally blessed southwest Iowa. Nonetheless, the Saints had to build, on average, one bridge per day while moving through southwest Iowa; they also
had to plan an express ferry over the swollen Missouri River.

Brigham's primary cares and concerns, of course, were the members of the Church-their health, their food, their security, and their willingness to follow counsel under
exhausting, trying circumstances. Such cares and concerns were not only for those immediately around him, but also for those who were ill and impoverished, stalled or
struggling along the Mormon Trail in south-central Iowa; the stragglers still in Nauvoo; members sailing around the tip of South America to California; leaders in
England who were tempted by financial trust placed in their hands; and widely scattered members, some of whom were giving up their faith in the face of repeated
adversity.

Brigham Young turned age 45 on 1 June 1846, not exactly the prime of life in the mid-1800s. Yet, here was a man who trusted the Lord so completely that he led
thousands into a harrowing migration that better educated observers said would ruin the Church. Brigham calmly declared, "I just do the thing that I know to be right
and the Lord blesses me." It was that kind of burning testimony that kept most Church members together, in spite of bitter hardships.

The Mormon Settlement in Council Bluffs

The first three wagon trains of the Mormon exodus from western Illinois and southeast Iowa reached the Missouri River on 14 June 1846. Helen Mar Whitney
recorded, "We saw a number of Indians and half-breeds, who were riding about, accompanied by the agent, trading horses at the settlement [Point aux poules] below."
   That suggests the three wagon trains camped at some distance from each other to keep their substantial herds of livestock separate.

Horace K. Whitney noted in his journal: The brethren met in council on the bank of the Missouri River to lay down certain rules for our observance while we remained
here. They are as follows: Every 4th man is to assist in building the boat, one or two out of each Ten to herd cattle, while others are to go out in the country to trade for
provisions. A committee of three, viz., Father (Bishop Whitney), Albert P. Rockwood and Bishop Geo. Miller to wait on the agents and ascertain the prices of things.
Meanwhile, no man is permitted to have any traffic with the inhabitants or Indians without having permission so to do from the proper source.

In the interests of security and good order, the wagon trains pulled back the next day, three miles east of the river, near present Iowa School for the Deaf, southeast of
today's Council Bluffs.

Each group drew up its wagons in a great square on top of an adjacent bluff or hill. Tents were pitched between the wagons. Brigham Young's tent (in the vicinity of the
100 block East 29th Avenue in present Council Bluffs) was signified by a tall pole bearing an American flag. Not far distant was the Church Wagon Post Office. A
large tent was pitched next to the post office, indicating an extended stay in the area. Members of the Church went there to inquire about mail or to read newspapers
left in the tent for the benefit of all.

After a public meeting to consider building a ferry over the Missouri River, skilled volunteers were invited to step forward. One hundred men of designated skills did so,
and plans were made to build a water-powered ferry. A dugway was cut into the Iowa bank of the Missouri, south of present South Omaha (Hwy 92) Bridge. Another
dugway   was(c)
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                  into the bank  on the Nebraska
                              Infobase           side, substantially downstream from the Iowa dugway. Reuben Allred set up a rope-walk by the Missouri
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make two huge ropes from local hemp. One rope was stretched from the Iowa dugway to the Nebraska dugway. The other was stretched from the Iowa dugway far
upstream to the Nebraska bank.
left in the tent for the benefit of all.

After a public meeting to consider building a ferry over the Missouri River, skilled volunteers were invited to step forward. One hundred men of designated skills did so,
and plans were made to build a water-powered ferry. A dugway was cut into the Iowa bank of the Missouri, south of present South Omaha (Hwy 92) Bridge. Another
dugway was cut into the bank on the Nebraska side, substantially downstream from the Iowa dugway. Reuben Allred set up a rope-walk by the Missouri River to
make two huge ropes from local hemp. One rope was stretched from the Iowa dugway to the Nebraska dugway. The other was stretched from the Iowa dugway far
upstream to the Nebraska bank.

The boat was built with lumber purchased at Pottawattamie Indian Mill on Mosquito Creek, about six miles northeast of the ferry site. When completed on 29 June, the
boat was caulked and publicly launched. President Young directed Colonel Scott to "pass the ordnance over the river tonight." Then only General Authorities of the
Church were invited to be at the river that night with Colonel Scott to test the boat. The test consisted of hauling arms, powder, and shot across the Missouri to Indian
country.

The boat, filled with up to three loaded wagons, was pushed into the river and attached to the guide rope. The force of the river pushed it to the Nebraska dugway.
When unloaded there, it was backed out of the Nebraska dugway and pulled and poled to the upper leg of the V-rope. There it was attached and pushed by the river
back to the Iowa dugway for another load. The ferry commenced regular service on l July from Iowa to Nebraska.

Brigham suggested that the main body of the Church might winter east of the Missouri River, a small group might winter at Grand Island, and George Miller's wagon
train might go over the mountains. He talked of sending a few elders to England and making arrangements for British Saints to go to Vancouver Island.

Brigham Young and a number of other leaders moved four miles west of the Missouri River to an advanced staging site called "Cold Spring Camp." About 65 families
in 150 wagons had been sent on west with Bishop George Miller, both to advance the move to Grand Island or to the Rocky Mountains and to pick up and return
about 90,000 pounds of buffalo hides to fur trader Peter Sarpy at Bellevue.

On the afternoon of 24 July 1846, Brigham Young, Dr. Willard Richards, and Bishop Newel K. Whitney rode in a carriage to a tall hill a mile northwest of Cold Spring
Camp. There they were joined by Elders Ezra T. Benson, Orson Hyde, Heber C. Kimball, Amasa M. Lyman, Orson and Parley P. Pratt, George A. Smith, John
Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff, all of the Quorum of the Twelve.

At the top of the hill, from which they could see the entire surrounding countryside, they pitched a tent and covered the ground with buffalo hides. In a meeting that
started at about 2:00 p.m., Hyde asked what should be suggested to the British Parliament for Mormons settling Vancouver Island, off the southwest coast of what
would become Canada. President Young said Parliament should be asked to grant each immigrant a certain number of acres of land. The Quorum of the Twelve voted
to send Orson Spencer and Elias Smith to England as soon as possible to work there in Latter-day Saint printing and publishing.

At 4:00 p.m., the members of the Quorum of the Twelve put on their temple clothes and prayed. They laid hands on Orson Hyde, John Taylor, and Parley P. Pratt,
setting them apart for missions to England. They also set apart Ezra T. Benson for a mission to the eastern states. President Young gave the brethren some instructions,
and the council adjourned at 6:00 p.m. Most returned to Cold Spring Camp, but Elders Parley P. Pratt, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff crossed the Missouri River
back to Grand Encampment.

The following day, Orson Hyde copied letters signed by Brigham Young, authorizing Elders Orson Hyde, Parley Pratt, and John Taylor to manage temporal and
spiritual matters of the Church in Europe and throughout the British Empire.

About 1 August, the Quorum of the Twelve decided that all of the Saints should winter in the Missouri Valley. That day, word was sent west to Bishop George Miller
and his party near the Loup Fork; they were stopped at a Pawnee village ravaged by Dakota Sioux, near the recently evacuated Presbyterian Mission. Instructions
were to stop there or to return and winter by the Missouri River.

On 5 August, several parties scouted north to find a site for a winter quarters more removed from the Omaha and Oto/Missouri villages. Colonel Thomas L. Kane,
who had received a message from President Young, returned from Grand Island and happened upon the Newel K. Whitney scouting party, probably about nine miles
north of Cold Spring Camp.

Others streamed north on 6 and 7 August from Cold Spring Camp to the new location about three miles west of the Missouri River. It was named "Cutler's Park" in
honor of Alpheus Cutler, who had found the location. Although short-lived, Cutler's Park was the first properly organized community in Nebraska.

President Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and Wilford Woodruff met with the Cutler's Park high council under the direction of Alpheus Cutler. Brigham
said the council would act both as a city council and as a high council, and that it would decide matters of difference between members of the Church. He said some
already had transgressed and should be brought to justice. He was not so much afraid of going into the wilderness alone, he said, as to let offenders go unpunished.

President Young then asked the brethren to meet at 2:00 p.m. the following day to prepare hundreds of seats and a speaker's stand for public meetings. Some 300
seats were prepared the next day, and many more were prepared later. Leafy arbor work was raised over the meeting area.

Horace S. Eldredge was nominated and elected city marshal. It was decided to hire twenty-four police and fire guards to work equal shifts around the clock. Hosea
Stout was chosen captain of the police and fire guards, to organize their shifts and to supervise. Personal property at Cutler's Park was assessed and taxed to pay the
police. Young thought it best to have men working together

because of the scarcity of tools which necessarily would leave many idle; and when the Saints could be united in all things, so that each will seek the interest and welfare
of his brother, then the Lord would take up his abode with them.

Young advised the camp to be numbered into hundreds, fifties, and tens, and the city council called for men from many companies to work on various projects.

By 13 August, the end of the first week at Cutler's Park, foremen reported 552 men and boys over age 10, 229 horses, 49 mules, 2005 oxen, 1273 cattle, 660 sheep,
and 588 wagons.

Helen Mar Whitney recorded on 14 August:

The brethren then went to cutting and drawing house logs and one or two commenced digging a well. In two days they had dug to the depth of 28 feet without finding
water. They also commenced building a house for the purpose of storing any provisions and other things that they might have the use of the wagons to haul hay.

President Young received a letter on 20 August from George Miller. Miller said he was leaving a few families at Loup Fork and taking most of his wagon train north to
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the mouth of(c)the2005-2009, Infobase
                   Niobrara River whereMedia  Corp.
                                        the Ponca  Indians lived. He estimated the distance about 50 miles; it was, in fact, more than 90 miles. Miller Page     48"almost
                                                                                                                                                        said it was / 128
on a direct course to Fort Laramie," but it was 90 miles and 90 degrees off course. The Cutler's Park high council felt Miller was deceived about the locality of the
Ponca village and was "running wild" under the influence of James Emmett, who had wintered with a small Mormon group near there in 1845 and 1846 in what now is
water. They also commenced building a house for the purpose of storing any provisions and other things that they might have the use of the wagons to haul hay.

President Young received a letter on 20 August from George Miller. Miller said he was leaving a few families at Loup Fork and taking most of his wagon train north to
the mouth of the Niobrara River where the Ponca Indians lived. He estimated the distance about 50 miles; it was, in fact, more than 90 miles. Miller said it was "almost
on a direct course to Fort Laramie," but it was 90 miles and 90 degrees off course. The Cutler's Park high council felt Miller was deceived about the locality of the
Ponca village and was "running wild" under the influence of James Emmett, who had wintered with a small Mormon group near there in 1845 and 1846 in what now is
South Dakota.

Meanwhile, on the Iowa side of the Missouri River, wagon masters since early July had been scouting north, south, and east for access to more wood, water, and
grass. Grand Encampment had grown to about 10,000 refugees, and it stretched east for nine miles. The heat of summer; the grazing of many thousands of oxen, cattle,
horses, mules, and sheep; and the tidy split-rail fencing of the Mormons had stripped Grand Encampment of much of its wood, water, and grass. One wagon train after
another pulled away from those nine miles, stretching from what today is Iowa School for the Deaf to near what now is Treynor, Iowa.

Preparing for Winter 1846-47

Parley P. Pratt wrote on 3 July:

The lateness of the season, the poverty of the people, and, above all, the taking away of five hundred of our best men [in the Mormon Battalion], finally compelled us to
abandon any further progress westward till the return of another spring. The camps, therefore, began to prepare for winter.

His assessment was true for those who were still east of the Missouri River-who were the least prepared. It became true about 1 August for those on the west side,
too. Limited farming began at scattered sites in Iowa at least as early as the first week of July. Turnips were planted in August at Cutler's Park.

More than 80 Latter-day Saint communities were organized in southwest Iowa (see adjacent map). More than 50 branches of the Church were organized to serve
those communities. Most prominent was the Blockhouse Branch, near what today is downtown Council Bluffs (East Pierce Street, between Grace and Union).

Bishop Henry W. Miller settled a part of his wagon train there when a member bought the blockhouse, adjacent buildings, and 40 acres of standing corn for $300. The
blockhouse had been built by United States dragoons, mounted infantry from Fort Leavenworth, in northeast Kansas Territory in 1837. Those staging through this area
enjoyed genuine hospitality shown by Indian youths:

Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny Le Clerc, the spoiled child of the great brave, Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation, would have the pale face Miss
Devine learn duets with her to the guitar; and the daughter of substantial Joseph La Framboise, the interpreter of the United States,-she died of the fever that summer,-
welcomed all the nicest young Mormon Kitties and Lizzies, and Jennies and Susans, to a coffee feast at her father's house, which was probably the best cabin in the
river village. They made the Mormons at home, there and elsewhere.

After 5:00 p.m. on 27 August, the high council was notified that Omaha Chief Big Elk had arrived to confer with Church leaders. Horace K. Whitney recorded,
however, that there were, in fact, six chiefs and about 150 braves (which may have been an overestimation) of both Omaha and Oto/Missouri wishing to talk with
President Young about the Mormons wintering on Indian lands.

The Mormons agreed to meet with them the following morning. Hosea Stout said the Omaha were ordered to camp on the ridge east of Cutler's Park since there were
so many of them. He said the Oto were afraid to camp outside "our square" for fear the Omaha would attack them.

Brigham Young and members of the Cutler's Park high council met at 9:30 a.m. in a big double tent with Chief Big Elk, his interpreter Logan Fontanelle, and some of
the 80 Omaha braves. The Oto refused to meet the Mormons with the Omaha present. President Young told the Omaha Indians:

We are on our journey to California [of which Utah then was considered a part]. . . . With your permission we would like to winter here. We can do you good. We will
repair your guns, make a farm for you and aid you in any other way that our talents and circumstances will permit us. We would also like to get some of your honorable
men to watch our cattle. . . . Have you any objections to our getting timber, building houses and staying here until spring, or longer? The government is willing if you are.
. . . We are your friends and friends to all mankind. We wish to do you good and will give you food, if you need it. . . . We wish you to give us a writing, stating what
you are willing to do, and if you wish, we will prepare to have schools kept among you.

Aged and almost blind, Chief Big Elk encouraged his people to speak. Finally, when he was assured no other Omaha wished to respond to President Young, the old
chief said:

I am an old man and will have to call you all sons. I am willing you should stop in my country, but I am afraid of my great father in Washington. I would like to know
what the Ottoes say; if they claim this land, you can stay where you please; if they do not, I am willing you should stay. One half of the Ottoes [from south of the Platte
River] are willing the Omahas should have these lands. . . . I hope you will not kill our game. I will notify my young men not to trouble your cattle. If you cut down all
our trees, I will be the only tree left.

We heard you were a good people; we are glad to have you come and keep a store where we can buy things cheap. You can stay with us while we hold these lands,
but we expect to sell as our Grandfather will buy; we will likely remove northward.

While you are among us as brethren, we will be brethren to you. I like, my son, what you have said very well; it could be said no better by anybody.

After the Omaha retired from the big tent, the Oto Indians filed in. An equal offer was made to them as compensation for use of the land. The Oto wanted to know
what the Mormons had offered the Omaha. When they learned it was the same, the Oto were outraged because they had hunted the area since about 1700 A.D. The
Omaha had fled there from the Dakota Sioux in 1845. The Oto threatened to make war on the Omaha.

The Mormons tried a number of times to appease the Oto and prevent a fight between the tribes. But the Oto, especially those from north of the Platte River, would
never accept. Finally, the Saints decided to move east about three miles to a high plateau overlooking the Missouri River, where the Omaha waterworks are today.
That ended the threats of the Oto.

It seems the Indians considered the Missouri River and the land immediately adjacent as a public highway for all travelers, not open to contest. A cemetery site was
selected on a bluff halfway between Cutler's Park and the new Winter Quarters. A sexton was assigned and a detailed record kept of deaths and burials from 15
September 1846. Crews were assigned to survey, define streets, plat lots, build cabins, and construct a bridge over Turkey or Willow Creek, later known as "Mill
Creek."
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At this busy time, men at Cutler's Park were routed out of bed on 21 September with a call at 10:00 p.m.: "All hands repair to the center of the camp!" At the
gathering, Heber C. Kimball explained that American Fur Company trader Peter Sarpy had told Jedediah M. Grant that the United States marshal from Missouri was
coming up "after the Twelve." Sarpy also claimed to have learned that the United States Secretary of War had instructed U.S. Indian sub-agent R. B. Mitchell at Point
It seems the Indians considered the Missouri River and the land immediately adjacent as a public highway for all travelers, not open to contest. A cemetery site was
selected on a bluff halfway between Cutler's Park and the new Winter Quarters. A sexton was assigned and a detailed record kept of deaths and burials from 15
September 1846. Crews were assigned to survey, define streets, plat lots, build cabins, and construct a bridge over Turkey or Willow Creek, later known as "Mill
Creek."

At this busy time, men at Cutler's Park were routed out of bed on 21 September with a call at 10:00 p.m.: "All hands repair to the center of the camp!" At the
gathering, Heber C. Kimball explained that American Fur Company trader Peter Sarpy had told Jedediah M. Grant that the United States marshal from Missouri was
coming up "after the Twelve." Sarpy also claimed to have learned that the United States Secretary of War had instructed U.S. Indian sub-agent R. B. Mitchell at Point
aux poules to have all Mormons removed off Pottawattamie land by 1 April.

Kimball said it was necessary that every man be properly armed and equipped and that a guard should be kept up nights to keep spies from entering and leaving camp.
Men were asked to obey orders of their foremen. Then the meeting was dismissed. Only later did the Saints learn that unfounded rumor was Sarpy's stock-in-trade.

The men assembled again at 9:00 a.m. the next day to reorganize the Nauvoo Legion. Brigham Young asked if the men wanted to sustain their old officers or to elect
new ones. The men voted unanimously in favor of their old Nauvoo Legion officers. Immediate organization was begun. At 11:00 a.m., Colonel Albert P. Rockwood
reported:

Col. John Scott's artillery company, 63 men; Capt. Henry Harriman's company, 25; Capt. Jedediah M. Grant's company, 25; Capt. Reddin A. Allred's company, 25;
Capt. Levi Stewart's company, 25; Capt. Wm. M. Allred's company, 25; Capt. Welcome Chapman's company, 25; Capt. John S. Gleason's company, 25; Capt.
James W. Cummings' company, 25; Capt. Thaddeus T. Cutler's company, 25; Capt. Charles Bird's company, 25; Capt. Lev E. Riter's company, 25.

Young passed down the lines and nominated a first lieutenant for each company. The new officers were unanimously sustained. Stephen Markham and Hosea Stout
were elected colonel and lieutenant colonel of the first battalion of infantry. Brigham wrote an order that all discharging of firearms, day or night, should cease, except
by special permission.

The entire camp met and voted to move immediately to Winter Quarters "as affording us a better place for convenience and self defense." It was decided to begin the
move the next day, 23 September. The Middle Mormon Ferry was moved north to Winter Quarters just north of today's Interstate Highway 680 bridge. A support
town for the ferry was established on the Iowa side, called Ferryville. A road was soon developed between Winter Quarters and other Mormon communities on the
Iowa side of the Missouri. A road ran directly east from Ferryville to the line of the bluffs, or loess hills, about five miles east of the river. There it intersected a wagon
road running north and south, linking communities north, south, and east of that point.

The building of log cabins and dugouts in the hillsides of Winter Quarters was intensified. The return of cold weather and memories of the previous winter in tents and
wagons stimulated the workmen. Heber C. Kimball's daughter noted in her journal on 8 November:

We congratulate ourselves considerably upon being able to live in a house again, as we have got thoroughly tired of living in a tent. This, like the majority of houses, was
covered with sod and the chimneys were built of the same. Each room had one door and a window with four panes of glass, but no floor. . . . Our floors we managed
to cover with canvas or pieces of carpeting which had outlived the storms and the wear and tear while journeying from the States [Iowa did not become a state until 28
December 1846]. We made curtains serve as partitions to divide the bedrooms, repositories, etc. from the kitchen. Most of our furniture we had made to order, such
as cupboards, and bedsteads, they being attached to the house; also tables, chairs and stools, and an occasional rocking chair, relics of other days graced our ingleside.
. . . The larger houses were generally shingled and had brick chimneys and puncheon floors with a six-lighted window to each room. Father's largest house contained
four good-sized rooms on the ground and two upstairs. My brother William and family lived in one room, my mother, her four little boys, three or four young men and
two women, who had been adopted and two of father's wives occupied the rest. The women assisted in sewing and housekeeping.

A census of Winter Quarters, 20 December 1846, reported 3483 residents in 538 log houses and 83 sod houses (probably dugouts). It also reported 814 wagons,
145 horses, 29 mules, 388 yoke of oxen, and 463 cows. Many of the cattle and oxen were then wintered at some distance along the Missouri River. President Young
certainly was more concerned about the welfare of the migrating Saints than he was about his cattle.

The number of deaths at Winter Quarters has been greatly overstated. Far more died before the frosts of autumn than in the so-called "terrible winter of 1846/1847."
Of the 365 recorded deaths at both Cutler's Park and Winter Quarters between September 1846 and June 1848, only 67 were recorded during the winter months of
December 1846 to March 1847. Likely, the misleading figure of 600 deaths at Winter Quarters came from John Bernheisel, LDS territorial representative in
Washington, D.C. A footnote in Thomas L. Kane's published version of his 1850 address to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania stated:

This camp (Cutler's Park) was moved by the beginning of October to winter quarters on the river, where, also there was considerable sickness before the cold
weather. I am furnished with something over 600 as the number of burials in the graveyard there.

Without intending to blame Brigham Young and other leaders of the time, writers have further compressed the "over 600" deaths there as having been during the
"terrible winter" of l846/l847-which is not part of Kane's footnote. Nor were there 600 deaths. The sexton's handwritten records of burials at Winter Quarters included
name, age, family ties, date of death, cause of death, place and date of birth, and grave number. The sexton's record also showed 14 burials for which there was no
data, except a grave number. That suggests some were too poor to pay for burials of family members and performed the tragic duties themselves. In any event,
Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the high council of Winter Quarters are to be commended, not pitied, for their efforts to shepherd the flock to safety.

Brigham Young received a revelation on 14 January 1847 on how the Camp of Israel was to be organized to go to the Great Basin-the Saints were to live by gospel
standards, and they should sing, dance, pray, and learn wisdom. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve crossed the Missouri River and visited communities in Iowa to
present the revelation on how to organize for the trek west. The ever-observant Hosea Stout noted on 25 January 1847:

This was a dull dark cloudy day, trying to snow. A drove of some one or two hundred hogs came in today. I was around as usual and arranged the guard as before. In
the evening I went to the meeting of Brighams Company [organizing for the trip to the Rocky Mountains] at the Council House.

The Council House was directly east of where the new water-powered mill was being built. A few yards to the northwest of the Council House was Brigham Young's
home.

Members called to 1847 migrating companies busied themselves in preparing for the 1000-mile trek to and through the mountains. But they also reserved time for
pleasure. A ball sponsored by the police and fire guard was held on 2 March in the Winter Quarters Council House, which served as town hall, school, church hall, and
community social center. Of the policemen's ball, Stout wrote:

Was not at home until one o'clock and then went with my wife to the council house to our police party. It was an uncommonly beautiful clear warm and pleasant day.

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                               Band present, and enjoyed ourselves uncommonly w[e]ll by dancing, talking, eating sweet cakes &c, and some littlePage   50 / 128
                                                                                                                                                 preaching.

By March, Winter Quarters had reached a population of nearly 5000. There were about 700 houses on 820 lots in the city of 41 blocks. Members of the Church were
community social center. Of the policemen's ball, Stout wrote:

Was not at home until one o'clock and then went with my wife to the council house to our police party. It was an uncommonly beautiful clear warm and pleasant day.

We had the Police, Twelve and Band present, and enjoyed ourselves uncommonly w[e]ll by dancing, talking, eating sweet cakes &c, and some little preaching.

By March, Winter Quarters had reached a population of nearly 5000. There were about 700 houses on 820 lots in the city of 41 blocks. Members of the Church were
organized into 22 wards in Winter Quarters. There were more than 50 branches of the Church among more than 80 small LDS communities in southwest Iowa.

Heber C. Kimball moved out from Winter Quarters to "the stacks" (probably abandoned Cutler's Park) on 4 April with six teams to form a nucleus around which the
pioneer migration to Salt Lake Valley could gather. President Young and party moved to the Elkhorn River on 14 April. Before leaving, he counseled those who
remained at Winter Quarters to halt their early farming activities and complete a picket fence around Winter Quarters for their security.

Brigham Young led a pioneer group of 148 west along the north side of the Platte River, crossing to the south side at Fort Laramie, and on to the Great Basin. Others
followed, bringing the total 1847 migration west to nearly 2000.

Near sunset on 31 October, President Young and about half of the pioneer company that had gone to the Salt Lake Valley returned to Winter Quarters. There was
great rejoicing on both sides of the Missouri River.

Brigham Young sent a letter on 25 November 1847 to Orson Spencer in England, saying in part:

Say to the Saints in Great Britain: Come, for all things are ready, and let them flock in clouds [by contract ships] to New Orleans where they will meet some one of the
Elders, duly authorized to counsel them in re-shipping to this vicinity [by steamboat].

President Young, George A. Smith, Amasa Lyman, and Wilford Woodruff met on 3 December 1847 with the high council in Iowa at the blockhouse in Kane(sville),
Iowa. Brigham suggested organizing a carrying company from Kane to the Great Basin to haul as many Saints and as much merchandise and supplies as needed. He
also recommended the brethren build a 50-by-100-foot meetinghouse for a Church conference in Kane the following spring. President Young also asked the high
council in Iowa to help bishops in Winter Quarters provide support each day for 300 needy Saints.

Brigham Young and other members of the Quorum of the Twelve conducted conference on 4 December at the blockhouse in Kane. So many Saints wished to attend
that they crowded around the small, high windows outside the blockhouse. Brigham suggested that a much larger building be constructed in Kane and that the
conference be adjourned until that was accomplished. Members voted that Henry W. Miller superintend construction of the log conference center, and the conference
then adjourned until 24 December.

President Young and his companions traveled the next day nine miles southeast of Kane to the home of Orson Hyde, in the community of Hyde Park. There nine
members of the Quorum of the Twelve assembled. Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor had remained in the fledgling Salt Lake City, and Lyman Wight was in Texas.

On the return trip from the Great Basin and again at Winter Quarters, members of the Twelve had discussed the need to reorganize the First Presidency. Brigham had
been the acting President of the Church in his capacity as senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve since the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith on 27 June 1844.

After some discussion about reorganizating the First Presidency, Orson Hyde moved that Brigham Young be sustained as President and Prophet of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that he name two counselors, and that they form a new First Presidency. The motion was seconded by Wilford Woodruff. It carried
unanimously.

Many years later, Orson Hyde testified in Salt Lake City:

We were in prayer and council, communing together; and what took place on that occasion? The voice of God came from on high and spake to the Council. Every
latent feeling was aroused, and every heart melted. What did it say to us? 'Let my servant Brigham step forth and receive the full power of the presiding Priesthood in
my Church and Kingdom.' This was the voice of the Almighty unto us at Council Bluffs. . . .

We said nothing about the matter in those times, but kept it still. . . . Men, women, and children came running together where we were, and asked us what was the
matter. They said their houses shook, and the ground trembled, and they did not know but that there was an earthquake. We told them that there was nothing the
matter-not to be alarmed; the Lord was only whispering to us a little, and that he was probably not very far off. We felt no shaking of the earth or of the house, but
were filled with the exceeding power and goodness of God.

After he was sustained by the Quorum of the Twelve, President Young nominated Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as counselors. They also were sustained by
the quorum.

On the following day, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve met again in the home of Orson Hyde. The urgency of building a tabernacle in Kane and a
temple in Salt Lake City was discussed. John Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, Sr., and known to all as Uncle John Smith, was named Patriarch to the Church.

Orson Hyde was assigned to go to the eastern states, and Amasa Lyman to the southern states to seek help for the migrating poor. Orson Pratt was asked to take
charge of the Church in England. Luke S. Johnson, who had returned to the Church, was to be ordained an elder. Letters were written to carry out the assignments and
to appeal for help for the poor.

President Young and others left Hyde Park and returned by way of the North Mormon Ferry to Winter Quarters. No public announcement was made of the new First
Presidency prior to the vote of Church members later that month in Kane.

Henry W. Miller organized about 200 men to build the tabernacle near Indian Creek in Kane. Because of the size of the timber available, it was laid out with 40-by-
60-foot inner dimensions, and with a 12-by-20-foot extension for a stand for a band and speakers. The log structure had 13-foot walls and puncheon floor. A sod roof
peaked at 20 feet. The roof was held up by four poles in a square between the speakers' stand and the two four-foot doors, 14 feet apart, on the south. The 40-foot
west wall was bevelled out six feet to accommodate a huge fireplace and a sod chimney that was lined with sticks and was held in place by fired clay.

Conference resumed in the new building on 24 December. Orson Hyde dedicated the building as a house of prayer and thanksgiving. Brigham Young presided over
forenoon, afternoon, and evening sessions. Meetings continued from 24 through 27 December.

On the final day of the conference, the First Presidency and the new Patriarch were presented and sustained by about 1000 members in attendance. George A. Smith
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The next day the First Presidency returned to Winter Quarters. Brigham and Joseph Young went to Kane from Winter Quarters on 15 January 1848 for the beginning
forenoon, afternoon, and evening sessions. Meetings continued from 24 through 27 December.

On the final day of the conference, the First Presidency and the new Patriarch were presented and sustained by about 1000 members in attendance. George A. Smith
gave the benediction on the conference, and then the congregation shouted three times: "Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb, Amen, Amen, and Amen."

The next day the First Presidency returned to Winter Quarters. Brigham and Joseph Young went to Kane from Winter Quarters on 15 January 1848 for the beginning
of a five-day Seventies Jubilee in the log tabernacle. William W. Phelps read a petition addressed to the new Iowa State Legislature asking for formation of a
Pottawattamie County, to include all of southwest Iowa. The petition was approved, and Henry W. Miller and Andrew Perkins were elected delegates to present the
petition to the legislature.

Joseph Young conducted the Monday sessions of the jubilee. W. W. Phelps, Isaac Morley, and Brigham Young preached in the forenoon. There were social activities
and dancing in the afternoon and evening. That pattern was followed through Thursday, with dancing, singing, amusements, band performances, and solos by John M.
Kay, a favorite singer in the Missouri Valley. A memorial and petition was drafted to send to the Postmaster General asking for establishment of a post office near the
new tabernacle with semiweekly mail service.

President Young and others returned on 21 January to Winter Quarters. Brigham wrote to Thomas L. Kane on 9 February asking for help in getting a post office and
including the memorial-and 1805 signatures-addressed to the Postmaster General. President Young also asked Kane to seek permission from the Superintendent of
Indian Affairs for the Saints who could not go to the mountains to stay at Winter Quarters and on their farms on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. Finally,
Brigham asked Kane to draft a petition for a territorial government in the Salt Lake Valley and to "agitate the subject in the halls of Congress!"

In late February, Brigham Young wrote a letter advising the members of the Church who were living distant from Iowa and who were not able to migrate west to the
Great Basin in 1848 to come by steamboat as far as Council Bluffs. (They would land at Council Point.) There, he said, was plenty of farmland where they could raise
young cattle for teams and make their own wagons. Brigham said they could develop preemption rights to the land, which they could sell before continuing on to the
Salt Lake Valley.

Evan M. Greene arrived from Winter Quarters to begin his appointment as postmaster near the tabernacle. The post office was to be called Kanesville in honor of
Thomas L. Kane.

An Iowa Whig Executive Committee wrote to Brigham Young to arrange a discussion of interests between the Saints and the Whig party. Sidney Roberts was sent to
Winter Quarters to talk with President Young. Heber C. Kimball said he had about as much confidence in the Loco Focos as in the Whigs. Brigham said the Whigs
were leaders in driving the Saints from Illinois. He said he would vote for good men, independent of party lines. However, those participating in the meeting with
Roberts voted to attend a larger such gathering in Kanesville.

A political caucus was held in the log tabernacle on 27 March. George Q. Cannon capsulized the Whig memorial to the Saints in a letter, stating:

The address reviewed, at length, persecutions heaped upon the Saints in Missouri, the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, their leaders, and their expulsion from
the States of Missouri and Illinois. The address also dwelt feelingly upon the deception and treachery of the Democrats for asking favors so often from, and as often
heaping neglect, abuse and persecution upon the Saints, depriving them from time to time of civil and religious liberty and the inalienable rights of freemen. . . . P. Lyon
and Sidney Roberts to visit them (the LDS) and lay before them the national policy of the Whigs and solicit their co-operation; assuring them that their party was
pledged to them and the country to 'a firm and unyielding protection. . . . Although it looked rather suspicious to the Saints that the Whigs of Iowa should at that
particular time become deeply interested in their welfare.

With repeated assurances from Roberts, the caucus agreed to support the Whig party of Iowa when legal county status should be extended to the thousands of
residents in southwest Iowa.

The First Presidency and other leading men of the Church returned to the tabernacle on 6 April for general conference, where priesthood assignments were given.
Missionaries were named to visit all branches of the Church in southwest Iowa, preach the gospel, and instruct and encourage the Saints. On a motion by Orson Hyde,
Kane was renamed Kanesville on 8 April, the final day of general conference.

On 29 May 1848, Heber C. Kimball led 662 members of the Church out of Winter Quarters toward the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young led 1220 west from the log
cabin and dugout city on 6 June. A final party of 526 Saints departed Winter Quarters for the Salt Lake Valley on 3 July under the direction of Willard Richards. Those
who remained were moved back across the Missouri River to spend another year assembling supplies and equipment they would need to cross the high plains and
mountains to Salt Lake City.

Behind were left the graves of those who had died. Leading the way to a future in the West and dominating somber memories of the Missouri Valley was Brigham
Young. Guided by the Spirit, President Young left behind him more than 80 Mormon communities that would prosper until their residents chose to abandon their
substantial and flourishing farms, businesses, churches, tuition schools, and county governments for the spiritual blessings of being with the Brethren in the Great Basin.

Notes

  1. See Daniel Miller, United States Indian Agent Report, 16 September 1844, from Council Bluffs Agency (Bellevue, Nebraska Territory) to Superintendent of
Indian Affairs D. D. Mitchell, St. Louis, Missouri, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

  2. See Miller to Mitchell, 3 September 1842 and 18 August 1843, Harold B. Lee Library.

  3. As quoted in Thomas L. Kane, "1850 Address to Historical Society of Pennsylvania," in Albert L. Zobell, Jr., Sentinel in the East: A Biography of Thomas L.
Kane (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Co., 1965).

  4. As quoted in Thomas Bullock, notes, 8 March 1847, Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young, American Moses, 130, from typescript of minutes on file in LDS
Church Historical Archives.

  5. Andrew Jenson, Compilation of Journals, 14 June 1846, unpublished manuscript, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives).

  6. As quoted in Women's Exponent, 12: 170.

 7. See Jenson,
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  8. Ibid., 13 August 1846.
Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives).

  6. As quoted in Women's Exponent, 12: 170.

  7. See Jenson, Compilation of Journals, 7 August 1846.

  8. Ibid., 13 August 1846.

  9. Ibid., 14 August 1846.

  10. Ibid., 3 July 1846.

  11. See map.

  12. Kane, "1850 Address."

  13. As quoted in Jenson, Compilation of Journals, 28 August 1846.

  14. Jenson, Compilation of Journals, 22 September 1846.

  15. Andrew Jenson, Manuscript History of Winter Quarters, 8 November 1846, unpublished manuscript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  16. See Kane, "1850 Address."

  17. Hosea Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844-1861, Juanita Brooks, ed. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1982), 1: 230.

  18. Ibid., 1: 239.

  19. As quoted in Jenson, Compilation of Journals, 25 November 1847.

  20. Journal of Discourses, 8: 234.

  21. As quoted in Jenson, Compilation of Journals, 9 February 1848.

  22. See ibid., 18 March 1848.

  23. Ibid., 27 March 1848.

CHAPTER 7

The Mormon Battalion

Religious Authority Clashed with Military Leadership

Susan Easton Black

Professor of Church History and Doctrine, Associate Dean of General Education and Honors, Brigham Young University

A comprehensive study of the Mormon Battalion reveals disagreement between the rank and file over religious authority and military leadership. Brigham Young
asserted his authority early in the battalion's formation by recruiting and appointing religious military officers and ecclesiastical leaders to guide and "father" the enlistees.
Government officials appointed military officers who viewed their leadership as superior to Young's. Conflict bordering on mutiny riddled the battalion march as
religious authority clashed with military leadership in a verbal battle from Council Bluffs to California.

This article will show the influence and leadership of Young over the Latter-day Saint recruits. In addition, it will analyze the conflict over leadership by focusing on key
individuals who fired the flames of continual strife by disregarding the orders and counsel of the recognized Mormon leader.

Brigham Young Religious Leader of the Battalion

Young's directive to Jesse C. Little, Little's journey to Washington, D.C., his meeting with U.S. President James K. Polk, and Polk's offer to aid the pioneers by
permitting them to raise a battalion are well documented. Little's acceptance of Polk's offer committed a Mormon Battalion to join Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney,
Commander of the Army of the West, to fight for the United States in the Mexican War.

Kearney's designated leader, Captain James Allen, arrived at the Mount Pisgah encampment with three dragoons from the United States Army on 26 June 1846. He
was treated with suspicion because many believed the raising of a battalion to be a plot to trouble the migrating Saints. By 1 July 1846, Allen had allayed fears by
giving the pioneers permission to camp on United States lands if they raised the desired battalion.

Recruitment

Brigham Young recognized the enlistment as a government effort to aid the Mormons. He vigorously endorsed the recruitment of volunteers, saying, "Let the Mormons
be the first to set their feet on the soil of California." On 7 July 1846, Young wrote to Samuel Bent, "This thing is from above, for our good." He later declared,
"Hundreds would eternally regret that they did not go, when they had the chance."

Young not only publicly endorsed enlistment, but he also personally visited with potential recruits. For example, he asked Matthew Caldwell to volunteer. When
Caldwell expressed hesitancy, Young's promised blessings encouraged him to enlist. Caldwell relates:

I did not see how it would be possible to go as I had nothing to leave for my family. Whereupon President Young replied, "I will tell you in the name of the Lord, if you
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find your family in a better condition than when you left them.
Caldwell expressed hesitancy, Young's promised blessings encouraged him to enlist. Caldwell relates:

I did not see how it would be possible to go as I had nothing to leave for my family. Whereupon President Young replied, "I will tell you in the name of the Lord, if you
will go, you shall have health, and strength to perform the trip, and you shall not have occasion to fire at the enemy, and you shall not be shot at, you shall return and
find your family in a better condition than when you left them.

"With that promise, I'll go," I replied.

When volunteers wished to renege on their commitment to military service, Young took a firm stand. He would not allow sixteen-year-old Matthew Fifield, who had
enlisted to spite his father, to resign until his father enlisted in his place. Owing primarily to Young's various recruitment efforts, approximately 543 men were
mustered into the Mormon Battalion on 16 July 1846.

Selection of Officers

From among these recruits, Brigham Young, not Captain James Allen, selected the commissioned officers. His selection of officers was not in accord with Allen's
directive from General Kearney. Nevertheless, Young believed himself capable of nominating men for officers, even though he himself had not enlisted. The enlistees
voted unanimously that Young and his council should proceed as they thought proper. His influence solidified as he handpicked the officers.

On 18 July 1846, commissioned and noncommissioned officers gathered to receive counsel and instructions from Young and other Church leaders. Officers were
advised "to be as fathers to the privates, to remember their prayers, to see that the name of the Deity was revered, and that virtue and cleanliness were strictly
observed." Young also cautioned the men to "manage their affairs by the power and influence of the Priesthood," with the realization that "a private soldier is as
honorable as an officer, if he behaves as well."

Young's Role on the March

It is reasonable to assume that Brigham's role diminished when the battalion, accompanied by approximately thirty-three women and fifty-one children, left Council
Bluffs on 21 July 1846. But such was not the case. On 21 July 1846, word came from Young that he reserved authority over the Latter-day Saint officers. It appears
that this authority was solicited and supported by Mormons and non-Mormons alike.

For example, word from Young was needed to settle the confusion of battalion leadership after Captain Allen's untimely death. A council of officers had agreed that the
senior Mormon officer, Captain Jefferson Hunt, should assume the command. A few days following this affirmation, Lieutenant A. J. Smith claimed command by
authority of the commandant at Fort Leavenworth. Given two viable candidates, the question of leadership could be solved only by Brigham Young, not the
government.

Hunt wrote to Young and was informed that the battalion itself should settle the question of leadership. The non-Mormon Smith also wrote to Young: "If it is the wish of
your people that I should take charge of the Battalion and conduct it to General Kearney, I will do it with pleasure and feel proud of the command." Young
responded:

Sir, on the subject of command we can only say, Col. Allen settled that matter at the organization of the Battalion; therefore, we must leave that point to the proper
authorities, be the result what it may.

Yet Young did not allow it to be "what it may." He wrote to Samuel Gully:

You will all doubtless recollect that Colonel Allen repeatedly stated . . . if he fell . . . sick, . . . the command would devolve on the ranking officer, which would be the
Captain of Company A, and B, and so on.

. . . Consequently, the command must devolve on Captain Jefferson Hunt.

John D. Lee, in an attempt to follow Young's instructions, was so overbearing in pressing the issue of Mormon leadership that he was threatened with being placed
under guard. His manipulative efforts antagonized both Mormon and non-Mormon officers. Perhaps because of Lee's actions, the leadership of the battalion went to A.
J. Smith rather than to Hunt. Concerned that Lee would distort events when he returned to the Camps of Israel, religious officers wrote Young to justify previous and
current actions as supportive of their continual allegiance to his leadership.

Young instructed his officers by correspondence throughout the march; for example, he wrote, "If you are sick, live by faith, and let the surgeon's medicine alone if you
want to live, using only such herbs and mild foods as are at your disposal." In another letter, Young counseled, "Remember the ordinances in case of sickness."

Most of Young's correspondence was addressed to the Latter-day Saint military leader, Captain Jefferson Hunt. It could be assumed that the men viewed Hunt as their
religious leader. However, one reason that the enlistees did not view him as such is that they saw his actions as incongruent with those expected from a man of God.
For example, one evening Captain Hunt was approached by Private Erastus Bingham, who requested an exchange of rations. Hunt exclaimed, "I'll give you your rations
when I get ready." His remark so angered Erastus that the private retorted, "I'm not afraid of any Hunt that God ever made." Hunt immediately jumped through the
campfire and hit Erastus. They exchanged punches until comrades calmed them. The bruised captain then stammered, "You may come and get your rations."

The men's failure to recognize Hunt as their spiritual leader was due more to the presence of Levi W. Hancock, one of the seven presidents of the Seventy, than to
Hunt's sporadic fisticuffs. Apparently Hancock could advise Hunt in ecclesiastical matters. For example, on 20 August 1846, Hancock recorded, "I called upon Capt.
Hunt and told him we ought to have some meetings and he then appointed me to take charge of the same."

With two strong Mormon leaders emerging-one Young's designated military leader and the other his appointed religious spokesman-Young's influence continued to
permeate the battalion during and after the march. Continual correspondence and directives served to increase his influence. For example, (1) the letter from Lorenzo
Clark written on 14 May 1847 to Young sought instructions on what the battalion men should do while stationed in California; (2) Young's correspondence to
Captain James Brown, the senior military leader at Pueblo, and to A. Porter Dowdle, ecclesiastical leader at Pueblo, advised, "Throw all the Gentile officers out of the
Battalion when you come up to it"; and (3) on 31 July 1847, "Brigham Young personally assumed command of the soldiers [in the Salt Lake Valley] and ordered
them to gather brush for the bowery."

As late as August 1847, Young sent James Brown and others to collect back pay for the sick detachment and to secure the soldiers' official discharges. In these
directives, Young was representing himself, not General Kearney or any other officer recognized by the United States Army. Brigham Young, who never enlisted or
marched with the battalion, was the actual leader of the battalion for the Latter-day Saint recruits.
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Authority in Conflict
As late as August 1847, Young sent James Brown and others to collect back pay for the sick detachment and to secure the soldiers' official discharges. In these
directives, Young was representing himself, not General Kearney or any other officer recognized by the United States Army. Brigham Young, who never enlisted or
marched with the battalion, was the actual leader of the battalion for the Latter-day Saint recruits.

Authority in Conflict

Conflict over authority developed when leaders of the battalion went against the counsel and direction of Brigham Young. Obviously, military appointees did not concur
with his dominant leadership role. Lieutenant A. J. Smith, Dr. George B. Sanderson, and Adjutant George P. Dykes best illustrate this conflict. These officers
challenged Young's authority repeatedly from Kansas to Santa Fe.

Lieutenant Andrew Jackson Smith

As A. J. Smith took command, the transition in leadership proved difficult for battalion privates, who blamed their officers for not consulting them on Smith's military
appointment. This cancer festered slowly at first as Smith, unaware of growing sentiment, wrote, "We are getting along very well so far."

Daniel Tyler contrasted these sentiments by bitterly claiming that "foolish and unnecessary forced marches of Lieutenant Smith . . . utterly broke down both men and
beasts, and was the prime cause of the greater part of the sickness and probably of many deaths." Smith's policy of "punishing privates for the merest trifles, [while]
officers could go where and do what they pleased, without any notice being taken of them" mushroomed sentiment against Smith because such practice was contrary
to Young's advice. Tyler penned, "I am satisfied that any other set of men but Latter-day Saints would have mutinied rather than submit to the oppressions and abuse
thus heaped upon them."

This growing division filtered through the ranks until many of the men used tactical efforts to cause Smith difficulty. For example, sentinel guard Thomas Howell
imprisoned Smith for giving the wrong countersign. From the incident, Smith believed that Howell would just as soon kill him as look at him.

But Smith's cruelties toward the men did not cease. He pulled the sick from wagons when they neglected to report to the doctor. He shouted horrid oaths, threatened
his soldiers, and on one occasion drew a sword and vowed to run Thomas S. Williams through if he allowed the sick to rest in his wagon without per mission. He
reduced the men to two-thirds rations and forced brackish water on the thirsty.

Smith was not the father figure Brigham Young had advised the officers to be. Perhaps William Follet's derogatory nickname for Smith, "Negro Driver," was not far
from the truth. John D. Lee's reference to him as "little wolfish tyrant" reflected many men's feelings for this government leader who attempted to assert his authority
above Young's.

Dr. George B. Sanderson

Doctor Sanderson, recognizing the important role of Brigham Young in the battalion, wrote to him, "I am in hopes, in fact I have no fears, . . . [that] your people will be
taken care of." Even though Young responded with "We doubt not your services to the Battalion will be duly appreciated," such was never the case. Some might
claim that Sanderson never received the proper respect due a surgeon because he was a Missourian and punctuated his speech with vulgar, profane innuendos. But
though these were obvious reasons for his lack of proper appreciation, they were not the main cause.

The core issue was the conflict between Sanderson's medical treatments and Young's remedy of faith healing. Sanderson ignored pleas to discontinue medical
treatment, and he employed antiquated prescriptions of arsenic and calomel for rheumatism, boils, lameness, and other unrelated diseases. The sick were compelled to
take the medicine quietly, having it forced down them with a rusty spoon, or be left to perish on the plains. So adamant and confident was Sanderson of his generic
remedy that he "threatened with an oath, to cut the throat of any man who would administer any medicine without his orders."

The physical side effects of consuming the poison-laced prescriptions were debilitating during the march and also allegedly caused suffering long after the march.
Abraham Day claimed that his teeth became loose and some even dropped out because of this medication. Joseph Bates testified that Doctor Sanderson's treatment
for an "inward rupture" resulted in his kidney disease. Jonathan Callahan claimed that the doctor's treatment for a "displaced ankle bone" caused "lameness which
afflicted him the rest of his life." Amos Cox concluded his sentiments regarding the malpractice of Sanderson by lamenting, "I am an Invalid."

Yet even worse than the incapacities and loss of health resulting from his malpractice were his threats of death. Private John Calvert recalled having typhoid on the
march and being so ill that he could not move. He claimed that while in this weakened condition, he overheard Dr. Sanderson boast, "I've given this G- D- Mormon
enough calomel to kill a horse but it looks like the stubborn cuss is still alive."

Calvert did survive, unlike privates Alva Phelps and David Smith, who lost their lives following treatment. Phelps begged Doctor Sanderson not to give him any strong
medicine; he needed only a little rest and then would return to duty. Relentlessly, the doctor forced the medication upon him until he died. The sentiment at the funeral
was that "the doctor had killed him in premeditated murder." David Smith's condition worsened until two days before his death, when he became speechless. All
attending him concurred that "his death was the result of medicine given him by Dr. Sanderson previous to the command leaving that post."

Doctor Sanderson, aware of being nicknamed "Doctor Death" as early as 10 September 1846, was afraid to sleep near the men because he feared for his life.             This
fear arose from the men's reaction to his consistent efforts to force medication on the sick, disregarding Young's remedy of faith healing.

Adjutant George P. Dykes

Adjutant Dykes proved to be the turncoat of the battalion. He first demonstrated his break from Mormon leadership at a council meeting held on 3 October 1846.
Dykes opposed Brigham Young's advice to keep the battalion together. He justified his stance by reasoning that Young did not know their present circumstances and
thus should not have counseled the men against separating.

Although Latter-day Saint officers bickered among themselves, it was an unwritten rule that no one opposed the absentee leadership of Brigham Young. Faithful
stalwarts noted Dykes's affronts to Young's prophetic leadership. Sergeant William Hyde wrote, "It was plainly manifest that Lieutenant Dykes sought to gain favor of
and please the wicked rather than favor his brethren." A fellow officer stated, "[Dykes's] conduct has rendered him odious to the whole Mormon Battalion."

Dykes continued to undermine Young's counsel and to discredit his appointed leaders. His accusations earned him the nickname "accuser of the brethren" and led to
the loss of rank for Sergeant Jones and Corporal Lewis and to the resignation of Samuel Gully. As government-appointed leaders welcomed Dykes into their inner
circle, Dykes became boastful and pompous. When privates Philander Fletcher and Boyd Steward neglected to salute him, they were forced to march behind an ox
wagon in unfavorable weather conditions.
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Before long, government-appointed officers began to recognize Dykes's chameleon character. Colonel Cooke conceded, "Officers and men were abused
treated by a man called 'Talebearing Dykes.' . . . He has been a trouble-maker all the way. . . . He had to look to members of the Battalion for protection, he made so
many enemies."
the loss of rank for Sergeant Jones and Corporal Lewis and to the resignation of Samuel Gully. As government-appointed leaders welcomed Dykes into their inner
circle, Dykes became boastful and pompous. When privates Philander Fletcher and Boyd Steward neglected to salute him, they were forced to march behind an ox
wagon in unfavorable weather conditions.

Before long, government-appointed officers began to recognize Dykes's chameleon character. Colonel Cooke conceded, "Officers and men were abused and ill
treated by a man called 'Talebearing Dykes.' . . . He has been a trouble-maker all the way. . . . He had to look to members of the Battalion for protection, he made so
many enemies."

The commonalities between Smith, Sanderson, and Dykes were their efforts to thwart the leadership of Brigham Young in the battalion. Their efforts instigated
bickering and conflict, which grew until all three men were fearful of death from all ranks of the battalion.

The Conflict Diminishes

The lessening of these conflicts began when the first division of the battalion approached Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 9 October 1846. In Santa Fe, Lieutenant Smith
was relieved of his command by Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke. Cooke, aware of the rugged trail between Santa Fe and California, ordered most of
the women and children to accompany the sick detachment to Fort Pueblo, Colorado. There, conflict and bickering continued. But without the key players, it lessened.

Colonel Philip St. George Cooke

The remaining soldiers, under the leadership of Cooke, left Santa Fe for California on 19 October 1846. During this leg of the march, Cooke's leadership was viewed
by some as superior to that of Smith. Tyler penned, "We found the judgement of Colonel Cooke in travelling much better than that of Smith, in fact, it was first-class.
He never crowded the men unnecessarily."

Cooke's theory that officers should obey and set an example for privates was in accord with Young's counsel. For returning to Santa Fe without Cooke's permission,
Captain Jesse D. Hunter was arrested on 21 October 1846 and was forced to march at the rear of his company. Such impartial treatment of an officer did not go
unnoticed by the subordinate rank and file.

Nevertheless, the Mormon enlistees often questioned Cooke's sentiments toward them because of his strict discipline, stern appearance, and expressions of doubt
regarding the battalion's capability. William Coray named him "old culprit." James Pace wrote that Cooke "was abusive to officers & soldiers seaming to drive round
as tho he was before a set of wild goat." Elijah Elmer recorded, "The Colonel is as cross as hell all the time and crabbed and overbearing." Levi Hancock
concurred in a journal entry of 26 January 1847: "He is a miserable creature and often curses and damns the soldiers. He is as mean as I ever saw a man. Smith who
led us is a gentleman to him-he is a small, low lived cuss."

Cooke countered these sentiments by writing, "[Mormons] exhibit great . . . ignorance and some obstinacy."            It was not until 17 December 1846 that "Cooke
proudly proclaimed that at last he was convinced that the Mormons would fight for the United States Army."            On 30 January 1847, he praised the Mormon Battalion,
writing, "History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry."

Military Authority Declines

Upon the battalion's arrival in California, the influence of military leaders declined. This decline was a direct result of the varied assignments that separated members of
the battalion. Some mem bers were assigned to garrison duty at San Diego, some at San Luis Rey, and some at Ciudad de los Angeles. Others were designated to
accompany General Kearney back to Fort Leavenworth. With the dissipation of the battalion, the strict leadership and conflict lessened. Henry Standage noted the
change:

Our officers are becoming more and more like men, giving us as many privileges as they can conveniently. They have not been more than half as strict for a few days
past. In fact, they seem to realize that their power as military commanders will soon be gone, and that their influence will be gone too. Inasmuch as they know that there
are men in this battalion who stand as high and much higher in the Priesthood, therefore it seems as though they wished to restore the confidence in some measure
which they well know that has departed during the last 12 months.

As the military leadership waned, the authority of Levi Hancock and father-figure David Pettigrew increased, even though little mention of this gradual change
appears in journal entries. Latter-day Saint military officers often regarded Hancock's and Pettigrew's zeal and diligence as officious, and they entertained feelings of
jealousy toward them. For example, Hancock's climb of five hundred feet to "Point of the Rocks," where he built an altar and prayed in the name of the God of Israel,
seemed to some a showy pretense. Hancock's and Pettigrew's going from tent to tent and in a low voice counseling the men to pray to the Lord to influence the
colonel's thinking was viewed as officious. Meetings that included the washing of feet (which excluded military leaders) were tolerated with suspicion. Hancock, aware
of unfavorable comments of zeal, wrote to Brigham Young:

A jealousy arose among us; some of the officers said that there was a secret conspiracy in the camp. I then called on all the brethren to bear testimony that I had taught
nothing but against wickedness, and that I had a perfect right to do it wherever I was in any part of the earth.

Yet despite jealousies, the privates increasingly turned to religious leaders for justification to oppose the military leaders.

Religious Leadership Triumphs

By April 1847, it was obvious that Hancock and Pettigrew had assumed leadership and were respected by the men. Their triumph is best illustrated by studying the
attempt made to reenlist the men of the battalion for another term of duty. Colonel Stevenson arrived in Los Angeles on 28 June 1847 to reenlist the battalion. At a
meeting that day, Captains Hunter, Hunt, and Davis and Lieutenants Canfield and Dykes, appointed by Brigham Young to be military leaders, also spoke strongly in
favor of reenlistment.

However, the men resisted, as if waiting to hear from Musician Hancock and Private Pettigrew. Then David Pettigrew, the father-figure religious leader, countered the
words of the officers:

[It was] our duty to return and look after our outcast families; others could do as they thought best, but he believed that we had done all that we had set out to do, and
that our offering was accepted and that our return would be sanctioned by the Church leaders.

The meeting was then adjourned to avoid the heat of the day, with another meeting scheduled in the big tent at the fort.

This second meeting revealed that most of the men preferred to take the advice of Hancock and Pettigrew and other faithful priesthood holders. They viewed it as more
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religious to look forward to reuniting with their families than to reenlist. Suspicions that Hancock and Pettigrew were influencing the men against the wishes   officers
were openly raised. Yet some of the officers bowed to ecclesiastical position as superior to their appointed military position. Sergeant William Hyde arose, stating that
"he had but little to say, but what he should say would be at the risk of all hazard. This was that Levi Hancock was his file leader and that he would obey his counsel, let
The meeting was then adjourned to avoid the heat of the day, with another meeting scheduled in the big tent at the fort.

This second meeting revealed that most of the men preferred to take the advice of Hancock and Pettigrew and other faithful priesthood holders. They viewed it as more
religious to look forward to reuniting with their families than to reenlist. Suspicions that Hancock and Pettigrew were influencing the men against the wishes of officers
were openly raised. Yet some of the officers bowed to ecclesiastical position as superior to their appointed military position. Sergeant William Hyde arose, stating that
"he had but little to say, but what he should say would be at the risk of all hazard. This was that Levi Hancock was his file leader and that he would obey his counsel, let
the circumstances be what they may."

This clear transfer in leadership authority occurred because military leaders failed to act as fathers to their brethren as Young had advised. As a result, only eighty-one
men chose to reenlist and to serve an additional eight months of military duty under Captain Daniel C. Davis in Company A of the Mormon Volunteers. The clear
majority followed the counsel of religious leaders and began migrating to the Salt Lake Valley, where they reunited with their pioneering families.

Such transfer of power to ecclesiastical position was noted by Colonel Stevenson, who wrote:

My intercourse with the Mormons has satisfied me that the great mass of them are . . . entirely under the control of their leaders, and that in every community or
association, there is some one man who is the controlling spirit, and that all are under the direction and control of some one Master Spirit. In the Battalion were two
men, one of which was a private soldier-who were the chief men, and but for them, at least, three companies would have re-entered, but they opposed, and not a man
would enter, and I do not believe we should have succeeded in getting one company, if they had not given it their countenance or at least made no formal objection.

In a final effort to increase reenlistment, Stevenson appealed to the true leader of the battalion, Brigham Young, on 8 February 1848. "I therefore ask you,"      he wrote,
expressing his hope for help from the Latter-day Saint leader.

Conclusion

The men of the Mormon Battalion are honored for their willingness to fight for the United States, for their march of some two thousand miles from Council Bluffs to
California, for their participation in the early development of the West, and for making the first wagon road over the southern route from California to Utah in 1848.

Perhaps their greatest honor came from their religious leader, Brigham Young. Redick Allred recorded in his diary that, at a celebration held in the log tabernacle in
Kanesville, Iowa, Young said to Heber C. Kimball and others, while pointing to the members of the Mormon Battalion, "These men were the salvation of this Church."


In the Salt Lake Valley, Young called the men of the battalion together and blessed them in the name of the Lord for their fidelity to the kingdom of God. "It was to the
praise of the Battalion that they went as honorable men, doing honor to their calling and to the United States, and he was satisfied with all of them. If some had done
wrong and transgressed and been out of the way," Young exhorted them to "refrain therefrom, turn to the Lord and build up His kingdom."

This praise surpassed the honors of men, for it was given by their true leader-who had not marched with the battalion but who had never doubted his position nor
varied from his stance as leader of the Latter-day Saints in the Mormon Battalion.

Notes

   1. Captain James Allen was born in 1806 in Ohio. After graduating from West Point Academy in 1829, he served as a lieutenant in the infantry. In 1833, he joined
the 1st Dragoons and served the remainder of his career as a cavalryman. During most of his career, he was on the frontier at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, where
he was stationed with the 1st Dragoons. He died at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, 23 August 1846, of congestive fever.

  2. Wilford Woodruff wrote, "I had some reasons to believe them to be spies & that the president had no hand in it." Wilford Woodruff Journal, 27 June 1846,
Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives).

  3. "Manuscript History of Brigham Young," 1 July 1846, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  4. "Journal History," 7 July 1846 and 17 July 1846, microfilm, LDS Church Historical Archives.

   5. Robert Lewis Woodward and Lucinda Uzella Caldwell Koch, "The Life Story of Matthew Caldwell: A Member of the Mormon Battalion Company E." (n.p.,
n.d.), 7-8.

  6. Life Sketch of Joseph Fifield (n.p., n.d.), in author's possession.

  7. The commissioned officers included Jefferson Hunt, captain of Company A; Jesse D. Hunter, captain of Company B; James Brown, captain of Company C;
Nelson Higgins, captain of Company D; and Daniel C. Davis, captain of Company E. These officers were entrusted with religious leadership as well as military
supervision of the men.

  8. "Journal History," 18 July 1846.

   9. Jefferson Hunt and two of his sons, Gilbert and Marshall, enlisted in the Mormon Battalion. His two wives and five additional children elected to accompany them
on the march. At the time of Jefferson's enlistment, he was six feet tall, weighed 180 pounds, and had light complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes. Pension File of
Jefferson Hunt, U.S. Library of Congress.

  10. Andrew Jackson Smith was born 28 August 1815 in Pennsylvania. He graduated from West Point in 1838 and was the highest-ranking officer at Fort
Leavenworth following the death of Captain Allen. Prior to his military involvement with the battalion, he was a lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons in the West. During the
Civil War he served as a cavalry commander.

  11. Daniel Tyler, A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War, 1846-1847 (Chicago, Illinois: Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1964), 154.

  12. Brigham Young to Andrew J. Smith, Camp of Israel, Omaha Nation, 27 August 1846, as cited in Tyler, 154.

  13. John F. Yurtinus, "A Ram in the Thicket: The Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War" (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1975), 113.
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  14. Ibid., 152.

  15. Both letters are cited in Tyler, 146.
  12. Brigham Young to Andrew J. Smith, Camp of Israel, Omaha Nation, 27 August 1846, as cited in Tyler, 154.

  13. John F. Yurtinus, "A Ram in the Thicket: The Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War" (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1975), 113.

  14. Ibid., 152.

  15. Both letters are cited in Tyler, 146.

  16. Cedenia Bingham Hale, "Biography of Erastus Bingham, Jr. 1847" (n.p., n.d.), in author's possession.

   17. Levi Ward Hancock was born 7 April 1803 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. He was ordained a seventy on 28 February 1835 by Joseph Smith and
was selected as a member of the first Quorum of the Seventy. Soon afterward he was chosen one of the seven presidents of that quorum. He functioned in that calling
for forty-seven years. Levi was the only General Authority to enlist in the battalion. He died 10 June 1882 in Washington, Washington, Utah, at the age of 79.

  18. Levi Hancock Journal, typescript, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. However, it does appear that officers listened to and accepted Hunt's
counsel on religious issues also. Sergeant William Coray wrote, "[Hunt] advised the Captains of the companies to get their men together frequently and pray for them
and teach them the principals of virtue and be united with each other." William Coray Journal, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  19. Kate Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, 17 vols. (Salt Lake City: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1968), 11: 357, 389.

  20. Thomas Bullock Journal, 3 June 1847, LDS Church Historical Archives.

   21. Norton Jacob, "The Life of Norton Jacob," typescript, 31 July 1847, Harold B. Lee Library; Joel Terrel, "The Journal of Joel Judkins Terrell, being a daily
record of the Mormon Battalion from July 16th, 1846 to July 28, 1847," 31 July 1847, as cited in Yurtinus, 333.

  22. A. J. Smith to Adjutant General Roger Jones, Camp near Council Grove, 2 September 1846 (Bancroft Library, Berkeley, California), as cited in Yurtinus, 122.

  23. As cited in Tyler, 174.

  24. Ibid., 177.

  25. Ibid., 174.

  26. Ibid., 153.

  27. Ibid., 154.

  28. Ibid., 146.

  29. Grace Candland Jacobsen, "A Short History of the Life of Abraham Day" (n.p., February 1936), in author's possession.

  30. Pension File of Joseph Bates, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

  31. Pension File of Jonathan Callahan, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

  32. Pension File of Amos Cox, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

  33. Pension File of John Calvert, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

  34. As cited in Tyler, 158.

  35. William Coray Journal, 10 September 1846.

  36. On the march, George P. Dykes served as an adjutant from 16 July 1846 to 15 October 1846. He resigned the adjutancy to assume command of the company
on 1 November 1846.

  37. As quoted in Tyler, 187.

  38. Jefferson Hunt, Daniel C. Davis, Jesse D. Hunter, William W. Willis, to Brigham Young, Santa Fe, October 1846, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church
Historical Archives, as cited in Yurtinus, 186.

  39. "Life Sketch of George Dykes" (n.p., n.d.), in author's possession.

  40. Subsequently, Smith was appointed quartermaster. Philip St. George Cooke was born 13 June 1809 near Leesburg, Virginia. He graduated from West Point
Academy in 1827. He was commissioned as a brevet 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry and also as a 1st Lieutenant in the 1st Dragoons.

  41. As quoted in Tyler, 184-85.

  42. William Coray Journal, 4 November 1846.

43. "Autobiography and Diary of James Pace, 1811-1888," 5 March 1847, in author's possession.

  44. Elijah Elmer, "Journal of Elijah Elmer 1st Sergeant, Company 'C' Mormon Battalion 1846-47," 3 January 1847, San Diego Historical Society, San Diego,
California.

  45. Philip(c)
 Copyright   St.2005-2009,
                 George Cooke, "Cooke's
                           Infobase MediaJournal
                                            Corp.of the March of the Mormon Battalion, 1846-1847," ed. Ralph P. Bieber and Averam B. Bender,Page
                                                                                                                                             in Exploring
                                                                                                                                                   58 / 128
Southwestern Trails 1846-1854, vol. 7 of The Southwest Historical Series (Glendale, California: The Arthur C. Clark Company, 1938), 69.

  46. "David Pettigrew Autobiography," 17 December 1846, as cited in Yurtinus, 412.
  44. Elijah Elmer, "Journal of Elijah Elmer 1st Sergeant, Company 'C' Mormon Battalion 1846-47," 3 January 1847, San Diego Historical Society, San Diego,
California.

  45. Philip St. George Cooke, "Cooke's Journal of the March of the Mormon Battalion, 1846-1847," ed. Ralph P. Bieber and Averam B. Bender, in Exploring
Southwestern Trails 1846-1854, vol. 7 of The Southwest Historical Series (Glendale, California: The Arthur C. Clark Company, 1938), 69.

  46. "David Pettigrew Autobiography," 17 December 1846, as cited in Yurtinus, 412.

  47. As cited in Tyler, 254-55.

  48. Journal of Henry Standage, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  49. David Pettigrew was born 29 July 1791 in Weathersfield, Windsor, Vermont. Baptized in 1832 by Isaac Higbee, he became a high priest in 1839 in Nauvoo.
He died 31 December 1863 in Salt Lake City.

  50. Levi Hancock, letter record in Journal History of the Mormon Battalion, 12 May 1847, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  51. As quoted in Tyler, 295.

  52. Journal of William Hyde, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  53. J. D. Stevenson to R. B. Mason, 23 July 1847, Los Angeles, California (10 Military Department Letters: n.p.), as cited in Yurtinus, 601.

  54. J. D. Stevenson to Brigham Young, as cited in Yurtinus, 605.

  55. Redick Allred Diary, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  56. As quoted in Tyler, 343-44.

CHAPTER 8

Colonizer of the West

Dale F. Beecher

Registrar, Museum of Church History and Art, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Brigham Young has been called the "American Moses" and the "Colonizer." He might also be called history's greatest real-estate developer. Of the four official hats
worn by Brother Brigham-Church President, governor, Indian agent, and community builder-the latter duty probably consumed more of his energy than the other three
combined. Indeed, he did not generally separate them but thought of them as part of the same enterprise.

Spurred by his leadership, the extent of Latter-day Saint colonization is impressive. Some 400 cities, towns, and villages were settled during his lifetime, and 342 more
after his death-planted in twelve western states in the United States and in three foreign countries. Although 113 of these settlements were subsequently abandoned,
even by the Mormons, more than 600 still serve his intended purpose today.

The colonization movement of the Church began seventeen years before the founding of Salt Lake City. In 1830, the Lord instructed the Church "to bring to pass the
gathering of mine elect; . . . they shall be gathered in unto one place upon the face of this land" (D&C 29: 7-8). Their new Zion was to be "a land of peace. . . . And it
shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion" (D&C 45: 66, 71).

Under the precept defined by these and other revelations, Joseph Smith supervised the founding of more than a dozen settlements in Missouri, Illinois, and eastern
Iowa. After being expelled from those places, the refugee Saints, now under the leadership of Brigham Young, planted scores of temporary towns in western Iowa and
a few in eastern Nebraska. These were all virtually evacuated by 1853 as the Church moved away from its enemies.

As Brigham Young made his way to the Great Basin, the scope of the colonization program became clear to him: the Saints must occupy an area large enough to
accommodate an influx of tens of thousands of Church members. Its borders must reach out to mountains or deserts to provide a barrier that would keep "gentile"
colonies away. The inhabitable areas must be populated as quickly and as densely as possible to lay a valid claim on this vast area. Social and economic systems must
be put in place to ensure independence and isolation from the outside world.

The first step was to explore the region. Within four days of his arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, Young had led an exploration of the valley and the adjacent Tooele
Valley, noting the fertility of the soil and availability of water. Before the end of the year, expeditions examined prospective settlements in Davis, Weber, Box Elder, and
Cache Valleys to the north; Utah Valley to the south; Cedar Valley to the west; and along both northern and southern routes to California.

In 1849, a party explored the Sanpete Valley, and at Chief Wakara's invitation, settlers were sent there. Later that year, the largest expedition of all spent two winter
months reconnoitering central and southwestern Utah. From then to the end of the settlement period, numerous small explorations, some sent by the Church and some
by private initiative, surveyed most of western North America, seeking suitable sites for colonization.

The next step was to set up a system of land distribution. Utah was still nominally part of Mexico until March 1848. But with the Mexican War in progress, no one
looked at that country's laws. Even after the land had been annexed to the United States, federal law did not govern the ownership of land in Utah Territory until 1869.
Characteristically, Brigham Young stepped in to fill the void. He told the immigrants of 1848:

No man can ever buy land here, for no one has any land to sell. But every man shall have his land measured out to him, which he must cultivate in order to keep it.
Besides, there shall be no private ownership of the streams that come out of the canyons, nor the timber that grows on the hills. These belong to the people.

Community leaders assigned town lots, fields for farming, and pasture lands. Some towns had a "big field," fenced in common, in which each family had a large garden
plot. Since large-scale irrigation was necessary in the dry climate, the riparian water rights of common law were replaced by a system wherein
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. . . the county court shall have control of all timber, water privileges, or any water course or creek, to grant mill sites, and exercise such powers as in their judgment
shall best preserve the timber and subserve the interest of the settlement in the distribution of water for irrigation or other purposes.
Besides, there shall be no private ownership of the streams that come out of the canyons, nor the timber that grows on the hills. These belong to the people.

Community leaders assigned town lots, fields for farming, and pasture lands. Some towns had a "big field," fenced in common, in which each family had a large garden
plot. Since large-scale irrigation was necessary in the dry climate, the riparian water rights of common law were replaced by a system wherein

. . . the county court shall have control of all timber, water privileges, or any water course or creek, to grant mill sites, and exercise such powers as in their judgment
shall best preserve the timber and subserve the interest of the settlement in the distribution of water for irrigation or other purposes.

When Congress finally caught up to the Mormons on these issues, it recognized the wisdom of their system and ratified it. Land assigned to individuals became their
personal property. The idea (although not entirely new) of public timber control, with cutting by concession, became the basis of United States Forest Service policy.
The system of water rights evolved into a body of law that is still used throughout the West.

At first the Church organization handled everything; there was no need for statutes or civil government. However, the colony soon needed some type of legal structure
to deal with its rapid growth and with the outside world. The ultimate goal was to enter the Union as a state. Young called a constitutional convention in March 1849
that created the "state of Deseret."

The boundaries of this state circumscribed the entire Great Basin and the Colorado River drainage, with an extension to take in the Pacific coast from San Pedro, just
south of Los Angeles, to the Mexican border. This area included nearly all of Utah and Nevada, most of Arizona, nearly a third of California, and parts of Oregon,
Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The state of Deseret's form of government, modeled after that of other states, included the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches.

In 1850, the Church's First Presidency reported:

The General Assembly of Deseret have held an adjourned session, at intervals, through the winter, and transacted much important business, such as dividing the
different settlements into Weber, Great Salt Lake, Utah, Sanpete, Yoab, and Tuille counties, and establishing County Courts, with their Judges, Clerks and Sheriffs,
and Justices and Constables in the several precincts; also a Supreme Court, to hold its annual sessions at Great Salt Lake City, attended by a State Marshall and
Attorney, and instituting a general jurisprudence, so that every case, whether criminal or civil, may be attended to by officers of State, according to law, justice, and
equity, without delay. They have also chartered a State University.

This government functioned conjointly with the Church organization at all levels, most officials serving in dual capacities. It operated for a year and a half with no other
authority than the consent of the residents. Meanwhile, Deseret petitioned to the Union for admission as a state.

But the population was not yet sufficiently large to qualify for statehood. In any case, Congress was not inclined to grant such a huge area-or the status of statehood-to
the hated Mormons. Instead, Congress created the Territory of Utah, with much reduced boundaries and authority. However, President Fillmore did appoint Brigham
Young to be governor and permitted the retention of local bishops as magistrates. This left the Church some official status, and it was free to continue its colonizing
efforts in the region.

The federal appointment also made President Young an Indian agent for the territory. He had already assumed this responsibility, having met with Indian leaders. He
had also sent a military campaign to punish a band of Utes that had attacked settlers moving onto their land. While he did not believe in racial equality any more than
anyone else of that day, he insisted that relations be paternally friendly and peaceful. In an 1875 letter to leaders in northeastern Arizona, Young states: "We request
that in all your conversations and associations with the Lamanites you treat them with kindness and present before them an example which they can imitate with
propriety."

A third step in Young's pioneering program was to build an economic system that would free Zion from the need to deal with outside suppliers. Self-sufficiency would
help keep out worldly influences. His goal was not to achieve affluence, which he saw as dangerous to the soul and counter-productive to the community, but to
develop unity and cooperation among the Saints; his system was designed to that end.

Early elements of the colonial infrastructure were built according to this principle. Farmers paid for the use of their land with work on roads, bridges, dams, and canals.
Tradesmen in town paid their "labor tithing" by working in public works factories or construction.

A key effort involved using local resources. Men with skills in mining and smelting were called to start specialized colonies in Iron County, Utah, and in Las Vegas,
Nevada. These missionaries did not usually take their families along, and although Irontown and Lead Mission were intended to be permanent industrial towns, most
residents stayed only a year or two and did not think to make their homes there. Others were called to take their families and settle permanently in Washington County,
Utah, to grow cotton and other warm-weather crops.

In order to establish control over this vast area and to make governmental and economic systems viable, it was necessary to increase the population as fast as possible.
A more densely populated Zion would also be better able to nurture a society of Saints. Missionary work greatly expanded in the 1850s, and converts joined the
Church by the thousands, especially in Britain, Scandinavia, and Switzerland. Over the next half century, the First Presidency of the Church strongly urged immigration
to the new Zion.

They came. The 1880 census shows that two-thirds of Utah residents were born outside the United States. They were told to learn English, to become American
citizens as quickly as they could, and to take an active role in civic affairs. They did. Although immigrants tended to settle in groups of their own nationality, holding
Church meetings and publishing newspapers in their own languages, the Mormon colonies are among the best examples of the American ethnic and social melting pot.

Since the plan called for colonization, not urbanization, and because conventional wisdom held that hard work on the farm was better for the soul than soft work in
town, newcomers were most often sent to the smaller settlements. They found that the new towns always included veteran farmers and stockmen who knew what to
do. They usually included a bishop or town president who, with his two counselors, administered both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. Of course, each group tried to take
along a miller, a weaver, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a fiddler, an interesting orator, and possessers of all the other skills and talents that constitute a successful
community.

Sometimes Church members were called by Church leaders to colonize, a few of them unaware of their calling until their names were read out in a meeting. More often,
a few were called to lead a group and to recruit the rest of the group. On occasion these leaders were called as temporary missionaries and stayed in the new village
only a year or two to get things started. Many times, groups would strike out for promising areas on their own, with no authorization from Church officials beyond a
tacit blessing on their enterprise.

On arrival in a valley, the pioneers located a good townsite, nearly always where a large stream issued from the mountains. As other pioneers joined them, the village
grew, and satellite hamlets sprang up nearby. Colonization thus spread out unevenly: new settlements were being established at the edge of the frontier, while the
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Mormons typically did not make their homes on farms or ranches away from town. The ideal shape of society had been outlined in Joseph Smith's plan for the "City of
tacit blessing on their enterprise.

On arrival in a valley, the pioneers located a good townsite, nearly always where a large stream issued from the mountains. As other pioneers joined them, the village
grew, and satellite hamlets sprang up nearby. Colonization thus spread out unevenly: new settlements were being established at the edge of the frontier, while the
existing central settlements were expanding.

Mormons typically did not make their homes on farms or ranches away from town. The ideal shape of society had been outlined in Joseph Smith's plan for the "City of
Zion," wherein all were to live together and work cooperatively. Brigham Young based his advice and land distribution policy on that ideal, encouraging the Saints to
live in small towns and commute out to their farms.

The rationale for this method of colonizing was reiterated by a later Church Presidency:

In all cases in making new settlements the Saints should be advised to gather together in villages, as has been our custom from the time of our earliest settlement in these
mountain valleys. . . . By this means the people can retain their ecclesiastical organizations, have regular meetings of the quorums of the Priesthood and establish and
maintain day and Sunday schools, Improvement Associations and Relief Societies; they can also co-operate for the good of all in financial and secular matters, in
making ditches, fencing fields, building bridges and other necessary improvements. Further than this they are a mutual protection and source of strength against horse
and cattle thieves, land jumpers, etc., and against hostile Indians, should there be any, while their compact organizations give them many advantages of a social and civil
character which might be lost, misapplied or frittered away by spreading out so thinly that inter-communication is difficult, dangerous, inconvenient or expensive.

This grand colonization plan produced a result that corresponds closely to Young's vision. He could not keep the "world" out of Zion or prevent its influences from
affecting the Saints; but Mormonism now occupied its own domain, where it developed its own characteristic society-a community so distinctive that it has been studied
as an ethnic group.

Sending gifted people with leadership qualities and other skills out to the settlements might appear to be dispersing talent, reducing the effective pool. In fact, however,
it appears that these people brought much more than good management to their scattered villages. Among frontier settlements, Mormons had higher than average
educational and cultural activities. Thus, many of these small towns produced individuals who achieved prominense in various fields, including a much higher than
average proportion of notable women.

Fifty years of migratory "gathering to Zion" was sufficient to fulfill the purpose. As late as 1897, George Q. Cannon of the Church's First Presidency advised members
to come to Utah. However, by this time the rural economy of the region was straining to support so many people who had growing expectations of a modern lifestyle.
And the number of members outside the United States was increasing rapidly.

In 1898, President Cannon announced a new policy. Henceforth, Zion would be defined as being wherever the pure in heart meet in the name of the Lord. Members
outside the area were counseled to stay where they were and, after the pattern set in the Mormon colonies, build up the Church in their own lands. Immigration
decreased thereafter, but hardy pioneers in the younger generation were still able to colonize new lands as they became available. At a declining pace, new Mormon
colonizing continued for another thirty years.

The Colonies

Milton R. Hunter broke ground with his list of Mormon settlements in the 1930s, but his resources were limited, and his period covered only Brigham Young's
lifetime. Lynn Albert Rosenvall took the list up to 1900 in his thesis of 1972. This writer, while doing research for the Museum of Church History and Art, found
more nineteenth-century communities and others that were founded as Latter-day Saint colonies up to 1930. The inventory now stands at a total of 742 in the western
United States, Canada, Mexico, and Polynesia. This figure may yet be incomplete, but nearly final.

Town County STATE/NATION Year

New Hope Stanislaus CALIFORNIA 1846
Salt Lake City Salt Lake UTAH 1847
Bountiful Davis UTAH 1847
Farmington Davis UTAH 1847
Pleasant Green Salt Lake UTAH 1847
Snyderville Summit UTAH 1847
Big Cottonwood Salt Lake UTAH 1848
Centerville Davis UTAH 1848
East Millcreek Salt Lake UTAH 1848
Mound Fort Weber UTAH 1848
North Salt Lake Davis UTAH 1848
Natoma Stanislaus CALIFORNIA 1848
Ogden Weber UTAH 1848
South Cottonwood Salt Lake UTAH 1848
South Ogden Weber UTAH 1848
Sugar House Salt Lake UTAH 1848
Taylorsville Salt Lake UTAH 1848
West Jordan Salt Lake UTAH 1848
Woods Cross Davis UTAH 1848
Brighton Salt Lake UTAH 1849
Draper Salt Lake UTAH 1849
Genoa Douglas NEVADA 1849
Granger Salt Lake UTAH 1849
Kaysville Davis UTAH 1849
Lynne Weber UTAH 1849
Manti Sanpete UTAH 1849
Marriott Weber UTAH 1849
Mills Junction Tooele UTAH 1849
Northpoint Salt Lake UTAH 1849
Provo Utah UTAH 1849
Tooele Tooele UTAH 1849
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Alpine Utah UTAH 1850
American Fork Utah UTAH 1850
Mills Junction Tooele UTAH 1849
Northpoint Salt Lake UTAH 1849
Provo Utah UTAH 1849
Tooele Tooele UTAH 1849
Union Salt Lake UTAH 1849
Alpine Utah UTAH 1850
American Fork Utah UTAH 1850
Grantsville Tooele UTAH 1850
Harrisville Weber UTAH 1850
Irontown Iron UTAH 1850
Lakeview Tooele UTAH 1850
Layton Davis UTAH 1850
Lehi Utah UTAH 1850
Lindon Utah UTAH 1850
North Ogden Weber UTAH 1850
Parley's Park Summit UTAH 1850
Payson Utah UTAH 1850
Pleasant Grove Utah UTAH 1850
Pleasant View Utah UTAH 1850
Riverdale Weber UTAH 1850
Slaterville Weber UTAH 1850
Spanish Fork Utah UTAH 1850
Springville Utah UTAH 1850
Uintah Weber UTAH 1850
West Weber Weber UTAH 1850
Brigham City Box Elder UTAH 1851
Cedar City Iron UTAH 1851
Enoch Iron UTAH 1851
Farr West Weber UTAH 1851
Fillmore Millard UTAH 1851
Herriman Salt Lake UTAH 1851
Midvale Salt Lake UTAH 1851
Millcreek Salt Lake UTAH 1851
Mona Juab UTAH 1851
Nephi Juab UTAH 1851
Parowan Iron UTAH 1851
Pleasant View Weber UTAH 1851
Salem Utah UTAH 1851
San Bernardino S. B. CALIFORNIA 1851
Santaquin Utah UTAH 1851
South Weber Davis UTAH 1851
Taylor Weber UTAH 1851
Willard Box Elder UTAH 1851
Cedar Fort Utah UTAH 1852
Erda Tooele UTAH 1852
Hamilton's Fort Iron UTAH 1852
Harper Box Elder UTAH 1852
Mount Pleasant Sanpete UTAH 1852
New Harmony Washington UTAH 1852
Palmyra Utah UTAH 1852
[Panther Lake] Kitsap WASHINGTON 1852
Paragonah Iron UTAH 1852
Spring City Sanpete UTAH 1852
Fort Supply Uinta WYOMING 1853
Perry Box Elder UTAH 1853
West Warren Weber UTAH 1853
Wilson Weber UTAH 1853
Clover Tooele UTAH 1854
Crescent Salt Lake UTAH 1854
Ephraim Sanpete UTAH 1854
Ephraim, Lanai Maui HAWAII 1854
Fort Saint Luke Utah UTAH 1854
Hatton Millard UTAH 1854
Hooper Weber UTAH 1854
Lake Point Tooele UTAH 1854
Santa Clara Washington UTAH 1854
Wanship Summit UTAH 1854
College Cache UTAH 1855
Fairfield Utah UTAH 1855
Fort Lemhi Lemhi IDAHO 1855
Fort Bridger Uinta WYOMING 1855
Holden Millard UTAH 1855
Lakeview Utah UTAH 1855
Las Vegas Clark NEVADA 1855
Moab Grand UTAH 1855
Morgan Morgan UTAH 1855
Peterson Morgan UTAH 1855
Pine Valley (c)
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Portage Box Elder UTAH 1855
Beaver Beaver UTAH 1856
Frankton Washoe NEVADA 1856
Las Vegas Clark NEVADA 1855
Moab Grand UTAH 1855
Morgan Morgan UTAH 1855
Peterson Morgan UTAH 1855
Pine Valley Washington UTAH 1855
Portage Box Elder UTAH 1855
Beaver Beaver UTAH 1856
Frankton Washoe NEVADA 1856
Hamblin Washington UTAH 1856
Littleton Morgan UTAH 1856
Mapleton Utah UTAH 1856
Milton Morgan UTAH 1856
Pinto Washington UTAH 1856
Wellsville Cache UTAH 1856
Goshen Utah UTAH 1857
Grafton Washington UTAH 1857
Gunlock Washington UTAH 1857
Meadow Millard UTAH 1857
Mendon Cache UTAH 1857
Mountain Green Morgan UTAH 1857
Peoa Summit UTAH 1857
Supply City Uinta WYOMING 1857
Washington Washington UTAH 1857
Deseret Millard UTAH 1858
North Creek Beaver UTAH 1858
Price Washington UTAH 1858
Shivwits Washington UTAH 1858
Virgin Washington UTAH 1858
Charleston Wasatch UTAH 1859
Cluff Summit UTAH 1859
Coalville Summit UTAH 1859
East Porterville Morgan UTAH 1859
Eden Weber UTAH 1859
Fairview Sanpete UTAH 1859
Fountain Green Sanpete UTAH 1859
Gunnison Sanpete UTAH 1859
Harrisburg Washington UTAH 1859
Heber Wasatch UTAH 1859
Henefer Summit UTAH 1859
Hoytsville Summit UTAH 1859
Ibapah Tooele UTAH 1859
Kanosh Millard UTAH 1859
Logan Cache UTAH 1859
Manderfield Beaver UTAH 1859
Midway Wasatch UTAH 1859
Millville Cache UTAH 1859
Minersville Beaver UTAH 1859
Moroni Sanpete UTAH 1859
Mound City Wasatch UTAH 1859
Mounds Emery UTAH 1859
Plain City Weber UTAH 1859
Providence Cache UTAH 1859
Richmond Cache UTAH 1859
Smithfield Cache UTAH 1859
South Jordan Salt Lake UTAH 1859
Springlake Utah UTAH 1859
Summit Iron UTAH 1859
Tonaquint Washington UTAH 1859
Toquerville Washington UTAH 1859
Adventure Washington UTAH 1860
Avon Cache UTAH 1860
Benjamin Utah UTAH 1860
Center Creek Wasatch UTAH 1860
Cove Fort Millard UTAH 1860
Franklin Franklin IDAHO 1860
Greenville Beaver UTAH 1860
Huntsville Weber UTAH 1860
Hyde Park Cache UTAH 1860
Hyrum Cache UTAH 1860
Juab Juab UTAH 1860
Kamas Summit UTAH 1860
North Morgan Morgan UTAH 1860
Paradise Cache UTAH 1860
Porterville Morgan UTAH 1860
Richville Morgan UTAH 1860
Rockport Summit UTAH 1860
Scipio Millard UTAH 1860
Duncan's
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Echo Summit UTAH 1861
Enterprise Morgan UTAH 1861
Enterprise Washington UTAH 1861
Porterville Morgan UTAH 1860
Richville Morgan UTAH 1860
Rockport Summit UTAH 1860
Scipio Millard UTAH 1860
Duncan's Retreat Washington UTAH 1861
Echo Summit UTAH 1861
Enterprise Morgan UTAH 1861
Enterprise Washington UTAH 1861
Fayette Sanpete UTAH 1861
Honeyville Box Elder UTAH 1861
Kanarraville Iron UTAH 1861
Mountain Dell Salt Lake UTAH 1861
Mountain Dell Washington UTAH 1861
Pintura Washington UTAH 1861
Rockville Washington UTAH 1861
St. George Washington UTAH 1861
Upton Summit UTAH 1861
Adamsville Beaver UTAH 1862
Croydon Morgan UTAH 1862
Hebron Washington UTAH 1862
Northrup Washington UTAH 1862
Shonesburg Washington UTAH 1862
Springdale Washington UTAH 1862
Vernon Tooele UTAH 1862
Wallsburg Wasatch UTAH 1862
Zion Washington UTAH 1862
Ajax Tooele UTAH 1863
Cheney's Ranch Juab UTAH 1863
Foster's Ranch Washington UTAH 1863
Mantua Box Elder UTAH 1863
Middleton Washington UTAH 1863
Monroe Sevier UTAH 1863
Nashville Franklin IDAHO 1863
Paris Bear Lake IDAHO 1863
Pipe Springs Mohave ARIZONA 1863
Salina Sevier UTAH 1863
Bennington Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Bloomington Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Call's Landing Clark NEVADA 1864
Circleville Paiute UTAH 1864
Clarkston Cache UTAH 1864
Clinton Davis UTAH 1864
Dalton Washington UTAH 1864
Deweyville Box Elder UTAH 1864
Eden Jerome IDAHO 1864
Fish Haven Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Glendale Kane UTAH 1864
Glenwood Sevier UTAH 1864
Indianola Sanpete UTAH 1864
Joseph Sevier UTAH 1864
Kanab Kane UTAH 1864
Laketown Rich UTAH 1864
Liberty Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Malad Oneida IDAHO 1864
Marsh Valley Bannock IDAHO 1864
Marysvale Paiute UTAH 1864
Moccasin Mohave ARIZONA 1864
Montpelier Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Mount Carmel Kane UTAH 1864
Ovid Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Oxford Franklin IDAHO 1864
Panaca Lincoln NEVADA 1864
Panguitch Garfield UTAH 1864
Richfield Sevier UTAH 1864
Round Valley Rich UTAH 1864
St. Charles Bear Lake IDAHO 1864
Walnut Grove Yavapai ARIZONA 1864
Alton Kane UTAH 1865
Bluffdale Salt Lake UTAH 1865
Cherry Creek Oneida IDAHO 1865
Eagle Valley Lincoln NEVADA 1865
Laie, Oahu Honolulu HAWAII 1865
Littlefield Mohave ARIZONA 1865
Logandale Clark NEVADA 1865
Milburn Sanpete UTAH 1865
Mill Point Clark NEVADA 1865
Mound Valley Franklin IDAHO 1865
Oak   City Millard
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Paria Kane UTAH 1865
Saint Thomas Clark NEVADA 1865
Simonsville Clark NEVADA 1865
Logandale Clark NEVADA 1865
Milburn Sanpete UTAH 1865
Mill Point Clark NEVADA 1865
Mound Valley Franklin IDAHO 1865
Oak City Millard UTAH 1865
Paria Kane UTAH 1865
Saint Thomas Clark NEVADA 1865
Simonsville Clark NEVADA 1865
Spring Valley Lincoln NEVADA 1865
Wardboro Bear Lake IDAHO 1865
Weston Franklin IDAHO 1865
Woodruff Oneida IDAHO 1865
Bear River City Box Elder UTAH 1866
Beaver Dam Box Elder UTAH 1866
Fort Sanford Garfield UTAH 1866
Thatcher Franklin IDAHO 1866
Elephant Wayne UTAH 1867
Leeds Washington UTAH 1867
Petersboro Cache UTAH 1867
Saint John Tooele UTAH 1867
Sandy Town Clark NEVADA 1867
West Point Davis UTAH 1867
Dayton Franklin IDAHO 1868
Kanesville Weber UTAH 1868
Levan Juab UTAH 1868
Newton Cache UTAH 1868
Oakley Summit UTAH 1868
Ridgedale Oneida IDAHO 1868
Samaria Oneida IDAHO 1868
St. John Oneida IDAHO 1868
Treasureton Franklin IDAHO 1868
Cleveland Franklin IDAHO 1869
Clifton Franklin IDAHO 1869
Eureka Juab UTAH 1869
Fairview Franklin IDAHO 1869
Junction City Clark NEVADA 1869
Meadowville Rich UTAH 1869
Overton Clark NEVADA 1869
Park Valley Box Elder UTAH 1869
Plymouth Box Elder UTAH 1869
Skull Valley Tooele UTAH 1869
Wales Sanpete UTAH 1869
West Point Clark NEVADA 1869
Cambridge Bannock IDAHO 1870
Cannon Salt Lake UTAH 1870
Chester Sanpete UTAH 1870
Clover Valley Lincoln NEVADA 1870
Lewiston Cache UTAH 1870
Milford Beaver UTAH 1870
Randolph Rich UTAH 1870
Riverton Salt Lake UTAH 1870
Scutumpah Kane UTAH 1870
Trenton Cache UTAH 1870
Woodruff Rich UTAH 1870
Annabella Sevier UTAH 1871
Benson Cache UTAH 1871
Cove Cache UTAH 1871
Dingle Bear Lake IDAHO 1871
Freedom Sanpete UTAH 1871
Georgetown Bear Lake IDAHO 1871
Hillsdale Garfield UTAH 1871
Johnson Kane UTAH 1871
Leamington Millard UTAH 1871
Mayfield Sanpete UTAH 1871
Moencopi Coconino ARIZONA 1871
Pioche Lincoln NEVADA 1871
Sandy Salt Lake UTAH 1871
Snowville Box Elder UTAH 1871
Soda Springs Caribou IDAHO 1871
Vermilion Sevier UTAH 1871
Asay Town Garfield UTAH 1872
Ashley Uintah UTAH 1872
Central Sevier UTAH 1872
Hatch Garfield UTAH 1872
Lake Shore Utah UTAH 1872
Lee's Ferry Coconino ARIZONA 1872
Mink Creek Franklin IDAHO 1872
Preston Franklin
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Riverdale Franklin IDAHO 1872
Sterling Sanpete UTAH 1872
Warren Weber UTAH 1872
Hatch Garfield UTAH 1872
Lake Shore Utah UTAH 1872
Lee's Ferry Coconino ARIZONA 1872
Mink Creek Franklin IDAHO 1872
Preston Franklin IDAHO 1872
Riverdale Franklin IDAHO 1872
Sterling Sanpete UTAH 1872
Warren Weber UTAH 1872
Adairville Kane UTAH 1873
Antimony Garfield UTAH 1873
Bern Bear Lake IDAHO 1873
Burrville Sevier UTAH 1873
Elba Cassia IDAHO 1873
Prattville Sevier UTAH 1873
Tuba City Coconino ARIZONA 1873
Venice Sevier UTAH 1873
Whitney Franklin IDAHO 1873
Buysville Wasatch UTAH 1874
Cannonville Garfield UTAH 1874
Clinton Utah UTAH 1874
Crafton Millard UTAH 1874
Daniel Wasatch UTAH 1874
Elsinore Sevier UTAH 1874
Grass Valley Washington UTAH 1874
Greenwich Paiute UTAH 1874
Koosharem Sevier UTAH 1874
Mount Trumbull Mohave ARIZONA 1874
Orderville Kane UTAH 1874
Thatcher Box Elder UTAH 1874
Woodland Summit UTAH 1874
Albion Cassia IDAHO 1875
Argyle Rich UTAH 1875
Aurora Sevier UTAH 1875
Carterville Utah UTAH 1875
Chesterfield Caribou IDAHO 1875
Collinston Box Elder UTAH 1875
Escalante Garfield UTAH 1875
Kahana, Oahu Honolulu HAWAII 1875
Mapleton Franklin IDAHO 1875
Marion Summit UTAH 1875
Nounan Bear Lake IDAHO 1875
Redmond Sevier UTAH 1875
Washakie Box Elder UTAH 1875
Brigham City Navajo ARIZONA 1876
Clifton Garfield UTAH 1876
Fremont Wayne UTAH 1876
Grouse Creek Box Elder UTAH 1876
Hunter Salt Lake UTAH 1876
Joseph City Navajo ARIZONA 1876
Kingston Paiute UTAH 1876
Millville Coconino ARIZONA 1876
Obed Navajo ARIZONA 1876
Ramah McKinley NEW MEXICO 1876
Raymond Bear Lake IDAHO 1876
Seboyeta Valencia NEW MEXICO 1876
Sunset Navajo ARIZONA 1876
Tonto Basin Gila ARIZONA 1876
Widtsoe Garfield UTAH 1876
Woodruff Navajo ARIZONA 1876
Austin Sevier UTAH 1877
Bunkerville Clark NEVADA 1877
Castledale Emery UTAH 1877
Dover Sanpete UTAH 1877
Etna Box Elder UTAH 1877
Ferron Emery UTAH 1877
Garden Creek Bannock IDAHO 1877
Garden City Rich UTAH 1877
Granite Salt Lake UTAH 1877
Huntington Emery UTAH 1877
Jensen Uintah UTAH 1877
Lake Creek Wasatch UTAH 1877
Lanark Bear Lake IDAHO 1877
Loa Wayne UTAH 1877
Orangeville Emery UTAH 1877
Orem Utah UTAH 1877
Papago Maricopa ARIZONA 1877
Price Carbon UTAH 1877
Showlow
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St. David Cochise ARIZONA 1877
Syracuse Davis UTAH 1877
Wellington Carbon UTAH 1877
Orangeville Emery UTAH 1877
Orem Utah UTAH 1877
Papago Maricopa ARIZONA 1877
Price Carbon UTAH 1877
Showlow Navajo ARIZONA 1877
St. David Cochise ARIZONA 1877
Syracuse Davis UTAH 1877
Wellington Carbon UTAH 1877
Almo Cassia IDAHO 1878
Basin Cassia IDAHO 1878
Conejos Conejos COLORADO 1878
Forest Dale Navajo ARIZONA 1878
Fort Moroni Coconino ARIZONA 1878
Fruitland San Juan NEW MEXICO 1878
Gooseberry Sevier UTAH 1878
Holbrook Oneida IDAHO 1878
Maeser Uintah UTAH 1878
Mazatzal Yavapai ARIZONA 1878
Mesa Maricopa ARIZONA 1878
Molen Emery UTAH 1878
Mountain Dell Uintah UTAH 1878
Naples Uintah UTAH 1878
Oasis Millard UTAH 1878
Pine Gila ARIZONA 1878
Pinedale Navajo ARIZONA 1878
Reidhead Navajo ARIZONA 1878
Snowflake Navajo ARIZONA 1878
Taylor (#1) Navajo ARIZONA 1878
Taylor (#2) Navajo ARIZONA 1878
Vernal Uintah UTAH 1878
Adair Navajo ARIZONA 1879
Alpine Apache ARIZONA 1879
Annis Jefferson IDAHO 1879
Auburn Lincoln WYOMING 1879
Bicknell Wayne UTAH 1879
Bloomington Washington UTAH 1879
Eager Apache ARIZONA 1879
Ephraim Conejos COLORADO 1879
Erastus Apache ARIZONA 1879
Freedom Lincoln WYOMING 1879
Greer Apache ARIZONA 1879
Hunt Apache ARIZONA 1879
Junction Paiute UTAH 1879
Lawrence Emery UTAH 1879
Linden Navajo ARIZONA 1879
Manassa Conejos COLORADO 1879
Meadows Apache ARIZONA 1879
Menan Jefferson IDAHO 1879
Nutrioso Apache ARIZONA 1879
Parker Fremont IDAHO 1879
Pima Graham ARIZONA 1879
Pleasant Valley Carbon UTAH 1879
Rockland Power IDAHO 1879
Scofield Carbon UTAH 1879
Shumway Navajo ARIZONA 1879
Spring Glen Carbon UTAH 1879
Springerville Apache ARIZONA 1879
St. Johns Apache ARIZONA 1879
Teasdale Wayne UTAH 1879
Alma Maricopa ARIZONA 1880
Bluff San Juan UTAH 1880
Carey Blaine IDAHO 1880
Edgemont Utah UTAH 1880
Egin Fremont IDAHO 1880
Glenbar Graham ARIZONA 1880
Glines Uintah UTAH 1880
Lorenzo Jefferson IDAHO 1880
Mancos Montezuma COLORADO 1880
Mesquite Clark NEVADA 1880
Montezuma San Juan UTAH 1880
Oakley Cassia IDAHO 1880
Richfield Conejos COLORADO 1880
Torrey Wayne UTAH 1880
Eden Graham ARIZONA 1881
Emery Emery UTAH 1881
Graham Graham ARIZONA 1881
Holbrook Navajo ARIZONA 1881
Marion  Cassia
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Neeley Power IDAHO 1881
Thatcher Graham ARIZONA 1881
Aldridgeville Wayne UTAH 1882
Eden Graham ARIZONA 1881
Emery Emery UTAH 1881
Graham Graham ARIZONA 1881
Holbrook Navajo ARIZONA 1881
Marion Cassia IDAHO 1881
Neeley Power IDAHO 1881
Thatcher Graham ARIZONA 1881
Aldridgeville Wayne UTAH 1882
Centerfield Sanpete UTAH 1882
Central Graham ARIZONA 1882
Hatch Caribou IDAHO 1882
Lewisville Jefferson IDAHO 1882
Lyman Madison IDAHO 1882
Lynne Box Elder UTAH 1882
MacDonald Cochise ARIZONA 1882
Moulton Cassia IDAHO 1882
Pleasanton Capron NEW MEXICO 1882
Rexburg Madison IDAHO 1882
Richville Apache ARIZONA 1882
River Heights Cache UTAH 1882
Tempe Maricopa ARIZONA 1882
Alma Capron NEW MEXICO 1883
Archer Madison IDAHO 1883
Bryce Graham ARIZONA 1883
Caineville Wayne UTAH 1883
Giles Wayne UTAH 1883
Hanksville Wayne UTAH 1883
Heber Navajo ARIZONA 1883
Henrieville Garfield UTAH 1883
Hibbard Madison IDAHO 1883
Iona Bonneville IDAHO 1883
La Plata San Juan NEW MEXICO 1883
Layton Graham ARIZONA 1883
Luna Capron NEW MEXICO 1883
Pleasant View Oneida IDAHO 1883
Rigby Jefferson IDAHO 1883
Safford Graham ARIZONA 1883
Salem Madison IDAHO 1883
Teton Fremont IDAHO 1883
Ucon Bonneville IDAHO 1883
Wilford Navajo ARIZONA 1883
Wilford Fremont IDAHO 1883
Bothwell Box Elder UTAH 1884
Burton Madison IDAHO 1884
Jaroso Costilla COLORADO 1884
Labelle Jefferson IDAHO 1884
Ririe Jefferson IDAHO 1884
Afton Lincoln WYOMING 1885
Basalt Bingham IDAHO 1885
Cleveland Emery UTAH 1885
Colonia Juarez CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1885
Colonia Dï¿½az CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1885
Deep Creek Duchesne UTAH 1885
Fairview Lincoln WYOMING 1885
Franklin Graham ARIZONA 1885
Grover Lincoln WYOMING 1885
Lakeside Navajo ARIZONA 1885
Morgan Conejos COLORADO 1885
Notom Wayne UTAH 1885
Poplar Bonneville IDAHO 1885
Riverside Bingham IDAHO 1885
Sanford Conejos COLORADO 1885
Shelley Bingham IDAHO 1885
Spry Garfield UTAH 1885
Taylor Bonneville IDAHO 1885
Victor Emery UTAH 1885
Ellwood Box Elder UTAH 1886
Georgetown Kane UTAH 1886
Mill Fork Utah UTAH 1886
Mountain View Costilla COLORADO 1886
Osmond Lincoln WYOMING 1886
Blanca Costilla COLORADO 1887
Cardston ALBERTA, CANADA 1887
Cave Valley CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1887
Colonia Pacheco CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1887
Fox Creek Conejos COLORADO 1887
Fredonia Coconino ARIZONA 1887
Lehi Maricopa
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Monticello San Juan UTAH 1887
Nephi Maricopa ARIZONA 1887
Smoot Lincoln WYOMING 1887
Cave Valley CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1887
Colonia Pacheco CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1887
Fox Creek Conejos COLORADO 1887
Fredonia Coconino ARIZONA 1887
Lehi Maricopa ARIZONA 1887
Monticello San Juan UTAH 1887
Nephi Maricopa ARIZONA 1887
Smoot Lincoln WYOMING 1887
Verdure San Juan UTAH 1887
Aetna ALBERTA, CANADA 1888
Beulah Rio Arriba NEW MEXICO 1888
Cokeville Lincoln WYOMING 1888
Gandy Millard UTAH 1888
Chester Fremont IDAHO 1888
Geneva Bear Lake IDAHO 1888
Lago Caribou IDAHO 1888
Thayne Lincoln WYOMING 1888
Ammon Bonneville IDAHO 1889
Bates Teton IDAHO 1889
Boulder Garfield UTAH 1889
Bynum Teton MONTANA 1889
Colonia Dublï¿½n CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1889
Eastdale Costilla COLORADO 1889
Grace Caribou IDAHO 1889
Iosepa Tooele UTAH 1889
Marysville Fremont IDAHO 1889
Tetonia Teton IDAHO 1889
Victor Teton IDAHO 1889
Abraham Millard UTAH 1890
Bedford Lincoln WYOMING 1890
Cascade Cascade MONTANA 1890
Central Caribou IDAHO 1890
Fielding Box Elder UTAH 1890
Garland Box Elder UTAH 1890
Malta Cassia IDAHO 1890
Manila Utah UTAH 1890
Mountain View ALBERTA, CANADA 1890
North Logan Cache UTAH 1890
Turnerville Lincoln WYOMING 1890
Vernon Apache ARIZONA 1890
Beazer ALBERTA, CANADA 1891
Hinckley Millard UTAH 1891
Pinetop Navajo ARIZONA 1891
Tropic Garfield UTAH 1891
Colonia Oaxaca SONORA, MEXICO 1892
Fruita Wayne UTAH 1892
Liberty Weber UTAH 1892
Lund Caribou IDAHO 1892
Lyman Uinta WYOMING 1892
Romeo Conejos COLORADO 1892
Arbon Power IDAHO 1893
Burlington Big Horn WYOMING 1893
Byron Big Horn WYOMING 1893
Leavitt ALBERTA, CANADA 1893
Lyman Wayne UTAH 1893
Bench Caribou IDAHO 1894
Bluewater Valencia NEW MEXICO 1894
Chuichupa CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1894
Colonia Garcï¿½a CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1894
Driggs Teton IDAHO 1894
Moreland Bingham IDAHO 1894
Otto Big Horn WYOMING 1894
Riverside Box Elder UTAH 1894
Clawson Emery UTAH 1895
Galeana CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO 1895
Meadow Oneida IDAHO 1895
Rich Bingham IDAHO 1895
Sigurd Sevier UTAH 1895
Buckhorn Springs Iron UTAH 1896
Hurricane Washington UTAH 1896
Kimball Graham ARIZONA 1896
Manila Daggett UTAH 1896
Moore Emery UTAH 1896
Bench Creek Wasatch UTAH 1897
Kimball ALBERTA, CANADA 1897
Knightsville Utah UTAH 1897
Lund White Pine NEVADA 1897
Newcastle
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Sharon Bear Lake IDAHO 1897
Turner Caribou IDAHO 1897
Caldwell ALBERTA, CANADA 1898
Bench Creek Wasatch UTAH 1897
Kimball ALBERTA, CANADA 1897
Knightsville Utah UTAH 1897
Lund White Pine NEVADA 1897
Newcastle Iron UTAH 1897
Sharon Bear Lake IDAHO 1897
Turner Caribou IDAHO 1897
Caldwell ALBERTA, CANADA 1898
Georgetown White Pine NEVADA 1898
Jackson Teton WYOMING 1898
La Verkin Washington UTAH 1898
Magrath ALBERTA, CANADA 1898
Millburne Uinta WYOMING 1898
Mormon Row Teton WYOMING 1898
Mountain View Uinta WYOMING 1898
Preston White Pine NEVADA 1898
Standrod Box Elder UTAH 1898
Stirling ALBERTA, CANADA 1898
Taylorville ALBERTA, CANADA 1898
Thistle Utah UTAH 1898
Wilson Teton WYOMING 1898
Francis Summit UTAH 1899
Reed Beaver UTAH 1899
Roy Weber UTAH 1899
Vineyard Utah UTAH 1899
Algodon Graham ARIZONA 1900
Alpine Lincoln WYOMING 1900
Artesia Graham ARIZONA 1900
Basin Big Horn WYOMING 1900
Brooklyn Sevier UTAH 1900
Colonia Morelos SONORA, MEXICO 1900
Cowley Big Horn WYOMING 1900
Kane Big Horn WYOMING 1900
Kirtland San Juan NEW MEXICO 1900
Leland Utah UTAH 1900
Lovell Big Horn WYOMING 1900
Nibley Union OREGON 1900
Niter Caribou IDAHO 1900
Welling ALBERTA, CANADA 1900
Woolford ALBERTA, CANADA 1900
Hammond San Juan NEW MEXICO 1901
Orton ALBERTA, CANADA 1901
Raymond ALBERTA, CANADA 1901
Frankburg ALBERTA, CANADA 1902
Taber ALBERTA, CANADA 1902
Mapusaga, Tutuila SAMOA 1903
Sauniatu, Upolo SAMOA 1903
Blanding San Juan UTAH 1904
Bancroft Caribou IDAHO 1905
Colonia San Josï¿½ SONORA, MEXICO 1905
Duchesne Duchesne UTAH 1905
Heyburn Minidoka IDAHO 1905
Lapoint Uintah UTAH 1905
Midview Duchesne UTAH 1905
Randlett Uintah UTAH 1905
Strawberry Duchesne UTAH 1905
Tabiona Duchesne UTAH 1905
Talmage Duchesne UTAH 1905
Tridell Uintah UTAH 1905
Watson Uintah UTAH 1905
Ballard Uintah UTAH 1906
Bennett Uintah UTAH 1906
Boneta Duchesne UTAH 1906
Hayden Uintah UTAH 1906
Jackson Cassia IDAHO 1906
Kiz Carbon UTAH 1906
Monarch Duchesne UTAH 1906
Mount Emmons Duchesne UTAH 1906
Neola Duchesne UTAH 1906
Theodore Duchesne UTAH 1906
Utahn Duchesne UTAH 1906
Arcadia Duchesne UTAH 1907
Bluebell Duchesne UTAH 1907
Cedarview Duchesne UTAH 1907
Clearfield Davis UTAH 1907
Cornish Cache UTAH 1907
Delta Millard UTAH 1907
Hartford
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Ioka Duchesne UTAH 1907
Malaeimi, Tutuila SAMOA 1907
Roosevelt Duchesne UTAH 1907
Cedarview Duchesne UTAH 1907
Clearfield Davis UTAH 1907
Cornish Cache UTAH 1907
Delta Millard UTAH 1907
Hartford Duchesne UTAH 1907
Ioka Duchesne UTAH 1907
Malaeimi, Tutuila SAMOA 1907
Roosevelt Duchesne UTAH 1907
Upalco Duchesne UTAH 1907
Glenwood ALBERTA, CANADA 1908
Mountain Home Duchesne UTAH 1908
Buist Oneida IDAHO 1909
Carson Taos NEW MEXICO 1909
Crystal Power IDAHO 1909
Etna Lincoln WYOMING 1909
Summit Oneida IDAHO 1909
Hillspring ALBERTA, CANADA 1910
Leeton Uintah UTAH 1910
Pauline Power IDAHO 1910
Rosette Box Elder UTAH 1910
Sharon Utah UTAH 1910
Trailton Bingham IDAHO 1910
Penrose Box Elder UTAH 1911
Sutherland Millard UTAH 1911
Altonah Duchesne UTAH 1912
Antelope Duchesne UTAH 1912
Axtell Sanpete UTAH 1912
Davis Uintah UTAH 1912
Elmo Emery UTAH 1912
Grover Wayne UTAH 1912
La Sal San Juan UTAH 1912
Virden Hidalgo NEW MEXICO 1912
Sugarville Millard UTAH 1913
Benmore Tooele UTAH 1914
Blue Creek Box Elder UTAH 1914
Bluemesa Duchesne UTAH 1916
Cedar Creek Box Elder UTAH 1916
Little Cottonwood Salt Lake UTAH 1916
Sevier Sevier UTAH 1916
Sunset Davis UTAH 1916
Deaver Big Horn WYOMING 1917
Emerson Minidoka IDAHO 1917
Leota Uintah UTAH 1917
Altera Uintah UTAH 1918
Amalga Cache UTAH 1918
Central Washington UTAH 1918
Gusher Uintah UTAH 1918
Stoddard Morgan UTAH 1918
Veyo Washington UTAH 1918
Genola Utah UTAH 1919
McCornick Millard UTAH 1919
Flowell Millard UTAH 1920
Nibley Cache UTAH 1920
Montwell Duchesne UTAH 1921
Greenwood Millard UTAH 1923
Ivins Washington UTAH 1926
Vaiola, Savai'i SAMOA 1929
Gordon Creek Carbon UTAH 1930

Notes

  1. Ray Billington, Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier, 3rd ed. (New York: McMillan, 1967), 542.

  2. Ibid., 544.

  3. "Third General Epistle of the First Presidency," 12 April 1850, in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2: 45.

  4. Brigham Young and Daniel H. Wells to Elders Smith, Ballinger, Allen, and the Brethren encamped on the Little Colorado, 15 July 1875, as quoted in Clark, 2:
274.

  5. Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966), 26-27.

  6. Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1940), 13.

  7. Eugene Campbell, Establishing Zion: The Mormon Church in the American West (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988), 58.
Copyright (c) 2005-2009, Infobase Media Corp.                                                                                                    Page 71 / 128
  8. As quoted in Clark, 2: 350-51.

  9. From an informal conversation with Professors Leonard Arrington and Robert Bennion, 25 September 1994.
  6. Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1940), 13.

  7. Eugene Campbell, Establishing Zion: The Mormon Church in the American West (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988), 58.

  8. As quoted in Clark, 2: 350-51.

  9. From an informal conversation with Professors Leonard Arrington and Robert Bennion, 25 September 1994.

  10. Conference Reports of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, April 1898), 8.

  11. Hunter, 361-66.

  12. Lynn Albert Rosenvall, "Mormon Settlement Patterns, 1830-1900" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, 1972).

CHAPTER 9

Brigham Young and the Gathering to Zion

Richard L. Jensen

Associate Research Professor of Church History and Doctrine, Associate Research Professor, Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University

The call to flee from Babylon and gather to Zion had profound effects on the Latter-day Saint movement in the nineteenth century. No one shaped the gathering as
much as Brigham Young. In turn, his role in this monumental task for four and a half decades was one of the major facets of his adult life. We can learn much about
Brigham Young and about the dynamics of Mormon society from his approach to immigration and to the immigrants. Perhaps just as interesting is the feeling for the
man and his times that can be gained from his correspondence and epistles.

Like most of the early converts to Mormonism, Brigham Young learned quickly what it meant to relocate one's family. His own experience as a Latter-day Saint
emigrant from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri and to Illinois, provided background for his future leadership in the gathering process. He had major responsibilities
for organizing emigration from Great Britain in 1840-41 during the mission of the Twelve to that kingdom. What he expected and required of European emigrants could
not help but be influenced by his own experiences with a family and a people on the move, often under stress. Directing the migration of the Saints from Nauvoo to
Winter Quarters and then to the Salt Lake Valley was, in its way, simply another phase in a process that continued with the gathering of European converts to Zion in
the Rocky Mountains.

Church organization in Great Britain was already able to facilitate emigration to Deseret, but additional aid and encouragement were needed. Some of that came in the
form of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company (PEF). That enterprise was organized in 1849 to fulfill a covenant made in the Nauvoo Temple before the exodus to
the effect that "to the extent of our property and influence, we never would cease our exertions, until all the Saints who desired, should be removed to a place of
safety."

While that might have seemed applicable only to refugees from Nauvoo, Brigham Young interpreted its intent broadly, designing the Perpetual Emigrating Fund "to
increase until Israel is gathered from all nations, and the poor can sit under their own vine and inhabit their own house, and worship God in Zion." President Young's
efforts, along with assistance from the Fund and the Church, would help bring thousands of European emigrants to the Rocky Mountains.

The call to emigrate was particularly urgent in the 1850s and 1860s. As they sought to build a strong base of operations in the Mountain West and to provide converts
with opportunities they lacked in Europe, the Latter-day Saints were actuated by a pervasive feeling that the second coming of the Savior was near at hand and that the
millennial timetable called for swift action. The First Presidency directed in 1852:

When a people, or individuals, hear the Gospel, obey its first principles, are baptized for the remission of their sins, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of
hands, it is time for them to gather, without delay, to Zion; unless their Presidency shall call on them to tarry and preach the Gospel to those who have not heard it; and
generally, the longer they wait the more difficult it will be for them to come home; for he who has an oportunity to gather, and does not improve it, will be afflicted by
the devil.

Feelings of urgency were compounded by world events. The Crimean War in the mid-1850s and the American Civil War in the early 1860s saw Mormons emigrating
in large numbers at times when other Europeans were less likely to leave their homes. Crises reinforced the call to flee to Zion. In 1863, George Q. Cannon reported
that European Latter-day Saints felt they must emigrate that year because they were not sure when they would have another chance.

The major immigration drive of 1868 also had overtones of millennial urgency. Brigham Young wrote at the beginning of that year:

The nation in which we dwell is surely ripening for destruction. . . . Not many years will roll away before the sceptre will pass into the hands of the righteous, and the
people who possess this land be governed by the oracles of the Almighty.

Encouraged by the number of donations being made to the PEF, President Young contended, "If the Saints who dwell in this Territory were to subscribe the means
which they can well spare every honest person who has identified their interests with the Kingdom of God, might be emigrated next season."

This was a persistent theme: it should be possible to help all the Saints emigrate from Europe who wished to do so. Indeed, the rumor spread that Brigham Young
actually intended to help all the faithful Saints emigrate from Europe in 1868. But his optimism was tempered by the realization that his people as a whole would not
tighten their belts enough to make such ambitious aid available to emigrants. In late 1867 he wrote:

Donations for assisting the poor to emigrate from Europe another season are being pretty freely made by the brethren. If the saints would be prudent and not spend
their means at the gentile stores, there would be no difficulty experienced in emigrating all who wish to come to Zion another season; but very stringent economy we
cannot expect among the masses of people.

President Young used his imagination in his never-ending crusade to encourage donations to help the poor Latter-day Saints to emigrate. In 1850, with the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund Company only a year old, he tried a touch of humor: "Come on [you] tobacco chewers & put your 1000 [thousand dollars] into [the] Poor fund & I
will give you liberty to chew anot[her]r year."

Probably
 Copyrightmore  effective wasInfobase
            (c) 2005-2009,    his own example.  For the 1856 emigration season, with emigration funds depleted, he donated one of his homes, the White
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sold and the proceeds given to the PEF to help poor emigrants. In addition, he made available a flour mill and a house and farm in Sanpete County. In 1862, he told
a congregation: If any person or persons would purchase all my property at one half its cost and pay me the money, I would gladly sell all, devote the whole sum to
gathering the poor, and begin anew to build and plant, and thus not only greatly bless thousands who are distressed, but also prove again, as I have already proved
President Young used his imagination in his never-ending crusade to encourage donations to help the poor Latter-day Saints to emigrate. In 1850, with the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund Company only a year old, he tried a touch of humor: "Come on [you] tobacco chewers & put your 1000 [thousand dollars] into [the] Poor fund & I
will give you liberty to chew anot[her]r year."

Probably more effective was his own example. For the 1856 emigration season, with emigration funds depleted, he donated one of his homes, the White House, to be
sold and the proceeds given to the PEF to help poor emigrants. In addition, he made available a flour mill and a house and farm in Sanpete County. In 1862, he told
a congregation: If any person or persons would purchase all my property at one half its cost and pay me the money, I would gladly sell all, devote the whole sum to
gathering the poor, and begin anew to build and plant, and thus not only greatly bless thousands who are distressed, but also prove again, as I have already proved
scores of times, that there is a giving that enriches.

Expecting much of himself, Young also asked much of others, straightforwardly and with confidence. Characteristic was his written appeal to William H. Hooper in late
1867:

If you are willing for me to draw on you for a thousand dollars to assist the poor to emigrate next season please signify as much in your next communication. I shall
appropriate two thousand dollars for this purpose, and trust that you will find it convenient to donate the sum above mentioned.

That same donation drive netted $1,000 from the Walker brothers. Though they were apostates, Brigham Young thanked them in a personal letter, with a note that he
would be happy to apply the contribution to the names of any emigrants they might wish brought over.

President Young called on Church members throughout the world to help in the emigration effort. In 1858, he wrote to England: "This we consider the duty of every
Saint to help the poor Saints to gather home to Zion and use the means with which the Lord has blessed them to promote the cause of truth and righteousness upon the
earth."

If the Mormon people, with limited resources, were to effect the emigration of as many of their fellow believers as quickly as possible, priorities had to be set. The
effort and expense involved in carrying extra luggage and more than minimal provisions would decrease the number of Saints who could be brought west in a given
season. Brigham Young expected emigrants-particularly the poor who were being given aid-to make do without all the amenities one might appreciate on the overland
trek. In 1850, the First Presidency instructed:

The poor who can live in the States with little clothing, and little or no groceries, &c., can live equally as cheap on the road; and when once here, can procure the
comforts of life by their industry. Souls are the articles for the Perpetual Fund to gather home, and that, too, as many as possible; and other things will be attended to in
their time and place.

Not only was unnecessary luggage to be eliminated, but immigrants were to plan to walk as much of the way as possible. In 1851, the First Presidency pointed out:

Many of the English brethren and sisters think it a trifle to walk fifteen or twenty miles to hear preaching on the sabbath, and return home at evening, and then stand at
their labor the remainder of the week; and can they not walk twenty miles per day for fifty days, for the sake of getting to their Father's house; to the home of the Saints
in the Valley of the mountains?

Those who received assistance were to

. . . help themselves to the utmost of their ability; and not one bring stores of merchandize, to the expense of another's tarrying behind. . . . If those assisted by the Poor
Fund expect to ride in carriages and wagons over the mountains, the number you can forward will be very small; but if they have faith to walk through, a few teams
loaded with flour, will make a multitude comfortable, and many can be removed at little cost.

President Young did not want to subject the Saints to unnecessary hazards. Although it might have raised the total cost of emigration by as much as $10 per person, in
1854 he called for all Mormon immigrants to land at ports in the northeastern United States, rather than at New Orleans, because the incidence of serious illness had
been high on the Mississippi.

On the other hand, President Young did not want to provide immigrants with too many opportunities to use illness as an excuse for special treatment. In 1856, during
the first season of handcart immigration, he wrote,

I will say that it is all right not to provide wagons for infirm persons to accompany the hand carts for it would encourage infirmity or rather laziness which is quite as bad.
There would soon be but few able to walk if such arrangements were made.

With a late start and with many aged and infirm in the last companies, that year's handcart immigrants suffered tragic losses. Yet, overall, Brigham Young considered it
an "eminently successful" experiment and hoped it would play a major role in future Mormon immigration.

Minor changes would need to be made to avoid the recurrence of that year's pitfalls. He directed that a separate wagon train, rather than handcarts, be provided for
those who were very aged or who had major disabilities, and that one team and wagon be provided for emergency hauling for every two hundred handcart immigrants.


Brigham Young's fascination with the handcart scheme, despite its problems, suggests some interesting facets of his approach to immigration. For one thing, he seemed
to have a certain urge to innovate-to explore new approaches. For another, he relished the feeling of equality which the handcarts inevitably brought. He pointed out
that the immigrants, both with handcarts and with wagons, who came in late 1856 had to leave all their extra luggage on the plains, which meant that

All the saints of the last companies came in on a principle of equality such as has not existed since saints began to migrate: they all had to be helped in. The Independent
companies, and the hand cart saints of all grades and circumstances arrived here, having with them only the clothes they wore, these have cost us less trouble since their
arrival and done more good for themselves, than any company that has preceded them, apparently under more favorable circumstances.

Thus he suggested for the future:

1st. That all who can, will come by hand carts, & 2nd, that they bring nothing with them but what they wear, or may wear of necessity on the road, and can carry on
their hand carts. Thus you will perceive the money usually spent in England for extra clothing, and unnecessary "fiddle-faddles"-for extra freight on the same, and for
hauling this across the plains, can all be saved, and most assuredly, may be more profitably used on the arrival of the Saints here. Who will believe it? Who will act
accordingly? Can we persuade men to do right? & to leave the Mo. River by 1st July.

Brigham  Young's
 Copyright         hopes for Infobase
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                                        Media Corp.were part of a dream on which he and his people expended a great deal of effort, a dream that seemed   on the verge
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of becoming a reality just before its hopes faded. Young's hope was that ultimately Mormon supply stations could be set up every fifty miles along the overland trail with
provisions, feed for animals, and other necessities for immigrants. In early 1857, he wrote to England:
their hand carts. Thus you will perceive the money usually spent in England for extra clothing, and unnecessary "fiddle-faddles"-for extra freight on the same, and for
hauling this across the plains, can all be saved, and most assuredly, may be more profitably used on the arrival of the Saints here. Who will believe it? Who will act
accordingly? Can we persuade men to do right? & to leave the Mo. River by 1st July.

Brigham Young's hopes for handcart immigration were part of a dream on which he and his people expended a great deal of effort, a dream that seemed on the verge
of becoming a reality just before its hopes faded. Young's hope was that ultimately Mormon supply stations could be set up every fifty miles along the overland trail with
provisions, feed for animals, and other necessities for immigrants. In early 1857, he wrote to England:

We shall establish a few of such this year, thus you will perceive a man and his family with small means can walk from station to station, and have his supplies renewed
at every such place, without encumbering himself with very heavy loads at the first; the time when he is least accustomed to such travel, nor so well able to endure as he
afterwards can.

These hopes were initially tied closely to the ambitious Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company, a scheme whereby the Mormons would solicit a federal
contract to carry the mail as a base for a system of freighting, passenger transportation, and supply stations between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City. The mail
contract was canceled in 1857, concurrent with preparations to send the U.S. Army to Utah. The idea of establishing supply stations and even wayside support
settlements later surfaced now and again, and eventually flour was deposited for immigrants at a few locations along the route.

Brigham Young continued to tinker with the handcart arrangements, although the number of people moved was not as great as he would have liked. Before the 1860
immigration season-the last with a wide use of handcarts-he wrote:

The hand carts of last season suited me altogether better than those of any other season, for they are not only more reliable on the road but are also of value and real
utility here. But I want those for this year so made that the wheels will track with the narrow track wagons, i.e. 4 feet and 8 inches from center to center of tire, with tire
1/2 inch thick, hubs 5 1/2 inches in diameter beds 3 feet long, and the iron axle l 1/8 inch diameter at the shoulder.

Yet at the same time, President Young was exploring a number of alternatives to cut the costs of immigration and freighting. A week after his handcart letter, he asked
William H. Hooper to find a riverboat captain who would be willing to carry Mormon freight and immigrants up the middle stretches of the Missouri River, or even the
Yellowstone. He hoped in this way to cut overland travel to a minimum of perhaps four hundred miles. With a touch of humor, he acknowledged that it would be a
challenge to navigate that far upriver: "They will perhaps require boats that can run where the ground is a little damp."

Little came of that scheme, or of the later idea of shipping by way of the Colorado River. The most successful experiment was what became known in the years before
the coming of the transcontinental railroad as the Church Trains system. In 1860, Brigham Young's nephew Joseph W. Young helped prove that oxen could leave the
Salt Lake Valley in the spring, carry flour to be deposited for the use of immigrants, load freight and immigrants at the Missouri River, and return to the valley the same
season in good time and full health. This provided the basis for efficient, inexpensive emigration during the American Civil War, when millennial expectations and
anxiety to emigrate were again at a high point.

Providing aid to poor immigrants and a support system for each season's overall Mormon immigration often sorely taxed Mormon resources. Brigham Young wrote in
late 1861,

The gathering of Israel is so important a part of the great work in which we are engaged that it occupies much of our thoughts, and we are ever anxious to afford it all
just facilities and influence, even to the risk of infringing upon other requirements.

That was, if anything, an understatement. Yet occasionally President Young stepped in to attend to other priorities. In 1864, during a heavy immigration season, he
made the decision to focus Church resources the following year on the building of the Salt Lake Temple rather than sending teams and wagons to help immigrants
across the plains. Thus the 1865 immigrants came on a strictly private basis-in theory. Actually, delays, loss of cattle, and financial misfortunes for that year's
immigrants necessitated a costly relief expedition; Brigham Young's own teams, wagons, and employees played an important role.

Even a charitable enterprise, like relieving crippled immigrant companies, was a businesslike proposition under Brigham Young's leadership. Rather than relieving the
disadvantaged immigrants of eventual responsibility for their own welfare, he had a strict accounting kept of the help they were given and expected them to reimburse
their benefactors as soon as possible. He instructed captains of relief companies in 1854 that they were to charge the immigrants for the flour and provisions they used
because the supplies were privately owned. If the immigrants were unable to pay cash, arrangements were to be made for later repayment. President Young suggested
that the captains charge the going rate for flour in the Salt Lake market, six cents per pound, plus one and a half to two cents per pound for each hundred miles the flour
was hauled before the relief wagons reached the immigrants.

With characteristic attention to detail, the President directed further that tired animals must never be yoked with fresh ones, and that captains of the relief companies
must appoint overseers to be responsible for all the animals they provided to relieve the immigrants. The captain of each company receiving aid would be responsible
to arrange reimbursement for all assistance his company received.

With the coming of the telegraph in 1861, President Young could keep abreast of the progress and problems of each immigrant company. Captains routinely sent him
brief reports from telegraph stations en route, and more timely relief could be sent when it was required.

Brigham Young's involvement in immigration arrangements showed not only his concern for details but also some of his homely insights into the idiosyncracies of his
people. In 1866, he instructed supervisors of the overland immigrants that they should not caution the European Saints too much about their choice of drinking water
along the way because the immigrants would not be in a position to make good judgments on the matter, regardless of such instructions.

Though the river water will be apt to give them the diarrhea, until they become accustomed to it, yet it is much healthier than the wells and springs usually found in the
neighborhood of the river, and it will be better to direct the people to use it.

President Young and his agents felt that divine aid was a significant factor in the success of Mormon immigration efforts. At the end of a busy, challenging season in
1866, he paused to confide,

The Lord has signally fulfilled his promises; and if the people would open their eyes, they could easily perceive that there has been a greater power than that of man
exercised in their preservation in the midst of the varied vicissitudes through which they have passed.

He noted that during the Civil War, Latter-day Saint immigrants came through unscathed, although "rebel cruisers roamed the Ocean almost unchecked, capturing
Federal vessels at their pleasure." Looking forward, he exclaimed, "When the great Work shall be fully consummated, and the victory be fully achieved, man will be
compelled to giving the praise and glory unto the Lord for all that will have been done."
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After their arrival in Utah, immigrants sometimes needed practical advice to help them thrive in the new environment. While President Young was seldom the one to
give such counsel directly, he sometimes made suggestions to those who had that responsibility. In 1866, he called Norwegian Canute Peterson and former
Scandinavian mission president John Van Cott to serve as missionaries among the Scandinavian Saints of Sanpete and Sevier Counties and gave them these
He noted that during the Civil War, Latter-day Saint immigrants came through unscathed, although "rebel cruisers roamed the Ocean almost unchecked, capturing
Federal vessels at their pleasure." Looking forward, he exclaimed, "When the great Work shall be fully consummated, and the victory be fully achieved, man will be
compelled to giving the praise and glory unto the Lord for all that will have been done."

After their arrival in Utah, immigrants sometimes needed practical advice to help them thrive in the new environment. While President Young was seldom the one to
give such counsel directly, he sometimes made suggestions to those who had that responsibility. In 1866, he called Norwegian Canute Peterson and former
Scandinavian mission president John Van Cott to serve as missionaries among the Scandinavian Saints of Sanpete and Sevier Counties and gave them these
instructions:

We wish them to be taught the necessity of taking care of themselves, their stock and all that is entrusted to them. They should learn to handle their guns to advantage,
so as to be able to protect themselves and their families against the attacks and ravages of the Indians. Upon this point they have been generally remiss, and have not
felt the necessity of taking those precautions which people in new Settlements exposed to Indian attack, should always be vigilant in attending to. They must wake up
upon these points, and not allow covetousness to take such entire possession of them that their own true interests and the interests of the Kingdom, are neglected. They
should be willing to assist the Indians who are friendly when they need help, and not be so stingy as to disgust them.

You should urge them to seek for and recover the Spirit of the gospel which they received when they embraced this Work, and which, in many instances, has leaked
away from them in crossing the Ocean and the Plains and since their arrival here. They should be in possesion of the Spirit of their religion and have the power of God
resting down upon them; and if they enjoy these blessings, they will not be likely to apostatize.

The need to implement these instructions was particularly urgent in that they were given during the Black Hawk War, which involved hostilities in Sanpete and Sevier
counties and evacuation of some settlements.

Some immigrants had more difficulty adjusting to life in frontier Utah than others. A poignant illustration is the story of a British-born divorcee, converted in India, who
immigrated in 1865. About fifty years old, she wrote that she was "not used to any out door or in door work, such being the matter we are brought up in India, not
from choice but from custom of the country where there are many servants to work for us." She hoped to be able to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, knitting, and
sewing to the children of Brigham Young or another "well regulated family," and she assured the President that she could produce good recommendations. Bothered by
rheumatism, unable to tolerate the cold Utah winters, she wrote,

I cannot stir from the fireside much less do out door work, I do not wish to live upon the Church for my entire support but I shall do what I can to work a living for
myself shall make myself generally useful in a family if I have time from my other duties but will be excused cooking & washing.

Brigham Young was frankly perplexed. He wrote, "I really do not know what to do with you. It would not be convenient for me to take you into any of my families. My
own folks have to work, carry water, wash, build their own fires, cook, &c., and mostly wait upon themselves." Then he added some homely advice about frontier
Mormon hospitality:

The Saints who gather here we are glad to see, and we feel to do all that we can to aid, comfort and counsel them; but it is as absolutely necessary for every man,
woman and child who embraces this work and gathers to Zion to do all that he or she can to forward the work of God to build up Zion, and to aid in the redemption
thereof. We, all of us, have as much as we can do to discharge the duties which devolve upon us. Our zeal in this labor, and the earnestness with which we pursue it,
causes us sometimes to appear, in the eyes of the inexperienced, indifferent to the situation of new-comers. Still, this has a tendency to develop energy and self-reliance
in the Saints that they could not otherwise have, were they not to be thrown on their resources.

I should advise you to get acquainted with the people around, and see if you can get situated to suit yourself; and then if you are not able to provide yourself as you
need we will render you assistance.

Mutual acquaintances tried to help, and President Young himself offered his aid, but the woman could not accommodate herself to the climate and the frontier way of
life. She asked if she might have her endowment and have help to return to England, where she had friends who might help her back to India. Although the president
advised her to stay in Utah and try to fit in, she apparently left the territory after more than three years of maladjustment.

Some immigrants left the faith. Of some of these Brigham Young wrote,

It is often the case that so soon as a man who never owned a cow or a pig nor any living animal gets here and begins to rise in regard to property that he forgets his
God and all that has been done for him, and from thenceforth is not satisfied until he gets back into hell from whence he came. It is manifestly better for all such persons
to remain and even die in the world without gathering at all so they die in the faith than come here only to apostatize and finally go to hell at last.

In view of all the problems of acculturation of immigrants, President Young could be permitted a little tongue-in-cheek enthusiasm over an alternative method for
swelling the population of Zion. In 1867-another year without official Church promotion of immigration-he wrote to England: Of late we have felt led to give
considerable instruction to our young people respecting marriage-encouraging them to enter into the bonds of matrimony, and in the absence of a foreign emigration,
endeavor to increase our home emigration, which we have, heretofore, found to be far the best, very few ever apostatizing and proving recreant to the truth.

Actually, at the same time, he was putting together plans for a very heavy immigration season in 1868. Thus he was not abandoning the "foreign" emigration-far from it.

A major frustration for President Young for the last quarter-century of his life was the failure of many immigrants to repay promptly the aid they had received for the
journey. More conscientious repayment could have enabled the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company to extend help to many hundreds more than it did, but its
effectiveness was constantly hampered by a lack of the resources to which it was entitled. In September 1855, Young sent PEF debtors an exhortation through their
bishops and presidents:

Will the Lord, Angels, and holy beings fellowship you if you longer neglect these matters, if you longer exhibit a careless indifference to this important subject? Will the
church and the brethren sustain you in their faith and prayers, while the lamentations and cries of the worthy poor are filling the ears of the Almighty for release and
deliverance?

No they will not; and if you do not act, feel, and do different, the withering curse of the Almighty will be upon you to darken your minds, to lessen your faith, and cause
a famine spiritual and temporal to consume you.

President Young asked all bishops to find the PEF debtors in their wards, notify his office, assess the debtors' circumstances, and obtain repayment as expeditiously as
possible. None should be unable to begin to pay something, but many might lack the skill or judgment to succeed financially. The bishops were to counsel with these
and do everything possible to help them increase their earnings and repay the Fund. Bishops were to allow no one still owing the Fund to leave their wards without
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first either repaying their loan or giving security for future payment.

In 1859, a collector was appointed for PEF accounts and for other debts owed the Church. President Young instructed him to be energetic, thorough, and systematic.
President Young asked all bishops to find the PEF debtors in their wards, notify his office, assess the debtors' circumstances, and obtain repayment as expeditiously as
possible. None should be unable to begin to pay something, but many might lack the skill or judgment to succeed financially. The bishops were to counsel with these
and do everything possible to help them increase their earnings and repay the Fund. Bishops were to allow no one still owing the Fund to leave their wards without
first either repaying their loan or giving security for future payment.

In 1859, a collector was appointed for PEF accounts and for other debts owed the Church. President Young instructed him to be energetic, thorough, and systematic.
But he counseled that rather than to "oppress the poor," when the collector found someone too poor to pay, he should give the debtor additional time and ask for a
promissory note.

In an economy largely based on barter of perishable goods, repayment of PEF indebtedness sometimes became rather involved. Brigham Young advised the bishop of
Moroni:

We will receive an ox from Sister Martha Blackham to apply on her indebtedness to the P.E. Company for her immigration, at such price as it may be appraised at
when it reaches here. Should the ox be incondition for beef and you soon meet a good chance for sending it before it shrinks, it may be well to forward it at once,
otherwise sister Blackham had better winter it and forward in the Spring, for cattle, other than those fit for beef, are of no use to us until another season.

In order to carry forward the gathering of the Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young expected much of his people, both of the immigrants and those who were already
gathered. Spartan travel arrangements, strict expectations for repayment, and the requirement to do as much as possible for oneself were just as much hallmarks of the
Mormon immigration process as were effective organization and mutual aid.

Yet when arrangements were found which could save lives or make more effective use of manpower, Brigham Young demonstrated that he had no fixation on rigor or
economy for its own sake. Although the transcontinental railroad-and initially the steamship-brought higher costs in cash, they made important savings in time and lives,
which he was quick to appreciate.

In 1868, with the railroad having eliminated about 650 miles of travel by foot or wagon, he reported enthusiastically to a missionary in Hawaii that the change "renders
their journey far less tedious and wearisome than formerly, to which, the health and spirits of these laterly arrived amply testify."

In 1877, shortly before President Young's death, a missionary suggested that a group of poor converts travel by handcart. Although the handcart scheme had been a
pet project of his, by now Brigham Young was far beyond that. He suggested that the money saved would be inconsequential in comparison to the time and exertions it
would require. Rather than resorting to handcarts, he preferred to let the people work for the Church the number of days equivalent to the handcart journey in order to
pay for their rail travel.

If his correspondence is any indication, Brigham Young's day-to-day involvement with immigration matters tapered off after the coming of the transcontinental railroad.
His resignation as president of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company in 1870 was part of this process, signaling a transition to a different style of management for the
immigration effort. With cash, not manpower or oxen, being the key to passenger arrangements, and with fewer worries about immigrant companies encountering
problems en route, Young could relax a bit more. Still, he continued to maintain a lively interest in the enterprise.

The extent of President Young's emotional involvement in the gathering process is evident in his 1869 response to a question posed by an Eastern periodical about the
mission of Mormonism. As he discussed his people's accomplishments, he passed lightly over the proverbial conquering of the desert and their material achievements.
His main emphasis was on their success in gathering together converts of diverse backgrounds to form a remarkably harmonious community. For Brigham Young, this
was evidence of divine inspiration.

Notes

   1. Minutes of Special Conference, 15 September 1850, Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company Records, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah (hereafter referred to as LDS Church Historical Archives). The abbreviation PEF will hereafter be used to
denote Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company. See also Second General Epistle, 12 October 1849, in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2: 34.

  2. First Presidency (Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards) to Orson Hyde, 16 October 1849, in Clark, 2: 39.

  3. Seventh General Epistle, 18 April 1852, in Clark, 2: 98.

  4. Cannon to Young, 2 January 1863, European Mission Letterpress Copybooks (hereafter referred to as EM Letterbooks), LDS Church Historical Archives.

  5. Brigham Young to John Brown, l January 1868, Brigham Young Letterbooks (hereafter referred to as Young Letterbooks), Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church
Historical Archives.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Brigham Young to William H. Hooper, 20 December 1867, Young Letterbooks.

  8. Conference, 7 [8] September 1850, 2:00 p.m., General Minutes, Brigham Young Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  9. List of property, 31 August 1855, Young Letterbooks.

  10. Brigham Young to George Q. Cannon, 11 October 1862, Young Letterbooks.

  11. Brigham Young to W. H. Hooper, 20 December 1867, Young Letterbooks.

  12. Brigham Young to Walker Brothers, 7 January 1868, Young Letterbooks.

  13. Brigham Young to Asa Calkin, 10 September 1858, Young Letterbooks.

  14. Fourth General Epistle, 27 September 1850, in Clark, 2: 60.
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  15. Sixth General Epistle, 22 September 1851, in Clark, 2: 88.
  13. Brigham Young to Asa Calkin, 10 September 1858, Young Letterbooks.

  14. Fourth General Epistle, 27 September 1850, in Clark, 2: 60.

  15. Sixth General Epistle, 22 September 1851, in Clark, 2: 88.

  16. Ibid., 89.

  17. Brigham Young to Franklin D. Richards, 30 June and 2 August 1854, Young Letterbooks.

  18. Brigham Young to John Taylor, 28 July 1856, Young Letterbooks.

  19. Fourteenth General Epistle, 10 December 1856, in Clark, 2: 199-201.

  20. Ibid., 200.

  21. Brigham Young to Orson Pratt, 27 January 1857, Young Letterbooks.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Brigham Young to Orson Pratt, 1 March 1857, Young Letterbooks.

  24. On the Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company, see Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints 1830-
1900 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1958), 162-70. On later consideration of way stations and support settlements, see Brigham Young to
Joseph E. Johnson, Young Letterbook, 4: 449-50; to Joel H. Johnson, 17 October 1858; to Horace S. Eldredge, 20 October 1858 and 6 May 1859; to William H.
Hooper, 30 January 1860; to J. E. Johnson, 19 April 1860; to William Pyper, 25 April 1860; to W. H. Hooper, 5 December 1865, Young Letterbooks.

  25. Brigham Young to W. H. Hooper, 23 February 1860, Young Letterbooks.

  26. Brigham Young to William H. Hooper, 23 February and 8 March 1860, Young Letterbooks. Brigham Young first proposed this scheme as early as November
1855. See Arrington, 163.

  27. Brigham Young to W. H. Hooper, 8 March 1860, Young Letterbooks.

  28. Brigham Young to Nathaniel V. Jones and Jacob Gates, 20 December 1860, Young Letterbooks.

  29. Brigham Young to Amasa Lyman, 15 November 1861, Young Letterbooks.

  30. Brigham Young to Joseph W. Young at Wyoming, Nebraska, 9 June 1864, Young Letterbooks.

  31. Brigham Young to presiding officers and bishops, 26 October 1865; to Orson Arnold, 28 October 1865, Young Letterbooks.

  32. Brigham Young to captains of relief companies, September 1854, Brigham Young Letterbook, 1: 665-66.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Incoming Telegrams, 1862-1866, Brigham Young Papers.

  35. Brigham Young to Isaac Bullock and William W. Riter at Wyoming, Nebraska, 6 May 1866, Young Letterbooks.

  36. Brigham Young to Orson Pratt, Sr., 29 October 1866, Young Letterbooks.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Brigham Young to Canute Peterson, 16 May 1866, Young Letterbooks.

  40. Emilia McMahon to Brigham Young, 7 February 1866, Brigham Young Papers.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Brigham Young to Mrs. E. McMahon, 4 May 1866, Young Letterbooks.

  43. Ibid.

   44. Mrs. E. McMahon to Brigham Young, 8 April, 3 May 1866; to Young, undated letter received 5 August 1866, Brigham Young Papers; Brigham Young to Mrs.
E. Mahon, 5-7 January 1869, Young Letterbook.

  45. Brigham Young to Asa Calkin, 10 September 1858, Young Letterbooks.

  46. Brigham Young to Franklin D. Richards, 25 September 1867, Young Letterbooks.

  47. Circular to presidents and bishops in Utah, September 1855, in Clark, 2: 176.

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  49. Circular, September 1855, in Clark, 2: 174.
  46. Brigham Young to Franklin D. Richards, 25 September 1867, Young Letterbooks.

  47. Circular to presidents and bishops in Utah, September 1855, in Clark, 2: 176.

  48. Notice, 2 November 1854, in Clark, 2: 156.

  49. Circular, September 1855, in Clark, 2: 174.

  50. Brigham Young to Patrick Lynch, 8 March 1859, Brigham Young "Nauvoo Legion" Letterbook, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  51. Brigham Young to Bishop George W. Bradley, 26 November 1861, Young Letterbooks.

  52. Brigham Young to George Nebeker, 3 September 1868, Young Letterbooks.

  53. Brigham Young to James A. Little, 31 May 1877, Young Letterbooks; and Letterbook 14: 946-48.

  54. Brigham Young to Editor, The Religio-Philosophical Journal, 7 January 1869, Young Letterbooks.

CHAPTER 10

Brigham Young: Builder of Temples

Richard O. Cowan

Professor and Department Chair of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University

On one occasion, Brigham Young made the interesting assertion that "we never began to build a Temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring." Then he fearlessly
added, "I want to hear them ring." During his lifetime, he repeatedly caused those bells to peal loud and clear.

When Brigham Young moved to Kirtland as a recent convert, the Saints were already planning to build a temple; Brigham would play a key role in that construction.
As the temple neared completion, Brigham was appointed to direct the painting and finishing work. This consumed his energies to the point that he scarcely had time to
support his family. "He possibly designed and quite certainly glazed the windows-both the dramatic Federal-style arched windows that framed the triple-tiered pulpits at
each end of the temple, and the unusual Gothic but sectioned side windows with their intricate panes."

Brigham Young was with the Twelve at one of the first meetings in the new temple when the Brethren were anointed with oil and spoke in tongues, and when "the
heavens were opened, and angels ministered unto us."

The dedication of the temple two months later climaxed this Pentecostal season. That evening Brigham Young attended an especially remarkable meeting at which some
saw angels, heard the sound as of a mighty wind, and prophesied. "So spiritually exalted was the experience that for several hours the participants did not wish to
leave."

Unfortunately, these glorious days in Kirtland did not last. Early in 1838, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and hundreds of the faithful were forced to flee from
persecutions in Ohio. Settling at Far West in northern Missouri, the Prophet received on 26 April a revelation directing that a temple be built there. Work was to begin
that summer and then was to resume following the winter break one year from the date of the revelation (see D&C 115: 8-16). A subsequent revelation directed the
Twelve to meet at the temple site in Far West on that same date the following April to fill vacancies in their quorum and then to depart for a mission overseas (see D&C
118).

In the fall of 1838, however, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs ordered that the Mormons be exterminated or driven from the state of Missouri. While Joseph Smith and
other Church leaders were imprisoned in Liberty, Brigham Young took the lead in the Saints' exodus, and it appeared unlikely that the Twelve could meet their
appointment in Far West the following spring. Apostates openly boasted that this failure would prove Joseph Smith to be a false prophet. It was obvious that the lives
of the Twelve would be in peril if they were to attempt to return to Missouri. Nevertheless, Elder George Q. Cannon later testified, "The Spirit rested upon President
Young and his brother Apostles, and they determined to go."

The Apostles entered Missouri individually and traveled by different routes in order to avoid attracting attention. Shortly after midnight on the appointed day, they met
at Far West, offered prayer, sang a hymn, ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to the apostleship, symbolically moved a stone into place for the temple's
foundation, and prepared to depart for their mission.

The Saints next turned their attention to building a temple in Nauvoo. Brigham Young realized that in Kirtland they had received only a "portion of their first
endowments . . . or initiatory ordinances, preparatory to an endowment." Specifically, he pointed out, the Kirtland Temple "had no basement in it, nor a font, nor
preparations to give endowments for the living or the dead." At Nauvoo, he saw these deficiencies remedied.

A revelation that the Prophet Joseph Smith had received in January 1841 emphasized that sacred ordinances belong in the temple (see D&C 124: 29-30). In July of
that year, William Weeks began preparing plans for a baptismal font to be located in the Nauvoo Temple basement. By November, the basement, with its wooden
font, was enclosed by frame walls and covered by a temporary roof. Brigham Young was involved when the first baptisms were performed here. On Sunday, 21
November, a large congregation gathered at 4:00 p.m. to witness this event. Elder Young, together with Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor, baptized about forty
persons in behalf of their ancestral dead.

Brigham Young was impressed with the sacrifices made by those who labored to build the temple. Some had no shoes for their feet or shirt to cover their arms. An
outstanding example of generosity was Joseph Toronto, a convert from Sicily, who contributed his entire life's savings. Brigham later remembered:

It was difficult to get bread and other provisions for the workmen to eat. I counseled the committee who had charge of the temple funds to deal out all the flour they
had, and God would give them more; and they did so; and it was but a short time before Brother Toronto came and brought me twenty-five hundred dollars in gold. . .
. So I opened the mouth of the bag and took hold at the bottom end, and gave it a jerk towards the bishop, and strewed the gold across the room and said, now go
and buy flour for the workmen on the temple and do not distrust the Lord any more; for we will have what we need.

While the Saints were making such sacrifices, the Lord was revealing important temple-related blessings. The endowment would be given in a place of privacy
because  it was
 Copyright   (c) sacred and would
                 2005-2009,       makeMedia
                             Infobase  knownCorp.
                                               "things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world" (D&C 124: 41). Such a facility
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available when Joseph Smith completed a twenty-five-by-forty-four-foot red brick building early in 1842. The Relief Society was organized in the large "assembly
room" on the second floor on 17 March, and the first endowments were given seven weeks later.
and buy flour for the workmen on the temple and do not distrust the Lord any more; for we will have what we need.

While the Saints were making such sacrifices, the Lord was revealing important temple-related blessings. The endowment would be given in a place of privacy
because it was sacred and would make known "things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world" (D&C 124: 41). Such a facility became
available when Joseph Smith completed a twenty-five-by-forty-four-foot red brick building early in 1842. The Relief Society was organized in the large "assembly
room" on the second floor on 17 March, and the first endowments were given seven weeks later.

With the assistance of five or six workmen, the Prophet partitioned the assembly room to represent the various stages in man's eternal progress. These preparations
were completed by 4 May, when the first endowments were given.

Brigham Young was one of the original nine who received these blessings on this occasion. Afterward, the Prophet turned to him and remarked:

Brother Brigham, this is not arranged perfectly; however, we have done the best we could under the circumstances in which we are placed. I wish you to take this
matter in hand: organize and systematize all these ceremonies.

Before his martyrdom in 1844, the Prophet conferred "the keys of the sealing power" upon Brigham Young, who was President of the Twelve, indicating that this was
the "last key," the "most sacred of all," and that it pertained "exclusively to the first presidency."

Following the Prophet's death, construction on the temple pushed forward under the Twelve's leadership. The building's capstone was formally put in place on 24 May
1845. The ceremony was conducted at 5:45 a.m. in order not to attract the attention of the Saints' enemies. "The last stone is now laid upon the temple," declared
Brigham Young as he tapped the capstone into its proper position, "and I pray the Almighty in the name of Jesus to defend us in this place and sustain it until the temple
is finished and we have all got our endowments." The congregation then shouted "Hosanna to God and the Lamb."

Specific parts of the temple were completed and dedicated piecemeal so that ordinance work could begin as soon as possible. On 30 November 1845, for example,
Brigham Young and twenty others who had received their endowments from Joseph Smith gathered to dedicate the attic for ordinance work. During the next ten days,
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others were busy preparing the attic's eighty-eight-by-twenty-nine-foot central hall for the presentation of the endowment. As
had been done in the Red Brick Store, canvas partitions in the "council chamber" divided the temple into separate areas representing distinct stages in man's eternal
progress.

Saints throughout the city contributed furnishings for these rooms. Potted plants were gathered for the area representing the Garden of Eden. The room on the east had
a large gothic window and was furnished with fine carpets and wall hangings; this most beautiful area represented the celestial kingdom. Flanking each side of the
central hall were six rooms, about fourteen feet square, which served as private offices for Church leaders or for the initiatory ordinances connected with the
endowment. Some of these side rooms, including Brigham Young's, contained altars at which sacred sealing ordinances were performed. Endowments were given
beginning 15 December. Despite threats of arrest and other forms of harassment from their enemies, Brigham Young and the Twelve came to the temple regularly in
order to take an active lead in the ordinances. By the end of the month, over a thousand Saints had received their endowment blessings.

As the year 1846 dawned, pressure on the Saints to leave Illinois mounted. There were rumors that even federal troops might be used against them. Hence, Church
leaders decided to commence the exodus early in February rather than wait until spring. This decision increased the Saints' eagerness to receive temple blessings before
leaving Nauvoo, so the level of temple activity during January was even greater than during the previous month.

On 12 January, Brigham Young recorded:

Such has been the anxiety manifested by the saints to receive the ordinances [of the Temple], and such the anxiety on our part to administer to them, that I have given
myself up entirely to the work of the Lord in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours sleep, upon an average, per day, and going home but once a
week.

The day selected for the exodus to begin was 4 February. As this date drew closer, the pace in the temple became even more intense. On 3 February, Brigham Young
recorded:

Notwithstanding that I had announced that we would not attend to the administration of the ordinances, the House of the Lord was thronged all day, the anxiety being
so great to receive, as if the brethren would have us stay here and continue the endowments until our way would be hedged up, and our enemies would intercept us.
But I informed the brethren that this was not wise, and that we should build more Temples, and have further opportunities to receive the blessings of the Lord, as soon
as the saints were prepared to receive them. In this Temple we have been abundantly rewarded, if we receive no more. I also informed the brethren that I was going to
get my wagons started and be off. I walked some distance from the Temple supposing the crowd would disperse, but on returning I found the house filled to
overflowing. Looking upon the multitude and knowing their anxiety, as they were thirsting and hungering for the word, we continued at work diligently in the House of
the Lord.

Nearly 300 persons received their endowment on that day alone. During the eight weeks before the exodus, approximately 5,500 were endowed, fulfilling the Prophet
Joseph Smith's compelling desire to make these blessings available to the Saints in Nauvoo.

As the Latter-day Saints headed toward the Rockies, their interest in temple service did not diminish. At Winter Quarters, for example, President Brigham Young
declared that when the Saints should reach their resting place in the mountains, his intention was to labor hard to build another temple.

Within four days of President Young's arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, he designated the site for the future temple. On 28 July 1847, he and a few others were walking
across the area that one day would be Temple Square. He stopped between the two forks of City Creek, struck the ground with his cane, and declared: "Here will be
the Temple of our God." Wilford Woodruff placed a stake in the ground to mark the spot that would become the center of the future building. Many years later,
President Woodruff would call the construction of the temple on the designated site "a monument to President Young's foresight and prophetic accuracy."

Cornerstones were laid on 6 April 1853, the twenty-third anniversary of the organization of the Church. Large stones, measuring approximately two-by-three-by-five
feet, were placed in convenient positions ahead of time. This was a beautiful spring day in the valley as general conference convened in the old adobe Tabernacle on the
southwest corner of the temple block.

Accompanied by military honor guards and the music of three bands, a procession headed by Church leaders marched to the spot where the First Presidency and
patriarch laid the southeast cornerstone. President Brigham Young then spoke, explaining that the temple had to be built in order that the Lord "may have a place where
he can lay his head, and not only spend a night or a day, but find a place of peace." The remaining three cornerstones were then laid by representatives of other
priesthood groups. These proceedings lasted from 10:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m., at which time President Young blessed the assembled congregation and prayed that
God  might protect
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After a one-hour break, the conference resumed in the Old Tabernacle. Concerning the future temple, President Young declared:
Accompanied by military honor guards and the music of three bands, a procession headed by Church leaders marched to the spot where the First Presidency and
patriarch laid the southeast cornerstone. President Brigham Young then spoke, explaining that the temple had to be built in order that the Lord "may have a place where
he can lay his head, and not only spend a night or a day, but find a place of peace." The remaining three cornerstones were then laid by representatives of other
priesthood groups. These proceedings lasted from 10:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m., at which time President Young blessed the assembled congregation and prayed that
God might protect them until the temple was finished and they had received their endowments.

After a one-hour break, the conference resumed in the Old Tabernacle. Concerning the future temple, President Young declared:

I scarcely ever say much about revelations, or visions, but suffice it to say, five years ago last 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 we should build. Why? Because it was represented before me. I have never
looked upon that ground, but the vision of it was there. I see it as plainly as if it was in reality before me. Wait until it is done. I will say, however, that 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. It is easier for us to build sixteen,
than it was for him to build one. The time will come when there will be one in the centre of Temples we shall build, and on the top, groves and fish ponds. But we shall
not see them here, at present.

Some temples built in the twentieth century would fulfill President Young's prophecy.

The great temple would not be completed for forty years. In the meantime, the Saints would need to have access to temple blessings, so temporary facilities had to be
provided. During the pioneers' early years in the Salt Lake Valley, the endowment was given in a variety of places. In the fall of 1849, Elder Addison Pratt was
appointed to a second mission in the South Pacific, and he received his endowment on Ensign Peak before his departure. This action was consistent with the Prophet
Joseph Smith's earlier instructions that under certain circumstances these sacred blessings could be received on mountaintops, as had been the case with Moses.
These blessings were also received in Brigham Young's office, or in the Council House.

Erection of the Endowment House, a two-story adobe structure located in the northwest corner of the temple block, got under way during the summer of 1854. It was
dedicated in the spring of the following year. President Brigham Young declared that "the house was clean and named it 'The House of the Lord'" and explained that
"the spirit of the Lord would be in it, for no one would be permitted to go into it to pollute it." Over the years, this prophetic statement would be confirmed by
repeated spiritual experiences in the Endowment House.

Meanwhile, the Saints maintained their interest in constructing the temple. In the spring of 1856, President Young sent architect Truman O. Angell on a special mission
to Europe, where he was to make sketches of important architectural masterpieces in order to become better qualified to continue his work on the temple and other
buildings.

On 24 July 1857, as the Latter-day Saints were celebrating the tenth anniversary of their entrance into Salt Lake Valley, they received the disturbing word that a
potentially hostile division of the United States Army was approaching Utah. Not knowing the army's intentions, President Young placed some important records in the
temple foundation. He then directed that dirt be hauled in to fill the excavation. When the army arrived the following year, Temple Square looked like a freshly plowed
field, with no visible evidence of the temple's construction.

As it turned out, the army marched through without harming any property and set up its camp some forty miles to the south near Utah Lake. By 1860, Church leaders
concluded that the temple was safe and directed that the site be reexcavated. With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the army was needed elsewhere
and left Utah in December of that year.

At this time, President Young examined the newly uncovered foundation and became aware that it was defective. He and his associates concluded that its small stones
could not carry the massive weight of the temple. On 1 January 1862, he announced that the inadequate foundation would be removed and replaced by one made
entirely of granite. The footings would be sixteen feet thick. "I want this Temple to stand through the Millennium," he said a few months later, "and I want it so built that
it will be acceptable to the Lord."

During these years, most looked forward to returning to Jackson County, Missouri, and anticipated the privilege of building the great temple there in the not-too-distant
future. Once, while Brigham Young was walking through the Temple Block in Salt Lake City, his thoughts turned to Jackson County. He described what he thought the
great temple might look like: Each building would have its own tower, and in the center of the "temple complex" there would be a "high tower" and a square beautified
by "hanging gardens" where the people could meet.

As the pioneers became more securely established in their mountain valleys, Brigham Young gave more emphasis to temple activity. In 1872 he declared:

We are now baptizing for the dead, and we are sealing for the dead, and if we had a temple prepared we should be giving endowments for the dead-for our fathers,
mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, relatives, friends and old associates. . . . The Lord is stirring up the hearts of many . . . to trace their genealogies
and it will continue and run on from father to father, father to father, until they get the genealogy of their forefathers as far as they possibly can.

Nevertheless, "there are some of the sealing ordinances that cannot be administered in the house that we are now using," President Young had explained. "We can only
administer in it some of the first ordinances of the Priesthood pertaining to the endowment. There are more advanced ordinances that cannot be administered there."
He also explained that ordinances designed

to connect the chain of the Priesthood from father Adam until now, by sealing children to their parents, . . . they cannot be done without a Temple. . . . Neither will
children be sealed to their living parents in any other place than a Temple.

President Young also specified that "no one can receive endowments for another, until a Temple is prepared in which to administer them." Therefore, in 1876, the
First Presidency and the Twelve challenged the Saints to build three additional temples and called on ward bishops to provide donated labor for this task.

The first of these temples was built in Utah's "Dixie." After ten years of struggle to gain a foothold in the desert, the population of St. George had reached only 1200. At
a council meeting with local leaders on 31 January 1871, President Brigham Young proposed that a temple be built in the city. This announcement was received with
"Glory! Hallelujah!" from Elder Erastus Snow of the Twelve, who had presided in Dixie. These feelings were shared by all present.

With such a small population in the area, many wondered why a temple was to be built there. President John Taylor later pointed out that "it was found that our Temple
in Salt Lake City would take such a long time to build, it was thought best" to erect another one in southern Utah. In the warmer climate, construction could proceed
year-round. Furthermore, President Taylor continued, "there was a people living here who were more worthy than any others. . . . God inspired President Young to
build a Temple here because of the fidelity and self-abnegation of the people."

Brigham  Young
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                                               to consider possible sites where the temple might be built. Two hilltop locations were proposed, but the group could not
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agree on which to recommend. When President Young arrived, he "somewhat impatiently chided them, and at the same time asked them to get into their wagons, or
whatever else they had, and with him find a location (site)." He had them drive to the lowest part of the valley, a swamp infested with marsh grass and cattails.
year-round. Furthermore, President Taylor continued, "there was a people living here who were more worthy than any others. . . . God inspired President Young to
build a Temple here because of the fidelity and self-abnegation of the people."

Brigham Young directed local Church leaders to consider possible sites where the temple might be built. Two hilltop locations were proposed, but the group could not
agree on which to recommend. When President Young arrived, he "somewhat impatiently chided them, and at the same time asked them to get into their wagons, or
whatever else they had, and with him find a location (site)." He had them drive to the lowest part of the valley, a swamp infested with marsh grass and cattails.

"But, Brother Young," protested the men, "this land is boggy. After a storm, and for several months of the year, no one can drive across the land without horses and
wagons sinking way down. There is no place to build a foundation." President Young countered, "We will make a foundation."

Later on while plowing and scraping where the foundation was to be, a horse's leg broke through the ground into a spring of water. The brethren then wanted to move
the foundation line twelve feet to the south, so that the spring of water would be on the outside of the temple.

"'Not so,'" insisted Brigham Young. "'We will wall it up and leave it here for some future use. But we cannot move the foundation. This spot was dedicated by the
Nephites. They could not build it [the Temple], but we can and will build it for them.'"

Because of the sparseness of the population and the lack of funds, many wondered how the temple could be built. "We do not need capital," President Young insisted.
"We have raw material; we have labor; we have skill. We are better able to build a temple than the Saints were in Nauvoo."

When ground was broken on 9 November 1871, music was provided by a Swiss brass band from nearby Santa Clara. "If the brethren undertake to do this work with
one heart and mind," President Brigham Young promised, "we shall be blessed exceedingly, and prospered of the Lord in our earthly substance."

Placing his spade in the ground, President Young declared: "I now commence by moving this dirt in the name of Israel's God." All present responded with "Amen."
Erastus Snow earnestly prayed "that our beloved President, Brigham, might live to officiate at [the temple's] dedication." The people again "gave a hearty Amen." After
the congregation sang "The Spirit of God," President Young stood on a chair and led them in the Hosanna Shout. That very afternoon, plows and scrapers began
excavating for the foundation.

The baptismal font and oxen, constructed in Salt Lake City, were a personal gift of President Brigham Young. The font was shipped in sections and assembled in the
partially completed temple.

The Southern Utah Saints eagerly pushed the temple's construction so that sacred ordinance work could begin as soon as possible. They gathered at the temple on
New Year's Day of 1877 in order to dedicate the portions of the building sufficiently completed at that time. President Brigham Young was determined to attend the
services, even though he was so ill that he had to be carried about in a large chair by four men. He had not expected to speak but during the service received enough
strength that he was able to walk to the pulpit and address the congregation with great power:

Now we have a Temple which will all be finished within a few days. . . . We enjoy privileges that are enjoyed by no one else on the face of the earth. Suppose we were
awake to this thing, namely, the salvation of the human family, this house would be crowded, as we hope it will be, from Monday morning until Saturday night. . . .
What do you suppose the fathers would say if they could speak from the dead? Would they not say, "We have lain here thousands of years, here in this prison house,
waiting for this dispensation to come?" . . . When I think upon this subject, I want the tongues of seven thunders to wake up the people. Can the fathers be saved
without us? No. Can we be saved without them? No.

One who was present recalled that as President Young spoke, he "brought his cane down very hard on the pulpit. He said, 'If I mar the pulpit some of these good
workmen can fix it up again.' He did mar the pulpit but the people did not fix it up again. They left it for a mark to be carried through the years."

Baptisms for the dead commenced in the temple 9 January 1877, with Elder Wilford Woodruff personally baptizing and confirming the first 141. President Brigham
Young also assisted in the laying on of hands. Two days later, for the first time in this dispensation, the endowment was also given in behalf of the dead. Not long
before, President Young had told some temple workers that he had just learned by revelation "that it takes as full and complete a set of ordinances for the dead as for
the living."

Up to this time, the endowment teachings had been communicated from one person to another in oral form only. President Brigham Young, however, as the lone
survivor of the original group receiving the endowment from Joseph Smith in 1842, was concerned that this ordinance be preserved in a perfect form. He therefore
spent much time during the early months of 1877 working with two members of the Twelve, who wrote these ceremonies from beginning to end and then taught them to
the temple workers. In the midst of these developments, the Church's annual general conference convened in the now completed St. George Temple, which was
officially dedicated at this time.

On his way back to Salt Lake City from the St. George Temple dedication, President Brigham Young stopped in Manti to dedicate the site for another temple. A
controversy had arisen concerning whether the temple should be located in Manti or the nearby larger town of Ephraim. He arrived 24 April 1877, and on that same
afternoon personally supervised the work of William Folsom and Truman O. Angell, Jr., as they surveyed the Manti site and set stakes.

During a stake conference meeting the following morning, Brigham Young unexpectedly stood up and left. He asked Warren S. Snow to go with him to the temple hill.
Snow recalled that they proceeded to the southeast corner of where the temple would stand. "Here is the spot where the Prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this
piece of land for a Temple site," President Young affirmed, "and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can't move it from this spot; and if you and I
are the only persons that come here at high noon to-day, we will dedicate this ground." Several hundred were present at the appointed hour.

Ground was broken for the Logan Temple the following month. President Young reminded the Saints that the temple would be constructed by volunteer labor; "wages
are entirely out of the question." Nevertheless, the temple can be built "without any burden to ourselves," he insisted, "if our hearts are in the work, and we will be
blessed abundantly in doing so. We will be better off in our temporal affairs when it is completed than when we commenced."

The basic architectural concept for these new temples was worked out by Truman O. Angell, Jr., under the personal direction of the Prophet Brigham Young. Both the
Manti and Logan Temples had similar dimensions, were built in the castellated style with local stone, and had two towers. Even though these temples were completed
under the direction of John Taylor, their architects acknowledged that the concept for their design had originated with Brigham Young.

Brigham Young did not live to see either of these last two temples completed. However, his involvement in temple work did not end with his death. Those speaking at
later temple dedications often declared him to be among guests from the spirit world that were present. Without a doubt, Brigham Young's achievements and lingering
influence have caused those "bells of hell" to ring!

Notes
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  1. Journal of Discourses, 8: 355.
later temple dedications often declared him to be among guests from the spirit world that were present. Without a doubt, Brigham Young's achievements and lingering
influence have caused those "bells of hell" to ring!

Notes

  1. Journal of Discourses, 8: 355.

  2. Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 51.

  3. History of the Church, 2: 383.

  4. Arrington, 53. For additional information on the temple-related events in which Brigham Young participated, see Richard O. Cowan, Temples to Dot the Earth
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), chapters 2-5.

  5. Journal of Discourses, 14: 320; 24: 197.

  6. Journal of Discourses, 2: 31; 18: 303.

  7. History of the Church, 4: 454.

  8. Brigham H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1965), 2: 472.

  9. James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962), 99-100.

  10. Lyle G. Brown, "The Sacred Departments for Temple Work in Nauvoo: The Assembly Room and the Council Chamber," BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 363.

  11. Lucius N. Scovil letter in Deseret News Semi Weekly, 15 February 1884, 2, as quoted in BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979): 159n.

  12. Diary of L. John Nuttall, 7 February 1877, as quoted in BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979): 159n.

  13. Millennial Star 5 (March 1845): 151.

  14. Heber Kimball Journal, in Helen Whitney, Women's Exponent 11, 1883, 169-70.

  15. History of the Church, 7: 417-18.

  16. History of the Church, 7: 567.

  17. History of the Church, 7: 579.

  18. Matthias F. Cowley, Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1909), 255.

  19. Ibid., 619-20.

  20. Journal of Discourses, 2: 33; James H. Anderson, "The Salt Lake Temple," The Contributor 14 (April 1893): 252-59.

  21. Journal of Discourses, 1: 132-33.

  22. Roberts, 3: 86.

  23. History of the Church, 4: 608.

  24. Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5 May 1855, 1-2, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives).

  25. Marvin E. Smith, "The Builder," Improvement Era 45 (October 1942): 630.

  26. Wilford Woodruff Historian's Private Journal, Ms F 348, No. 4, entry 22 August 1862, LDS Church Historical Archives; see also Wilford Woodruff's Journal,
23 August 1862, 6: 71.

  27. Wilford Woodruff Historian's Private Journal, Ms F 348, No. 4, entry 7 July 1863.

  28. Journal of Discourses, 15: 138.

  29. Journal of Discourses, 10: 254.

  30. Journal of Discourses, 16: 186-87; Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 13 July 1865, 6: 232.

  31. James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2:
278-80.

  32. Daniel Tyler, "Temples," Juvenile Instructor 15 (15 August 1880): 182.

  33. Journal of Discourses, 23: 14.

  34. Statement
Copyright        by David H.
            (c) 2005-2009,   Cannon,Media
                           Infobase  Jr., 14Corp.
                                            October 1942, quoted in Kirk M. Curtis, "History of the St. George Temple" (master's thesis, Brigham Young
University, 1964), 24-25.
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  35. Juanita Brooks, "The St. George Temple," Juanita Brooks Papers, Utah State Historical Society, 3.
  33. Journal of Discourses, 23: 14.

  34. Statement by David H. Cannon, Jr., 14 October 1942, quoted in Kirk M. Curtis, "History of the St. George Temple" (master's thesis, Brigham Young
University, 1964), 24-25.

  35. Juanita Brooks, "The St. George Temple," Juanita Brooks Papers, Utah State Historical Society, 3.

  36. Tyler, 182; Janice Force DeMille, The St. George Temple First 100 Years (Hurricane, Utah: Homestead Publishers, 1977), 21-23.

   37. Maggie Cragun interview, "The Dedication of the St. George Temple," Juanita Brooks papers, Utah State Historical Society; Brigham Young, 1 January 1877,
in Journal of Discourses, 18: 304.

  38. Brigham Jarvis to Susa Young Gates, 8 November 1926, Susa Young Gates papers, Utah State Historical Society.

  39. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 14 January, 12 February, and 21 March 1877, 7: 322, 327, and 340; see also "St. George Temple: One Hundred Years of
Service," Ensign (March 1977): 94.

   40. Moses F. Farnsworth (Manti Temple Recorder) to George Teasdale, 2 July 1888, as cited in Millennial Star 50 (13 August 1888): 521; Barbara Lee Hargis, "A
Folk History of the Manti Temple: A Study of the Folklore and Traditions Connected with the Settlement of Manti, Utah, and the Building of the Temple" (master's
thesis, Brigham Young University, 1968), 55-56.

  41. Journal of Discourses, 19: 33.

  42. Cowan, 83-84.

CHAPTER 11

Brigham Young and the Mormon Reformation

Paul H. Peterson

Associate Professor of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University

The Mormon Reformation of 1856 and 1857 was the most fervent, emotionally laden reform movement in Church history. No other reform effort in the one hundred
sixty-five years since the organization of the Church has been characterized by such earnestness, such ardor, such impetuosity, and even such extremes.

In recent years, this interesting and controversial era has received a fair bit of scholarly attention. Various books and essays have told us much about the origins and
course of reform, as well as about some of the principal reform leaders, especially Jedediah Grant and Wilford Woodruff. But little has been said regarding the role
President Brigham Young played in the Mormon Reformation.

In this essay, I will attempt to address this deficiency. Naturally, in detailing Young's involvement it will be necessary to review some of the basic history of the reform
movement.

The Origins of Reform

It was with high expectations that Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers traveled westward to the Great Basin. Throughout their brief history, Latter-day Saints
had been kicked about with some regularity; it happened with varying degrees of severity wherever they had located as a people-in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and
Illinois.

Understandably, the Saints expected an end to gentile intrusion and harassment when they moved to the isolated region of the Rocky Mountains. Here, they reckoned,
peace would finally prevail. As Brigham indicated in a speech given to assembled pioneers on the way westward, "they were going to look out [for] a home for the
saints where they would be free from persecution by the gentiles, where we could dwell in peace and serve God according to the Holy Priesthood, where we could
build up the kingdom, so that the nations would begin to flock to our standard." The climax of this kingdom-building effort, the Saints anticipated, would come with
the second coming of the Savior.

But no kingdom could be built, Brigham Young reasoned, without a unified and prepared people. Latter-day Saints "would have to keep the Celestial law." They would
have to "keep the law of the gospel & obey his commandments undisturbed." Not surprisingly, for almost all Saints, reaching such lofty standards required some
modification in behavior, however great or small. Earlier, while sojourning at Winter Quarters, Brigham had intimated that certain actions that had been tolerated in the
past would no longer be countenanced once they reached their Rocky Mountain haven. Regarding the comparatively lax approach that some Saints had assumed
toward drinking and using tobacco, for example, Brigham told Saints outright that "when you go to a Stake of Zion you will have to quit it [using the forbidden articles]."


But the Saints, good people as they were, could never quite reach a level of behavior that satisfied the idealistic expectations of Church leaders. In fact, it may be that in
some aspects of gospel living, there had been some spiritual slippage along the way. Assessing the collective moral tone of any community without some hard data is
always risky business, but it may be that B. H. Roberts was right when he observed that the Saints' decade of "camp life" existence following the exodus from Nauvoo
in 1846 "made it difficult to establish regularity of life and to enforce discipline." More recently, historian Thomas G. Alexander, in a perceptive article on Wilford
Woodruff's role in the Reformation, suggested that Church leaders wanted to restore the collective spirituality that Saints had enjoyed earlier in the 1830s and 1840s.

In practical terms, of course, whether there had been progression or retrogression in keeping the commandments was hardly the point. In the minds of Church leaders,
the present level of obedience was deemed insufficient. Thus, within a few years of the Saints' arrival in the Valley, reform sentiment could be detected. As early as
1851, Heber C. Kimball "noted that there is a reformation about to commence and my heart and soul is in it." By 1854, reform became a recurrent theme.

Finally, in 1855, dissatisfied with the Saints' collective level of obedience, Brigham Young instigated a home missionary program. Young called the Pratt brothers,
Orson and Parley, and Wilford Woodruff to supervise the program. The overall intent of the program, as Thomas Alexander noted, was to "reinfuse the temporal shell
with spiritual substance." In other words, it was an attempt to shake the Saints from their perceived spiritual lethargy and point them in a more righteous direction.
"Many   are stupid,
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covenants and forsake their God, and the devil has power over them." Later in that same address, the Mormon president urged the Saints to repent "that we be
chastened no more."
Finally, in 1855, dissatisfied with the Saints' collective level of obedience, Brigham Young instigated a home missionary program. Young called the Pratt brothers,
Orson and Parley, and Wilford Woodruff to supervise the program. The overall intent of the program, as Thomas Alexander noted, was to "reinfuse the temporal shell
with spiritual substance." In other words, it was an attempt to shake the Saints from their perceived spiritual lethargy and point them in a more righteous direction.
"Many are stupid, careless, and unconcerned," remarked Brigham at the October 1855 general conference. "They are off their watch, neglect their prayers, forget their
covenants and forsake their God, and the devil has power over them." Later in that same address, the Mormon president urged the Saints to repent "that we be
chastened no more."

The chastening Young had reference to, at least in part, was a series of natural disasters that had, from 1855 on, brought hardship and heartache to the Latter-day Saint
community. In April 1855, grasshoppers caused extensive damage to crops. Even worse, a severe drought accompanied the grasshopper invasion. Further damage to
the community was brought about by canyon fires that destroyed valuable stands of timber. And finally, as though the Saints had not suffered sufficiently, the
uncommonly harsh winter from the end of 1856 through the beginning of 1857 destroyed much of the Church cattle stock.

The effect of such natural afflictions upon the Latter-day Saint community was devastating. Church members were short on foodstuffs, poverty was widespread, and,
for some, begging and hoarding became habitual. Money was next to useless and could not buy flour or meal. Altogether, it was perhaps the most challenging crisis the
Saints had yet faced during their short sojourn in Utah Territory.

Throughout this difficult period, the response of Mormon leaders was both predictable and consistent. Like their Old Testament forebears, they reasoned that modern
Israel's problems were rooted in disobedience and unrighteousness. In this context, then, the natural disasters were viewed as but one more evidence that God was
displeased with the Saints and that a course of reform was in order.

The Instigation of the Mormon Reformation

By late August or early September of 1856, it was apparent that Brigham Young felt that the home missionary movement he had instigated a year earlier had not
produced sufficient results and that more potent measures were needed. On 7 September 1856, Brigham told Jedediah M. Grant, Wilford Woodruff, and Parley P.
Pratt that he personally desired to accompany Grant (his second counselor in the First Presidency) and the Twelve on a preaching mission through the Territory. On this
occasion, Brigham lamented that he spent "so much of my time in attending to temporal matters. I feel that with the assistance of my brethren," he declared, "that I could
make a great wake by going through this Territory & preaching the gospel to the people."

Judging by a comment Young made approximately one year later, he clearly felt that a "great wake" was necessary. In August 1857, some four months after the
Reformation in Zion had run its course, President Young described how his concern and frustration with the spiritual condition of the Latter-day Saints a year earlier
eventually culminated in a reformation in the fall of 1856:

I thank my Father in heaven, yes my soul says glory, hallelujah, praise the name of Israel's God, for the blessings I enjoy at the present time. One year ago this very
day, and previous to that time, my soul was pained within me. No tongue could tell, it could not be portrayed before the people, the feelings that I had; I could not tell
them, and I did not know but that, if I should come out in the presence of the people and try to speak my feelings, they would call me crazy. However, I tried to make
the people understand my feelings, but no tongue could tell them; and I actually believe that I would have lived but a little time in this existence, had not God waked up
the people. I wanted to take up my valise and go throughout the Territory crying, is there a man in this Territory for God.

If you want to know how I felt, I cannot tell you better than by describing my feelings in the way that I am now doing. One day I told a number of the brethren how I
felt, as well, as I could, and br. Jedediah M. Grant partook of the Spirit that was in me and walked out like a man-like a giant-and like an angel-and he scattered the
fire of the Almighty among the people. But what was the result, so far as he was concerned? He went beyond his strength, and it cost him his life.

But if it was Brigham Young who conceived the idea of a reformation, it was his counselor Jedediah Grant, at least early on, who charted its course and molded its
contours. It was Grant who, on assignment from Brigham Young, journeyed to Kaysville, Davis County, Utah, to conduct a four-day conference. During the course of
that conference, Grant urged the Saints not only to stay true to their covenants but also to indicate their desire to do so by renewing them through rebaptism. Some five
hundred Saints were immersed under Grant's direction; approximately eighty, including the bishop and his counselors, were baptized by Jedediah himself. Clearly, it
was Jedediah Grant's decision to require rebaptism as an indication of covenant renewal. As Jedediah himself later observed, "when he got there he felt like baptizing
and confirming them anew into the Church."

It was also likely that Jedediah Grant conceived the idea of a catechism and actually formulated it. The catechism consisted of a number of questions to measure
individual worthiness. Most often it was administered by home teachers to assigned families. It would appear that Jedediah devised the idea of catechism on his initial
reformation journey to Davis County settlements in September 1856. On that occasion, Grant questioned bishops and counselors on such things as whether they
prayed regularly and whether they bathed as often as they should. Obviously not satisfied with the answers to his queries, Brigham's forthright counselor supplemented
these early questions with later ones, and a twenty-seven-question catechism covering both temporal and spiritual realms was the end result.

It is interesting, perhaps instructive, that Brigham Young allowed Grant so much leeway in directing reformative efforts. Leonard J. Arrington, Young's foremost
biographer, noted that when Brigham was President of the Church, "he was so confident of his own abilities that he was loath to delegate responsibility or authority."
Assuming Arrington is correct, it may be, some might argue, that the Reformation provides a notable exception. Certainly, it would seem Brigham had no qualms about
letting Jedediah set both the early tone and the pace. Clearly, up to mid-November 1856, the Reformation movement bore the stamp of Jedediah Grant's imprint.
Indeed, it almost appears that Brigham made a calculated decision to let his fiery counselor hold rein over the Reformation while he himself, inconspicuously but
deliberately, retreated into the background.

Jedediah once observed that President Young was "more merciful than I am. When he extends mercy to the people," Grant said, "he deals it out more lavishly than I
would." Perhaps the paternalistic and pragmatic Mormon prophet reasoned that given the Saints' lack of spiritual fiber, a fair dose of Grant's "merciless talk" was in
order. It could well serve, he likely assumed, the propitious purpose of frightening them into conformity with gospel principles.

Brigham Young's Role

What part then, it may fairly be asked, did Brigham Young play during the Reformation? What role or roles, if any, did he assume? Was he an absentee landlord,
willing to allow Jedediah Grant to assume full responsibility? Hardly. A careful review of the sources indicates that Brigham, while not always a visible, front-stage
performer, was a major player in reformative events.

It is quite true that Jedediah Grant set the early impassioned pace of reform and that after Jedediah's death, Wilford Woodruff introduced a moderate, merciful tone into
reform efforts. But I believe that both Grant and Woodruff were operating with the tacit approval, if not actual marching orders, of Brigham Young. In the remainder of
this essay, I have identified at least six contributions, some of which admittedly were no more than symbolic gestures, that Young made to the course of reform. All six
were   of fundamental importance in shaping the pattern of reform.
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Brigham Young's first contribution, of course, was his instigation of the actual reformation. The evidence, while not overwhelming, suggests that it was Brigham who first
recognized that the Saints needed to be roused from their spiritual slumber, and it was Brigham who sent Jedediah Grant to Davis County to preach reform.
It is quite true that Jedediah Grant set the early impassioned pace of reform and that after Jedediah's death, Wilford Woodruff introduced a moderate, merciful tone into
reform efforts. But I believe that both Grant and Woodruff were operating with the tacit approval, if not actual marching orders, of Brigham Young. In the remainder of
this essay, I have identified at least six contributions, some of which admittedly were no more than symbolic gestures, that Young made to the course of reform. All six
were of fundamental importance in shaping the pattern of reform.

Brigham Young's first contribution, of course, was his instigation of the actual reformation. The evidence, while not overwhelming, suggests that it was Brigham who first
recognized that the Saints needed to be roused from their spiritual slumber, and it was Brigham who sent Jedediah Grant to Davis County to preach reform.

Brigham's second contribution was providing prophetic sanction and support to the early fervent, revivalistic tone established by Jedediah Grant by delivering his own
series of stinging addresses on successive Sundays at the reform's outset. In so doing, President Young was supported by loyal confidante and first counselor, Heber
C. Kimball. On the same Sunday that Jedediah was telling Saints in Kaysville to live their religion, Brigham was rebuking Saints convened in Salt Lake City for "lying,
stealing, swareing, commiting Adultery, quarelling with Husbands wives & Children & many other Evils." Wilford Woodruff recorded that "it was one of the strongest
addresses . . . ever delivered to this church" and that Young's "voice & words were like the thundering of Mount Sinai."

One week later, on 21 September, the entire First Presidency spoke to Saints assembled in Salt Lake City. On this occasion, Brigham Young gave two sermons-one in
the morning and another in the afternoon. In the morning session, Brigham, along with counselors Kimball and Grant and others, "spoke by the power of the priesthood
& the Holy Ghost." According to Woodruff, "they sent arrows into the harts of men & at the Close of the meeting President Young Called upon all the Congregation
who were for God & who would covenant to keep his Commandments to rise upon their feet & evry person rose in the Congregation."

During the afternoon session, President Young "reproved & rebuked the sins of the people" and suggested that "for some sins no blood would be acceptable except the
life & blood of the individual." Not surprising, Woodruff noted that this last observation caused "the Harts of many [to] tremble."

On the third Sunday, 28 September, probably by design, Young again admonished Church members to repent. Woodruff recorded in his journal that evening that "I
never heard as strong & powerful sermons ever delivered by the presidency of this Church as I have heard of preached from them of Late."

All in all, the sermons Brigham Young preached in September 1856 were as bold and controversial as any he gave in his storied administration. It is clear that in some
cases, and especially in the sermon on 21 September, Brigham resorted to hyperbole and incendiary images in an effort to frighten Saints into compliance with gospel
principles. The ever-practical Mormon leader was never above resorting to rhetorical excess if it resulted in practical good-in this case, the enhancement of the
collective moral tone of the community.

A review of Brigham Young's correspondence during these months makes it clear that Brigham hardly expected any Saint to shed his blood. Indeed, in private letters to
Church leaders, Brigham instructed them to forgive Saints freely, even of serious sin, if they evidenced any desire to repent. But some Church members, unaware of
Brigham's penchant for calculated exaggeration, were undoubtedly concerned. Certainly his rhetoric caused excitement among some Latter-day Saints and contributed
to the emotionally charged atmosphere that prevailed in Zion during the remainder of the year.

Brigham Young's third contribution had to do with setting a standard of behavior that ultimately became a Reformation fundamental-rebaptism. Grant had instigated
rebaptism at the beginning conference of the Reformation in Kaysville, and the ordinance quickly became a test of fellowship for the Saints. Those who were unwilling
to renew their gospel covenants through the waters of rebaptism were considered spiritually unfit.

On 2 October 1856, Brigham, Heber, Jedediah, Wilford, and other Church leaders knelt around the newly completed baptismal font just east of the temple site. Upon
direction from Brigham Young, Heber dedicated the baptismal font to the Lord. "Now O Lord except of this dedication at our hands," Heber solemnly pleaded, "and
as we go into this water may our sins be forgiven & not be remembered against us any more. May we feel the power of God and have power to work a great
Reformation among this people." President Young then rebaptized and reconfirmed counselors Kimball and Grant and various others. After Brigham had performed
these ordinances, he himself was rebaptized and reconfirmed by Heber. Three days later, after the Sunday worship session had concluded, Brigham, Heber, and
other leaders retired to the baptismal font, where they rebaptized and reconfirmed their own families. Altogether, Brigham Young rebaptized seventy-five family
members.

Brigham's fourth and fifth contributions were closely related. The fourth, the withdrawal of the sacrament, had the effect of reminding the Saints that in their present state
of unworthiness, they were unfit to partake of the holy emblems. The fifth, coming within hours of the fourth in almost an orchestrated manner, was a spirited declaration
that the Reformation era was to be a singularly unique dispensation of mercy-a period when the Lord would forgive any and all sins.

It was around 9 November 1856 that the decision to withdraw the sacrament was announced to the Saints in the immediate area surrounding Church headquarters.
Although there is no way of knowing if the denial of the sacrament was expressly Brigham Young's idea, it is inconceivable that such a course would have been taken
without his consent or encouragement. It is clear that, early on, Brigham was concerned about Saints who would participate in the ordinance of rebaptism merely to
satisfy current fashion. In a letter to Church member Welcome Chapman, Brigham Young observed that "many will go into the waters of baptism . . . who are guilty of
the most heinous crimes in the sight of both God and Man." "We want the guilty," asserted the Mormon leader, "to confess their sins, and repent of all their wickedness
before they go into the waters of baptism." In all probability, Brigham would have been equally concerned about those who partook of the sacrament as a matter of
convention with little concern about their individual worthiness.

Heber C. Kimball, first counselor in the First Presidency, gave the primary sermon justifying sacrament withdrawal in the afternoon worship session on 9 November
1856. While bishops were preparing the sacramental emblems, Kimball forthrightly told assembled Saints, "I forbid all unworthy persons partaking of this sacrament;
and if such do partake of it, they shall do it on their own responsibility, and not on mine."

Jedediah M. Grant, second counselor, spoke immediately after Kimball and reinforced his fellow counselor's emphasis. "I therefore, want every person to leave the
bread in the salvers, and the water in the cups, and not partake of the sacrament," Jedediah warned the Saints, "unless they are right." It would appear that from mid-
November 1856 until April 1857, a majority of Saints in the Salt Lake City area (and perhaps elsewhere) were denied the sacrament.

It would also appear that the restoration of the sacrament in April 1857 was the logical culmination of a series of important decisions that were coordinated by Church
leaders. In early February 1857, Brigham returned to public life after an eight-week hiatus, an obvious indication that he was pleased with the reformative efforts of the
Saints. On 10 February, home missionaries reported that nearly all members in their assigned wards were worthy and ready for rebaptism. In March, most Salt
Lake area Church members were rebaptized as ward units on designated days. And in April, the sacrament was finally restored.

Elder Thomas Jeremy likely represented the feelings of most Church members when he thanked God for his kindness in restoring the sacrament. "I pray . . . to my
Heavenly Father," Jeremy wrote, "that He may bless me and my family that we may ever be worthy of partaking of this most holy ordinance acceptably."

It was also on 9 November 1856, probably in the evening at a meeting of seventies, that Brigham Young first announced that the sins of the Latter-day Saints could be
forgiven.
 CopyrightUp(c)to2005-2009,
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                                                Corp. of "raining pitchforks" had characterized the course of reform. But, ultimately, the seemingly contrary elements of
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mercy and forgiveness that Young introduced and that Wilford Woodruff promulgated became a dominant reformation theme. Obviously some of this change was due
to Grant's untimely death in early December, but it undoubtedly would have occurred sooner or later. The notion that forbearance and forgiveness were dominant
Reformation themes is one that has by and large eluded the analysis of many scholars who have studied this era, probably because it, at least on the surface, seems to
Heavenly Father," Jeremy wrote, "that He may bless me and my family that we may ever be worthy of partaking of this most holy ordinance acceptably."

It was also on 9 November 1856, probably in the evening at a meeting of seventies, that Brigham Young first announced that the sins of the Latter-day Saints could be
forgiven. Up to that point, Jedediah Grant's approach of "raining pitchforks" had characterized the course of reform. But, ultimately, the seemingly contrary elements of
mercy and forgiveness that Young introduced and that Wilford Woodruff promulgated became a dominant reformation theme. Obviously some of this change was due
to Grant's untimely death in early December, but it undoubtedly would have occurred sooner or later. The notion that forbearance and forgiveness were dominant
Reformation themes is one that has by and large eluded the analysis of many scholars who have studied this era, probably because it, at least on the surface, seems to
run counter to the prevailing image of the Reformation as a time of sternness and unbending severity.

Brigham Young introduced the notion of mercy in a dramatic manner. He apparently entered the Seventies Hall on the evening of 9 November as Wilford Woodruff
was in the middle of a spirited sermon. Three additional speakers addressed the congregation, whereupon Brigham strode to the platform and "promised the people in
the name of Jesus Christ if they would repent & turn from their sins from that hour all their sins should be forgiven them & not remembered against them No more
forever either on Earth or in Heaven." Understandably, Young's declaration was received with elation by many, some of whom likely felt they were beyond pardon. "O
what Joy this should give the people," Wilford Woodruff wrote, "for they have nearly all signed [sinned] more or less. My soul was filled with Joy," Woodruff added,
"at the teachings presented by President Young."

Brigham Young's declaration that the Reformation was to be a time of mercy was quickly conveyed to ecclesiastical leaders throughout the Territory. Bishop Tarleton
Lewis of Parowan was instructed to tell his congregation that "all manner of sin, save it be the sin against the Holy Ghost," was forgiven. "I do not wish to know the
names nor the errors of them who are called Saints," Brigham stressed in a letter to Bishop Philo Farnsworth. "Let it suffice that they [sinners] confess and forsake their
sins, and live nearer to the Lord than they have hitherto done."

While stressing that the Reformation was an almost unparalleled time of mercy, Church leaders also made it plain that this spiritual injunction was a temporary one.
"Give them [the saints] to understand if . . . they commit sins hereafter they will be brought to judgment," Apostle Franklin D. Richards instructed home missionaries,
"and it will be laid to the line and there will not be the mercy that is now shown."

"Our sins are looked upon as the sins of ignorance," noted Lorenzo Brown, a member of the Church, "and the God of Heaven in His infinite goodness is pleased to
pass by them without an atonement, but from this time forward all sins have to be atoned for."

Brigham Young's sixth and final contribution to the course of reform amounted to a simple retirement from public worship services. Recognizing that many Church
members feared that a removal of the sources of revelation would result in individual spiritual deprivation, Brigham and other Church leaders threatened to leave the
Latter-day Saint community spiritually stranded, by death or otherwise, if the Saints didn't repent. Indeed, President Young indicated that unless the Saints speedily
repented, there would be little option but to leave-the sins of the Saints had put inexorable burdens on Church leaders-burdens that could not be borne much longer.
Jedediah Grant had sensed this, and in trying to share the weight of collective sin, died of fatigue. Fortunately, the improvement in community morals and
righteousness as a result of the Reformation had alleviated much of the burden. Any future deviation, however, could result in the Saints being stripped of their
leadership and priesthood.

To give the Saints a taste of what could happen without presiding leaders, Brigham and Heber deliberately stayed away from weekly public worship services at the
Tabernacle through December and January. Brigham's last public address was given on 4 December at Jedediah Grant's funeral. Later, while Apostles, such as Wilford
Woodruff and Orson Hyde, sometimes spoke, Young and Kimball never even appeared on the stand. During this period, they did attend meetings with missionaries
and bishops, legislative council sessions, and Sunday prayer circle meetings, but they never attended large public worship assemblies.

On 28 December 1856, Wilford Woodruff told assembled Saints at the Tabernacle that "the First Presidency . . . have retired from our midst because the people will
not do as they are told-that is they withdrew themselves from the people for the present." On this occasion, Woodruff gave the Saints two alternatives: Would they
"Go to & get the power of God & sustain the Melchezedek Priesthood with the first Presidency & Twelve or would they reject it & have the Presidency & Twelve &
Melchezedek [Priesthood] taken from them & ownly [possess] the Aaron[ic] Priesthood given them & a Law of Carnal Commandments." Observed Woodruff: "The
people must do one or the other."

On 1 February 1857, Presidents Young and Kimball returned to the Saints in striking fashion. Wilford Woodruff noted that, perhaps in anticipation of the return of their
leaders, the "Tabernacle & the House was Filled to overflowing." As Church member A. Cordon, spoke, Heber came in and was soon followed by Brigham Young.
According to Woodruff, "it created a great Sensation among the people." Apparently Cordon, sensitive to the long-awaited return of President Young, completed his
address quickly, whereupon Brigham "arose and addressed the people" for about an hour an a half.

The Reformation Legacy

The Reformation, at least in the area around Church headquarters, ended in the spring of 1857, when Salt Lake City ward members were rebaptized and the
sacrament was restored. Many Saints noted that reform had led to a marked improvement in community morale. And even Brigham Young, it would seem, was
pleased with the results of the Reformation, at least initially. "When Bro. Brigham comes to the stand there is no scourging and whipping as it used to be," noted Salt
Lake Fifth Ward member David Fulmer, "but he is full of blessings for the people which is a manifestation that the Lord is pleased with us. I never saw such a time as
the present since I came into the Church."

But President Young was clearly humming a different tune some eighteen months later. In that intervening period, traumatic events took place that both deflated much of
the good that had been achieved during the reform and altered President Young's own personal theological landscape. Johnston's army had marched through Salt Lake
City in spite of Orson Hyde's assurance that it would be overthrown on the way. Instead of defiantly challenging the forces of evil, as Church leaders initially
declared, the Saints chose to retreat. Between the end of March and mid-May 1858, some thirty thousand Saints moved south to the area around Provo, Utah. On 30
June, two weeks after a peace agreement, Brigham told his bedraggled followers they could return home.

During the months immediately following the return of the Saints to their former homes, there was clearly a waning of Reformation zeal. Seemingly, the frustration of
realizing that an army had not only reached the Valley but had actually set up shop in Utah Territory, and the tumult and turmoil occasioned by the Saints' move and
their return, caused many Church members to lose their reform fervor.

Understandably, the fact that so many Saints squandered their spiritual gains so quickly caused Brigham Young some amount of pain. After all, he, Jedediah, Wilford,
and others had invested more than a fair amount of time and energy into the reform effort. It was clearly a disappointed and possibly even a disenchanted leader who
made the following assessment of the Reformation in November 1858:

Do you think I feel like preaching to such a people? I have preached to them until they are almost preached to death, and I do not feel like preaching much more to
them. You know how I felt some two or three years ago this fall or the latter part of the summer. I felt as tho' I could not live without taking my valise in my hand and
walking  through
 Copyright         this Territory
             (c) 2005-2009,       to find out
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                                          Media        was a man for God, for it seemed to me as tho' the whole people had gone astray. I related my feelings to a few, and
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they started out. Jedediah fell a victim to that spirit, he took it from me, and he labored until he went into his grave, to find among all the people who had forsaken their
homes and their all in foreign countries to come to this place [who] were still for Christ and none else. We had a reformation, and what is the result? I will tell you by
relating an anecdote. It was asked an Elder in one of the settlements if the reformation had reached them; "Yes," he replied, "and thank God it is all over." That is the
made the following assessment of the Reformation in November 1858:

Do you think I feel like preaching to such a people? I have preached to them until they are almost preached to death, and I do not feel like preaching much more to
them. You know how I felt some two or three years ago this fall or the latter part of the summer. I felt as tho' I could not live without taking my valise in my hand and
walking through this Territory to find out if there was a man for God, for it seemed to me as tho' the whole people had gone astray. I related my feelings to a few, and
they started out. Jedediah fell a victim to that spirit, he took it from me, and he labored until he went into his grave, to find among all the people who had forsaken their
homes and their all in foreign countries to come to this place [who] were still for Christ and none else. We had a reformation, and what is the result? I will tell you by
relating an anecdote. It was asked an Elder in one of the settlements if the reformation had reached them; "Yes," he replied, "and thank God it is all over." That is the
almost universal feeling now. Unless some men are held by the collar, or by the hair of the head they will go to hell-they will not cleave to the Lord with all their hearts.


But Reformation failure brought more than just suffering to Brigham Young's soul. Indeed, it may well be that the failure of the Reformation to take hold in any
meaningful, long-term way in the Mormon community initiated a change in Brigham's preaching-both with regard to style and substance. To be sure, the change was a
gradual one-extending from 1857 to the end of the Civil War in 1865. This was a process-not an event. But imperceptible as it might be to some, a close reading of
Brigham's sermons lends support to such a conclusion.

In terms of style, Brigham's later speeches featured less overstatement and hyperbole, less bombast and militancy. Perhaps it was the failure of the Reformation to bring
about lasting change that made Brigham Young first realize that he could not "drive a man or a woman to heaven." "People are not to be driven," Brigham told Saints in
1861, "and you can put into a gnat's eye all the souls of the children of men that are driven into heaven by preaching hell-fire." One could be much better served, he
maintained, by "instruct[ing] people until they increase in knowledge and understanding, until their traditions pass away, and they will become of one heart and mind in
the principles of godliness."

The stylistic changes were but a manifestation of some substantive reflection. From late 1857 on, there was a good bit of theological reevaluation that ultimately led to
community redirection. The notion of creating what sociologist Thomas O'Dea called a "near nation" needed to be weighed against pressing realities. For Brigham
Young, as historian Leonard J. Arrington observed, the 1850s had been a confidence shaker. There were the harsh natural disasters, the coming of an army and
subsequently more gentiles to Utah Territory, and the failure of the Saints to maintain early Reformation levels of obedience and unity. On top of these concerns, the
Civil War, which for a time rekindled nationalistic fires, did not bring about the cataclysmic societal upheaval that would result in the consummation of all things.

But interestingly, there is little evidence that the unforeseen disruptions of the 1850s and early 1860s had much effect on Brigham Young's eternal scheme of things. He
remained adamant that God's designs would never be canceled. But the wise, astute Mormon leader probably did concede that they might need to be postponed. It
just might be, he reasoned, that the Saints might not go to Missouri for a while. It just might be that gentiles were here to stay. It just might be that the United States will
be intact for an extended period of time.

Such realizations, not surprisingly, led to a spirit of semi-conciliation and long-term planning. Brigham Young placed new emphasis on temple-building and temple work.
The Relief Society was reorganized after a fifteen-year gap, and retrenchment societies were founded. The nationalistic fervor and feelings of immediacy that
characterized the 1850s and that were brought to their apogee by Reformation fervor gradually gave way to compromise, conciliation, and conformity. In short, gradual
and piecemeal as it may have been, it was the dawning of a new spirit and of a new era.

Notes

   1. Standard studies on the Reformation era include Howard Claire Searle, "The Mormon Reformation of 1856-1857" (master's thesis, Brigham Young University,
1956); Gustive O. Larson, "The Mormon Reformation," Utah Historical Quarterly 26 (January 1958): 45-63; Michael Orme, "The Causes of the Mormon Reformation
of 1856-1857," Tangents (Spring 1975): 15-40; and Paul H. Peterson, "The Mormon Reformation of 1856-1857: The Rhetoric and the Reality," Journal of Mormon
History 15 (1989): 59-87. Helpful studies on important Reformation leaders include Gene Sessions' Mormon Thunder: A Documentary History of Jedediah Morgan
Grant (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982); and Thomas G. Alexander, "Wilford Woodruff and the Mormon Reformation of 1855-1857," Dialogue 25 (Summer
1992): 25-39.

   2. George D. Smith, ed., An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (Salt Lake City: Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates,
1991), 325 (29 May 1847). See also Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898, typescript, Scott Kenney, ed., 9 vols. (Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-1985),
3: 188-189 (29 May 1847).

  3. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 3: 188-89.

  4. Minutes of Thomas Bullock, 26 March 1847, typescript, copy Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University.

  5. B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1965), 4:
119.

  6. Alexander, 28.

  7. Martha Spence Heywood Diary, typescript, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS
Church Historical Archives), 19 January 1851, 22-23.

  8. Alexander, 26.

  9. Brigham Young sermon, 8 October 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1858), 3: 115-18.

  10. Brigham Young sermon, 8 October 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 3: 117.

  11. Peterson, 62-63; Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 316, 398, 421; Brigham Young to John Taylor, 30 April 1855, Brigham Young Letterbooks, LDS Church
Historical Archives.

  12. Peterson, 63; minutes of Presiding Bishop's Meetings with Bishops, 1851-1862, 6 November 1855, 8 January and 12 February 1856, manuscript, LDS Church
Historical Archives.

  13. Two insightful analyses of the "LDS-Israel connection" are Melodie Moench, "Nineteenth-Century Mormons: The New Israel," Dialogue 12 (Spring 1979): 42-
56, and Jan (c)
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                                                a New Religious Tradition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985), 119-124.           Page 87 / 128
  14. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 448.
Historical Archives.

  13. Two insightful analyses of the "LDS-Israel connection" are Melodie Moench, "Nineteenth-Century Mormons: The New Israel," Dialogue 12 (Spring 1979): 42-
56, and Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985), 119-124.

  14. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 448.

  15. Brigham Young sermon, 30 August, 1857, in Journal of Discourses, 5: 167-68.

  16. Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 1 October 1856.

  17. Sessions, 218-21; Peterson, 69-70.

  18. Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 408.

  19. Jedediah M. Grant sermon, 2 November 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 86.

  20. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 448.

  21. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 451; Brigham Young sermon, 21 September 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 52-57.

  22. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 456.

  23. Refer to correspondence listed under footnotes 36 and 37.

  24. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 458-59.

  25. Ibid., 4: 459-61.

  26. Ibid., 4: 463.

  27. Brigham Young to Welcome Chapman, 13 November 1856, Brigham Young Letterbooks.

  28. Heber C. Kimball sermon, 9 November 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 81.

  29. Jedediah M. Grant sermon, 9 November 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 84.

  30. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 5: 13.

  31. Home Missionary Meeting Minutes, 10 February 1857, General Minutes Collection, manuscript in LDS Church Historical Archives.

  32. I formed this conclusion from a variety of sources.

  33. Thomas Evans Jeremy Diary, 5 April 1857, manuscript in LDS Church Historical Archives.

  34. Grant's period of "ascendancy" was actually brief. He apparently gave his last public address on 9 November. Wilford Woodruff first mentioned his sickness on
14 November. Despite repeated administrations, Grant died on 1 December 1856.

  35. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 4: 489.

  36. Brigham Young to Tarleton Lewis, 9 April 1857, Brigham Young Letterbooks.

  37. Brigham Young to Philo Farnsworth, 4 April 1857, Brigham Young Letterbooks.

  38. Manuscript History of the Church, 27 January 1857, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  39. Lorenzo Brown Diary, 6 and 7 April 1857, typescript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  40. James Henry Martineau Journal, 30 December 1856, manuscript, LDS Church Historical Archives; William Gibson Journal, vol. 2, 8 December 1856,
manuscript in LDS Church Historical Archives.

  41. Martineau Journal, 30 December 1856.

  42. Gibson Journal, 8 December 1856.

  43. Richard Ballantyne Journal, 28 December 1856, manuscript in LDS Church Historical Archives.

  44. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 28 December 1856.

  45. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 5: 13.

  46. Salt Lake Fifth Ward Fellowship Meeting Minutes, 28 June 1857, manuscript in LDS Church Historical Archives.

  47. Orson Hyde sermon, 7 October 1857, in Journal History, 7 October 1857.

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                             13 November 1858, Unpublished Speech File, LDS Church Historical Archives.                                         Page 88 / 128

  49. Brigham Young sermon, 17 February 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 125.
  46. Salt Lake Fifth Ward Fellowship Meeting Minutes, 28 June 1857, manuscript in LDS Church Historical Archives.

  47. Orson Hyde sermon, 7 October 1857, in Journal History, 7 October 1857.

  48. Brigham Young sermon, 13 November 1858, Unpublished Speech File, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  49. Brigham Young sermon, 17 February 1861, in Journal of Discourses, 9: 125.

  50. Thomas O'Dea, The Mormons (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 115. See also Arrington, 300-301; Charles S. Peterson, Utah: A History (New
York: W. W. Norton, 1977), 77-85.

  51. Arrington, 301-2.

  52. Arrington, 301, citing Brigham Young to Charles S. Kimball, 31 December 1864, Brigham Young Letterbooks.

  53. Arrington, 300-1; Charles S. Peterson, 77-81.

CHAPTER 12

The Railroad Builder

John J Stewart

Professor of English, Utah State University

On Monday, 10 May 1869, at Promontory Summit in northern Utah, one of the most significant events of the nineteenth century occurred: completion of America's first
transcontinental railroad, linking the nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The placing of a golden spike in a polished laurelwood railroad tie symbolized the culmination
of a herculean project that many considered the greatest man-made wonder of the world.

In today's age of miracles-when we can fly from New York to San Francisco in four hours and enjoy instant electronic communication with any part of the globe-it is
difficult to comprehend the impact of the construction of this iron trail across the vast continent. Perhaps only those who had walked the many weary miles across the
American plains and mountains could fully appreciate and cherish this dream come true.

Although he did not participate in the Golden Spike celebration, no one was more appreciative of the railroad's completion than Brigham Young, who for twenty-two
years had encouraged its construction-from the time he led the first pioneer company to the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847. Placing the golden spike in 1869
brought to a climax an even half-century of dreaming of building a railroad to the Pacific coast, achieving the northwest passage that waterways had failed to provide. In
1819, Robert Mills, architect for the Bunker Hill and Washington monuments, urged Congress to consider a system of "steam-propelled carriages" to run from the
Mississippi to the Columbia River Valley. From 1826, when the first U.S. railway was constructed, the idea gradually gained public interest.

Foremost of the early advocates was Asa Whitney, a wealthy New York merchant, who had visited China and had seen in the Pacific railway a means for the U.S. to
capture much of the European trade with China and other Far East countries. For a decade, Whitney devoted his time and fortune to trying to sell Congress and state
legislatures on the worth of such a railroad. Although extensive trade with the Orient never materialized-due largely to the completion of the Suez Canal, also in 1869-
the hope of such trade was a prime motive for construction of the railroad.

From the 1830s, railroads were being built throughout the eastern half of the United States, and Whitney's and others' efforts to get congressional action on a Pacific
railroad might well have succeeded had it not been for the bitter sectional jealousy that gripped the country, culminating in the war between the northern and southern
states.

In 1849, Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri introduced a bill in Congress seeking federal financing of a railroad from St. Louis to San Francisco. Brigham
Young and his associates also urged Congress to proceed with construction of a road from the Missouri to the Pacific. Early Mormon lobbyist efforts were summarized
by George A. Smith, first counselor to President Young, in Salt Lake City in 1868 as the railroad fast approached the valley:

We started from Nauvoo in February, 1846, to make a road to the Rocky Mountains. A portion of our work was to hunt a track for the railroad. We located a road
to Council Bluffs, bridging the streams, and I believe it has been pretty nearly followed by the railroad. In April, 1847, President Young and one hundred and forty-
three pioneers left Council Bluffs, and located and made the road to the site of this city. A portion of our labor was to seek out the way for a railroad across the
continent, and every place we found that seemed difficult for laying the rails we searched out a way for the road to go around or through it. We had been here only a
short time until we formed the provisional government of the State of Deseret, and among the subjects of legislation were measures to promote and establish a railroad
across the continent. In a little while we were organized into a Territory and during the first session of the Legislature a memorial to Congress was adopted and
approved, March 3rd, 1852 . . . of this railroad being necessary to develop the mineral and other resources of the continent and to bring the trade of China and the
East Indies across the continent.

In confirmation of President Smith's recollection, President Young commented,

I do not suppose we traveled one day from the Missouri River here, but what we looked for a track where the rails could be laid with success, for a railroad through
this Territory to go to the Pacific Ocean. This was long before the gold was found, when this Territory belonged to Mexico. We never went through the canyons or
worked our way over the dividing ridges without asking where the rails could be laid; and I really did think that the railway would have been here long before this. . . .

When we came here over the hills and plains in 1847 we made our calculations for a railroad across the country, and were satisfied that merchants in those eastern
cities, or from Europe, instead of doubling Cape Horn for the west, would take the cars, and on arriving at San Francisco would take steamer and run to China or
Japan and make their purchases, and with their goods could be back again in London and other European cities in eighty or eighty-five days. All these calculations we
made on our way here, and if they had only favored us by letting us have a State government, as weak as we are we would have built railroads ourselves. . . .

We want the benefits of this railroad for our emigrants, so that after they land in New York they may get on board the cars and never leave them again until they reach
this city. And this they can do when the Missouri river is bridged.

. . . When this work is done if the tariff is not too high, we shall see the people going east to see their friends, and they will come and see us, and when we are better
known to the world, I trust we shall be better liked.
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Those values that Young and other Utahns foresaw in the construction of a railroad included eliminating the hazards, hardships, and several weeks of traveling by
covered wagons or handcarts; facilitating missionary travel to distant parts of the world; enabling the import of furniture, machinery, and building materials, and the
this city. And this they can do when the Missouri river is bridged.

. . . When this work is done if the tariff is not too high, we shall see the people going east to see their friends, and they will come and see us, and when we are better
known to the world, I trust we shall be better liked.

Those values that Young and other Utahns foresaw in the construction of a railroad included eliminating the hazards, hardships, and several weeks of traveling by
covered wagons or handcarts; facilitating missionary travel to distant parts of the world; enabling the import of furniture, machinery, and building materials, and the
export of agricultural produce; enabling the construction of branch railroads connecting communities from north to south, including a branch line to Little Cottonwood
Canyon to haul granite stone to speed the construction of the Salt Lake Temple; and providing cash employment for Utahns as railroad workers at a time when there
was little cash in the Territory.

Despite strong Mormon support, it was rumored that Brigham Young and other leaders of the Church attempted, through sermons, newspaper articles, and their
memorials to Congress to halt the coming of the railroad. In answer to the threats of anti-Mormons who smugly predicted the demise of the LDS Church when the
railroad reached Utah, and to the fears voiced by some Mormons about the railroad's coming, President Young confidently declared that Mormonism "must indeed be
a damned poor religion if it cannot stand one railroad!"

In 1852, Utah's first territorial legislature, with Brigham Young as governor, sent a memorial to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. It stated, in part,

Not less than five thousand American citizens have perished on the different routes [between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast] within the last three years, for
the want of proper means of transportation. . . . We know that no obstruction exists between this point [Salt Lake City] and San Diego, and that iron, coal, timber,
stone and other materials exist in various places along the route; and that the settlements of this territory are so situated as amply to supply the builders of said road with
material and provisions for a considerable portion of the route, and to carry on an extensive trade after the road is completed.

Five Possible Routes Considered

How much influence this memorial had with Congress is unknown. Many others in the United States were also urging construction of a transcontinental railroad. In the
following year, 1853, Congress passed, and President Millard Fillmore signed, a bill providing for army surveys of four possible railroad routes to the Pacific, including
one that closely followed the Mormon Trail to Utah. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis took the liberty of having five routes surveyed rather than four. One was far
north of the Mormon route, up through Montana; three were south of the Mormon route, including one through southern Utah. Due to bitter sectional rivalry between
North and South, largely over the issue of slavery, it was impossible to achieve congressional consensus for construction of a railroad on any route until after the South
had seceded from the Union.

In 1856, Congress appropriated funds for improvement of the Oxbow, Santa Fe, and California-Mormon trails. Frederick Lander, a civil engineer and builder of some
renown, was appointed chief engineer and field superintendent for improvement of the California-Mormon Trail-the road that in large part the Union Pacific later built
upon. In 1858, shortly after the arrival of Johnston's army in the Salt Lake Valley, Lander wrote a report to Washington expressing his appreciation for the help he had
received from the Mormons in the road improvement project. His report observed, in part,

I was assured by ex-Governor Young, whom I visited while in Salt Lake City, that . . . he would be very glad to have his people employed by me, not only because the
work was one of public utility, but because it aided the people in getting a little money. . . . I paid them a dollar a day for work, but the next season I shall probably
have to pay them at higher rates. Ex-Governor Young told me that he would engage to find laborers and mechanics to build that portion of a Pacific railroad which
should extend across the Territory of Utah.

Californians were as eager as Utahns to have a railroad constructed. In October 1859, a California convention on the Pacific Railway appointed Theodore Dehone
Judah its agent to carry a petition to Congress seeking federal financing. And in April 1861, as the nation became embroiled in a bloody Civil War, Judah, Leland
Stanford, Collis Potter Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, and others organized the Central Pacific Railroad Company, determined to raise funds sufficient
to start building a railway eastward from Sacramento over a route that Judah had surveyed through the Sierra-Nevada mountains. Stanford was elected president;
Huntington, vice president; Hopkins, secretary; and Judah, engineer. But it was nearly two years later, on 8 January 1863, that the Central Pacific broke ground at
Sacramento to begin construction of its railroad.

Meanwhile, on 1 July 1862, while in the throes of Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, passed by an all-northern Congress. Lincoln
designated the Union Pacific Railroad to start at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and follow the Mormon Trail up the Platte River Valley. The act provided huge land grants to
both Union Pacific and Central Pacific: "vacant lands with ten miles on either side of the lines for five alternate sections per mile, mineral lands excepted"; also, 30-
year first mortgage federal loans at six percent interest to the contractors, not to exceed $50 million, to be allocated on the basis of $16,000 per mile to the base of the
mountains, $32,000 per mile across the desert high plains of Nevada and Utah, and $48,000 per mile on 150 miles of mountain construction.

In May 1864, Congress revised the railroad act, shifting the federal loans from first to second mortgages, making it much easier for the two companies to interest
private investors. The revised railroad act also doubled the land grants to ten sections per mile within twenty miles on each side of the tracks. This gave the railroad
companies a total of 12,800 acres of land for each mile of track laid and ownership of all iron and coal deposits on the grant lands.

Union Pacific's ground-breaking ceremony was conducted on 3 December 1863 on the Missouri River bluffs two miles north of Omaha, Nebraska. But because the
Civil War was still raging, a shortage of investors, private money, manpower, locomotives, iron for rails, and other materials kept Union Pacific and Central Pacific from
making any real progress for another year and a half. With the close of the war in the spring of 1865, increased progress on the two roads began, but it was not until
the spring of 1866 that a substantial amount of trackage was laid. Thousands of Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate, were glad to get employment with
Union Pacific. The Central Pacific solved most of its labor problem by recruiting and importing thousands of young Chinese, who proved to be excellent workers. It
also employed some war veterans, along with other whites and Mexicans.

Although eastern and California bankers and other capitalists were reluctant to invest in the Union Pacific and Central Pacific under the terms of the first railroad act,
Brigham Young showed no reluctance. He promptly bought five shares of Union Pacific stock at $1,000 per share. With passage of the revised act in 1864, and
especially after the close of the war in 1865, other investors began pumping needed funds into the two roads.

Oliver Ames, a wealthy Boston shovel manufacturer, became president of Union Pacific on 23 November 1866. His brother and partner, Oakes Ames, as a U.S.
congressman, gave considerable political-legislative and financial-support to Union Pacific. Although anti-Mormon politics at the Washington level had deprived
Brigham Young of his position as governor of Utah Territory, it was obvious to the officials of the two railroads that as President of the Mormon Church, Brigham
Young, rather than the territorial governor, was the real power in Utah.

Union Pacific and Central Pacific were eager to build as many miles as possible to get the lucrative land grants and federal monetary loans. Union Pacific hoped to build
as far west as Reno, Nevada, and Central Pacific hoped to build as far east as Fort Bridger, Wyoming, or beyond. The revised railroad act had specified only that the
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     companies  would build Infobase
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                                                                                                                                                     race, each
eventually sought the help of Brigham Young and the Mormon work force.
Young, rather than the territorial governor, was the real power in Utah.

Union Pacific and Central Pacific were eager to build as many miles as possible to get the lucrative land grants and federal monetary loans. Union Pacific hoped to build
as far west as Reno, Nevada, and Central Pacific hoped to build as far east as Fort Bridger, Wyoming, or beyond. The revised railroad act had specified only that the
two companies would build until they met, wherever that might be. So it became a great race between the two; and to do as well as possible in that race, each
eventually sought the help of Brigham Young and the Mormon work force.

Mormons Contract With Union Pacific

Union Pacific was first to solicit President Young's support. After preliminary discussions with General Grenville M. Dodge, Union Pacific chief engineer, on 21 May
1868, the Mormon leader signed a contract with Samuel B. Reed, Union Pacific superintendent of construction, to do road grading, tunneling, and bridging from the
head of Echo Canyon, or approximately the Utah-Wyoming border, down to the Salt Lake Valley. Accounts of the terms of the contract vary, some claiming it was for
$1 million worth of work, others reporting it specified 90 miles of work, or even 100 miles of work. The contract did specify that 80 percent of the contract price was
to be paid monthly as the work progressed, and the other 20 percent would be paid when the project was completed.

Orson F. Whitney, who as a youngster worked on the Union Pacific portion of the road, gives one version of the contract:

The principal sub-contractors under President Young-whose contract amounted to about two and a quarter millions of dollars-were Bishop John Sharp [Acting
Superintendent of Public Works for Utah Territory, President Daniel H. Wells being the Superintendent as well as Brigham Young's second counselor in the Church's
First Presidency] and Hon. Joseph A. Young, the President's eldest son. They employed between five and six hundred men, and the amount of their contract was about
a million dollars. To them fell the heavy stone work of the bridge abutments and the cutting of the tunnels in Weber Canyon. Afterwards, in the "race" between the
Union Pacific and Central Pacific constructing companies, Sharp and Young took another contract amounting to a hundred thousand dollars, upon which they
employed from four to five hundred men. . . . President Young is said to have realized from his contract about eight hundred thousand dollars.

George Q. Cannon, editor of the Deseret News and later a counselor to Brigham Young and then to his uncle John Taylor, heralded the railroad contract as a "great
cause for thankfulness" because of what it could do for the labor situation and the general economy of Utah. He editorialized:

Now no man need go East, or in any other direction in search of employment. There is enough for all at our very doors and in the completion of a project in which we
are all interested. Coming as it does when there is such a scarcity of money and a consequent slackness of labor, it is most advantageous.

With the cash that the Union Pacific would be paying them, the Mormons "who owe may pay their debts, and have the necessary funds to send for machinery and
establish mercantile houses in the various settlements.

Railroad workers were paid from two to three dollars per day, depending on their skills and assignments. Those with horse teams and scrapers were paid additional
compensation. Physically fit men emigrating to Zion from England, Europe, or the eastern U.S. could ride on the train from Omaha to the end of the line free of charge if
they agreed to work for the Union Pacific when they arrived at the line's end. Their children under fourteen years of age could ride at half price.

In a letter to Franklin D. Richards, agent in charge of emigration at Liverpool, England, President Young observed,

For many reasons that will readily occur to you, this contract is viewed by the brethren of understanding as a Godsend. There is much indebtedness among the people,
and the territory is drained of money, but labor here and [more laborers] coming we have in large amount, and this contract affords opportunity for turning that labor
into money, with which those here can pay each other, and import needed machinery, and such useful articles as we cannot yet produce, and those coming can pay
their indebtedness, and have ready means with which to gather around them the comforts of life in their new homes.

Unfortunately, while some 3,000 Mormons went diligently to work to complete the grading, tunneling, and bridge building in Echo and Weber Canyons, rejoicing in
anticipation of the cash they were earning, Union Pacific officials were scheming to avoid as much of the payment due them as possible. It was not until October 1868,
five months after Brigham Young and Samuel Reed had signed the contract, and more than four months after Mormon railroad gangs were hard at work, that Union
Pacific's board of directors approved the contract-five months of deliberate stalling to avoid making payments due. This, of course, wreaked havoc with the Mormon
subcontractors, the workmen, and the economy generally. Supplies had been purchased on credit in anticipation of the monthly payments from Union Pacific. With so
many of the farmers working on the railroad, foodstuffs soon were in short supply, and inflation followed. Butter, for instance, was selling for $1.25 per pound, when in
the opinion of President Daniel H. Wells it should not have been selling for more than 25 cents per pound.

Echo and Weber Canyons were the most difficult terrain through which Union Pacific had to build. Several tunnels were blasted and dug in these narrow canyons, and
floods washed out both grading and bridges. Mormon workmen became experts in the use of nitroglycerin "blasting oil" and other explosives used to help tunnel
through rock formations and to carve out roadbeds from steep, rocky hillsides. When work on the canyon tunnels did not seem to be going fast enough to please the
anxious Union Pacific officials, they brought from Wyoming non-Mormon crews to take over the tunneling. A month later, however, they were ready to turn it back to
the Mormons.

"The big tunnel which the [Union Pacific] company's men took off from our hands to complete in a hurry, has been proffered back again," wrote Brigham Young to his
secretary Albert Carrington:

They have not less than four men to our one constantly employed and, withal, have not been doing over two-thirds as much work. Superintendent Reed has solicited us
to resume it again. We were well pleased to have the job off from our hands when it was, as it enabled us to complete our other work on the line; but now that it is so
nearly complete, probably we shall finish the tunnel. Bishop Sharp and Joseph A. Young are using nitro-glycerine for blasting, and its superiority over powder, as well
as the sobriety, steadiness and industry of our men, gives us a marked advantage.

Edward Lennox Sloan, Deseret News assistant editor, whose stories have been praised by historian Robert West Howard as "the best panorama extant of the Great
Iron Trail's gargantuan routine," visited the Echo and Weber Canyon work sites and reported,

After the day's work was done, their animals turned out to herd and the supper over, a nice blending of voices in sweet singing proved that the materials exist among
the men for a capital choir. . . . Soon after, the call for prayers was heard, when the men assembled and reverentially bowed before the Author of all blessings.

Sloan reported that "in but one camp of less than one hundred men, out of between two and three thousand working in the two canyons, did I hear profanity; and it is
not likely to be tolerated there long." The Deseret News also published a song that Mormon graders at the head of Echo Canyon were singing as they worked:

We surely live in a very fast age;
We've traveled by oxteam, and then took the stage;
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But when such conveyance is all done away
We'll travel in steam cars upon the railway!!
not likely to be tolerated there long."   The Deseret News also published a song that Mormon graders at the head of Echo Canyon were singing as they worked:

We surely live in a very fast age;
We've traveled by oxteam, and then took the stage;

But when such conveyance is all done away
We'll travel in steam cars upon the railway!!

Hurrah! Hurrah! for the railroad's begun!
Three cheers for our contractor, his name's Brigham Young!

To Sloan, the approach of the Union Pacific non-Mormon camps seemed like an invasion of Zion by the drunken hordes of Babylon. In a visit to the once peaceful
Mormon town of Echo City in the week before Christmas 1868, he found "saloons, doggeries, whiskey-holes, dram-barrels, gambling-hells," also "private dwellings,"
with "nymphs du grade," whence "femininity stalks out with brazen publicity." Sloan direfully warned his readers, "They are coming, coming, coming!" This "hell on
wheels," which had plagued Union Pacific from day one, sometimes got so rank that the Casement brothers, Jack and Dan, the Union Pacific's construction foremen,
organized vigilante teams among their work crews to hang or otherwise dispose of con men, pimps, and cutthroats.

Colonel Charles R. Savage, a Mormon photographer in Salt Lake City (who became father-in-law of President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.), was employed by Union Pacific
to supplement the work of its chief photographer, Andrew J. Russell. Savage recorded in his diary that upon a visit to one of the Casement brothers' camps he was

creditably informed that 24 men had been killed in the several camps in the last 25 days. Certainly, a harder set of men were never before congregated together. . . . At
Blue River the returning "Democrats," so-called, were being piled upon the cars in every stage of drunkenness. Every ranch or tent has whiskey for sale. Verily, men
earn their money like horses and spend it like asses.

Collis P. Huntington, Central Pacific's vice president, spent most of his time in New York City and Washington, D.C., arranging for shipment of locomotives, rails, and
other supplies by ship to California and lobbying congressmen for further financial help. When he learned that Union Pacific had signed a contract with Brigham Young
for Mormon workmen, he telegraphed Leland Stanford, president of Central Pacific, to hasten to Salt Lake City and strike a similar deal with the Mormon leader to
provide workers for Central Pacific. Traveling by train to rail's end in Nevada and then by buggy, Stanford reached Brigham Young as soon as he could.

Mormons Contract With Central Pacific

President Young had recently learned to his keen disappointment that Union Pacific was reneging on its promise to route its line through Salt Lake City and instead
intended to go around the north end of the Great Salt Lake. He was also keenly chagrined that Union Pacific had not met its commitment on timely pay for his work
crews. As a result, he was inclined to give favorable consideration to Stanford's request for Mormon workmen. Instead of taking a contract with Central Pacific
himself, he arranged for Stanford to contract with Lorin Farr, LDS stake president and mayor of Ogden; Chauncey Walker West, presiding bishop in the Ogden area;
and Elder Ezra Taft Benson of Logan. Early in September 1868, Stanford agreed to pay Mormon workmen from three to six dollars per day for manual and skilled
labor and ten dollars per day for wagon men to grade the Central Pacific road from the Utah-Nevada border east through Ogden and to some point in Weber Canyon.
At President Young's insistence, he also made a cash down payment in advance.

In his negotiations, Stanford carefully avoided telling President Young that Central Pacific had also decided that it was best to go around the north end of Great Salt
Lake; he gave the impression that Central Pacific still planned to go around the south end and through Salt Lake City. General Dodge of Union Pacific claims it was he
who told President Young the truth of Central Pacific's intentions, hoping this would dissuade the Mormon leader from helping Central Pacific. When confronted with
the truth, Stanford lamely alibied that Central Pacific was being forced to go north of the lake because of Union Pacific's decision.

Dodge, who as chief engineer of Union Pacific was largely responsible for the decision to go north of the lake, reported,

We had only one controversy with the Mormons, who had been our friends and had given the full support of the Church from the time of our first reconnaissances until
the final completion. It was our desire and the demand of the Mormons that we should build through Salt Lake City, but we bent all our energies to find a feasible line
passing through that city and around the south end of the Great Salt Lake and across the desert to Humboldt Wells, a controlling point in the line. We found the line so
superior on the north of the lake that we had to adopt that route with a view of building a branch to Salt Lake City, but Brigham Young would not have this, and
appealed over my head to the board of directors, who referred the question to the government directors, who finally sustained me. Then Brigham Young gave his
allegiance and aid to the Central Pacific, hoping to bring them around the south end of the lake and force us to connect with them there.

When news of the Mormon contract with Central Pacific reached New York City, the Union Pacific board of directors suddenly found it expedient to approve the
contract Sam Reed had made in Union Pacific's behalf with President Young the previous May. The fearful thought seems to have struck the Union Pacific officials that
the Mormons might turn over to Central Pacific the road they had graded in Echo and Weber Canyons for Union Pacific, inasmuch as the latter had not met its financial
obligations. Vice president Thomas C. Durant hurried to Salt Lake City with a partial payment of the money due, handed it to President Young with an apology, and
begged him to rescind his decision to help Central Pacific. When Young refused, Durant vainly attempted to persuade Dr. Daniel W. Strong at Dutch Flat, California-a
close friend of the late Theodore Judah, who disliked Central Pacific's "Big Four"-to contract for 2,000 Chinese laborers for Union Pacific. Getting no response to his
telegram to Strong, Durant negotiated another contract with Young for further work.

So from September 1868 to 11 April 1869, when an agreement was reached on Promontory Summit as the junction point, Mormon crews were heavily involved on
both sides in the hectic race for additional mileage. They were grading parallel roads clear across northern Utah, from east to west and from west to east, each
company hoping its road would be the one to gain government approval, and thus the land grants and monetary loans. A few miles east of Promontory Summit, Union
Pacific built one of its largest trestles, 400 feet long and 85 feet high-a frightening spectacle to cross. Right next to it, Central Pacific built a huge landfill, which still
stands. Actual rails were laid by each company only as far as Promontory Summit, but the grading was done far beyond either side of that point.

Corinne and Promontory Station were the final permanent towns created by the construction of the Pacific Railroad. In its issue of 5 March 1869, the Deseret News
reported:

Five miles west of Brigham City is situated the new town of Corinne, built of canvas and board shanties. The place is fast becoming civilized, several men having been
killed there already. The last one was found in the [Bear] river with four bullet holes through him and his head badly mangled. Work is being vigorously prosecuted on
the U.P.R.R. and C.P.R.R., both lines running near each other and occasionally crossing.

. . . From Corinne west thirty miles, the grading camps present the appearance of a mighty army. As far as the eye can reach are to be seen almost a continuous line of
tents, wagons and men. . . . Sharp & Young's blasters are jarring the earth every few minutes with their glycerine and powder, lifting whole ledges of limestone rock
from their long resting places, hurling them hundreds of feet in the air and scattering them around for a half mile in every direction. At Carlisle's works a few days ago
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                                                                                                                                                                     The bars
striking the rock caused an explosion; one of the men was blown two or three hundred feet in the air, breaking every bone in his body; the other three were terribly
burnt and wounded with flying stones.
. . . From Corinne west thirty miles, the grading camps present the appearance of a mighty army. As far as the eye can reach are to be seen almost a continuous line of
tents, wagons and men. . . . Sharp & Young's blasters are jarring the earth every few minutes with their glycerine and powder, lifting whole ledges of limestone rock
from their long resting places, hurling them hundreds of feet in the air and scattering them around for a half mile in every direction. At Carlisle's works a few days ago
four men were preparing a blast by filling a large crevice in a ledge with powder. After pouring in the powder they undertook to work it down with iron bars. The bars
striking the rock caused an explosion; one of the men was blown two or three hundred feet in the air, breaking every bone in his body; the other three were terribly
burnt and wounded with flying stones.

Inasmuch as Ogden was a more logical place than either Promontory or Corinne for a permanent junction of the two roads, the government and the two companies
decided that, after the joining of the rails at Promontory, the Union Pacific would sell to Central Pacific its trackage from Promontory to Ogden, which would become
the permanent junction of the two roads.

Brigham Young did not attend the famous Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Summit on Monday, 10 May 1869. According to Orson F. Whitney,

President Young, President [Daniel H.] Wells, Apostles [Wilford] Woodruff, [George Q.] Cannon and other prominent churchmen who would also have been present
on the occasion [of the Salt Lake City celebration, not the Promontory ceremony] had they been in the city, had started some time before [on April 25] on their
customary annual tour through the southern settlements.

It seems likely that President Young deliberately chose not to be present at either of the celebrations, probably because the railroad had not been built through Salt
Lake City as he had requested and because the companies had not fully paid the Mormons for their work.

Utah and the Mormon Church nevertheless were well represented at both the Golden Spike program and the Salt Lake City celebration. Those at the Golden Spike
included Bishop John Sharp, Charles R. Savage, William Jennings, and other dignitaries of Salt Lake City; Elder Franklin D. Richards, Mayor Lorin Farr, and Bishop
Chauncey West of Ogden; Elder Ezra Taft Benson of Logan; Abraham Hunsaker of Honeyville; and many other Utahns. Some accounts claim that Bishop Sharp was
designated as President Young's official representative; others say Mayor Farr had been designated. Perhaps neither one was, or maybe both were. There are so many
conflicting reports of who did what on the program that it is impossible to know of a certainty today.

The only Utahn who possibly had any speaking part was Bishop Sharp; some accounts say he was invited to offer a second prayer after the Reverend Dr. John Todd
of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, offered a lengthy invocation. Most accounts do not mention it. Whether there were two prayers or not, the telegrapher sent the following
message over the nationwide wire as the program proceeded: "We have got done praying! The spike is about to be driven!"

The Salt Lake City Tenth Ward Band did play some music on the program, as did the Army 21st Infantry Band. The director of the army band reported that his men
played fairly well until they got too drunk. The abundance of liquor at the ceremony perhaps accounts for the numerous conflicting reports of who did what.

So far as the reports indicate, little if any mention was made of the Mormon contribution to the railroad construction. But noted historian Samuel Bowles speculated in
his 1869 book Our New West,

But for the pioneership of the Mormons, discovering the pathway, and feeding those who came out upon it, all this central region of our great West would now be many
years behind its present development, and the railroad instead of being finished, would hardly be begun.

As the concluding feature of a very noisy, poorly organized celebration, an official announcement was sent over the telegraph line:

Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10th. The last rail is laid! The last spike is driven! The Pacific Railroad is completed! The point of junction is 1,086 miles west of the
Missouri River [at Omaha, Nebraska], and 690 miles east of Sacramento City. [signed]: Leland Stanford, Central Pacific Railroad. T. C. Durant, Sidney Dillon, John
Duff, Union Pacific Railroad.

Millions of Americans in cities large and small all over the country engaged in local celebrations of the great event. Utah historian and Apostle Orson F. Whitney
provides a vivid description of Salt Lake City's observance:

The news of the driving of the last spike and the welding of the two great railways at Promontory reached Salt Lake City at thirty-two minutes past noon, being flashed
over the wires to Utah's capital, and to the various settlements along the line of the Deseret Telegraph, simultaneously with its transmission throughout the length and
breadth of the Union. Instantly the stars and stripes were unfurled from public buildings and at other prominent places, brass and martial bands stationed expectantly at
several points struck up lively airs, and artillery salutes were fired from Arsenal Hill [now known as Capitol Hill] and from the vicinity of the City Hall and the County
Court House. The principal stores and manufactories, public and private offices were then closed and business was suspended for the rest of the day.

At 2 p.m., between six and seven thousand citizens had assembled at the Tabernacle. On the stand were his Excellency, [Utah Territory] Governor [Charles] Durkee,
Hons. George A. Smith, John Taylor, William H. Hooper and John M. Bernhisel; Hon. John A. Clark, Surveyor-General of Utah; Bishop Edward Hunter, Aldermen
S. W. Richards and A. H. Raleigh and General R. T. Burton. The last named three were a committee previously appointed by the City Council to arrange for the
celebration now begun. . . .

Judge Elias Smith was elected president of the meeting, A. M. Musser, secretary, Messrs. G. D. Watt and D. W. Evans, reporters, and Colonel J. C. Little, chaplain. .
. . Croxall's and Huntington's bands discoursed stirring and appropriate music, and speeches were made by Governor Durkee, Hons. John Taylor, George A. Smith
and William H. Hooper. Three cheers were given for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies, "the heroes who have consummated the work", and three more
for the national government.

A committee appointed "to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting" declared, in part:

Resolved, That the people of Utah-the great pioneers of the Rocky Mountains-receive with acclamation the glad news of the completion of the mighty work to which
as a people they have contributed their part; and hand in hand with the great circle of States and Territories now rejoicing in union over the event, do thank God for its
accomplishment.

After the resolutions were unanimously adopted,

Colonel David McKenzie then took the stand and read to the assembly the railroad memorial sent to Congress by the Utah Legislature during its first annual session, in
March, 1852 [pleading for construction of the railroad and offering Utah's help]. Music, toasts and sentiments followed and the meeting then adjourned. In the evening
the business portions of the city were beautifully illuminated, there was a huge bonfire on Arsenal Hill and displays of fireworks in various parts in honor of the great
event at Promontory.
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Mormons Build Utah Central
Colonel David McKenzie then took the stand and read to the assembly the railroad memorial sent to Congress by the Utah Legislature during its first annual session, in
March, 1852 [pleading for construction of the railroad and offering Utah's help]. Music, toasts and sentiments followed and the meeting then adjourned. In the evening
the business portions of the city were beautifully illuminated, there was a huge bonfire on Arsenal Hill and displays of fireworks in various parts in honor of the great
event at Promontory.

Mormons Build Utah Central

Considering the keen disappointment that Brigham Young and other Utahns had expressed regarding the railroad companies' decision to not go through Salt Lake City,
Union Pacific offered to build a connecting road from Ogden to Salt Lake City, according to Grenville Dodge. But in June 1868, President Young decided that the
LDS Church would build such a road itself. At a mass meeting he said,

If the company which first arrives [in the Salt Lake Valley] should deem it to their advantage to leave us [Salt Lake City] out in the cold, we will not be so far off but we
can have a branch line for the advantage of this city.

To build this thirty-seven-mile branch railroad, President Young initiated organization of the Utah Central Railroad Company, with himself as president, on 8 March
1869, the day Union Pacific tracks reached Ogden. Other organizers and stockholders were his three oldest sons, Joseph A., Brigham, Jr., and John W. Young;
George Q. Cannon, Daniel H. Wells, George A. Smith, John Sharp, David P. Kimball, William Jennings, Feramorz Little, James T. Little, Bryant Stringham, David O.
Calder, and Isaac Groo, all of Salt Lake City; and Christopher Layton of Kaysville. William Jennings became vice president; John W. Young, secretary; Daniel H.
Wells, treasurer; Jesse W. Fox, chief engineer; Feramorz Little, Christopher Layton, and Brigham Young, Jr., directors. Joseph A. Young was named superintendent,
and John Sharp assistant superintendent.

In May 1869, Utah Central Railway broke ground. "The point of beginning was near Weber River, just below the city of Ogden," reports Elder Whitney. "The weather
was bright and beautiful, and a large concourse of people assembled, including the principal men of Weber County and many notable citizens of Salt Lake." Included
at the ground-breaking, besides the railroad officers, were Elder John Taylor of Salt Lake City; Elder Ezra Taft Benson of Logan; and Elder Franklin D. Richards,
Mayor Lorin Farr, and Bishop Chauncey W. West of Ogden-all of whom had participated in construction of the transcontinental railroad.

It was not quite 10 a.m. when President Young, after a few preliminary remarks, cut with a spade the first sod, observing as he did so that it was customary in breaking
first ground to use a pick, but that he believed in using the tool best adapted to the soil. President George A. Smith offered prayer, dedicating the ground for a railroad
and invoking heaven's blessing on the enterprise. President Young then removed the sod that he had cut, after which President Smith, President Wells, William Jennings
and others cut sods. Three cheers were given for the president of the road, and after the band had played the assembly dispersed.

When the transcontinental railroad was completed on 10 May, both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific were in arrears in their payments to the Mormons for their
work, and neither was in any hurry to make further payments. Union Pacific owed them well over a million dollars. Before the end of May, Durant was voted out as
Union Pacific's vice president and general manager. He had siphoned off most the profits into his Credit Mobilier Corporation, leaving Union Pacific near bankruptcy.
President Young sent Elder John Taylor, Bishop John Sharp, and his son Joseph A. Young to New York and Boston to meet with President Oliver Ames and other
Union Pacific officials in an effort to obtain payment due the Mormons. They had little success, but in lieu of cash they did receive promises of surplus rails and other
equipment with which to begin construction of the Utah Central.

The company was organized with a capital stock of $1,500,000, comprised of 15,000 shares valued at $100 each. As with other Church-sponsored enterprises,
construction of Utah Central was to be a cooperative effort. Land right-of-ways, timber for ties and trestles, labor, and other aspects of construction were assigned
through bishops from Ogden to the Salt Lake City area. All those owning the designated land were asked to surrender a right-of-way as part of their contribution to the
project. Generally, the response was a generous contribution of time, labor, materials, and land.

It was estimated that the railroad could be completed in four months, perhaps by mid-September. Had Union Pacific kept its promise on delivery of rails, rolling stock,
and other materials, that schedule could have been met. But Union Pacific was having to rebuild much of its hastily constructed railroad between Omaha and Ogden.
Paying its debt to the Mormons and delivering the promised materials for Utah Central were low priorities.

In the 1 September 1869 issue of the Deseret News, under the heading "UP and CP Companies' Indebtedness to the People of Utah," editor George Q. Cannon made
public the shabby treatment Utahns had suffered, one result of which was delay in construction of the Utah Central:

Perhaps on no one point for many years have the people of Utah exhibited more of their characteristic patience and forbearance than in the case of the railroad
contracts for grading which they have filled for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad Companies. Upward of fifteen months ago a contract was made by the
Union Pacific Railroad Company, through its Superintendent of Construction and Engineer, S. B. Reed, Esq., with President B. Young for the grading of a large extent
of its Line. . . .

The non-fulfillment of this agreement on the part of the Company was a most serious loss to the contractor and his subcontractors. It was not only a loss at the time; but
it was a cause of incalculable loss afterwards. Many who could have finished their jobs when the weather was favorable were thrown behind and had to complete them
when the expense of grading was very much enhanced by the severity of the weather. The tools, also, which had been promised by the company, were not forthcoming
by the time stipulated, and many of the sub-contractors were put to serious inconvenience and heavy expense to obtain the necessary implements to keep their teams
and hands employed. . . .

The people of this Territory may well be proud of their share of the grading of the great continental highway; for their work will bear the closest scrutiny, and their
patience, perseverance, sobriety, language and general demeanor while on the Line were such as to extort praise from all who were brought in contact with them. . . .
The Union Pacific Railroad Company owes the people of this Territory upwards of a million of dollars for the grading of its roads. . . .

The situation of affairs here at the present time demands that there should be some plain talking on this subject. If the credit of the people is endangered, or if our
business men fail to meet their engagements, ordinary justice requires that the cause of this should be known. A moment's reflection will convince every person that the
withholding of a million and a quarter of dollars from a community no larger than ours must produce serious loss, embarrassment and distress. Had there been no hopes
of pay held out, the consequences would not have been as serious as they are, for every man would then have known what to depend upon and would have arranged
accordingly. But, as it is, there is not a business man in the country who is not affected, and some very seriously, by the failure of these companies to pay for their work,
and hundreds of men are literally destitute of the necessaries of life for the want of the money which they worked hard to earn. . . . Its injustice is so apparent that it
needs no comment.

Two days after the editorial was published, Elder Ezra Taft Benson of Logan was in Ogden still trying to collect payment from Central Pacific so he could pay his
workmen. Just after his arrival in "Junction City" in Ogden on 3 September, he died of a heart attack at the age of 58. Extreme anxiety over financial obligations
incurred by the unpaid railroad work was believed to be the main cause of his death. Bishop Chauncey West of Ogden, one of the other two Mormon contractors with
Central Pacific, died four months later, on 9 January 1870, at the age of 42, his death also likely induced by the financial anxiety. Joseph A. Young died at age 40.
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Whether either Cannon's editorial or Benson's and West's untimely deaths had any influence on their decision or not, Central Pacific officials in September paid all but
$200,000 of their debt to the Mormons. Union Pacific officials in September agreed to turn over to the Church $600,000 worth of iron and rolling stock immediately
Two days after the editorial was published, Elder Ezra Taft Benson of Logan was in Ogden still trying to collect payment from Central Pacific so he could pay his
workmen. Just after his arrival in "Junction City" in Ogden on 3 September, he died of a heart attack at the age of 58. Extreme anxiety over financial obligations
incurred by the unpaid railroad work was believed to be the main cause of his death. Bishop Chauncey West of Ogden, one of the other two Mormon contractors with
Central Pacific, died four months later, on 9 January 1870, at the age of 42, his death also likely induced by the financial anxiety. Joseph A. Young died at age 40.

Whether either Cannon's editorial or Benson's and West's untimely deaths had any influence on their decision or not, Central Pacific officials in September paid all but
$200,000 of their debt to the Mormons. Union Pacific officials in September agreed to turn over to the Church $600,000 worth of iron and rolling stock immediately
and to pay sometime later another $200,000 in cash. This settlement was far short of the original agreement. By December 1869, the Mormons finally did get an
estimated $500,000 worth of material from Union Pacific that was used in completion of the Utah Central. Unable to get the needed cash payment from Union Pacific,
Brigham Young borrowed $125,000 from Union Pacific President Oliver Ames at 9 percent interest to help pay the Mormon graders on Union Pacific's line and to
help finance completion of Utah Central.

Utah Central Completed

On 10 January 1870, some 15,000 people gathered in Salt Lake City for ceremonies marking completion of the Utah Central. That was about thirty times the number
present at the Golden Spike ceremony eight months earlier. Elder Wilford Woodruff offered the dedicatory prayer. Brigham Young drove the last spike, on which was
inscribed the emblem of a beehive, the initials "U.C.R.R." (Utah Central Railroad), and the words "Holiness to the Lord." The same engravings were on the mallet with
which he drove the spike. Band music and fireworks were interspersed with several speeches, the main one being by President Young, who, because of the cold
weather, had George Q. Cannon read it for him. He reviewed Mormon pioneer struggles and triumphs, declaring,

Since the day that we first trod the soil of these valleys, have we received any assistance from our neighbors? No; we have not. We have built our homes, our cities,
have made our farms, have dug our canals and water ditches, have subdued this barren country, have fed the strangers, have clothed the naked, have immigrated the
poor from foreign lands, have placed them in a condition to make all comfortable and have made some rich. We have fed the Indians to the amount of thousands of
dollars yearly, have clothed them in part, and have sustained several Indian wars, and now we have built thirty-seven miles of railroad.

Brigham Young took particular pride in the fact that Utah Central had been built entirely with volunteer labor, without financial aid from either the federal government or
other sources. Two Union Pacific officials, as guest speakers, commended the Mormons on that same point. Colonel Carr said, "It has been built solely with money
wrung from the soil which, a few years ago, we used to consider a desert, by the strong arms of men and women who stand before me."

Despite the cold weather, the celebration continued into the night with fireworks throughout the city and a huge bonfire and a special pyrotechnic display on Arsenal
[Capitol] Hill. "A grand ball and supper at the [Salt Lake] Theater, attended by leading Church officials, prominent merchants of the city-Mormon and gentile-officers
from Camp [Fort] Douglas, and many prominent citizens," records Orson Whitney, "made a fitting finale for the day's memorable proceedings."

In the Deseret News, editor Cannon expressed the belief that the advantages of having a railroad connection with the rest of the country would far outweigh any
disadvantages that could possibly arise. "The days of isolation are now forever past. We thank God for it."

Brigham Young had admired the private cars of Leland Stanford, Thomas Durant, and other Pacific Railroad officials. Now with Utah Central, he would have a private
car of his own. When he traveled, he would travel in style, as was becoming for a railroad president and the most prominent man in Utah Territory. One of the cars
acquired from Union Pacific was especially decorated to his taste, including handsome ornamentation of scrolls and gilding, and angels and cherubim on the ceiling.
Such a heavenly touch was well earned, considering the infernal torment he had been through. He also found pleasure in giving free passes to other officials of the
Church, to missionaries, and to general conference attenders.

While successfully building the Utah Central, the Church met with disappointment in a second railroad project-construction of a narrow gauge (three-foot) railroad from
Coalville to Echo, a distance of five miles. Its main purpose was to freight coal from the Coalville area to Echo, at which point it would be transferred to the Union
Pacific line for shipment to Ogden, then to the Utah Central for shipment to Salt Lake City. Local residents completed the grading and prepared the ties. Iron and
rolling stock were to be provided by the Church from Union Pacific supplies in settlement of its debt to Brigham Young. But Union Pacific failed to send the amount
agreed, and there was only sufficient for the Utah Central. Union Pacific also increased its freight rate from Echo to Ogden to a prohibitive figure to quell the
competition to its coal mines at Rock Springs, Wyoming, which were selling to the Ogden and Salt Lake markets.

Utah Southern and Northern

Brigham Young's next railroad venture was the Utah Southern Railroad, extending railroad service from Salt Lake City to points south. Organized in January 1871, it
broke ground on 1 May. Several of the same Utah Central officials were involved, such as Brigham Young, his son Joseph, William Jennings, and John Sharp.
Feramorz Little was appointed superintendent. The road reached Sandy by September-thirteen miles. A year later it reached Lehi in Utah County. Fourteen months
later it was to Provo. By 1 April 1875, it was in York, twenty-seven miles south of Provo.

The first lap of the road to Sandy had particular significance for Brigham Young and the Mormons. A narrow-gauge spur was built seven miles east to Little
Cottonwood Canyon, where the Church was quarrying granite stones for the Salt Lake Temple. Upon completion of this spur in 1873, all granite stones for the temple
were hauled by railroad cars, greatly facilitating temple construction. Mines in the Alta area were also served by this spur, and other branches were constructed along
the line-such as out to Bingham-to facilitate freighting of ores. Passenger service between communities and freighting of agricultural products from Utah county and
points south figured significantly in its business.

But financial difficulties soon beset both Utah Central and Utah Southern. Reluctantly, President Young invited Union Pacific to buy into both roads. Paying partly in
cash and partly in rails and rolling stock, Union Pacific soon acquired control of Utah Central and Utah Southern. It eventually continued the line on to Los Angeles,
changing its name to Utah Central Railway System in 1881.

Brigham Young and his associates initiated one other railroad-the Utah Northern, later known as the "Utah and Northern." It ran from Ogden north to Brigham City,
paralleling the Pacific Railroad. But then, instead of turning west, it continued north to Collinston, then east into Cache Valley-first to Mendon, then to Logan, then north
to Franklin, Idaho, making it the first railroad in Idaho. A four-mile branch ran west from Brigham City to Corinne in deference to Corinne's importance as a freight
transfer point. But when the Utah Northern reached Franklin, it killed Corinne as a shipping point to the mines of western Montana. The plan was to extend the Utah
Northern line up to Soda Springs, Idaho, and eventually to the Montana mining area.

The Utah Northern was organized 23 August 1871 with John W. Young, Brigham's third son, as president and superintendent; Bishop William B. Preston of Logan,
vice president and assistant superintendent; and Moses Thatcher of Logan, secretary (he soon became superintendent and later an Apostle). Several Church leaders in
Weber, Box Elder, and Cache Valley were named directors, along with two New York City investors, Joseph Richardson and LeGrand Lockwood, who, along with
Joseph's brother Benjamin, supplied the capital for the rails and rolling stock. Because of limited financing, it was decided to make Utah Northern a narrow-gauge
(three-foot wide) railroad, which could be built for one-third the cost of a standard gauge and could be operated at a lower expense. Locomotives and other rolling
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stock       (c) 2005-2009,
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                                                   engines, known as "Little Fellers," weighed a mere 17 tons but were capable of achieving a maximumPage    95of/ 35
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miles per hour.
vice president and assistant superintendent; and Moses Thatcher of Logan, secretary (he soon became superintendent and later an Apostle). Several Church leaders in
Weber, Box Elder, and Cache Valley were named directors, along with two New York City investors, Joseph Richardson and LeGrand Lockwood, who, along with
Joseph's brother Benjamin, supplied the capital for the rails and rolling stock. Because of limited financing, it was decided to make Utah Northern a narrow-gauge
(three-foot wide) railroad, which could be built for one-third the cost of a standard gauge and could be operated at a lower expense. Locomotives and other rolling
stock were much smaller and less expensive. The engines, known as "Little Fellers," weighed a mere 17 tons but were capable of achieving a maximum speed of 35
miles per hour.

Inasmuch as the Pacific Railroad already ran between Ogden and Brigham City on its way to Corinne and points west, it was decided to build the first stretch of the
Utah Northern from Brigham City to Logan. Then, while the road was being continued on north from Logan toward Soda Springs, other crews could be building from
Brigham City to Ogden, connecting it to its companion road, the Utah Central.

Ground-breaking for the Utah Northern was on a hot summer day in Brigham City, 26 August 1871. Brigham City resident Lorenzo Snow, who later became
President of the Church, dedicated the project unto the Lord. The Brigham City band played, a chorus sang, bells rang, and the old Nauvoo Legion cannon fired a
mighty salute. The road reached Cache Valley on 22 December 1872, Logan on 31 January 1873, and Franklin, Idaho, in May 1874.

Brigham Young, Elder Erastus Snow, and others were invited to Franklin as guests for the big celebration on 2 May; they gladly accepted the invitation. Unfortunately,
their "Little Feller" engine jumped the tracks just north of Logan, and Brigham Young's group never arrived at the celebration. Still, it was satisfying to the Mormon
leader to know that the road had been completed-114.5 track miles from Salt Lake City.

Although several miles of grading had been done, the Utah Northern did not build to Soda Springs as planned. An alternative route was decided on, and the road got
as far as Battle Creek, north of Preston, near the Bear River. Then funds ran out. The New York financiers were unable or unwilling to invest further in it, and the
Church lacked the means to continue.

As a result, Brigham Young once again contacted Union Pacific about buying a Mormon-built railroad. Jay Gould, a wealthy financier who had become a major
stockholder in and president of Union Pacific, bought the Utah Northern. In 1877, the year of Brigham Young's death, Gould reorganized it as the Utah and Northern
and extended its line up to McCammon, Idaho, where he connected it to Union Pacific's Oregon Shortline, which ran to Helena, Montana, and Portland, Oregon. He
changed it from a narrow gauge to a standard gauge.

Although Brigham Young suffered many frustrations and disappointments in his career as a railroad builder, he had the great satisfaction of seeing Utah connected by
rail to the rest of the United States, east and west, and of having most of the Mormon communities in Utah and Idaho served by rail. He personally enjoyed a financial
profit from his railroad enterprises, a profit he needed to help support his extensive family.

Perhaps the five greatest values realized from his railroad efforts were these: (l) aid to convert emigration; (2) aid to missionary travel; (3) aid in construction of the Salt
Lake Temple through transportation of the huge granite blocks from Little Cottonwood Canyon; (4) greater cohesion among Mormon communities; and (5)
improvement in living standards through transportation of machinery, furniture, and other commodities.

Notes

  1. As quoted in Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons Co., 1893), 2: 239-40.

  2. Ibid., 240-41.

  3. As quoted in John J Stewart, The Iron Trail to the Golden Spike (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1969), 185.

  4. Ibid., 181-82.

  5. Ibid., 179-80.

  6. Robert West Howard, The Great Iron Trail (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1962), 120.

  7. Whitney, 2: 244.

  8. As quoted in Stewart, 189.

  9. Ibid., 190.

  10. Ibid., 192-93.

  11. Ibid., 192.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Deseret News, 31 July 1868; Howard, 269.

  14. Stewart, 193-94; Howard, 275-77.

  15. As quoted in Howard, 33-34.

  16. As quoted in Stewart, 195-96.

  17. Deseret News, 5 March 1869.

  18. Whitney, 2: 259.

  19. Samuel Bowles, Our New West (Hartford, Connecticut: Hartford Publishing Co., 1869), 260.

 20. As quoted
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                                   Media   to Promontory (Palo Alto, California: American West Publishing Co., 1969), 282.                                 Page 96 / 128
  21. Whitney, 2: 258-59.
  18. Whitney, 2: 259.

  19. Samuel Bowles, Our New West (Hartford, Connecticut: Hartford Publishing Co., 1869), 260.

  20. As quoted in George Kraus, High Road to Promontory (Palo Alto, California: American West Publishing Co., 1969), 282.

  21. Whitney, 2: 258-59.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Ibid., 260.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Ibid., 261-62.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Deseret News, 1 September 1869.

  28. As quoted in Whitney, 2: 264.

  29. Ibid., 266.

  30. Ibid., 267.

  31. Ibid., 268.

CHAPTER 13

Brigham Young and the Great Basin Economy

Leonard J. Arrington

Professor Emeritus of History, Past Director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University

  When Brigham Young joined the Church in 1832, he discontinued his business operations, laid aside his account books, and covenanted to spend the rest of his life
promoting righteous principles and encouraging the Saints to be of one heart and mind. "I expected," he said, "we should be one family, each seeking to do his neighbor
good, and all be engaged to do all the good possible." His sermons and letters often repeated a plea for the Latter-day Saints to maintain a strong sense of
community. He explained:

After we believed in the Gospel we were baptized for the remission of our sins-and by the laying on of hands we received the Holy Spirit of Promise and felt that "we
shall be one." I felt that I should no longer have need to keep a day book and ledger in which to keep my accounts, for we were about to consolidate and become one;
that every man and every woman would assist by actually laboring with their hands in planting, building up and beautifying this earth to make it like the Garden of Eden.
I should therefore have no farther occasion to keep accounts. I should certainly accumulate and earn more than I needed, and had not a single doubt but what my
wants would be supplied. This was my experience, and this is the feeling of every one who received the Gospel in an honest heart and contrite spirit.

The Prophet Joseph Smith had, of course, revealed the law of consecration and stewardship in 1831, and Brigham had witnessed its application and had been imbued
with the rhetoric associated with it. He believed, with the early Saints, that members of the Church constituted a community or Church family. They must work together,
just as they worshiped together; they must share with each other to build up the kingdom of God-not as individuals but as a group; not by competition but by
cooperation; not by individual aggrandizement but by community development; not by profit-seeking but by working selflessly to build the kingdom.

In Nauvoo, where Brigham was business manager of the Church, in-migration of skilled workers and capitalists was encouraged, local factories and shops were
erected, and extensive public works projects provided infrastructure and employment. Highly committed to "the Lord's law," the Saints consecrated their time, talents,
and material resources to realizing the goal of building the kingdom. Impressed with the Mormon achievement of causing Nauvoo to emerge Phoenix-like out of a
swamp on the edge of the Mississippi, D. H. Lawrence remarked, "It is probable that the Mormons are the forerunners of the coming real America."

Shortly after he succeeded Joseph Smith as President of the Church in 1847, Brigham received a revelation in Winter Quarters that showed the organization of the
kingdom of God as one great family. The revelation has not been incorporated into the Church's Doctrine and Covenants, but it was precious to Brigham, and he often
referred to it in sermons.

After the Saints reached Utah, various attempts were made, under Brigham's direction, to apply all parts of the law of consecration. In 1854-56, for example, more
than half of the seven thousand families in the territory deeded all their property to the Church in a gesture of goodwill. None of the property was ever taken over by
the Church, but one can hardly deny that during most of the 1850s and 1860s, Mormon farmers and craftsmen came close to giving all their surplus in the form of
tithing and other donations, and that in responding to Brigham's admonitions on colonizing and establishing new industries, they treated their property as a stewardship.
They approached the goal of living as a united community of Saints. Harmony and unity were achieved through improved organization-priesthood quorums, Relief
Societies, and village cooperatives. People received their pay in what they produced, and funds were accumulated to purchase machinery and supplies from the States.

After the Saints reached the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, Brigham's goal was to provide the basis for life of all the Saints who had come from the Midwest, and of all
those in England, Scandinavia, and elsewhere who wished to gather in Zion. A way needed to be found for the thousands of gathering Saints to raise their families, build
homes, erect meetinghouses and recreation halls, and produce everything necessary for their sustenance.

In seeking to build the kingdom of God in the Mountain West as he had been commanded, President Young engaged in what political economists call "nation-building."
He adopted whatever policies were necessary to build his "nation"-the "Great Basin Kingdom." These policies can be summarized under five headings:

1. In order to maintain a favorable balance of trade for the region, exports were encouraged and imports were discouraged.
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2. Export industries were stimulated by bounties, subsidies, liberal church credit, and the maintenance of low wages.

3. Imports were discouraged by purposeful establishment of substitute local industries, by voluntary abstention from buying imported products, by campaigns to
He adopted whatever policies were necessary to build his "nation"-the "Great Basin Kingdom." These policies can be summarized under five headings:

1. In order to maintain a favorable balance of trade for the region, exports were encouraged and imports were discouraged.

2. Export industries were stimulated by bounties, subsidies, liberal church credit, and the maintenance of low wages.

3. Imports were discouraged by purposeful establishment of substitute local industries, by voluntary abstention from buying imported products, by campaigns to
support home industry, and by Church assumption of the importing function.

4. Development of the natural resources of the kingdom was encouraged by colonization projects, the establishment of new industries, and the cooperative organization
of labor and management.

5. The improvement of the human resources of the kingdom was sought by importing skilled artisans with tools and equipment and with intelligent, well-disciplined
laborers. The Church would assure employment in the region for these laborers.

Lengthy discussions of these policies may be found in the Journal of Discourses. All of them were applied by the Church, by the Church-controlled legislature, and by
the local Latter-day Saint communities. They represent a consistent, original, and sophisticated application of nation-building principles in developing the economy of a
semiarid region.

Unlike some economic administrators in European history, Brigham Young had no interest in acquiring gold bullion, either for himself or for the kingdom. He
understood that in a resource economy, of which the "Great Basin Kingdom" was an example, the pursuit of gold would serve only to undermine economic
development. Gold was good only for purchases in the American East. Purchases were imports, and importing and exporting would lead to an exchange economy-and
to assimilation into the greater national economy. What the Latter-day Saint financier strove for was a relatively independent and self-sufficient regional economy:

Can you not see that gold and silver rank among the things that we are the least in want of? We want an abundance of wheat and fine flour, of wine and oil, and of
every choice fruit that will grow in our climate; we want silk, wool, cotton, flax and other textile substances of which cloth can be made; we want vegetables of various
kinds to suit our constitutions and tastes; and the products of flocks and herds; we want the coal and the iron that are concealed in these ancient mountains, the lumber
from our sawmills, and the rock from our quarries; these are some of the great staples to which kingdoms owe their existence, continuance, wealth, magnificence,
splendor, glory and power; in which gold and silver serve as mere tinsel to give the finishing touch to all this greatness. The colossal wealth of the world is founded upon
and sustained by the common staples of life.

It has been customary for historians and writers to begin discussions of Utah's industrial history with the assertion that Brigham Young and the Church were opposed to
mining. According to this interpretation, Brigham Young not only opposed the idea of Latter-day Saints taking the pick and shovel, but he was also opposed to the
development of Utah's mineral resources by the gentiles. "Developing of mining in the early days," one reads in Utah: A Guide to the State, "was deliberately retarded
by the Mormon Church." If the Latter-day Saints had participated actively in the development of mining, it has been claimed, they would have owned most of the
mines in the territory and received the profits derived from working them. By refusing to permit the Latter-day Saints to mine, the theory goes, Brigham was consigning
this lucrative industry over to the gentiles.

The historical evidence points the other way. Brigham Young and his associates at no time were opposed to mining as such. Under Brigham's leadership, the Church
commissioned several official exploring expeditions, followed by Church-called "missions" to develop iron, coal, silver, and lead resources, particularly in the 1850s, but
also later; the Church called a group of fifty young men to mine gold in California for the benefit of the Church and its members; the Church opposed the premature
mining activities of Colonel Patrick Connor and his California Volunteers in the 1850s for social and economic reasons, not theological reasons-and these reasons do
not include opposition to mining per se; the Church encouraged the development of Utah's mineral resources after 1869, attempting only to counter what it regarded as
undesirable social consequences of the rush of gentile miners and merchants to Utah; and the Church strongly encouraged the development of new industries.

There is, of course, some superficial evidence in favor of the theory that the Saints were opposed to mining. It is well established that Church leaders, especially
Brigham Young, vigorously opposed the "desertion" of the Latter-day Saints to the California gold fields in 1849 and thereafter. Repeated advice was given to the
faithful to resist the temptation to join the gold rush. For example, at a special meeting of the Utah Saints in the Salt Lake Valley in 1849, President Young dwelt at
length on Church policy and the reasons for it:

Some have asked me about going. I have told them that God has 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
and 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 that go, thinking 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 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 His Saints; He will rebuke the frost and the sterility of the
soil, and the land shall become fruitful. Brethren, go to, now, and plant out your fruit seeds.

The President then went on to tell the people that the time had not come for the Saints to dig gold. "It is our duty," he said, "first to develop the agricultural resources of
this country. . . . As for gold and silver, and the rich minerals of the earth, . . . let them alone; let others seek them, and we will cultivate the soil."

Brigham wanted to discourage his followers from going to California for three reasons:

1. He wanted to hold the Church together in order to build the kingdom. "When I see some of the brethren going away," he said, "I feel like a mother seeing her child in
the midst of the ocean, or in the roaring flames. We are gathered here, not to scatter around and go off to the mines, or any other place, but to build up the Kingdom of
God."

2. He considered the atmosphere of the gold fields unsuitable for the Saints. "This [the Salt Lake Valley] is a good place to make Saints," he said, "and it is a good
place for Saints to live; it is the place that the Lord has appointed, and we shall stay here, until He tells us to go somewhere else." "To talk of going away from this
valley for anything is like vinegar to my eyes." Again: "If you Elders of Israel want to go to the gold mines, go and be damned."

3. He thought that at the time the average person would be better off economically by remaining in the Great Basin. "He told those who wanted to go to the mines that
he would remain
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them." Again:

"I will commence at the north and go to the south settlements, and pick out twenty-five of our inhabitants as they average, and another man may take fifty of the gold
valley for anything is like vinegar to my eyes." Again: "If you Elders of Israel want to go to the gold mines, go and be damned."

3. He thought that at the time the average person would be better off economically by remaining in the Great Basin. "He told those who wanted to go to the mines that
he would remain here, mind his own business, help to build up the Kingdom of God, and when they returned from the mines he would agree to count dollars with
them." Again:

"I will commence at the north and go to the south settlements, and pick out twenty-five of our inhabitants as they average, and another man may take fifty of the gold
diggers, off hand, and they cannot buy out the twenty-five men who have tarried at home. Before I had been one year in this place, the wealthiest man who came from
the mines, Father Rhodes, with $17,000, could he buy the possessions I had made in one year? It will not begin to do it; and I will take twenty-five men in the United
States, who have stayed at home and paid attention to their own business, and they will weigh down fifty others from the same place, who went to the gold regions: and
again, look at the widows that have been made, and see the bones that lie bleaching and scattered over the prairies."

Moreover, and this was important in a deliberately self-sufficient society, gold did not constitute "true riches." "True wealth," Brigham Young said, "consists in the skill
to produce conveniences and comforts from the elements. All the power and dignity that wealth can bestow is a mere shadow, the substance is found in the bone and
sinew of the toiling millions. Well directed labor is the true power that supplies our wants."

In the self-sufficient commonwealth of Deseret, gold would not be wealth except insofar as it facilitated exchange. Brigham wanted his people to husband their gold and
pay tithing with it in order to help the Church pay its immigration expenses in the East and England.

Having established the basic policy that the Saints must not join the gold rush, he permitted members of the Mormon Battalion to remain in California to earn money, by
prospecting or otherwise, before returning to Salt Lake; he allowed a few of the Saints to go to California; and to protect the interests of the Church in California, he
called two of his trusted Apostles, Charles C. Rich and Amasa Lyman, to go to California to minister to the Saints who were there, to establish a colony in Southern
California at San Bernardino, and to collect tithing and other offerings.

The most remarkable evidence that Church opposition to the "California fever" did not constitute opposition to mining as such is the official call in 1849 of fifty select
young Latter-day Saints to go "on a mission" to California to mine gold for the Church and its members. The story of the Gold Mission offers undeniable and fascinating
proof of the nature of Church policy with respect to mining. The young men were not particularly successful, however, and their experience merely proved Brigham
Young's conclusion that the Saints could do better in Zion than in the California gold fields.

If Brigham's first preoccupation was to establish and build up Zion's commonwealth in the Great Basin as a place to shelter and raise Latter-day Saints during the years
of the gold rush, the second was to solve problems created by the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Protecting the industries and way of life of
Deseret was a high priority. The mining of Utah's precious metals was now a possibility; outside financial interests, encouraged by anti-Mormon federal officers,
threatened to take over Mormon land and convert the Saints' self-sufficient economy into a tributary of Babylon.

In 1862, the Third California Volunteers, under Colonel (later General) Patrick Edward Connor, were ordered to Utah by Abraham Lincoln to protect the mail and
overland telegraph and to "keep an eye on the Mormons." Wishing to solve "the Mormon problem"-the Mormon desire for self-government and independence-Connor
organized a mining company, framed laws for the government of mining districts, and encouraged his officers and enlisted men to prospect by granting indefinite
furloughs and furnishing provisions and equipment. Connor himself discovered the first silver-bearing rock in Little Cottonwood Canyon and erected a smelting furnace,
and he distributed exaggerated releases to the eastern press advertising "rich veins of gold, silver, copper and other minerals" in Utah.

Connor's policy, clearly stated in public and in private, was "to invite hither a large gentile" population, "sufficient by peaceful means and through the ballot-box to
overwhelm the Mormons by mere force of numbers." Many miners rushed to Utah, as did merchants and traders to supply them. Fortunately for the Saints, mining
could not be profitably conducted until railroad connections were provided. Indeed, there was not a single instance of profitable exploration of Volunteer discoveries
until the completion of the transcontinental railway in 1869. What Connor and his Volunteers did was to prospect enough to support the belief that deposits of gold,
silver, and copper existed in paying quantities in Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch, Bingham Canyon in the Oquirrh range, Rush Valley in northwestern Utah, and
perhaps elsewhere. Brigham Young's position was not unlike that of political and religious leaders of developing nations who objected to opportunistic, exploitative
foreign investment. It was an obvious unfairness, said Brigham, for Connor to use government funds without specific authorization, to supply and subsidize the
prospecting activities of the Volunteers to their private benefit, especially when the avowed ultimate intention was to subvert the Mormon commonwealth.

Who feeds and clothes and defrays the expenses of hundreds of men who are engaged in patroling the mountains and kanyons all around us in search of gold? Who
finds supplies for those who are sent here to protect the two great interests-the mail and telegraph lines across the continent-while they are employed ranging over these
mountains in search of gold? And who has paid for the multitude of picks, shovels, spikes and other mining tools that they have brought with them? Were they really
sent here to protect the mail and telegraph lines, or to discover, if possible, rich diggings in our immediate vicinity, with a view to flood the country with just such a
population as they desire, to destroy, if possible, the identity of the "Mormon" community, and every truth and virtue that remains?

Sound development was one thing, subversion another.

On the bare report that gold was discovered over in these West Mountains, men left their thrashing machines, and their horses at large to eat up and trample down and
destroy the precious bounties of earth. They at once sacrificed all at the glittering shrine of this popular idol, declaring they were now going to be rich, and would raise
wheat no more. Should this feeling become universal on the discovery of gold mines in our immediate vicinity, nakedness, starvation, utter destitution and annihilation
would be the inevitable lot of this people. . . .

The business of the Saints at present [added a Mormon editor], is not to hunt or dig for gold, but to cultivate the soil, to manufacture everything that is necessary for
their use, to make their habitations beautiful and full of comfort, to raise up a generation of sons and daughters who will serve the Lord from their childhood, and to do
all that lies in their power to build up a kingdom that shall be full of strength, virtue, peace, and glory, while the world hurries on to its doom.

Brigham Young's administration sought to accomplish the simultaneous, cooperative development of the region's resources by local interests. The building of the
kingdom was to be achieved by well-planned growth in which the improvement of agricultural production, the stimulation of local industry, and the orderly development
of mineral resources for local use were the essential ingredients. Brigham was certain that the development of a highly specialized economy based on mining and other
export industries would be detrimental to the best interests of the commonwealth.

Recognizing that the railroad would bring problems, Brigham, statesman that he was, welcomed its completion. He invested in the Pacific Railroad Company to show
Church goodwill. He knew the connection would soften the journey of the thousands of converts who came each year, and he welcomed the ease with which useful
machinery and equipment could be brought to Zion. The railroad did, in fact, speed the exploitation of Utah's mineral resources, but Brigham's policies served to
counter the unhealthy adjustments that otherwise would have occurred.

Beginning in 1868, as the railroad neared, seeking to minimize the influence of "the outside world" on the culture and well-being of the saintly mountain valleys, Brigham
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and his associates organized the School of the Prophets and the Women's Relief Society as the effective agents of what was called "Protection." With     their help,
implemented a seven-point program.
machinery and equipment could be brought to Zion. The railroad did, in fact, speed the exploitation of Utah's mineral resources, but Brigham's policies served to
counter the unhealthy adjustments that otherwise would have occurred.

Beginning in 1868, as the railroad neared, seeking to minimize the influence of "the outside world" on the culture and well-being of the saintly mountain valleys, Brigham
and his associates organized the School of the Prophets and the Women's Relief Society as the effective agents of what was called "Protection." With their help, he
implemented a seven-point program.

1. He contracted to build the Utah portion of the railroad in order to keep out "swarms of scalawags" that would be imported into the territory to do the road-building.
This would augment the incomes of local workers and ensure that the money they earned would be spent to benefit locally owned establishments.

2. Locally owned general stores and shops were established in every locality to ensure that needs could be met with Mormon-produced goods.

3. Interior branch railroads were built by the Saints to serve localities not touched by the transcontinental: the Utah Central Railroad, from Ogden to Salt Lake City; the
Utah Southern, from Salt Lake City to Provo and points south; the Utah Northern, from Ogden to Montana; and the Utah Eastern, from Echo to Park City.

4. To the extent that imports were necessary and desirable, they were canalized through a Church-established wholesale trading concern, Zion's Cooperative
Mercantile Institution (ZCMI).

5. The School of the Prophets conducted a campaign to get a federal land office in Salt Lake City and to acquire and confirm the titles to land the Saints had settled.

6. All local and general leaders took pledges to observe the Word of Wisdom, to economize on other consumption expenditures, and to use the income created by this
retrenchment to bring poor converts from the East and from Europe.

7. Saints were encouraged to grow crops, produce manufacturers, build railroads, and work for wages for mining companies, but not to hunt for ore or try to work
their own mines. In giving this advice, Brigham was almost certainly correct. All evidence seems to indicate that the average returns of the miners were less than the
earnings of Utah's farmers. Deep-shaft mining was extremely expensive, requiring large amounts of outside capital. Even here, however, it would appear that the
average return on all invested capital was less than that received in other forms of enterprise. It is true that certain individuals made fortunes, but the large number of
failures are seldom remembered. As Adam Smith wrote:

The . . . absurd presumption . . . which the greater part of men have . . . in their own good fortune . . . is an ancient evil . . . less taken notice of . . . by the philosophers
and moralists. . . . The chance of gain is by every man more or less over-valued, and the chance of loss is by most men under-valued. . . . Mining, it seems, is . . . a
lottery, in which the prizes do not compensate the blanks, though the greatness of some tempts many adventurers to throw away their fortunes in such unprosperous
projects.

Thus, the Church assisted in promoting and financing the transcontinental railroad, without which mining would have been unprofitable; the Church assisted in promoting
and financing the construction of branch roads to the mines; and the Church encouraged its members, when practicable, to work in the mines, carry supplies to mining
camps, and in other ways to participate in resource development.

Brigham's counselor, President George A. Smith, gave a report in an 1870 general conference:

He advised the brethren to work for a reasonable remuneration, and to do all the labor that has to be done in this Territory, instead of making it necessary for those
who want it done to import it, on account of the high price demanded for it. If the brethren go to mining, he would advise them to work for pay instead of taking up
claims for, in most cases, those who invest in mining speculations fail, financially. If those who own mines want the brethren to work for them, do so and get money.

A year later, at the time of the Ophir and Little Cottonwood discoveries, Brigham Young wrote,

We hear from all quarters of the great excitement about Utah-her mineral wealth, etc., and it is probable that a large emigration and a consequent increase of business
will be the direct result. There is a need of money to pay Government for our lands, to stock and improve our farms, etc., and if in the providences of the Almighty
these mines should for three or four years create an active circulating medium and thus enable the brethren to secure and improve their homesteads, we shall have
reason to be thankful.

Truly the Saints have reason to praise the Lord for His goodness constantly manifested towards His people.

The discoveries, Brigham reported, were evidences of "God's blessings," and he expected them to redound to "the welfare of Israel."

At general conference in 1871, the President expressed more explicitly the Church's policy on mining:

I have a short discourse to preach now to my friends who may be here to-day, who are engaged in, or who may contemplate commencing operations in, the mining
business. . . .

We say to the Latter-day Saints, work for these capitalists, and work honestly and faithfully, and they will pay you faithfully. I am acquainted with a good many of them,
and as far as I know them, I do not know but every one is an honorable man. They are capitalists, they want to make money, and they want to make it honestly and
according to the principles of honest dealing. If they have means and are determined to risk it in opening mines you work for them by the day. Haul their ores, build
their furnaces, and take your pay for it, and enter your lands, build houses, improve your farms, buy your stock, and make yourselves better off. . . .

I will say still further with regard to our rich country here. Suppose there was no railroad across this continent, could you do anything with these mines? Not the least in
the world. All this galena would not bear transportation were it not for the railroad. And then, were it not for this little railroad from Ogden to this city [the Utah Central]
these Cottonwood mines would not pay, for you could not cart the ore. Well, they want a little more help, and we want to build them a railroad direct to Cottonwood,
so that they can make money.

We want them to do it and to do it on business principles, so that they can keep it, and when you get it, make good use of it and we will help you. There is enough for
all. We do not want any quarreling or contention.

Brigham Young recognized that neither the Church nor any conceivable combination of its members had the capital or the technical know-how to develop the rich
mountains of ore that had been and were being discovered. Their most profitable participation, Young was certain, lay in the construction of arterial railways and the
furnishing of food, feed, supplies, and services. Those few who did endeavor "to get rich quick" by prospecting were objects of pity. As he said in general conference in
1873:
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"What have you been doing?" "Oh, I have been mining, and it takes all my time and labor to support my family. I have a splendid claim-I am just going to have a
hundred thousand dollars for it."
Brigham Young recognized that neither the Church nor any conceivable combination of its members had the capital or the technical know-how to develop the rich
mountains of ore that had been and were being discovered. Their most profitable participation, Young was certain, lay in the construction of arterial railways and the
furnishing of food, feed, supplies, and services. Those few who did endeavor "to get rich quick" by prospecting were objects of pity. As he said in general conference in
1873:

"What have you been doing?" "Oh, I have been mining, and it takes all my time and labor to support my family. I have a splendid claim-I am just going to have a
hundred thousand dollars for it."

We have plenty of this class around, and whenever I see a man going along with an old mule that can hardly stand up, and a frying pan and an old quilt, I say, "There
goes a millionaire in prospect!" . . . These millionaires are all over our country; they are in the mountains, on our highways, and in our streets. And they haven't a
sixpence.

Clearly, Brigham favored those measures that he felt would "build the kingdom." Among these were agriculture, mining, and manufacturing. The strong preference that
the economy be developed by Latter-day Saints rather than by "outsiders" does not negate the overwhelming desire that development take place.

With successful execution of the Protection program during the next fourteen years (1868-82), Utah's more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints-in a vigorous, well-
organized, socially minded, and theocratically directed program of economic action-managed to preserve their beloved Deseret from destruction by the energetic and
financially powerful outside enterprisers whose activities might otherwise have threatened the morality and well-being of the community of Saints.

This is not to suggest that all the Saints agreed with Brigham's program. A small group of "liberal Mormons," as they were called, conducted a campaign for
cooperation with the gentiles, elimination of social and economic insularity, and development of mining. In a lengthy editorial on "The True Development of the
Territory," which appeared in the Utah Magazine, the Godbeites, as they came to be called (after their leader, William S. Godbe), claimed that Utah's prosperity would
depend on the development of mineral resources:

Common sense would seem to say, develop that first which will bring money from other Territories and States, and then these factories and home industries which
supply ourselves will have something to lean upon. . . . Summed up in a few words-we live in a country destitute of the rich advantages of other lands-a country with
few natural facilities beyond the great mass of minerals in its bowels. These are its main financial hopes. To this our future factories must look for their life, our farmers,
our stock, wool, and cotton raisers for their sale, and our mechanics for suitable wages. Let these resources be developed, and we have a future before us as bright as
any country beneath the sun, because we shall be working in harmony with the indications of Nature around us.

The Godbeites, unable to marshal widespread support, did not succeed in derailing Brigham's program.

Near the end of his life, Brigham became preoccupied with building the kingdom as a community or family of Saints. Still remembering the revelation he had received in
1847, he described at length in 1872 an ideal community of Saints:

I will tell you how I would arrange for a little family, say about a thousand persons. I would build houses expressly for their convenience in cooking, washing, and every
department of their domestic arrangements. Instead of having every woman getting up in the morning and fussing around a cookstove or over the fire, cooking a little
food for two or three or half a dozen persons, or a dozen, as the case may be, she would have nothing to do but to go to her work. Let me have my arrangement here,
a hall in which I can seat five hundred persons to eat; and I have my cooking apparatus, ranges and ovens, all prepared. And suppose we had a hall a hundred feet long
with our cooking room attached to this hall; and there is a person at the further end of the table and he should telegraph that he wanted a warm beefsteak; and this is
conveyed to him by a little railway, perhaps under the table, and he or she may take her beefsteak. . . . No matter what they call for, it is conveyed to them and they
take it, and we can seat five hundred at once, and serve them all in a few minutes. And when they have all eaten, the dishes are piled together, slipped under the table,
and run back to the ones who wash them. . . . Under such a system the women would go to work making their bonnets, hats, and clothing, or in the factories. . . .

What will we do throughout the day? Each one go to his work. Here are the herdsmen-here are those who look after the sheep-here are those who make the butter
and the cheese, all at their work by themselves. Some for the Kanyon, perhaps, or for the plow or harvest, no difference what, each and every class is organized, and
all labor and perform their part. . . .

Work through the day, and when it comes evening . . . repair to our room, and have our historians, and our different teachers to teach classes of old and young, to read
the Scriptures to them; to teach them history, arithmetic, reading, writing, and painting; and have the best teachers that can be got to teach our day-schools. Half the
labor necessary to make people moderately comfortable now, would make them independently rich under such a system. . . .

If we could see such a society organized as I have mentioned, you would see . . . people all attending to their business having the most improved machinery for making
cloth, and doing every kind of housework, farming, all mechanical operations, in our factories, dairies, orchards and vineyards; and possessing every comfort and
convenience of life. A society like this would never have to buy anything; they would make and raise all they would eat, drink, and wear, and always have something to
sell and bring money, to help to increase their comfort and independence.

During the winter of 1873-74, Brigham organized St. George as a cooperative community called the "United Order of the City of St. George." Each person was asked
to contribute all his economic or productive property to the community United Order, in return for which he received capital stock. To accomplish spiritual as well as
temporal union, the participants drew up a long list of rules: no lying, backbiting, or quarrelling; all were to live as good Latter-day Saints ought. They were to pray
daily, not use liquor or tobacco, obey their leaders, be frugal and industrious, and cultivate "the simple grandeur of manners that belong to the pure in heart." In addition,
each person was rebaptized and made new covenants. Among the latter was the following:

We agree to be energetic, industrious, and faithful in the management of all business entrusted to us; and to abstain from all selfish motives and actions, as much as lies
in our power. We desire to seek the interest and welfare of each other; and to promote the special good of the Order and the general welfare of all mankind.

Similar United Orders were founded in each settlement, and ultimately about two hundred were so organized. Beginning in 1875, a communal United Order was
established in Orderville, Utah. People contributed all their property to the community United Order, had no private farming or business property, shared more or less
equally in their common product, and lived as a village family. This organization lasted for eleven years and was successful until authorities introduced a system of
differential wages.

Similar communal organizations functioned in Kingston, Utah; Bunkerville, Nevada; and in twelve Arizona communities. There was almost complete self-sufficiency. All
the land, implements, and livestock belonged to the Order. All ate at a common table. Labor was directed by a Board of Management-and a United Order bugler who
signaled for the community members to rise, to eat, to attend to prayers, and to go to work. In each community, everyone wore clothes from the same bolt of cloth.

Some of the United Order organizations lasted into the 1890s, but most were relatively short-lived. Reasons for their discontinuance include grasshopper plague;
prominent men being placed in jail during the anti-polygamy crusade; bickering; and lack of support of leaders.
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In essence, the United Order movement was Brigham's attempt to preserve internal unity and harmony as the Mormon economy was threatened by the opening of
mines after the 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad. As non-Mormon miners, bankers, freighters, suppliers, lawyers, and political leaders descended onto
signaled for the community members to rise, to eat, to attend to prayers, and to go to work. In each community, everyone wore clothes from the same bolt of cloth.

Some of the United Order organizations lasted into the 1890s, but most were relatively short-lived. Reasons for their discontinuance include grasshopper plague;
prominent men being placed in jail during the anti-polygamy crusade; bickering; and lack of support of leaders.

In essence, the United Order movement was Brigham's attempt to preserve internal unity and harmony as the Mormon economy was threatened by the opening of
mines after the 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad. As non-Mormon miners, bankers, freighters, suppliers, lawyers, and political leaders descended onto
Utah, the United Order maximized production, helped the Saints maintain self-sufficiency, and pooled assets and labor to form more efficient production units.

Despite the eventual discontinuance of the formally organized United Orders, the divine law that moved Brigham remained a goal of Mormon aspiration, a symbol of
Christian perfection, a remembrance of the oneness of mind and heart that God has prescribed for his people. Brigham's influence was immeasurable.

Abundant source materials reveal much about Brigham Young, the man. He was sincere in trying to establish friendly relations with Indians; he had a reverence for
animal life and for nature; and he constantly admonished settlers to develop wholesome and harmonious communities.

The words of advice and instruction he gave the first settlers of Cache and Weber valleys on 10 and 12 June 1860 reflect the qualities of this practical yet idealistic
leader: Keep your valley pure, keep your towns as pure as possible, keep your hearts pure, and labor as hard as you can without injuring yourselves. . . . Build cities,
adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure,
and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. . . . Your work is to beautify the face of the earth, until it shall become like the Garden of Eden.

Brigham Young was a wise and inspiring leader in both spiritual and temporal affairs.

Notes

   1. Treatments of this topic include Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City:
University of Utah Press,1993); Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986); and Leonard J.
Arrington, Feramorz Y. Fox, and Dean L. May, Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons, 2d ed. (Urbana and Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 1992).

  2. Sermon of 20 February 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1: 314.

  3. Sermon of 8 October 1876, in Journal of Discourses, 18: 260.

  4. See Moses 7: 18-19; and The Evening and The Morning Star (Independence, Missouri), July 1832, 1.

  5. Studies in Classical American Literature (New York: Viking Press, 1923, 1961), 94.

  6. Arrington, Fox, and May, 63-78.

  7. Sermon of 25 October 1863, Deseret News, 18 November 1863.

  8. Utah Works Progress Administration, Utah: A Guide to the State (New York: Hastings House, 1945), 120.

  9. James S. Brown, Giant of the Lord: Life of a Pioneer (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960), 132.

   10. Ibid., 133. This statement should be viewed in the light of the year and the situation. What more effective way to discourage a wholesale desertion to California
than to tell the people that the reserves of gold and silver in their own land were the equal of others they might encounter, and "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 that they would breed famine; and gold would not do us or them any
good if there were no provisions in the land."

  11. Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as Journal History), 8 April 1850, Library-Archives, Historical Department of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives); "Eleventh General Epistle of the Presidency," 10 April 1854,
Deseret News, 13 April 1854.

  12. As cited in Preston Nibley, Brigham Young the Man and His Work (Independence, Missouri: Zion's Printing and Publishing, 1936), 256; Journal History, 1
October 1848, 8 July 1849.

  13. Journal History, 26 May, 6 September 1850.

  14. Journal of Discourses, 8: 168; 10: 189.

  15. See Eugene E. Campbell, "The Mormon Gold-Mining Mission of 1849," Brigham Young University Studies 1 and 2 (Autumn 1959-Winter 1960): 19: 31.

  16. Patrick Edward Connor to R. C. Drum, Assistant Attorney General, U. S. Army, 21 July 1864, as cited in Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine 1 (January 1881):
185.

  17. T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints. . . . (New York: n.p., 1873), 714-19.

  18. Sermon of 6 October 1863, in Journal of Discourses, 10: 254-55, 271; "Gold Mining," Millennial Star 29 (1867): 618.

  19. The great economist Adam Smith would have supported Brigham's policy:

"Of all those expensive and uncertain projects . . . which bring bankruptcy upon the greater part of the people who engage in them, there is none perhaps more
perfectly ruinous than the search after new silver and gold mines. It is perhaps the most disadvantageous lottery in the world, or the one in which the gain of those who
draw the prizes bears the least proportion to the loss of those who draw the blanks. . . . Projects of mining . . . are the projects, therefore, to which of all others a
prudent law-giver, who desired to increase the capital of his nation, would least choose to give any extraordinary encouragement, or to turn towards them a greater
share of that(c)
 Copyright    capital than what
                 2005-2009,     would go
                             Infobase     to them
                                        Media      of its own accord." An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (New York:Page
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edition, 1940), 529-30.

  20. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 235-349.
"Of all those expensive and uncertain projects . . . which bring bankruptcy upon the greater part of the people who engage in them, there is none perhaps more
perfectly ruinous than the search after new silver and gold mines. It is perhaps the most disadvantageous lottery in the world, or the one in which the gain of those who
draw the prizes bears the least proportion to the loss of those who draw the blanks. . . . Projects of mining . . . are the projects, therefore, to which of all others a
prudent law-giver, who desired to increase the capital of his nation, would least choose to give any extraordinary encouragement, or to turn towards them a greater
share of that capital than what would go to them of its own accord." An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (New York: Modern Library
edition, 1940), 529-30.

  20. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 235-349.

  21. Wealth of Nations, 107-8, 170.

  22. Deseret News, 8, 9 October 1870.

  23. Brigham Young to Horace S. Eldredge, Journal History, 16 February 1871.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Sermon of 9 April 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 82, 85-86.

  26. Sermon of 7 April 1873, in Journal of Discourses, 16: 22; Andrew Love Neff, History of Utah, 1847-1869 (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1940), 643.

  27. As cited in Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine 1 (1880): 24-28. The Godbeites were later excommunicated from the Church for apostasy, but their view on mining
development seems not to have been a consideration. See "Mining, the 'Mormons' and the Government," Deseret News, 18 August 1880; Ronald W. Walker, "The
Commencement of the Godbeite Protest," Utah Historical Quarterly 42 (Summer 1974), 216-44.

  28. Sermon of 9 October 1872, in Journal of Discourses, 15: 158-67.

  29. "St. George Stake Manuscript History," September 1875, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  30. "Cache Valley Stake History, 1860," LDS Church Historical Archives; sermons of 10, 12 June 1860, in Journal of Discourses, 8: 77-84.

CHAPTER 14

Brigham Young and the Awakening of Mormon Women in the 1870s

Jill Mulvay Derr

Research Historian, Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University

For more than a century, those who have written about Brigham Young have inevitably taken an interest in his relationships with women, at least within the connubial
context. To his American contemporaries, Young became the personification of Latter-day Saint involvement in plural marriage, or polygamy. They portrayed him as a
despot with a harem, a man who had "outraged decency and riven asunder the most sacred social and domestic ties."

Horace Greeley, who visited the Mormons in 1859, criticized President Young for esteeming so lightly the opinions of his wives and other women. Greeley considered
the apparent restriction of woman to the single office of childbearing and its accessories an inevitable consequence of polygamy.

Catherine V. Waite, the wife of a federal judge appointed to Utah Territory in the early 1860s, agreed that polygamous marriages could only degrade women. "Instead
of being a companion to man . . . she becomes, under this system, merely the minister to his passions and physical comfort." Waite characterized Young as foremost
among the oppressors of women. "He declares that women have no souls-that they are not responsible beings, that they cannot save themselves, nor be saved except
through man's intervention," she wrote.

Some twentieth-century biographers of Brigham Young have looked at his attitudes toward women almost exclusively in terms of his practice and explanation of
polygamy. M. R. Werner's Brigham Young (1925) devoted three of thirteen chapters to polygamy and made no mention of Young's involvement in reorganizing the
Relief Society, the official Church organization for Latter-day Saint women. Stanley P. Hirshson's biography of Brigham Young, Lion of the Lord (1969), considered
polygamy in three of the book's fifteen chapters and mentioned the Relief Society only briefly as the women's advocate for retrenchment and plural marriage. These
studies are both indicative of an assumption about Brigham Young that has persisted for more than a century-that he was an oppressor of women.

A more complex view of Brigham Young's dealings with women in familial and organizational settings is provided in Leonard J. Arrington's Brigham Young: American
Moses (1985). Arrington, well versed in Mormon history, had the advantage of access not only to Brigham Young's letterbooks but also to a fifteen-year flowering of
women's studies, and particularly Mormon women's history. He therefore discussed at some length the period when Latter-day Saint women emerged into public life.
   Between 1867 and 1877, Young himself was in part responsible for the increasing sphere of activity of Mormon women. His own people were convinced of that. In
fact, Mormon Woman's Exponent editor Louisa Lula Greene Richards heralded Young as the "most genuine, impartial and practical 'Woman's Rights Man' upon the
American Continent."

Views of Brigham Young as "oppressor" and advocate of women are both in a sense correct. Each represents certain aspects of Young's attitudes toward women, but
neither represents the whole. Young's vision was one of ultimate human liberation, to which personal choice and responsibility were integral. But equally necessary for
the freedom promised with a knowledge of the truth (see John 8: 32) were obedience and submission to the order of the kingdom of God, The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. This freedom-submission paradox pervaded Young's attitudes toward the Mormon women (and men) he addressed and with whom he worked in
various contexts.

He spoke of individual women as daughters of God, free agents, beings with the same eternal possibilities as men. Yet, within the family context, he insisted that wives
submit themselves to their husbands and chided mothers who pursued personal interests at the expense of their children. However, as the Mormon community
increased in complexity, Young gave sisters the resources and encouragement to pursue roles outside their homes.

This mï¿½lange of prescriptive behavior for women has never significantly blurred the monolithic image of Young as an oppressor of women, though in recent years
some Mormon women have celebrated Young's declarations in support of women's education and employment. A more careful appraisal of Brigham Young must not
only acknowledge
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At least as often as he addressed men and women separately, Brigham Young addressed them jointly, speaking to "ladies and gentlemen," or more likely to "brethren
and sisters." They were "sons and daughters, legitimately so, of our Father in Heaven." These children of divine parents (Brigham Young, like Joseph Smith,
increased in complexity, Young gave sisters the resources and encouragement to pursue roles outside their homes.

This mï¿½lange of prescriptive behavior for women has never significantly blurred the monolithic image of Young as an oppressor of women, though in recent years
some Mormon women have celebrated Young's declarations in support of women's education and employment. A more careful appraisal of Brigham Young must not
only acknowledge the apparent incongruities in his prescriptions for women but also assess to what extent he resolved them.

At least as often as he addressed men and women separately, Brigham Young addressed them jointly, speaking to "ladies and gentlemen," or more likely to "brethren
and sisters." They were "sons and daughters, legitimately so, of our Father in Heaven." These children of divine parents (Brigham Young, like Joseph Smith,
acknowledged a Mother as well as a Father in Heaven ) came to earth endowed with assorted talents and abilities that were not necessarily sex-differentiated.
Speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and healing were spiritual gifts practiced by both men and women with the approval of President Young. He
preached that women and men alike had access to the promptings of the Holy Ghost ("Let every man and woman, without exception, obtain that Spirit . . .") and that in
the next life their exaltation to godhood, the ultimate promise for righteous Saints, was predicated upon their personal choices in this life. "Now those men, or those
women," he emphasized,

who know no more about the power of God, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, and
pinning their faith upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be capable of
becoming Gods.

Not only were spiritual resources available to women and men alike, but both were capable of developing more temporal skills. Young indicated that some Mormon
sisters, "if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study
these branches of knowledge that they may develop the powers with which they are endowed." Susa Young Gates, daughter of Brigham and journalist and suffragist
of national renown, said her father was "always proud to recognize and acclaim the woman of gifts and encourage her to use them to the fullest extent for the
establishment of righteousness on earth."

Young's emphasis on individual freedom and development was offered within a context ever present in Mormondom: the kingdom of God was in fact a kingdom
governed by "the Government of the Son of God," "a heavenly institution among men"-the priesthood. The presence of the priesthood among the Latter-day Saints
was what designated them as God's covenant people. For Young, it was the priesthood that "forms, fashions, makes, creates, produces, protects and holds in existence
the inhabitants of the earth in a pure and holy form of government preparatory to their entering the kingdom of Heaven."

According to Young, Saints who subjected themselves to be governed by the priesthood would "live strictly according to its pure system of laws and ordinances" until
they were unified as one. He promised, "The man that honors his Priesthood, the woman that honors her Priesthood will receive an everlasting inheritance in the
Kingdom of God." In order to receive that "everlasting inheritance," Saints would not only have to honor the "pure system of government" but also to sanctify
themselves through holy temple ordinances wherein priesthood covenants and blessings are proffered women and men alike.

From the time the priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith, its ecclesiastical offices were available only to males. Like their Puritan counterparts two centuries earlier,
Mormon women found themselves at the bottom of a hierarchically ordered system. The Latter-day Saints' ecclesiastical order extended from the First Presidency,
with the responsibility of governing the entire Church; through stake presidents and bishops, with governmental responsibility for specific geographic regions; to the
individual father, whose priesthood responsibility was righteous government of his family. Women assumed the responsibility for governing children and for heading
households in the absence of their husbands, a frequent occurrence in Mormon society. This divinely designated order did not necessarily imply that females were
intellectually or spiritually inferior to males. Brigham Young himself acknowledged "that many women are smarter than their husbands," though it was "not the
privilege of a woman to dictate [to] her husband."

The number of Young's sermons pointing to the gifts and responsibilities of men and women would seem to indicate that, for him, this governmental system did not
necessarily detract from the individual worth and agency of women. Nevertheless, critics who accused Young of placing women in a secondary or inferior position,
particularly within the marital relationship, were not without some justification. "The man is the head of the woman," Young declared, tying into a Christian tradition that
dates back to Paul. "Let our wives be the weaker vessels," he said, "and the men be men, and show the women by their superior ability that God gives husbands
wisdom and ability to lead their wives into his presence." According to Young, the father was to be "the head of the family, the master of his own household," and the
wives and children were to "say amen to what he says, and be subject to his dictates, instead of their dictating the man, instead of their trying to govern him."

Woman was under the obligation to follow her husband because of the order set forth by the first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. "There is a curse
upon the woman that is not upon the man," said Young, "namely, that 'her whole affections shall be towards her husband,' and what is the next? 'He shall rule over
you.'" This explanation for woman's secondary position within marriage was not only popularly held during the nineteenth century but also strongly attacked at
woman's rights conventions. Indeed, Elizabeth Cady Stanton published The Woman's Bible in 1895, attempting to analyze and reinterpret this and other passages from
the Old Testament that seemed degrading to women.

Certainly President Young's statements regarding the dominant role of the husband were not radical for the time. Ironically, in 1866 one of his female critics tried to
describe the ideal position of woman in contrast with what was prescribed by Young: The position of woman, and her duties in life, are well-defined in the New
Testament Scriptures. If married, she is to direct her household affairs, raise up children, be subject unto her husband, and use all due benevolence toward him; but his
duties are equally well defined.

The lack of contrast is what is striking, especially since Brigham Young did take time to define the responsibilities of the Latter-day Saint husband. For example, while
he taught that a man should place himself at the head of his family as the master of his household, he also counseled each man to treat his family "as an angel would treat
them." "A man is not made to be worshiped by his family," said Young. A man was to be good and upright so he could earn the respect of his family. They were not
obligated to follow him in unrighteousness.

Like many of his contemporaries, Young was sensitive to woman's dependence on man. He remarked on several occasions that such dependence was not only hard on
women but sometimes harmful. "I do not know what the Lord could have put upon women worse than he did upon Mother Eve, where he told her: 'Thy desire shall be
to thy husband,'" said Young, noting that he "would be glad if it were otherwise." He saw that the female sex had long been deceived and "trodden under foot of
man" and that "it is in their nature to confide in and look to the sterner sex for guidance, and thus they are more likely to be led astray and ruined." And he preached
that the curse "never will be taken from the human family until the mission is fulfilled, and our Master and our Lord is perfectly satisfied with our work." One implication
of this was that woman's essential, "uncursed" nature was not marked by dependence upon man.

Whether the notion of the curse upon woman was vitally Mormon or simply reflected the traditions of the larger culture in which Brigham Young lived, it explained the
timid and abused women he encountered, and it provided a biblical precedent for placing the man at the head of the family. This biblical precedent complemented the
Latter-day Saint concept of priesthood government with males as officeholders.

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community with Brigham Young-"the controller and master of affairs here, under Heaven's direction"-at its head. Male and female submitted to a graded and ranked
Whether the notion of the curse upon woman was vitally Mormon or simply reflected the traditions of the larger culture in which Brigham Young lived, it explained the
timid and abused women he encountered, and it provided a biblical precedent for placing the man at the head of the family. This biblical precedent complemented the
Latter-day Saint concept of priesthood government with males as officeholders.

Thus the patriarchal family became part of a larger family-

community with Brigham Young-"the controller and master of affairs here, under Heaven's direction"-at its head. Male and female submitted to a graded and ranked
system, a "beautiful order," where all worked "for the good of the whole more than for individual aggrandizement." This was different from the larger nineteenth-
century American society, where submissiveness was prescribed behavior for women but generally not for men.

Though Brigham Young saw woman's dependence upon man as a possible problem, he could not conceive a solution outside of adherence to the order of the
kingdom. Total independence was no more an option for women than it was for men who chose to be part of the system. So while Young allowed that women should
develop their talents, seek their own inspiration from the Holy Spirit, and make their own choices, according to Young a "woman of faith and knowledge" would say, "It
is a law that man shall rule over me; his word is my law, and I must obey him; he must rule over me; this is upon me and I will submit to it." Young emphasized that by
rule he did "not mean with an iron hand, but merely to take the lead," "in kindness and with pleasant words."

But Young's message was interpreted variously. Some inferred from his statements that the patriarchal order of God's community, particularly within the family, was not
arbitrary (that is, as God had decreed it, without offering any explanations). Martha Spence Heywood, plural wife and schoolteacher in Nephi, Utah, confided to her
diary her reaction after hearing Brigham Young discuss the matter:

Before he spoke, supposing that he would, I prayed my Heavenly Father that I might get instruction that would suit my particular circumstances and I felt that I did and
had the very thing pointed out that I needed . . . especially the principle that a woman be she ever so smart, she cannot know more than her husband if he magnifies his
Priesthood. That God never in any, any age of the world endowed woman with knowledge above the man.

Young may not have taught intellectual or spiritual inferiority, but some of his followers heard it. Wrote Fanny Stenhouse, a woman whose twenty years as a Mormon
culminated in apostasy, "I thought that I might perhaps derive some consolation from the sermons in the Tabernacle-something that might shed a softer light upon my
rugged pathway. But instead of obtaining consolation, I heard that which aroused every feeling of my soul to rebellion."

If some female members of Young's community were troubled by what he had to say, it is not surprising that non-Mormons were appalled as they filtered his words
through their own perceptions of Mormon polygamy, turning the household-heading husband into a tyrant and the submissive wife into a subjugated woman. The fact
that as many as twenty percent of Young's listeners were living in polygamy did affect what he had to say to them. According to Mormon doctrine, woman could not be
exalted without man. Neither could a man be exalted without a woman. All were exhorted to marry, and Mormons prided themselves upon their marriage system,
which allowed "every virtuous woman" to have a "husband to whom she can look for guidance and protection."

But plural marriage posed peculiar problems, and Young particularly was aware of them. "Where is the man who has wives, and all of them think he is doing just right
to them?" Young asked. "I do not know such a man," he continued; "I know it is not your humble servant." He said he found "the whole subject of marriage relation . . .
a hard matter to reach."

Though he was committed to a pure union between husband and wife without any "alienation of affection," Young knew from experience that a polygamous husband
could not meet all of a wife's needs for companionship. "I feel more lonely and more unreconciled to my lot than ever," one of Brigham's wives wrote him in 1853, "and
as I am not essential to your comfort or your convenience I desire you will give me to some other good man who has less cares." This wife did not divorce or leave
Young-though under the system of plural marriage, divorce was liberally extended as an option for dissatisfied women. Four of Brigham's wives did eventually leave or
divorce him.

Perhaps because even within his own family he could see no way of meeting expectations for intimacy, he advised women not to worry about it but to turn their
attention elsewhere, especially toward their children. "Are you tormenting yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you?" Young once asked. "I would not
care whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out, like one of old, in the joy of my heart, 'I have got a man from the Lord!'"

Young's emphasis on woman's childbearing/child-rearing role received as much criticism as anything he taught, and yet in no other area were Young's teachings so
nearly identical with the ideals of the larger society. "The mothers are the machinery that give zest to the whole man, and guide the destinies and lives of men upon the
earth," proclaimed Young in 1877. "She controls the destiny of every community," one Henry C. Wright had written in 1870 in The Empire of the Mother over the
Character and Destiny of the Race. While Godey's Lady's Book described mothers as "those builders of the human temple who lay the foundation for an eternity of
glory or of shame," Young counseled that "it is the mother's influence that is most effective in moulding the mind of the child for good or for evil."

Young's admonitions to pregnant women and nursing mothers to be faithful and prayerful so that their infants might enjoy a happy influence could have appeared in any
number of contemporary women's magazines and mothers' manuals. In antebellum America, motherhood was seen as woman's "one duty and function . . . that alone
for which she was created." Even nineteenth-century feminists came to use the importance of motherhood as a basis for their reforms in education and civil rights.

So, within the context of his time, Young was not anti-woman's rights when he stated that the woman who rose at the Resurrection to find that her duty as a wife and
mother had been sacrificed in order to pursue any other duty would find that her "whole life had been a failure."

Why then did contemporary critics find Young's emphasis on woman's role as mother so disgusting? Because the closer polygamy-practicing Mormons came to laying
claim to the ideals of the American family, the more threatening seemed their "distortions." For example, the raising up of children-posterity-was put forth by Mormons
as one of the major purposes of polygamy. Women had the privilege of bringing into mortality God's spirit children, Young taught, "that God may have a royal
priesthood, a royal people, on the earth. That is what plurality of wives is for."

Young's critics may also have been disturbed that, in a culture that so lavishly and exclusively praised women for motherhood, posterity was not the glory of woman
only but of the man as well. "The more women and children a man has, the more glory," one critic summarized. From time to time, Young counseled fathers to take
the responsibility for training the children who would bring them honor, but he told mothers that they bore the major responsibility for raising righteous children. On the
other hand, Young frequently addressed men as "fathers who shall endure, and whose posterity shall never end," while rarely speaking to women of parallel promises.


To whom did the glory of posterity belong? In a study of the accommodation of religion to women, Barbara Welter suggested that the projecting of the marital
relationship into eternity, with parenthood as the highest mutual goal, gave Mormon women greater status in their role here and hereafter. However, for nineteenth-
century onlookers, polygamy and a patriarchal order hearkening back to the Old Testament could not be reconciled with the contemporary "empire of the mother."

Finally, Young's
 Copyright        critics felt that
            (c) 2005-2009,          he emphasized
                                Infobase          childbearing and child-rearing at the expense of the marital relationship. Stenhouse said that the Saints
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greater object of marriage . . . was the increase of children," and that other aspects of marriage such as "the companionship of soul; the indissoluble union of two
existences-were never presented."
To whom did the glory of posterity belong? In a study of the accommodation of religion to women, Barbara Welter suggested that the projecting of the marital
relationship into eternity, with parenthood as the highest mutual goal, gave Mormon women greater status in their role here and hereafter. However, for nineteenth-
century onlookers, polygamy and a patriarchal order hearkening back to the Old Testament could not be reconciled with the contemporary "empire of the mother."

Finally, Young's critics felt that he emphasized childbearing and child-rearing at the expense of the marital relationship. Stenhouse said that the Saints were told that "the
greater object of marriage . . . was the increase of children," and that other aspects of marriage such as "the companionship of soul; the indissoluble union of two
existences-were never presented."

Certainly Young made it clear that most women would be happier if they worried less about their husbands and more about their children. While he understood that a
romantic and close relationship might exist between a husband and a plural wife, he was not willing to engender such expectations in women whose husbands were
regularly called away from home for Church service. He continually admonished men to humor and "happify" their wives, but Stenhouse was not far from Young himself
when she affirmed that woman's aspirations for intimacy "had nothing to do with the hard, cruel facts of their life in Polygamy." Ironically, perhaps, independence for
women was a common by-product of the marital system that left them so often on their own to manage family, farms, and businesses.

For Brigham Young, woman's place was with the family in the home-but it was also with the larger family-community in the kingdom. Women submitted to the well-
ordered kingdom, but the kingdom in turn gave them new freedom, particularly during the last decade of Brigham Young's administration.

Between 1861, when the telegraph linked Utah to the rest of the United States, and 1869, when the transcontinental railroad forged the bond with steel ties, soldier-
miners came to Utah as troops of the Third California Volunteers. Their commander was Colonel Patrick Connor, who promised to "invite hither a large Gentile and
loyal population, sufficient by peaceful means and through the ballot-box to overwhelm the Mormons." The coming of the gentiles was inevitable, but the
disintegration of the kingdom was not.

"I do not know how long it will be before we call upon the brethren and sisters to enter upon business in an entirely different way from what they have done," Young
postulated at April conference in 1867. The following December he announced, "We have sisters now engaged in several of our telegraph offices, and we wish them to
learn not only to act as operators but to keep the books of our offices." While ten years earlier the Mormons had taken to the surrounding mountains to stave off the
Utah Expedition, they would now fight on an economic front, and the draft was to be without regard for sex. "Let us . . . no longer sit with hands folded, wasting time,
for it is the duty of every man and of every woman to do all that is possible to promote the kingdom of God on the earth," said Young.

Through this emphasis on cooperative building of the economic kingdom, Brigham Young extended to women significant opportunities for personal and collective
growth and advancement-first, through allowing them spiritual and economic influence within the Church organization, and second, through encouraging women's
education for and involvement in a variety of trades and professions.

The Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized "under the priesthood after a pattern of the priesthood" by the Prophet Joseph Smith
in March 1842, had functioned much as other benevolent societies of the time. The labors of the Relief Society were "deferred" by Brigham Young following the 1844
death of Joseph Smith because Emma Smith, society president, refused to follow priesthood counsel. In 1854, following Mormon women's grassroots efforts to
organize themselves for charity work, Brigham Young officially reinstated local Relief Societies. Their impressive contribution was cut short in 1857 by the Utah War.
   However, by December 1867, Young had decided united sisters were a resource the kingdom could not do without, and he then announced that women and their
bishops should immediately organize societies in local wards. "We have many talented women among us," he said, "and we wish their help in this matter. . . . You will
find that the sisters will be the mainspring of the movement."

Young's statement was prophetic. As a domestic revolution swept the United States in the years following the Civil War (including the development of gas lighting,
domestic plumbing, canning, improved stoves, washtubs, and sewing machines), American women would increasingly turn their energies toward women's clubs-while
Mormon women would expand their spiritual and temporal labors through the Relief Society.

Young commissioned one of his wives, Eliza R. Snow, who had served as secretary to the Nauvoo society and whose willingness to obey the priesthood was
unwavering, to instruct bishops in the format of the organization and to teach the women their responsibilities. Their first responsibility was, as indicated by their name,
to provide relief to the poor. Young encouraged them in this endeavor, particularly in finding for those in need "something to do that will enable them to sustain
themselves."

He also challenged the women to sustain the self-sufficiency of the Mormon community through retrenchment. They could help fight the economic battle by making and
wearing homemade hats and clothes rather than buying goods imported from the eastern states. They were to set their own fashions, be thrifty in their households, and
find ways to do their own carding, spinning, weaving, and knitting. "What is there in these respects that the members of the Female Relief Society cannot accomplish?"
asked Young.

Young presented this need to adapt economically as a religious obligation, counseling both men and women to cease their extravagance. He praised those women who
were willing to "help build up the Kingdom of God" by wisely attending to their household affairs. "Every woman in this Church can be useful to the Church if she has a
mind to be," Young concluded.

Women may not have found themselves feeling useful to the kingdom by merely donning homemade hats and dresses. Many of them steered clear of Young's
suggested apparel, and his reproofs were frequent, though he freely acknowledged that he could not control even his own family's taste for finery. What did give
women a new sense of usefulness was their involvement in cooperative home industry, an effort that gave them, for the first time, business and financial responsibility
within the Church. With money they had raised from fairs and parties, women imported knitting machinery; raised silk; set up tailoring establishments; bought, stored,
and sold grain; made everything from straw hats to shoes; and bought property and built their own cooperatives where they could sell their homemade goods on
commission.

By 1876, Eliza R. Snow reported that 110 branches of the Relief Society had disbursed $82,397 over a seven to eight year period-73 percent of which was to relieve
and support the poor. Sixteen percent was for building purposes, 7 percent was to help the poor emigrate, and the remainder was for other charities and missionary
work. Without question, a great deal of what the women did came as a direct result of President Young's prompting and prodding.

"President Young recommends silk culture as one very profitable branch for the sisters, and offers, free of charge, all the cuttings they wish, from the Mulberry orchard
on his farm," Eliza R. Snow editorialized in the Mormon Woman's Exponent in 1875. Sericulture became a "mission" for the Relief Society sisters, and they carried it
out for nearly a decade. Utah women maintained their involvement in the silk industry until it faded from the state after the turn of the century. They took pride in the
tablecloths, scarves, and dresses that came from their countless hours of labor with mulberry leaves and cocoons.

"At the suggestion of President Brigham Young we would call the attention of the women of this Territory to the subject of saving grain," wrote Emmeline B. Wells, the
woman commissioned by Young to head up the grain storage program in 1876. The program was Emmeline's project, not Brigham's, and over a period of forty-two
years it resulted
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earthquake and famine victims in San Francisco and China, and the remaining two hundred thousand bushels were sold to the U. S. government at the close of World
War I. For fifty years beyond that time, the Relief Society operated partly on interest from the sale of wheat.
"At the suggestion of President Brigham Young we would call the attention of the women of this Territory to the subject of saving grain," wrote Emmeline B. Wells, the
woman commissioned by Young to head up the grain storage program in 1876. The program was Emmeline's project, not Brigham's, and over a period of forty-two
years it resulted in the storage of several hundred thousand bushels of grain in Relief Society granaries scattered throughout the Church. The grain was sent to
earthquake and famine victims in San Francisco and China, and the remaining two hundred thousand bushels were sold to the U. S. government at the close of World
War I. For fifty years beyond that time, the Relief Society operated partly on interest from the sale of wheat.

One final example of Young's prodding is the Relief Society cooperative established in Salt Lake City to serve all the women of the territory. In 1876, when Relief
Society women had just completed a summer-long display of their homemade goods in commemoration of the nation's centennial, Brigham Young addressed them:

It would be very gratifying to us if you could form an association to start business in the capacity of disposing of Home-made Articles such as are manufactured among
ourselves. . . . If you can not be satisfied with the selection of Sisters from among yourselves to take charge, we will render you assistance by furnishing a competent
man for the transaction of the financial matters of this Establishment.

The Relief Society Mercantile Association opened the Woman's Commission Store within a month and operated it by themselves, without the assistance of "a
competent man."

That the women took these stewardships seriously as their own is shown in the spunk they manifested in doing business with Young himself. Fifteenth Ward Relief
Society president Sarah M. Kimball read Young's suggestion for the storing of grain by women and immediately contacted him to head her ward's subscription list for
funds. "The more I weigh it the more my faith increases in our [the women's] power to accomplish in this direction with your [the men's] assistance." She often
preached that brethren and sisters should sustain and support one another in their callings.

Eliza R. Snow, who took it upon herself to manage the Woman's Commission Store, wrote to Young to explain to him that he could not dictate the terms of
commission on the goods from his woolen mill. "Although we are novices in the mercantile business, we are not green enough for that kind of management."

Young knew that Mormon women were inexperienced in public affairs; they needed the guidance of assigned tasks, he felt, especially in these early years of their
involvement outside the home. But he did not present them with detailed programs-and though he expected them to account for their stewardships, he did not oversee
their work. The growth of the women as individuals was a critical part of building the kingdom of God.

"The females are capable of doing immense good if they will," he said, "but if you sit down and say 'husband, or father, do it for me' or 'brother, do it for me, for I am
not going to do it' when life is through you will weep and wail, for you will be judged according to your works, and having done nothing you will receive nothing."
Statements such as "We wish to develop the powers of the ladies to the fullest extent, and to control them for the building of the Kingdom of God" and "If we can
succeed in guiding their [the ladies'] ideas correctly it will be an advantage to the whole community" underscore the fact that Young's primary motive was ever the
growth of the kingdom; they also reveal his faith that only as Saints built God's kingdom could God build Saints.

"If I had my way I would have every man and woman employed in doing something to support themselves," Brigham Young told a group of St. George Saints. At
approximately the time he began the reorganization of the Relief Society in 1867, Brigham Young began emphasizing vocational and professional education for women.
In reference to business classes opening at the University of Deseret, Young announced in December 1867 that he hoped young and middle-aged students, male and
female, could learn the art of bookkeeping and acquire a good mercantile education. Young's general epistle to Church members for January-February 1868
applauded the admission of women to the school:

In addition to a knowledge of the elementary branches of education and a thorough understanding of housewifery, we wish the sisters, so far as their inclinations and
circumstances may permit, to learn bookkeeping, telegraphy, reporting, typesetting, clerking in stores and banks, and every branch of knowledge and kind of
employment suited to their sex and according to their several tastes and capacities. . . . Thus trained, all without distinction of sex, will have an open field, without
jostling and oppression, for acquiring all the knowledge and doing all the good their physical and mental capacities and surrounding circumstances will permit.

For Young, a division of community labor among men and women would enable the community to function more efficiently. He saw women particularly better suited
than men to some trades. He had "seen women in the harvest field, ploughing, raking, and making hay." This he found unbecoming: "This hard laborious work belongs
to men," he said. But he was sure that a woman could pick up type and make a book. "I know that many arguments are used against this," Young admitted, "and we
are told that a woman cannot make a coat, vest or pair of pantaloons. I dispute this. . . . Tell me they can not pull a thread tight enough, and that they can not press
hard enough to press a coat, it is all folly and nonsense." Young liked to see women involved in telegraphy and clerking because he could not abide "great big, fat lazy
men" doing such light work. Besides, he observed, "a woman can write as well as a man, and spell as well as a man, and better."

"Keep the ladies in their proper places," said Young, which he described as "selling tape and calico, setting type, working the telegraph, keeping books, &c." In
addition, Young actively encouraged the movement of women into some professional fields, especially medicine. In 1873, Bathsheba Smith reported that "the President
had suggested to her that three women from each ward be chosen to form a class for studying physiology and obstetrics." A few weeks later, Eliza R. Snow
declared that "President Young is requiring the sisters to get students of Medicine. He wants a good many to get classical education, and then get a degree for
Medicine. . . . If they cannot meet their own expenses, we have means for doing so." For several years, Young had been teaching that women should attend to the
health of their sex. With the influx of educated gentile doctors following the Civil War and the coming railroad, Young realized the Latter-day Saints would need
professional doctors in order to remain self-sustaining.

Romania Bunnell Pratt, the first Mormon woman to get professional training under this program, returned to Utah from the Woman's Medical College in New York
after her freshman year there. Her finances were depleted, and so she paid a visit to President Young. He instructed Eliza R. Snow to "see to it that the Relief Societies
furnish Sister Pratt with the necessary money to complete her studies." This encouragement came in spite of the fact that Romania had to leave her young children with
her own mother in order to complete the training. "We need her here," said Young, "and her talents will be of great use to this people."

After graduating from the Woman's Medical College at Philadelphia, Dr. Pratt returned to Utah in 1877 and announced her intention to practice as well as teach
courses in anatomy, physiology, and obstetrics. She later served as resident surgeon of the Deseret Hospital, a hospital founded by the Relief Society as a result of her
commitment to the obstetrical care of women and the training of nurses and midwives.

Young also encouraged the movement of women into journalism. When Louisa Lula Greene approached him about commencing a newspaper for Mormon women, he
gave her the requisite sanction, and the Woman's Exponent, a semimonthly tabloid, was born. Over a forty-two year period, the paper was an outlet for the journalistic
and literary endeavors of Mormon women.

Young showed an interest in involving women in higher education, appointing Martha Jane Knowlton Coray to a three-member board of directors for Brigham Young
Academy when the school opened under his direction in 1875. Two years later, he named Ida Ione Cook as one of three trustees for the proposed Brigham Young
College in Logan,
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                                                position of Cache County Superintendent of Schools because territorial laws did not allow women Page
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                                                                                                                                                        107 /office.
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Ever concerned with order, Young never stopped prescribing a sphere of activity for women. But over a period of years, the sphere he prescribed became wider and
and literary endeavors of Mormon women.

Young showed an interest in involving women in higher education, appointing Martha Jane Knowlton Coray to a three-member board of directors for Brigham Young
Academy when the school opened under his direction in 1875. Two years later, he named Ida Ione Cook as one of three trustees for the proposed Brigham Young
College in Logan, Utah. Cook had just lost the position of Cache County Superintendent of Schools because territorial laws did not allow women to hold public office.


Ever concerned with order, Young never stopped prescribing a sphere of activity for women. But over a period of years, the sphere he prescribed became wider and
wider. During the last decade of his life, Young taught that home and family were not the only means whereby a woman could make a contribution to the kingdom. "We
believe that women are useful, not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise babies," he said,

but that they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic, or become good bookkeepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and all this to
enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.

The status of Mormon women decidedly improved during the administration of President Brigham Young. His reorganization of the Relief Society launched women into
an era of public activity that involved them in business and gave them new economic status in a community that was itself concerned with economic identity. Within
Mormonism's social order, where women had previously held no offices, they gained position and visibility as leaders in organizations for women and children. Though
women were clearly not ordained to priesthood offices, they assumed a new place within Church government and exercised significant authority with regard to their
sisters through disbursement of funds and counsel at general, stake, and ward levels.

It was during this same period that Utah women were granted the elective franchise, though the extent to which Young may have influenced the territorial legislature in
passage of the February 1870 act is not clear. He never publicly acknowledged that with passage of the act women were receiving rights long since due to them.

While some Mormon women celebrated Young's advocacy of women's rights, he did not, like Henry Ward Beecher, affiliate himself with the national campaign for
women's rights. Most of its ideals were not in conflict with Mormonism, and Young did not discourage the involvement of prominent Relief Society women in the
nineteenth-century movement for woman's advancement. Certainly he felt free to borrow ideas and rhetoric from the movement: women were capable of doing many
things tradition had made the work of men; it was time to awaken women to their possibilities.

With Young's endorsement and prodding, Mormon women joined their American sisters in attending universities, providing medical care for women, running telegraph
offices, and staffing a money-making organization that contributed to their church's needs. Yet while Mormon women, and sometimes their national contemporaries,
celebrated these advances as victories for women, Brigham Young never did.

Young was, for his people, a prophet and seer, whose ever-present vision and motivation was the kingdom of God, a holy family-community in which individuals did
not advance independently of one another. He proclaimed that the priesthood order had been restored to Latter-day Saints. This order prescribed a system of
interdependence through which members, working for the common good, individually sacrificed and would ultimately be individually benefited. The system Young
administered furnished women both constraints and opportunities, but, given the clarity of his larger vision, he felt no need to explicitly resolve apparent incongruities or
ambiguities in his messages to women.

It would seem that Young's strong emphasis on male dominance within the family unit did not dramatically forward the advancement of Mormon women. It reiterated
the importance of the traditional order within the nontraditional plural marriage system; while it provided some women with security, it offended and confused others.

Had order been Young's only concern, Mormon women would have been stifled. But Young clearly articulated the divine attributes and potential of women and men.
Further, his predilection for ordering the family-community was offset, if not overshadowed, by his commitment to put the community to work to build Zion. He used
available human resources by distributing responsibilities at every level of the governmental system.

Through the 1850s and '60s, Young called upon women to assume responsibility at the family level to use their personal resources in maintaining households and
nurturing Zion's rising generation. But in the years following the Civil War, the Mormon family-community demanded additional resources to stave off the growing
economic, social, and political influence of non-Mormons. Without deemphasizing the importance of motherhood, Young was quick to shift available female resources
to organizational levels other than the family. Relief Societies were formed in every ward, and various programs for them, including home industry and commission-
cooperatives, grain storage, and obstetrical training, were administered by women working at a general level.

In proportion to Young's increased use of women as vital resources, the kingdom grew and the women grew. Inherent in Mormonism's hierarchically ordered system of
interdependence were paradoxical possibilities for women. Brigham Young and his sisters maximized such possibilities and left a remarkable legacy of awakening and
achievement.

Notes

An earlier version of this article was originally published as "Woman's Place in Brigham Young's World," BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 377-95).

  1. Mrs. T. B. H. [Fanny] Stenhouse, Tell It All: The Story of Life's Experience in Mormonism (Cincinnati: Queen City Publishing, 1874), 273.

 2. Horace Greeley, "Two Hours with Brigham Young," Daily Tribune (New York), 20 August 1859, as quoted in William Mulder and A. Russell Mortensen, eds.,
Among the Mormons: Historical Accounts by Contemporary Observers (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967), 327.

 3. Mrs. C. V. Waite, The Mormon Prophet and His Harem; or an Authentic History of Brigham Young and His Numerous Wives and Children (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Riverside Press, 1866), 217-18.

  4. M. R. Werner, Brigham Young (London: Jonathan Cape, Ltd., 1925); Stanley P. Hirshon, The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of Brigham Young (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1969).

  5. Leonard J. Arrington pioneered the field with "The Economic Role of Pioneer Mormon Women," Western Humanities Review 9 (Spring 1955): 145-64. Two
important bibliographies that survey the multitude of works that followed, particularly after 1970, are Carol Cornwall Madsen and David J. Whittaker, "History's
Sequel: A Source Essay on Women in Mormon History," Journal of Mormon History 6 (1979): 123-45 and Patricia Lyn Scott and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher,
comps., "Mormon Women: A Bibliography in Process, 1977-1985," Journal of Mormon History 12 (1985): 113-27. An insightful overview of the development of
Mormon women's studies is Carol Cornwall Madsen, "'Feme Covert': Journey of a Metaphor," Journal of Mormon History 17 (1991): 43-61.

  6. Louisa G. Richards, "Work for Women," Woman's Exponent 1, 15 April 1873, 172.
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  7. Journal of Discourses, 8: 93 (8 August 1852).
Mormon women's studies is Carol Cornwall Madsen, "'Feme Covert': Journey of a Metaphor," Journal of Mormon History 17 (1991): 43-61.

  6. Louisa G. Richards, "Work for Women," Woman's Exponent 1, 15 April 1873, 172.

  7. Journal of Discourses, 8: 93 (8 August 1852).

  8. Brigham Young taught that men could become gods and women "Eves," or "queens of heaven." See Brigham Young, "A Few Words of Doctrine," 8 October
1861, Brigham Young Papers, Library-Archives, Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical
Archives); see also Journal of Discourses, 3: 365. The clearest statement of the Mother in Heaven concept-Eliza R. Snow's hymn "O My Father," or, as she titled it,
"The Eternal Father and Mother"-was said to be Young's favorite hymn. See "Deseret Theological Institute," Deseret News, 27 June 1855, and Heber J. Grant,
"Favorite Hymns," Improvement Era 17 (June 1914): 777.

  9. Journal of Discourses, 3: 364 (22 June 1856); and 13: 155 (14 November 1869).

  10. Journal of Discourses, 7: 160 (29 May 1859); and 1: 312 (20 February 1853).

  11. Journal of Discourses, 13: 61 (18 July 1869).

  12. Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (New York: Macmillan, 1930), 293, 296; see also Journal of Discourses, 9: 330 (3
August 1862).

  13. Journal of Discourses, 10: 320 (31 July 1864); and 9: 330 (3 August 1862).

  14. Journal of Discourses, 13: 281 (30 October 1870). Indeed, according to Young, the priesthood is also "the law of heaven that governs and controls the Gods
and the angels." Ibid.

  15. Journal of Discourses 11: 249 (17 June 1866); and 17: 119 (28 June 1874). See Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), 153-
54; also Carol Cornwall Madsen, "Mormon Women and the Temple," in Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective, ed. Maureen
Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fielding Anderson (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987), 80-110.

   16. Feminist scholar Mary Ryan observed of the American Puritan community: "No individual of either sex, could presume to be one among equals in the
seventeenth-century community. . . . Within the church, all parishioners were subservient to the minister and found their destined places somewhere within the hierarchy
of elders, deacons, and the general congregation. . . . Within the household, the ranks descended from the patriarchal father to his wife, the mistress of the household,
and on to children and then to servants and any other non-kinsmen who resided in the home. . . . Within this hierarchical Weltanschauung of the seventeenth century,
inequality was not the peculiar stigma of womanhood, but rather a social expectation of both sexes." Mary Ryan, Womanhood in America from Colonial Times to the
Present (New York: New Viewpoints, Franklin Watts, 1975), 40-41.

  17. Journal of Discourses, 9: 39 (7 April 1861); and 17: 159 (9 August 1874).

  18. Journal of Discourses, 11: 271 (19 August 1866). See Ephesians 5: 23.

  19. Journal of Discourses, 9: 308 (15 June 1862). See also 1 Peter 3: 7.

  20. Journal of Discourses, 4: 55 (21 September 1856).

  21. Journal of Discourses, 4: 57 (21 September 1856).

  22. See Eleanor Flexner, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States (New York: Atheneum, 1973), 47, 220, and Donna A. Behnke,
Religious Issues in Ninteenth Century Feminism (Troy, N. Y.: Whiston Publishing Company, 1982).

  23. Waite, 223. This was in accordance with a whole set of behavioral norms for nineteenth-century women. See Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood:
1820-1860," American Quarterly 18 (Summer 1966): 151-74.

  24. Journal of Discourses, 4: 55 (21 September 1856); and 14: 106 (8 August 1869).

  25. Journal of Discourses, 16: 167 (31 August 1873).

  26. Journal of Discourses, 11: 271 (19 August 1866); and 12: 194 (6 April 1869).

   27. Journal of Discourses, 15: 132 (18 August 1872). Earlier he said, "There is one thing she [woman] cannot [do] away with, at least not so far as I am concerned,
and that is, 'and he shall rule over thee.'" Journal of Discourses, 9: 195 (9 February 1862). Eliza R. Snow and other Mormon women, seemingly without objection from
Young, taught that men and women were equal before the Fall and that ultimately full union and equality between men and women would be restored. See Jill C.
Mulvay [Derr], "Eliza R. Snow and the Woman Question," BYU Studies 16 (Winter 1976): 261, 264. Latter-day Saint leaders, male and female, became increasingly
silent on the matter of the curse toward the turn of the century.

  28. Journal of Discourses, 1: 48 (9 April 1852); and 12: 153 (12 January 1868).

   29. Piety, purity, submission, and domesticity were valued in women but not in men. See Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood." In Mormonism, as in Puritanism,
the first three were common values for men and women, though Young was prone to teach that women were of a more refined nature than men, a little purer and more
pious. Journal of Discourses, 12: 194 (6 April 1868); 14: 120 (21 May 1871); and 18: 233 (15 August 1876).

  30. Journal of Discourses, 16: 167 (31 August 1873); 9: 195 (9 February 1862); and 9: 39 (7 April 1861).

  31. Martha Spence Heywood Journal, 27 April 1858, photocopy of typescript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

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  33. Journal of Discourses, 11: 268 (19 August 1866).
  30. Journal of Discourses, 16: 167 (31 August 1873); 9: 195 (9 February 1862); and 9: 39 (7 April 1861).

  31. Martha Spence Heywood Journal, 27 April 1858, photocopy of typescript, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  32. Stenhouse, 343.

  33. Journal of Discourses, 11: 268 (19 August 1866).

  34. Journal of Discourses, 17: 159-60 (9 August 1874); and 2: 90 (6 October 1854).

   35. Emily D. Young to Brigham Young, 24 February 1853, Brigham Young Family Correspondence, LDS Church Historical Archives. Jeffrey O. Johnson's "The
Wives of Brigham Young," photocopy of typescript, LDS Church Historical Archives, is an informative listing including wives' birth and death dates, date of marriage to
Brigham Young, number of children born to each marriage, and wives' other husbands and children. Johnson, who based his listing on sealing records, includes fifty-five
women as wives, though only about sixteen of these were connubial wives. On divorce, see Lawrence Foster, "A Little-Known Defense of Polygamy from the
Mormon Press in 1842," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 9 (Winter 1974): 30. Foster compares early ideas about divorce within the plural marriage system
with some of Young's later statements on the matter. See also Carol Cornwall Madsen, "'At Their Peril': Utah Law and the Case of Plural Wives, 1859-1900,"
Western Historical Quarterly 21 (November 1990): 425-43. It should be noted that Brigham Young told women never to seal themselves to a man they did not want
to be sealed to. Journal of Discourses, 6: 307 (8 April 1853).

  36. Journal of Discourses, 9: 37 (7 April 1861).

  37. Journal of Discourses, 19: 72 (19 July 1877).

  38. Henry C. Wright and Godey's Lady's Book as quoted in Ryan, 147 and 165. Journal of Discourses, 18: 263 (8 October 1876).

  39. Ryan, 164.

  40. Susa Young Gates, "Editor's Department," Young Woman's Journal 5 (June 1894): 449.

  41. Journal of Discourses, 9: 37 (7 April 1861).

  42. Waite, 218.

  43. Journal of Discourses, 1: 67-68 (8 April 1852); and 4: 198 (1 February 1857); see also 8: 63 (20 May 1860) and 10: 355 (6 November 1864).

  44. Barbara Welter, "The Feminization of American Religion," ed. Mary S. Hartman and Lois W. Banner, Clio's Consciousness Raised: New Perspectives on the
History of Women (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), 149-50.

   45. Stenhouse, 343-44. Lawrence Foster, in Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons and the Oneida Community (New York/Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1981), confirms that "by partially breaking down exclusive bonds between husband and wife and by undercutting intense emotional involvement in family affairs
in favor of Church business, polygamy may well have contributed significantly both to the success of the long-range centralized plans set in motion at this time and to the
rapid and efficient establishment of religious and communal order."

 46. Connor to R. C. Drum, Assistant Adjutant General, U.S. Army, 21 July 1864, as cited in Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1958), 473.

  47. Journal of Discourses, 12: 32 (8 April 1867); 12: 116 (8 December 1867).

  48. Journal of Discourses, 18: 77 (31 August 1875).

   49. This was presumably due to the confusion of the time but also undoubtedly because Joseph Smith's wife Emma, who presided over the society and wielded
tremendous influence over the women, did not follow Young to the West and had already used her position to further her antipolygamy sentiments. See John Taylor
address to women's conference, 17 July 1880, Woman's Exponent 9, 1 September 1880, 55. The organization, disbanding, and reorganization of the Relief Society, as
well as its operation during Brigham Young's presidency, are discussed in Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of
Covenant: The Story of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), chapters 1-3.

  50. An excellent study of early Relief Societies is Richard L. Jensen, "Forgotten Relief Societies, 1844-67," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 16 (Spring
1983): 105-25.

  51. Journal of Discourses, 12: 115 (8 December 1867).

  52. Journal of Discourses, 14: 107 (8 August 1869).

  53. Journal of Discourses, 14: 104 (8 August 1869).

  54. Journal of Discourses, 11: 352 (6 April 1867).

  55. See Arrington, "The Economic Role of Pioneer Mormon Women."

  56. Eliza R. Snow, "The Relief Society," 1876, holograph, Special Collections, Western Americana, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

   57. Eliza R. Snow, "To Every Branch of the Relief Society in Zion," Woman's Exponent 3, 1 April 1875, 164. See Chris Rigby Arrington, "Mormon Women and
the Silk Industry in Early Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (Fall 1978): 376-96.

  58. Emmeline B. Wells, "Sisters Be in Earnest," Woman's Exponent 5, 15 October 1876, 76.
Copyright (c) 2005-2009, Infobase Media Corp.
  59. The most complete study to date is Jessie L. Embry, "Relief Society Grain Storage Program, 1876-1940," master's thesis, Brigham Young Page   1101974.
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  60. Brigham Young to the President and Members of the Relief Societies . . . , 4 October 1876, Brigham Young Letterbooks, volume 14, LDS Church Historical
the Silk Industry in Early Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (Fall 1978): 376-96.

  58. Emmeline B. Wells, "Sisters Be in Earnest," Woman's Exponent 5, 15 October 1876, 76.

  59. The most complete study to date is Jessie L. Embry, "Relief Society Grain Storage Program, 1876-1940," master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1974.

  60. Brigham Young to the President and Members of the Relief Societies . . . , 4 October 1876, Brigham Young Letterbooks, volume 14, LDS Church Historical
Archives.

  61. S. M. Kimball to President Young, 26 October 1876, holograph, Brigham Young Correspondence, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  62. Eliza R. Snow to Prest. B. Young, 10 February 1877, holograph, Brigham Young Correspondence, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  63. Brigham Young sermon, 5 August 1869, in Deseret News Weekly, 11 August 1869.

  64. Ibid.

  65. Brigham Young Unpublished Sermons, ca. 1876-1877, St. George, manuscript, LDS Church Historical Archives; see Journal of Discourses, 12: 116 (8
December 1867).

  66. General Epistle, January-February 1868, manuscript, 26, Brigham Young Circular Letters, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  67. Journal of Discourses, 16: 16, 21 (7 April 1873).

  68. Ibid., 21.

  69. Woman's Exponent 2, 1 August 1873, 35.

  70. "An Address by Miss Eliza R. Snow . . . , August 14, 1873," Woman's Exponent 2, 15 September 1873, 63.

  71. "A Biographical Sketch of R. B. Pratt," Young Woman's Journal 2 (September 1891): 534.

  72. See Sherilyn Cox Bennion, "The Woman's Exponent: Forty-Two Years of Speaking for Women," Utah Historical Quarterly 44 (Summer 1976): 222-39.

  73. Jill C. Mulvay [Derr], "The Two Miss Cooks: Pioneer Professionals for Utah Schools," Utah Historical Quarterly 43 (Fall 1974): 396-409.

  74. Journal of Discourses, 13: 61 (18 July 1869).

   75. Beverly Beeton, in Women Vote in the West: The Woman Suffrage Movement, 1869-1896 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1896), suggests that the motivation
behind the granting of suffrage to Utah women was a pragmatic political consideration rather than a commitment to woman's inherent rights. Lola Van Wagenen, on the
other hand, examines Mormon women's commitment to claiming their own political rights in "In Their Own Behalf: The Politicization of Mormon Women and the 1870
Franchise," Dialogue 24 (Winter 1991): 31-43.

CHAPTER 15

Brigham Young and Priesthood Work At the General and Local Levels

William G. Hartley

Associate Research Professor, Joseph Fielding Smith Institute, Brigham Young University

Like an admiral commanding a fleet of ships sailing on heavy seas, Brigham Young, during his years as President of the Church, stood at the helm and directed the
various offices and officers in the priesthood for the general good of the kingdom of God on earth. And yet, oddly, although biographies of Brigham Young devote
much attention to the move west-the gathering, colonization, missionary outreach, Indian relations, economics, politics, and theology-they rarely assess him carefully as
a leader of the priesthood or explore in detail how stakes, wards, and quorums-the Church's fundamental organizational units-operated during his administration.

For President Young, the holy priesthood was "a perfect system of laws and government," one that "rules and reigns in eternity."     With total certitude he believed that
"we have the only true authority, upon the face of the whole earth, to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel."

"The Holy Priesthood is not on the earth, unless the Latter-day Saints have it," he proclaimed. "There is no act of a Latter-day Saint-no duty required-no time given,
exclusive and independent of the Priesthood," he explained in 1858; "Everything is subject to it, whether preaching, business, or any other act pertaining to the proper
conduct of this life."

"No man can lawfully officiate in any office in the Kingdom of God," President Young believed, "[that] he has not been called to, and the authority of which has not
been bestowed upon him." "Have we reason to rejoice?" he asked in 1857, and then he answered his own question:

We have. There is no other people on this earth under such deep obligation to their Creator, as are the Latter-day Saints. The Gospel has brought to us the holy
Priesthood, which is again restored to the children of men. The keys of that Priesthood are here; we have them in our possession; we can unlock, and we can shut up.
We can obtain salvation, and we can administer it. We have the power within our own hands, and this has been my deep mortification, one that I have frequently
spoken of, to think that a people, having in their possession all the principles, keys, and powers of eternal life, should neglect so great a salvation. We have these
blessings, they are with us.

Wanting Church members to be able to receive all the priesthood blessings to which they were entitled, he labored constantly to help priesthood bearers at all levels
understand and then carry out their duties. At times he redeployed priesthood assignments to best utilize the quorums and officers while advancing the entire fleet
through changing and unpredictable currents, winds, and weather.
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To be assessed in proper context, Brigham Young's handling of priesthood operations needs to be compared both with prevailing Church practices  at the time
succeeded Joseph Smith and with current priesthood functions. President Young presided over the Church for thirty-three years, more than twice as long as Joseph
Smith (fourteen years). He presided over a church whose membership grew to more than five times that of Joseph Smith's time, more than 104,000 compared to about
Wanting Church members to be able to receive all the priesthood blessings to which they were entitled, he labored constantly to help priesthood bearers at all levels
understand and then carry out their duties. At times he redeployed priesthood assignments to best utilize the quorums and officers while advancing the entire fleet
through changing and unpredictable currents, winds, and weather.

To be assessed in proper context, Brigham Young's handling of priesthood operations needs to be compared both with prevailing Church practices at the time he
succeeded Joseph Smith and with current priesthood functions. President Young presided over the Church for thirty-three years, more than twice as long as Joseph
Smith (fourteen years). He presided over a church whose membership grew to more than five times that of Joseph Smith's time, more than 104,000 compared to about
20,000. The Church had a dozen bishops and wards in Nauvoo, but at Brigham's death it had 241-a twenty-fold increase. Joseph's ordained followers numbered
perhaps 4,000 maximum, but a priesthood census taken among stakes within a year of Brigham's death found 22,000. During the same period, the number of seventies
quorums increased from three to about seventy-five. Joseph Smith died before all ordinances for the dead could be implemented, particularly the sealing of deceased
couples together-something Brigham Young later authorized. Joseph never presided over a church filled with believing adults who had received temple endowments;
Brigham Young did. During President Young's watch, explosive growth in Church membership produced situations demanding expansion and adaptation by priesthood
quorums and governing units.

As we might expect when comparing Brigham Young's Church of 125 years ago with today's Church, a number of priesthood practices implemented then are different
than in our day. During the early 1870s, for example, middle-aged LDS stalwart John H. Picknell, an ordained seventy, was a counselor in the Salt Lake Stake
deacons quorum presidency. "I've Seventies', Priests', Teachers' & Deacons' meetings to attend, Teacher in two wards, a Priest in one," he once itemized; "I'm out
almost every night in the month." At another stake deacons quorum meeting, acting deacon Matthias Cowley explained that "I was an Elder before I was a deacon" and
added that "if we were all to stay away because we are Elders or Seventies, where would the Teachers and deacons' quorums be? Why! Here your [deacons]
president is a high priest, & his counsellors, Seventies."

While Brigham Young was President, half of the Apostles served at times concurrently as stake presidents. For many years, the seventies quorums, not subject to stake
presidents but administered by the First Council of the Seventy, were more numerous than elders quorums. At times, the Salt Lake Stake was the "center stake of
Zion," exercising authority over other Utah stakes. Both a ward bishop and a ward president presided in several settlements, a double leadership structure Brigham
Young favored. Other priorities sometimes meant that ward bishops served for years without being ordained, and a few bishops had counselors who were not high
priests. Although most young men were not ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, youths as young as fourteen were encouraged to receive their temple endowments,
thus receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood without prior ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood.

It is not surprising that priesthood operations in the past differ from those of today, when the dynamic and adaptive sweep of LDS priesthood history from 1829 to the
present is examined. Since the 1830s, change has touched most priesthood offices and quorums. For example, at times the First Presidency has included more than
two counselors; members of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy are now General Authorities; the two Quorums of the Seventy have shouldered some of the
responsibilities once carried by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Assistants to the Twelve once served a vital function and then were phased out; the Presiding
Bishopric no longer is responsible for Aaronic Priesthood operations; the Presiding Patriarch's authority over stake patriarchs has been redefined; administrative
positions between the general and the stake levels, such as area presidents and area authorities, have been created; the position of regional representative was created
and later phased out; terms of service for bishops and stake presidents have shortened over time; stake high councils receive a myriad of assignments beyond their
scripturally assigned disciplinary function; stake presidents, rather than General Authorities, now set apart missionaries; the majority of men serving full-time missions
once were seventies but now are primarily elders; and home teaching has replaced ward teaching, to cite some of the better-known changes.

All LDS Church Presidents have tried diligently to tailor priesthood instructions, as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, to fit the pressing needs of their day. No
prophet presided during a period when the seas of changing circumstances churned more than they did during President Young's administration. His biographical record
should show that among numerous contributions he made to the shape and development of priesthood operations in the Church, the following twelve are the most
important historically:

1. Reconstituting the First Presidency and establishing how succession in the Presidency should take place.

2. Clarifying and institutionalizing the Apostles' roles at home and abroad.

3. Transforming the seventies' office into a major non-General Authority level of priesthood.

4. Institutionalizing and clarifying the role of the Presiding Bishopric.

5. Establishing wards as the Church's primary units of governance and ward bishops as the key local ecclesiastical officer.

6. Institutionalizing stakes to be meaningful intermediate units of administration.

7. Requiring endowments prior to missions or marriage, which caused men to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, thereby depleting the Aaronic Priesthood of mature
males.

8. Requiring boys to serve in at least one Aaronic Priesthood office before reaching adulthood.

9. Establishing patriarchal priesthood ordinances and practices, including the law of adoption, family organizations, and plurality of wives.

10. Preserving, promoting, and refining temple ordinances and rituals for the living and for the dead while making temple blessings available in the Nauvoo Temple, the
Salt Lake Endowment House, and the St. George Temple.

11. Directing civic and secular affairs semi-theocratically through priesthood officers.

12. Conducting a thorough priesthood reorganization in 1877, including the issuing of the first "handbook" regarding Church administration.

I deal with these developments below at appropriate places, weaving them into a tapestry designed to showcase individually how each of the Church's priesthood
offices and units functioned during Brigham Young's presidency. Each of the presiding quorums is discussed, followed by stake, ward, and local quorum operations.

The Apostolic Presidency 1844-1847

Brigham Young's leadership of the Church began while he was president of the Quorum of the Twelve, a body that collectively succeeded Joseph Smith from August
1844 to December 1847. During that period, he and the Twelve promoted four major priesthood-related ventures.

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The         (c) 2005-2009,
    first occurred during theInfobase
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                                        1844 conference   (where he was sustained as President of the Twelve) when the Twelve declared every United   Page      112 / 128
                                                                                                                                                           States
congressional district to be a missionary district and then assigned to each a high priest to reside there and "have entire charge" under the Twelve "of all spiritual matters,
superintending the labors of the elders, and the calling of conferences." Seven dozen high priests were set apart to permanent assignments and instructed to take their
Brigham Young's leadership of the Church began while he was president of the Quorum of the Twelve, a body that collectively succeeded Joseph Smith from August
1844 to December 1847. During that period, he and the Twelve promoted four major priesthood-related ventures.

The first occurred during the October 1844 conference (where he was sustained as President of the Twelve) when the Twelve declared every United States
congressional district to be a missionary district and then assigned to each a high priest to reside there and "have entire charge" under the Twelve "of all spiritual matters,
superintending the labors of the elders, and the calling of conferences." Seven dozen high priests were set apart to permanent assignments and instructed to take their
families with them to those districts. However, unexpected pressures for the Church to leave Nauvoo canceled the assignments.

The second venture, apparently linked to the Twelve's districting of the United States, was President Young's orchestration of a mass-ordination of seventies,
expanding the number of seventies quorums from three to thirty (see "The Seventies," below). Apparently Young and the Twelve anticipated a vast missionary push,
designed to convert individuals in the United States districts that had just been announced. But, again, the uprooting from Nauvoo and the tremendous work needed to
build settlements in Utah allowed Church leaders to send out only a fairly limited missionary force year by year.

As a third priesthood-related measure, President Young implemented the bestowal of the temple endowment upon all Nauvoo adults who were "faithful and worthy"
Saints and who wanted to receive that blessing. To be endowed, he taught, is to "possess the keys of the eternal priesthood." Day and night, the Nauvoo Temple
stayed open in late 1845 and early 1846, during which time 5,615 adults received the endowment. The availability of the endowment led to the priesthood practice
of expecting an LDS male to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood and be temple-endowed before going on a full-time proselyting mission or being sealed in eternal
marriage. A byproduct of this expectation was that almost all active, practicing LDS adult males received Melchizedek Priesthood ordinations, thus removing them from
the pool of manpower eligible to receive Aaronic Priesthood offices (see "Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and Labors," below).

Fourth, with Brigham Young's guidance, the principle of succession in the Presidency was clarified and implemented. An absolutely critical test for a new organization is
whether or not it can survive the passing or loss of its founder. The failure rate is substantial. The Church faced that test when Joseph Smith was killed. It wobbled
slightly and dealt with a crucial succession question not fully articulated by revelations, handbooks, or Joseph Smith's teachings. Joseph Smith's successor was the
Twelve as a body, and they directed the Church in lieu of a First Presidency for three-and-a-half years. Not until 27 December 1847 did the Twelve organize a new
First Presidency and obtain ratification from the Church's membership. The precedent established then is still followed: the Twelve as a body succeeds a deceased
prophet and then selects the senior Apostle, with divine sanction, as the new President of the Church.

The First Presidency

During the Brigham Young years, the First Presidency became a powerful quorum with well-defined purposes and procedures.

Personnel. Only six men served as first and second counselors to President Young during his twenty-nine years as President. His first counselors were Heber C.
Kimball until 1868, then George A. Smith until 1875, followed by John W. Young until 1877. His second counselors were Willard Richards to 1854, Jedediah M.
Grant to 1857, and Daniel H. Wells until Brigham's death in
1877. In 1873, Young called five extra counselors, who, a year later, were designated "assistant counselors": John W. Young, George Q. Cannon, Lorenzo Snow,
Brigham Young, Jr., and Albert Carrington. Joseph Smith had set the precedent for having more than two counselors by having Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Joseph
Smith, Sr., and John Smith simultaneously serve as counselors.

Responsibilities. The First Presidency was responsible for all spiritual and temporal Church matters. They wanted all people to receive the gospel ordinances and
temple blessings at the hands of the priesthood and to be set to work building the kingdom of God. They ensured that the basic ordinances of blessing babies, baptizing,
confirming, administering the sacrament, and ordaining to the priesthood were performed properly.

One of the First Presidency's priorities was temple building and the performance of temple ordinances. Brigham Young believed that only in a temple could people
"receive the ordinances of the holy Priesthood." Fulfilling the Twelve's mandate from Joseph Smith, Brigham Young energetically rushed the Nauvoo Temple to basic
completion and arranged for washings, anointings, endowments, and marriage sealings to be administered there. After the exodus from Nauvoo, lacking a Utah temple,
he arranged for the temporary Endowment House to be built and placed his counselor, Heber C. Kimball, in charge of it. Some baptisms for the dead took place.
President Young, anxious to have a fully-functioning temple operational before he died, dedicated the St. George Temple and installed Apostle Wilford Woodruff as its
president.

The First Presidency performed many marriage sealings, including plural marriages. President Young exercised the sealing powers he held by virtue of being President
of the Church and holding all the keys of the priesthood. He sealed couples together in celestial marriage and delegated that authority to a few others. Whereas Joseph
Smith introduced plural marriage quietly among selected associates, to Brigham Young fell the responsibility of publicly announcing the doctrine and of convincing
Latter-day Saints to believe in and participate in polygamy. Through example, public discourse, and private counsel, he championed plural marriage. As a result of his
leadership, aided by that of other General Authorities, up to 25 percent of LDS households participated in plural marriage at a given point in time. About two out of
five men in good Church standing took plural wives. President Young successfully promoted the principle.

Another sealing ordinance involved sealing family units for eternity. In the context of this ordinance, President Young promoted the law of adoption. Through the law of
adoption, Church members whose own parents were not priesthood bearers could become sealed in life and for eternity to General Authorities, thereby joining that
authority's family by priesthood adoption. This practice continued until the 1890s.

In terms of manpower and resources, missionary work sometimes took a back seat to settlement and colonizing labors. Nevertheless, President Young promoted
missionary work by involving the Twelve deeply in its management and by sending missionaries throughout the world.

Of necessity, President Young's primary labors were devoted to establishing a home base for the Church, securing a Mormon homeland in the Great Basin. His
concern was to help LDS converts reach Zion, to develop agricultural and mineral-production settlements, and to see that the Saints received the gospel ordinances
and had ecclesiastical leaders and organizations to belong to. Up to 1877, when President Young reorganized Church units, the Church in gathered Zion had 13 stakes
and 101 wards, albeit in varying states of health and functionality. Young's 1877 restructurings (see below) were monumental in the course of the historical development
of priesthood work.

Council meetings with Church leaders. After the First Presidency was reconstituted in December 1847, they met almost daily with the Twelve at Winter Quarters. In
Utah, the two presiding quorums met together often, although a majority of the Twelve rarely was present because of assignments away from Salt Lake City. These
meetings were small council meetings that some additional persons attended-usually the senior president of the First Council of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishop, and
the president of the Salt Lake Stake (regarded as a "center stake" for the Church-see below). When four men were added to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1849, those
attending the historic meeting were the First Presidency; three of the Twelve; Presiding Bishop Newel K. Whitney; high priests president John Young and his counselor,
George B. Wallace; and Jedediah M. Grant of the First Council of the Seventy.

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                President Young regarded the First Presidency not so much as a quorum apart from the Quorum of the Twelve but "as a kind of executive 113 / 128of
the Twelve." Minutes exist for sixteen meetings of the First Presidency and Twelve in the 1850s, fifteen in the 1860s, and five in the 1870s. Wilford Woodruff's
journal itemizes 217 meetings of the First Presidency and the Twelve between 1847 and 1853. Those of the Twelve who were "home" did consult regularly with the
the president of the Salt Lake Stake (regarded as a "center stake" for the Church-see below). When four men were added to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1849, those
attending the historic meeting were the First Presidency; three of the Twelve; Presiding Bishop Newel K. Whitney; high priests president John Young and his counselor,
George B. Wallace; and Jedediah M. Grant of the First Council of the Seventy.

It appears that President Young regarded the First Presidency not so much as a quorum apart from the Quorum of the Twelve but "as a kind of executive committee of
the Twelve." Minutes exist for sixteen meetings of the First Presidency and Twelve in the 1850s, fifteen in the 1860s, and five in the 1870s. Wilford Woodruff's
journal itemizes 217 meetings of the First Presidency and the Twelve between 1847 and 1853. Those of the Twelve who were "home" did consult regularly with the
First Presidency. Woodruff's annual summaries in his diary show that by the mid-1850s and continuing to 1876, their conjoint meetings became prayer circle
gatherings, from 17 to 66 times a year, that served at times as "spiritually oriented council meetings" in which members discussed scriptures, doctrine, history, and
occasionally organizational and temporal matters. A review of the minutes of Brigham's meetings with the Twelve "show Brigham Young not always telling them what
to do, not often chastising them, but usually sincerely seeking their judgment-seeking to establish and maintain harmony and unity. Most of the meetings took the form of
relaxed discussions among peers."

Throughout Brigham Young's presidency, most decisions came from "the President-in-council"-the President, his counselors, available members of the Twelve, one or
more of the Seventies' presidency, one or more of the Presiding Bishopric, and one or more from the Salt Lake Stake Presidency and the Salt Lake high priests
quorum.

General epistles. Important to Church policy, practice, and belief were the First Presidency's general epistles to the Saints throughout the world. In Nauvoo, President
Young and the Twelve utilized this method of communication with the Church worldwide. Then, when the First Presidency was reconstituted, it issued many general
instructions during Brigham Young's tenure as President.

The first known document of the apostolic presidency was written by Brigham Young to the Church membership from Boston on 16 July 1844. The Twelve issued a
general epistle on 23 December 1847, followed soon after by the First General Epistle of the First Presidency, dated 1 August 1849. A Fourteenth General Epistle is
dated 10 December 1856, ending the practice of numbering the general letters. Others followed, however, including two in 1869 and the vital Circular of the First
Presidency of 11 July 1877, which ordered the reorganization of stakes and quorums. In addition, the First Presidency sent numerous letters addressed to the bishops.


General conferences. During Brigham Young's presidency, the Church's annual and semiannual conferences became major forums for the First Presidency and the
Twelve to address the Saints, and, unlike at Nauvoo, the conferences took place in suitable conference auditoriums-the original Salt Lake Tabernacle and then the
"new" (and now famous) Tabernacle. President Young arranged for clerks to record conference discourses in shorthand so they could be published in the Deseret
News and in LDS periodicals abroad. A sixteen-page semimonthly publication called Journal of Discourses was published in England, which became a monumental
reference collection packed with leaders' counsel, including discussions of priesthood theory and practice. It contains 390 sermons by Brigham Young.

Tours to distant settlements. The First Presidency adopted a role that was not practiced and probably not needed before the Utah gathering: making visits into the
Mormon communities to consult firsthand with local priesthood officers.

Secular leadership. Before, during, and after his terms as governor of Utah Territory, Young acted forcefully to ensure that priesthood leaders, not unbelieving outsiders
or apostates, were the political and economic leaders of the Mormon people. As a result, General Authorities and local Church leaders served prominently in territorial
executive, legislative, and judicial positions and as county and city officials.

General Conference Sustainings

A look at general conference sustainings between 1849 and 1877, specifically the order in which officers were presented, reveals several variations in priesthood
sustaining practices during the Brigham Young period:

1. In 1873, the Church sustained seven counselors in the First Presidency; from 1874 through 1877, the Presidency was readjusted to include two counselors plus five
assistant counselors.

2. Up through 1859 and again between 1872 and 1877, President Young was sustained as President and Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, but from fall 1859 to spring
1872, the terms prophet, seer, and revelator were not used.

3. A Presiding Patriarch or "Patriarch to the Whole Church" was sustained at every conference, although the title varied slightly.

4. Members of the First Council of the Seventy, who were the seven senior presidents of all the seventies quorums, were sustained variously as "President of the
Presidency of Seventies and Six Associates," "President of the Presiding Council of Seventies," "President of the First Seven Presidents of the Seventies," "Members of
the First Seven Presidents of the Seventies," "President of all the Seventies and Six Counselors," and "Presidents of all the Quorums of Seventies."

5. Until 1860, the Presiding Bishop was sustained without counselors, except on one occasion. At four conferences, the Church sustained Assistant Presiding Bishops
and Traveling Bishops.

6. The president and counselors in the Salt Lake Stake presidency were sustained at nearly every general conference, as were the stake's high council, the president
and counselors of the high priests quorum, and president and counselors for the stake's priests, teachers, and deacons quorums.

The sustaining order sometimes changed slightly. In 1849 and 1850, the high priests quorum presidency, which was the only such quorum in existence and served as
the general quorum (see below) for all high priests in Utah no matter where they lived, was sustained before the Senior Presidents of the Seventies, and at other times
before the Salt Lake Stake presidency. The stake presidency was sustained ahead of the Presiding Bishop in 1849, 1850, and 1851, probably reflecting its earlier role
as the presidency of the Church in Utah during the first year. The Presiding Patriarch was sustained after the First Presidency and before the Twelve; it was later
positioned after the Twelve.

The Twelve Apostles

Before Joseph Smith died, he placed upon the Twelve the responsibilities for gathered Zion in addition to the foreign ministry. They had crossed the threshold,
comparatively speaking, but suddenly had to step forthrightly into the room after the martyrdom. Under Brigham Young, the Twelve learned from hard experience
where they fit in the Church's administrative structure.

Although the Apostles were subordinate to the First Presidency "in cases of doctrinal and other pronouncements made as revelation from the Lord," the First
Presidency sought and considered their opinions and insights. Once decisions were made, after differences of opinion were aired during discussion stages, the Twelve
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gave public support "despite any private reservations." President Young felt strongly about securing unity among the General Authorities.

Personnel. While Brigham Young was Church President, there were few changes in personnel among the Twelve, who were relatively young men when called. Only
where they fit in the Church's administrative structure.

Although the Apostles were subordinate to the First Presidency "in cases of doctrinal and other pronouncements made as revelation from the Lord," the First
Presidency sought and considered their opinions and insights. Once decisions were made, after differences of opinion were aired during discussion stages, the Twelve
gave public support "despite any private reservations." President Young felt strongly about securing unity among the General Authorities.

Personnel. While Brigham Young was Church President, there were few changes in personnel among the Twelve, who were relatively young men when called. Only
twelve new members were called. And, during that time, four were dropped from the quorum: William Smith (1845), John E. Page (1846), Lyman Wight (1848), and
Amasa Lyman (1867).

When the First Presidency was reconstituted late in 1847, it drew three members from the quorum: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards. Near
that same time, Elder Wight was excommunicated. With President Young's approval, the four vacancies were filled on 12 February 1849 by Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo
Snow, Erastus Snow, and Franklin D. Richards. The First Presidency ordained these men and continued to ordain all new Apostles.

When the First Presidency and Twelve met together in October 1859 to choose a replacement for Parley P. Pratt, who had died in 1857, President Young asked
members of the Twelve to nominate one or two men in writing rather than having the First Presidency nominate someone. Several names were discussed, as were the
merits of proven experience versus inexperienced potential. Finally the Twelve deferred to President Young, who selected George Q. Cannon; the Twelve sustained
him without dissent.

In 1866, President Young received a revelation to ordain Joseph F. Smith to the apostleship even though there was no vacancy in the quorum. The Twelve approved
and helped President Young ordain the new Apostle. Thereafter, though the Twelve did not select new Apostles on their own, their suggestions and opinions were
solicited before the calls were issued.

Of four men called into the First Presidency as counselors to Brigham Young after Elders Kimball and Richards, only George A. Smith was from the Quorum of the
Twelve.

As noted earlier, rarely was a majority of the Twelve together at one time in Salt Lake City. In fact, the first time the entire Quorum of Twelve was able to meet
together in Utah was on 6 October 1868.

Assignments. From 1848 to 1877, President Young constantly gave assignments to members of the Twelve, the two main ones being to preside over missions outside
Utah and to establish and direct remote settlements of the Church. A summary of the Apostles' activities shows the following:

Orson Hyde spent nineteen years presiding over Great Basin settlements between 1854 and 1877. Orson Pratt spent eleven years on missions. John Taylor spent six
years on missions. Ezra T. Benson spent three years on missions and nine years presiding over settlements. Charles C. Rich spent twenty-three years presiding over
settlements. Lorenzo Snow spent three years on a mission and twenty-four presiding over the Brigham City settlement. Erastus Snow spent eight years on missions and
sixteen years presiding over settlements. Franklin D. Richards spent seven years on missions and eight presiding over Weber Valley.

Inherent in the work of presiding over missions was the labor of organizing, scheduling, and arranging finances for each year's emigration. In addition, whenever
Apostles returned home from such missions, they helped supervise the LDS emigrants traveling with them, such as happened in 1856 when Elders John Taylor, Erastus
Snow, and Franklin D. Richards directed much of the movement. In 1860, Elders Erastus Snow and Orson Pratt went to the eastern United States to supervise LDS
emigration.

Another assignment given to various Apostles related to publications and public relations. In the late 1840s, Elder Orson Hyde was sent east to obtain a printing press
and then to publish a newspaper at Kanesville, which was named the Frontier Guardian. After the Church publicly announced its belief in polygamy, the First
Presidency sent Orson Pratt to Washington, D.C., on a public relations crusade. There he published a periodical called The Seer for eighteen months in which he
defended in print LDS doctrines. Similarly, John Taylor published The Mormon in New York, and Erastus Snow published the St. Louis Luminary.

In the mid-1850s, the First Presidency appointed several Apostles to divide Utah settlements into districts and then do "home missionary" work among them, mainly by
holding conferences and meetings. They helped promote the Mormon Reformation of 1856. Upon the Twelve's shoulders fell the major work of instituting the
Priesthood Reorganization of 1877 (see below).

Seniority. Brigham Young made a major seniority adjustment among the Twelve that proved to be crucial in determining who became his successor. At the time the
First Presidency was reconstituted on 27 December 1847, the Twelve, in order of seniority, were: Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt,
Orson Pratt, Lyman Wight, Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Amasa Lyman, and Ezra T. Benson. But during a meeting with the
Twelve in 1875, Brigham ruled that because Elders Hyde and Orson Pratt had separated themselves briefly from the quorum in 1838 and 1842 respectively, they had
lost their seniority standings to Elders Taylor, Woodruff, and George A. Smith. And because John Taylor had helped ordain Wilford Woodruff to be an Apostle,
Woodruff's seniority over Taylor in the quorum was not proper, so the two exchanged seniority positions.

When Brigham Young selected five extra counselors in 1874, four of them were members of the Twelve. However, those four served in both capacities and were not
replaced within the Quorum of the Twelve.

The Presiding Patriarch

On 24 May 1845, soon after Brigham Young assumed Church leadership, Apostle William Smith, the Prophet's brother, was ordained patriarch by virtue of his
lineage. Immediately he claimed to have independent presiding authority in the Church and even primacy over the Twelve. (D&C 124: 124 placed the patriarch position
hierarchically before the First Presidency.) He was excommunicated that fall for apostasy. After that, the hereditary office of Patriarch to the Church was vacant for two
years.

John Smith, popularly known as Uncle John Smith (Joseph Smith's uncle), succeeded William on 1 January 1849. In theory, John presided over a "quorum" containing
all other Church patriarchs. He died 23 May 1854.

Brigham Young determined that the position was subordinate to the First Presidency and Twelve and defined the office as being patriarch to the Church, not over the
Church. During Uncle John Smith's tenure, the Presiding Patriarch was sustained after the First Presidency and before the Twelve. But when young John Smith (son of
Hyrum Smith) succeeded Uncle John, the position was sustained after the Twelve, showing to the Church its relative position in the hierarchy. The younger John Smith
was ordained at age twenty-two under the hands of Brigham Young and seven of the Apostles on 18 February 1855. In that position, he bestowed thousands of
blessings upon the heads of the Saints. Patriarchs were called at the local level, but, apparently, no "quorum" of patriarchs was actually organized wherein the Presiding
Patriarch directed or instructed the other patriarchs.
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The Seventies
Hyrum Smith) succeeded Uncle John, the position was sustained after the Twelve, showing to the Church its relative position in the hierarchy. The younger John Smith
was ordained at age twenty-two under the hands of Brigham Young and seven of the Apostles on 18 February 1855. In that position, he bestowed thousands of
blessings upon the heads of the Saints. Patriarchs were called at the local level, but, apparently, no "quorum" of patriarchs was actually organized wherein the Presiding
Patriarch directed or instructed the other patriarchs.

The Seventies

At the time of the martyrdom, the Church had three seventies quorums. But, under the direction of Brigham Young and the Twelve, new seventies units were created
on such a scale that by the time of the exodus some thirty were in operation. In August 1844, the First Quorum of Seventies was divided to provide ten sets of seven
presidents, who became the presidents of seventies quorums number two through eleven, effectively disbanding the first quorum. The seven presidents of the first
quorum became the senior presidency over all seventies units, serving as the First Council of Seventy-the Church's third quorum of General Authorities. That October
the Twelve instructed that elders under age thirty-five be ordained as seventies. Over 400 were ordained, so that eleven quorums were filled. By January 1846, the
number of quorums increased to thirty, and in 1861, senior president Joseph Young reported that the quorums in Utah then numbered sixty-two.

Why the number of seventies was so dramatically expanded is not understood. Apparently Brigham Young and the Twelve wanted these seventies to become a
massive missionary force in the near future. "Seventies were designed to be messengers to every land and kingdom under heaven," Apostle Amasa M. Lyman said
during dedicatory services of Nauvoo's impressive Seventies Hall in December 1844. Seventies quorums provided many, perhaps most, of the ordinance workers in
the Nauvoo Temple when washing, anointings, and endowments were administered late in 1845 and early in 1846. During the exodus to the west, seventies were the
largest priesthood body in the Church. At Winter Quarters, seventies helped erect a Council House, and general conferences of seventies from all quorums occurred
weekly that first winter. Seventies held a five-day jubilee at the log tabernacle on the Iowa side of the river (present Council Bluffs).

Seventies were the largest body of priesthood in Brigham Young's 1847 vanguard party, which included eight Apostles, four bishops, fifteen high priests, eight elders,
and seventy-eight seventies. More than one-third of the men serving in the Mormon Battalion (1846-1847) were seventies. Drawn from many differ ent quorums,
these men expediently formed one "mass" seventies quorum in Los Angeles on 18 April 1847 by electing their own seven presidents under the direction of Levi W.
Hancock of the First Council of the Seventy, the only General Authority in the battalion.

During the trek west and then the settlement and colonization of the Great Basin, seventies quorum members became scattered; this was a serious problem, because
once a man was enrolled in a particular quorum, he remained a member of it as long as he was a seventy. During the 1850s, the Deseret News ran frequent notices of
seventies quorums presidents looking for their missing members and occasional inquiries by quorums searching for their presidents. Many dispersed seventies did
what the Mormon Battalion had done and regrouped themselves into "mass" quorums (disapprovingly dubbed "muss" quorums by Brigham Young), consisting of all
seventies living in a ward or stake, without regard to the particular quorum to which they officially belonged.

Under Brigham Young, the seventies became the backbone of the missionary force. Seventy percent of all missionaries called between 1860 and 1875 were seventies
or were ordained such in order to go on missions. New seventies, after returning from missions, were assigned to memberships in existing quorums. Between 1846 and
1856, only six new quorums were organized; but between March and July of 1857, sixteen new quorums were organized, possibly a product of the Mormon
Reformation just ending. By the 1860s, the seventies quorums numbered more than sixty.

President Joseph Young, Brigham's brother, being the senior member of the First Council of the Seventy, was the Church's senior president of all seventies. The First
Council kept in touch with seventies quorums, which were not under stake jurisdictions. The quorums each met for gospel discussion, held conferences and socials, and
advanced various community projects.

During Brigham Young's administration, three confusions developed and lingered for decades concerning the seventies. First, by vastly expanding the number of
seventies quorums, he created two levels of seventies: the seven presidents of the first quorum, or First Council, were General Authorities, but the other quorums and
their presidents were not. So the Church had two types of seventies, a practice that continued until October 1986, when local seventies units were phased out and the
First and Second Quorums of Seventy were revitalized as General Authority level quorums.

A second problem involved the authority which First Council members held in comparison to high priests. Seventies could not be high priests, and yet Brigham Young's
generation referred to the First Council members as Seventy Apostles. Controversy regarding who had higher authority, seventies or high priests, continued into the
twentieth century.

A third problem was that seventies quorums were based on memberships and not on geography; as noted above, they became mixed up, and quorums were depleted
when their members moved. Revelations in the 1880s solved this dilemma by putting seventies quorums on geographic footings.

By the time Brigham Young died, the elders in Utah's stakes had come to outnumber seventies by two to one-9,084 compared to 4,477. The elders' number had risen
because men were ordained elders in order to receive the endowment.

The Presiding Bishopric

The Presiding Bishop was the last General Authority-level office in the Church's hierarchy to be implemented. That office was authorized by revelation in 1841 (see
D&C 124: 20-21, 141). However, from then until 1847, Bishop Newel K. Whitney and Bishop George Miller functioned jointly as General Bishops for the entire
Church. After the Saints' departure from Nauvoo, Bishop Miller became disaffected from Brigham Young's leadership. So, on 6 April 1847, Bishop Whitney was
sustained as Presiding Bishop of the Church.

For a time his counselors were President Brigham Young and First Presidency counselor Heber C. Kimball. Bishop Whitney's successor, Edward Hunter, served
without counselors at first. In 1852, Presidents Young and Kimball were designated as Bishop Hunter's counselors, but then Hunter served again without counselors
until 1856. Finally, starting in 1856 and continuing since then, the Presiding Bishop has had counselors who together form the Presiding Bishopric.

From 1849 onward, the Presiding Bishop served President Young and the Church by handling numerous temporal matters, including tithing, and through direct contacts
with bishops. Regarding Bishop Hunter's relationship to the First Presidency, Brigham Young stated in 1851 that the Presiding Bishop's duty was to preside over all
bishops, and "it is the business of the First Presidency to correct him and from whom he receives his instructions." President Young made it clear that he felt he had
upon himself more or less "the responsibility of both priesthoods." The First Presidency framed policy, the Presiding Bishop supervised it, and the local bishops
implemented it.

At biweekly meetings with Salt Lake Valley bishops and any others who were in town, the Presiding Bishop dealt with practical and spiritual matters, including the
operations of the Aaronic Priesthood and, by association, the Melchizedek Priesthood. Constantly, Bishop Hunter labored to see that the Aaronic Priesthood offices
were filled and honored.
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To help handle tithing, Bishop Hunter used "assistant presiding traveling bishops" as well as regional presiding bishops from 1851 to 1877. The use of regional bishops
became widespread.
At biweekly meetings with Salt Lake Valley bishops and any others who were in town, the Presiding Bishop dealt with practical and spiritual matters, including the
operations of the Aaronic Priesthood and, by association, the Melchizedek Priesthood. Constantly, Bishop Hunter labored to see that the Aaronic Priesthood offices
were filled and honored.

To help handle tithing, Bishop Hunter used "assistant presiding traveling bishops" as well as regional presiding bishops from 1851 to 1877. The use of regional bishops
became widespread.

Stakes and Stake Officers

Early in 1849, to overcome disruptions caused by the exodus from Nauvoo, the First Presidency took several major steps to "regularize church government" in the Salt
Lake Valley. They selected John Young, Brigham's oldest brother, to be president of the Church's only high priests quorum; Daniel Spencer to be stake president; a
high council with Isaac Morley as president; and John Nebeker as elders quorum president. They appointed Presiding Bishop Newel K. Whitney to organize in Great
Salt Lake Valley one quorum each of priests, teachers, and deacons. A committee, chaired by Bishop Whitney but including Brigham Young, divided Salt Lake Valley
into nineteen wards and established other wards in nearby areas; each ward soon had its own bishop.

At Brigham Young's death, stakes in the Mountain West numbered twenty, including seven created during the previous five months. During Brigham Young's
presidency, the terms stakes, branches, and settlements were used imprecisely and interchangeably. Always the basic local Church governing unit was a stake. When
one place was settled, it was considered a stake in embryo and started with a president. Then a bishop and a high council were added. High councils usually had their
own president who was not the stake president. More bishops would be called if more wards were created in that area. Each stake was expected to have one quorum
each of high priests, elders, priests, teachers, and deacons. When Sanpete Stake finally established Aaronic Priesthood quorums, Ephraim and Manti each contributed
half the needed 48 priests, 24 teachers, and 12 deacons.

Salt Lake Stake was unusual because of its size and because it was the headquarters location of the Church. Even as late as 1877, one-fifth of Utah Mormons resided
in the Salt Lake Stake. Stake sizes then varied from Salt Lake Stake's 19,798 members to tiny Panguitch Stake's 859. The average stake membership, not counting
Salt Lake Stake, was 4,421. Stakes averaged twelve wards each, but Salt Lake Stake had thirty-five. For years, Salt Lake Stake served as a type of superior "central
stake." Its high council was considered a "general high council" that could be asked to settle problems other high councils could not solve. As noted earlier, Salt Lake
Stake officers, including quorum presidents, often were sustained at general conference.

High Priests and Elders

As noted earlier, Brigham Young had in mind sending high priests throughout the United States to preside over branches of the Church to be created by a major
missionary labor. When Utah was first settled, a high priests quorum was formed in Salt Lake City, which served for several years as a general quorum to which all high
priests in Utah belonged. "The High Priests' Quorum is strictly but one quorum," President Young explained in 1861, "though many quorums of High Priests are made
to accommodate members of that quorum living in different localities." Kaysville high priests, for example, were enrolled in the general quorum and journeyed to Salt
Lake City to attend its meetings.

Brigham Young instructed quorum president David Pettigrew in 1854 to organize high priests in the various settlements into "branch quorums" to make the meetings
more accessible and regular. Such branch units, however, did not catch fire very well. Reports at the general quorum during October 1856 general conference
revealed that one unit could get only seven out of thirteen members to attend. Other reports from various settlements north and south caused quorum president John
Young to call not for a reformation but for a resurrection. In 1862, a general quorum was organized for high priests living outside of Salt Lake County, including among
others Davis, Utah, and Weber counties, but no record of its meetings has been found.

"It was a common practice among many of the early bishoprics in Utah to choose counselors who were elders and seventies and who remained as such during their
service," one priesthood historian has noted, a practice Brigham Young did not seem concerned about until the 1870s.

Elders' units were formed in some communities and not in others. Meetings, as with high priests and seventies meetings, consisted primarily in the bearing of testimony
and admonishings from the quorum leaders to live right, attend meetings, sustain the leaders, and bear their testimonies.

Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and Labors

Before the endowment was introduced, which required men to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood before receiving it, adult males served in Aaronic or Melchizedek
priesthood offices as they were needed. Church practice was to have adult deacons, teachers, and priests-men of experience and wisdom-visit the members to help
solve their problems, ferret out iniquity, reconcile feuding parties, and teach members to pray and to do their duties.

After the endowment was available, few stalwart men lacking Melchizedek Priesthood could be found for Aaronic Priesthood ordination. As a result, Brigham Young
instructed that Melchizedek Priesthood holders be called by bishops or by Aaronic Priesthood quorum officers to act in the lesser offices. During his administration,
acting deacons, acting teachers, and acting priests did the Aaronic Priesthood work of caring for meetinghouses, administering the sacrament, assisting the needy, and
doing watch-care activity that today is called home teaching. Stake deacons, teachers, and priests quorums, organized in a few stakes, held monthly meetings where
presidencies instructed the men in their duties. Though the quorums were stake entities, the work of quorum members always was ward work directed by ward
bishops.

As was the case before the exodus to Utah, selected young men received Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthood ordinations. Their numbers were not large. But in
accordance with the philosophy that "the strong take along the weak," sometimes young men served like apprentices with older men in priesthood callings. Most LDS
young men, however, first received priesthood when they needed to receive temple endowments.

Wards Ward Bishops and Ward Presidents

One of Brigham Young's major contributions to priesthood work was making wards an effective local unit of Church administration. Wards with bishops first existed in
Nauvoo, created so that the poor could be cared for and funds for Nauvoo needs could be collected. However, no wards held Sunday worship services or had
buildings to meet in. By contrast, ward meetings and buildings became a common and central feature in Brigham Young's Utah.

President Young wanted wards (or branches or settlements) to have both a president and a bishop-a dual leadership. He explained that "as soon as Elders have
wisdom sufficient to magnify their calling and Priesthood, we will give to every Branch, no matter how small the Ward, both a Bishop and a President." Several ward
presidents were called and served. In 1858, for example, Brigham Young told one settlement leader to "select one of your number for a President, and one for Bishop."
    Late in 1859, the First Presidency ordained Charles Hancock "to be the President and Bishop in Payson." On 12 June 1872, Brigham Young sent a letter regarding
the Perpetual(c)Emigrating
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At times, President Young selected the bishops. When a Salt Lake City bishop resigned in 1859, Brigham Young informed ward member Andrew Cunningham that
"you are hereby requested to fill the vacancy thus created, and commence to act in the office upon receipt of this notification." It was not unusual for President Young
wisdom sufficient to magnify their calling and Priesthood, we will give to every Branch, no matter how small the Ward, both a Bishop and a President." Several ward
presidents were called and served. In 1858, for example, Brigham Young told one settlement leader to "select one of your number for a President, and one for Bishop."
   Late in 1859, the First Presidency ordained Charles Hancock "to be the President and Bishop in Payson." On 12 June 1872, Brigham Young sent a letter regarding
the Perpetual Emigrating Fund "to the Presidents and Bishops of the various Wards throughout the Territory."

At times, President Young selected the bishops. When a Salt Lake City bishop resigned in 1859, Brigham Young informed ward member Andrew Cunningham that
"you are hereby requested to fill the vacancy thus created, and commence to act in the office upon receipt of this notification." It was not unusual for President Young
to name a bishop for a ward who had to move there to take office. In 1861, he sent advice to Andrew Moffitt, who had been ordained to be the bishop of Manti,
replacing Bishop Warren S. Snow, who was leaving on a mission. "Proceed to Manti, at your earliest convenience," Young counseled, "and take charge of all matters
and things pertaining to the Bishopric in that place." When Canute Peterson was selected to be Fort Ephraim's bishop, he had to be released as a counselor in the
Lehi bishopric. President Young appointed outsider Thomas Callister to move to Fillmore to be the bishop there and to act as "presiding bishop over all the other
Wards or settlements in Millard County."

In some cases, President Young allowed people to help select their bishop. In 1855, he counseled North Cottonwood Ward "brethren" to "select some young and
vigorous man faithful and capable as your Bishop and I would recommend Bro John Hess as a capable person." But, whomever the ward's brethren selected, Young
wanted him to come to the President's office as soon as possible to be ordained.

Late in 1859, the First Presidency sent some of the Twelve to Cache Valley and authorized them to organize the area into a stake. "Upon your selections and
elections," the First Presidency instructed the people, "they will set apart and ordain a President to preside over all your settlements, also twelve men to compose a
High Council, and a Bishop for each settlement, a settlement, for the present, constituting one ward." Also in 1859, President Young wrote to Apostle Lorenzo
Snow in Box Elder County and instructed him to call together the people of Willow Creek Ward and "inform them that they are at liberty and we wish them to select
one good man of their number to be their Bishop, and President," whom Elder Snow should then ordain. "If they have no such man, and wish one sent into their Ward
to fill those offices," Young added, Elder Snow should attend to it.

Bishops were expected to serve for life, if possible. They were the workhorses of the Church, often managing both religious and secular concerns in their settlements:
resource managers, land distributors, public works directors, helpers of the poor and needy, Church court judges, militia advisers, baptizers, blessers of babies and the
sick, preachers, funeral conductors, directors of the home teachers of that era, planners and conductors of religious meetings, and enforcers of Church rules. By the
mid-1850s, they became involved in annual tithing settlements with their ward members, who previously were expected to settle tithing affairs with the Presiding Bishop.


President Heber C. Kimball, in charge of the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, requested ward bishops to call and interview appropriate candidates and arrange
for their presence with letters of recommendation and temple clothing at the Endowment House at the proper times. A form for a bishop's letter of recommendation,
created for use in connection with the opening of the St. George Temple early in 1877, states that the person named is recommended as a faithful member, one who
has paid tithing and donations, and is worthy to receive what ordinances are written in the blank lines "if endorsed by President Young."

Because of Brigham Young's development of and reliance on bishops, ward bishops have been the Church's workhorse officer in the priesthood, the crucial local
leader who brings people and the Church programs, including priesthood operations and ordinances, into a working relationship together.

Temples and Priesthood

Construction work on the Salt Lake Temple started in 1853, but progress was slow due to demands in Mormondom's capital for many projects, coupled with the
temple's massive construction specifications. President Young alone held the sealing keys for temple work. The responsibility weighed on him, and he felt urgency to
share the full range of temple ordinances, particularly the sealing of deceased relatives to each other, in a House of the Lord.

Years before, Joseph Smith had taken Brigham and other Church leaders into a room above his Nauvoo store. There he divided off the room as best he could and
carefully instructed them about the various temple ceremonies. "Brother Brigham," he said when he was finished, "this is not arranged right . . . and I want you to take
this matter in hand and organize and systematize all these ceremonies."

President Young fulfilled that assignment by personally directing the completion of the Nauvoo Temple and administering ordinances there. In 1871, he dedicated the
St. George Temple site and earmarked Church resources to pay for materials and workmen. Labor missionaries were sent from northern Utah settlements to help.
"You cannot realize . . . how anxious he is to get this temple completed," George Q. Cannon said of Brigham Young in 1876; "he has keys he wants to give in the
Temple."

From January to April 1877, President Young presided over dedications of the St. George Temple. In January, endowments for the dead were administered for the
first time in this dispensation, some 3,208 by the end of March. He spent time from January to March developing a "perfect form of the endowments," which was read
and taught to temple workers in late March. Final dedications took place in April, four months before his death, and Saints immediately engulfed the temple to receive
temple ordinances for themselves and others.

The Priesthood Reorganization of 1877

After opening the St. George Temple, ailing Brigham Young was suddenly filled with new life. Back in 1842, Joseph Smith had taught that "the Church is not fully
organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple is completed, where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood."
   With the temple connecting heaven to earth, President Young felt an urgency to refine priesthood operations and make the earthly priesthood better mirror the
heavenly one.

Rapid growth and other factors had made stakes, wards, and quorums "somewhat loose," so he felt overwhelming obligations to reform those units' operations. To start
the task, he personally presided over a thorough reorganization of the St. George Stake that April. Then, during the middle months of 1877, he engineered sweeping
reorganizations of priesthood involving twenty stakes, nine of which he personally conducted.

Only highlights of the extensive reorganization can be mentioned here. Six of the Twelve Apostles were released as stake presidents so they could work in "a larger
field than a Stake of Zion." The reorganization created seven new stakes and reorganized the thirteen existing ones. In the twenty stakes, fifty-three of the sixty
members of stake presidencies were newly called, including sixteen new stake presidents. Most stakes created new high councils. Elders quorums were created or
revitalized. Quarterly stake conferences were instituted, and the Church's first uniform system for keeping statistical records was established. Stakes were asked to
build meeting halls for stake priesthood assemblies and quarterly conferences-Temple Square's Assembly Hall was one result. Adding to the existing 101 wards, 140
new ones were created, and 185 of the Church's 241 bishops were newly ordained or set apart. All bishopric counselors had to be high priests. Seventies quorums
were severely depleted when many of their members were called into the new bishoprics. Scores of Aaronic Priesthood quorums were created. Probably more than a
thousand
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             (c) 2005-2009,   new wardMedia
                                        or stake callings. A new policy asking that all young men be given some Aaronic Priesthood office before they reached
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adulthood produced several hundred youthful ordinations.

The 1877 reordering was the single most important redirecting of priesthood since priesthood authority was restored forty-eight years earlier. The First Presidency's 11
revitalized. Quarterly stake conferences were instituted, and the Church's first uniform system for keeping statistical records was established. Stakes were asked to
build meeting halls for stake priesthood assemblies and quarterly conferences-Temple Square's Assembly Hall was one result. Adding to the existing 101 wards, 140
new ones were created, and 185 of the Church's 241 bishops were newly ordained or set apart. All bishopric counselors had to be high priests. Seventies quorums
were severely depleted when many of their members were called into the new bishoprics. Scores of Aaronic Priesthood quorums were created. Probably more than a
thousand members received new ward or stake callings. A new policy asking that all young men be given some Aaronic Priesthood office before they reached
adulthood produced several hundred youthful ordinations.

The 1877 reordering was the single most important redirecting of priesthood since priesthood authority was restored forty-eight years earlier. The First Presidency's 11
July 1877 letter, which explained what changes were being made and why, was the Church's first priesthood handbook of instructions since publication of the Doctrine
and Covenants. The reorganization was a final testament by Brigham Young, who sought all his life to follow accurately Joseph Smith's teachings regarding how
priesthood should operate in the Church.

"It is a great joy and comfort to know that he had the privilege of living to complete one Temple and to see it dedicated," Apostle Erastus Snow observed, "and that he
superintended the setting in order of the priesthood and the ordinances for the redemption of the dead . . . something he greatly desired to see done before he should
pass away."

"The Church is more perfectly organized than ever before, perhaps with the exception of the general assembly at Kirtland," Apostle John Taylor observed that
September; "but in some things now we are more stable and complete than we were even then."

In some respects, the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, started in 1877 and completed in 1880, stands as a stately and inspiring memorial to President Young's final
priesthood reorganization. It also stands as a tribute to his lengthy stewardship as Church President over the workings of priesthood offices, quorums, and powers from
1844 to 1877.

Notes

  1. A recent example, Leonard J. Arrington's monumental Brigham Young: American Moses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985) devotes a chapter to Brigham
Young as "President of the Church" (chapter 12), but gives more attention to theology than to priesthood operations. The biography provides only a short, albeit
excellent, summary of the priesthood reorganization of 1877, which was one of Young's most important achievements-a culmination of his lifelong labors in behalf of the
gathering, of Church organizational refinement, and of temple and priesthood concerns.

  2. Sermon, 8 April 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 14: 95; and Teachings of President Brigham Young, comp. and ed. Fred C. Collier (Salt Lake City, Utah: Collier
Publishing Co., 1987), 3: 230 (sermon, 15 February 1854).

  3. Sermon, 18 February 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 177.

  4. Sermon, 18 February 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 180.

  5. Sermon, 6 June 1858, in Journal of Discourses, 7: 66.

6. Teachings of President Brigham Young, 3: 351.

  7. Sermon, 8 April 1871, in Journal of Discourses, 4: 299.

  8. Salt Lake Stake Deacons Quorum Minutes, 27 January, 4 February, and 26 May 1877, and 14 December 1875, Library-Archives, Historical Department of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter cited as LDS Church Historical Archives).

   9. Prophets have believed what the Lord said in a revelation on 14 April 1883 to President John Taylor, that Saints should not be troubled "about the management
and organization of my Church and Priesthood, and the accomplishment of my work" but should trust the appointed channels. See James R. Clark, comp., Messages
of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2: 347-49, 354-55.

  10. John Taylor taught that "it is not wise to have cast iron rules by which to fetter the Priesthood. The Priesthood is a living, intelligent principle, and must necessarily
have freedom to act as circumstances may dictate or require." Meeting, 15 December 1886, First Council of the Seventy Minutes, 1878-1894, microfilm, LDS Church
Historical Archives.

  11. Brigham Young, "An Epistle of the Twelve," Times and Seasons, 5: 670.

  12. Times and Seasons 6, 1 December 1845, 1050; and Times and Seasons, 6, 15 January 1846, 1096.

  13. Sermon, 8 July 1855, in Journal of Discourses, 2: 315.

  14. Russell C Rich, Ensign to the Nations: A History of the LDS Church from 1846-1972 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Publications, 1972), 3, 24.

  15. Sermon, 25 April 1877, reported in Millennial Star, 39: 371.

  16. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992), s.v. "Plural Marriage," Danel Bachman, Ronald K.
Esplin, 3: 1095.

  17. Jessie L. Embry, Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987), 38, 51, 63.

  18. Gordon Irving, "The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830-1900," BYU Studies 14 (Spring 1974):
291-314.

  19. Leonard J. Arrington and Ronald K. Esplin, "The Role of the Council of the Twelve during Brigham Young's Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints," Task Papers in LDS History, No. 31 (Salt Lake City: History Division of the Historical Department of the LDS Church, December 1979), 32.

  20. Arrington and Esplin, 38.
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  21. Ibid., 42.
day Saints," Task Papers in LDS History, No. 31 (Salt Lake City: History Division of the Historical Department of the LDS Church, December 1979), 32.

  20. Arrington and Esplin, 38.

  21. Ibid., 42.

  22. Ibid., 41.

  23. Ibid., 58.

  24. Ibid., 52.

  25. These general epistles are reprinted in Clark, vols. 1 and 2.

  26. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, s.v. "Journal of Discourses," Ronald G. Watt, 2: 769-70.

  27. Gordon Irving, "Encouraging the Saints: Brigham Young's Annual Tours of the Mormon Settlements," Utah Historical Quarterly 45 (Summer 1977): 233-51.

  28. Arrington and Esplin, 37.

  29. Minutes of the Twelve, 12 February 1849, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  30. Arrington and Esplin, 47-48.

  31. Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, 2nd ed., rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1899).

  32. Arrington and Esplin, 39-40.

  33. Irene May Bates, "Transformation of Charisma in the Mormon Church: A History of the Office of Presiding Patriarch, 1833-1979" (Ph.D. diss., University of
California at Los Angeles, 1991), 211-24; E. Gary Smith, "The Office of Presiding Patriarch: The Primacy Problem," Journal of Mormon History 14 (1988): 35-47. In
1942 the title Presiding Patriarch was replaced by the title Patriarch to the Church.

  34. The standard history of seventies' work is James N. Baumgarten, "The Role and Function of the Seventies in L.D.S. Church History" (master's thesis, Brigham
Young University, 1960). See also S. Dilworth Young, "The Seventies: A Historical Perspective," Ensign (July 1976): 14-21.

  35. Account of April 1861 general conference in Millennial Star 23 (15 June 1861): 370.

  36. Joseph Smith, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 7 vols., 2nd ed., rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1971), 7:
339.

  37. Journal History of the Church, 20 January 1848, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  38. Journal History, 29 May 1847.

  39. Based on the author's comparison of names of seventies listed in the Minutes and Genealogy Book B, and his own compiled roster of the Mormon Battalion.

  40. Journal History, 4 December 1851.

  41. Orson Pratt said there were sixty quorums of seventies in 1859, in Journal of Discourses, 7: 186-87.

   42. During 1877 reorganizations at Logan, Utah, Brigham Young delivered a lengthy discourse in which he explained many priesthood matters, including the
seventies-high priests authority issue (see Journal History, 25 May 1877). He said seventies had authority equal to high priests. In practice, however, he insisted that
any seventy called into a bishopric be ordained a high priest.

  43. William G. Hartley, "The Seventies in the 1880s: Revelations and Reorganizings," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 16 (Spring 1983): 62-63.

  44. D. Michael Quinn, "The Evolution of the Presiding Quorums of the LDS Church," Journal of Mormon History 1 (1974): 33-38.

  45. William G. Hartley, "Edward Hunter, Pioneer Presiding Bishop," in Donald Q. Cannon and David Whittaker, eds., Supporting Saints (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1985), 275-304.

  46. Meeting, 29 November 1851, Presiding Bishops Meetings with Bishops, 1849-1884, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  47. Ibid., 11 February 1875.

  48. Donald Gene Pace, "The LDS Presiding Bishopric, 1851-1888: An Administrative Study" (master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1978), 118.

   49. Donald Gene Pace, "Community Leadership on the Mormon Frontier: Mormon Bishops and the Political, Economic, and Social Development of Utah before
Statehood" (Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1983), 63. John Banks, Alfred Cordon, and Nathaniel H. Felt were traveling bishops in 1851. Serving in 1852 were
David Fullmer, David Hoagland, David Pettigrew, Daniel Spencer, and Seth Taft. Regional presiding bishops included Jacob Bigler (1852-1861, Juab County), John
Rowberry (1853+, Tooele County), and Chauncey West (Fall 1855+, Weber County).

  50. Arrington and Esplin, 34-35.

  51. For example, in February 1852, President Young instructed Bishop Benjamin Cross of Payson, Utah, to appear with several brethren from his "branch"-who
 Copyright
had          (c) with
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                                              with the "High Council of Provo"-before the Great Salt Lake City High Council for a hearing to settle the
                                                                                                                                                    Pageproblem.
                                                                                                                                                            120See
                                                                                                                                                                 / 128
Thomas Bullock to Benjamin Cross, Brigham Young Letterbook 1, 4 February 1852, LDS Church Historical Archives. An attempted appeal from South Weber
Settlement to the Salt Lake high council is in Brigham Young to President Daniel Spencer, Brigham Young Letterbook 8, 26 February 1866, LDS Church Historical
Archives.
  50. Arrington and Esplin, 34-35.

  51. For example, in February 1852, President Young instructed Bishop Benjamin Cross of Payson, Utah, to appear with several brethren from his "branch"-who
had difficulties with each other at a meeting with the "High Council of Provo"-before the Great Salt Lake City High Council for a hearing to settle the problem. See
Thomas Bullock to Benjamin Cross, Brigham Young Letterbook 1, 4 February 1852, LDS Church Historical Archives. An attempted appeal from South Weber
Settlement to the Salt Lake high council is in Brigham Young to President Daniel Spencer, Brigham Young Letterbook 8, 26 February 1866, LDS Church Historical
Archives.

  52. During April 1861 general conference, Brigham Young delivered a major address regarding the order of the priesthood quorums, including the order of seniority
among the Twelve and the seventies. See Deseret News, 10 April 1861.

  53. Meeting, 17 January 1856, Cottonwood High Priests Quorum Minutes, 1856-1876, LDS Church Historical Archives.

   54. Noel R. Barton, "Kaysville: A Study of the Bishoprics and the Organization of the Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums, 1851-1877," typescript, March 1983, p.
9, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  55. Ibid., 5.

  56. Ibid., 18.

  57. William G. Hartley, "Ordained and Acting Teachers in the Lesser Priesthood, 1851-1883," BYU Studies 16 (Spring 1976): 375-98.

  58. William G. Hartley, "Nauvoo Stake, Priesthood Quorums, and the Church's First Wards," BYU Studies 32 (Winter and Spring 1991): 57-80.

  59. Sermon, 8 April 1862, in Journal of Discourses, 10: 33.

  60. Brigham Young to John Reese and others, 6 September 1858, Brigham Young Letterbook 4, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  61. Clark, 2: 248-49.

  62. First Presidency to Andrew Cunningham, 10 January 1859, Brigham Young Letterbook 5, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  63. Brigham Young to Bishop Andrew Moffitt, 10 April 1861, Brigham Young Letterbook 5, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  64. Brigham Young to Bishop David Evans, 18 February 1867, Brigham Young Letterbook 9, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  65. Brigham Young to Bishop Thomas Callister, 10 April 1861, Brigham Young Letterbook 5, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  66. Brigham Young to the Brethren Residing in North Cottonwood Ward, 31 March 1855, Brigham Young Letterbook 22, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  67. First Presidency to Authorities and Members, Cache Valley, Utah, November 1859, Brigham Young Letterbook 5, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  68. Brigham Young to Lorenzo Snow, 18 July 1859, Brigham Young Letterbook 5, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  69. William G. Hartley, "Ward Bishops and the Localizing of LDS Tithing," in New Views of Mormon History, ed. Davis Bitton and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher
(Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987), 96-114.

  70. Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 200.

  71. Form Letter, Recommendation to Temple, Brigham Young Letterbook 16, LDS Church Historical Archives.

  72. William G. Hartley, "St. George Temple: One Hundred Years of Service," Ensign (March 1977): 92-94.

  73. History of the Church, 4: 603.

  74. William G. Hartley, "The Priesthood Reorganization of 1877: Brigham Young's Last Achievement," BYU Studies 20 (Fall 1979): 3-36.

  75. Brigham H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press,
1965), 5: 516-17.

  76. Hartley, "Priesthood Reorganization of 1877," 36.

CHAPTER 16

Reflections on the Teachings of Brigham Young

John W. Welch

Professor of Law, Brigham Young University, Editor, BYU Studies

and John Wm. Maddox

Research Assistant and Graduate of J. Reuben Clark Law School, Former Seminary Teacher, Church Educational System

The pioneer prophet Brigham Young was as expansive and pragmatic in word and thought as he was in deed and action. He spoke frequently to the Saints, who
gathered at the
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                                      Mediaon  Temple Square in Salt Lake City or at many other locations; sometimes he delivered three sermonsPage
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explanations and exhortations inspired and motivated his people as they developed much of the previously unexplored Great Basin region into a life-sustaining land.

Many studies about Brigham Young and his colonization efforts chronicle and quantify what he did, where he went, how he organized people, and how they survived
Research Assistant and Graduate of J. Reuben Clark Law School, Former Seminary Teacher, Church Educational System

The pioneer prophet Brigham Young was as expansive and pragmatic in word and thought as he was in deed and action. He spoke frequently to the Saints, who
gathered at the bowery or in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City or at many other locations; sometimes he delivered three sermons a day. His
explanations and exhortations inspired and motivated his people as they developed much of the previously unexplored Great Basin region into a life-sustaining land.

Many studies about Brigham Young and his colonization efforts chronicle and quantify what he did, where he went, how he organized people, and how they survived
and flourished. Few of these studies, however, devote much time to explaining what Brigham Young and his people believed and how their ultimate religious
commitments supplied good and sufficient reasons for their sacrifices in this remote and arid region. Outside of a few papers on Brigham Young's political
philosophy, cosmology, or religious philosophy, only occasional attention has been given to the teachings of Brigham Young.

This brief study attempts to fill part of the doctrinal void found in most books about Brigham Young. Our pages will discuss the approaches taken by the main writers
who have dealt with Brigham Young's thought and will provide an overview of the many topics found in Brigham Young's doctrinal teachings as they are reflected in his
published speeches and sermons.

During his lengthy service as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young delivered hundreds, if not thousands, of messages of a
religious nature. About 400 of these talks have been published in the Journal of Discourses; others were reported in the Deseret News or are contained in other
publications or collections. The total number of known speeches by Brigham Young exceeds one thousand. In addition to the speeches reported in the Journal of
Discourses, Elden J. Watson's compilation includes data concerning 734 further discourses. Most of Brigham Young's talks appear to have been extemporaneous,
which accounts for some of their idiosyncracies. They were taken down in shorthand and transcribed and edited (sometimes) for publication.

Much can be said about Brigham Young's doctrinal teaching style. His oratory was pragmatic, eclectic, and dynamic. His wisdom was aphoristic, proverbial, clear, and
commonsensical. His sentences were short. His tone was candid, blunt, and forthright. His humor was witty. He wryly recognized the shortcomings of communication:
"The English language is better adapted than any other in existence to the using of thousands of words without conveying an idea."

His spirit was encouraging, self-effacing, courageous, and expansive: "There is nothing that is out of the pale of our faith. There is nothing, I may say, good or bad, light
or darkness, truth or error, but what is to be controlled by intelligent beings." He never lost sight of the immanence of God: "If God withdraws his sustaining hand,
you sink." His pleadings were often couched in conditional and promisorial language: "If you take this course you will relieve the wants of the poor."

He commonly began his sentences with imperatives, but his injunctions were frequently softened by the words "let us" do such and such, or "let it be" done. He was
prone to utilize inescapable rhetorical questions, such as this: "For why should not a lady be capable of taking charge of her husband's business affairs when he goest
into the grave?"

And his speeches often have a penetrating cadence to them. For example, his rhetoric makes very effective use of doublets, as in this 1867 speech, which features an
uninterrupted sequence of powerfully paired assertions:

But it is not so in the Kingdom of God; it is not so with the law nor with the Priesthood of the Son of God.

You can believe in one God, or in three gods, or in a thousand gods; you can worship the sun or the moon, or a stick or a stone, or anything you please.

Are not all mankind the workmanship of the hands of God? And does he not control the workmanship of His hands?

They have the privilege of worshiping as they please. They can do as they please, so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of their fellow-beings.

If they do well they will receive their reward, and if they do ill they will receive the results of their works.

Lines such as these are vintage Brigham. Undoubtedly much of his success as a communicator can be attributed not only to what he said, but how he said it.

Brigham Young's talks typically range over several subjects, often unrelated to each other, moving as the Spirit directed and responding specifically to the needs or
attentiveness of his immediate audience. In most cases, his objective was to spur people on to action, to infuse them with enthusiasm and confidence, and to inspire
them with an understanding of the immediate urgency and the eternal profundity of their thoughts and conduct. His driving desires that impelled his thoughts, words, and
actions are capsulized in the concluding comments at the end of many of his speeches. The following is typical:

I wish us to profit by what we hear, to learn how to live, to make ourselves comfortable, to purify ourselves, and prepare ourselves to inherit this earth when it is
glorified, and go back in the presence of the Father and the Son. God bless you. Amen.

Themes such as these usher the listener down some of the main hallways of Brigham Young's sermons: (1) how to live or how to form a good and righteous society, (2)
how to make ourselves comfortable or how to properly utilize the untapped resources and talents given to us by the Lord, (3) how to purify ourselves or how to
become clean and sanctified through the powers of the gospel and the priesthood of God, (4) how to prepare for the Millennium or how to lead the way for the Lord's
reign on this earth, and (5) how to return to the presence of God and Christ in the celestial kingdom. If Brigham Young were to give his own description or overview of
his teachings, these themes would probably be foremost on his list of key topics.

Subsumed beneath each of his main subjects and concerns were hundreds of more specific topics. Brigham Young's scope of interest was encyclopedic, ranging over
and beyond even the wide domain of interests embraced by religion and natural theology in the nineteenth century. Major themes addressed at one time or another in
his various discourses span the full spectrum of contrasting alternatives: from the mundane to the sublime, from daily tasks to eternal life; from industry to entertainment,
ancient history to the last days, affliction to happiness, free agency to obedience; from study to revelation, theology to politics, and local domestic affairs to major
national crises.

No one should take it on anyone else's authority what Brigham Young thought or said. Nothing would be more contrary to Brigham Young's own desire that everyone
should stand spiritually and intellectually on his or her own two feet. As Hugh Nibley has argued, if we are to appreciate the practical wisdom as well as the rational
coherence of Brigham Young's exhortations, "we must let him speak for himself."

Fortunately for readers today, many of Brigham Young's sermons are readily available in print and on CD-ROM. These talks can be searched and read with
considerable ease. Almost every page of his discourses yields practical wisdom, much of which still makes good common sense in a postmodern world because of
Brigham's perceptiveness into the fundamental characteristics of human nature. For the most part, he spoke his mind openly, clearly, and frankly. Rarely is the precise
meaning or intended application of his practical instructions or religious ideas in doubt.
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A corpus of speeches as expansive and diffuse as the Brigham Young collection, however, can only be butchered and somewhat misrepresented by any single article or
volume or limited approach that attempts to summarize or depict its full contents or character. Even the numerous quotations offered by Hugh Nibley on a few of the
topics often addressed by Brigham Young are admittedly "only a tantalizingly small fraction of the Prophet's inspired and resounding utterances on the subject."
Fortunately for readers today, many of Brigham Young's sermons are readily available in print and on CD-ROM. These talks can be searched and read with
considerable ease. Almost every page of his discourses yields practical wisdom, much of which still makes good common sense in a postmodern world because of
Brigham's perceptiveness into the fundamental characteristics of human nature. For the most part, he spoke his mind openly, clearly, and frankly. Rarely is the precise
meaning or intended application of his practical instructions or religious ideas in doubt.

A corpus of speeches as expansive and diffuse as the Brigham Young collection, however, can only be butchered and somewhat misrepresented by any single article or
volume or limited approach that attempts to summarize or depict its full contents or character. Even the numerous quotations offered by Hugh Nibley on a few of the
topics often addressed by Brigham Young are admittedly "only a tantalizingly small fraction of the Prophet's inspired and resounding utterances on the subject."

The intent of the present paper is not to add to the literature another incomplete depiction of the monumental intellectual and spiritual achievements of Brigham Young.
Any partial collection of "representative" statements by Brigham Young is, by its very nature, unrepresentative. We lay no claim to having made a comprehensive
examination of each doctrine ever taught by Brigham Young, and we are wary of attempts to systematize or rationalize the prodigious mind and spontaneous tongue of
Brigham Young. We will offer here, instead, a few comments on three previous attempts to take stock of the intellectual mettle of the Lion of the Lord, and then we will
draw a few insights from a new inventory of the topics that he treated.

Over the years, the teachings of Brigham Young have been portrayed and discussed to some extent by several writers. We will focus here on the main treatments by
John A. Widtsoe, Eugene E. Campbell, and Hugh W. Nibley. These studies, useful as they may be for their own purposes, nevertheless reflect as much the conceptual
frameworks of their compilers as they tell of the personality and intentions of President Young.

A Rational Reflection

John A. Widtsoe collected hundreds of short statements or segments out of the various sermons of Brigham Young in the Journal of Discourses and published these
selections in a volume entitled Discourses of Brigham Young in 1954. Elder Widtsoe divided these snatches of Brigham Young's thoughts into forty-two chapters or
general categories, thereby attempting to give some type of rational order or thematic structure to some of the words of Brigham Young. None of the discourses is
printed in toto.

While it is useful to have selected sayings from Brigham Young gathered and disseminated in this way, a study of the manner in which he summarized some of his own
discourses would show that Brigham Young would not likely have organized his materials along the same lines. Widtsoe, a scientist living in an era of theological
rationalism in the Church, was intent upon imposing a rational order on the teachings of Brigham Young.

While Widtsoe's selection and organization of the teachings of Brigham Young certainly feature many of his most important themes, Widtsoe began where his own
interest was strongest-with eternal law, truth, a rational view of the gospel embracing all truth, and a practical everyday religion (chapter 1). He then went on to collect
statements by Brigham on the Godhead, revelation, the plan of salvation, the premortal existence, agency, the power of evil, the law of eternal progression, the destiny
of man, the dispensations of the gospel, and the last days (chapters 2-10). This organization of the gospel under these headings overlaps considerably with that of the
first nine chapters of Widtsoe's A Rational Theology, and the underlying methodology and resulting structures are similar to those in Widtsoe's The Message of the
Doctrine and Covenants.

Widtsoe then presented quotations from Brigham Young on certain Church-related or ecclesiastical topics-scriptures, priesthood, the first principles, Sabbath,
meetings, sacrament, tithing, united order, Word of Wisdom (chapters 11-16); then he moved into social topics-family, women's duties, obedience, gratitude, humility,
devotion, liberality, honesty, happiness, social enjoyment, education, self-control, fellowmen, unity and cooperation, thrift and industry, and wealth (chapters 17-27).

The intersection between Church and society in Widtsoe's early twentieth-century experience evidently led him next to discuss missionary work and the role of visions
and miracles in the conversion process (chapters 28-29), followed by comments on trials, persecutions, and political government (chapters 30-31). Next, Widtsoe
selected a number of statements dealing with the afterlife-death, resurrection, spirit world, eternal judgment, universal salvation, degrees of salvation, and the celestial
kingdom (chapters 32-35), and in this context Widtsoe turned next to temple building, temple ordinances, and salvation for the dead (chapter 36).

Finally, Widtsoe returned to conclude with several chapters on one of his favorite themes: truth and the testimony of Mormonism. He collected here statements by
Brigham Young regarding the search for truth, the testimony of the truth, the Church and kingdom of God on earth, the effects of the gospel as fruits of the truth, and the
testimony of Joseph Smith (chapters 37-41). Widtsoe included a final chapter about the settlement of the West (chapter 42) as a testimony that the Saints should trust
in the hand of God and not of man.

Our intent here is not to diminish or criticize Elder Widtsoe's work. Without this anthology, thousands of important comments by Brigham Young would have remained
unknown and largely inaccessible to several generations of Latter-day Saints. And no doubt, Widtsoe's schematic selection appealed comfortably to his generation of
Latter-day Saints in the mid-twentieth century. But be that as it may, Widtsoe still presented a portrait of Brigham Young painted primarily with the colors of that
generation and in the style of John A. Widtsoe. One needs to delve further to recover a fuller view of the panorama of Brigham Young's thought.

Featuring Paradox

Another effort to communicate the real Brigham Young has been made by Eugene E. Campbell and his publishers in the pretentiously entitled volume, The Essential
Brigham Young.19 While admitting that "Young's expansive thought escapes easy definition," this publication nevertheless remains confident that the volume includes
the "essential" and "most frequently cited sermons," but no explanation is given of the basis on which these twenty-five speeches were identified, selected, and
sometimes truncated.

The editorial introductions in this book tend to examine Brigham Young in light of the interests of late twentieth-century America. For example, Campbell speaks of
Brigham Young giving counsel "from his own experience, powers of observation, and reservoir of common sense," as if a modernist needs to make no effort to
understand Brigham's spiritual attributes or inspiration. Similarly, Campbell's main interests include the few areas where Brigham Young's ideas were in tension with
themselves, particularly his attitudes toward the federal government, women, blacks, Indians, and certain paradoxical aspects of his private life. Voguish allegations of
inconsistency in Brigham's Indian policies, of misappropriation of Church funds, and of suspicion of the U.S. government bordering on paranoia are not tempered
here by deeper reflection on the historical context, by the hardships and circumstances involved, or by Brigham's full comments on these subjects. Well can the late
twentieth-century reader note that Brigham Young never considered women equal to men, but one should not ignore the many ways in which Brigham encouraged
and supported women beyond the norms of his day.

While good history should represent a person, warts and all, it should not get so caught up in drawing attention to the warts (actual or imagined) that it forgets to give a
full picture. Nor should the warts be mistaken for the essence.

The talks included in this book do not appear to have been chosen randomly, and they fail to give a fully balanced view of Brigham Young's doctrinal teachings. In
contrast to Widtsoe's selections, these talks place eager emphasis on such infrequently mentioned or controversial topics as the Adam/God theory, the curse of Cain
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and the denial in Brigham Young's day of the priesthood to his descendants, isolationism of the Saints, the rebellion of Emma Smith, plural marriage,     and examples of
superseded opinions on scientific theories. All of these doctrines are either obscure points that receive little or no emphasis today or details that tend to be more
sensational than substantial.
full picture. Nor should the warts be mistaken for the essence.

The talks included in this book do not appear to have been chosen randomly, and they fail to give a fully balanced view of Brigham Young's doctrinal teachings. In
contrast to Widtsoe's selections, these talks place eager emphasis on such infrequently mentioned or controversial topics as the Adam/God theory, the curse of Cain
and the denial in Brigham Young's day of the priesthood to his descendants, isolationism of the Saints, the rebellion of Emma Smith, plural marriage, and examples of
superseded opinions on scientific theories. All of these doctrines are either obscure points that receive little or no emphasis today or details that tend to be more
sensational than substantial.

While this selection of talks reflects certain important teachings on God the Father, priesthood keys, and resurrection, this book omits nearly any reference to numerous
topics such as the atonement of Christ, support of the United States Constitution, the Book of Mormon, the role of adversity in progression, the blessings of God on the
Saints, education, freedom of religion, building Zion, love of neighbor, missionary work, sacrifice, self-sufficiency, and the final judgment of the world. Brigham Young
spoke in depth about these kinds of faith-promoting subjects on many occasions.

Liberating a Lion

Hugh W. Nibley also has written extensively on the mind and wisdom of Brigham Young. Nibley reads Brigham liberally and generously. A stimulating abstract of
Nibley's reflections can be found in his article on the teachings of Brigham Young in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Here Nibley emphasizes Brigham Young's
faith in Jesus Christ, his indebtedness to Joseph Smith, and his emphasis on progression, work, caring for the world, enjoyment, thrift, and building the kingdom of Zion.
This overview, substantiated by Nibley's longer expositions, draws out of Brigham's mouth primarily those themes and propositions that are the most compelling and
attractive to Nibley's own mind, namely, concerns about the nature of existence, the environment, the misuse of power and wealth, and the neglect of education.
Although this also is a highly interpretative approach, reading Nibley frees Brigham from obscurity and from the binding of old books.

In general, Nibley is concerned not only to make Brigham Young's teachings relevant to the modern world but also to rescue him from the critics who have dismissed
his teachings because they appear to contain internal contradictions. For Nibley, Brigham Young said one thing on one occasion and something different in another
setting because he understood the nature of this life only in terms of the next. Thus, what might appear in his discourses to be the confusing of earthly concerns and
spiritual matters is not the result of inconsistent thinking: "The distinction is not between the practical and the impractical; they are both practical and both spiritual; there
is not difference in spiritual and temporal labors."

Indeed, Brigham Young saw direct continuity and immediate relevance between this world and the next, between life as we know it here and as it will continue beyond
the veil of death. In Nibley's view, Brigham Young based all of his teachings and world view on "that third dimension which makes the gospel." Whereas most people
see the world in two dimensions, Brigham Young lived in a three-dimensional world. This allowed him to transcend the present situation and move with confidence
toward the eternal objective. Thus, he was not inconsistent in the fact that he did not like regimentation yet ordered the pioneers into companies; that he liked variety
and difference yet built unity; that he encouraged everyone to be themselves yet exhorted them continually to strive for the establishment of Zion.

In "Brigham Young on the Environment," written shortly after Earth Day and the rise of environmental concerns in the early 1970s, Nibley featured statements by
Brigham Young that celebrate the joy of the pure air of the mountain west, warn about pollution, and encourage the building of heaven here on earth (for heaven was
the prototype of this earth). Brigham Young repeatedly taught that this earth is and will be our eternal home, that all things here are for our benefit and comfort, and that
mankind has been charged to improve the world, beautify and tend the earth, plant gardens, and cultivate taste. Knowing that all the earth belongs to the Lord, mankind
should act with restraint, avoid greed, and recognize that it is a high moral principle to honor God's creation.

Brigham Young, like Nibley, was not impressed with modern inventions, denied the right to property if the owner declined to use it to do good, and encouraged people
to not worry about counting the costs of doing right, for God will provide as long as we avoid waste. In this regard, all waste is sin, for man cannot create; only a limited
amount of property exists in the world, and thus we must avoid forest fires, show reverence for everything, and treat all life as holy. Accordingly, even the crickets are
"creatures of God" and should be respected. All this implies that we may not take more than we need or use resources to obtain control over others. Indeed, Babylon
is nothing other than seizing and selling the treasures of the earth beyond one's needs, and Zion is striving to love the world as God loves it.

How much of this is Brigham Young and how much is Hugh Nibley? (How much is Plato and how much is Socrates?) The two are difficult to separate. But for a
modern reader of Nibley to conclude that Brigham Young was a modern liberal is, again, to see only part of the complex world of Brigham Young, for he was also an
energetic industrialist, expansive colonizer, and political leader-but even then not as most people would understand those terms.

In "Brigham Young as a Statesman," written in the 1960s, Nibley drew heavily on Brigham Young's ideas about righteous and effective leadership, a rare commodity
in the modern world. Here the good leader is one who knows by personal experience, who leads by doing, and who maintains a deep sense of responsibility, aloofness
from the world, opposition to petty factionalism, bigotry, and unrealistic demands. Brigham Young encouraged people to control themselves, to support local
government, to be forgiving, to take people as they are, and to sustain the Constitution and the liberties it guarantees. He taught that the only way to overcome
persecution is to have the Spirit of the Lord, live at peace, treat every man as your brother, mind your own business, leave the enemy alone (war is futile and is
instigated by wickedness), and affirm the brotherhood and equality of all men. Ultimately, the true statesman recognizes that people are responsible for their own
afflictions because of their own wickedness, and that the more knowledgeable people are, the more accountable they become.

Similarly, in "Brigham Young and the Enemy," Nibley argued that Brigham Young knew how to deal with enemies, mainly by putting his faith in God and going on his
way, for God is in control and enemies are actually for our good. He urged the Saints to search their own hearts, where the enemy really is, since Satan's only powers
are to tear down, contaminate, mix truth with falsehood, and encourage such feelings as covetousness and greed. He encouraged the Church to avoid anger, bitterness,
war, and contention. He found nothing worse than a Saint turned bad, but he told the faithful that they must not harbor vindictiveness or self-righteousness but let the
Lord judge, for our own weaknesses and ignorance make judging futile. While finding no place for coercion, he pronounced scathing denunciations of businessmen and
merchants who gathered power through wealth, and he advocated only spiritual solutions to our problems.

In "Brigham Young as a Leader," Nibley focused on Brigham Young's character and teachings relevant to the qualities that made him effective in inspiring, unifying,
and reassuring the people who flocked to follow him: he was benevolent, practical, even-keeled, tolerant, charitable, self-directed, and inner-directed; he got things
done but explained to people why they were doing them; he spoke from experience, was candid about the rebellious nature of his people, was firm but without
compulsion, did not flatter anyone, dealt with people as individuals, abhorred regimentation, encouraged variety in all spheres of life, avoided stereotypes, exhorted
people to do the best they could but not unless they wanted to, asserted his rights, saw God firmly in control, believed in being gentle ("light knocks can split great
blocks" ), never showed emotion, corrected his mistakes, avoided contention, told people not to hurry and not to try to run things, and eschewed ambition; he
promoted self-discipline, inspiration, and revelation; and he could not be moved because he knew exactly where he stood-all things that Nibley deeply admires.

In "Educating the Saints," Nibley again draws on Brigham Young to decry such flaws prevalent in academia as the showing off of titles, the tyranny of curriculum, and
sophomoric pride. Education is a matter of eternal development, not just what is in it for a person here and now. Brigham spoke his mind openly, bound only by the
gospel of Jesus Christ, and was able to "master the things of the world because he would not let them master him." Joseph Smith brought heaven down to earth; we
shall never cease to learn; the news is all good; gather up all the truths in the world pertaining to life and salvation; "improvement of the mind always came first"; study
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every art and science; think for oneself; and rebuke senseless applause. For Brigham "all science is cosmology" and "all cosmology is eschatology"; secular learning is
sanctified if it is approached with a certain spirit, for "the object of this existence is to learn." The expanding mind stands in contrast to the contracting mind, one
diminished by fashion, kitsch, and riches. The cure for contraction is to be sent out into the wilderness, where "God will keep us after school until we learn our lesson."
In "Educating the Saints," Nibley again draws on Brigham Young to decry such flaws prevalent in academia as the showing off of titles, the tyranny of curriculum, and
sophomoric pride. Education is a matter of eternal development, not just what is in it for a person here and now. Brigham spoke his mind openly, bound only by the
gospel of Jesus Christ, and was able to "master the things of the world because he would not let them master him." Joseph Smith brought heaven down to earth; we
shall never cease to learn; the news is all good; gather up all the truths in the world pertaining to life and salvation; "improvement of the mind always came first"; study
every art and science; think for oneself; and rebuke senseless applause. For Brigham "all science is cosmology" and "all cosmology is eschatology"; secular learning is
sanctified if it is approached with a certain spirit, for "the object of this existence is to learn." The expanding mind stands in contrast to the contracting mind, one
diminished by fashion, kitsch, and riches. The cure for contraction is to be sent out into the wilderness, where "God will keep us after school until we learn our lesson."


Finally, "More Brigham Young on Education" develops these themes further, taking contemporary social trends as specific targets, juxtaposing "the wonder and the
glory of the gospel against the background of a lost and distracted world." Brigham Young's whole concern was to learn, and outside of the true religion he found
nothing but death. Eternity in this sense begins here and now, and the curriculum is unlimited, embracing all truth, every useful branch of education; "all business must be
undertaken with an eye to the eternities" and to do good. Intelligence is problem solving that begins with an admission of ignorance and minding one's own business.
In the style of Brigham Young, Nibley then applies these views to critique modern public relations ploys, "success," superficiality, overconfidence, double-mindedness,
and kitsch, and to challenge the Saints who process knowledge without discovering it to speak out and declare the principles of the gospel, to open their books, and to
present gospel alternatives to the reigning philosophies.

Strong Reflexes

Obviously, a teacher as broad and as deep as Brigham Young will continue to evoke strong reactions and diverse reflections from various quarters such as those
represented by Widtsoe, Campbell, and Nibley. Accordingly, our objective has not been to add simply another refraction off this source of light and knowledge.
Better, it seemed to us, to make an attempt at comprehending the whole. Clearly aware of the limitations of any such effort, we determined to digest as much as we
could of the speeches of Brigham Young. Our hope was to determine the three or four main themes in each speech (numerous smaller themes could also be identified).
By producing a composite listing of those dominant concepts in the discourses of Brigham Young, we hoped to identify the strongest reflexes in his typical teachings.
This will provide, hopefully, a guide to the most important teachings of Brigham Young-points he would likely emphasize if we could hear him speak today, not
tangential or marginal notes but his dominant messages. From such data, readers might go on to fashion a clearer comprehension of Brigham himself, not an image
fashioned too heavily in our own likenesses.

The "Subject Index of Discourses of Brigham Young," below, is the result of our gathering. Unless we found the contemporaneous headnotes contained in the
Journal of Discourses to be inadequate, we tended to follow them in creating our index entries. The results were somewhat surprising to us. Based on general
impressions conveyed about Brigham Young from secondary sources, we expected to find more emphasis on the pragmatic, exotic, or eccentric. Instead, his main
themes are religious, spiritual, and basic to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The vast majority of his most frequent and dominant topics (15 or more entries) were far
and away theological:

His next most prominent subjects (9-13 entries):

God, Godhead (42)
Joseph Smith (32)
Gospel (32)
Knowledge (31)
Kingdom of God (30)
Temples (30)
Revelation (26)
Priesthood (25)
Mission, Missionaries (24)
Government (23)
Spirits (22)
Plural Marriage (21)
Religion (21)
Jesus Christ, Savior (20)
Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord (20)
Testimony (20)
Zion (20)
Persecution (19)
Education, learning and schools (18)
Saints (18)
Blessings (18)
Apostasy, Apostates (17)
Faith (17)
Gathering (17)
Obedience (17)
Adam and Eve (16)
Salvation (16)
Tithing (16)

His next most prominent subjects (9-13 entries):

U.S. Constitution (13)
Apostles, Apostleship (13)
Prayer (13)
Truth (13)
Judgment (12)
Resurrection (12)
Spirit World (12)
Trials (12)
Women (12)
Unity (12)
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Indians, Lamanites (11)
Poor, Poverty (11)
Preaching (11)
Spirit World (12)
Trials (12)
Women (12)
Unity (12)
Indians, Lamanites (11)
Poor, Poverty (11)
Preaching (11)
Agency and Choice (10)
Duty (10)
Evil (10)
Happiness (10)
Holy Ghost (10)
Army, federal (9)
Bishops (9)
Children (9)
Christianity (9)
Freedom (9)
Intelligence (9)
Riches (9)
Sacrament (9)
Wickedness (9)

His other common themes (5-8 entries), arranged alphabetically:

Baptism (8)
Bible (5)
Chastisement (8)
Church (7)
Counsel (6)
Covetousness (7)
Death (5)
Debt (7)
Earth (7)
Endowment (8)
Enemies (5)
Eternal life and progression (7)
Exaltation (5)
Family (5)
Fashions (6)
Handcarts (5)
Immigrants (7)
Israel (6)
Labor (5)
Law (8)
Life (8)
Light (5)
Marriage (8)
Millennium (7)
Miracles (5)
Mormonism (7)
Mothers (7)
Mysteries (5)
Opposition (8)
Perpetual Emigrating Fund (5)
Power (6)
Property (5)
Repentance (7)
Sabbath (7)
Sacrifice (7)
Sealing (6)
Self-control (5)
Sin (6)
Temporal affairs (8)
Traditions (6)
Wealth (5)
Wisdom (7)
Work (5)

Although this profile is not scientifically precise, it conveys at a glance a fair representation of most usual burdens of Brigham Young's teachings. To be sure, most of
these themes are mentioned by Widtsoe, Campbell, and Nibley, but not always to the same degree or in the same configuration.

Concluding Reflections

For years to come, the teachings of Brigham Young will surely continue to teach all people whose minds and spirits are amenable to firm counsel and principled
instruction. His discourses contain something for everyone. They teach people what to believe about God, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith; how to become clean
through the doctrines of the gospel and the powers and ordinances of the priesthood; how to live; how to form the society of Zion; how to withstand persecutions and
difficulties to prepare for God's reign on earth and in heaven.
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Each reader and each generation inevitably takes and remembers from the past what it wants to. What will the next generation of Saints and scholars find in the words
and works of Brigham Young? How will it reflect the religious spirit of his thoughts and teachings?
For years to come, the teachings of Brigham Young will surely continue to teach all people whose minds and spirits are amenable to firm counsel and principled
instruction. His discourses contain something for everyone. They teach people what to believe about God, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith; how to become clean
through the doctrines of the gospel and the powers and ordinances of the priesthood; how to live; how to form the society of Zion; how to withstand persecutions and
difficulties to prepare for God's reign on earth and in heaven.

Each reader and each generation inevitably takes and remembers from the past what it wants to. What will the next generation of Saints and scholars find in the words
and works of Brigham Young? How will it reflect the religious spirit of his thoughts and teachings?

Notes

   1. The premier biography of Brigham Young, emphasizing the economic and political features of his career, is Leonard Arrington, Brigham Young, American Moses
(New York: Knopf, 1985). Other biographies, arranged chronologically, include Newell G. Bringhurst, Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier (Boston:
Little Brown, 1986); Francis M. Gibbons, Brigham Young: Modern Moses/Prophet of God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981); Eugene England, Brother
Brigham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980); Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer (Santa Barbara, California: Peregrine Smith, 1973); Stanley P. Hirschon,
The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of Brigham Young (New York: Knopf, 1969); Truman G. Madsen, ed., Seminar on Brigham Young (Provo, Utah: BYU Extension
Publications, 1963); Clarissa Y. Spencer, Brigham Young at Home (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1947); Ray B. West, Kingdom of the Saints: The Story of
Brigham Young and the Mormons (New York: Viking, 1957); Olive W. Burt, Brigham Young (New York: Messner, 1956); Preston Nibley, Brigham Young: The
Man and His Work (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1936); Susa Young Gates, with Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (New York: Macmillan,
1930); Morris R. Werner, Brigham Young (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1925); Edward H. Anderson, The Life of Brigham Young (Salt Lake City: George
Q. Cannon and Sons, 1893); Edward W. Tullidge, Life of Brigham Young: Or Utah and Her Founders (New York: n.p., 1876). Few of these books deal with
Brigham Young's thought.

   2. Preston Nibley, Brigham Young: The Man and His Work (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1936), incorporates into its historical narrative excerpts from about
twenty of Brigham's speeches, listed on pages 550-51; but most of these deal with construction projects, pioneers, practical affairs, and politics. James B. Allen, The
Man-Brigham Young (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1963), 32-38, touches on his general attitude toward religion, truth, knowledge, marriage, and
the Sabbath.

 3. J. Keith Melville, "Brigham Young's Ideal Society: The Kingdom of God," BYU Studies 5 (1963): 3-18; and "The Reflections of Brigham Young on the Nature of
Man and the State," BYU Studies 4 (1962): 255-67.

   4. Robert Miller, "Understanding Brigham Young: The Role of His Cosmology," unpublished paper, History of Science Colloquium, Johns Hopkins University, 1
May 1981, focuses on his teachings of uncreated matter, uncreated time and space, uncreated laws, and uncreated intelligence (8-27), and argues that any explanation
of Brigham Young is misleading without attention to his cosmology (28). See also Boyd Kirkland, "Of Gods, Mortals, and Devils: Eternal Progression and the Second
Death in the Theology of Brigham Young," Sunstone 10, no. 12 (1986): 6-12.

  5. Carl J. Furr, The Religious Philosophy of Brigham Young, private ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Libraries, 1939), 8 pp., mentions briefly temporal salvation,
conception of God, system of Church government, beings, good and evil, nature of man, death, free agency, and various aspects of his philosophy of life.

   6. Elden J. Watson, comp., Brigham Young Addresses, 6 vols. (n.p., 1979), lists virtually all of the known speeches said to be delivered by Brigham Young. Some
are reported only by a brief statement from a journal or newspaper entry; others are represented by a reasonably long summary.

  7. Journal of Discourses, 5: 336.

  8. Ibid., 6: 145.

  9. Ibid., 6: 195.

  10. Ibid., 12: 115.

  11. Ibid., 12: 116.

  12. Ibid., 12: 114.

  13. Ibid., 12: 116.

   14. Hugh W. Nibley, "Educating the Saints," in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, ed. Don E. Norton and Shirley S. Ricks, volume 13 in The Collected Works
of Hugh Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., and F.A.R.M.S., 1994), 308 (hereafter this volume will be cited as CWHN, 13).

  15. CWHN, 13: 308.

  16. John A. Widtsoe, ed., Discourses of Brigham Young (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1954; reprinted by Deseret Book Co.,
1978).

  17. John A. Widtsoe, A Rational Theology (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1915). This book begins with the fundamentals of eternity, truth, the law of
development, God, man's premortal existence and free agency, and the plan of salvation.

   18. John A. Widtsoe, The Message of the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969). Several of the chapters in this book compare, probably
unconsciously, with the categories used in arranging topics from Brigham Young's discourses; see, for example, the emphasis on truth, last days, persecution, law and
civil government, social and family relations, salvation, and temple work.

19. Brigham Young, The Essential Brigham Young, foreword by Eugene E. Campbell (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1992). The editors do not indicate who made
the selections or how they determined which they considered to be Brigham's "most frequently cited sermons."

  20. Ibid., xi.

  21. Ibid., xvi.
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  22. Ibid., xxviii.
  20. Ibid., xi.

  21. Ibid., xvi.

  22. Ibid., xxviii.

  23. Ibid., xxi-xxiii.

  24. Ibid., xxvi.

  25. Hugh W. Nibley, "Teachings of Brigham Young," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 5 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 4: 1609-11.

  26. CWHN, 13: 309.

  27. Ibid., 13: 352.

  28. Ibid., 13: 179.

  29. Ibid., 13: 23-54.

  30. Ibid., 13: 138-86.

  31. Ibid., 13: 187-246.

  32. Ibid., 13: 449-90.

  33. Ibid., 13: 464.

  34. Ibid., 13: 306-45.

  35. Ibid., 13: 310.

  36. Ibid., 13: 318.

  37. Ibid., 13: 325.

  38. Ibid., 13: 327.

  39. Ibid., 13: 340.

  40. Ibid., 13: 346-79.

  41. Ibid., 13: 346.

  42. Ibid., 13: 353.

   43. We express appreciation to Daniel B. McKinlay for his help in indexing some of the speeches of Brigham Young found in the LDS Church Historical Archives
and in the collections of Elden J. Watson; and to Marny Parkin, Angela Ashurst-McGee, and others at BYU Studies, Brigham Young University, for their editorial
assistance in formatting and proofreading this index.

  44. We tried to identify the two or three main themes in each speech by Brigham Young, not to create a comprehensive index.




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