Brigham Young life and biography

Brigham Young (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death and was the founder of Salt Lake City and the first governor of Utah Territory, United States. Brigham Young University was named in his honor.

Young had a variety of nicknames, among the most popular being "American Moses", (alternatively the "Modern Moses" or the "Mormon Moses") because, like the Biblical figure, Young led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, in an exodus through a desert, to what they saw as a promised land. Young was also dubbed the "Lion of the Lord" for his bold personality, and was commonly called "Brother Brigham" by Latter-day Saints. Young was a polygamist and was involved in controversies regarding black people and the Priesthood, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows massacre.

Known as the “The American Moses,” Brigham Young founded the Church of Latter Day Saints known as the Mormons. Although young never had a formal education, he led his people to Utah and became the leader of what is now the fastest growing faith in the United States.

Young Brigham attended church as he grew up with his family in the State of Vermont and New York. In his latter teens, Young became a painter and worked until his early 20s saving his money and becoming deeply involved with the Methodist Church. By the age of 28, he married young Miriam Works and the two decided to first settle in New York. While working his laborious jobs, Brigham began reading more about Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon. He decided to join the church and thereafter was baptized as an official member where he took it upon himself to travel the States seeking new inductees into the Mormon circle.

Within one year of his joining the church, Brigham Young and his family moved to Ohio and there formed a Mormon church. Following, he continued on a path west in order to spread the word of his faith. It is also recorded that Young joined the Mormon side of the Zion Army, something that was at that time out of his character. However, the Mormons were facing increases pressure wherever they migrated and were welcomed in neither Missouri nor Illinois when they attempted to settle there.

Within five years, Brigham Young had climbed the ranks in the church to become one of the top members of what were dubbed the Twelve Apostles. Upon a trip home from England, Young was positioned even higher in the church and became on of its top leaders. Joseph Smith, the prophet of Mormonism, decided to run for President of the United States and was subsequently murdered. Brigham returned to find his people in panic and worked diligently to bring them together. He met with his top officials to find a new homeland – what would come to be known as the new Zion.

Mormon church officials decided that they should move west and that Young, now their president, would lead them. By 1850, Young, now with much more knowledge about how to strategically survive, began spreading the word of his church even more. He sent the young and capable abroad to gather recruits to come live and work in their new land. He planned the building and construction of Salt Lake City, but also sent his people to the outskirts of Utah to construct small towns and prosper through farming. Nearly a hundred thousand coverts came from Europe. Missionaries were sent abroad to spread the word of their faith. By 1850, Brigham Young had nearly 30 wives and over 50 children. He founded the institution that would become the University of Utah. Following the Mexican War, Young became the governor of Utah. However, after a skirmish called the “Mormon War,” he stepped down from office, but continued to rule through the church.

Mountain Meadows massacre

A controversial issue is the extent of Young's involvement in the Mountain Meadows massacre, which took place in Washington County in 1857. Leonard J. Arrington reports that Brigham Young received a rider at his office on the same day. When he learned what was contemplated by the members of the Mormon Church in Parowan and Cedar City, he sent back a letter that the Fancher party be allowed to pass through the territory unmolested. Young's letter supposedly arrived two days too late, on September 13, 1857. As governor, Young had promised the federal government he would protect immigrants passing through Utah Territory. But he had also allegedly told local Native American leaders that they had his permission to steal cattle from these wagon trains. Over 120 men, women and children were killed by the Mormons and their Native American allies. It is clear that local Mormons were the principal perpetrators. United States Army officer James Henry Carleton was sent to investigate the massacre and was convinced that the Mormons were the perpetrators. Only children survived, the murdered members of the wagon train (known as the Fancher Party) were left unburied, and the surviving children were cared for by local Mormon families. The remains of about forty people were found and buried and Carleton had a large cross made from local trees, the transverse beam bearing the engraving, "Vengeance Is Mine, Saith The Lord: I Will Repay" and erected a cairn of rocks at the site. A large slab of granite was put up on which he had the following words engraved: "HERE 120 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WERE MASSACRED IN COLD BLOOD EARLY IN SEPTEMBER, 1857. THEY WERE FROM ARKANSAS." For two years the monument stood as a warning to those travelling the Spanish Trail through Mountain Meadow. Some claim that, In 1861, Young brought an entourage to Mountain Meadows and had the cairn and cross destroyed, while exclaiming, "Vengeance is mine and I have taken a little". However, others claim it was torn down and then re-built in 1864 by the U.S. military.

Before his death in Salt Lake City at 4:00pm on August 29, 1877, Young was suffering from 'cholera morbus and inflammation of the bowels'. His funeral which took place on September 2, 1877, was held in the Tabernacle with an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people in attendance.

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