Young, BRIGHAM

Young, BRIGHAM, American Mormon leader, was born at Whitingham, Vermont, June 1, 1801, and was the son of a small farmer proprietor. He received eleven days' schooling, and then was successively employed as carpenter, painter, and glazier in Mendon, New York. He first saw the 'Book of Mormon' in 1830, and in 1832, having become converted by Samuel H. Smith, a brother of the 'prophet,' he was baptised and began to preach near Mendon. Next he went to Kirtland, Ohio, was made an elder, and preached in Canada, 1832–33. In 1835 he was appointed one of the twelve apostles of the Church, in 1844 president; and the Mormons, when driven from Nauvoo, were after various wanderings led by him to Utah in 1847. In 1840 he had visited England, and as a result there were 2000 proselytes that year. In 1848 the great body of Mormons arrived at Utah, and founded Salt Lake City; and in 1851 Mr Fillmore, president of the United States, appointed Brigham Young governor (1851–58). In 1858 a new governor, Cunningham, was appointed, and sent with a force of 2500 United States troops to protect him and the Federal officers; a compromise was effected, and the troops remained until 1860. The determination of the United States to abolish polygamy, and the appointment, in 1869, of a new United States governor, contributed somewhat to reduce Young's authority. In 1874 his fifteenth wife petitioned the United States courts for a divorce, and separated from him. Young encouraged agriculture and manufactures, made roads and bridges, carried through a contract for 100 miles of the Union Pacific Railroad, and was otherwise a friend to commercial progress. Practical and far-seeing, he had the faculty of accumulating wealth, although on one side of his character he appeared to be a fanatical enthusiast. Young died August 29, 1877, leaving a fortune of 2,500,000 dollars to seventeen wives and fifty-six children. See MORMONS, SALT LAKE CITY, and UTAH.