Brigham young biography and not a prophet
Early Years and Rise in the Church
Born into poverty in Vermont in , Young later moved with his family to western New York, where he worked as a carpenter and craftsman. In , he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the religion founded by Joseph Smith in based on the Book of Mormon, a scripture that Smith claimed to have translated from gold plates given to him by an angel named Moroni.
In , after the death of his first wife, Young and his two daughters joined Smith and other Mormons in Kirtland, Ohio. A devoted missionary and supporter of Smith, Young was ordained as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a church governing body, in ; he became its president four years later. Though he initially resisted adapting the church’s controversial custom of plural marriage, Young later embraced it as his duty, and would eventually have 55 wives and 56 (or 57) children.
Journey West to the Great Salt Lake
An armed mob assassinated Smith in , and Young and the other apostles took charge of leading the Mormon church. Seeking a place where they could avoid the persecution that had driven them from Ohio and Missouri, Young and the other apostles planned a westward exodus of thousands of Mormons from the settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Salt Lake Valley, then part of Mexico. In early , Young and an advance group began an arduous journey some 1, miles across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains.
After spending the winter of in a camp along the Missouri River between Iowa and Nebraska, Young headed further west with men, including six apostles, three women and two children, in April They arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, Young declared the site would be the group’s new home, and they began building an adobe and log settlement where Salt Lake City now stands.
Growth of the Mormon Community in Utah
Young returned east to lead a second company of Mormons to the region in late , and in Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings, Economic Methods, Political Economy John Turner, of GMU&#;s Religious Studies Department, has produced one of the most fascinating historical works I&#;ve read in years. Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Harvard University Press, ) is much more than a biography of the father of modern Utah. It&#;s a fascinating case study in the history of religion &#; and the malleability of human conformity. Consider: If you wanted to found a new religion today, how would you even start? And once you did, how would you persuade your converts to embrace alien customs that outrage the mainstream society that surrounds them? Turner&#;s careful, detailed, and elegant book begins in the early years of the 19th-century. The poverty young Brigham Young endured is all the more striking when you realize that millions of European immigrants yearned to become his neighbors. Now forty years of age, John Young [father of Brigham] once again plunged into therigors of building a home, clearing land, and planting crops. Despite his exertions, he never became a successful frontier farmer. The Youngs at least occasionally went hungry and could rarely provide their children with adequate clothing, let alone anything resembling a formal education. &#;In my youthful days,&#; Brigham later reminisced, &#;instead of going to school, I had to chop logs, to sow and plant, to plow in the midst of roots barefooted, and if I had on a pair of pants that would cover me I did pretty well.&#; Brigham and his siblings learned to provide for themselves. &#;My sisters would make me what was called a Jo. Johnson cap for winter,&#; he recalled, &#;and in summer I wore a straw hat which I frequently braided for myself.&#; Brigham had ten siblings. His sister Nabby died shortly after their move to Smyrna, but his four brothers and five other sisters lived into adulthood. Turner provides a gripping tour of Brigham Young&#;s early Historian John Turner reflects on his biography of Brigham Young nearly 10 years after its publication. He is currently working on a biography of Joseph Smith that many expect to be the most significant contribution since Richard Bushman wrote Rough Stone Rolling. I was incredibly gratified by the book’s reception. It received many complimentary reviews from both faithful Latter-day Saints and non-Mormons. There were a few dissenting views, but I regard those in much the same way that Brigham regarded dissenters. Great question. That’s the tricky thing about history, even when one writes about a figure so incredibly well documented as Brigham. So many of those sources do not provide an intimate encounter with the man. Take, for instance, his hundreds of sermons. Do those published records reflect every word that he spoke? Of course not. Sometimes he and his clerks edited his sermons for publication. In some instances, there are shorthand notes, but those aren’t word for word either. Or take his letters. In most instances, clerks drafted letters, which he signed and sometimes revised. That being said, there are some very intimate sources, such as his early, handwritten journals, and, on occasion, some handwritten letters, such as some to his sons. But as a historian who primarily works with written texts, I always remind myself that we do not have direct access to the experiences of others. We only have narratives. With all of those qualifications, I felt that I got to know Brigham well enough to have a clear sense of his personality: his sharp wit and sense of humor, his perseverance, his creative mind, his adaptability, his faith, and his combativeness. This is the passage you have in mind: &#;After the setbacks of the s, Young learned to restrain his rhetoric and tolerate the prese American religious leader (–) For other uses, see Brigham Young (disambiguation). Young c. Brigham Young (BRIG-əm; June 1, &#;&#; August 29, ) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from until his death in He also served as the first governor of the Utah Territory from until his resignation in Young was born in in Vermont and raised in Upstate New York. After working as a painter and carpenter, he became a full-time LDS Church leader in Following a short period of service as a missionary, he moved to Missouri in Later that year, Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs signed the Mormon Extermination Order and Young organized the migration of the Latter Day Sain
How has Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet been received?
How well did John Turner get to know Brigham Young?
Why did Brigham Young go through a softening of his rhetoric?
Brigham Young
Brigham Young December&#;27,&#;&#;()&#;&#;&#;August&#;29,&#;&#;() Predecessor Joseph Smith Successor John Taylor April&#;14,&#;&#;()&#;&#;&#;December&#;27,&#;&#;() Predecessor Thomas B. Marsh Successor Orson Hyde End reason Became President of the Church February&#;14,&#;&#;()&#;&#;&#;December&#;27,&#;&#;() Called by Three Witnesses End reason Became President of the Church February&#;14,&#;&#;()&#;&#;&#;August&#;29,&#;&#;() Called by Three Witnesses Reason Initial organization of Quorum of the Twelve Reorganization
at end of termNo apostles immediately ordained February 3, &#;&#;&#;April 12, Predecessor Position established Successor Alfred Cumming Born ()June 1,
Whitingham, Vermont, U.S.Died August 29, () (aged&#;76)
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S.Cause of death Ruptured appendix Resting place Brigham Young Cemetery
40°46′13″N°53′08″W / °N °W / ; (Brigham Young Cemetery)Spouse(s) 56 (See List of Brigham Young's wives) Children 57 Signature &#;