Brigham Young

Brigham Young
Name	Brigham Young
Birth date	June 1, 1801
Birth place	Whitingham, Vermont, United States
Death date	August 29, 1877
Death place	Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, United States
Occupation	Religious leader, settler, politician
Known for	Leadership of the Latter-day Saint movement, settlement of the Intermountain West

Brigham Young was an American religious leader, settler, and politician who led the main body of Latter-day Saints after the death of Joseph Smith. As president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and first governor of the Utah Territory, he directed large-scale migration, colonization, and institution-building across the Intermountain West. Young's tenure influenced relations with the United States Congress, interactions with Indigenous nations such as the Ute people and Shoshone, and debates over polygamy, federal authority, and western expansion.

Early life and education

Young was born in Whitingham, Vermont and raised in a family that moved to Troy, New York and Ashtabula County, Ohio. Influenced by itinerant preacher networks including Methodism and contacts with figures like Peter Cartwright, he worked as a carpenter and teamster before converting to the Latter Day Saint movement in Kirtland, Ohio, after reading the Book of Mormon. Early associations included leaders such as Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, and Hyrum Smith, and he participated in events at sites like the Kirtland Temple and the Nauvoo Temple.

Migration and leadership of the Latter-day Saints

After the murder of Joseph Smith in Carthage, Illinois, a succession crisis saw Young assert leadership against claimants such as James Strang, Sidney Rigdon, and William Smith. He organized the mass exodus of Saints from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Great Basin along routes later traversed by the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail. Under guidance from figures like Orson Hyde, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and Wilford Woodruff, Young oversaw the 1847 vanguard company that established Salt Lake City and coordinated settlements at sites including Provo, Utah, St. George, Utah, Fillmore, Utah, and Parowan, Utah.

Governorship and political activities in Utah Territory

Appointed territorial governor by leaders interacting with the United States Senate and the President of the United States, Young navigated conflicts with federal agents, military expeditions like the Utah War, and congressional oversight from committees influenced by figures such as Reed Smoot (though later). He advocated for territorial status, petitioned for representation to bodies like the United States Congress, and clashed with federal officials including Alvin Robert Fancher and James Duane Doty (historical contemporary). Young also influenced the establishment of institutions such as the University of Deseret and local administrative structures in Great Salt Lake City and satellite communities.

Church administration, theology, and policies

As president of the church, Young oversaw administrative bodies like the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency, working with apostles including Brigham Young Jr., John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, and J. Golden Kimball (later figure). He promoted doctrines tied to revelations recorded in works associated with the church and encouraged practices including plural marriage as taught in Latter-day Saint teachings at the time, which later provoked conflicts with federal statutes such as the Edmunds Act and the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act. Young emphasized building temples (e.g., Salt Lake Temple) and temples' roles for ordinances associated with teachings preserved by church authorities.

Interactions with Native Americans and settlement projects

Young engaged in diplomacy and conflict with Indigenous nations including the Ute people, Paiute people, Shoshone, Goshute, and Navajo Nation through agents, interpreters, and treaties. He organized settlement projects that established overland waystations, irrigation works, and communities across present-day Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado, coordinating with leaders such as Orson Pratt and settlers who founded communities like Cedar City, Logan, Utah, Moab, Utah, Richfield, Utah, and St. George, Utah. These projects intersected with federal programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs policy, and military expeditions including interactions with the United States Army.

Personal life, family, and legacy

Young married multiple women and fathered many children, linking him by marriage or descent to families prominent in Utah Territory society, the LDS Church hierarchy, and civic institutions. His descendants and relatives include local leaders, businessmen, and politicians in Salt Lake City and beyond; contemporaries and later historians compared his role to frontier founders like Brigham Young University namesakes and civic founders of cities such as Ogden, Utah and Provo, Utah. Young's estate, offices, and residences, including the historic Brigham Young Winter Home and Office and the residence in Salt Lake City, became subjects of preservation by local historical societies and museums.

Controversies and historical assessments

Scholars and commentators have debated Young's legacy regarding plural marriage, racial teachings such as the priesthood policy affecting people of African descent and later reversed policies by church leaders, his authoritarian style compared to contemporaries like Joseph Smith and John Taylor, and his relations with federal authorities during events like the Utah War and responses to legislation such as the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act and Edmunds-Tucker Act. Historians reference primary collections in institutions like the L. Tom Perry Special Collections and legal records from the United States Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States to evaluate controversies involving land, water, polygamy prosecutions, and interactions with Indigenous peoples. Public memory includes monuments, biographies by historians such as Leonard J. Arrington, critical accounts by anti-Mormon writers, and portrayals in media and scholarly works that examine Young's impact on western settlement, religious history, and American expansion.

Category:19th-century American people Category:Latter Day Saint leaders Category:American pioneers