YOUNG 



YOUNG 



BRIGHAM YOUNG 

 The great leader of 



7 



the 



monarch, the first of all the Japanese monarchs 

 who was not born to rule with absolute power. 

 He married his cousin, Princess Sada-ko, in 1900, 

 and of three children, the oldest, Hirohito, has 

 been named heir-apparent to the throne. The 

 meaning of the name Yoshihito is good man. 



YOUNG, yung, BRIGHAM (1801-1877), second 

 president of the Church of Jesus Christ of 

 Latter-Day Saints (see MORMONS), and doubt- 

 less the best-known Mormon of all time, pos- 

 sibly surpassing in fame the founder of the 

 Church, Joseph 

 Smith. He was 

 bora at Whiting- 

 ham, -Vt., of a 

 well-known colo- 

 nial family; his 

 great - grand- 

 father, William 

 Young, was a 

 worshiper at the 

 Old South 

 Church, Boston; 

 h i s grandfather 

 Joseph served as 



a physician and Mormon Church for a third 

 surgeon in the of a century " 

 French and Indian Wars, while his father fought 

 with Washington in the Revolution. Young's 

 early life was spent on his father's farm; he 

 later learned the trade of painter and glazier, 

 working at this occupation until he was thirty- 

 one years of age, when he reached the turning 

 point in his career. Two years before, in 1830, 

 a new Church of Latter-Day Saints, or Mor- 

 mons, had been organized at Fayette, N. Y., by 

 Joseph Smith. Young became interested in the 

 doctrines of the sect, embraced the new religion 

 and settled with the members of the Church 

 at Kirtland, Ohio, where he soon formed a close 

 friendship with Smith. 



From the beginning of his association with 

 the Mormons, Young revealed the qualities of 

 a great leader, and his knowledge of character, 

 his strong will and magnetic personality soon 

 gave him an influential position in the Church. 

 He was ordained one of the Council of Twelve 

 Apostles in 1835, and a year later was chosen 

 the president of that body. The new sect then 

 began to feel the bitterness of persecution; the 

 saints were driven from Kirtland, and after 

 many months of wandering, Young and Smith 

 founded a new colony at Nauvoo, 111. For a 

 time all went well, and Young made a trip to 

 the British Isles in 1839-1841 for the purpose 



of presenting the new doctrines to the people 



there. In 1844, however, affairs in the Church 

 came to a crisis. Smith was shot, Nauvoo was 

 threatened by a mob, and the Twelve Apostles 

 were scattered. 



At this point, when the Church seemed in 

 danger of falling to pieces, Young's ability as a 

 leader strongly asserted itself. Being absent 

 from Illinois at the time of Smith's murder, he 

 at once hurried to Nauvoo. As the president 

 of the Twelve Apostles he took the direction 

 of affairs, and this council of the Twelve natu- 

 rally became the supreme ruling quorum of the 

 Church. Young, however, had the foresight to 

 realize that the Mormons could never maintain 

 a strong Church organization in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, and that they must work out their 

 destiny in newer country far to the west, ac- 

 cording to a previous plan authorized by the 

 Prophet Joseph Smith. In the winter of 1846 

 they began their emigration toward the land 

 of the setting sun, and in the summer of 1847, 

 the first detachment of colonists, consisting of 

 Young and 143 of the faithful, reached the 

 shores of Great Salt Lake, in Utah, the site of 

 their new city. After establishing a colony and 

 leaving a sufficient number of the people there 

 to begin farming operations, Young returned 

 with the remainder to winter quarters, near the 

 present Florence, Neb. There, on December 5, 

 1847, he was chosen president of the Church, 

 as Smith's successor. 



In 1848 Young returned to the Salt Lake 

 Valley, and there under his guidance and in- 

 spiration the Mormons permanently established 

 their Church, built a great city and transformed 

 the barren desert valley into a rich and fruit- 

 ful country. It was, of course, in the natural 

 course of events that he should also be promi- 

 nent in the political history of Utah. In March, 

 1849, a convention at Salt Lake City organized 

 the State of Deseret, of which he was elected 

 governor; in 1850 Utah was admitted as a ter- 

 ritory and he became its governor. During the 

 next few years difficulties arose between the 

 state authorities and the Federal government, 

 and in 1857 President Buchanan appointed a 

 territorial governor in place of Young. In 

 consequence of misrepresentation, misunder- 

 standings arose between Utah and national gov- 

 ernment officials, which were later adjusted 

 peaceably. 



It has been said of Young that he possessed 

 the qualities of a Cromwell, a Moses and a 

 Napoleon. Certainly he was a man of positive 

 character and achievements. He was a devout 

 follower of all the doctrines taught by the 



