Brigham Young (1801-1877)

Biography
Brigham Young was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, leading the church after the death of Joseph Smith (1805-1844). He is most remembered for leading the major exodus in 1846-1847 from Nauvoo, Illinois to settle Salt Lake City in central Utah. From there he organized many Mormon settlements across the Utah Territory.


 * Much biographical research is available already at Brigham Young and at History.LDS.org. This Familypedia article will focus strictly on his Family History.  With only the briefest relevant timeline of life events.

Conversion to Mormonism
See the story of First Missionary Journey of Samuel Smith to the nearby town of Mendon, NY in Spring 1830. At the time it was thought this mission was a failure since he could only hand out just one Book of Mormon and was otherwise met with much rejection and discouragement. But in just two years time, that one book would come into the hands of the Greene, Young and Kimball families which would be the source by which many thousands would join the new church and also the source of many future prominent church leaders.

Soon the Young Family move to join the saints in Kirtland, Ohio, he was there by 1834 when he participated in the march to Missouri of Zion's Camp (1834).

Migration to Utah
Brigham Young led several wagon trains across the plains to settle the Salt Lake Valley. After his first arrival on what would become "Pioneer Day", 24-July-1847. He would return to Winter Quarters (North Omaha, Nebraska) to conduct important church business, including the reorganization of the First Presidency of the Church (see D&C Section 136).

The following year, 1848, he led a larger wagon company into the Salt Lake Valley with much of his extended family and many other members of the church.

Marriage & Family
Sources have varied on the number of Young's wives, due to differences in what scholars have considered to be a "wife". There were 55 women that Young was sealed to during his lifetime. While the majority of the sealings were "for eternity", some were "for time only". Researchers believe that not all of the 55 marriages were conjugal. Young did not live with a number of his wives or publicly hold them out as wives, which has led to confusion on the number and identities. This is in part due to the complexity of how wives were identified in the Mormon society at the time.

“Young's ability to keep dozens of wives from quarreling and so many children from overwhelming him would in itself prove that he must have been a remarkable, not to say a master, diplomat. ”

Of Young's 55 wives, 21 had never been married before; 16 were widows; six were divorced; six had living husbands; and the marital status of six others are unknown. In 1856, Young built the Lion House to accommodate his sizable family. This building remains a Salt Lake City landmark, together with the Beehive House, another Young family home. A contemporary of Young wrote: "It was amusing to walk by Brigham Young's big house, a long rambling building with innumerable doors. Each wife has an establishment of her own, consisting of parlor, bedroom, and a front door, the key of which she keeps in her pocket." At the time of Young's death, 19 of his wives had predeceased him, he was divorced from ten, and 23 survived him. The status of four was unknown. One of his wives, Zina Huntington Young, served as the third president of the Relief Society. In his will, Young shared his estate with the 16 surviving wives who had lived with him; the six surviving non-conjugal wives were not mentioned in the will.

1st Marriage: Mariam Works
Married Miriam Angeline Works (1806-1832) in 1824, Cayuga County, New York. She bore him two children and then died just two months after their baptism into the LDS Church.


 * 1) Elizabeth Young (1825-1903) -
 * 2) 'Vilate Young (1830-1902) -

2nd Marriage: Mary Ann Angell
Mary Ann Angell (1808-1882) was married on 18 Feb 1834 in Kirtland OH to Brigham shortly after the death of his first wife. She is the sister of famous church architect Truman Osborn Angell (1810-1887). Brigham would later marry also her mother (wife #29) and older sister (wife #27) in 1846. They had six children:


 * 1) Joseph Angell Young (1834-1875) - LDS Apostle, key participant in the Martin Handcart Company Rescue, member of Utah Territorial Legislature and LDS Missionary to England.
 * 2) Father of Richard Whitehead Young (1858-1919), a U.S. Army Brigadier General and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines during the time that the Philippines was a U.S. Territory.
 * 3) Mary Ann Young (1836-1843) (twin) -  twin sister Mary died at age seven from the effects of injuries received at age two in a wagon accident.
 * 4) Brigham Young (1836-1903) (twin / AKA: Brigham Young, Jr.) - Apostle in LDS Church, serving as President of the Twelve during the adminstration of  Joseph F. Smith / At age twelve. Young drove an ox cart along the Mormon Trail, reaching Salt Lake City in 1848.
 * 5) Alice Young (1839-1874)
 * 6) Luna Caroline Young (1842-1922)
 * 7) John Willard Young (1844-1924) -  He is one of the few individuals to have been an apostle of the LDS Church and a member of the First Presidency without ever having been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

3rd Marriage: Lucy Ann Decker
Lucy Ann Decker (1822-1890) was the first plural wife of Brigham Young. She married him at age 20 (20 Jan 1842 at Nauvoo, Illinois) after leaving her first husband who was an alcoholic and abusive. In 1848 she followed him to Salt Lake City, where she and her children became primary occupants of the Lion House.

Her sister Clarissa Clara Decker (1828-) also married Brigham as his 4th plural wife (#6) and their mother, Harriet Page Wheeler (1803-1871) was a plural wife to Brigham's younger brother, Lorenzo Dow Young (1807-1895). Both of these two ladies were part of the first pioneer company to Utah in July 1847.




 * 1) Brigham Heber Young (1845-1928) -  - real estate and insurance agent - he married the daughter of William Clayton (1814-1879), english convert, Utah pioneer and songwriter famous for the popular LDS hymn, Come, Come, Ye Saints.
 * 2) Fanny Decker Young (1849-1892) - md George Washington Thatcher
 * 3) Enerst Irving Young (1851-) - Md Sybella White Johnson
 * 4) Arta D'Christa Young (1855-1916) - md Susan Snow,  - daughter of  LDS Apostle Erastus Fairbanks Snow (1818-1888).
 * 5) Feramorz Little Young (1858-1881) - joined US Naval Academy. He died at age 23 of typhoid fever on board ship returning from his mission to Mexico with Apostle Moses Thatcher and was buried at sea off the coast of Florida.
 * 6) Clarissa Hamilton Young (1860-) - md John Daniel Spencer

4th Marriage: Augusta Adams
Augusta Adams (1802-1886), left behind her husband (Henry Cobb (1798-1872), a wealthy Quaker, and seven of their children, prompting Boston newspaper reporters to question who the father was of her infant, whom she had named Brigham Young Cobb. She became the third wife in his current household. No known children.  She married to Brigham on 2 November 1843 in  Nauvoo.

5th Marriage: Harriet Cook
Harriet Elizabeth Cook (1824-1898) - born in Oneida County, New York and md 02 Nov 1843 at Nauvoo. Only 1 child together. Her only recorded marriage.


 * 1) Oscar Brigham Young (1846-1910) -

6th Marriage: Clara Decker
Clarissa Clara Decker (1828-) married Brigham on 08 May 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois at age 16. Younger sister of Lucy Ann Decker (1822-1890) (#3 above). She was of the three women to be part of the first pioneer company to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. She lived in the home on State Street, near the former site of the famous Social Hall.


 * 1) Jeannette Young (1849-1930) - md Robert Easton
 * 2) Nabbie Howe Young (1852-) - md Orson Clawson
 * 3) Jedediah Grant Young (1855-1856)
 * 4) Albert Jeddie Young (1858-)
 * 5) Charlotte Talula Young (1861-) - md Augustus M Wood

7th Marriage: Emily Dow Partridge
The daughter of 1st LDS Bishop, Edward Partridge (1793-1840), Emily Dow Partridge (1824-1899) and her sister Eliza Maria Partridge (1820-1886) were both plural wives of the Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith (1805-1844). Neither had any children from that marriage. After his assasination, Eliza married to Amasa Lyman and Emily married (Sept 1844) to the next Mormon leader, Brigham Young (1801-1877), by whom she had 7 children.


 * 1) Edward Partridge Young (1845-1852)
 * 2) Emily Augusta Young (1849-1926)
 * 3) Caroline Partridge Young (1851-1903) - Plural wife of  LDS Apostle George Quayle Cannon (1827-1901).
 * 4) Joseph Don Carlos Young (1855-1938) - distinquished architect of many civic and church buildings in Utah.  Last surviving son of Brigham Young.
 * 5) Miriam Young (1857-) - died young
 * 6) Josephine Young (1860-1912) - md the son of her step-brother.
 * 7) Lura Young (1862-1862) - died young

8th Marriage: Clarissa Ross
Married Clarissa Ross (1814-1858) on 10 Sept 1844 at Nauvoo. 4 Children.


 * 1) Mary Eliza Young (1847-1871)
 * 2) Clarissa Maria Young (1849-1935)
 * 3) Willard Young (1852-1936)
 * 4) Phoebe Louisa Young (1854-1931)

9th Marriage: Louisa Beaman
Louisa Beaman (1815-1850) married Brigham on 19 Sept 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, becoming his ninth wife. She was previously one of the first plural wives of Joseph Smith (1805-1844), being married to him in 1841.

Louisa had 5 children that all pre-deceased her before her own death at age 35 in Salt Lake City.


 * 1) Moroni Young (1847-1847)
 * 2) Hyrum Young (1848-1848)
 * 3) Joseph Young (1848-1848)
 * 4) Alma Burtts Young (1848-1850)
 * 5) Alva Beaman Young (1848-1850)

10th Marriage: Eliza R Snow
Eliza Roxcy Snow (1804-1887), married Brigham on 3 Oct 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois. She had been a plural wife to Joseph Smith and later become the 2nd President of the General Relief Society of the LDS Church and ardent supporter of polygamy. She wrote much poetry that later became hymns of the church. She bore no children with either husband.

11th Marriage: Elizabeth Fairchild
Married Elizabeth Fairchild (1828-1910) (age 16) on Oct 3, 1844, at Nauvoo IL. First marriage / divorced in 1855.

12th Marriage: Clarissa Blake
Married Clarissa Blake (1796-) (age 48) on Oct 8, 1844 at Nauvoo IL. widow of—Morse; married to Mormon husband Lyman Homiston. No Children

13th Marriage: Rebecca Holman
Married Rebecca Greenleaf Holman (1824-1849) (age 20) on Oct 9, 1844 at Nauvoo IL. first marriage. Died at Council Bluffs, Iowa. No Children.

14th Marriage: Diana Chase
Married Diana Severance Chase (1827-1886) (age 17) on Oct 10, 1844 at Nauvoo IL. first marriage. divorced prior to 1849. No children, remarried in Ogden, Utah in 1849.

15th Marriage: Susanne Snively
Married Susanna Snively (1815-1892) (age 29) on Oct 31, 1844 at Nauvoo IL. first marriage. 1 daughter.

President Young owned a large farm on the outskirts of Salt Lake City on which he erected a farmhouse. It was here that Susan Snively Young lived for many years, cooking for the men who worked on the farm, caring for the poultry and overseeing the making of the butter and cheese which supplied his large family with part of their living.


 * 1) Julia Young (1853-1889)

16th Marriage: Olive Frost
Married Olive Grey Frost (1816-1846) (age 28) on Nov 7, 1844 at Nauvoo IL. first marriage. plural widow of Joseph Smith, Jr. Sealed to Joseph Smith, Jr. for eternity and Young for life. They married Brigham in 1844, and she bore him no children, about a year later in childbirth.

17th Marriage: Mary Ann Clark
Married Mary Ann Clark (1816-) (age 43) on Jan 15, 1845 at Nauvoo IL. first marriage. Previously married to —— Powers (unknown if she was widowed, divorced, or separated). Divorced in June 1851.

18th Marriage: Margaret Pierce
Married Margaret Pierce (1823-1907) (age 22) on 16 Jan 1845. She was the widow of Morris Whitesides. sealed to Morris Whitesides for eternity and Young for time; 1 child. She had only one son:


 * 1) Brigham Morris Young (1855-1931) who married the daughter of Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901), 5th President of the LDS Church.

19th Marriage: Mary Pierce
Married Mary Harvey Pierce (1821-1847) (age 25) on 16 Jan 1845. First marriage, no children.

20th Marriage: Emmeline Free
Married Emmeline Free (1826-1875) (age 18) on 30 Apr 1845. First marriage, 10 children.


 * 1) Ella Elizabeth Empey Young (1847-1890)
 * 2) Marinda Hyde Young (1849-1883)
 * 3) Hyrum Smith Young (1851-1925)
 * 4) Emmeline Amanda Young (1853-)
 * 5) Louisa Wells Young (1855-)
 * 6) Lorenzo Dow Young (1856-1905)
 * 7) Alonzo Young (1858-1918)
 * 8) Ruth Young (1861-1944)
 * 9) Daniel Wells Young (1863-1863)
 * 10) Ardelle Elwin Young (1864-1900)

21st Marriage: Mary Rollins
Married Mary Elizabeth Rollins (1818-1913) (age 26) on 22 May 1845, wife of Adam Lightner (1810-1885) a non-member with whom she remained living. Plural wife widow of Joseph Smith. Sealed to Joseph Smith, Jr. for eternity and Young for time; remained living with Lightner. No Children.

22nd Marriage: Margaret Alley
Married Margaret Maria Alley (1825-1852) (age 20) on 14 Jan 1846. First marriage, 2 children.
 * 1) Evelyn Louise Young (1850-1917)
 * 2) Mohonri Moriancumer Young (1852-1884)

23rd Marriage: Olive Andrews
Married Olive Andrews (1818-) (age 27) on 15 Jan 1846. was born on 24 Sep 1818 in Livermore, Maine. Olive Andrews was sealed to Joseph Smith (by proxy after his death). Married to Brigham as plural wife #23 for time only. Nothing more is known of her.

24th Marriage: Emily Haws
Married Emily Haws (1823-) (age 22) on 15 Jan 1846. Widow of William Whitemarsh.

25th Marriage:Martha Bowker
Married Martha Bowker (1822-1890) (age 23) on 21 Jan 1846. First marriage, 1 children.


 * 1) Ida C Young (1860-1927) -

26th Marriage: Ellen Rockwood
Married Ellen Rockwood (1826-1866) (age 16) on 21 Jan 1846. Her first marriage, Ellen moved from Holliston MA with her Uncle Jesse Haven and her Aunt Elizabeth, in 1838, and went to Far West, Missouri, with the Saints. She arrived in Salt Lake Valley with the family in September 1848. She had no children...

27th Marriage: Jemima Angell
Married Jemima Angell (1804-1869) on 28 Jan 1846 (age 42) in Nauvoo, Illinois. She was divorced from Valentine Young (no relation). sister of Wife #2 Mary Ann Angell (1808-1882) and daughter of Wife #29 Phebe Ann Morton (1786-1854). No Children.

28th Marriage: Abigail Works
Married Abigail Marks (1781–1846) on 28 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Illinois. She was the widow of Asa Works. Sealed to Works for eternity and Young for time; Abigail Marks was the mother of Young's first wife, Miriam Angeline Works (1806-1832).

29th Marriage: Phebe Morton
Married Phebe Ann Morton (1786-1854) on 28 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Illinois. She was the divorced mother of Brigham's second wife Mary Ann Angell (1808-1882). Sealed to Solomon Angell (1806-1881) for eternity and Young for time. No Children.

32nd Marriage: Rhoda Richards
Married on 31 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo IL to his 1st cousin, Rhoda Richards (1784-1879) who was a widow to the prophet, Joseph Smith (1805-1844). Sealed to Joseph Smith, Jr. for eternity and Young for time. After Joseph's martyrdom, this widow married her 1st cousin and Joseph's successor, Brigham Young (1801-1877) as his 32nd wife. She was age 61 and he 44 at this time. She had no children from either marriage.

33rd Marriage: Zina Huntington
Married to Zina Diantha Huntington (1821-1901). She was a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith (1805-1844), and later Brigham Young, each of whom she married while she was still married to her first husband, Henry Jacobs.

Husband was Henry Bailey Jacobs, who was aware of Zina's plural marriage to Smith. Jacobs wrote, "[W]hatever the Prophet did was right, without making the wisdom of God's authorities bend to the reasoning of any man." (Compton 1997, pp. 81–82)

Soon after Smith's death in 1844, Zina was married to Brigham Young. In May 1846, Young called Henry Jacobs to serve a mission to England. During Jacobs's absence, Zina began living openly in a marital relationship with Young and continued to do so for the rest of her life, without ever obtaining a divorce from Jacobs. She had one child with Brigham Young, Zina Prescinda Young, in 1850.


 * 1) Zina Presendia Young (1850-1931) -

42nd Marriage: Lucy Bigelow
Lucy Bigelow (1830-1905), Her parents were earnest followers of the Mormon Church and were heavily persecuted in IL and by 1850 were established in Utah. Lucy and her older sister, Mary Jane (above), became wives of Brigham Young. Mary Jane obtained a divorce and married again, but Lucy remained a devoted wife to Brigham. They married in Winter Quarters on 20 March 1847 - the same day as did her older sister.


 * 1) Eudora Lovina Young (1852-1921) - md 1) Moreland Dunford in 1871 (then divorced), md 2) Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) (4th President of LDS Church (then divorced) md 3) Albert Hagan.
 * 2) Susan Amelia Young (1856-1933) - A daughter and grandchildren from this union would receive wide acclaim: Susa Young Gates, a close associate of Susan B. Anthony and women's rights; and, Emma Lucy Gates Bowen, a world renown opera singer and wife to future LDS Apostle A. Bowen, Leah D. Widtsoe, author and nutritionist and wife of LDS Apostle Widtsoe; B. Cecil Gates, LDS composer.
 * 3) Rhoda Mabel Young (1863-1950) -

43rd Marriage: Mary Jane Bigelow
Mary Jane Bigelow (1827-1868) and her younger sister Lucy were both married to him on the same date, 20 Mar 1847, at Winter Quarters, per the journal of her niece Susan Amelia Young (1856-1933). Upon her arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, at her request, she was released from her vows by Brigham. But her sister remained faithfully married to him. No known children.

51st Marriage: Mary Van Cott
Mary Van Cott (1844-1884) Married 8 January 1865, Brigham's last wife and she bore him his last child. She was previously married to James Cobb, Brigham's stepson by was of his marriage to James' mother, Augusta Adams (1802-1886), wife #4 above.


 * 1) Fannie Young (1870-1950) - only child of this marriage.

Other Wives
Margaret Alley (1825-1852) + Olive Andrews (1818-) + Emily Haws (1823-) + Martha Bowker (1822-1890) + Ellen Rockwood (1829-1866) + Jemima Angel (1803-1869) + Abigail Marks (1781-1846) + Phebe Morton (1776-1854) + Cynthia Porter (1783-1861) + Mary Eliza Nelson (1812-1885)

Amy Cecilia Cooper (1804-1852) + Mary Ellen de la Montaigne (1803-1894) + Julia Foster (1811-1891) + Abigail Harback (1790-1849) + Mary Ann Turley (1827-1904) + Naamah Carter (1821-1909) + Nancy Cressy (1780-1872) + Jane Terry (1819-1847)

Sarah Malin (1804-1858) + Eliza Burgess (1827-1915) + Mary Oldfield (1793-1875) + Eliza Babcock (1828-1868) + Catherine Reese (1804-1860) + Harriet Barney (1830-1911) + Amelia Folsom (1838-1910) + Mary Van Cott (1844-1884) + Ann Eliza Webb (1844-1917) + Elizabeth Jones (1814-1895) + Lydia Farnsworth (1808-1897) + Hannah Tapfield (1807-1886)

The following is only a partial lis to his children, due to limitations in Familypedia SMW.

Salt Lake Gravesite

 * Location: Mormon Pioneer Memorial : Salt Lake City.

Famous Descendants
Three of Young's sons were ordained as LDS Church apostles by their father: Brigham Young, Jr.,[44] John Willard Young,[44] and Joseph Angell Young.[44] Other leaders in the LDS Church who were descended from Young include his children Maria Young Dougall and B. Morris Young. A daughter, Susa Young Gates, was a prominent women's rights activist in Utah.[45][46] Another daughter, Zina Young Card, was the wife of Charles O. Card who founded the first Mormon settlement in Canada - Cardston, Alberta - and who was referred to as "Canada's Brigham Young." A son, Don Carlos Young, was an LDS Church architect. A granddaughter, Leah D. Widtsoe, was wife of apostle John A. Widtsoe and herself a leading expert in home economics.[45][46] Other grandchildren include sculptor Mahonri Young;[47] Richard Whitehead Young, U.S. Army Brigadier General and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines;[48] William Hooper Young, a convicted murderer;[49][50] opera singer Emma Lucy Gates Bowen; Zina Card Brown, wife of Canadian military officer and apostle Hugh B. Brown; Zola Grace Brown, first wife of FLDS Church president Rulon Jeffs; hymnwriter Hugh W. Dougall; and sociologist Kimball Young. More distant descendants include Mormon critic Sandra Tanner, novelist Orson Scott Card,[51] and NFL Hall of Fame athlete Steve Young.[52]

In 1902, 25 years after his death, the New York Times established that Young's direct descendants numbered more than 1000.[53]


 * Brigham Young Immigrant Ancestors - List of both Famous Descendants and early colonial ancestors.

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