YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-1877), Mormon leader, born at Whittingham, Vt. (U.S.A.), June 1, 1801. He moved to Mendon, N.Y., in 1829, and three years later joined the newly organized Mormon Church. (See MORMONS.) He was appointed an apostle in 1835, played a leading role in the removal of the Mormons from Missouri to Illinois, and in 1840 was sent to Liverpool to direct Mormon missionary work in England. There he organized branch missions, established emigrating agencies and began publi cation of the Millennial Star. He returned to America two months after the death of the prophet, Joseph Smith (q.v.), to take over the leadership of the church. The people of Illinois having de manded the removal of the Mormons, Young was faced with the Herculean task of leading them to a new country where they would be free from interference. After organizing the groups and planning every move in detail, the migration of nearly 5,000 people was gotten under way in 1846. Early in 1847 Young, lead ing the advance band, reached the valley of Great Salt Lake, and there decided to settle. He founded Salt Lake City, began the cultivation of crops by irrigation and directed the dispersal of the emigrant trains as they arrived. Both in moral and economic
realms his word was law and he laid down the policies of the settlement. When the Territory of Utah was organized in 1850 he was appointed governor by President Fillmore and reappointed in 1854. Though not appointed again in 1858 because of his defiance of the United States in the so-called Mormon War, he continued to be the supreme power of the Territory.- He en couraged agriculture, developed natural resources, established manufactures, founded Deseret University at Salt Lake City and Brigham Young Academy at Provo, built the Salt Lake Theatre, laid the foundations of the Mormon Temple, and created the Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution which grew into the largest institution of its kind in the West. His genius as a leader is generally recognized, the settlement of Utah being one of the best examples of organic colonization in history. He followed the doctrine of plural marriage and at his death at Salt Lake City Aug. 29, 1877, was survived by 17 wives and 47 children.