YOUNG, BRIGHAM, American Mormon leader, was born at Whittingham, Vermont, June 1, 1801, and was the son of a small farmer proprietor. In 1832, having become converted to Mormonism, he was made an elder of the church of the Latter-day Saints, and began to preach at the Mormon settlement at Kirtland, Ohio. In 1835 he was appointed one of the twelve apostles of the church, and sent as a missionary to the New England states, where he was very successful in making converts. After the Mormons had been driven from Kirtland to Missouri, and from the latter to Illinois, and the mur 'der of Joseph Smith by a mob (1844), Young was chosen president in his place. The year following the charter of Nauvoo was repealed by the legislature of Illinois; and after a cannonade of three days the Mormons were driven from their capital and tem ple, and led by president Young to Utah, where they arrived, after a toilsome journey, July 24, 1847. Next year the great body of Mormons arrived and founded Salt Lake City; and in 1850 president Fillmore appointed Brigham Young governor of the territory for four years. In 1854, in consequence of the Mormons setting the federal laws at defi ance by having in 1852 proclaimed polygamy as the "celestial law of marriage," col.
Steptoe was appointed governor in Young's place, but on visiting Utah he thought it an unsafe residence, and resigned. The Mormon president exercised supreme authority, and said, "I am and will be governor, and no power can hinder it until the Lord almighty says Brigham, you need not be governor any longer.' " In 1857 a new governor, Cumming, was appointed, and sent with a force of 2,500 U.S. troops to protect him and the federal officers; but Young forbade them to enter the territory, and cut off the supply-trains. A compromise was, however, effected, the Mormons par doned, and the troops remained until 1860. The determination of the United States to abolish polygamy, and the appointment, in 1869, of a new U.S. governor, contributed somewhat to reduce Young's authority. In 1874 his fifteenth wife petitioned the U.S. courts for a divorce, and separated from him. Young died Aug. 29, 1877, leaving a fortune of two million dollars to 17 wives and 56 children. See Momitoxs, SALT LASE CITY, and UTAH.