YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-77). The successor of Joseph Smith. Jr., as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (See MORMONS.) He was born in Whitingham, Wind hain County, Vt., June 1, 1801. He removed to Mendon, Monroe County, N. Y., and was bap tized into the Mormon Church April 14. 1832. Appointed an elder, he first met the Prophet Joseph at Ohio. After a successful mission to Canada lie went to Missouri in the 'Army of Zion.' Elected as one of the original Quorum of Twelve in 1835, he was called to preach to the Indians, and finally started on a mission to the Eastern States. in 1840 he was sent to Liverpool to assist Apostles John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff (qq.v.) in the English mission and became an editor of the Millennial Star. Upon the apostasy of T. B. Marsh, Young was left president of the Twelve, and held this position until his election as president of the Church, December 5, 1847. After the murder of Smith in 1844 Young remonstrated with the Mormons for their depredations ill Missouri. and in turn demanded fair treatment from the Quiney Committee upon the expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois. The next year, having, vainly sought Federal aid from President Polk, he urged the Saints to move somewhere west of the Rocky Mountains. In February. 1846, 1w was himself a member of the first party to leave Nanvoo. but stayed in winter quarters on the Missouri till the following January. Then he promulgated his first and only 'revelation,' to be found in the Book of Doctrine and ('orcnants. Beaching the
Salt Lake Valley in 1848. lie selected the site of the temple. Young's power over his followers was BOW shown by his prohibition of gold-min ing, by his organization of the ill-fated hand cart expedition. and by his election as Governor of the State of Deseret. in 1819. The following year he was appointed by President as I•'ede•ul Covernor of the Territory of Utah. Young's choice of his own ward bishops enabled him to control all local atTairs and receive the bulk of the tithes• TIis suppression of the schismatic Claddenit es in 1853 led him to fur ther steps against the exodus of the iliseoutimted, such as the murder of \V. It. Parish, the organ ization I if the 'Wolf Hunters.' and the instituting of 'blood atonement.' Defying the I"nited States authorities sent out by President in the so-ealled Nfugulin War of 1857, and indicted for treason after the Mountain Meadows mas sacre (q.v.), Young was nevertheless let alone by the Central GmwrIlwnent. About this time lie his sole contribution to the body of Mor mon divinity. the doetrine of the worship of Adam as Cod. In 1866 founded the Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. In 1871 the case against him for unlawful cohabita tion was dropped as unconstitutional, but the divorce suit brought by Ann Eliza Young. known as wife 'No. 19,' was sustained. Young died August 29, 1877, and was reputed to have left between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000, 24 widows, and 44 children.