Young, Brigham (1801–1877)

Becoming a Mormon

In 1830, Joseph Smith Jr., of nearby Palmyra, New York, came forward with The Book of Mormon. Several members of Young's family embraced the new religion, and in January 1832, Brigham Young and four others traveled to Columbia, Pennsylvania, to spend a week in a Mormon settlement. On 15 April 1832, he was baptized into the faith in the stream that ran beside his mill. On the same day, he was ordained an elder in the Mormon Church.

Four months later his wife died, leaving Brigham with two children. Shortly thereafter, he visited the Mormon enclave at Kirtland, Ohio, where he met Joseph Smith for the first time. In fall 1833, Young persuaded several friends and extended family members to move with him to Kirtland.

Still some time away from accepting polygamy, Young remarried in 1834 and joined Smith in leading a force to defend the Mormon colony at Zion, Missouri, then under attack by enraged settlers. In 1837, beset by creditors, Young and Smith, followed by a [Page 1698]thousand Mormons from Ohio, returned to make a permanent home in Missouri. There they clashed violently with anti-Mormon forces. Amidst increasing bloodshed, the Prophet (as Joseph Smith was called by his followers) was briefly jailed, and the Saints (a term the Mormons used to refer to themselves) were driven from the state.

This illustration shows Brigham Young leading a convoy of followers west out of Illinois. The banners carried by the followers read “God bless Brigham Young,” “The Lion of the Land.”

Corbis; used with permission.

Young's influence in church matters had increased during the turbulent months in Missouri, and he led the Mormons to their new home in Nauvoo, Illinois. In late 1839, Smith dispatched him to England for two years of missionary work. When he returned home he was assigned to oversee the church's meager finances.

...