Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Lion And The Lioness: Brigham Young And Eliza R. Snow, Jill Mulvay Derr

BYU Studies Quarterly

He was born in 1801, she in 1804. He was a man known for his humor and gruffness, she a woman known for her sobriety and refinement. He preached unforgettable sermons, though he never learned to spell. She wrote reams of poetry and songs. He provided her a home as one of his wives for thirty years, but she never took his name. Both he and she were passionately devoted to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his expansive vision of eternity. President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and presidentess of its Relief Society, Brigham Young and …

“A Man Of God And A Good Kind Father”: Brigham Young At Home, Dean C. Jessee

BYU Studies Quarterly

On January 31, 1857, Brigham Young (fig. 1) walked into the Church Historian's Office in Salt Lake City and gave instructions that he wanted very little about his family included in the history of the Church. His reticence no doubt stemmed form people's curiosity about the Mormon leader's polygamous lifestyle, which subjected his family to an inordinate amount of scrutiny and ridicule in the public press. Consequently, during his lifetime, the story of Brigham Young's family remained largely untold. Even now, the literature about Brigham Young focuses disproportionately on his public life, his accomplishments as Church President, colonizer, governor of …

Leopold Bierwirth's Impressions Of Brigham Young And The Mormons, 1872, Donald Q. Cannon

BYU Studies Quarterly

Tourists frequently passed through Salt Lake City after the trans-continental railroad was completed in 1869. Many visitors recorded their impressions of the city and its inhabitants. One visitor, Leopold Bierwirth, a New York City merchant, kept a diary during his 1872 railroad journey from New York to San Francisco. The diary is similar to other travel narratives but contains much more detail and insight than most others. Bierwirth's observations are particularly valuable because they were written during his visit rather than later. The portion of Bierwirth's diary reporting his visit to Salt Lake City, including his impressions of Brigham Young, …

Brigham Young And The Mission Of Mormonism, Jed Woodworth

BYU Studies Quarterly

For the most part, Brigham Young chose to ignore his critics, but on occasion he personally responded to them. The letter printed below contains Brigham Young's 1869 answer to a newspaper editor's question, "What is the mission of the Mormons?" Mormonism's fruits, Brigham attested, substantiated its faith claims.

Father Brigham In His Western Canaan, John K. Carmack

BYU Studies Quarterly

If you were to paint a word picture of Brigham Young by comparing him to an earlier spiritual leader, to whom would you compare him? Maybe the most dramatic comparison comes from that pivotal moment when he spoke to nearly five thousand Saints gathered in Nauvoo to select those who would take the reins of leadership in the restored Church. To many, including my own forbears, as he delivered his address he looked and sounded like Joseph Smith. Or perhaps, as Leonard Arrington did, you would compare him to Moses leading the children of Israel on a long and perilous …

“Cows To Milk Instead Of Novels To Read”: Brigham Young, Novel Reading, And Kingdom Building, Richard H. Cracroft

BYU Studies Quarterly

To read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise.

—Henry David Thoreau

Read the true and the wise. The perusal of the rest is worse than time wasted, it is time abused.

—Brigham Young