Leonard J. Arrington - Brigham Young

LEONARD J. ARRINGTON
Brigham Young

Leonard J. Arrington wrote several books on Mormon history and the American West, including Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of Latter-day Saints, 18301900 (1958) and, co-authored with Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints (1979). A regular contributor to many scholarly journals, he received a number of awards. Professor Arrington taught at North Carolina State, UCLA, Utah State University, and as the Lemuel Redd Professor of Western History at Brigham Young University. He served as Director of the History Division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

ALSO BY LEONARD J. ARRINGTON

Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 18301900 (1958)

The Changing Economic Structure of the Mountain West, 18501950 (1963)

Charles C. Rich, Mormon General and Western Frontiersman (1974)

David Eccles, Pioneer Western Industrialist (1975)

Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons (with F. Y. Fox and Dean L. May, 1976)

From Quaker to Latter-day Saint: Bishop Edwin D. Woolley (1976)

The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints (with Davis Bitton, 1979)

Saints Without Halos: The Human Side of Mormon History (with Davis Bitton, 1981)

Sunbonnet Sisters: Women in Mormon History (with Susan Madsen, 1984)

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, JUNE 2012

Copyright 1985 by Leonard J. Arrington

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House Inc., New York, in 1985.

Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Arrington, Leonard J.
Brigham Young: American Moses.
1. Young, Brigham, 18011877.
2. Mormon ChurchPresidentsBiography.
3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsPresidentsBiography. I. Title.
BX8695.Y7A85 1985 289.3320924 [B] 8448650

eISBN: 978-0-345-80338-2

www.vintagebooks.com

Cover design by Cardon Webb

v3.1

TO MY ASSOCIATES IN CAMELOT CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSIllustrations were provided courtesy of the following organizations:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Graphics Library (LDS)Utah State Historical Society Photograph Collection (USHS)University of Illinois and Huntington Library (UI) Photo section I Earliest known photograph of Brigham Young (LDS) Joseph Smith, Jr. (LDS) Cabinet made by Young (LDS) Home built by Young in New York State (USHS) Mormon temple in Kirtland, Ohio (LDS) Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois, ca. 1845 Brigham Youngs residence in Nauvoo (USHS) Young and his second wife, Mary Ann Angell, and their children (USHS) Brigham Young, about 1847 (LDS) Mormon pioneer company crossing the Plains to Utah Heber C. Kimball (LDS) Willard Richards (LDS) Daniel H. Wells (LDS) Orson Pratt (LDS) Wilford Woodruff (LDS) Photo section II State of Deseret, 184951 (map) Main Street in Salt Lake City, about 1862 (LDS) George Q. Cannon (LDS) George A. Smith (LDS) The Mansion House or White House (LDS) Official residences and offices of Young in Salt Lake City (LDS) Mary Ann Angell (Mother Young) (LDS) Lucy Decker (USHS) Eliza Roxcy Snow (LDS) The Young brothers, about 1856 (LDS) The interior of Youngs office, 1871 (USHS) Mormon farmer and family (UI) Summer visit to a Mormon settlement (USHS) The Mormon Tabernacle and Salt Lake City, about 1867 (LDS) Brigham Young, about 1873 (LDS)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe the greatest debt to two colleagues. The first is Davis Bitton, my close associate in the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for ten years and professor of history at the University of Utah. He has given me almost daily counsel on Mormon history, made cogent comments on my manuscript, chapter by chapter, and helped me to interpret Brigham Youngs doctrinal pronouncements. I am indebted, secondly, to Ronald K. Esplin, Research Historian with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History at Brigham Young University, whose primary assignment, from 1973 to 1980, was to assist with the organization and identification of the enormous mass of Brigham Young papers in the LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City. Dr. Esplins acquaintance with these papers and his willingness to share his expertise have made it possible for me to use these masses of materials with the greatest effectiveness. He also supervised the preparation of typescripts of much of this material.

Nearly all of the transcribing was done by Edyth Jenkins Romney, surely one of the most cheerful, dependable, and intelligent of typists. Now in her late seventies, she is still directing her labor to the continuation of this effort.

I acknowledge also the help of several research assistants who have combed through the abundant materials in the LDS Archives for useful information. Richard Jensen has helped with the research on Brighams direction of immigration; William G. Hartley, on the work of the bishops and priesthood quorums; Rebecca Cornwall, on Youngs family and religious background and his meetings with literary figures; Lawrence Coates, on Indian affairs; and Linda Wilcox on Brigham as an administrator and correspondent. JoAnn Jolley followed Brigham across the plains; Ronald W. Walker furnished autobiographical statements; and Dr. Walker and Lavina Fielding Anderson helped improve my writing style. Maureen Beecher, Carol Madsen, Jill Mulvay Derr, and Jeffrey Johnson have provided information on the women in Brighams lifehis wives, his daughters, and his associates in administering church programs. Dean Jessee has answered innumerable questions about Mormon history and generously shared material in his files. Elder G. Homer Durham has lent support to the project, as did Elder Joseph Anderson and Presidents Harold B. Lee and Spencer W. Kimball. Earl Olson and Donald T. Schmidt gave permission for the extensive use of materials in the Church Archives. I am grateful as well to the LDS Archives and the Utah State Historical Society for permission to use photographs in their collections. None of these, however, is to be held responsible for the material included, or for any errors in fact and interpretation.

I should also make it clear that this book was written entirely on my own time, and the research assistants who have helped me plow through the vast amount of manuscript material have done so at no expense to the Mormon church. Moreover, Latter-day Saint authorities have not screened this volume for its suitability for Mormon readers. In short, this has been a private, not a church project.

I am grateful to Ron Watt, archivist; Gordon Irving, oral historian; Glen Leonard, museum director; James B. Allen and Dean Martin Hickman of Brigham Young University; L. Dwight Israelsen of Utah State University; and my secretaries, Chris Waters, Nedra Pace, Kathy Stephens, Mary Miller, and Kathleen Anderson. Many colleagues and associates in the Mormon History Association have shared their knowledge of various localities in which Brigham Young lived and events in which he participated. I have tried to give them credit in the bibliography and reference notes. This has not been a one man project; I owe a deep debt to many scholars.

My son James Arrington, who as an actor and playwright has studied Brigham Youngs character and personality for several years, has been generous with his help, as has my son Carl Arrington, a writer and editor in New York City and Los Angeles. My daughter, Susan Madsen, has listened to many sketches that have gone into this book. I have benefited from her suggestions as well as those of my late wife, Grace Arrington, who, until her unfortunate death, enthusiastically encouraged me in this long and demanding project. To my present wife, Harriet Ann, I express gratitude for unrestrained and loving support.

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