He was the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death. From deeply disturbing acts by its founder, Joseph Smith, to atrocities committed in the name of God in Utah, Mormonism has some very dark secrets that even most members of the Church dont know about. Ann Eliza Young was not acting in a vacuum, however. Richards. On August 29, 1877, Brigham Young died in Salt Lake City at the age of 76. TAMPA, Fla. Acting as his own lawyer, a double-murder defendant opened his death penalty trial by shouting at jurors that he did not attack his girlfriend and disabled daughter. Why? Life After Death: 6 Insights into the Spirit World. President Brigham Young ordained his 11-year-old son John Willard Young as an apostle shortly after John received his temple endowment, though John never joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. setTimeout(function(){var t=document.createElement("script");t.setAttribute("src","https://sample.dragonforms.com/getEmbeddedClientScript.do?embeddedsite=TW_dispatch_nl"),t.setAttribute("type","text/javascript"),document.body.appendChild(t)},5); Become a subscriber today and youll recieve a new issue every month plus unlimited access to our full archive of backlogged issues. He married single women and widows. Also in 1854, President Franklin Pierce attempted to replace Young as territory governor, but nominee Edward Steptoe declined, explaining that he could not perform his duties in the face of fanaticism in the mass of the people and a religious oligarchy., By 1857, with Youngs approval, the territorial assembly sent a blunt warning to incoming U.S. president James Buchanan. When the United States claimed sovereignty over the area in 1848, Mormons petitioned Congress for recognition, and in 1850 the United States organized Utah Territory. The Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt had recently been murdered in Arkansas after essentially trying to kidnap children. When I learned that Orrin Porter Rockwell, the notorious Mormon lawman and Danite, had rushed Mrs. Pratt across the plains in record time, I knew what happened at Mountain Meadows. A US hospital has rejected a patient for a heart transplant at least in part because he is not vaccinated against Covid-19. On the other hand, Mormons have insisted that the massacre was perpetrated by local members acting without sanction from headquarters. Pres. If I shoot, they get shot. The Brink of War. Smithsonian Magazine, June 2008. he led the Mormon raiders to attack and burn supply wagons of the U.S. militia sent to kill the saints. The events at Mountain Meadows do not suggest a conspiracy, and certainly none involving Young. Sidney Rigdon was, for a time, the second most powerful person in Mormonism. How did the widow Pratt cross 1,500 dusty miles in a mere 21 days? Joseph Nelson has always been fascinated by religion. In a speech he gave as governor of Utah to the state legislature, he announced that Utah should have the right to practice slavery. 52 or thereabouts. She demanded Mormon authorities listen to the cry of his blood and take swift vengeance against the Fancher train, which had left Arkansas long before Pratt was killed. Young returned east to lead a second company of Mormons to the region in late 1847, and in 1848 was officially selected as the churchs new president. Brigham Young. The latter is filed in sequential order in Youngs well-preserved and bound letter books. But history is not assumption. Young, Brigham Born June 1, 1801 Whitingham, Vermont Died August 29, 1877 Salt Lake City, Utah Religious leader Mormon leader Brigham Young led his followers on a trek across the American plains to the Great Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah. Brigham Young was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1847 until his death in 1877. The Christian faith centers on beliefs regarding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The footage showed the massive professional athlete throwing the victim around her home with brutal force in front of their then-5-month-old son. After five years researching and writing about this horrific atrocity, I doubted Id ever find a definitive answer to the question, Did Brigham Young order the murders at Mountain Meadows?, To my surprise, I found evidence that convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Brigham Young issued orders (probably verbal) to kill everyone in the Fancher party except those of innocent bloodchildren under eight years of ageto fulfill his sacred vow to avenge the blood of the prophets Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and more specifically, Apostle Parley P. Pratt. He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than 50 women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. She, her husband Nate and their now 2-month-old son Luke fled their home in East Palestine the night of the train derailment to her mother's house about 14 to 15 miles away. You must not meddle with them. Seventeen children who were too young to remember the attack were spared. He was the ninth of eleven children, growing up in an unsettled frontier environment characterized by frequent family moves to various communities throughout upstate New York. Bridger Walker, 6, is being hailed as a hero for protecting his 4-year-old sister from a dog attack. In August 1857, Young reactivated the Nauvoo Legion, a militia first created in pre-exodus Illinois. Despite the clean-cut image of family-oriented conservatives that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) presents to the world, it too has moments of darkness in its past. Or did his belief in heavenly justice prove him an unlikely culprit? In theearly church years, the method of judging apostolic seniority was base on the date of ordination. He married -- was sealed to, in Mormon parlance -- young (Clarissa Decker, 15) and old (Hannah Tapfield King, 65). Young was not complicit in planning or executing the massacre. In 1852, Young publicly acknowledged Mormon polygamy. Rather than provide them with what they wanted, Lee chose to die like a man then [than] to live a villain.. He wasn't elected or picked to lead the Saints west, he was foreordained to lead them and gained their love and belief in his guidance. Youngs fiery discourses calling for blood and vengeance, his encouragement of Indian attacks on wagon trains and the lies he told to cover up the crime all show he was intimately involved in fomenting a vicious act of vengeance. Several church leaders, including Young, were later charged under the law; Young was not convicted, but a case involving his secretary, George Reynolds, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1879 unanimously decided that the law was constitutional and the First Amendment did not protect polygamy. Brigham Young University was named in his honor. This applied to countries as well as individuals. Even on the day of the slaughter, couriers were reportedly hurrying from Cedar City30 miles to the eastto call it off. But in 1517 Luther penned a document attacking the Catholic Churchs corrupt practice read more, Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. Sharon Smith & Mike Leach Were Friends at Brigham Young University; Mike Used to Visit Her Apartment to Watch Television Sharon Smith and Mike Leach both attended Brigham Young University. College volleyball's opening weekend ended with a fan banned from Brigham Young University's athletic facilities and statements expressing regret from two universities and the governor of Utah. The Latter-day Saint community [in Las Vegas is] vibrant across every facetpolitically, public service, charitable. There are no other trains going south that I know of. There are two ways to interpret the evidence about who ordered the brutal murder of 120 men, women and children at a remote Utah oasis on the road to California on September 11, 1857. A young boy has died and his mother has been hospitalized after being attacked by a pack of dogs over the weekend, according to tribal authorities. After the extermination order, the Mormons left for Nauvoo, Illinois, but their bad experiences in Missouri would never be forgotten. Phineas Howe Young (also found as Phinehas) (February 16, 1799 October 10, 1879) was a prominent early convert in the Latter Day Saint movement and was later a Mormon pioneer and a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Then rumors began to arise that the pioneers had been destroying fences, burning fields, and making threats against the Mormons, although none of the rumors were ever substantiated. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke Monday to staff at Brigham Young University (BYU) during the first day of the institution's 2021 University Conference.. According to this story, they told him that all religions existing at the time were abominations. The Indians we expect will do as they please but you should try and preserve good feelings with them. Most recently, Will Bagley made this case in his 2002 book, Blood of the Prophets. Despite the fact that the leader of the Mormon Church is supposed to relay Gods will to mankind, though, Brigham Young espoused some terrifyingly racist ideals. No credible evidence exists that Young wanted the massacre. Tracklist: 01. His grandson and namesake, George Albert Smith, later became an apostle and prophet of the Church. He was ordained king and priest by the Council of Fifty, and acted accordingly. . How many 5 letter words can you make from Cat in the Hat? According to the record, Alma the Younger was "a very wicked and an idolatrous man. In 1857, at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Brigham Young, was serving as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and as Governor of Utah Territory. Young said that the company that was used up at Mountain Meadows were the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and connections of those that murdered the prophets; they merited their fate, and the only thing that ever troubled him was the lives of the women and children, but that under the circumstances this could not be avoided. According to a BYU Scholars article, His speaking talent, organizational and leadership ability, and political sagacity were given untiringly to the service of his church. show. Rockwell never directly denied the crime, even when he was tried for it, insisting, Ive never shot at anybody. By doing so, we may get a better understanding of Rupert, who . Of course, anti-Young historians say otherwise. Brigham Young led one of the largest group migrations in American historyover 12,000 peopleto Salt Lake City, Utah. The Center also supported student training for life-long temple and family history service. Matters have & are being delayed with design of Cohearce [to coerce] me to Make a statement beyond what I know, he wrote in his diary. Wouldnt these events have kindled Youngs anger and led him to seek revenge? After Cowdery was excommunicated from the church in 1838, Young wrote him several letters pleading with him to come back into the church. Even though Young blessed it as a place to begin anew,his fears of continued religious persecution may have caused him to order a massacre. The proclamation is very clear: . He was a brother of the Mormon prophet, Brigham Young (1801-1877). Sept. 11 was a tragic date in American history long before the terrorist attacks of 2001. How do you put shoes on a cloven-footed ox? . Yet no narrative has a daily summary of what went on using the rich documents compiled at the time or the growing body of historical literature on the topic. Tensions were further inflamed when news reached Utah around this time that early church leader Parley P. Pratt had been killed by the estranged husband of one of Pratts polygamous wives while he was on a mission to the Eastern United States. Prosecutors in New York City are investigating an incident in which a jazz musician said his 14-year-old son was attacked by a woman who falsely accused him of taking her iPhone. Anonymous. (She also established from the most impeccable Mormon sources that Brigham Young had obstructed a murder investigation for 18 years, which made him guilty of felony murder.). With Congress repeatedly rejecting proposals for Utah statehood, Young firmly resisted the territorys involvement in the Civil War, especially after passage of the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act in 1862, which effectively outlawed plural marriage in U.S. territories. He was removed from his post but, when Rigdon was still Smiths second-in-command, his input helped shape much of Mormon theology and he also gave the majority of important sermons to the earliest Mormon congregations. Sometimes, he would send the husbands on missions in foreign countries and marry their wives while they were away and unable to object. Haight then turned the gun on himself. While it's clear that the Lord's prophets have often been preserved to perform sacred works, it is also clear that these near-death experiences provided Brigham Young with unparalleled insight into the nature of the spirit world. Immediately the German community attacked the schools for giving a false picture of German culture. Brigham Young had no tolerance for Mormons who began to doubt the faith. However, the revelation that Smith said he received commanding polygamy specifically forbade women marrying more than one man. The Utah War was resolved in 1858, with Young agreeing to step aside in favor of the new governor (though he remained de facto leader in the territory). He governed the territory as a theocracy, with church doctrines taking precedence over laws. As any attorney knows, the problem with a guilty client is he acts guilty, and after the massacre Brigham Young never behaved like an innocent man. . Young read the Bible verse the soldiers had inscribed on a cedar cross atop the monument: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord., It should read, he said, Vengeance is mine, and I have taken a little. Young then directed the desecration of the grave. Will Bagley, a history columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, is the author of Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows published by the University of Oklahoma Press. The former BYU student (in the 1960s) and president (1980-1989) expressed his deep love for the university, noted the blessings of a school focused on . Utah became the 45th member of the union on Jan. 4, 1896, with Salt read more, In 1844, reeling from the murder of their founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, and facing continued mob violence in their settlement in Illinois, thousands of Latter Day Saints (better known as Mormons) threw their support behind a new leader, Brigham Young. Even in households where the men could afford their wives and offered them full financial support, sometimes jealousy and spite divided wives to the point that some would kill themselves to avoid having to live in heaven with their husbands and their sister wives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has steadfastly denied responsibility. Published Aug. 16, 2021 Updated Aug. 17, 2021 At Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, beards have been banned on campus since the rise of the counterculture movement, when they were thought. According to Mormon doctrines, prophets speak to God and communicate God's will to Mormons. The emigrants fell back to a defensive position, and the ambush became a siege. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. (Right) John D. Lee. [9] In Utah Territory, Young worked as a printer, saddler and contractor.[10]. October 11, 1973. An armed mob assassinated Smith in 1844, and Young and the other apostles took charge of leading the Mormon church. Tragically, Youngs letter arrived two days after the massacre, despite one of the epic rides in Western history. Brigham Young later privately set apart three other sons and Joseph F. Smith as apostles who served as "assistant Counselors to the First Presidency." They were reacting to events as they took place. Young declared the site would be the groups new home, and they began building an adobe and log settlement where Salt Lake City now stands. His views on religious freedom read more, In 1950, L. Ron Hubbardthe founder of Scientologypublished his bestselling book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Though he originally conceived of Dianetics as a science of the mind, Hubbard later adapted his theories into a more religious approach, calling read more, The Inquisition was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout Europe and the Americas. In 1832, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the religion founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 based on the Book of Mormon, a scripture that Smith claimed to have translated from gold plates given to him by an angel named Moroni. Not circumstantial evidence. Brigham Young clearly wasn't free of his ex-wife just yet. Some Mormons say that some of the scrolls must still be missing, but Smith included facsimiles of the scrolls in his translation and they are clearly misinterpreted, with female figures listed as male, canopic jars indicated to be idolatrous gods, and the Egyptian fertility god, Min (depicted in a painted relief above), labeled God, sitting on his throne. The image of Min in the facsimile included in Mormon scriptures is sporting a comically exaggerated erection. Called to organize and lead the Mormon Raiders which consisted of 100 men. While several reasons for this statement may be suggested, most persuasive is the ebb and flow of the local decision-making during the weeklong event. (Above) John D. Lee sits on his coffin moments before being executed for reportedly ordering the Mountain Meadows attack. That progressed into a host of angels, then it evolved to God appearing to Smith in a pillar of fire. Women in Utah were treated like a commodity, with Church apostle Heber C. Kimball once observing, I would think nothing more of taking a wife than of buying a cow. Men married additional women to show their status as righteous men who were devoted to their faith and would often marry more women than they could afford to support, keeping the less-liked wives in other towns and forcing them to earn their own living. Ann Eliza Webb, after she decided to divorce Young in 1873, published an expos entitled Wife No. No other group of people [comes] close.. DJ Ferguson's family say he was first on the list to receive the transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital but he is no longer eligible because of his vaccination status, CBS Boston reported. Was not referring to his death, just the stabbing. Because of this and the expulsion from Missouri, the Mormons at the time felt very strong prejudice against people from those two states. Over the next few decades, as thousands of Mormons arrived in Salt Lake City, the charismatic Young styled himself after the great prophets and leaders of ancient Israel, earning nicknames like Lion of the Lord and American Moses.. Meanwhile, someone attempted to assassinate Governor Boggs, shooting him twice through the skull, once in the neck, and once in the throat. A flyer passed out by a neo-Nazi group outside Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston on January 22, 2022 targeting anti-racism physicians. History is often presented to young students within a single interpretative framework with little suggestion of the existence of alternative historical interpretations. What are the Physical devices used to construct memories? No other group of people [comes] close.. 1940. When the rumors expanded to include a claim that the pioneers were going to bring troops back from California to attack the Mormon settlements, a group of Mormons dressed as Native Americans attacked their wagon train and, after a three-day assault, killed all men, women, and children over the age of eight. They arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. [2] Shortly after their baptisms, Phineas Young and Joseph Young became ordained elders in the church began preaching as missionaries in New York and Upper Canada. It is something that has been partially experienced and thoroughly documented by many individuals around the world. He announced that they were scrolls written by Abraham and, a year later, he said he translated the hieroglyphics by the power of God. Even though Mormon scriptures had numerous rules governing polygamy that included requirements that the first wife approve of subsequent marriages and bans on one man marrying mothers, daughters, or sisters, the rules were completely disregarded. The seeing of our faithful Elders slaughtered in cold blood, he wrote after his friends death, is at times almost to[o] grevious to be borne, but as the Spirit within me whispers, peace be still. This advice was never changed. Isaac Haight's stake high council opposed the attack, and sent a messenger to Salt . At Four Corners, in the southeast, Utah meets Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona at right angles, the only such meeting of states in the country. On. Amid the tensions, however, a band of armed Mormons attacked a wagon train of non-Mormons heading west from Arkansas in a valley known as Mountain Meadows in September 1857.