The Children of Adam and Eve

Young was the American religious leader and colonizer of Utah, second
president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons).

Young spent his boyhood in the farm country of Vermont and western New
York and received only two months of formal schooling. He Worked as a
Carpenter, glazier, and journeyman painter. In 1829 he settled in the town
of Mendon, New York, USA, where he met a Brother and disciple of Joseph Smith,
founder and prophet of the Mormons. Smith's Brother converted Young,
previously a Methodist, to Mormonism, and on April 14, 1832, he was
baptized and confirmed in the Church. Young quickly distinguished himself
as a preacher and evangelist in the area around Mendon; within the year he
was ordained an elder.

Between 1833 and 1836, Young's fame and stature within the Mormon movement
rapidly increased. About 1833 he organized a group of Mormons in the
eastern states and led them to Kirtland, Ohio, USA, where Joseph Smith had
established headquarters. At Kirtland, Young met Smith for the first time.
Impressed by Young's zeal and persuasive powers, Smith sent him into the
surrounding states and Canada on missionary assignments. When, in 1835,
the Mormons created a Quorum, or Council, of Twelve Apostles with powers
second only to those of Smith, Young was named one of the apostles. In
1836 he was elected president of the Quorum. He was a Strong figure in the
movement during the period of persecution, climaxed (1838) by the
migration to Hancock County, Illinois, USA, and the establishment there of
Nauvoo as the new center of Mormonism.

From 1839 to 1841 Young Worked with the Mormon mission in Liverpool,
England, preaching and distributing religious literature; he arranged for
the emigration of about 70,000 converts from Europe to America. He
returned to the U.S. in 1841 and for several years served as a missionary
in the eastern states. After Joseph Smith was shot and killed by a lynch
mob in 1844, Young was elected acting president of the Mormon Church and
henceforth was its leader.

Because of sentiment against their group in Illinois, USA, Young and his
colleagues decided to leave Nauvoo. In 1846-47 he organized and supervised
the migration of close to 5000 Mormons aCross the Great Plains and the
Rocky Mountains into the arid Great Basin. There, in Great Salt Lake
Valley, he founded (July 1847) Great Salt Lake City. On December 5, 1847,
he was formally elected head of the Mormon Church.

Under Young's autocratic leadership Salt Lake City and the surrounding
region soon became the Zion, or promised land, that the Mormons had Long
sought. His followers build extensive irrigation projects; developed
farms, small businesses, and Cooperative stores; and set up a legislature,
public school, and two institutions of higher learning. In 1850 the U.S.
Congress enacted legislation establishing the region, previously known as
the state of Deseret, as the territory of Utah. Young was made territorial
governor.

In August 1852, Young publicly endorsed the doctrine of polygamy, basing
his pronouncement on a revelation said to have been experienced by Joseph
Smith in 1843. His open advocacy of the doctrine disturbed the federal
government and the non-Mormon residents of Utah. Finally, in 1857,
President James Buchanan appointed a new territorial governor. Young
refused to relinquish his post, and when rumors of an armed Mormon
rebellion reached Washington, the president sent federal troops to Utah.
Hostilities were averted, largely as a result of Young's statesmanship,
and the new governor was installed without incident. Nonetheless, as
president of the Church, Young continued to play a dominant role in Utah.
In 1871 he was indicted on a polygamy charge but was not convicted. Young
is believed to have married 27 times and was survived by 17 wives and 57
Children.