Susa tells us when her father spoke of his father, he often said, “It was a word and a blow with my father, but the blow came first.” Her dad had to learn from his dad how to take punches. He knew his father loved him, and frontier life imbued those still

young with an ability to ride the waves or take the bull by its horns, whichever was most appropriate. His mother taught him his letters. Otherwise, he claims to have spent no more than eleven and one-half days in school.

Everyone worked in the Young family. Brigham learned carpentry, painting, and glazing of windows. By the time he reached sixteen years of age, he was an expert carpenter and cabinet-maker who excelled at painting and glazing. These talents were useful during his years in Kirtland, Independence, and Nauvoo, places where the saints lived and built in hopes of seeing a better tomorrow.

Brigham attached himself to the Methodist church at about the age of twenty two when he lost his mother after a long illness. The family moved to New York where he married the blond, blue-eyed Miriam Angeline Works in the winter of 1824. He finished growing at five feet, ten inches tall.

In New York, young Brigham built a charming colonial cottage for his wife and settled down to rather prosperous frontier living. When he heard rumors of a prophet living in nearby Palmyra, he and his brother Joseph visited the town along with his best friend, Heber Kimball.

As the three men listened to the new Prophet, they learned of the Book of Mormon and believed it had been translated by divine inspiration. Brigham became a devout follower of Joseph Smith and was instrumental in the conversion of his own father, brothers, and sisters. He had the same influence on his wife, Miriam Works, who died of tuberculosis a few months after their marriage. They both believed they would meet again in the great beyond.

As a young man, Brigham was a part of the band of men called Zion’s Camp who marched from Kirtland to Missouri. Brigham was twenty-three. Their aim was to offer relief and protection to their fellow Saints who were being driven from their homes in Independence, Missouri. After the arduous march, in part due to a cholera outbreak, the Camp was disbanded before there was a skirmish. But, as the Missourians were fixated on driving the Mormons out; the Saints conceded to a move.

Most of the ousted Saints ended-up in Far West, Missouri, while most of Zion’s Camp volunteers, bedraggled and worn out, returned to Kirtland. This group was eventually chased out of Kirtland at the end of an attempt to establish a bank. It was a common occurrence across the twenty-five United States, but the plan put into action by the Council of Elders and under the leadership of Joseph Smith, went awry and soon the Kirtland Saints joined those who had fled to Far West.

Within a few years, the Mormons were forced from their Missouri homes while at the same time being welcomed by their neighbors in Illinois. Here, along the banks of the Mississippi River, they founded Nauvoo, the Beautiful, and once again, Brigham’s carpentry and glazing skills were put to good use. The building started over again.

The Saints had six years of relative peace and growth. During this time, Brigham was taught the principle of plural marriage. On a high hill, a temple was built. It sported a high rising tower. There was a long period of growth and construction.

In the spring of 1844, Brigham, his friend Heber, and most of the twelve apostles were sent across the country to announce and campaign for Joseph Smith for President of the United States. They were in the field when Brigham received devastating news urging him to return home. There was dissension in the settlements around Nauvoo.

Brigham knew he must act fast. Repeating Joseph’s last sentence ”…a little powder, lead, and a good rifle can be packed,” he prepared himself and his elders for the long trip home.

Brigham arrived in Nauvoo to find chaos. The Prophet and his brother, Hyrum, had been fatally shot and there was much murmuring about who would rule the church. Brigham took the stand and asked the Saints if they wanted Sidney Rigdon, Joseph’s former right-hand man, to be their next leader. Some two thousand went with Rigdon on his way out. Others left to follow even others who led the way. Of those who stayed, some claimed to see the mantle of Joseph fall upon Brigham Young. From Young’s perspective, he was the head of the twelve and the twelve would stand at the head of the church, next to Joseph.

There would be no peace in Nauvoo. The Mormons voted in solidarity and plural marriage shocked the pious. Their claim to continuous revelation seemed ludicrous to many. There had been an agreement they would leave Nauvoo in the Spring, 1846.

Brigham, who led the Saints from Kirtland to Independence, and then from Independence to Nauvoo, was now, two months before spring, to lead thousands of saints across the prairies and through the mountain passes in search of a new home.

The packing and preparation for the trek west, including the march itself, is an interesting story but we will save it for another book report or the second novel. The trek was long and difficult, but successful because the Saints found their place in the mountains, outside of the United Saints, and free from gentile intervention.

Before his arrival to the valley, Brigham was ill with mountain fever. He sent a scouting troop ahead with directions on how to find the very spot he was looking for. The orders to the scouts were to begin plowing and planting. If the lands were too dry, they were to throw up a dam.

Brigham’s health improved and he joined the scouts confirming, “This is the place…” There was celebration and then, more seeds to plant, a city to plan, and farms to locate. Irrigation ditches were dug, logs cut down for housing, and adobe bricks made from scratch.

The three women who accompanied the advance guard were weak, weary, and not happy about their new lot in life. They were strong women, married to important elders and determined to turn this forsaken place into a home. They went calmly to work and began to build anew.

The first winter was hard. The Indians were not all friendly. A huge fort with thick walls was built to protect the inhabitants and animals. Indians were notorious horse thieves.

Susa made a point of Brigham unfurling a flag on the highest peak. Once things became established in the valley, Brigham turned the lead over to Joseph Smith’s cousin, John, and prepared for the return to Winter Quarters where he would gather the remaining Saints for their final trek west.

On the road to Winter Quarters, Brigham’s procession met with another headed his way, led by his Elders Pratt and Taylor. Here were another fifteen hundred men, women, and children on their way to join the Saints in the Great Basin. That summer and autumn, thirteen companies arrived in the valley. Then, there was one more when Brigham and his train of wagons, oxen, horses, cattle, and people set sight on the entranceway into Salt Lake City.

Houses were built for some of the wives, while others remained living in their wagons. Building and growing were a daily occurrence. A flour mill was established and large fields of crops planted.

All were waiting for spring and harvest. Then, came the crickets. It was an invasion. They were everywhere and ate every growing thing. Every measure was taken to stop the beasts, but then came the gulls: white winged feathered creatures that ate crickets. They ate them, and ate them, and when they were full, they disgorged themselves and started the feast again. To every Mormon’s mind, this was a blessing from heaven.

During the first few years, Indians were often an issue. Brigham Young sent out Indian interpreters believing it was important to have some communication. He taught his elders it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them. Then, too, the Indians were considered by believers of the Book of Mormon stories to be Lamanites. These were souls that needed to be saved, taught of their heritage, and their place in the eternal plan.

In 1849, a provisional government was formed. The area adopted the name State of Deseret, the land of the honey bee–another Book of Mormon tale. Brigham was elected governor and other elders were given offices to fill.

About that time, the government sent men to the territory to make a preliminary survey. Initially, this news was disconcerting. When a Californian Indian Agent passed through town with a tale the surveying party had been given power to pre-empt all lands in the name of the government and drive the Mormons out, it sounded like a repeat of their past. When the leaders of the expedition, Captain Howard Stansbury and his assistant, Lieutenant Gunnison, stopped to visit with Governor Young, he became reassured there was no evil intent and saw the benefits of such a survey. He promised his cooperation.

The discovery of gold in California affected Salt Lake City in several ways. Gold seekers passed through Mormon territory in droves and the allure of easy wealth was a temptation for many, especially the young and adventurous. It wasn’t uncommon to find surplus goods abandoned by those on their way to the fields. Travelers often reconsidered how much they were willing to carry. Foodstuffs in Salt Lake City became more plentiful.

When Utah became a territory in 1850, government posts were filled and government officials visited the city. Judge Brocchus, said to be a vain and ambitious man, took the podium in front of the Saints. He gave a two hour lecture where he shamelessly misinterpreted the principle of plural marriage. When he returned to Washington, he continued to vilify Mormons.

Judge W. W. Drummond left his wife at home and came to Mormondom with a whore he had picked up along the way. They held court together and seriously aroused a storm of indignation. Drummond was known, even in Washington, to be a scoundrel. Susa writes: “The subsequent perplexities and difficulties of the Mormon people are popularly accredited to the efforts of Brocchus, Drummond, and other lying officials…”

It was rather sudden and came without warning: word was the federal government was sending a force of twenty-five hundred men to Utah, along with Alfred Cumming who would be installed as the new governor. Brigham was to be replaced. He sent his protest to Washington and directed his men to keep the soldiers out of the valley. Captain Stewart Van Vliet was allowed to enter Salt Lake City where he was quickly informed his army was not welcome. Brigham was determined to lay the land to waste rather than turn it over to the troops. Van Vliet pointed out more troops would come the following year and penetration was inevitable. Brigham responded with his promise to destroy the city–burn everything–rather than relinquish it. Echo Canyon War, also called the Utah War, was a war that never quite happened. In the end, Brigham relinquished his post as governor to Alfred Cumming. Life in Utah went on pretty much the way it had before.

Early in the development of the city of the Saints, recreation and amusement played an important role. The Pitt Band, and others, filled boweries–open covered spaces with wooden dance floors–with music and women dressed in their finest homespun, spinning gaily in the arms of a husband or loved one. Many husbands had many wives, which from the author’s perspective was simply the way it was.

As the years passed, the influx of immigrants, mostly from England but also from Wales, Scandinavia, and other parts of the United States, caused Mormon numbers to swell. Many of the newcomers were tradesmen with skills. Building continued with schools for adults as well as children, a theater, and other public buildings taking their place in the landscape.

Susa tells of “our mother in heaven”. There is a song sung today among the Latter-day Saints with the line: “and we know we have a mother there too.” “We hear little about our Mother in heaven,” Susa says. “Is it not because she speaks through the Father and her Son? Because she is engaged in creative work along her own lines of development.” Susa expects to see all her friendships, family and ties of tender affection in the afterlife.

There is a priesthood in the Mormon church, but the duties of a man and a woman are considered equally important. It is also acknowledged there must be a deciding voice at the head while the paths of men and women lie parallel, touching and merging here and there. What one sex lacks, the other complements.

Susa remembers fondly the many wives of her father, as well as her own mother.

Her brothers and sisters are equally as dear. Brigham was said to have fifty-seven wives and fifty-six children.

Susa’s father was taught the principle of polygamy by Joseph Smith, the first Mormon Prophet. He was at first reluctant but finally converted. He considered it a high and sacred undertaking. He was also impressed with the economic advantages of communal family living.

Brigham’s large family had one large wash-room fitted with two built-in copper boilers heated by a brick fireplace. The wooden tubs were supplemented by a huge pounding barrel with a large wooden hammer or pestle. Each wife had her regular day for washing. The store rooms were kept in an orderly fashion, as well as the weave room.

There were sitting rooms for the wives on the main floor, a large front parlor used as a family gathering place, and an upper floor with twenty rooms. There were roomy closets and plenty of windows for light and ventilation. Susa shared with us a great deal of her home life and home practices. And sadly, she drifted to her father’s last winter in 1876-1877.

Temple work was done in earnest for Brigham’s father, mother and other kindred.

He was assisted in this work by one of his sons, a nephew, and five of his daughters.

Brigham’s last birthday, June 1, 1877 was celebrated at the Lion House where he sat at the head of the table with his brothers, Joseph, Phineas, and Lorenzo, and many of his wives and children.

His last trip was taken when he re-organized the Box Elder Stake of Zion in the northwest corner of Utah. When he returned to Salt Lake City, he was feeling unwell. Later that night, he was seized with an attack much like appendicitis. He continued to moan both while awake and asleep, but when asked, he seemed unaware of his pain. On Monday, he slipped into a semi-comatose condition. On Tuesday, he had a brief talk with his son. Several of the brethren prayed for him, to which he responded “Amen.” On Wednesday morning he reached his end.

Note re: last sentence in paragraph fourteen: Gentile with a small g because it is a derogatory term denoting someone who is not Mormon. Most Mormons were Gentiles. All gentiles were non-Mormon.)