Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: Brigham Young, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Brigham Young, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
Brigham Young
(1801–77)
Brigham Young, ca. 1850–1860, daguerreotype, Church History Library, PH 100.
Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Vermont, in 1801. He married Miriam Angeline Works in 1824. In April 1832, Young was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following Miriam’s death in September 1832, he served missions to New York and Upper Canada. In 1833 he moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where he married Mary Ann Angell in March 1834. Later that year, he participated in the Camp of Israel expedition. In 1835 Young was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. From 1835 to 1837, he served missions to New York and New England. Young moved to Far West, Missouri, in 1838, and later helped direct the Latter-day Saint evacuation from Missouri to Illinois. He served a mission to England between 1839 and 1841. He then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he joined the Council of Fifty. Young was appointed President of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1840 and was identified as such in a January 1841 revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 124:127). On 8 August 1844, after the death of Joseph Smith, the Twelve were sustained to administer the affairs of the Church. In April 1845, Young was recognized as “President of the whole Church” at a conference in Nauvoo. Between 1846 and 1848, he directed the Latter-day Saint migration to the Salt Lake Valley, in Utah Territory, and reorganized the First Presidency. In Utah he served as Church President and in a variety of civic positions, including governor and superintendent of Indian affairs for Utah Territory.
References in the Doctrine and Covenants