Part 72 (1/2)

Young's will divided his wives and children into nineteen ”cla.s.ses,” and directed his executors to pay to each such a sum as might be necessary for their comfortable support; the word ”marriage” in the will to mean ”either by ceremony before a lawful magistrate, or according to the order of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or by their cohabitation in conformity to our custom.”

On June 14, 1879, Emmeline A. Young, on behalf of herself and the heirs at law, began a suit against the executors of Young's estate, charging that they had improperly appropriated $200,000; had improperly allowed nearly $1,000,000 to John Taylor as trustee in trust to the church, less a credit of $300,000 for Young's services as trustee; and that they claimed the power, as members of the Apostles' Quorum, to dispose of all the testator's property and to disinherit any heir who refused to submit. This suit was compromised in the following September, the seven persons joining in it executing a release on payment of $75,000. A suit which the church had begun against the heirs and executors was also discontinued. The Salt Lake Herald (Mormon) of October 5, 1879, said, ”The adjustment is far preferable to a continuance of the suit, which was proving not only expensive, but had become excessively annoying to many people, was a large disturbing element in the community, and was rapidly descending into paths that n.o.body here cares to see trodden.”

Just how many wives Brigham Young had, in the course of his life, would depend on his own and others' definition of that term. He told Horace Greeley, in 1859: ”I have fifteen; I know no one who has more. But some of those sealed to me are old ladies, whom I regard rather as mothers than wives, but whom I have taken home to cherish and support.”* In 1869, he informed the Boston Board of Trade, when that body visited Salt Lake City, that he had sixteen wives living, and had lost four, and that forty-nine of his children were living then. ”He was,” says Beadle, ”sealed on the spiritual wife system to more women than any one can count; all over Mormondom are pious old widows, or wives of Gentiles and apostates, who hope to rise at the last day and claim a celestial share in Brigham.” J. Hyde said that he knew of about twenty-five wives with whom Brigham lived. The following list is made up from ”Pictures and Biographies of Brigham Young and his Wives,” published by J. H.

Crockwell of Salt Lake City, by authority of Young's eldest son and of seven of his wives, but is not complete:--

* ”Overland journey,” p. 215.

[Ill.u.s.tration: List of Wives]

NAME************* DATE OF MARRIAGE *** NUMBER OF CHILDREN*** Mary Ann Angell * February, 1834. Ohio 6 Louisa Beman ** April, 1841. Nauvoo 4 Mrs. Lucy Decker Seely June, 1842. Nauvoo 7 H. E. C. Campbell November, 1843.Nauvoo 1 Augusta Adams November, 1843. Nauvoo 0 Clara Decker May, 1844. Nauvoo 5 Clara C. Ross September, 1844. Nauvoo 4 Emily Dow Partridge** September, 1844. Nauvoo 7 Susan Snively November, 1844.

Nauvoo 0 Olive Grey Frost** February, 1845. Nauvoo 0 Emmeline Free April, 1845. Nauvoo 0 Margaret Pierce April, 1845. Nauvoo 1 N. K. T.

Carter January, 1846. Nauvoo 0 Ellen Rockwood January, 1846. Nauvoo 0 Maria Lawrence** January, 1846. Nauvoo 0 Martha Bowker January, 1846.

Nauvoo 0 Margaret M. Alley January, 1846. Nauvoo 2 Lucy Bigelow March, 1847. (?) 3 Z. D. Huntington ** March, 1847 (?). Nauvoo 1 Eliza K.

Snow** June, 1849. S. L. C. 0 Eliza Burgess October, 1850. S. L. C.

1 Harriet Barney October, 1850. S. L. C. 1 Harriet A. Folsom January, 1863. S. L. C. 0 Mary Van Cott January, 1865. S. L. C. 1 Ann Eliza Webb April, 1868. S. L. C. 0

* His first wife died 1832.

** Joseph Smith's widows.

Young's princ.i.p.al houses in Salt Lake City stood at the southeastern corner of the block adjoining the Temple block, and designated on the map as block 8. The largest building, occupying the corner, was called the Beehive House; connected with this was a smaller building in which were Young's private offices, the t.i.thing office, etc; and next to this was a building partly of stone, called the Lion House, taking its name from the figure of a lion sculptured on its front, representing Young's t.i.tle ”The Lion of the Lord.” When J. Hyde wrote, seventeen or eighteen of Young's wives dwelt in the Lion House, and the Beehive House became his official residence.* Individual wives were provided for elsewhere.

His legal wife lived in what was called the White House, a few hundred yards from his official home. His well-beloved Amelia lived in another house half a block distant; another favorite, just across the street; Emmeline, on the same block; and not far away the latest acquisition to his harem.

* The Beehive House is still the official residence of the head of the church, and in it President Snow was living at the time of his death. The office building is still devoted to office uses, and the Lion House now furnishes temporary quarters to the Latter-Day Saints'

College.

Young's life in his later years was a very orderly one, although he was not methodical in arranging his office hours and attending to his many duties. Rising before eight A.m., he was usually in his office at nine, transacting business with his secretary, and was ready to receive callers at ten. So many were the people who had occasion to see him, and so varied were the matters that could be brought to his attention, that many hours would be devoted to these callers if other engagements did not interfere. Once a year he made a sort of visit of state to all the princ.i.p.al settlements in the territory, accompanied by counsellors, apostles, and Bishops, and sometimes by a favorite wife. Shorter excursions of the same kind were made at other times. Each settlement was expected to give him a formal greeting, and this sometimes took the form of a procession with banners, such as might have been prepared for a conquering hero.

CHAPTER XXIII. -- SOCIAL ASPECTS OF POLYGAMY

There was something compulsory about all phases of life in Utah during Brigham Young's regime--the form of employment for the men, the domestic regulations of the women, the church duties each should perform, and even the location in the territory which they should call their home.

Not only did large numbers of the foreign immigrants find themselves in debt to the church on their arrival, and become compelled in this way to labor on the ”public works” as they might be ordered, but the skilled mechanics who brought their tools with them in most cases found on their arrival that existence in Utah meant a contest with the soil for food.

Even when a mechanic obtained employment at his trade it was in the ruder branches.

Mormon authorities have always tried to show that Americans have predominated in their community. Tullidge cla.s.ses the population in this order: Americans, English, Scandinavian (these claim one-fifth of the Mormon population of Utah), Scotch, Welsh, Germans, and a few Irish, French, Italians, and Swiss. The combination of new-comers and the emigrants from Nauvoo made a rude society of fanatics,* before whom there was held out enough prospect of gain in land values (scarcely one of the immigrants had ever been a landowner) to overcome a good deal of the discontent natural to their mode of life, and who, in religious matters, were held in control by a priesthood, against whom they could not rebel without endangering that hope of heaven which had induced them to journey across the ocean. There are roughness and lawlessness in all frontier settlements, but this Mormon community differed from all other gatherings of new population in the American West. It did not migrate of its own accord, attracted by a fertile soil or precious ores; it was induced to migrate, not without misrepresentation concerning material prospects, it is true, but mainly because of the hope that by doing so it would share in the blessings and protection of a Zion. The gambling h.e.l.l and the dance hall, which form princ.i.p.al features of frontier mining settlements, were wanting in Salt Lake City, and the absence of the brothel was pointed to as evidence of the moral effect of polygamy.