HIS TWENTY-SIX WIVES AND FIFTY-SlX CHILDREN.
The Arch Ruler of the Mormon Church and the Greatest Ex-ample of Its Possibilities in Wifely Making.
JOSEPH SMITH was the founder and first president of the Mormon Church, but Brigham Young, who succeeded to the presidency, was its greatest exponent. He brought out the plural wife feature in all its glory. He would do away with the unmarried woman. He believed that destiny decreed marriage for all, but that arbitrary and senseless customs had interfered very much with its car-rying out. He deplored the fact that 2,000,000 women of marriageable age in England could not get husbands, and that in the United States even a larger number were without a consort and a protector. He believed in the family, and his 56 children are proof of the depth and the strength of this belief. He believed the only way the enlightened races could eventually control the semi-civilized was by the marriage of every person of suitable age free from intel-lectual or physical deformities. He averred that if polygamy had been adopted by England at the beginning of the century her population would have been 75,000,000 instead of 21,000,000 in 1870. If the United States had done the same thing at the same time her inhabitants would number 125,000,000 in-stead of 51,000,000.
Brigham Young and his strange belief and remarkable career are interesting now because Congress has shut out Brigham Roberts, a confessed polyga-mist, elected to the House of Repre-sentatives from Utah. Public sentiment is overwhelmingly with Congress in this exclusion policy, as Roberts is a de-fiant law breaker, and when this does not avail poses as a martyr. But it is for the great Brigham and his 26 wives that this article is intended.
THE ILLUSTRIOUS BRIGHAM
was a Vermonter by birth, of Method-ist parentage, born in Whitingham, Windham county, June 1, 1801. In 1804 his parents moved to Sherburne, Che-nango county, N. Y. Here he passed 20 years and at 22 joined the Methodist Church. In 1824 he married Mariam Works, daughter of Asa Works, of Au-relius, Cayuga county, N. Y. She was also a Methodist. In 1829 they moved to Mendon, Monroe county, N. Y., where they embraced the tenets of Mor-monism in April, 1832. Five months later Mrs. Young died, leaving two chil-dren.
The second wife was Mary Ann An-gell, daughter of James Angell. She was born in 1803, in Seneca, Ontario county, N. Y„ and reared in Provi-dence, R. I. She was of Puritan an-cestry and a Free Will Baptist. She deferred marriage until she should meet "a man of God," one in whom she could confide and pursue the duties of an active Christian life. She found her ideal in Brigham. She wedded in 1834 at Kirtland, O., the gathering place of the Saints. She cheerfully approved of her husband having other wives, be-cause she believed it was of divine reve-lation. She lived 45 years as a wife, left six children and died in her 80th year.
Lucy Decker was the third. She was a daughter of Isaac Perry, born in Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y., in 1822. She was married at Nauvoo, Ill., in 1842, and settled in Salt Lake City in 1848. She died in 1890 and left seven children. Whitesboro, Oneida county, N. Y., furnished wife four in Harriett Eliza-beth Cook Campbell, daughter of Archi-bald Cook Campbell. She was con-verted to Mormonism by John P. Green at 9 years of age, having been born in 1824. She was married in Nauvoo by Joseph Smith. One son was the fruit of this union. She is living.
Brig-ham's first New England wife was Augusta Adams, born in Lynn, Mass., in 1802. She was married in 1843 in Nauvoo. She died childless in 1886.
NEW YORK FURNISHED 10 WIVES.
The next three wives were from New York State, our commonwealth fur-nishing 10 of the 26 drafted for Brigham Young— Clara Decker, daughter of Isaac Perry Decker, born in Phelps, Ontario county, in 1828. Married in 1844. She had four children and died in 1889. Louise Beman, daughter of Alva Be-man, born in Livonia, Livingston county, in 1815, was wife seven. She married Joseph Smith in 1841. Upon his death she was sealed to Young. She bore him four children and died in 1850, aged 35. Clara Chase Ross, daughter of William Ross, was born in Willard, Seneca county, in 1814. She married in 1844 at Nauvoo. She died in 1858, leav-ing four children.
The eighth was supplied by Ohio. She was Emily Dow Partridge, daughter of Edward Partridge, of Painesville, Lake county, born in 1824. Her parents joined the church when she was 7 years old and she was baptized at 8. She married Joseph Smith, as did her sister, Eliza. When Smith died, Emily was sealed to Brigham in 1844. She bore him seven children. She died last week.
Susan Snively, daughter of Henry Snively of Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Va., born in 1815, was the ninth celestial bride. She was born in 1844 and died in 1892, minus offspring.
Maine supplied candidate eleven in Olive Grey Frost, daughter of Aaron Frost, of Bethel, Oxford county. She was born in 1816. She was sealed to Joseph Smith and when he died to Brigham. This was in 1845.
Emmeline Free, next wife, was daughter of Absolom Free, of Bucyrus, Ohio, born in 1826, and wedded in 1845. She had 10 children and died in 1875. Pennsylvania's first contribution was Margaret Pierce, daughter of Robert Pierce, of Ashton, Delaware county. She was born in 1823. She married Mor-ris Whitesides in 1844. He soon died and Brigham was taken in 1845. She bore him his 50th child, a son, Brigham Morris. She is living.
Naamah Kendel Jenkins Carter, daughter of Billings Carter, was next. She was born in Wilmington, Mass., in 1821, and reared in Peterboro, N.H. She married John Saunders Twiss in 1845. He soon died and Brigham suc-ceeded to his place— in 1846. She is liv-ing.
The third Massachusetts wife was Ellen Rockwood, daughter of Albert P. Rockwood, of Holliston, Middlesex county. She was born in 1829, married in 1846, and died in 1866.
CANADA SUPPLIED ONE.
Maria Lawrence, daughter of Ed- ward Lawrence, of Toronto, was the first and only Canadian wife. She mar-ried Joseph Smith in 1843 and three years later Brigham.
New Jersey was the birthplace of her successor, Mrs. Young. She was Mar-tha Bowker, daughter of Samuel Bow-ker, of Mount Holly, Burlington county. Born in 1822 and married in 1846. She was a direct descendant of William Penn's colony of Quakers. She died in 1890.
Margaret M. Alley, the next bride, was a daughter of George Alley, of Lynn, Mass., and born in 1825. She was married in 1846 and had two children. She died in 1852.
Illinois yielded up Lucy Bigelow, daughter of Nahum Bigelow, of Charleston, Coles county. She was born in 1830 and married in 1846 at the age of 16. She was the youngest wife of the prophet. It is said of her that she worked fervently and continuously for the redemption of the living and the dead. She has done missionary work for Mormonism in the Sandwich Isl-ands. She is living.
The Puritans gave another wife in Nina Diantha Huntington, daughter of William Huntington, of Watertown, Jefferson county, N. Y. being a lineal descendant of Simon Huntington. She was born in 1821 and 1835 went with her father's family to Kirtland, O., where she received the gift of tongues. On one occasion in the Kirtland Temple she heard a whole invisible choir of angels singing till the house seemed filled with innumerable voices. Here she also received the gift of interpre-tation. She married Henry Jacobs, but soon left him. Then she was sealed to Joseph Smith. Later to Brigham Young. One child by the latter. Still living.
Another Massachusetts wife was Eliza Roxey Snow, daughter of Oliver Snow, of Becket, Berkshire county, born in 1804 and of Puritan ancestry. She was reared in Mantua, Portage county, O. She married Joseph Smith in 1842. In 1849 she married Brigham. She died in the Lion House, Salt Lake City, in 1887.
England gave Brigham a helpmeet in Eliza Burgess, daughter of John Burgess, of Manchester. She was born in 1828. She married in 1850. One son was born to them. She is living.
Harriett Barney, daughter of Royal Barney, of Cleveland, O., born in 1837, was divorced from her husband to mar-ry Young. One son was born to them. She is living.
MRS. GROVER CLEVELAND'S AUNT.
The 24th wife was Harriett Amelia Folsom, daughter of William H. Fol-som, of Buffalo, and the aunt of Mrs. Grover Cleveland, was born in 1838. She was married in 1863 and is living.
Mary Van Cott, daughter of John Van Cott, of Elmira, N. Y., was born in 1844. Brigham was attracted to her because she closely resembled his first wife, who was handsome, and they were married in 1865. One child was the issue. She died in 1884.
The last and 26th was Ann Eliza Webb, daughter of Chauncey W. Webb of Nauvoo, Ill., born in 1844. She mar-ried, a Gentile at 19, was divorced, and wedded Brigham in 1868. Becoming dis-satisfied she was divorced from the prophet seven years afterward and then excommunicated from the church. This embittered her against Mormonism and she took the platform to expose and denounce polygamy. Her lectures worked great harm to the church and did much to intensify popular opinion against its existence and propagation. She is now living in Boston.
Brigham, full of years and of un-enviable notoriety and of wives and of children shuffled off this mortal coil in Salt Lake, August 29, 1877, leaving many widows to mourn his exit. He lived to see his $3,000,000 temple com-pleted and his numerous offspring pro-vided for sufficiently to keep the wolf from his door. But he was disturbed at the irruption of Gentiles into his do-main, for it foreshadowed the downfall of the iniquitous system he attempted to force upon the country.
The funeral of Brigham was attended by 30,000 people, Utah making it a holi-day to allow the faithful to gather at the bier in Salt Lake City and pay re-spects to the greatest promoter of matrimony that ever did business in Uncle Sam's territory. In the group engraving of Brigham Young and 20 of his 26 wives, given on this page, is shown a picture of the Mormon Tabernacle to the left and one of the Mormon Temple to the right. Both are in Salt Lake City. The former is open for public worship, but the lat-ter is never entered except by the 12 apostles.
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