Brigham Young (June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death in 1877. He founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.
Young was a polygamist, marrying a total of 55 wives, 54 of them after he converted to Mormonism. The policy was difficult for many in the church. Young stated that upon being taught about plural marriage, "It was the first time in my life that I desired the grave." By the time of his death, Young had 56 children by 16 of his wives; 46 of his children reached adulthood.
In 1902, 25 years after Young's death, The New York Times established that Young's direct descendants numbered more than 1,000.[1]
In 2016 Young was estimated to have around 30,000 descendants.[2]
The following are notable descendants of Brigham Young.
| Name | Relationship to Brigham Young | Wife of Brigham Young descended from | Notes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granddaughter | An opera singer and later the wife of Albert E. Bowen, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. She was often referred to as Lucy Gates and after her marriage as Lucy Gates Bowen or Lucy Bowen. | |||||||||
| Granddaughter | Wife of Hugh B. Brown, a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency and a Canadian military officer. | |||||||||
| Great-granddaughter | Daughter of Hugh B. Brown and Zina Card Brown. Zola was the first wife of FLDS Church president Rulon Jeffs | |||||||||
| [3] | great-great-grandson | Novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist and columnist. He writes in several genres but is known best for the science fiction novel Ender's Game (1985). | ||||||||
| Daughter | Wife of Charles O. Card who founded the first Mormon settlement in Canada - Cardston, Alberta - and who was referred to as "Canada's Brigham Young." | |||||||||
| Grandson[4] | Portrait painter | |||||||||
| Grandson | Hymnwriter; Among hymns by Dougall are "Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King" and the music to "Come Unto Him" and "The Bridge Builder." | |||||||||
| Daughter | Clarissa Ross | Became First Counselor in the general presidency of the Young Women | ||||||||
| Daughter | A prominent women's rights activist in Utah. | |||||||||
| Son-in-law | Mormon photographer, married Ruth Young. | |||||||||
| great-great-granddaughter | Mary Ann Angell[5] | Mormon critic | ||||||||
| Adopted daughter | Clarissa Caroline Decker | Bannock slave bought by Young's brother-in-law and given to the Young family. Worked in the Lion House to feed her adopted family. Later married Kanosh to form an alliance between Young and Kanosh. | ||||||||
| Granddaughter | A leading expert in home economics and wife of apostle John A. Widtsoe.[6] | |||||||||
| Son | One of the founders of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA), the predecessor to the LDS Church's Young Men organization. From 1885 to the 1900s, B. Morris publicly performed as a cross-dressing singer under the pseudonym Madam Pattirini.[7] [8] [9] | |||||||||
| [10] [11] | Great-great-great-grandson | Lucy D. Young | An Emmy nominated broadcast journalist, author, and former mayor of Augusta, Georgia. He also served a presidential appointment by George W. Bush on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. As of 2013, Young was serving as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy. | |||||||
| Son | Ordained an LDS Church apostle by his father.[12] He served as president of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1899 until his death. | |||||||||
| Son | Emily Dow Partridge | An architect, landscape architect and designer from 1879 to circa 1935. He was the official LDS Church Architect from 1887 until 1893. After 1893, Young practiced privately, with the LDS Church as a frequent client. A preponderance of his work centered on church commissions, or commissions offered him by extended Young family members, or other church members and friends. | ||||||||
| Son | Ordained an LDS Church apostle by his father. He is one of the few Latter-day Saints in history to have been ordained to the office of apostle without ever becoming a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency.[13] | |||||||||
| Son | Ordained an LDS Church apostle by his father. He is one of the few Latter-day Saints in history to have been ordained to the office of apostle without ever becoming a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency. | |||||||||
| Grandson | Sociologist and president of the American Sociological Association in 1945. | |||||||||
| Grandson | Sculptor; Two of his works, the This Is The Place Monument and the Seagull Monument are featured prominently in Salt Lake City, Utah. | |||||||||
| Grandson | Screenwriter | - | Former president of both the University of Utah and the University of Washington and current president of Texas A&M University. --> | |||||||
| Grandson | U.S. Army Brigadier General and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines;[14] | |||||||||
| Great-great-great-grandson | Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback,[15] Super Bowl XXIX MVP, 2x NFL MVP (1992, 1994). | |||||||||
| Grandson | In 1903, William was convicted of the "Pulitzer Murder" in New York City and was sentenced to life imprisonment.[16] [17] |