MIRIAM WORKS AND MARY ANN ANGELL--SCENES OF THE PAST--DEATH-BED OF
MIRIAM--EARLY DAYS OF MARY--HER MARRIAGE WITH BRIGHAM--THE GOOD
STEP-MOTHER--SHE BEARS HER CROSS IN THE PERSECUTIONS--A BATTLE WITH
DEATH--POLYGAMY--MARY IN THE EXODUS AND AT WINTER QUARTERS--THE HUT IN
THE VALLEY--CLOSING A WORTHY LIFE.
The death-bed of a latter-day saint!
It was in the house of Heber C. Kimball, in the little town of Mendon,
N. Y., on the 8th of September, 1832. Principal around that glorious
death-bed were Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Vilate, his wife.
The dying saint was Miriam Works, first wife of Brigham Young--a man
of destiny, but then unknown in the great world. "In her expiring
moments," he says, "she clapped her hands and praised the Lord, and
called upon Brother Kimball and all around to also praise the Lord!"
--
On the 8th of June, 1803, in Seneca, Ontario county, N. Y., was born
Mary Ann Angell, now for forty-five years the wife of Brigham Young,
the mother of his eldest sons, and the faithful step-mother of the
daughters of Miriam Works.
Her parents early leaving her birthplace, Mary was brought up in
Providence, R. I. She was what in those days was denominated a pious
maiden, for her family was strictly of the old Puritan stock of the
country. She early became a Sunday-school teacher, and united with
the Free-Will Baptists. The study of the prophesies quite engrossed
her mind, and she was confidently looking for their fulfillment.
Her semi-ministerial duties as a Sunday-school teacher toned and
strengthened her early womanhood; and hence she resolved never to marry
until she met "a man of God" to whom her heart should go out, to unite
with him in the active duties of a Christian life. Thus it came about
that she remained a maiden until nearly thirty years of age. But the
providence that watched over her had chosen for her a husband.
It was during the year 1830 that Thomas B. Marsh came to Providence,
bringing with him the Book of Mormon. From him Mary obtained a copy,
and having prayerfully read it, became convinced that it was a work
of inspiration. After this she went to Southern New York, where her
parents were visiting, and there she and her parents were baptized by
John P. Greene--Brigham's brother-in-law. It was about this time that
the Youngs, the Greenes and the Kimballs came into the Church.
Alone, Mary set out for Kirtland, which had just become the gathering
place of the saints; and there she remained a year before Brigham and
Heber gathered with their families. Vilate Kimball was still acting the
part of a mother to the little daughters of Miriam. Through hearing
Brigham preach in Kirtland, Mary Angell became acquainted with him.
She had found her mate; he had found a mother indeed to his little
motherless Elizabeth and Vilate.
At the period of the famous march of the elders from Ohio to Missouri,
in 1834, to "redeem Zion" in Jackson county, Mary, now for over a year
the wife of Brigham Young, became the mother of his first son, Joseph
A., who was born October 14, 1834, just at the return of her husband,
after the disbanding of Zion's Camp. Thus during the most trying period
of her first year of marriage, was she left alone in the struggle of
life, providing for herself, and caring for her husband's motherless
girls.
But a still more trying period came to this excellent woman, after
her husband became a member of the quorum of the twelve, and when the
rebellion against Joseph arose in Kirtland. First the prophet and
Sidney Rigdon had to flee for their lives, and next Brigham Young had
to escape from Kirtland. Then came her severest struggle. She now had
five children to care and provide for the--two daughters of Miriam,
her Joseph A., and Brigham, Jr., with his twin sister, Mary Ann. Those
were dark days of persecution and want. The apostates and anti-Mormons
frequently searched her house for her husband, and the faithful in
Kirtland all had enough to do to sustain themselves, in the absence of
their shepherds, who were now refugees in Far West. At length, with
the five children, she reached her husband; but not long to rest, for
quickly came the expulsion from Missouri, in which period she broke
up her home many times before finally settling in Montrose, on the
opposite side of the river from Nauvoo.
Scarcely had Brigham and the twelve effected the exodus of the saints
from Missouri to Illinois, ere Joseph, having escaped from prison, sent
the twelve with its president to England, on mission.
On each side of the Mississippi, in cabins and tents, the Mormon people
lay, exhausted by their many expulsions; the multitude sick, many
dying, the vigor of life scarcely left even in their strong-willed
leaders. Thus lying on the river-side at Commerce and Montrose,
they presented a spectacle no longer suggestive of irresistible
empire-founders. Joseph was sick; Brigham was sick; the twelve were all
sick; the prophet's house and door-yard was a hospital. It was then
that the prophet, knowing that power must be invoked or the people
would perish, leaped from his sick bed, and entering first the tents
and cabins of the apostles, and bidding them arise and follow him, went
like an archangel through the midst of his disciples, and "healed the
multitude." It is a grand picture in the memory of the saints, being
called "The Day of God's Power." Reverse that picture, and there is
seen the exact condition of Mary Angell Young and the other apostles'
wives when the president and his quorum started on mission to England,
leaving them to the care of the Lord, and their brethren. It was a
period quite as trying to these apostolic sisters as that of the
exodus, afterwards. And to none more so than to Mary, who had now the
burden of six children to sustain during her husband's absence in a
foreign land.
The following entries in the president's journal embody a most graphic
story, easily seized by the imagination:
"We arrived in Commerce on the 18th (May, 1839), and called upon
Brother Joseph and his family. Joseph had commenced laying out the city
plot.
"23d--I crossed the Mississippi with my family, and took up my
residence in a room in the old military barracks, in company with
Brother Woodruff and his family.
"September 14, 1839--I started from Montrose on my mission to England.
My health was so poor that I was unable to go thirty rods, to the
river, without assistance. After I had crossed the river I got Israel
Barlow to carry me on his horse behind him, to Heber C. Kimball's,
where I remained sick 'till the 18th. I left my wife sick, with a babe
only ten days old, and all my children sick and unable to wait upon
each other.
"17th--My wife crossed the river, and got a boy with a wagon to bring
her up about a mile, to Brother Kimball's, to see me. I remained until
the 18th at Brother Kimball's, when we started, leaving his family also
sick."
Continue the picture, with the husband's absence, and the wife's noble,
every-day struggle to maintain and guard his children, and we have her
history well described for the next two years.
Taking up the thread again in September, 1841: "On my return from
England," says Brigham, in his diary, "I found my family living in a
small unfinished log-cabin, situated on a low, wet lot, so swampy that
when the first attempt was made to plough it the oxen mired; but after
the city was drained it became a very valuable garden spot."
The scene, a year later, is that of President Young at "death's door,"
and the wife battling with death to save her husband. He was suddenly
attacked with a slight fit of apoplexy. This was followed by a severe
fever. For eighteen days he lay upon his back, and was not turned upon
his side during that period.
"When the fever left me, on the eighteenth day," he says, "I was
bolstered up in my chair, but was so near gone that I could not close
my eyes, which were set in my head; my chin dropped down, and my breath
stopped. My wife, seeing my situation, threw some cold water in my
face and eyes, which I did not feel in the least; neither did I move
a muscle. She then held my nostrils between her thumb and finger, and
placing her mouth directly over mine, blew into my lungs until she
filled them with air. This set my lungs in motion, and I again began
to breathe. While this was going on I was perfectly conscious of all
that was passing around me; my spirit was as vivid as it ever was in my
life; but I had no feeling in my body."
Mary, by the help of God, had thus saved the life of President Young!
It was about this time that polygamy, or "celestial marriage," was
introduced into the Church. To say that it was no cross to these Mormon
wives--daughters of the strictest Puritan parentage--would be to mock
their experience. It was thus, also, with their husbands, in Nauvoo,
in 1842. President Young himself tells of the occasion when he stood
by the grave of one of the brethren and wished that the lot of the
departed was his own. The burden of polygamy seemed heavier than the
hand of death. It was nothing less than the potency of the "Thus saith
the Lord," and the faith of the saints as a community, that sustained
them--both the brethren and the sisters. Mary Angell gave to her
husband other wives, and the testimony which she gives to-day is that
it has been the "Thus saith the Lord" unto her, from the time of its
introduction to the present.
Scarcely necessary is it to observe that she was in the exodus. Seven
children were now under her care. Alice, Luna, and John W. were born in
Montrose and Nauvoo, while the twin sister of Brigham, Jr., had died.
With these she remained at winter quarters while the president led the
pioneers to the Rocky Mountains. Her benevolence to the poor at winter
quarters (and who of them were then rich!) is spoken of to this day.
Indeed, benevolence has ever been a marked trait in her life.
Then came the hut in the valley. The "heat and burden of the day" had
not passed. Full twenty years of struggle, self-sacrifice, and devotion
as a wife, uncommon in its examples, filled up the pages of "Sister
Young's history," as a latter-day saint, before the days of social
prominence came.
The hut in the valley, where she lived in 1849, is a good pioneer
picture. It stood on the spot where now stands her residence--the
"White House;" and some ten rods north-west of that location stood a
row of log-cabins where dwelt President Young's other wives, with their
children.
Since then the days of grandeur, befitting her station, have come;
but "Mother Young"--a name honored in her bearing--has lived most in
the public mind as the faithful wife, the exemplary mother, and a
latter-day saint in whose heart benevolence and native goodness have
abounded. She is now seventy-four years of age--closing a marked and
worthy life; and her latest expressed desire is that a strong testimony
should be borne of her faith in Mormonism, and the righteousness of her
husband in carrying out the revelation, given through Joseph Smith, on
polygamy, as the word and will of the Lord to his people.