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Brigham Young letter to John R. Young

Brigham Young (1801-1877)

L. Tom Perry Special Collections is pleased to announce the availability of a new digitized collection: Brigham Young letter to John R. Young (Vault MSS 780). This is a handwritten and signed letter dated March 1, 1857 and addressed to John R. Young in Honolulu, Hawaii. The item was composed in Salt Lake City, Utah. Brigham Young encourages John, his nephew, and his fellow missionaries for the Mormon Church in Hawaii by making comparisons between the “quiet and purity that prevail in Utah” and the “gross darkness” that covers the other people of the Earth. He comments on the missionary work of the Mormon Church in China and shares news of that faith and of the Young family.

John R. Young (1837-1931)

John Ray Young was born on April 30, 1837 in Kirtland, Ohio to Lorenzo Dow Young and Persis Goodall. He was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and emigrated to Utah in 1857. The following year he was called to serve a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. After his return to Utah he married Albina Terry (1836-1913) on January 1, 1859 in Salt Lake City, and they had seven children. he later entered polygamy, marrying Lydia Knight (1844-1905) in 1861 (seven children), Tamar Jane Black (1852-1915) in 1870 (seven children), and Catherine Coles (1858-1879) in 1878 (one child). He worked variously as a teamster, missionary, guide, Postmaster, stock man, and County Assessor. Young died on September 15, 1931 in Provo, Utah.

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