Talk:Young, John Willard

Latest revision as of 00:20, 21 October 2008

[edit] General Notes from Searches on John W. Young

These items don't necessarily need to be included in the article, because they don't necessarily have anything to do with Young's activities in New York City and the East.

[edit] 1860-1869

• Young served in the Indian Mission.^[1]

• Young contracted to supply poles for 750 miles of the eastern telegraph line of the Overland Telegraph -- construction began in 1861^[2].

[edit] 1870-1879

• Young was one of the organizers of the Utah Central Railroad, along with Brigham Young, Joseph A. Young, George Q. Cannon, Daniel H. Wells, Christopher Layton, Briant Stringham, David P. Kimball, Isaac Groo, David O. Calder, George A. Smith, John Sharp, Brigham Young Jr., William Jennings, Feramorz Little and James T. Little.^[3]

• Young was a subcontractor for his father, Brigham Young, in grading for the Union Pacific Railroad during 1868-1871.^[4]

• Young was part of a group that stayed overnight at Cove Fort on March 1, 1870. The group included Brigham Young, Lorenzo D. Young, Brigham Young Jr., Charles R. Savage, John G. Holman, A. Milton Husser, A. J. Moffit and George A. Smith. Of the stay Musser wrote:

Our ?and host at Fort Cove did the tidy very nicely while staying the night at that "impregnable fortress." His good laides [Ira Hinckley's] had their hands full with so large a company to cater for. Cove Creek is getting quite low and some fears are entertained that a lack of snow deposits in the mountains will cause a lack of water for irrigating purposes in Cove Valley.^[5]

• Young, along with Moses Thatcher and William B. Preston organized the Utah Northern Railroad Company on 23 August 1871, likely as part of an LDS Church-organized effort to keep control of commerce in Northern Utah from non-Mormons in Corinne, Utah. The line was completed to Logan, Utah 31 January 1873, with significant help from local members.^[6]

• Young asked Camilla Cobb to found the first Kindergarten in Salt Lake City, which began operation in 1874 in Brigham Young's schoolhouse.^[7]

• Young married Luella Cobb, a stepdaughter of his father. ^[8]

• James Lovett Bunting reported in his diary "About Thursday evening I visited (by invitation) John W. Young — had quite an agreeable interview with him and on Sunday, 21st 1874." Apparently Bunting was in Salt Lake City during February 1874. He also visited with Brigham Young that same day^[9].

• With Daniel H. Wells, Young wrote to Pratt and Smith that despite Brigham Young's illness they had no idea that the illness was life threatening^[10].

• Young and others repeatedly administered to Brigham Young in his final hours^[11].

• On the death of Brigham Young, John W. Young was made a Counselor to the Twelve Apostles in a meeting of the Council of the Twelve and President Young's counselors on 4 September 1877^[12].

[edit] 1880-1889

• Mormon settlers in the 1880s in Wayne County, Utah named their town Youngtown after John W. Young. In 1898, after the Spanish-American War, the town's name was changed to Torrey, Utah.^[13]

• Young warned Apostles Brigham Young, Jr. and Moses Thatcher in May 1885 (they were then in Mexico City to negotiate for the establishment of Mormon colonies in northern Mexico) that he had been advised by a member of the Mexican Congress not to raise the question of polygamous marriages since "there was a very plain congressional law [in Mexico] on the subject." ^[14]

• Quorum of the Twelve considered charges against John W. Young on November 6th 1885 for neglect of duty, but postponed the charges awaiting his reformation. ^[15].

• Young wrote Daniel S. Lamont, President Grover Cleveland's private secretary, and Solicitor-General George A. Jenks asking for amnesty for old and sick polygamist Church leaders, in particular President John Taylor and Apostle Wilford Woodruff. Young had developed extensive connections with national leaders of the Democratic Party and was encouraged to use his influence to help the Church and reduce Federal pressure. Young repeated the plea shortly after Taylor's death.^[16]

• Young arranged for Solicitor General George A. Jenks to draft the anti-polygamy clause for the proposed Utah constitution. ^[17]

• Church leaders instructed Young to not cooperate with efforts to amend the US Constitution to prevent plural marriages^[18].

• Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon wrote to Young on 28 February 1888 that federal marshalls were "more than ordinarily vigilant" in the north and south outlying areas of the Church, but their actions near the center showed "a gradual softening of the feelings of" the non-Mormons.^[19]

• Young led a lobbying team from late 1886 to early 1888 trying to get Utah statehood. The group included Franklin S. Richards, Charles W. Penrose, William W. Riter, Edwin G. Woolley, and Utah Delegate John T. Caine. They first sought, and failed, to amend the proposed Edmunds-Tucker Act allowing a six-month moratorium on enforcement. They managed to enlist the help of Democratic Representative William L. Scott of Pennsylvania and prominent political insider Judge George Ticknor Curtis, in addition to Church attorneys Wilson and McDonald. But Woodruff lost confidence in Young in February 1888 and replaced him with Joseph F. Smith. Young returned to Utah to explain his activities and lavish lifestyle^[20].

• Young acquired ownership of Brigham Young's farm house in Forest Dale (just southwest of present day Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City) from his brother, Brigham Young, Jr. He sold the building to George M. Cannon in 1889^[21].

• Elisha, Evan, and Thomas Kane, Jr., sons of the friend of the Mormons Thomas L. Kane, "went to the train to see John W. Young" (then a lobbyist in Washington) in 1887^[22].

• Young may have written a document meant to placate critics and help get statehood for Utah. The document, meant to be a proclamation from the Quorum of the Twelve, would ask members "to conform their lives to the Laws of Congress," was presented to the Twelve by Wilford Woodruff on 20 December 1888 as a document that came anonymously from Washington and was rejected.^[23]

• Edward Tullidge in August 1888 offered John W. Young the rights to his biography of Brigham Young, but Young declined^[24].

• While visiting Salt Lake City in November 1889, Young met with Presidents George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith of the First Presidency and with Church attorneys to discuss what testimony could be entered in court on the subject of the temple ceremony.

"Mr. Young suggested that since the practice and open avowal of plural marriage had greatly subsided, that this would also be

'... a proper time to state in Court that instructions have been given by the Presidency that no more plural marriages shall be solemnized &c. Pres. Cannon was not in favor of such action and said that Pres. Woodruff was the only one to decide that. Bro. Young suggested that to have time to see Pres. Woodruff the attorneys should ask to have the case continued till Monday morning - this was approved & it was proposed that Bro. Young see Pres. Woodruff tomorrow.'

"On the following evening, Nuttall records a visit with the President at the Gardo House:

'... I found Pres. Woodruff there. He with Pres. Geo. Q. Cannon had met this afternoon with Bro. John W. Young, Legrand Young, Jas. H. Moyle and R. W. Young to consider the matters as presented & talked upon yesterday, and the question was left with Pres. Woodruff to decide. The President told me of this & said that he had made the subject a matter of prayer and by the voice of the spirit he was directed to write, after he had concluded writing, which he was doing when I arrived, he asked me to copy a Revelation which he had received - I did so. Having heard Bro. J. W. Young's reasoning, I felt very much worked up in my feelings for I did not feel that as a Church we could assume the position in regard to Celestial Marriage which seemd to desire should be taken, and when Pres. Woodruff commenced talking to me this evening I felt that he had become converted and actually trembled, for I knew such had not been Prest Woodruff's feelings befoe, but as I wrote at his dictation I felt better all the time and when completed I felt as light and joyous as it is possible to feel for I was satisfied that Pres. Woodruff had received the Word of the Lord...'^[25][26]

[edit] 1890-1899

• In 1890-1891, Young was involved in an attempt to construct a 1,500 mile railroad in Mexico in exchange for 2,500,000 acres of land on which a Mormon colony would be built.^[27]

• In September 1892, Young mortgaged a property in Salt Lake City that he owned. "Adrian H. Muller & Son sold the following securities yesterday at the New-York Real Estate Salesroom, 111 Broadway:
  �$150,000 bond John W. Young, secured by a trust deed upon real property formerly of the Salt Lake Rock Company. $5,000 lot."^[28]

• "One thing more than anything else she hated was debt, and that came to plague her too, when the 1893 depression came. Father was laid off work and they had to go in debt for groceries. Father had changed jobs previous to this time, thinking to better himself, and worked for quite a while on what was known as the John W. Young project. I think it was building a railroad bed. But the project failed, the company went bankrupt, and Father never did get his pay, which amounted to several hundred dollars. This, of course, put them way behind and I think was one of Mother's greatest trials - debt."^[29]

• In 1893 in order to secure a quarter-million-dollar loan primarily for a sugar factory, the Church had to pay a $50,000 penalty related to an old debt owed by John W. Young. George Q. Cannon blamed Heber J. Grant for the penalty. ^[30]

[edit] Notes

1. ↑ Peterson, Charles S. Jacob Hamblin, Apostle to the Lamanites, and the Indian Mission Journal of Mormon History v2 1975 citing Brown, Thomas D. Journal of the Southern Indian Mission p. 3
2. ↑ Newell, Linda King, Presidential Address: A Web of Trails: Bringing History Home Journal of Mormon History v24, n1 Spring 1998, p22 citing Arrington, Leonard J. Brigham Young and the Transcontinental Telegraph Line Improvement Era 54 (July 1951): 510-11.
3. ↑ Foster, Craig L. "That Canny Scotsman": John Sharp and the Negotiations with the Union Pacific Railroad, 1869-1872, Journal of Mormon History, v27 n2, Fall 2001, p198
4. ↑ Foster, Craig L. "That Canny Scotsman": John Sharp and the Negotiations with the Union Pacific Railroad, 1869-1872, Journal of Mormon History, v27 n2, Fall 2001, p201, footnote 8 citing Stevens, Thomas M., The Union Pacific Railroad and the Mormon Church 1868-1871: An In-depth Study of the Financial Aspects of Brigham Young's Grading Contract and Its Ultimate Settlement (M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1972), 18.
5. ↑ Porter, Larry C., A historical analysis of Cove Fort, Utah. Masters Thesis, BYU Dept Religious Instruction, May 1966, pp 71-72 citing Journal History, March 1, 1870 and March 11, 1870.
6. ↑ Cowan, Richard O. Steel Rails and the Utah Saints in Journal of Mormon History, v27 n2, Fall 2001, p.193. citing Beal, Merrill D. Intermountain Railroads: Standard and Narrow Gauge (Caldwell, ID; Caxton Printers, 1962), 7, 17.
7. ↑ Harris, Kristine Haglund. "Who Shall Sing If Not the Children?" Primary Songbooks, 1880-1989. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought v39n4 Winter 2004, p.100 citing Britsch, Catherine. Camilla Cobb: Founder of the Kindergarten in Utah (Ed.D. diss, BYU, 1997), 81.
8. ↑ Embry, Jesse L., Ultimate Taboos: Incest and Mormon Polygamy. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought v18 n1 Spring 1992 p.105, citing Marshall, Through America, 221.
9. ↑ Bunting, James Lovett, Diary, 1832-1923, vol 1 p188
10. ↑ Bush, Lester E., Jr. Brigham Young in Life and Death: A Medical Overview in Journal of Mormon History v5 1978 p. 93 citing Young and Wells to Pratt and Smith, 29 August 1877
11. ↑ Bush, Lester E., Jr. Brigham Young in Life and Death: A Medical Overview in Journal of Mormon History v5 1978 p. 93 citing Richard Young, Journal, 28 August 1877
12. ↑ Heath, Steven H. Notes on Apostolic Succession Dialogue: Journal of Mormon Thought v20 n2 Summer 1987 citing Wilford Woodruff Journal 4 Sept 1877 (7:372)
13. ↑ Murphy, Miram B. A History of Wayne County (Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Society and Daggett County Commission, 1999) as reviewed in Journal of Mormon History, v27 n2, Fall 2001.
14. ↑ Quinn, Michael. LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought v18 n1 Spring 1985, p.17 citing John W. Young to Brigham Young Jr. and Moses Thatcher, 21 May 1885, Young Letterbook, LDS Church Archives.
15. ↑ Alexander, Thomas G. The Odyssey of a Latter-day Prophet: Wilford Woodruff and the Manifesto of 1890 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, v17 n? 1991, p.177 citing Woodruff, Wilford. Wilford Woodruff's Journal, 1833-1898. (Midvale, Utah: Signature Books, 1983-85) v8 p342
16. ↑ Alexander, Thomas G. The Odyssey of a Latter-day Prophet: Wilford Woodruff and the Manifesto of 1890 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, v17 n? 1991, p.182 citing John W. Young to Daniel S. Lamont, 25 June 1887, and to George Jenks, 14 July 1887, John " W. Young Letterbooks, 2:71, John W. Young Collection, Beinecke Library, Yale University. The " letter specifically about Woodruff is Young to "My Dear Sir," probably George A. Jenks, 29 July " 1887, Letterbooks, 2:93.
17. ↑ Lyman, E. Leo. The Political Background of the Woodruff Manifesto Journal of Mormon History v24 n3 Fall 1991, p22 citing Young, John W. Letter to John Taylor and George Q. Cannon, 2 June 1887. Young papers. Also mentioned in Lyman, Edward Leo, Mormon Leaders in Politics: The Transition to Statehood in 1896 Journal of Mormon History v24 n2 Fall 1998, p33 citing James Jack to John W. Young, 27 February 1887, James Jack Papers, LDS Church Archives.
18. ↑ Lyman, Edward Leo, Mormon Leaders in Politics: The Transition to Statehood in 1896 Journal of Mormon History v24 n2 Fall 1998, p35 citing Woodruff, Cannon and Smith, Letter to John W. Young, 7 December 1887, Woodruff Papers, LDS Church Archives; Young, Letter to Woodruff, Cannon, and Smith, 18 January 1888, Young Papers, LDS Church Archives.
19. ↑ Alexander, Thomas G. The Odyssey of a Latter-day Prophet: Wilford Woodruff and the Manifesto of 1890 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, v17 n? 1991, p.182 citing Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon to John " W. Young, 28 February 1888, First Presidency, Letters Sent
20. ↑ Alexander, Thomas G. The Odyssey of a Latter-day Prophet: Wilford Woodruff and the Manifesto of 1890 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, v17 n? 1991, p.186-188 citing John W. Young telegram to First Presidency, 2 February 1887, in First Presidency Letters " Received, 1887, LDS Archives; Wilford Woodruff to "Whom it May Concern," 10 February 1888; Wilford Woodruff to Franklin S. Richards and Charles W. Penrose, 11 April 1888; Wilford Woodruff to Joseph F. Smith, 25 April 1888, all in First Presidency, Letters Sent; Woodruff and Cannon to Joseph F. Smith, 5 April 1888, Woodruff Letterbooks, LDS Archives; Heber J. Grant Journal, 19 May 1888.
21. ↑ Tanner, J. M., A Biographical Sketch of James Jensen." (Salt Lake City: The Deseret News, 1911) p. 115. Tanner credits the ward historian of the Forest Dale ward, Stephen H. Love, who, he says, obtained information from Hamilton G. Park, an employee of Brigham Young.
22. ↑ Kane, Harriet A., 1887 Journal, March 19, 1887, Kane Papers, BYU; and Allen, James A. and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 412.
23. ↑ Quinn, Michael, LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904 Journal of Mormon History v18 n1 Spring 1985, p.35 citing Lyman, "Mormon Quest for Utah Statehood," p. 220 and observing that Lyman "assumed the document was written by John W. Young"
24. ↑ Walker, Ronald W. Edward Tullidge: Historian of the Mormon Commonwealth Journal of Mormon History v3, 1976 p 71 citing Tullidge to John W. Young, 29 August 1888, John W. Young Papers, LDS Church Archives
25. ↑ Jessee, Dean C., A comparative study and evaluation of the Latter-day Saint and "Fundamentalist" views pertaining to the practice of plural marriage, Masters Thesis BYU College of Religion, August, 1959 pp 171-172 citing Diary of L. John Nuttell, November 23, 1889 and November 24, 1889, III, 102-103.
26. ↑ Quinn, Michael. LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought v18 n1 Spring 1985, p.38 citing George Q. Cannon, Diary, 23-24 Nov. 1889, copy in CR 1/48; also First Presidency Office Journal 24 Nov. 1889, copy in CR 1/48.
27. ↑ "A dispatch from Salt Lake City, Utah, confirms the report sent out from Findlay, Ohio, that John W. Young, son of Brigham Young had made a contract for building 1,500 miles of railroad in Mexico, taking in payment 2,500,000 acres of land, on which he will place a Mormon colony." Notes of Various Interests. New York Times, Wednesday, March 19, 1891, Page 2
28. ↑ "FINANCIAL AFFAIRS." New York Times, Wednesday, September 22, 1892, Page 6,
29. ↑ Malinda Helen Watson speaking of Shadrach Charles and Kezia Chapman Watson in A collection of histories of Milton O. and Linnie W Parker Gold and some of their ancestors p 142. The text implies that the project was either near Mendon, Utah or near Salt Lake City, Utah.
30. ↑ Lyman, Edward Leo, George Q. Cannon: Economic Innovator and the 1890s Depression Journal of Mormon History v29 n2, Fall 2003, p30 citing Grant, Heber J., Journal 22, 23 December 1897.