Brigham Young's Homes

Chapter 2. Brigham Young’s Birthplace and New York Residences

Chapter 2 Brigham Young’s Birthplace and New York Residences Marianne Harding Burgoyne I was worth a little property when I started to preach; but I was something like Bunyan—it was “life, life, eternal life,” with me; everything else was secondary. Brigham Young1 A story reads better if a great man emerges from humble roots. The idea of the self-made man, whose accomplishments set him far above the reach of other men, rising from incapacitating circumstances, is the American dream. We like to think a man can be a Paul Bunyan, endowed with such strength, vision, and cunning to create Puget Sound, the Grand Canyon, and the Black Hills or with his ox to haul an entire forest at one time.2 This myth allows us the possibility that a little of this life force resides in all of us. Brigham Young was such a man. Born into the poorest of families in a log home on a hillside in Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont, Young left an indelible mark on the landscape of America.3 He was a Bunyan. There was nothing he couldn’t build: chairs, mantelpieces, homes, ships, temples, cities. He built a religion from the blueprint of Joseph Smith’s visions and led his people across the American continent to a land so barren that presumably no one else would want it, so he and his followers could worship without persecution. He peopled his cities. Called by his biographer, Leonard Arrington, “American Moses,” Young was a giant among men.4 His story is epic; his achievement, measured two hundred years after his birth, remarkable for a man of any age. Once Brigham Young was famous, he received several letters from various sources requesting an account of his birth and early history. One such request is recorded in the Mary Van Sickle Wait monograph, Brigham Young in Cayuga County: 1813–1829, perhaps the earliest source for tracking Young’s New York years.5 Wait begins her history: “We have Brigham Young’s own word for the fact that he came to Cayuga County in 1813 and settled in Genoa.” She then produces the following letter: Great Salt Lake City, July 23, 1858 To __________: I received your letter dated Canandaigua, May 5, 1858. I will give you a short sketch of my history. I was born at Whitingham, Windham County, Vermont, June 1, 1801. My father and family moved to Smyrna, Chenango County, New York, when I was about eighteen months old. We lived in the place until 1813. Shortly after the commencement of the late war with Great Britain, my father and family removed to the town of Genoa, Cayuga County, New York, in which county I lived until 1829, when I moved to Mendon, Monroe County. . . .6 The more famous Young became, the more people became interested in the exact location of his birth. In another letter, dated sixteen years later, 16 May 1874, Albert Carrington, at Young’s request, wrote to Dr. Oramel Martin, who had inquired (letter of 6 May 1874) concerning the site of Young’s birth: Dr. Humphrey Gould of Rowe, Franklin County, Mass., if I am rightly informed, can direct you to the spot in Whitingham where it was said the house stood in which President Young was born. President Young will be pleased to see you at any time it may suit you to visit this city. Very Respectfully, Albert Carrington7 Today, there is no home standing which marks the exact location of Young’s birthplace. There is a stone memorial placed on Stimpson Hill, also known as “Brigham Young Hill.” Stimpson Hill Road (Town Road 33) intersects Vermont State Highway 100 in Whitingham just east of Brown’s General Store and the U.S. Post Office. A sign at the intersection points to the birthplace southward up the steep hill. The memorial is located precisely one-fifth of a mile southward up Stimpson Hill Road.8 The inscription on the stone reads, “Brigham Young / Born Brigham Young’s Homes 14 Brigham Young’s birthplace still resembles the farming area it was when he was born. Photo by Marianne Burgoyne. on this Spot 1801 / A Man of Much Courage and Superb Equipment.” Postcards of this memorial existed by 1900, and it still stands today.9 Although a home is located just to the west of the monument, it is not the original Young dwelling. The view...