As he aged, Brigham Young’s health began to fail. He was forced to live part-time in southern Utah to avoid Salt Lake City’s frigid winters. Vigorous to the end, the courageous Mormon leader died on August 29, 1878.
Brigham taught his people that Mormons must work together. Cooperation, he added, will accomplish more than any one person’s labor. To pursue that goal, he promoted two plans. Merchants were asked to join the Zion Cooperative Mercantile Institution. When they did so, they turned over their goods to the cooperative. The church, in turn, asked members to avoid non-ZCMI merchants.
The second plan, known as the United Order, went further. In town after town, townsfolk bought shares in a local cooperative. Some co-ops grew crops such as cotton and flax. Others made products—shoes, brooms, hats, and leather goods. Members shared in the profits they earned. When United Order groups failed, it was for lack of capital, not effort.
Brigham often warned of the evils of tobacco and alcohol. He did not rule out all pleasures, however. In 1862, he opened the West’s finest theater in Salt Lake City. With money scarce, playgoers paid for tickets with produce or eggs. Touring actors teamed with local Mormons to put on the plays. Brigham disliked plays filled with bad language and violence. In 1865, he banned the use of swear words on stage.
As with the theater, Brigham’s feelings about women were mixed. On one hand, he thought a wife should be ruled by her husband. Men, he believed, are superior beings. Even so, he wanted Mormon women to be well schooled. Brigham pointed them toward jobs in offices, banks, and stores. He also urged women to study law and medicine. The first class of the University of Deseret reflected his views. The school enrolled 223 students in 1868. Of these, 103 were women.
Brigham’s word was law to most of his wives. That was not the case with Ann Eliza Webb. In 1875, Ann Eliza sued Brigham for divorce on grounds of neglect. The case was heard by one of Brigham’s foes, Judge James McKean. McKean awarded Ann Eliza with an alimony settlement of five hundred dollars a month. When Brigham refused to pay, McKean held him in contempt of court. He set the fine at twenty-five dollars, plus a day in jail. On March 11, the seventy-three-year-old Mormon leader served his sentence. The divorce itself dragged on and on. In 1877, a second judge threw the case out of court. Brigham and Ann Eliza, he ruled, had never been legally married.
As he aged, Brigham Young’s health began to fail. He was forced to live part-time in southern Utah to avoid Salt Lake City’s frigid winters. Vigorous to the end, the courageous Mormon leader died on August 29, 1878.
As he aged, Brigham was hobbled by rheumatism. In winter, he fled the chill of Salt Lake City for the milder climate of southern Utah. A case of mumps sent him to bed in 1870. An enlarged prostate caused him more misery. Brigham sometimes said he looked forward to being reborn. In heaven, he joked, he would have new teeth and perfect eyesight.
The end came suddenly. On August 23, 1878, he fell ill with violent cramps. Doctors told him he had a form of cholera. Modern doctors believe that his appendix had burst. Brigham held on for six days. The end came on August 29. As he died, he cried out, “Joseph! Joseph! Joseph!” Those who heard him believe he was greeting Joseph Smith.
Thousands of mourners filed past his casket as it lay in the Tabernacle. They came to say good-bye to a legend of the Wild West. Many called him an American Moses. Like the biblical Moses, he had led his people to a Promised Land. Under his leadership, the Mormon Church had grown strong and prosperous.
Historian Wallace Stegner called Brigham “a colonizer without equal in the history of America. In a desert that nobody wanted … he planted … over three hundred and fifty towns. … ” He was both loved and hated, but no one doubted his courage and resolve. As Brigham himself wrote, “I was so gritty that I always tried my best.”