Pioneer: 2015 Vol. 62 No.1

He later remembered “many anxious hours” of
religious seeking. “I would have given worlds if I
could have known the truth in my childhood,” he
said. “I had a great desire to know it.” 12 Although
he attended the religious revivals in his neighborhood,
he was unsatisfied. These revivals seemed
to make the people “crazy” with emotion, he said,
but when the camp meetings were over, it was “all
about nothing at all.” 13
He finally joined the Methodists at the age of
23, but it was with uncertainty and on his own
terms. He consented to baptism in the hope he
might “lead a better life,” he said. At his request
he was baptized by immersion, although the local
Methodist elders did not favor the form. 14
When reaching the age of almost 30, he found
himself deeply frustrated. “I hated the world, and
the things of the world, and the poor miserable
devils that were governing it,” he remembered.
During these years, he felt “gloomy and desponding.”
Everything had “a dreary aspect.” He felt that
he could “scarcely trust any one.” 15 A modern clinician,
if he had been present, might have diagnosed
him with a case of severe depression.
Then he found Mormonism.
He had first heard about Joseph
Smith and the Golden Plates
from rumors in the neighborhood
(Mendon was less than
20 miles from Smith’s home),
but he didn’t pay much attention
until he met a pair
of Mormon missionaries.
He remembered them as
“the most illiterate men
that I knew,” yet a fire
gradually began to kindle
within him. Their “testimony
was like fire in my
bones.” 16 Brigham studied
the Book of Mormon and
became convinced.
He was baptized on Sunday,
April 14, 1832, in his own mill
stream and immediately was ordained
an elder. His despon-
dency lifted. It was as though he had been given
a new life. He would say many times later that his
real life began with his baptism. 17
Soon Brigham was in Kirtland, Ohio, to begin
a remarkable, 11-year relationship with Joseph
Smith, 1833–1844. During this stage of the convert’s
life, he matured as he accepted the Prophet’s
direction and filled a series of important church
assignments. These included marching in Zion’s
Camp, accepting the call to serve as a latter-day
Apostle, and helping build the Kirtland temple.
Several years later President Young directed the
Saints’ forced evacuation from Missouri, led
the Twelve Apostles’ mission to England, and,
under the direction of Joseph Smith, played a
leadership role in Nauvoo, Illinois. Smith increasingly
saw him as his right-hand man.
When Brigham Young began to lead the
Church, he was 43 years old. Many men and
women, including himself, wondered if he had the
talent and background to lead the Church. 18 It was
soon clear, however, he was no ordinary man. He
had the ability to grasp both small and large details
and then to make great things happen. Some
of his contributions include the following:
Determining Succession. The death of Joseph
Smith in 1844 left most Saints wondering who
should be the new leader. While the Twelve were
aware that Joseph Smith had conferred on them
the “keys of the kingdom,” even they seemed
unsure how to proceed. Into this vacuum stepped
Brigham Young. Responding to a revelation that
had come to him “like a clap of hands” while he
was preaching in the East, 19 He returned to Nauvoo
on August 6, 1844. Two days later, he successfully
argued before the assembled Saints that the
Quorum of the Twelve should guide the Church.
As important was the precedent of reorganizing
the First Presidency, which President Young
established three years later. Some of the Apostles
preferred the cumbersome procedure of having
the Twelve make each executive decision. But
President Young understood that such a system
was not a long-term solution. During the summer
and fall of 1847, he worked to convince
his fellow Apostles of the need for a First
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