Evening Star Newspaper, August 17, 1930, Page 84

12 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHI} Brigham Young's Home Lite Now Re Hitherto Untold Details of the Mormon Leader’s Habits, and How He Managed His Nineteen Wives and His Fifty-Six Children, Are Told inThe se Stories o One of the West’s Greatest P ioneers. The Lién House, where the author of this reminiscence was born, and where the wives of Brigham Young lived in harmony and peace, and where most of his 56 children were born. BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FAMILY ALBUM. 19 WIVES were “sealed” to Brigham Young, the Mormon Moses. 30 DAUGHTERS were born to him. 26 SONS carried ow the patriarch’s mame and work. 56 CHILDREN in all were born to Brigham Young, 10 dying in infancy. HERE is a natural curiosity to hear of the intimate life and character- istics of great men; and this ques- tioning becomes doubly insistent and interesting when the family rela- tions of such men present anything out of the ordinary. Therefore I plead for a respectful considera- tion of the matters I am about to disclose regarding my father and his intimate home life. My childhood’s home was as beautiful to me as love and happiness could make it. The other noble women who were my father's wives are as sacredly enshrined in my heart as is the memory of my own dear mother. My brothers and sister are all as dear and precious to me as I am to each one of them, wherever they may be. Like other proud beings, we shrink from lifting the veil which enfolds the sanctity of our home life, However, when the motive prompting inquiry is one of deep interest, I can put aside the feelings of nature, and for the sake of truth and to vindicate the memory of my idolized father and mother, I am glad to set down here some facts and items. And let me speak as the daughter and not as the historian, of a carefree childhood, a happy, joyous youth and a long life of deep satisfaction. 'HE principle of plural marriage was adopted by my father as it was taught him by the prophet Joseph Smith after great inner struggle and earnest prayer. His strict Puritanical training ill-fitted him to accept such a doctrine. He foresaw, as who would not, the storm of abuse and opposition which such action would arouse. He told my mother once that he brooded and sorrowed for months, unreconciled in reason, yet converfed in his spirit to its truth. Some of my father’s wives were sealed to him in Nauvoo, Ill, by the prophet himself, as I have heard him testify, and as the Nau- voo records prove. After the prophet’s death others were married to him in Winter quar- ters, where the saints were resting afler being driven from Nauvoo. On the arrival in the valley, my father, after the necessary interval in log houses, built good homes for his loved wives. The “White House” sufficed for “Mother” Young and her large family. The Be Hive House was used as his official resi- dence from the first. There he had his private office, entertained callers, and carried on his public affairs that were not prosecuted in the church offices, which were built next to the Bee Hive House. My father had been so impressed with the economic advantages of the communal family that in the Fall of 1855 he began to build what was called the Lion House, as & home for most of his family. “Mother” Young was in the White House and Aunt Lucy Decker Young ‘in- the Bue Hive House. The others There were kitchens, capacious storerooms, a large dining room, a weave room, a wash room, and a temporary school room in the lower or basement floor. The wash room was fitted with two built-in great copper boilers heated by a huge “pound- ing” barrel in the corner with its large wooden hammer or pestle wherein clothes were placed for the hired men, by our good old friend, Jimmie Works, who also carried the water for all culinary purposes from the pump in the central court of the home. The wives had regular days and hours of washing. In the basement, on the northwest side of the house was a long hall which we called the school room because the children were taught here until the school house was built six years later. The basement hall was then, in 1862, used as a gathering room for the young people and fitted up with a “step-stove” on which they popped corn and made molasses candy. Between the windows were marble-topped tables and above them two large silver hooks on which the candy was “pulled.” We all had a great deal of fun in this room. The boys would pop the corn and the girls would cook the candy and twist it into fancy patterns, N that home, built in a far desert land In 1856, every room was well ventilated and had good windows. All but a few of the upper bed rooms had fire places. Father knew that fresh air was vitally necessary in homes and public assemblies. Chimneys and open win- dows provided good outlets and inlets. All the family were taught hygienic principles and rules of simple living and high thinking. On the main floor were the sitting rooms of the wives who had children and a large front parlor which was used as & prayer room and as a gathering place for the family. The upper . floor held 20 rooms, a few of which were used as sitting rooms by some of my father’s childless wives and as bed rooms for the older children. The stairs had wide, short treads and graceful banisters, while the halls were divided by glass partitions. Hallways on the first and second floors led out to the small courtyard where stood the pump from which water was drawn by the hired man for all culinary purposes. The court was roomy enough to give light to the buildings which surrounded the square on three sides—the Bee Hive House on the east, the church offices on the south, and the Lion House on the west. The Lion House was the loved home of as healthy and happy a family of mothers and children as ever dwelt beneath a roof. On this I speak with knowledge, for I was the first child born under its unique roof. The wives moved in as fast as rooms were fin- ished, my own mother moving into her sitting room site as the boards were being nailed on the floors and just in time for my own birth (March 18, 1856) to synchronize with the emergence of the house into livable reality. OUR marriages were performed in the Tem- ple or House of the Lord. There was a quiet wedding supper given, but never great social affairs with guests and presents and cards of invitdtion. Again, the New England customs formed the basis of our traditions and habits. Luxury was unknown, fashion riots were deplored, and we were married in all simplicity, with a deeply sacred atmosphere By Susa Youfig Gates. One of the Living Daughters of Brigham Young. Susa Young Gates, author of the accom- panying reminiscences, was the firss child to be born to Brigham in the Lion House. pervading the event rather than any hilarious or unseemly display. . The great majority of my brothers and tisters were well and happily married. There were a few marital disasters; only enough to punctuate the rule. All were married, none remained single. Father himself, when able, performed the ceremony over the sacred altar, sealing husband to wife and wife to husband for the endless ages of eternity, unless sinning broke the covenant and released the innocent party. He gave homes to his daughters, as to his sons. Food and meal times in the Lion Ilouse were necessarily exact as to time and meas- ured as to servings. Plenty of milk, vegetables and fruit, but careful helpings of meat and desserts. Simple as it was, the food was of the best quality. THE cooking could not have been excelled by any foreign chef. All father's wives were excellent cooks. When 50 or more people are fed regularly three thnes a day, some system must be ob- served. Breakfast was always ready at 8 o’clock in the Summer and 8:30 in the Winter. The bell rang five minutes before that time and I can assure you that every child was waiting for the sound of the bell, for if they were not there on time they failed to get their meals. Noth- ing was allowed between meals (except apples or other fruit) unless unavoidable circum- stances made us late for meals when served. Father was keenly sensible as to the conserva- tion of time and strength in order to achieve comfort with the least possible friction in all human operations. The day’s work for father did mot begin till after 9 o’clock in the morning, for he rarely arose before 8 o’clock, as he held his most im- portant council meetings in the evening or went to other meetings. These meetings were interspersed occasion- ally with his few recreations—the theater or an occasional dancing party—so he seldom retired before midnight. Yet he slept soundly when he did get to bed. He said that he had trained himself to “shut_up his thinker” when he went to bed and to go to sleep at once. The rule of eight hours' sleep, eight hours’ work and eight hours’ recreation was a plan he himself carried out fairly well. His breakfast was & simple meal of bread, Brigham Young, successor to Prophet Joseph Smith, and the modern Moses| who led the Mormons to their promised land in Utah. He summoned his wives and children to prayer with a bell. milk, a boiled egg, and frult; eaten always i the Bee Hive House, where his private apart- ments were for a number of years; it was quiet there. Aunt Lucy Decker Young, who presided there, was also an exquisite house- keeper and knew how to smooth over the rough exteriors of life’s hardest burdens for her adored husband. FATHER ate no luncheon, or dinner as we called it then. The day’s work for him was continuous, sometimes broken by meetings or business, by funeral calls, by trips here and Grandsons of Brigham Young in the W ©f the Mormon leader were -