The time will come when the Latter-day Saints will appreciate him as one of the greatest prophets that ever lived. I have been much with him. I look upon this association as the greatest privilege of my life: to have heard his counsels and to witness his life as I have. And in contemplating that life, it seems to me perfect. In my eyes and to my feelings he was as perfect a man could be in morality…. From the organization of the Church and the construction of Temples; the building of Tabernacles; from the creation of a Provisional State Government and a Territorial Government, down to the small matter of directing the shape of these seats upon all these things as well as upon all the settlements of the Territory, the impress of his genius is apparent…. He has been the brain, they eye, the ear, the mouth, and the hand of the entire people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

BRIGHAM YOUNG, born June 1, 1801 in Whittingham, Vermont, learned the trades of carpenter, joiner, painter, and glazier by the age of 16. In the spring of 1830 he saw the Book of Mormon and two years later, April 14, 1832, was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was ordained an apostle February 14, 1835 and elected President of the Council January 19, 1841. Through April to July, 1847 he led the pioneers across the plains and at the October conference of the Church in 1847 at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, he was sustained President of the Church. He served as first territorial governor of Utah from 1851 to 1858. In April, 1853 he laid the cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple and later temples at St. George, Manti, and Logan. On August 29, 1877 he died in Salt Lake City following a brief illness.