Comments on: A Family by the Numbers

By: Raymond Takashi Swenson

Raymond Takashi Swenson — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:25:48 +0000

A couple of years ago I was visiting the ward where my daughter and her then 4 children lived in Eagle, outside Boise, Idaho. The Primary Sharing Time had a game on Father’s Day in which several brethren came in with paper sacks on their heads and numbers, and the kids were asked to ask questions that would help them figure out the identity of the dads. I was interested in how many of the kids knew the dads of the OTHER kids, from the extensive interaction they had in visiting each other’s homes. there were about 40 or 50 children there, about like Brigham’s household. I have read his letters to his sons, and have no doubt he knew his children very well, just as he knew many of the brothers and sisters of the church very well.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:34:03 +0000

I should warn you, Hunter — you’re not going to be able to slip anything related to BY’s family past Jeff’s radar!

By: Hunter

Hunter — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:25:45 +0000

I guess Phineas Howe’s numbers are more notorious/well-known than I thought. Good catch, Jeff Johnson!

And, yes, *this* descendant of Phineas Howe Young is a musician. (Among other things.)

By: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:59:15 +0000

It is nice to hear from a descendant of Brigham’s son, Phineas Howe Young. I understand that he was a fine artist and musician. Are his descendants musicians also?

By: Hunter

Hunter — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:47:41 +0000

I’m glad to know that dear old Brother Brigham seemed to know his children. The son I descend from was only 14 years old when Brigham died. This son had a very difficult life, dying at the age of 41. I often wondered about the interaction between these two, father and son. Thanks for this.

By: BruceCrow

BruceCrow — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:26:12 +0000

I guess I always expected that most fathers of large polygamous families would know their own children. I live in a neighborhood with lots of children (20+?). While I am NOT the father of most of them (just three) I know who most the children are, who their parents are and where they live. I suppose it would be easier if I had a reason to be involved in all of their lives other than the fact that my children play with them. We don’t even go to church with them. (I do have problems diferentiating between the twins that live next door.) Once you add it the children in the primary and YM/YW programs in my ward (25+), and my neices and nephews (15+), and other friends whose children I know there are over 50 children I’m able to keep track of. I think if we thought about it, most of us could keep track of that many different people with little trouble, and no need to number them.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:35:55 +0000

There are some remarks in Brigham Young’s correspondence to family members that show he knew his grandchildren (or at least those who lived close enough to see constantly; I don’t know about those in Idaho) every bit as well as he knew his own young children. I need to relocate the bit in a letter to an absent son where BY reports on the activities of a toddler that shows BY to be as much of a doting grandpa as anybody any of us ever knew.

By: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:17:28 +0000

Brigham Young knew all his children. When they were away, he wrote letters to them. (See Dean Jessee’s, Brigham Young’s Letters to his Sons (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974) Those that lived close, he saw alot and gave advice and help. Married daughters and husbands were often invited to travel with him. He was very warm and kind to his children and grandchildren. The Young family members were very close after his death,which I think is a tribute to him. Even those that left Mormonism were included in family parties, family funerals, and family activities. While many had strong involvement in the Church, a few did not. All seemed a part of the large family.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:37:31 +0000

#5 – Wow. I laughed and cringed at the same time.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:32:04 +0000

The supposed inability of polygamous fathers/husbands not always recognizing all their children reminded me of a story I believe I read in the biography of Rudger Clawson, the first person actually tried and convicted under the anti-cohab laws. In order to throw off the federal marshals who were always trying to find polygamous husbands, some children were taught to respond to the question “Can you tell me who your father is?” with the response, “For all I know, YOU could be my father.”