Daniel Albert Keeler, 1924-1999, returned missionary (France and Belgium), Temple Square missionary, and a young member of the Deseret Sunday School Union general board, was inspired in 1957 by the assignment of a Sunday School teacher: To  find first-hand information about Brigham Young, not from the descendants of those who had known him, not from history books, but directly from the lips of people who had met Brigham Young.

Could it possibly be that there were people living in 1957 who had known Brigham Young prior to his death in 1877?

To his own great amazement – and to my surprise in 2010 – Dan Keeler found a round dozen of very elderly people who had known, or at least seen and heard, Brigham Young during his lifetime. He visited and interviewed them, recording their stories and preserving little bits of history that few would have expected would be available so far into the 20th century.

Here are the memories of those elderly witnesses:

David Edwin Layton
1860-1962
Layton, Utah

I remember Brigham Young. He and my father, Bishop Christopher Layton, were great pals … He would never come through Layton without stopping at father’s place. … There was quite a big to-do when he would come up. If it was anything like mealtime, they would unhook and feed their horses. Then they would come in and have dinner. Or if it were late, they would stay the night. We had a room kept just for Brigham Young. It was called “Brigham’s room” … President Young and my father owned sheep together for a number of years. They used to keep them over on Antelope Island or “Church Island.” Brigham used to come up and go through the herd. He was a judge of good sheep.

Brigham Young had sleighs in the wintertime –c utters. He would take his children sleigh riding, and he used to have some of those little sleighs with a gooseneck on them. When they’d get a little shabby, father would trade him something for them or buy them, and we boys would wear them out.

When President Young came, everyone would be out tow ave to him. The bands would play – the brass band and the Marshall Band – before and after meetings. I remember seeing him when eh came to quarterly conferences. After meeting was dismissed they would put a cushion under his arm and the whole congregation would go around and shake his hand.

I heard him talk many times. he would talk pretty straight – a good plain speaker … There was no other man just like him. When he said a thing he meant it, and the people understood it that way and carried it out to the very letter. Never heard one man oppose him. He was kind, though. Firm, but kind.

I spoke to Brigham Young and shook hands with him. He was heavy-set, about 5 ft., 8 in. tall and had a sandy beard. I felt that he was a great man. We were taught that he was the leader of the true Church and a prophet of God.

Willie Dobbie Kuhre
1863-1960
Sandy, Utah

My first experience at meeting President Young was in about the year 1868. I remember that the school children were arranged on either side of the road just below Temple Hill in Manti as he came in from nearby Ephraim. He was escorted by a group of horsemen. He was in a carriage. As he passed, of course we children waved to him as did all the rest of the people. He stood up and bowed and waved in return.

Mary Brown Clark
1859-1966
Provo, Utah

I saw Brigham Young many times and heard him talk. My father was the bishop in Pleasant Grove for 29 years and Brigham young always stopped at our place …

When Brigham Young went through town on a trip to different settlements to the south, we children would all get out on the edge of the street and watch the carriages go by. He always waved …

When this was the old Utah Stake they used to have what they called jubilees on president Young’s birthday or close to it, and we Sunday School children would practice poems and hymns to get ready for the jubilee. The last jubilee I remember was held at American Fork. We met in the bowery … I can just see President Young coming up the steps to the stand … We were all happy to see him and he gave us all such good instructions.

He was a very pleasant looking man, not very tall, but well built. He would always speak to the children and seemed glad to see us. We all just loved him. He was a prophet!

Sarah Jane (Jennie) Giles Sprague
1865-1966
Fillmore, Utah

I remember seeing the Prophet Brigham Young many times … On occasions we were told to watch for him as he passed through town on his way to St. George. We children would line up on the street and it seemed to me (on one such occasion) that he was sitting on a high seat of a big black coach. He had on a light duster coat to protect his clothes, as the roads were very dusty and rough.

I can also remember when he stopped at my uncle’s hotel in Fillmore (Hotel Gabriel Huntsman). he would leave his team there and take my grandfather’s big black team on to St. George.

My father was in Johnston’s Army, and was presented a Book of Mormon by Brigham Young … also some writings of Lucy Smith. These were the helps that converted my father to Mormonism.

[Dan Keeler credited Amy Stewart of Monroe, Utah, for this interview.]

Celestia Snow Gardner
1859-1959
Salt Lake City, Utah

We lived in Pine Valley. In our house we had a small bedroom where the boys slept. The room wasn’t so handsome, but when Brigham Young came to our home, mother put clean sheets on the bed and a special quilt given to her when she was married which she kept in a chest for special occasions.

I remember best the time when he stopped at our home and mother was ill. He and father came into the house. Mother was in bed with a new baby. He came up to her bed and said, “Now, Sister snow, I don’t want you to worry one bit about us. I want you to take care of yourself. we can take care of ourselves.”

Brigham Young shook hands with me when I was about 7 years old. … I was very pleased but I felt rather curious afterwards. I can remember saying to my sister, “My, I felt queer when he shook hands with me.” We felt his influence in our home.

Peter Peterson
1860-1960
Fairview, Utah

The first time I saw him, he drove into Fairview here, and we turned out in mass to meet him, down on the west street. He drove by in his buggy, and of course we thought we had seen quite a sight when we had seen Brigham Young.

The second time I met him was at a stake conference in Mt. Pleasant. I remember his talking about Apostle Orson Hyde … and as Brigham Young came out of the meeting he had his arm around Brother Hyde. They were talking.

Brigham Young was heavy and well built. He had on a long black coat that day.

Frederick Wardle Cleaverly
1868-1969
Bountiful, Utah

I remember seeing Brigham Young at a jubilee held in Farmington. There was no ward in South or West bountiful then, so the jubilee was held in Farmington. Brigham Young spoke. He was a good talker and seemed to mean what he said. He seemed to have a kindly appearance. He dressed well for the times … He was medium height and stoutly built …

I truly believe that he was a prophet and that he was the man he is held up to be, a leader of the Kingdom and Church of God.

Anne Barnes Layton Jones
1863-1957
Salt Lake City

I’m only 94, but I’ve enjoyed that 94 years. I haven’t been sleeping all the time.

Of course I remember Brigham Young! He frequently visited my father’s home. One room was reserved for him. We called it “Brigham Young’s Room” … It was very exclusive. The children, of course, were not allowed to go in … I remember the visits of Brigham Young and my father, Christopher Layton … I remember his voice. It was very convincing, very sincere. He always had a smile. If he shook hands with any of the children, he had a very pleasant way with him. I remember shaking hands with him.

I remember once being in the Tabernacle where children from all of the different wards were gathered. Our teachers had prepared us for some celebration though I can’t recall now the nature of it. We were all dressed in white. I recall that Brigham Young got up and complimented us and told us how beautiful we were. We were very proud to be there and to see our President admiring us.

I can recall the occasion of Brigham Young’s funeral. My mother was going to attend. She took me with her. The house was packed to overflowing. I remember going out at the close of the funeral, the crowd was so dense we were really carried along till we got to the door. I remember that almost every eye was wet with tears at the loss of our beloved President. I was not quite 14 at that time.

Brigham Young was a real prophet to me.

George Arthur Hurst
1871-1960
Manti, Utah

I remember when the telegram [announcing Brigham Young’s death] came to Fairview. Very shortly thereafter they raised the flag at half-mast. A day or two following, when the old semi-weekly Deseret News came out, all of the dividing lines of that paper were in heavy black, as were the borders.

Ruth May Fox
1853-1958
Salt Lake City

We lived in Wilshire, England. Toward the end of the Civil War in America I went with my father to live at my grandmother’s in Yorkshire. I must have been 8 or 9 years old. I remember going out in front of the house and saying to my playmates, “My father is going to take me to America, and then we are going way out in the valley of the mountains and see Brigham Young, a real prophet.”

We came to America in 1867. We crossed the plains and arrived here on a Saturday in August of that year. That same day I went to the Tabernacle where I believe Brigham Young spoke. They had just completed the Tabernacle.

Brigham Young owned a woolen mill up in the mouth of Parley’s Canyon … My father was engaged to work there. he did the spinning.

I was there sometimes with my father and used to run in and out through the narrow spaces between the machines … On one particular day Brigham Young came to look around. He saw me running in and out about the machinery and he said, “Don’t you think you could get that little girl to wear boy’s clothes?” Now that’s as close as I ever got to Brigham Young.

Joseph Smith Clark
1854-1957
Salt Lake City, Utah

My folks used to take me to conference in Salt Lake. I remember one time when they were sustaining the authorities. I guess President Young had his mind on other things because when they asked if any were opposed, he raised his hand. Then, realizing what he had done, he quickly brought his hand down to his head as if to scratch. He wasn’t quick enough, though. The audience laughed. Brigham Young looked a little embarrassed but smiled good naturedly.

The last time I saw Brigham Young was in May or June of 1877. It was at the time of the organization of the Davis Stake. My father was chosen as a high councilman.

My father had come right along with him from Nauvoo, Illinois.

Selden Irwin Clawson
1864-1958
Salt Lake City

Grandfather Young was a man of few words, always had a dozen things to do and tried to do them all at once. He always wanted to be called grandfather – loud enough for all to hear. If we did not call him grandfather, he would say, “What’s the matter with you this morning?”

Grandfather always asked a lot of questions of us youngsters. He always talked right to the point. He let me understand what he was talking about and what he expected me to do.

When he approached us on the street, he had a habit of keen analysis and would look us over very thoroughly. I remember once having on an old hat and he asked me, “Where did you get that hat?”

In discipline he would take a child over his knee and give him one good hard spat and say, “Don’[t do that again.” It was the humiliation they suffered, rather than the hurt, that was effective.

-oOo-

Do you have any brief memories of church leaders from your childhood or youth?