2-901-918 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Brigham Young, between 1855 and 1865. The second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, Brigham Young (1801-1877) led his followers on an 1100 mile trek from Illinois to Utah in 1846-1847 after the church's founder, Joseph Smith, was murdered by a mob. On arriving at their destination, Young and the Mormons founded Salt Lake City. In keeping with the Mormons' practice of polygamy, Young took more than 20 wives and fathered 47 children. He died of cholera morbus in 1877.