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Show Colonizer's impact still felt 100 years since Brigham's death C- - Continued from page 5 From Cedar City, a telegram addressed to John W. Young, Daniel H. Wells, Brigham Young Jr., and the Brigham Young family stated, The priesthood and members of the Cedar City Ward console and sympathize with you and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints in the sudden demise of our beloved President Similar telegrams were sent from Manti and Richfield. No telegrams or communications sent to the family gave any hint of hysteria or disorganization. To ascertain the effect of the tragedy on local members, a reporter from the New York World intervi' wed Henry G. Bywater, who presided over the Church in Williamsburg, N.Y. The reporter described his meeting with Elder Bywater this way: A Mormon of 28 years standing, he is a man of from 40 to 50 years of age and is an engineer in one of the factories nearby. When asked last night what effect he thought the death of Brigham Young would have upon the Mormon Church, he answered unhesitatingly, I do not think that it will have the least effect in the world. The Church will go on just the same as if he were living, for it was not he who raised the Church to what it is now, but the spirit of God working through him. We are all very sorry to hear of the death of our President and prophet, but we know that his successor, when elected, will be inspired as he was and will be able to conduct the affairs of the Church so that even greater miracles will be performed in the future than in the past. At the passing of President Young, leadership of the Church shifted quietly to the Council of the Twelve with John Taylor presiding. It is to Brigham Youngs credit that the keys of the kingdom were passed on so quickly and easily. Thirty-thre- e years earlier, when the "i; ' .4vV - vi tvA'' -- , v ?; :ao J $$ ?, , -- 4t iw4r - i, ;At '! ? w d vl f JSft. " If - s. a & A bust of Brigham Young marks saints were gathered in Nauvoo to determine who would take the leadership of the Church, it was Brigham Young, as president of the Council of the Twelve, who told them : Joseph conferred upon our heads all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away, and no man or set of men can get between Joseph and the Twelve in this world or in the world to come. y WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 3, 1977 J' ? I ' , The last public appearance President Brigham Young made before his death in 1877 was at the creation of a stake in the northern Utah town that bore his name. On Aug. 19 of that year, 10 days before he died, President Young organized the Box Elder Stake, which became the 20th stake in the Church at that time and the 10th to have been organized since the preceding April conference in St. George, completing the last great work of his life. Recently the members of the Brigham City Utah Box Elder Stake and the Brigham City Utah North Stake, which were subsequently formed from the original Box Elder Stake, celebrated the 100th anniversary of their parent stakes creation. observance included Special events in the three-daa Centennial Fair, displays of early journals, diaries and pioneer crafts and artifacts, and presentations of important events in the stakes history. Capping these activities was a special commemorative meeting in the Box Elder Tabernacle, where the principal speaker was President N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency; music was provided by children from the stake Primary organizations. CHURCH I' 4 tMrafcfer .w , '; BRIGHAM CITY, UTAH 14 -- ' wiwirtwwirh 'v the prophet's gravesite (tra,inw, in Salt Lake City's In 1877, there were 20 stakes, nine missions and 365 missionaries serving in the field. Today there are 850 stakes, 156 missions and 25,000 missionaries laboring for the Church. Utah Stake notes 100th anniversary Box Elder County had first been settled by the saints in 1851, at which time it was part of the Weber Stake. Four years later Elder Lorenzo Snow of the Council of the Twelve had been called to preside over the saints in the county and had done so until the Box Elder Stake was organized in 1877. ' During that time Elder Snow had made his headquarters in Brigham City, where he had begun tiL Photo by Paul Barker The lesson learned by the saints in Nauvoo was not forgotten at the passing of another great prophet. At the death of President Young, there were 145,000 members of the Church. One hundred years later that figure has swollen to almost 4 million. Box Elder Haia avenues area. President Young once wrote to the editor of the New York Herald: My whole life is devoted to the Almightys service and, while I regret that my mission is not better understood by the world, the time will come when I will be understood and I leave to futurity the judgment of my labors and their result as they become manifest. History speaks for itself. a cooperative mercantile association which later developed into the Brigham City Mercantile and Manufacturing Association. Under his leadership a number of industries had been brought into successful operation, including a woolen mill, a tannery, a shoe factory, a hat factory, sheep and cattle herds, dairies, sawmills and furniture, wagon and tailoring shops. By 1875 the products of these operations were valued at $260,000. When the Box Elder Stake was organized two years later, Elder Snows eldest son, Oliver G. Snow, was called as president, with Elijah Box and Isaac Smith as his counselors. At that time the new stake included all the LDS settlements in the county as well as a portion of southern Idaho for a total of wards. Pres. Snow was succeeded as stake president by Rudger Clawson, who served until 1898, when he was called to be a member of the Council of the 16 Twelve. The time gap that separates members of the Brigham City stakes today from those early days of pioneer history was movingly bridged in the commemorative observances. But one reminder of the changes the intervening years have brought was on view at the fair, where homemade bread and ice cream were on sale all at 1877 prices. |