John Willard Young
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John Willard Young (October 1, 1844 – February 12, 1924) was a leader in
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church). He is one of the few individuals to have been an LDS Church
apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
and member of the
First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...
without ever being a member of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...
.


Early life and apostolic ordination

Young was born in
Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its historic importance and its ...
to
Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
and Mary Ann Angell. As a young boy, John traveled with the
Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the S ...
from Illinois to the
Salt Lake Valley Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total po ...
. Young was privately ordained an apostle by his father on November 22, 1855, when he was eleven, without a public announcement or being added to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Young's ordination was reconfirmed on February 4, 1864, when his brothers
Brigham Young, Jr. Brigham Young Jr. (December 18, 1836 – April 11, 1903) served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) fr ...
and
Joseph Angell Young Joseph Angell Young (October 14, 1834 – August 5, 1875) was an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Young is one of the few Latter-day Saints in history to have been ordained to the office of apostle withou ...
were ordained apostles by their father. However, none of them became members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles upon their ordination because the Quorum already had twelve members. Although Brigham Jr. eventually became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, John and Joseph never did.


Activity in western territories

In 1869, Young opened the "Salt Lake City Museum and Menagerie", which was the predecessor of the
Deseret Museum The Deseret Museum was a museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was originally opened as the "Salt Lake City Museum and Menagerie" by John Willard Young, with Guglielmo Giosue Rosetti Sangiovanni as curator, in 1869.Sangiovanni, G. G. R "Overland Trips ...
. He was also involved with the construction of a railroad in
Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona (also known as Arizona Territory) was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of ...
.


LDS Church service


First Presidency

On April 8, 1873, Brigham Young added John, Brigham Jr.,
George Q. Cannon George Quayle Cannon (January 11, 1827 – April 12, 1901) was an early member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and served in the First Presidency under four successive pr ...
,
Lorenzo Snow Lorenzo Snow (April 3, 1814 – October 10, 1901) was an American religious leader who served as the fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1898 until his death. Snow was the last president of the L ...
, and
Albert Carrington Albert Carrington (January 8, 1813 – September 19, 1889) was an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Early life Carrington was born i ...
as additional counselors to him in the First Presidency. After Young's first counselor, George A. Smith, died in September 1875, John Willard Young was called as first counselor to his father on October 8, 1876. Young served in this capacity until the First Presidency was dissolved by his father's death less than a year later on August 29, 1877. During his time in the First Presidency, John Willard Young never spent much time in Salt Lake City attending to church leadership duties; since 1863 he had preferred living in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he was engaged in a number of business ventures that ultimately failed and resulted in him assuming a large amount of debt.


Counselor to the Twelve Apostles

Having never been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve but holding the priesthood office of apostle, Young was called as a counselor to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 6, 1877. However, Young's business practices and practice of living in New York City soon brought him into conflict with other church authorities. At a church general conference on April 6, 1881, Young's name was withheld from the names of general authorities who were presented for sustaining. Between 1881 and 1885, he was
tried In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
before the Quorum of the Twelve on three separate occasions; each time he was reconciled with the Twelve and he retained his position. In 1888, Joseph F. Smith accused Young of unethically using church funds to maintain a lavish lifestyle, and by April 1889 the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve were discussing removing Young from his position. Young resigned from his position on October 3, 1891; Young was aware that on that date the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were again discussing possible release from his position. After Young's resignation, he was formally released as a counselor to the Twelve at a conference of the church October 6, 1891.


Denial of church presidency

Although he lived another 33 years, Young never again served as a general authority of the LDS Church, though he remained an apostle for the rest of his life. On December 9, 1899, apostle Franklin D. Richards died. Richards had been the
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles President of the Quorum of the Twelve (also President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President of the Council of Twelve Apostles, and President of the Twelve) is a leadership position that exists in some of the churches of the Latter Day Sai ...
and the second-most senior apostle in the church. The death of Richards left Young as the second-most senior apostle in the church. Although Young did not become the President of the Twelve, under the then-existing rules of presidential succession in the church, Young would become the church president when Lorenzo Snow died, since Snow was the only living person who had been ordained an apostle prior to Young. Snow was 85 years old and in poor health, while Young was only 55 years old; it therefore appeared to many that Young would be the next president of the church. However, many of the general authorities disliked Young and felt that his succession to the presidency would be a disaster for the church. On March 31, 1900, the First Presidency—which consisted of Snow, Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith—changed the policy of presidential succession. The new president of the church would no longer be the person who had been an ordained apostle the longest; rather, the new president of the church would be the person who had been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the longest period of time. Since Young had never been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, he could not become the president of the church if Snow died. On April 5, 1900, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve unanimously approved the new policy. On October 10, 1901, Snow died. Five days later, Young arrived in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
from New York City, possibly with the intent of assuming the presidency of the church. However, due to the new policy, Joseph F. Smith was ordained the new church president on October 17, 1901. Young returned to New York City, where he lived for the rest of his life. After he died in New York City, Young was buried at
Salt Lake City Cemetery The Salt Lake City Cemetery is a cemetery in northeastern Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, that is one of the largest city-operated cemeteries in the United States. Description The cemetery is located above 4th Avenue and east of N Street in ...
.


Later life

After returning to New York City, Young was employed as an
elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
operator in an exclusive hotel where he had once lived. In 1902 and 1903, his son, Hooper Young, was involved in a sensational murder investigation and trial after it was determined that a woman had died in John Willard Young's apartment while he was in France on business. The "Pulitzer Murder" case ultimately resulted in Hooper pleading guilty to second degree murder and being sentenced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
in
Sing Sing prison Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north o ...
. Hooper's conviction had a devastating effect on John Willard, who had initially believed that his son was innocent. John Willard Young continued to attend a branch of the LDS Church in the city for the rest of his life, and he died of cancer in New York City at the age of 79.


See also

*
San Francisco Peaks The San Francisco Peaks (Navajo: , es, Sierra de San Francisco, Hopi: ''Nuva'tukya'ovi'', Western Apache: ''Dził Tso'', Keres: ''Tsii Bina'', Southern Paiute: ''Nuvaxatuh'', Havasupai-Hualapai: ''Hvehasahpatch''/''Huassapatch''/''Wik'hanbaja'', ...
*
United States Shipbuilding Company The United States Shipbuilding Company was a short-lived trust made up of seven shipbuilding companies, a property owner and steel company. Its stocks and bonds were unattractive to investors, and several of its member shipyards were overvalued, co ...


Notes


References

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External links


Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: John Willard Young


* ttp://archives.lib.byu.edu/agents/people/4329?&page=2 Material relating to John W. Youngin the L. Tom Perry Special Collections,
Harold B. Lee Library The Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Provo, Utah. The library started as a small collection of books in the president's office in 1876 before moving in 1891. The Heber J. Gr ...
,
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, John Willard 1844 births 1924 deaths 19th-century American people 20th-century American people American general authorities (LDS Church) Mormon pioneers Richards–Young family Apostles (LDS Church) Counselors in the First Presidency (LDS Church) Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery Religious leaders from New York City Latter Day Saints from Utah Children of Brigham Young Deaths from cancer in New York (state)