Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument

The Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument (also known as the Brigham Young Cemetery)[1] is a private cemetery and memorial. It was dedicated to the more than 6,000 Mormon pioneers who died making the journey to Utah from Illinois and other parts of the world between 1847 and 1869. It is the gravesite of Brigham Young, and his legal, non-plural wife, Mary Ann Angell.

Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument
Memorial entrance
LocationDowntown Salt Lake City, Utah,  United States
FoundedJune 1, 1974
Restored2000
Governing bodyThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Location of Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument in Utah

Burial site

Just eleven persons were buried in the cemetery.[2] These include:

  1. Brigham Young — an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory, United States. Young also led the founding of the precursors to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.
  2. Eliza R. Snow — was sealed to Joseph Smith. Following his death she was sealed to Brigham Young for time. It was believed she did not have a connubial relationship with either prophet. She was one of the most celebrated Latter-day Saint women of the nineteenth century. A renowned poet, she chronicled history, celebrated nature and relationships, and expounded scripture and doctrine.
  3. Mary Ann Angell Young — the sister of Salt Lake Temple architect Truman O. Angell. Brigham's first wife died before he joined the Church. Mary was his second wife. She bore him six children. Brigham's first wife, Miriam Works, bore him two children before she died in 1832.[3]
  4. Joseph Angell Young — the first son of Brigham and Mary Angell
  5. Alice Young Clawson — Alice Young Clawson was the 4th child of Brigham and Mary Ann Angell.
  6. Lucy Ann Decker — Lucy Ann Decker was 20 when she became Brigham's first polygamous wife on June 14, 1842. She was previously married to and divorced from William Seeley. She was well organized and efficiently ran the Lion House. Her younger sister, Clarissa (Clara) Decker, became Brigham's 4th polygamous wife two years later, at age 16, and crossed the plains with him and her mother, Harriet Wheeler Decker
  7. Mary Van Cott Young — wife number 51. She married her first husband, James Cobb, three months before being married to Brigham. Her father, John Van Cott, was well known and respected

Memorial park

The Brigham Young family cemetery was dedicated by N. Eldon Tanner as a memorial park to the Mormon pioneers on June 1, 1974, which was the 173rd anniversary of Brigham Young’s birth. The park was redesigned and restored in 2000.

The monument is open to the public daily.

References
  1. "Spotlight on historic sites: Brigham Young Cemetery, Memorial", Church News, 1 April 2000.
  2. "Cemeteries and Burial Database", history.utah.gov, Utah State History, Utah Department of Heritage and Arts, State of Utah, retrieved 2012-02-08
  3. "Mormon History and Heritage", Utah.com, Utah Office of Tourism, retrieved 2013-02-08

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