The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-04-08
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
First Settlement of Mormons in Ohio
Brigham's First Marriage.

A Chardon, O.. correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette writes:
Learning that there were in the Office of
the probate Judge of Geauga county
some interesting facts to be obtained in
regard to the early life of Brigham
Young. the great Mormon, your cores
pondent paid that office visit, and by
the courtesy of Judge Smith was en-
abled to obtain the following facts,
never before published. 1t will be re-
membered that the little town of Kirt-
land, at that time a part of Geauga
county, was the first gathering place"
of the Mormons. Brigham Young was
one of the earliest of them to come to
Kirkland, and soon after coming to the
place he met and soon married Miss
Mary Ann Angel. This was his first
and legal marriage. In the old records
of the probate court may still be seen
the original application of Brigham for
the necessary license for this maria ge
and the certificate of the marriage by
Sidney Rigdon, another prominent
Mormon. By the way, this Sidney Rig
don was at one time Baptist preacher,
afterward joined the Disciples, or, as
they were then called, Campbellites, and
finally became a Mormon, and soon
was among the greatest of that sect.
He was at one time after he Joined the
Mormons, indicted for solemnizing the
marriage of Orson Hyde, another prom
inent Mormon. without legal authority,
but was acquitted on trial. The copies
of the application for license and the
certificate of marriage are as follows:
''The State of Ohio, Geauga County, S.:
Personally appeared Brigham Young
and made application tor marriage license
for himself and Mary Ann Angel, of the
town hip of Kirkland, in said county, and
made solemn oath that he, the said Brig
ham Young, is of the age of twenty-one
years, and the said Mary Ann Angel is of
the age of eighteen years; that they are
both single. and not nearer of kin than first
cousins; that he knows of no legal impedi-
ment against their being joined in mar
| rage. 'BRICKAM YOUNG.
'.Sworn and subscribed this 10th day of
February, 1884, before me,
RALPH CoWLES, Dep. Clerk"
BE it remembered, that on the thirty
first day of March, i'll the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four,
Brigham Young and Mary Ann Angel, of
the county of Geauga, were legally joined
in marriage by competent authority, i'll con-
formity to the provisions OF the Statutes of
the state OF Ono, in such cases made and
provided, and a certificate of the said mar
riage, signed by Sidney Rigdon, a minister
who SolemnZed the same, has been filed in
the Office of the clerk of the court of COM
mon pleas for the said county of Geauga,
this third day of April. Ammo Domini one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.
ATTEST: ID. -. AIKEN, Clerk"
The signature of Brigham Young to
the application above is a fac-simile of
the original signature on the record. 1t
will be noticed as an evidence of Brig
hams illiteracy that he spells his name
Brickam Young, and spells the last
name with a small or lower-case ''y."
How such man could obtain such a
control over the people as he did can
only be explained upon the hypothesis
that they were either very ignorant or
rery vicious, and his great personal
magnetism and insight into human ma
ture and faoqlty of adapting himself to
the different natures, showed them he
was born leader.
There still live in Kirkland and in
Munson, in this country, nephews of
Mary Ann Angel, and they confirm all
the foregoing statements. There is still
living in Kirkland a small band of
Mormons who can not swallow the po-
lygamous portion of the religion. They
still hold meetings occasionally in the
old Mormon temple in that place, and
crowds of curious people come from the
neighboring towns to see their proceed
mos