Buffalo Rising Online

Oct 6th 2007, 3:08pm By Bill Zimmermann

It's harvest time and that means we're busy hauling out boats for the season at Seven Seas. Crazy schedule. I stopped for a break, and checked my emails-- to find that Buffalo's George Thomas Apfel's submission of today's article-- and quite a story! He beings some neat insights and links to Bringham Young, and his influence on and from Buffalo. And for a Buffalo Catholic boy, Apfel finds some common heritage among his relatives and Youngs. Thanks George, for yet another great Buffalo history mystery tale!

Brigham Young and Buffalo,

by George Thomas Apfel

My research on today's subject of On This Day in Buffalo has brought up more questions than answers. What sparked it was a hunch and a family connection. My genealogy research revealed Brigham Young and I share a common ancestor, my 9th great grandfather and his 4th, Edmund Goodenow—making us 5th cousins 5 times removed.

Given the fact the Mormon Church had its beginnings right here in Western New York, with the famed Golden Plates found near Palmyra by Joseph Smith, it seems logical there would be a Buffalo connection with the early years of the church.

Brigham young was born in Vermont of the Methodist Faith, and was a skilled carpenter, painter, and glazer. He moved to near Auburn N.Y. in 1815 and many examples of his carpentry skills remain in the older homes of that area. He converted to the Mormon faith in April 15, 1832. I found through Brigham's memoirs he visited Buffalo several times in the 1830's to win over converts to the brand new religion.

During this time the leading law firm in the city was headed by future president Millard Fillmore. In later years Fillmore did what some considered to be political suicide by appointing the controversial figure territorial governor of Utah. He fully backed Young even when rumors surfaced the Mormons were planning to rebel against the U.S. government and establish their own independent country. The other Buffalo connections were with his favorite wife, Buffalo native Harriett Amelia Folsom, cousin of the wife of Buffalo's Grover Cleveland.

We have connections with two U.S. Presidents, both from Buffalo , and numerous trips to the city…but there are very few details to be found of exactly what he accomplished in the Queen City…how many Buffalonians did he convince to join his faith? How was he received here? Perhaps it's the connections he made here which are most important.

On This Day in Buffalo October 6, 1832…the village had just received its charter in April and had 10,000 inhabitants. The Erie Canal was bringing ever-increasing numbers of people to the area, but on this first journey Brigham and his brother Joseph traveled on foot, walking hundreds of miles to preach his newly adopted religion and make converts.

In reading through his memoirs and autobiography, he often told stories of "speaking in tongues"…but what I found most interesting is how he would often mimic the way Mormon founder and prophet Joseph Smith talked. Joseph lost a front tooth from the result of an attack by an angry mob, and whistled when he spoke.

Brigham was the Rich Little of the 19 th century as he mimicked the whistle when he addressed his congregations. I counted at least seven other visits to Buffalo during the 1830's, on one of his last in 1839 he visited his future wife Miss Folsom and her parents.

The headline in the December 12, 1910 New York Times proclaimed, "SHE RULED BRIGHAM YOUNG Harriet Amelia Folsom, Once Power In the Mormon Church, is Dead. Born in Buffalo, NY, Miss Folsom with her parents, who accepted the Mormon faith in 1841, went to Nauvoo, Ill in 1842. In 1846, when the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo, they went to Keokuk, Iowa, and thence to Council Bluffs.

In 1860 they crossed the plains to Salt Lake City. Miss Folsom was then only 22, and meeting Brigham Young soon after her arrival became his wife. Tall and stately, she not only appealed strangely to Young, but dominated him, and for her he erected the magnificent Amelia Palace…with the rest of the widows of the Mormon leader she died firm in the defense of the Mormon faith."

In the July 30, 1995 Salt Lake Tribune, Hal Schlinder wrote, " As forceful and dominant a figure as was Brigham Young, when it came to marriage he was as vulnerable as the next man. Some husbands are forever henpecked--others are assuredly lords of the manor; Brigham, it seems, was some of both."

Schlinder wrote, "The precise number of Brigham's wives remains a matter of debate for some scholars, but insofar as the church record is recoverable, he is credited with 27 spouses and 56 children. (One popular anecdote of the day held that a geography teacher asked her class to name the principal means of transportation in Utah and a boy answered, "Baby carriages.")

"Harriet Amelia Folsom was Wife No. 25 and had the reputation of being his true love, much to the chagrin and mortification of the youthful Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young, No. 27 on the list.

When Amelia became part of the Young family in January 1863, she did not immediately move in with her sister-wives. In the only interview she ever granted a journalist--and that 14 years after Brigham's death--she told The Salt Lake Tribune reporter Eugene Traughber that she remained at home for three weeks after which she "took up residence at the Lion House. His wives and children all lived there, and each wife, including myself, had her separate room.

At that time, there were 75 of us in the family, including the hired help." Amelia also dropped Harriet as her first name, since there were two other Harriets wed to the church leader."

"Traughber described Amelia as "tall and symmetrical of form, dignified and graceful of manner and a brilliant conversationalist. The silvery locks which tell of the fifty and five years of her eventful life, are mingled with the threads of gold, reminiscent of the beauty of former years, and the large blue eyes have lost nothing of their fire and expressiveness." It was easy for him to believe she had been the most popular of Brigham Young's wives, he said."

"It seems, the newspaperman continued, to have been a well established case of love at first sight. If other writers are to be believed, then Traughber was guilty of understatement. M.R. Werner, a Brigham Young biographer, insists the church leader was lovesick. "Amelia could play the piano, and she could sing Fair Bingen on the Rhine. He was captivated by both her appearance and by her accomplishments; none of his other wives was so tall, so handsome and so refined, and none of his other wives could sing Fair Bingen on the Rhine.""

The connection with first lady Francis Folsom has often been discounted…after Brigham's death in an March 11, 1894 interview in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, she refused to confirm if she was a cousin of the wife of "Big Steve" saying she had no knowledge of it. The Buffalo Express one month earlier bore the headline "Amelia Folsom isn't Mrs. Cleveland's Cousin"

Another topic for debate is President Fillmore's appointment of Brigham as governor of the Utah territory, and reappointment when it was granted statehood. Fillmore needed Utah to complete his goal of building a transcontinental railroad, and the feds could not battle the Mormons in their home turf so far removed from the rest of the country.

Plus, the Mormon practice of Polygamy was not well known at that time. Fillmore made him an ally and in return the Mormon leader named the first Utah State Capital in 1851 after him…and the transcontinental railroad became reality as the east met the west in Promontory Point, Utah.

So many questions still remain…facts difficult to confirm. But one thing is clear: the controversial Mormon leader had many important connections to the brand new city of Buffalo. We may never know how many converts came from those early travels, but we do know for sure of three of them…Harriet Amelia Folsom and her parents. That's the views from this Catholic Buffalo native—and distant cousin of Brigham Young as we mark the first time he set foot in our city on this day in 1832.

Footnote: Brigham Young, after first meeting Mormon Founder Joseph Smith, did not immediately accept this new religion, and spent considerable time pondering whether to join. The president who followed Millard Fillmore is also a distant relative of mine, 4th cousin 6 times removed Franklin Pierce. All of us who are fortunate to find a genealogical thread far into the past will discover connections to famous individuals; its part of what makes it a very rewarding hobby

George Thomas Apfel

The Salt Lake City Tribune 30 July 1995:

http://historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/in_another_time/073095.html