Heirloom rocker returns to mother church
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, November 4, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY – Two great-great-great-grandsons of Brigham Young presented to the Mormon church an heirloom rocking chair that one of Young’s many wives likely sat in to soothe their children.
Brothers Bob and Skip Young say the chair has been cherished by their family, but its historical value would be better appreciated by the church and the residents of the city founded by their ancestor.
The Youngs are descendants of Lucy Decker Young, one of the wives of the church president who led members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
Accounts of the number of Brigham Young’s wives vary. A history posted on the Web site of the university named after him says he had 27 wives, who bore him 56 children, while a nonprofit genealogy Web site sponsored by the LDS church lists 38 wives.
Skip Young said he and his brother were raised as Episcopalians, but he remembers talking to his grandmother about the church’s Book of Mormon. They were always aware of their relationship to the man Mormons consider a prophet, he said.
The Youngs’ father had the chair restored in the late 1960s. It had been covered in fabric, hiding the original cane seat and back.
The chair was given to Skip Young by his grandmother. He said it was one of the few possessions he has repeatedly taken with him when he evacuates his Hilton Head, S.C., home under threat of hurricane.
Skip Young said it was after the third such evacuation that he told his brother, “You take the chair and enjoy it, and then let’s do the right thing.”
“It’s history to us, but its greater history is to the Mormon church and the people of Salt Lake City,” he said.
The brothers delivered the chair to the church about two years ago, though scheduling problems delayed the presentation ceremony until Friday, Bob Young said.
The brothers were given a tour of the Beehive and Lion houses, Brigham Young’s homes that are now museums located near the church headquarters.
The chair will be kept in either house, both of which were most likely used by Lucy Decker Young, said Marlin Jensen, church historian. Lucy Decker and Brigham Young had seven children, including the Young brothers’ ancestor, Ernest Irving Young.
Skip Young said he has a platter that was part of Brigham Young’s china, which he will use for one last Thanksgiving and then donate to the church’s history department.
