Hardworking Brigham

By Kellene Ricks

Brigham Young

Illustrated by Paul Mann

1. Brigham Young grew up in Vermont during the early 1800s. His parents and their eleven children worked very hard to clear the land and establish a family farm.

2. Brigham did not go to a formal school. Instead, he helped his father chop wood, gather and burn brush, roll logs, and shovel dirt. It wasn’t easy work, but Brigham enjoyed helping his father.

3. He also liked helping his mother. She taught him how to make bread, wash dishes, milk the cow, and make butter. When he was older, Brigham claimed that he could beat a lot of women at housekeeping!

4. When Brigham was a youngster, all his friends wore hats, whether they were working, playing, fishing, or going to church. Brigham also wanted a hat, but he knew that his family had no money for one.

5. So Brigham learned how to braid straw and make his own hats! He wore his homemade hats during the summer when it was hot.

6. When it got colder, he wore a warmer hat that his sisters made for him. They called it a “Jo Jackson cap.”

7. Although farming wasn’t easy, Brigham liked working hard. He knew that the scriptures teach that the Lord would judge “every man according to his works and the deeds which he hath done” (D&C 19:3). Not being afraid of hard work helped Brigham fulfill his calling as the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.