William A. Young

William Young's background and his involvement in and statements about the Mountain Meadows Massacre

William Alma Young

1805-1875

Biographical Sketch

Early LIfe in Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois

William Alma Young was born in the backcountry of Robertson County, Tennessee, the son of Jacob and Mary Boren Young. His forebears had been in the Appalachian backcountry for several generations and had fought in the Indian wars on the frontier and in the War of Independence.

When Young was three, his parents separated and later divorced. His mother moved to southwestern Illinois where at age twenty-four and with five children, she married her sixteen-year-old cousin, Willis Boren. Boren became step-father to her children and also fathered eight other children. They remained in Union County, Illinois during most of the 1810s, then passed several years in Kentucky. In the 1820s, after the removal of the Chickasaw Indians from Tennessee, they followed the legendary Indian fighter and frontiersman David Crockett to Gibson County, Tennessee.

In 1826, at the age of twenty-one, Young married sixteen-year-old Leah Holland Smith (1810-1897). They eventually had eleven children. In 1841, they heard the message of the Mormons and joined the Mormon church. Eventually some sixty members of their extended family became Mormons. In departing Tennessee and traveling north, they proselytized with great backcountry enthusiasm. John D. Lee traveled to Tennessee behind them and while Lee baptized some members of the Young-Boren clan, he also sharply criticized William Young and his brother Squire as false teachers and imposters. In Nauvoo, Illinois, the Mormon prophet sided with Lee, attempting to curb some of the excess of enthusiasm that the Youngs had displayed as recent converts to the new religion.

Move to Illinois

In 1842, the Youngs moved north several hundred miles to Nauvoo, Illinois, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. On their arrival they were called before a church council to answer Lee's charges. They were censured and not returned to full fellowship until several months later. Yet most in the new community considered it a misunderstanding and the ill feelings passed. Lee later married Young's cousins, Polly and Lavina Young. The Youngs homesteaded in the surrounding area. The Mormon founding prophet was murdered in 1844. The following year as civil strife continued between the Mormons and other settlers, the Youngs moved into Nauvoo for greater security.

Migration to Utah

In 1846, like most of the Mormons, they removed from western Illinois into Iowa territory. In their sojourn in the Indian territory in 1848-49, Young's mother and three of their children died. The Youngs emigrated to Utah in 1849. In 1850, they settled in the new settlement of Provo in Utah County.

In 1852, Young and his family moved to southern Utah, first settling in Cedar City. They moved to Fort Harmony where John D. Lee was a dominant figure. Serving as counselor to the Fort Harmony bishop, Young clashed and cooperated by turns with Lee. In 1857, the Youngs moved to the new settlement of Washington in Washington County where many southerners were settling. There he reunited with kin from Tennessee and elsewhere. In September 1857, Young was a private in Company I in Lee's battalion, the 4th.

In the Iron Military District: Private William Young, Company I, in John D. Lee's 4th Battalion

In September 1857, William Young, 52, was a private in Company I in John D. Lee's battalion, the 4th. It was probably Sunday the 6th, that Washington militiamen received orders to recruit a contingent of their numbers. On Monday the 7th, along with militiamen from Fort Clara and Indians from the Santa Clara, they moved upstream on the Santa Clara toward Mountain Meadows, meeting John D. Lee that evening some miles south of the Meadows.

They moved up to the Meadows on Tuesday the 8th, establishing a separate camp from the Cedar City contingent. Few of their number participated in the militia council on Thursday the 10th. Young maintains that he was ill on Friday the 11th, and observed the massacre from a distance.

Later Life

In the years that followed, Young worked as a farmer and carpenter. He participated in public works projects such as building dams, factories and meeting houses.

Young Testifies in John D. Lee's First Trial

In 1875, William Young was called as one of twenty prosecution witness during the first trial of John D. Lee. Lee's defense counsel also called him as a defense witness. His testimony confirmed many details of the main massacre. In addition, like Samuel Pollock, Young identified others present at the massacre, naming, besides himself and Lee, seven others: Harrison Pearce, William R. Slade, James Mangum, John M. Higbee, Philip Klingensmith, Oscar Hamblin, and William Bateman. During his time on the witness stand, some commented that he looked "crushed," with a "death rattle" in his throat. In fact, he was nearly seventy and not a well man. He died about a month later, survived by his wife and seven adult children.

Our special thanks to Gary D. Young for generously sharing his research of William Young with us.

References

Alder and Brooks, The History of Washington County, ; Fielding, ed., The Tribune Reports of the Trials of John D. Lee, ; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, ; Lee Trial transcripts; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.

External Links

For further on William Young, see:

• "The Life and Times of William Alma Young, Tennessee Frontiersman, Utah Pioneer," by Gary D. Young at http://www.lofthouse.com/USA/Utah/washington/history/wmyoung.html.

Further information and confirmation needed. Please comment or contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.