Episode
Brigham Young: The House Painter From Vermont Who Built an Empire of 56 Wives
- Podcast
- pplpod
- Published
- Jun 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1380
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://rss.com/podcasts/pplpod/2914776
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Summary
Brigham Young was a barely educated house painter from Vermont who took over a persecuted religious movement after its founder was murdered and transformed it into one of the most organized migrations in American history. He led thousands of followers across the Great Plains to the Salt Lake Valley, built a city from desert, married fifty-six women, and governed a territory larger than most European nations with an iron hand the federal government could not break. This episode traces Young from his impoverished origins through his conversion to Mormonism, the westward migration, the construction of Salt Lake City, and the polygamous theocracy that brought him into direct conflict with the United States government. Young's poverty, his conversion to Joseph Smith's church, and his rise to leadership after Smith's murder The exodus west and the construction of Salt Lake City from barren desert Fifty-six wives, the practice of polygamy, and the Mormon War with the federal government Young's authoritarian governance, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and his contested legacy