Brigham Young's descendants give rocking chair to Mormon church
Brothers Bob and Skip Young say the chair has been cherished by their family, but they felt its historical value would be better appreciated by the church and the people of the city founded by their ancestor.
Skip Young said he and his brother were reared as Episcopalians, but he remembers talking to his grandmother, Mildred Ferguson Young, about her "Book of Mormon" and they were always aware of their relationship to the man Mormons consider a prophet.
The Young brothers' father, Fergus Ferguson Young, had the chair carefully 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 the chair is one of the few possessions he has repeatedly taken with him when he's been forced to evacuate his Hilton Head, S.C., home under threat of hurricane.
Skip said it was after he evacuated with the chair for the third time 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," Skip Young said.
The brothers delivered the chair to the church about two years ago, said Bob Young, who is the former mayor of Augusta, Ga., and now the regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Atlanta.
Scheduling problems delayed the presentation ceremony until Friday, he said. His family has also donated a tablecloth and mustard dish to the church.
"I'm going to see if it's on the table," Bob Young said.
The brothers were taken on a tour of the Beehive and Lion houses, Brigham Young's homes that are now museums located near the church headquarters.
"Parting with a family heirloom is a very generous gift on your part," said Marlin K. Jensen, church historian.
The chair will be kept in the Beehive or Lion houses where it was most likely used by Lucy Decker Young, he said. Lucy Decker and Brigham Young had seven children, including the Young brothers' ancestor, Ernest Irving Young.
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