*Taken from the booklet: Pictures and Biographies of Brigham Young and His Wives, published by James H Crockwell*
*Harriet Elizabeth Cook Campbell, daughter of Archibald Cook and Elizabeth Moshier Campbell, was born November 7, 1824, at Whitesborough, Oneida County, New York.
She received the Gospel and was blessed by John P Green in 1835, but through the opposition of her family was not baptized until May 1, 1842. She gathered to Nauvoo in June, 1843, and was married to Brigham Young, November 2, 1843, the Prophet Joseph officiating, moved to Salt Lake Valley with the family and arrived there September 20, 1848.
Sister Harriet is a tall, fine looking woman of fair complexion, and is an educated and intelligent lady, having studied from books and nature a great deal during her life. She can converse intelligently on the aims and duties of mankind. Sister Harriet is the mother of one son, Oscar B., born February 10, 1846. She still resides at Salt Lake City, and is honored and respected as a widow of Utah’s great friend and statesman, Brigham Young.*
According to one of the documents on FamilySearch.org, Harriet’s father wanted all his children to “learn a trade" in addition to formal schooling. Harriet was blessed to complete her formal schooling and, in addition, was taught the tailoring trade. From the same document is found this story:
“Sometime during her residence in Nauvoo, her father… visited Harriet before her departure to the West. he supposedly gave her $500 in gold and said to her husband, ‘Mr. Young, if I ever hear of you mistreating my daughter, I’ll kill you, if I have to follow you to the ends of the earth to do so.’ As her granddaughter Edith has surmised, of all of Brigham’s wives, Harriet would have been the last anyone would dare mistreat. Mythical as the remark attributed to Archibald Cook may be, it would indicate that Harriet may have received part of her strong and stubborn character from her father.”
Another story of her strong and brave character is found as follows:
*Note, Harriet’s log house, built by Brigham in Salt Lake stood where the State Capitol now stands. She was quite a distance from the other wives’ log houses and her only companion was her small son.
“One morning as she was mopping her floor, a shadow fell across the room. Looking up, she saw a young Indian standing in the doorway. She greeted him and went on with her work. He asked for some bread, which she gave him. Looking hastily around the room, he saw only her sleeping babe and he knew there were several blocks between her and the next house so he demanded some sugar. Thinking it best to comply with his request, as she also sensed the aloneness of her position, Harriet gave him some. By now the Indian felt more than ever his ability to get whatever he wanted. Then he noticed some figurines on her mantlepiece and started to reach for them. Harriet said, “No,” and shook her head. He just went right on picking them up. Harriet had slipped, in the meantime, the rag off her mop stick and she rapped him over the knuckles just as he was going to take a figurine. Of course, he put it down. Then she hit him on the head. He started to run. She started to run after him. She was a tall woman, and the Indian was a tall man. She just kept hitting him on the head every time she got anywhere near him. She chased him down Memory Grove and up on the other side, where the Indians camped. She chased him right into his wigwam, and all the Indians came out and laughed. When the old chief came out, he recognized her as one of Brigham Young’s wives, so they called her “Brigham’s Brave Squaw.” The Indians never bothered her again.”
Some other facts about Harriet:
the 1851 census listed her occupation as “schoolmistress”
Upon completion of the Lion House in 1856, Harriet and Oscar moved in and occupied room #35 on the upper level
In the Lion House, Harriet was in charge of teaching Brigham’s children in the schoolroom (where the Lion House Pantry is now)
She used her tailoring skills to make coats, suits and shirts for the boys in the family
Harriet was an excellent cook and made most of the bread
When Oscar was called on a mission to southern Utah, Harriet went along with him, where she taught school
In Southern Utah, she mentioned she was “none too warm on the hottest days”
Harriet spoke at a protest against the US government’s anti-polygamy bill. “Her well written address defended polygamy over monogamy as a cure for adultery, prostitution, free-love and abortion” (1)
Harriet was a good mathematician. She took up employment at the request of a ZCMI bookkeeper to help him keep his books straight
Harriet was a great scholar and took special interest in scriptural and temple symbolism
She was generous and was noted for readily donating money and other goods
She had a deep affection for her husband, which was reciprocated by him for her, as evidenced in their letters to each other. She often referred to him in her letters as “Dear Friend” and “My Dear Husband” and was quick to defend their polygamous lifestyle to those who did not understand.
Susa Young Gates, daughter of Lucy Bigelow and Brigham Young remembered Harriet Cook as follows:
“Harriet Cook, who was a profound student of the scriptures and whose tongue was as a flame of darting fire. But she knew, and all her sister wives knew, that there was no corroding acid of hate here, just an outlet for the flashing genius that might have made her a great general or a mighty organizer of human forces, had she been a man. Her sex, her real affection for father, her love of the Gospel, her circumstances, her flashing sharpness of speech kept her from achieving. And so we all watched out for Aunt Harriet whose quick sarcasm whipped us, oftentimes, into the love of our duty more effectively than the gentle reproofs of our own mothers.”
Harriet died November 5, 1898 in the Lion House of a heart attack. Her obituary said she:
“was an eccentric character, but a woman of more than ordinary intelligence. She had a thorough understanding of the Gospel as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and was a firm believer in the divinity of his mission. Her mind dwelt largely upon the symbolism of her religion, and she was never weary of expatiating upon it. The mysteries of the kingdom were her delight. She was strictly honest in her dealings, charitable and public-spirited in her instincts, fearless in spirit and faithful in the performance of her duties as a Latter-day Saint” (2)
1 - https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/K2M4-JPP
2 - Harold B Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Special Collections, Journal History of the Church, Film #89, Saturday, 5 Nov 1989, p. 2, (Deseret News)