Grandpa's Story, in his own words

Writings of John D. Lee

by John Doyle Lee, Samuel Nyal Henrie / Fenestra Books

Almost thirty years ago I had the pleasure of reading the excellent biography of my great-great grandfather: John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat by Juanita Brooks. At the time I was sill a member of the LDS Church and when I finished the book, I got down on my knees in tears and thanked God for my grandpa and my heritage.

It has now been over twenty years since I left the Mormon Church, by my own choice, and when I finished reading Grandpa's last words at the end of this book, I had the same reaction. There is much to admire about the man and I still feel great love and affection for him, though he died almost eighty years before I was born.

The changes in my own life have definitely impacted what I took away from the two books that cover much of the same subject. The story that is most vivid from the first book was when one of his sons approached Grandpa and told him he was in love with one of Grandpa's wives. The wife was much younger than Grandpa. She had been orphaned when both of her parents died of sickness en route to Utah by wagon train. For the sake of expediency, it was decided to marry her to someone who would then take care of her. Grandpa was the man, although I think the girl was only twelve or thirteen at the time.

Grandpa never had sexual relations with her because of the circumstances of their marriage, but he hoped that one day, when she was older, she would want him. Instead, as she matured, she fell in love with one of his sons, who was much closer to her in age. Now some guys might have been very angry, but Grandpa went to Brigham Young and told him the facts. Young annulled the marriage and Grandpa was permitted to perform the marriage of his son to his now-ex-wife. This story, which is not in the book I'm reviewing here, tells a lot about the kind of man, husband, and father that my grandfather was.

When I was a child, I heard many of the oral "family" legends about Grandpa that had been handed down from generation to generation. One was that Grandpa was so trustworthy that he was allowed to leave prison on just his word, while he was awaiting his trial for his role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. While that's not precisely true, the facts are just as compelling.

John D. Lee was allowed to leave the prison to go visit his wives and children, but only after a $15,000 bond was posted by a friend. Once he was out, many of his friends encouraged him to run from the jurisdiction to safety, as many other participants in the Massacre had done. Grandpa would not do this; first, because he had given his word and second, because he believed he had done nothing intentionally wrong (he believed he had obeyed orders from a superior officer during a time of war).

Unfortunately for Grandpa, he realized too late that responsibility for personal choices, even under military orders, comes with a price. After two trials (the first trial resulted in a hung jury) Grandpa was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to die by firing squad. His punishment for the Mountain Meadows Massacre was part of the price that had to be paid for Utah statehood (the other part was the renunciation of polygamy by the LDS Church, but that didn't happen until several years later).

I did find it interesting that although Grandpa remained true to the Mormon Church and Joseph Smith, he was convinced that Brigham Young, his adopted father and president of the church, was a false prophet and a usurper and he denounced him as such. He states that at the death of Joseph Smith it was common knowledge among the "saints" that Smith's son was to take over the leadership of the church when he was of age. By the time that happened, Young had solidified his grip on the church and no one dared oppose him.

Knowing this, I wonder why so many in the Lee family would remain members of the Mormon Church. I suppose that if you lived in Utah in 1877, there were not a lot of options. Of course those of us who came along later didn't know about this and if we did, it didn't matter because we had our own "testimony" of the church.

Though the book is over 400 pages, I read most of it in two sittings. It was fascinating to "hear" Grandpa tell his story in his own words.