Sally Young Kanosh (originally known as Kahpeputz or Sally Indian) was a
Bannock
Bannock may mean:
* Bannock (food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle
* Bannock (Indigenous American), various types of bread, usually prepared by pan-frying
* Bannock people, a Native American people of what is now southeastern Oregon ...
woman who was kidnapped from her home and sold by a slave-trader named Batiste to Charles Decker,
Brigham Young's brother-in-law. She converted to
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...
and worked in Brigham Young's house as either an
indentured servant
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...
, adoptive daughter or
plural wife
Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more tha ...
. She married
Ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
chief
Kanosh as a plural wife. There is some evidence that she might have been killed by another wife of Kanosh who was jealous of her. In 1906,
Susa Young Gates
Susa Gates ( Young, formerly Dunford; March 18, 1856 – May 27, 1933) was a writer, periodical editor, and women's rights advocate in Utah. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gates wrote the first lesson manual, was a member of ...
wrote about Sally, who portrayed Young's relationship with Sally as the ideal relationship between whites and Native Americans, which helped put Sally into the collective memory of second generation Mormons in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
.
Purchase
In 1847, Kahpeputz was kidnapped and tortured when she was around seven years old. There are indications that she might have been the daughter of a chief. Her kidnappers cut her body with knives and poured hot ashes on her wounds.
A slave trader by the name of Batiste took her and another boy to sell to the Salt Lake Valley Fort, where
Mormon pioneers
The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the S ...
had recently arrived. Initially, the Mormons refused to purchase the slaves, so Batiste killed the boy and threatened to kill Kahpeputz as well. Charles Decker bought Kahpeputz in exchange for his rifle. He then gave Kahpeputz to his sister,
Clara Decker Young,
wife of Brigham Young.
Life with the Young family
When Kahpeputz was given to Clara, Clara renamed her Sally.
In 1849, she received a
priesthood blessing under the hands of
Zina D. H. Young. She was promised that she would shortly see her mother and sisters.
Sally grew up in the Lion House. It is unclear the relationship between Clara and Sally. Susa Young Gates says that Sally was adopted as a daughter of the Youngs. However, Turner presumes that she was a servant, since she worked as a servant.
Unlike other children, she was not taught how to read or write. While the rest of the family slept upstairs, but slept in the basement near the kitchen. She worked long hours alongside other servants preparing food for the rest of Young's family.
The 1860 census gave her the name Sally Indian and listed her among the servants to the Young family.
Jones used Sally as an example of how adopted Indian children were not treated as equals to white children.
There is indication that Sally might have been married and sealed to Brigham Young as a plural wife.
Marriage to Kanosh
During one of the meetings between Brigham Young and
Kanosh, Kanosh saw Sally and offered a band of ponies for her. She was insulted and refused. On June 8, 1877, Sally and Kanosh were married by
Dimick Huntington. They then lived in central Utah, in what is now
Kanosh, Utah
Kanosh ( ) is a town in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 474 at the 2010 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.2 km2), all land.
Cli ...
. It is not clear why Sally married Kanosh. Gates indicates that Sally was given a choice, and after an initial rejection changed her mind when Kanosh rescued her from
Walkara
Chief Walkara (c. 1808 – 1855; also known as Wakara, Wahkara, Chief Walker or Colorow) was a Shoshone leader of the Utah Indians known as the Timpanogo and Sanpete Band. It is not completely clear what cultural group the Utah or Timp ...
. Mueller indicates there is no evidence that Walkara ever took Sally or that she chose to marry Kanosh. He believes she was
married to strengthen the alliance between Kanosh and Brigham Young, and that Sally was either unwilling or reluctant.
Ten years after her marriage, Sally died. There is some evidence that she might have been killed by another wife of Kanosh who was jealous of her.
See also
*
Lamanites
The Lamanites () are one of the four ancient peoples (along with the Jaredites, the Mulekites, and the Nephites) described as having settled in the ancient Americas in the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Lamani ...
*
Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanosh, Sally Young
Mormonism and Native Americans
Converts to Mormonism
19th-century American slaves
Slavery of Native Americans
Richards–Young family
19th-century Native American women
19th-century Native Americans
Children of Brigham Young