Stereoview - Ornate Carriage / Chariot - Brigham Young?

Have a 1870-80's stereoview that depicts a very ornate and grand carriage. It has multiple winged dragons and strange faces decorating it. The odd part is the inscription in old pencil on back, which says Brigham Young's Chariot.

I've not been able for find any mention of Brigham traveling around in such a thing. I did see an interesting debunked rumor about Disneyland and his funeral car though.

Does any of the imagery look even remotely LDS/Mormon?

 

Certainly LOOKS like a hearse (though in the trade we called them coaches/funeral coaches even after they were motorized - so elegant, don't ya know).

 

I have no help on determining if this was BY's hearse or not. I do believe I've heard/read that his funeral carriage was something else to behold. Some funeral carriage during that time were over the top. Lincoln's is a good example. The following page show pics of some of the carriages used at different cities his funeral train stopped:
http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln51.html

BTW, the 4th pic down, is of the funeral procession in NYC. This is a pic of the route passing "Teddy" Roosevelt (the future 26th president) home. Watching the procession from a 2nd story window is 6 yr. old TR with his younger brother Elliot (future father of Eleanor Roosevelt - wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt).
http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln51.html

I just found a portion of his will containing instructions on the building of his casket, funeral service, and burial. He gave specific instructions for the length and width of the casket. What amused me was that he wanted it 2 or 3 inches wider than necessary "... to turn a little to the right or to the left, I should have plenty of room to do so." Sounds like he expected to roll over a time or two in his grave. Here's the 1st paragraph as written on the website:

"When I breathe my last I wish my friends to put my body in as clean and wholesome state as can conveniently be done, and preserve the same for one, two, three or four days, or as long as my body can be preserved in a good condition. I want my coffin made of plump 1 1/4 inch boards, not scrimped in length, but two inches longer than I would measure, and from two to three inches wider than is commonly made for a person of my breadth and size, and deep enough to place me on a little comfortable cotton bed, with a good suitable pillow for size and quality; my body dressed in my temple clothing, and laid nicely into my coffin, and the coffin to have the appearance that if I wanted to turn a little to the right or to the left, I should have plenty of room to do so. The lid can be made crowning."
http://mldb.byu.edu/byoungc.htm

There's a "Caricature of Young's wives, after his death" on the Wikipedia page about him that is funny. Am not going to insert pic of it here, only giving a link to it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young#Family_and_descendants

--- Susan

 

Circus wagon.

Debora

 

Here's the order of procession for Brigham Young's funeral.

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=433951

Here's a contemporary news account. "Plain redwood coffin..." "Bourne to the grave by the employees..."

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=433951

12,000-15,000 in attendance. It was a circus. Period joke.

Debora

 

When I first saw the image my first thought was a funeral coach......and had never heard anything about it...............

 

BTW, thank you for posting this query! On searching around for info, I stumbled on some family ancestry. Seems a third cousin (Clarissa Hamilton 1799-1834) of my great or gggrandmother married Phineas Young 1799-1879, an older brother of Brigham Young, in 1818 in New York state. They were cousins through my Slayton line. Clarissa was his 1st wife. She died before the trek to Utah. After she died, Phineas married several times eventually having 9 wives. Clarissa's mother had lived with them in New York and possibly in Missouri. She migrated with the Mormons to Utah. A letter written by one of her siblings to another bemoaned the fact that their sister Abigail Slayton Hamilton was going with the Mormons out west to never be seen or heard from again. The letter has survived to this day. On sorting out the details of the family connection, I have found several sites online with valuable research on my SLAYTON roots.

--- Susan

 

I had the same thought of it being a funeral car when I first saw it. I had seen the information about Brigham Young not having one though. The way it's identified as a Chariot i thought was interesting. Why Chariot. Why Brigham Young when it visually doesn't seem to have anything to do with him or his religion. If it's a joke, what exactly is it poking fun at?

I guess a type of Circus Wagon is the best way to describe it without more information. There were certainly ones as ornate as this one back then.

That's one thing I do like about working with old paper/photographs/ephemera. You usually seem to learn something interesting either by the subject matter itself, or by doing research on it.

 

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." It's a vehicle that takes one to heaven.

Debora

 

Hi,
here is a photo of Lincoln's coach.
greg

 

I was in Italy during one of the feast celebrations and they had an ornate, elaborately decorated carriage similar to this. It carried a statue of a Saint. They do something similar in the North End in Boston but I think they carry that one

 

Maybe it was a prototype for Google Maps, out there taking tintypes of everything.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Vintage-S...olden-Chariot-Circus-Photograph-/401333665570

Well, guess that answers that.

 

Sadly I already sold mine for less. And it went to a circus collector so he knew what was up.

 

The photos in that listing are terrible -- especially the one of the reverse. No way to read the writing!