Item Detail
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Brooks, Juanita Leone Leavitt Pulsipher
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1898-1989
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MSS SC 2719
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Essay
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Juanita Leone Leavitt Pulsipher Brooks was born on 15 January 1898 in Bunkerville, Nevada to Dudley Henry Leavitt and Mary Hafen Leavitt. She was the second eldest of 11 children born to them, her siblings being: Orpha Ora, Charity, Aura Ola, Melvin Henry, Laurel Evan, Daisy Ina, Eva, Francis Hale, Dudley Maurice, and Mary.
On 10 October 1919, Juanita married a recently returned missionary, Leonard Ernest Pulsipher, Sr. in St. George, Utah. Unfortunately, Leonard was diagnosed with lymphoma, and he passed away only a year after the birth of their only child, leaving Juanita to raise Leonard Ernest, Jr. alone.
Juanita was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as an ardent pursuer of education. In an effort to improve her life situation following the death of her husband, Juanita returned to school, earning a bachelors degree in English from Brigham Young University before going on to Dixie College to become an English teacher and eventually the dean of Women there. She also earned a masters in English from Columbia University. Later in life, Juanita was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Utah, Utah State University, and Southern Utah State College.
It was some time before she married again, but eventually, on 25 May 1933, she married William Brooks, a widower with 4 surviving children (Walter Stevens, Robert Gordon, Grant LeRoy, and Clarence Clair James; from his previous marriage he had also had 2 other sons who died in their youth: Dee William and Paul Virgil). Within 5 years of their marriage, they had added three more children to their compound-complex family: Willa Nita, Karl Francis, Joseph Kay, and Antone Tony L.
Her literary career was a prolific one, with over 16 books to her name and countless stories and articles published in magazines. Her best-known work, Mountain Meadows Massacre, was the subject of some tension between herself and the Church, as she researched for, wrote, and published it at a time when Church leaders were more than willing to sweep the controversial event under the rug of history. In her pursuit of intellectual integrity and full, unadulterated and unbiased truth, Juanita was often worried she would be excommunicated from the church she so loved. Luckily, she never was, and over time, her works centered on the Massacre changed the minds and hearts of many members.
She died on 26 August 1989 in St. George, Utah after a long battle with Alzheimers. -
This manuscript is a 12-page typescript essay entitled, Side-Lights on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It is written by Juanita Brooks and dated 1940.
The essay begins with a brief introduction, describing how Juanita became fascinated by the subject of the Massacre in 1933. She talks about her research, which involved a great deal of combing through historical records, diaries, journals, and the like. Juanita recounts an encounter she had with an early settler she was traveling with, who, when asked about the events at Mountain Meadows, told her she would never be able to understand. Others, she mentions, would often tell her it was best [to] leave it alone and forget it.
Regardless of what others advised, Juanita says she pressed on, her only goal to paint a more three-dimensional picture of the event. She talks about how she drew on primary and secondary sources to illuminate the conflict in an effort to present the fullest body of context possible. She posits questions about the possible motives for the Massacre, citing the paranoia, mass hysteria, and fear roused by the approach of Johnstons army, and the threat that posed to the Mormon settlers in Utah and the surrounding territories.