Juanita Brooks - Biography

Biography

Born Juanita Leone Leavitt, Brooks was born and raised in Bunkerville, Nevada. In 1919 she married Ernest Pulsipher, who died of cancer little more than a year later, leaving her with an infant son. She earned her bachelor's degree from BYU and a master's degree from Columbia University. Settling in St. George, Utah, she became an instructor of English and dean of women at the LDS-backed, Dixie Junior College. In 1933, the same year the state of Utah discontinued funding for parochial Mormon secondary education, she resigned from the college to marry a widower, Will Brooks. She became stepmother to his four sons. Within five years the couple added a daughter, Willa Nita, and three sons to their family.

For many years she served on the Board of the Utah Historical Society where she devoted herself to unearthing diaries and records of early settlers and organized a Utah library of Mormon history. The diary-collecting project was begun under the Works Progress Administration during the Depression of the 1930s; the project's transcripts were eventually catalogued at the Library of Congress.

But more importantly, the study of diaries and other personal journals enlivened Brooks's historiography, and her subsequent works reflected her scrutiny of such sources. Brooks went on to write numerous historical articles as well as a variety of family narratives, including a biography of her pioneer grandfather Dudley Leavitt as well as a biography of her sheriff husband, Uncle Will Tells His Story.

Brooks' notable books on Mormon history include The Mountain Meadows Massacre (1950), John D. Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat (1961); she also edited Hosea Stout's diaries. Brooks' book on the Mountain Meadows Massacre broke new ground. It was the first comprehensive account of the incident using modern historical methods.

Living near the area in southern Utah where the Massacre occurred, Brooks investigated the events thoroughly but found no evidence of direct involvement by Brigham Young. But she did charge him with obstructing the investigation and with provoking the attack through his incendiary rhetoric, calling him "an accessory after the fact." Mormon leader Young, wrote Brooks, became so fearful of federal invasion that he created a hothouse atmosphere where the militia saw threats everywhere.

Brooks was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although Mormon authorities at church headquarters discouraged Brooks from pursuing her study of the Mountain Meadows massacre, her book on the Mountain Meadows Massacre and many of her other studies received critical acclaim. No official disciplinary action was taken, but Brooks said she initially felt ostracized from both her local congregation and church officials for her investigations into Mormon history.