One afternoon in November 1832 Joseph was chopping wood in the forest behind his home when his friends brought a new convert, whom they introduced as Brigham Young. A Vermonter by birth like the prophet, he had caught the same restless contagion that drove the Smith family west. He was older than Joseph and shorter, but stocky and powerful, with hands that were made to work with tools. He had been a painter and glazier, he said, and had tried a variety of jobs and a variety of religions, but there had been no purpose in his life until he read the Book of Mormon.
