Brigham Young (1801–1877), second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), was perhaps the most famous polygamist of the early Latter Day Saint movement, marrying a total of fifty-six wives during his lifetime.[1] [2] He stated that upon being taught about plural marriage by Joseph Smith, "It was the first time in my life that I desired the grave."[3] By the time of his death, Young had fifty-seven children by sixteen of his wives; forty-six of his children reached adulthood.[4] In 1902, only 25 years after Young's death, The New York Times established that Young's direct descendants numbered more than 1,000.[5]
Sources have varied on the number of Young's wives due to differences in what observers have considered to be a "wife".[1] It has been confirmed that there were fifty-six women that Young was sealed to during his lifetime. While the majority of the sealings were "for eternity" (i.e., in the afterlife), some were "for time only" (until death). In both of these types of sealings, a conjugal relationship could exist, though Young did not enter into conjugal relationships with all of his wives. Young did not live with a number of his wives or publicly hold them out as wives, which has led to confusion on numbering.[1] A book published in 1887 gives brief biographical sketches and photos of a total of twenty-six wives.[6]
Of his fifty-six wives, twenty-one had never been married before; seventeen were widows; six were divorced; six had living husbands; and the marital status of six others is unknown.[1] Nine of his wives had previously been plural wives of Joseph Smith, and Young was sealed to them as a proxy for Smith.
Four of his wives were sealed to him during Smith's lifetime, sixteen after Smith's death but before the completion of the Nauvoo Temple, nineteen in the Nauvoo Temple, four during his journey from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley, and eleven in Utah.
At the time of Young's death, twenty of his wives had predeceased him, he was divorced from ten, and twenty-three survived him, with the status of four unknown. In his will, Young shared his estate with the seventeen surviving wives who had lived with him; the six surviving non-conjugal wives were not mentioned in the will. A number of women were sealed to him posthumously, but this number is also highly debated, as various sealing records from this time are incomplete or missing.[7]
During Young's lifetime, there was a lot of public speculation as to the total number of his wives and children. Estimates in newspapers ranged anywhere from forty to two hundred, and Young often refrained to comment on these estimates, whether to confirm or deny them.[8] Artemus Ward, a well-known comedian at the time, shared a speculation of his own after a journey to Utah: "I have somewhere stated that Brigham Young is said to have eighty wives. I hardly think he has so many... I undertook to count his long stockings on the clothes-line in the back yard, one day, and I used up the multiplication table in less than half an hour."[9]
Eighteen of Young's wives and their children traveled to Utah with the Brigham Young Company in 1848.[10] [11] Young would often attend cultural events and public gatherings with his wives, usually only one, and his children. Near the end of his life, Amelia Folsom (m. 1863) would become his most significant female companion, and would often accompany Young to dances and to the theater, as well as on tours of the Mormon settlements.[12] He was a very prominent public figure in Utah, as well as in other Mormon communities, and thought it very important for himself and his family to be well-educated in the arts and culture. Young wanted to make his home a model which others could emulate, and is reported by his children to have been a loving, caring, and concerned husband and father.[13]
In 1856, Young built the Lion House to accommodate his sizable family. This building remains a Salt Lake City landmark, together with the Beehive House, another Brigham Young family home built in 1854. Young primarily resided in the Beehive House with his wife Mary Ann Angel, but would gather together the entire family each evening at the Lion House for prayer and dinner. Angell later chose to move into the nearby White House sometime after 1860. Before Young's death he also had the Gardo House built as a guest house across the street from the others, which would have Amelia Folsom (m. 1863) as its primary resident. The Young household also had various servants, including the adopted Bannock girl Sally Young Kanosh, and Isaac and Jane Manning James. A contemporary of Young wrote: "It was amusing to walk by Brigham Young's big house, a long rambling building with innumerable doors. Each wife has an establishment of her own, consisting of parlor, bedroom, and a front door, the key of which she keeps in her pocket".[14]
Within the Young household there was an arranged cooperative effort among the wives and children.[15] Many wives served in particular roles, such as Zina Huntington (m. 1846), who served as the family's midwife, and Naamah Carter (m. 1846), who took charge of the Lion House family meals. Young's children were taught in the basement of the Lion House by Harriet Cook (m. 1843), until the construction of Young's own schoolhouse in 1865 and the subsequent hiring of a full-time teacher.[16] Young also maintained a recreation room outfitted with a stage for variety shows and theatrical productions, as well as a long porch to serve as a gymnasium. He kept teachers in order to instruct the children in physical activities such as fencing, gymnastics, and dance. A family swimming pool was also constructed east of the Beehive House, which was occasionally used for baptisms.
List of women whose sealings to Young have been confirmed with evidence.[17] [18] [19]
| Marriage date and Young's age at marriage | Portrait | Name, lifespan, and age at marriage | Wife's status at marriage | Type of union | Children | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miriam Angeline Works (1806–1832), aged 18 at marriage | First marriage | Civil, sealed for eternity (posthumous) | 2 with Young | Died in September 1832 from consumption, just a few months after she and Young were baptized. | |||
| 2 | Mary Ann Angell (1803–1882), aged 30 at marriage | First marriage | Civil, sealed for time and eternity | 6 with Young | This was not a plural marriage, as Young was a widower at the time. Mother of Brigham Young Jr., John Willard Young and Joseph Angell Young. | |||
| 3 | Lucy Ann Decker (1822–1890), aged 20 at marriage | Abandoned by non-Mormon husband William Seeley, whom she had married at the age of fourteen | Sealed for time and eternity | 7 with Young, 3 with Seeley | First plural wife of Brigham Young. She and Young had seven children, in addition to her three from her previous marriage. | |||
| 4 | Augusta Adams (1802–1886), aged 40 at marriage | Married to non-Mormon Henry Cobb (divorced in 1847). | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 8 with Cobb | Left Boston with Young in September 1843, leaving behind her husband and most of her children. Young later married her son James Cobb's ex-wife, Mary Van Cott Cobb (m. 1868). Grandmother of architect Henry Ives Cobb. | |||
| 5 | Harriet Elizabeth Cook (1824–1898), aged 19 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 1 with Young | Initially stayed behind in Nauvoo with her and Young's infant son, before joining him at Winter Quarters in 1847. | |||
| 6 | Clarissa Caroline Decker (1828–1889), aged 15 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 5 with Young | Sister of Lucy Ann Decker (m. 1842). One of three women to be part of the first pioneer company traveling to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. She adopted Sally, a young Bannock girl who had been captured and sold to Charles Decker by a slave trader. | |||
| 7 | September 1844 (aged 43) | Emily Dow Partridge (1824–1899),[20] aged 20 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | 7 with Young | Daughter of Edward Partridge. Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and Young for life. Mother of Don Carlos Young. | ||
| 8 | Clarissa Ross (1814–1857), aged 30 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 4 with Young | Stepdaughter of Isaac Chase, a good friend of Young. Mother of Maria Young Dougall and Willard Young. | |||
| 9 | Louisa Beaman (1815–1850),[21] aged 29 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | 5 with Young | Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and to Young for life. | |||
| 10 | Eliza R. Snow (1804–1887),[22] aged 40 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | None | Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and to Young for life. The sister of Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the LDS Church. Snow was a prominent figure in the church and the second general president of the Relief Society.[23] | |||
| 11 | Elizabeth Fairchild (1831–1910), aged 13 at marriage[24] | First marriage (later divorced) | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 3 with later husbands | Obtained an official certificate of divorce from Young in 1855 after two remarriages. | |||
| 12 | Clarissa Blake (1796–1863), aged 48 at marriage | Widow of Edmund Morse; Married to Mormon husband Lyman Homiston at the time of her sealing to Young | Sealed for time and eternity | None | Slighted by Young upon his departure from Nauvoo. Later traveled to Utah with her husband to reconcile with Young and was rebuffed. | |||
| 13 | Rebecca Greenleaf Holman (1824–1849), aged 20 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | None | Died on the journey to the Salt Lake Valley and is buried in Council Bluffs, Iowa. | |||
| 14 | Diana Chase (1827–1886), aged 17 at marriage | First marriage (later divorced) | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 10 with Shaw | Daughter of Ezra Chase. Married to William Shaw in 1849 following her divorce from Young. | |||
| 15 | October 12, 1844 (aged 43) | Maria Lawrence (1823-1847),[25] aged 20 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | None | Many sources do not mention her as being one of Young's wives. Married Almon W. Babbitt in 1846 in Nauvoo shortly before her death. | ||
| 16 | Susanne Snively (1815–1892), aged 29 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 1 with Young (adopted) | Lived for many years on Young's large Forest Farm on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. | |||
| 17 | Olive Grey Frost (1816–1845),[26] aged 28 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | None | Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and Young for life. Died in childbirth a year after her marriage to Young. | |||
| 18 | Mary Ann Clark (1816–1881), aged 28 at marriage | Married to William Powers | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 1 with Powers | Divorced Young in June 1851. | |||
| 19 | Margaret Pierce (1823–1907), aged 22 at marriage | Widow of Morris Whitesides | Sealed for time | 1 with Young | Sister of Mary Pierce (m. 1845). Sealed to Whitesides for eternity and Young for time. Originally had wished to be sealed to Young for eternity rather than to Whitesides, but Young protested, saying he did not wish to "rob the dead." | |||
| 20 | Mary Harvey Pierce (1821–1847), aged 25 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time | None | Sister of Margaret Pierce (m. 1845). Died of consumption at Winter Quarters, Nebraska. Along with Margaret, the daughter of Robert and Hannah Pierce, who were later ritually adopted by Young. | |||
| 21 | Emmeline (Emeline) Free (1826–1875), aged 18 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 10 with Young (more than any other wife) | Frequently accompanied Young to social gatherings, and was regarded by many as Young's favorite. Felt slighted by Young's later marriages and became addicted to morphine. | |||
| 22 | Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913),[27] aged 26 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith and married to non-Mormon Adam Lightner | Sealed for time | None with Young, 10 with Lightner | Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and to Young for time. As a child, she and her sister are credited with rescuing papers that would later make up the Doctrine and Covenants from a mob upon the burning of the printing press in Independence, Missouri.[28] Remained living with Lightner in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri until her death. | |||
| 23 | Margaret Maria Alley (1825–1852), aged 20 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 2 with Young | Traveled West with the Brigham Young company in 1848. Died shortly after giving birth to their second child. Grandmother of Mahonri Young, sculptor of the This Is the Place Monument and the Seagull Monument. | |||
| 24 | Olive Andrews (1818–1879), aged 27 at marriage | Posthumous plural wife of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | None with Young, 7 with other husbands | Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity (by proxy after his death) and to Young for time. | |||
| 25 | Emily Haws (1823–?), aged 22 at marriage | Widow of William Whitmarsh | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 1 with Whitmarsh | Sealed for eternity to Young. | |||
| 26 | Martha Bowker (1822–1890), aged 23 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 1 with Young | Adoptive mother of her only daughter. | |||
| 27 | Ellen Rockwood (1829–1866), aged 16 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | None | Arrived in the Salt Lake Valley with the Young family in September 1848.[29] | |||
| 28 | Jemima Angell (1803–1869), aged 41 at marriage | Widow of Valentine Young (no relation) and separated from William Stringham prior to her 1846 marriage to Young | Sealed for time and eternity | None with (Brigham) Young, 5 with (Valentine) Young | Married Young on the same day as her mother Phebe (m. 1846). Younger sister of Mary Ann Angell (m. 1834). | |||
| 29 | Abigail Marks (1781–1846), aged 69 at marriage | Widow of Asa Works | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 9 with Works | Mother of Young's first wife, Miriam Works. Sealed to Works for eternity and to Young for time. | |||
| 30 | Phebe (alt. Phoebe) Ann Morton (1786–1854), aged 59 at marriage | Previously married to James W. Angell (estranged) | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 11 with Angell | Mother of both Mary Ann Angell (m. 1834) and Jemima Angell (m. 1846). Young's mother-in-law at the time of their marriage. Sealed to Angell for eternity and to Young for time. | |||
| 31 | Cynthia Porter (1783–1861), aged 62 at marriage | Married to William Weston | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 2 with Weston | Unknown if she was widowed, divorced, or separated from Weston. | |||
| 32 | Mary Eliza Nelson (1812–1886), aged 33 at marriage | Widow of John P. Greene | Sealed for time | None with Young, 1 with Greene | Sealed to John P. Greene for eternity and to Young for time. Divorced from Young by 1850. | |||
| 33 | Rhoda Richards (1784–1879),[30] aged 61 at marriage | Plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | None | Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and to Young for time. The sister of Young's counselor Willard Richards and first cousin to Young. | |||
| 34 | Zina Diantha Huntington (1821–1901),[31] aged 25 at marriage | Married to Mormon Henry Bailey Jacobs, plural widow of Joseph Smith | Sealed for time | 1 with Young, 2 with Jacobs | Third general president of the Relief Society, and played a prominent role in the Society's reorganization. Sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity and to Young for time (not sealed to Jacobs). Transitioned to living with the Young family while Jacobs was on a mission to England. Served as the Young family midwife while living in the Lion House. Mother of Zina P. Young Card. | |||
| 35 | Amy Cecilia Cooper (1804–1852), aged 41 at marriage | Married to (non-Mormon?) Joseph Aldrich. | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 1 with Aldrich | Later separated from Aldrich. | |||
| 36 | Mary Ellen de la Montaigne (1803–1894), aged 42 at marriage | divorced from James Boyd Woodward | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 4 with Woodward | Ritually adopted by Young as his daughter (along with her husband), before being sealed to him two days later as his wife. Divorced Young and remarried Woodward. | |||
| 37 | Julia Foster (1811–1891), aged 36 at marriage | Widow of Mormon Jonathan Hampton, who died in Nauvoo in 1844 | Sealed for time | None with Young, 5 with previous husbands | Joined the church in 1833 after being converted by Young. Stayed in Illinois when Young emigrated to Utah in 1847. Married Thomas Cole after the death of her first husband, but was later abandoned. Young sent for her in 1855, and she came with her children and managed the Lion House. | |||
| 38 | Abigail Harback (1790–1849), aged 55 at marriage | Previously married to John Calvin Hall (unknown if she was widowed, divorced, or separated) | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 9 with Hall. | Died in Massachusetts. Circumstances surrounding her marriage to Hall and Young, as well as her time in Nauvoo, are unclear. | |||
| 39 | Mary Ann Turley (1827–1904), aged 18 at marriage | First marriage (later divorced) | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 9 with Cook | Divorced Young in January 1851 and moved to the San Bernardino, California colony. Met and married John Cook in California. | |||
| 40 | Naamah Carter (1821–1909), aged 24 at marriage | Widow of John S. Twiss | Sealed for time | None | First husband passed away shortly after marriage. Helped prepare the sealing rooms in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Originally had wished to be sealed to Young for eternity rather than to Twiss, but Young protested, saying he did not wish to "rob the dead." | |||
| 41 | Nancy Cressy (1780–1871), aged 65 at marriage | Widow of Oliver Walker | Sealed for time | None with Young, 10 with Walker | Sealed for eternity to Walker and for time to Young. Came to the Salt Lake Valley in Young's company. | |||
| 42 | Jane Terry (1819–1847), aged 26 at marriage | Widow of George W. Young (no relation) | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 2 with previous husbands | Requested on her deathbed to be sealed to Young. Died four days after their marriage in Winter Quarters, Nebraska. Sealing was reconfirmed in 1869 in the Salt Lake Endowment House. | |||
| 43 | Lucy Bigelow (1830–1905), aged 16 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 3 with Young | Sister of Mary Jane Bigelow (m. 1847). Married Young at Winter Quarters. A major figure in the dedication and opening of the St. George and Manti Temples.[32] Mother of Susa Young Gates, and grandmother of Emma Lucy Gates Bowen, Leah D. Widtsoe, and B. Cecil Gates. | |||
| 44 | Mary Jane Bigelow (1827–1868), aged 19 at marriage | First marriage (later divorced) | Sealed for time and eternity | None | Sister of Lucy Bigelow (m. 1847). Married Young at Winter Quarters, but turned back when she became ill. Later arrived in Utah in 1850. Divorced Young sometime before 1851. | |||
| 45 | Sarah Malin (1804–1858), aged 43 at marriage | First marriage (later divorced) | Sealed for time and eternity | None | Married Young on the same day that he sealed her father to a wife. | |||
| 46 | Eliza Burgess (1827–1915), aged 25 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | 1 with Young | Traveled from England to Nauvoo with her family before heading west to the Salt Lake Valley. Lived in the Young household as a servant before her sealing to Young. | |||
| 47 | Mary Oldfield (1793–1875), aged 59 at marriage | Widow of Eli Kelsey and divorced from John Pierce and John Gribble | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 7 with Kelsey | Sealed to Young for time and eternity, but never joined the Young household. | |||
| 48 | before 1853 (aged 51)[33] | Eliza Babcock (1828–1868), aged 24 at marriage | Previously married to Dominicus Carter (divorced) (later divorced from Young) | Unknown | None | Broke her collarbone at the Elk Horn River and was forced to return to Winter Quarters. Divorced Young and married John James Groves in 1855. | ||
| 49 | Catherine (Katharine) Reese (1804–1860), aged 51 at marriage | Widow of Zephaniah Clawson | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 6 with Clawson | Sealed to Young for time and eternity, but never joined the Young household. | |||
| 50 | Harriet Barney (1830–1911), aged 25 at marriage | Divorced from W. H. H. Sagers | Sealed for time and eternity | 1 with Young, 6 with Sagers | Daughter of Royal Barney, a Zion's Camp veteran. | |||
| 51 | Harriet Amelia Folsom (1838–1910), aged 24 at marriage | First marriage | Sealed for time and eternity | None | Daughter of architect William Folsom. Accomplished pianist and vocalist. Lived in the Gardo House along with Mary Ann Angell (m. 1834) after Young's death. Rumored to be Young's favorite wife, and was his most significant female companion during the latter years of his life. Married John Quincy Leavitt after Young's death. | |||
| 52 | [34] [35] | Mary Van Cott (1844–1884), aged 23 at marriage | Divorced from James Thornton Cobb (son of wife no. 4) | Sealed for time and eternity | 1 with Young, 1 with Cobb | Former daughter-in-law of Augusta Adams (m. 1843). | ||
| 53 | Ann Eliza Webb (1844–1917), aged 24 at marriage | Divorced from James L. Dee | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 2 with Dee | Acted in various minor roles at the Salt Lake Theatre and was friends with several of Young's daughters and wives. Lived with her mother in a cottage built for her by Young following their sealing. Sought a civil divorce from Young in 1875 and later became an outspoken critic of polygamy. Author of her 1875 autobiography Wife No. 19. Later married and divorced Moses R. Denning. | |||
| 54 | Elizabeth Jones (1814–1895), aged 55 at marriage | Widow of David T. Lewis and Dan Jones | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 8 with previous husbands | Born in Wales. Owned an inn called the "White Lion," and hosted various groups of Mormon missionaries. Her son, Thomas Lewis, was castrated in October 1856 by an extralegal posse. Lived on Young's Forest Farm property following their sealing. | |||
| 55 | Lydia Farnsworth (1808–1897), aged 61 at marriage | Married to Elijah Mayhew | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 9 with Mayhew | Expressed her strong desire to be sealed to Young for years, until his concession in 1870. Sealed to Young for eternity but remained living with husband Mayhew. | |||
| 56 | Hannah Tapfield (1807–1886), aged 65 at marriage | Married to non-Mormon Thomas O. King | Sealed for time and eternity | None with Young, 11 with King | Known for her poetry. Sealed to Young but remained living with husband King. |
Various women have been listed in published accounts as being sealed to Young, though there is no evidence confirming their sealings. While some could possibly have been his wives and merely lack conclusive evidence to be proven as such, other claims have been completely disproven.