Brigham Young

Brigham Young's Plural Wives

Young was perhaps the most famous polygamist of the early church. Young married some 50 women and had 56 known children. These marriages were not recognized as legally binding according to U.S. law, and in response to a suit for alimony from one of his "ex-wives," Young successfully argued in court that he owed no alimony because they were never legally married. In 1856 he built the Lion House to accommodate his sizable family. This remains a Salt Lake City landmark, together with the Beehive House, another Brigham Young Family home.

Related Topics:
Polygamist - 1856 - The Lion House - The Beehive House

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What follows is a listing of Brigham Young's wives. An asterisk indicates "a wife not recognized in traditional histories, even though there is evidence of at least one of the following: the ceremony, sexual cohabitation, or a formal divorce"; names in parenthesis are the surnames of previous husbands; "divorce" indicates a formal dissolution of the marriage through secular or ecclesiastical procedures; "remarried" indicates later marriage of the wife to another husband. See D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, 1994, 685 pages, ISBN 1-56085-056-6; Appendix 6, "Biographical Sketches of Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, 1830-47" pp. 607-608).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Miriam Works 1824 (2 children), included in his will.
• Mary A. Angel 1834 (6 children), in will.
• Lucy A. Decker (Seeley) 1842 (7 children), in will.
• Harriet E. Cook (Campbell) 1843 (1 child), in will.
• Lucy Augusta Adams (Cobb) 1843 (no children), requested cancellation of her sealing 1846, sealed by proxy to Joseph Smith 1848, from 1850 onward asked Brigham Young to give her to various men in civil marriage but still included in will.
• Clarissa C. Decker 1844 (5 children), in will.
• Clarissa Ross-Chase 1844 (4 children), in will.
• Louisa Beaman (Smith) 1844 (4 children).
• Zina D. Huntington (Jacobs, Smith) 1844 (1 child), in will.
• Emily D. Partridge (Smith) 1844 (7 children), in will.
• Eliza R. Snow (Smith) 1844 (no children), in will.
• *Elizabeth Fairchild 1844 (no children), divorced 1855.
• *Clarissa Blake 1844 (no children).
• *Rebecca W. Greenleaf Holman 1844 (no children).
• *Diana Chase 1844 (no children), separated about 1848, remarried 1849.
• Maria Lawrence (Smith) 1844 (no children), separated 1845, remarried 1846.
• Susannah Snively 1844 (no children), in will.
• Olive G. Frost (Smith) 1844 (no children).
• *Mary A. Clark (Powers) 1845 (no children), divorced 1851.
• *Mary Harvey Pierce 1845 (no children).
• Margrette W. Pierce (Whitesides) 1845 (1 child), in will.
• *Rhoda Richards (Smith) 1845 (no children).
• Emmeline Free 1845 (10 children), in will.
• Mary E. Rollins (Lightner, Smith) 1845 (no children), remained with legal husband yet considered herself deserted by Brigham Young 1846.
• Margaret Maria Alley 1845 (2 children), in will.
• *Mary Ann Turley 1845 (no children), divorced 1851.
• *Olive Andrews (Smith) 1846 (no children).
• *Emily Haws (Chesley, Whitmarsh) 1846 (no children), separated 1848.
• Ellen A. V. Rockwood 1846 (no children).
• *Abigail Marks (Works) 1846 (no children).
• *Mary E. Nelson (Greene) 1846 (no children).
• *Mary E. de la Montague (Woodward) 1846 (no children), divorced and returned to legal husband 1847, then returned to Brigham Young 1851.
• *Amy C. Cooper 1846 (no children).
• *Julia Foster (Hampton) 1846 (no children), separated 1846, married another man, returned to Brigham Young 1855 only to leave him bitterly later.
• *Abigail Harback (Hall) 1846 (no children), returned to legal husband 1846.
• Naamah K. J. Carter (Twiss) 1846 (no children), obtained cancellation of her sealing by 1871, anointed to deceased first husband but still included in will.
• *Nancy Cressy (Walker) 1846 (no children).
• *Eliza Babcock 1846-53 (no children), divorced 1853.
• *Jane Terry (Tarbox, Young) 1847.
• Mary J. Bigelow 1847 (no children), divorced 1851.
• Lucy Bigelow 1847 (3 children), in will.
• *Sarah M. Guckin (Malin) 1848 (no children).
• Eliza Burgess 1852 (1 child), in will.
• *Mary Oldfield (Kelsey) 1852 (no children).
• *Catherine Resse (Clawson, Egan) 1855 (no children).
• Harriet E. Barney (Sagers) 1856 (1 child), in will.
• Harriet Amelia Folsom 1863 (no children), in will.
• Mary Van Cott (Cobb) 1865 (1 child), in will.
• Ann Eliza Webb (Dee) 1868 (no children), divorced 1875; her story was fictionalized in Irving Wallace's 1962 novel The Twenty-Seventh Wife.
• *Elizabeth Jones (Lewis, Jones) 1869 (no children).
• *Lydia Farnsworth (Mayhew) 1870 (no children).
• *Hannah Tapfield (King) 1872 (no children).