James B. Woodward

Birth and death dates not established here

Sealed to Brigham Young as a son early Feb 1846, Nauvoo temple.

An adoption, not a marriage — an adult sealed into a priesthood lineage running back to Adam. What the law of adoption was.

Nauvoo temple, 1846

Who he was to Brigham Young

Ritual son, sealed as an adopted child together with his wife - whom Young then married two days later. Turner suspects James requested the adoption precisely to stop Mary Ellen leaving him.

His wife Mary Ellen de la Montague - who is wife #35 in the wives table. She is cross-referenced here, NOT counted twice.

How it ended

If that was the plan it failed twice. Mary Ellen married Young on 3 February 1846; Young then divorced her on 13 December 1846, the first documented divorce of any of his marriages; and she went back to James, from whom she had originally sought a divorce for cruelty. Her letter of 25 February 1847 asks Young: 'If I do all I can and after this he treats me bad, will you let me leave him and live with my children?'

not established

The record

Born: Not established here
Died: Not established here
Adoption sealing: early Feb 1846
Place: Nauvoo temple
Sealed alongside: His wife Mary Ellen de la Montague - who is wife #35 in the wives table. She is cross-referenced here, NOT counted twice.
Outcome: not established

Source: Turner, Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (2012) pp. 132, 140; Johnson pp. 63, 64

Six of the thirty-four men adopted to Brigham Young can be named from the published sources — about 18 per cent. Why the roster is partial.