Resources

The only comprehensive published list of Brigham Young's wives, and the spine of this site. Names, marriage dates, birth and death years, prior husbands. Johnson's own conclusion is worth reading in full - that most of these women took part in the church for the rest of their lives, which "tends to dispel the myth of the horrified woman, enslaved against her will." Free to read from Dialogue's own archive.

A free, public, document-by-document reference on Joseph Smith's plural marriages, with a page for each woman, timelines and the sources attached. The direct model for this site. Hales writes as a believing Latter-day Saint and much of the site answers critics; this site is neither apologetic nor counter-apologetic, and takes no position on whether any of it was inspired. What we take from him is the method — sourced, free, public, checkable, organised around the women one at a time — not the posture.

Fuller than the Journal of Discourses, which only ever printed a selection. The right place to check a quotation.

On Sally (Kahpeputz) Young Kanosh, the Pahvant Ute girl brought into the household in the late 1840s and frequently misdescribed as one of his wives. She was not. Why that matters.

The clearest modern account of the law of adoption - the ritual that explains the strangest rows in this data. What adoption was.

One of the disputed marriage dates on this site turns on this article. The disagreement.

The family's own list, compiled by his daughter and granddaughter. The reason Quinn keeps Maria Lawrence on the roster when Johnson drops her.

55 wives. Comprehensive. The spine of this site.

56 wives - Johnson's list plus Maria Lawrence.

Not a list of wives. A list of the fifteen women who were legally married to other men at the time of their sealing. Frequently mistaken for a roster.

The family's own compilation, and the earliest of these.

Drops Maria Lawrence, agreeing with Johnson.

Johnson's 55 with every subsequent correction applied and every disagreement flagged. Available as JSON for anyone who wants to build on it.

Roughly 14,000 pages of Brigham Young-era sermons, including nearly everything on the quotes page. Volumes: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26. The official run ENDS at volume 26 in 1886; anything citing a later "Journal of Discourses" is citing something else.

Free to read in full. If you read one thing from this page, read this.

Eighty issues, every one free. Stapley on adoption is in vol. 37 no. 3; Marquardt on Emily Dow Partridge in vol. 34 no. 3.

Derr on Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow is in vol. 40 no. 2.

The only full-length published autobiography by any of the fifty-five, and a hostile one. Why that matters.

Including the 1894 revelation that ended adoption sealings. Where this site's reading differs, it says so rather than implying agreement.

The finding aid for the Brigham Young office files and the Nauvoo ordinance records. Start here if you are doing original research.

The documentary edition, free and complete, for the Nauvoo period and the 1843 revelation.

Holds the Brigham Young office files and the Nauvoo ordinance records.

Johnson's 1987 article and table are free to read in the archive.

For the Nauvoo period and the 1843 revelation.

Public-domain scans of Wife No. 19, the Journal of Discourses and much else.

Genealogical records for most of the fifty-five. We have not yet linked person ids from here; doing so is on the list.

Burial records and, for many of these women, the only photograph in circulation. Also not yet linked here.