We could not find a photograph of her. If you hold one — a descendant's album, a county archive, a gravestone portrait — it would fill this space permanently. Write to mormonstories@gmail.com.
No. 37 on Johnson's list — but this page is hers
Abigail Harback
1790–1849
Sealed to Brigham Young 3 Feb 1846 — she was 56, he was 45.
This was a sealing, not a marriage in law — plural marriage had no legal standing. What that meant.
Nauvoo temple, January-February 1846
Who she was, and what happened
Fifty-five or fifty-six at the sealing, with a prior husband named Hall. She died in 1849, during or just after the migration. Like several women in the 3 February batch, she appears in the Nauvoo temple ordinance register and essentially nowhere else.
Key dates
- 1846 Sealed to him 3 Feb 1846 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
- 1849 Died 1849
Nothing here is inferred. Johnson's Table 1 has one date column, so where an event is documented but undated it is shown as "no date" rather than given a spurious one — the missing date is itself a fact about how these records were kept. Only two of the fifty-five have a civil marriage date; for the other fifty-three the single date records a sealing, because plural marriage had no standing in law.
What survives in her own words
Nothing from her, and no life of her written by anyone else.
None known. One line in the register.
'Nauvoo Sealings and Adoptions,' p. 577, GS
15 of the fifty-five left words of their own. The rest are known only through other people's papers. What that silence means.
The record
- Born
- 1790
- Died
- 1849
- Died at
- Not established here
- Outlived Brigham Young?
- No - died before him
- Marriage or sealing
- 3 Feb 1846
- Her age at the marriage
- 56
- His age at the marriage
- 45
- Age gap
- -11 years
- Phase of his life
- Nauvoo temple (Jan-Feb 1846)
- Type of sealing
- Not recorded ?
- Already married to another man?
- Unknown - prior husband's status not established ?
- Her other husbands
- (1) Mr. Hall
- Widow of Joseph Smith?
- No
- Sexual relationship?
- Unlikely
- Children by Brigham Young
- 0
- Lived with him?
- Unknown
- Divorce or separation
- None recorded
- Named in his will?
- Not applicable or not recorded
- Sealed to him as an adopted daughter first?
- No ?
- Kin tie to him or another wife
- None recorded
- Left the church?
- n/a - died 1849
- Remarried after Brigham Young?
- Not established here
- Her later husband(s)
- None recorded
Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 37 (source: 'Nauvoo Sealings and Adoptions,' p. 577)
A blank or “not established here” means the fact was not documented in the sources behind this table. It does not mean zero, and it does not mean no. We leave it empty rather than guessing, because inventing a detail of her life would be another way of not listening to her. The size of that gap is the argument for the book she never got.