Prototype. Nobody named on this site has agreed to take part in it — what that means.
The Wives of Brigham Young 55 women, named — and given back their own words

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. 47 on Johnson's list — but this page is hers

Eliza Babcock

1828–1868

Sealed to Brigham Young before 1853 — she was 25, he was 52.

This was a sealing, not a marriage in law — plural marriage had no legal standing. What that meant.

Utah

Who she was, and what happened

Endowed in the Nauvoo temple on 10 January 1846 as a teenager, sealed to Brigham at some point before 1853, and divorced in September 1853. She married twice more. Johnson counts her among the women who 'were under twenty when they married Brigham Young' and did not stay.

Key dates

  1. 1853 Sealed to him before 1853 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
  2. 1853 Divorce or separation 4 Sept 1853
  3. 1868 Died 1868

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. An endowment register entry and a divorce certificate.

Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 Jan 1846; Divorce certificate, 4 Sept 1853

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
1828
Died
1868
Died at
Utah (Johnson: she 'remained in Utah')
Outlived Brigham Young?
No - died before him
Marriage or sealing
before 1853
Her age at the marriage
25
His age at the marriage
52
Age gap
27 years
Phase of his life
Utah, 1850s
Type of sealing
Not recorded ?
Already married to another man?
No ?
Her other husbands
(2) Dominicus Carter (3) John Groves
Widow of Joseph Smith?
No
Sexual relationship?
Not documented here
Children by Brigham Young
0
Lived with him?
No
Divorce or separation
Divorced; certificate 4 Sept 1853
Named in his will?
No
Sealed to him as an adopted daughter first?
No ?
Kin tie to him or another wife
None recorded
Left the church?
Remarried and remained in Utah (Johnson p. 63); church membership not separately documented
Remarried after Brigham Young?
YES - twice, after her 1853 divorce, while Brigham was alive
Her later husband(s)
Dominicus Carter; John Groves

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 47 and p. 65; Turner p. 193

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.