Eliza Burgess

1827–1915

Sealed to Brigham Young 3 Oct 1852 — she was 25, he was 51.

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

An English convert who had worked as a servant in the Young household before becoming a wife - a pattern that recurs across Mormon polygamy and rarely gets named. She bore him one son and was named in his will. Died in 1915, one of the last of his widows.

Key dates

1852 Sealed to him 3 Oct 1852 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
1915 Died 1915

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 of her own. Ward record and an obituary.

'Eliza B. Young Dies at Son's Home,' Deseret Evening News

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: 1827
Died: 1915
Died at: Salt Lake City (at her son's home)
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 3 Oct 1852
Her age at the marriage: 25
His age at the marriage: 51
Age gap: 26 years
Phase of his life: Utah, 1850s
Type of sealing: Time & eternity ?
Already married to another man?: No ?
Her other husbands: -
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
Sexual relationship?: Yes - children
Children by Brigham Young: 1
Lived with him?: Yes - household
Divorce or separation: None recorded
Named in his will?: Yes
Sealed to him as an adopted daughter first?: No ?
Kin tie to him or another wife: None recorded
Left the church?: Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1; Quinn App. 6 ('Eliza Burgess 1852 (1 ch), in will')

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.