Eliza Roxcy Snow

1804–1887

Sealed to Brigham Young 3 Oct 1844 — she was 40, he was 43.

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

Nauvoo, after the martyrdom

Who she was, and what happened

THE most consequential woman in 19th-century Mormonism after Emma. Poet, intellectual, Relief Society general president, founder of the Primary and the Deseret Hospital - Brigham was known to defer to her on church policy. Married Joseph in June 1842; when he was killed she prayed to die, and family tradition has Joseph appearing at her bedside to tell her to live. She married Brigham thirteen weeks after the martyrdom, at the Markham home, with Elizabeth Fairchild present. His daughter Clarissa Young Spencer described the marriage as one 'in name only,' though the two developed deep mutual respect. Childless, she was mother to the whole church instead. NOTE: Brigham's journal records the ceremony with only a private mark - not a sentence.

Key dates

1844 Sealed to him 3 Oct 1844 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
no date Temple sealing confirmed Confirmed in the Nauvoo temple, Jan-Feb 1846. Documented, but Johnson gives no date
1887 Died 5 Dec 1887

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

She left words of her own.

EXTENSIVE - diaries, an autobiographical sketch, and two published volumes of her own writing, plus a full scholarly biography. The best-documented woman on the list by a wide margin.

Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow (1995); Derr & Davidson, Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry (2009); Derr, BYU Studies 40 (2001); Compton ch. 13

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: 1804
Died: 5 Dec 1887
Died at: Salt Lake City (Lion House)
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 3 Oct 1844
Her age at the marriage: 40
His age at the marriage: 43
Age gap: 3 years
Phase of his life: Post-martyrdom, pre-temple
Type of sealing: To Joseph for eternity, to BY for time ?
Already married to another man?: No ?
Her other husbands: (1) Joseph Smith
Widow of Joseph Smith?: Yes
Sexual relationship?: Unlikely
Children by Brigham Young: 0
Lived with him?: Yes - Lion House
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: Sister of future church president Lorenzo Snow
Left the church?: Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 entry 10 and n. 10 (p. 66) - POSITION AND DATE NOW CONFIRMED from the printed table; BYU Studies, 'The Lion and the Lioness' (Derr); Compton ch. 13

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.