Emily Dow Partridge

1824–1899

Sealed to Brigham Young Sept or Nov 1844 — she was 20, 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

Daughter of the martyred Bishop Edward Partridge, whom she watched dragged off and tarred and feathered when she was nine. She and her sister Eliza lived in Joseph Smith's house as teenagers, married him secretly in March 1843, then married him AGAIN two months later when Emma chose them - and were expelled from the house when Emma turned. Compton calls her a 'Latter-day Hagar.' Her first child by Brigham, born 30 Oct 1845, was registered as 'Edward Partridge Young SMITH' - carrying both her dead prophet-husband's name and her living one's. She testified under oath in the 1892 Temple Lot case that she had had 'carnal intercourse' with Joseph. 'I am not ashamed of my religion... Neither am I ashamed of my name, nor would I be even if it was, EMILY DOW PARTRIDGE SMITH YOUNG, ETC.' DATE DISPUTE: Marquardt says November 1844; Johnson's table implies September.

Key dates

1844 Sealed to him Sept or Nov 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
1899 Died 9 Dec 1899

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.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY, a diary, and sworn courtroom testimony. One of the best-documented women here.

Emily Dow Partridge Young, 'What I Remember,' 1884, typescript; Temple Lot testimony (1892); Compton ch. 18; Marquardt, JMH 34:3

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: 1824
Died: 9 Dec 1899
Died at: Salt Lake City
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: Sept or Nov 1844
Her age at the marriage: 20
His age at the marriage: 43
Age gap: 23 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?: Yes - children
Children by Brigham Young: 7
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: Stepdaughter of William Huntington, Zina's father
Left the church?: Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1; Compton ch. 18; Marquardt, JMH 34:3 pp. 135, 153

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.