Harriet Amelia Folsom

1838–1910

Sealed to Brigham Young 24 Jan 1863 — she was 25, he was 62.

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

THE LATE-LIFE FAVOURITE. Twenty-four to his sixty-one - THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS his junior - and he married her in January 1863 in OPEN VIOLATION of the federal Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, weeks after Governor Harding had publicly warned the Mormons to obey it. The marriage surprised Utah; it had been seven years since he had taken a wife, and it angered at least one of the others enough to put it in writing. She was widely called his favourite for the rest of his life, was childless, and had a house built for her. Ann Eliza Webb's later lecture tours made much of her.

Key dates

1863 Sealed to him 24 Jan 1863 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
1910 Died c. 11 Dec 1910

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. Obituaries and Endowment House records; she is written about constantly, including by Ann Eliza Webb.

'Salt Lake Endowment House Records'; Obituary, Deseret Evening News, 12 Dec 1910

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: 1838
Died: c. 11 Dec 1910
Died at: Salt Lake City (Gardo House)
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 24 Jan 1863
Her age at the marriage: 25
His age at the marriage: 62
Age gap: 37 years
Phase of his life: Utah, 1860s
Type of sealing: Time & eternity ?
Already married to another man?: No ?
Her other husbands: -
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
Sexual relationship?: Probable
Children by Brigham Young: 0
Lived with him?: Yes - her own house, the Gardo House
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: Daughter of church architect William Folsom
Left the church?: Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 50; Turner p. 325; Quinn App. 6 ('no 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.