Lucy Ann Decker

1822–1890

Sealed to Brigham Young 14 June 1842 — she was 20, he was 41.

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

Nauvoo, during Joseph Smith's life

Who she was, and what happened

His FIRST plural wife, married by Joseph Smith himself. She was 20, he was 41. She was already married to William Seeley - family tradition calls him a drunkard who abandoned her and their two children, though Turner found Brigham making payments to Seeley in Nauvoo the month after the wedding, so Seeley was still around. Her father Isaac Decker was an old friend of the Young family. Her son born June 1845 was among the first children of Brigham's post-martyrdom polygamy. NOTE: Brigham's first attempt at plural marriage failed - Martha Brotherton refused him in 1842, left Nauvoo, and published her account.

Key dates

1842 Sealed to him 14 June 1842 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
1891 Died 24 Jan 1891 or shortly before

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.

Her sworn plural-marriage affidavit (Book 1, p. 48) and an obituary. No memoir.

'Death of Lucy D. Young,' Deseret Evening News, 24 Jan 1891

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: 1822
Died: 24 Jan 1891 or shortly before
Died at: Salt Lake City
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 14 June 1842
Her age at the marriage: 20
His age at the marriage: 41
Age gap: 21 years
Phase of his life: During Joseph Smith's life
Type of sealing: Time & eternity ?
Already married to another man?: Yes (Turner n. 56) ?
Her other husbands: (1) William Seeley
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
Sexual relationship?: Yes - children
Children by Brigham Young: 7
Lived with him?: Yes - Lion 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: Sister of Clarissa Decker (#6)
Left the church?: Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 (date 14 June; Johnson's prose says 17 June - use 14 June, per Lucy's own affidavit)

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.