We could not find a photograph of her. If you hold one — a descendant's album, a county archive, a gravestone portrait — it would fill this space permanently. Write to mormonstories@gmail.com.
No. 54 on Johnson's list — but this page is hers
Lydia Farnsworth
1808–1897
Sealed to Brigham Young 8 May 1870 — she was 62, he was 69.
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
Sixty-two at the sealing, with a living husband. Turner notes she 'had long wanted to be Brigham Young's wife' - one of several women who pursued the connection for years before it was granted. No children, no household, not in the will.
Key dates
- 1870 Sealed to him 8 May 1870 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
- 1897 Died 1897
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. Endowment House record and an obituary.
'Salt Lake Endowment House Records,' Book F, p. 172; Obituary, 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
- 1808
- Died
- 1897
- Died at
- Not established here
- Outlived Brigham Young?
- Yes
- Marriage or sealing
- 8 May 1870
- Her age at the marriage
- 62
- His age at the marriage
- 69
- Age gap
- 7 years
- Phase of his life
- Utah, 1870s
- Type of sealing
- Eternity only (apparent) ?
- Already married to another man?
- Yes (Turner n. 56) ?
- Her other husbands
- (1) Elijah Mayhew
- Widow of Joseph Smith?
- No
- Sexual relationship?
- Unlikely
- Children by Brigham Young
- 0
- Lived with him?
- No
- Divorce or separation
- None recorded
- Named in his will?
- No
- Sealed to him as an adopted daughter first?
- No ?
- Kin tie to him or another wife
- None recorded
- Left the church?
- Not documented here
- Remarried after Brigham Young?
- No - lived with Elijah Mayhew until he died in 1896
- Her later husband(s)
- None recorded
Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1; Turner p. 376; Quinn App. 6 ('*Lydia Farnsworth (Mayhew) 1870 (no ch)')
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.