Prototype. Nobody named on this site has agreed to take part in it — what that means.
The Wives of Brigham Young 55 women, named — and given back their own words
Margaret Pierce

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association — via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

No. 18 on Johnson's list — but this page is hers

Margaret Pierce

1823–1907

Sealed to Brigham Young 16 Jan 1845 — she was 22, he was 44.

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

One of the most poignant timings in the whole list: she had been married to Morris Whitesides for SIX MONTHS when she was sealed to Brigham in January 1845 - and her first husband died of consumption ONE MONTH LATER. She was sealed to Whitesides for eternity and to Brigham for time, so she kept her dying husband forever and got an earthly protector at the same moment. She outlived Brigham by thirty years and died in 1907 as one of his last surviving widows. In an inversion that shows how fluid these categories were, Brigham later ritually ADOPTED her parents Robert and Hannah Pierce as his own children - making his parents-in-law his spiritual offspring.

Key dates

  1. 1845 Sealed to him 16 Jan 1845 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
  2. no date Temple sealing confirmed Confirmed in the Nauvoo temple, Jan-Feb 1846. Documented, but Johnson gives no date
  3. 1907 Died 16 Jan 1907

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 in her own hand, plus a published reminiscence.

'Autobiography of Margarette P. W. Young,' n.d., holograph; 'One of the Pioneers,' Young Women's Journal 15 (1 Apr 1904): 162-66

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
1823
Died
16 Jan 1907
Died at
Salt Lake City
Outlived Brigham Young?
Yes
Marriage or sealing
16 Jan 1845
Her age at the marriage
22
His age at the marriage
44
Age gap
22 years
Phase of his life
Post-martyrdom, pre-temple
Type of sealing
To first husband for eternity, to BY for time ?
Already married to another man?
Yes (Turner n. 56) ?
Her other husbands
(1) Morris Whitesides
Widow of Joseph Smith?
No
Sexual relationship?
Yes - children
Children by Brigham Young
1
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
Sister of Mary Pierce (#19); her PARENTS were later adopted as BY's children
Left the church?
Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?
No
Her later husband(s)
None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 18; Turner pp. 136, 140

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.