Mary Ann Angell

1808–1882

Civil marriage to Brigham Young 10 Feb 1834 — she was 26, he was 33.

Before polygamy

Who she was, and what happened

Not a plural wife - he married her as a widower two years after Miriam died. She raised Miriam's two children with her own six, and held the White House separately from the Lion House. In January 1846 Heber Kimball anointed her 'Queen & Priestess unto her husband' while Brigham was made 'King and Priest.' She stood proxy for the dead Miriam in sealing after sealing, and repeatedly presented new wives to her husband at the altar. The first wife's consent was structurally required, and she gave it for decades.

Key dates

1834 Civil marriage 10 Feb 1834
no date Temple sealing confirmed Reconfirmed in the Nauvoo temple, Jan-Feb 1846. Documented, but Johnson gives no date
1882 Died 27 June 1882

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.

No autobiography. Obituary and ward records only; she is written about constantly in others' papers.

Obituary, Deseret Evening News, 28 June 1882

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: 27 June 1882
Died at: Salt Lake City
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 10 Feb 1834
Her age at the marriage: 26
His age at the marriage: 33
Age gap: 7 years
Phase of his life: Legal wife (remarriage as widower)
Type of sealing: Time & eternity ?
Already married to another man?: No ?
Her other husbands: -
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
Sexual relationship?: Yes - children
Children by Brigham Young: 6
Lived with him?: Yes - head of 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: None recorded
Left the church?: Remained LDS (documented)
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No - widowed by him
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1; Turner pp. 138-39

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.