Mary Ann Turley

1827–1904

Sealed to Brigham Young 3 Feb 1846 — she was 19, he was 45.

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

Nauvoo temple, January-February 1846

Who she was, and what happened

Eighteen or nineteen at the sealing. Heber Kimball's journal records her on 20 December 1845, six weeks before the temple ceremony, suggesting an earlier arrangement. She divorced Brigham in January 1851 - one of the first formal divorces after the church began recording them - and later married John Cook. Johnson groups her with the young women 'under twenty when they married Brigham Young' who did not stay.

Key dates

1846 Sealed to him 3 Feb 1846 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
1851 Divorce or separation 15 Jan 1851
1904 Died 1904

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. Kimball's journal and a divorce certificate.

Heber C. Kimball, Journal, 20 Dec 1845; Divorce certificate, 15 Jan 1851

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: 1827
Died: 1904
Died at: Not established here
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 3 Feb 1846
Her age at the marriage: 19
His age at the marriage: 45
Age gap: 26 years
Phase of his life: Nauvoo temple (Jan-Feb 1846)
Type of sealing: Not recorded ?
Already married to another man?: No - John Cook was a LATER husband ?
Her other husbands: (2) John Cook
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
Sexual relationship?: Not documented here
Children by Brigham Young: 0
Lived with him?: No - never part of the household
Divorce or separation: Divorced; certificate 15 Jan 1851
Named in his will?: Not applicable or not recorded
Sealed to him as an adopted daughter first?: No ?
Kin tie to him or another wife: Daughter of Theodore Turley, a Nauvoo polygamist
Left the church?: Remarried (Johnson p. 63); NOT among the three he names as remaining in Utah - church status undocumented
Remarried after Brigham Young?: YES - after her 1851 divorce, while Brigham was alive
Her later husband(s): John Cook

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 38 and p. 65; Turner p. 193

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.