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

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. 31 on Johnson's list — but this page is hers

Mary Eliza Nelson

1812–1885

Sealed to Brigham Young 31 Jan 1846 — she was 34, 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

Widow of John P. Greene, the Nauvoo marshal (and the man whose household first received a Book of Mormon that reached the Young family). Sealed to Greene for eternity and to Brigham for this life only. She left Brigham during the emigration and was sealed to Bruce Israel Philips by Parley P. Pratt in Salt Lake City in September 1850 - a departure conducted entirely inside the church, with an apostle officiating.

Key dates

  1. 1846 Sealed to him 31 Jan 1846 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
  2. 1850 Divorce or separation 17 Sept 1850 (date of her next sealing)
  3. 1885 Died c. 29 Dec 1885

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. Ordinance records and an obituary.

Obituary, Deseret Evening News, 29 Dec 1885

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
1812
Died
c. 29 Dec 1885
Died at
Salt Lake City
Outlived Brigham Young?
Yes
Marriage or sealing
31 Jan 1846
Her age at the marriage
34
His age at the marriage
45
Age gap
11 years
Phase of his life
Nauvoo temple (Jan-Feb 1846)
Type of sealing
To first husband for eternity, to BY for time ?
Already married to another man?
No ?
Her other husbands
(1) John P. Greene (3) Bruce I. Philips
Widow of Joseph Smith?
No
Sexual relationship?
Not documented here
Children by Brigham Young
0
Lived with him?
No
Divorce or separation
Left BY; sealed to Bruce Israel Philips 17 Sept 1850
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
None recorded
Left the church?
Remained LDS (documented) - remarried in the church
Remarried after Brigham Young?
YES - 17 Sept 1850, while Brigham was alive; sealed by Parley P. Pratt
Her later husband(s)
Bruce Israel Philips

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 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.