Mary Elizabeth Rollins

1818–1913

Sealed to Brigham Young 22 May 1845 — she was 27, 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

THE CLEAREST CASE THAT 'WIFE' MEANT SOMETHING OTHER THAN MARRIAGE. Sealed to Joseph Smith in February 1842 while married to Adam Lightner, a non-Mormon who never joined. When the sealing was confirmed in the Nauvoo temple, Brigham stood proxy for Joseph and was then sealed to her for time, as the custom required. Nothing about her life changed. She stayed with Adam Lightner, bore him TEN children, came to Utah with him in 1863, and both died in Minersville. Johnson: 'She was never known as a wife of Brigham Young.' In 1905 at BYU she spoke publicly about her marriage to Joseph and named his other wives.

Key dates

1845 Sealed to him 22 May 1845 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
no date Temple sealing confirmed Confirmed in the Nauvoo temple, Jan-Feb 1846. Documented, but Johnson gives no date
1913 Died 1913

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 AND DIARY, held at BYU, plus a published article and a 1905 public address naming Joseph Smith's wives.

Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Autobiography and diary, n.d., BYU Special Collections; Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage 5 (1962): 305-24

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: 1818
Died: 1913
Died at: Minersville, Utah
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 22 May 1845
Her age at the marriage: 27
His age at the marriage: 44
Age gap: 17 years
Phase of his life: Post-martyrdom, pre-temple
Type of sealing: Eternity only (to Joseph); BY for time on paper ?
Already married to another man?: Yes (Turner n. 56) ?
Her other husbands: (1) Adam Lightner (2) Joseph Smith
Widow of Joseph Smith?: Yes
Sexual relationship?: Unlikely
Children by Brigham Young: 0
Lived with him?: NO - never lived with him, never known as his wife
Divorce or separation: None recorded
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 after Brigham Young?: No - stayed with Adam Lightner throughout
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 21 and p. 66; Turner p. 134

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.