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. 23 on Johnson's list — but this page is hers
Olive Andrews
1818–?
Sealed to Brigham Young 15 Jan 1846 — she was 28, 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
A widow of Joseph Smith sealed to him for eternity with Brigham standing proxy, then to Brigham for time - the standard two-step of that fortnight. The Nauvoo temple register records her under 'Smith, Olive Andrews (for time).' Beyond the ordinance record, very little survives about her.
What survives in her own words
Nothing from her, and no life of her written by anyone else.
None known. She exists in the ordinance registers and almost nowhere else.
'Nauvoo Proxy Sealings, 1846,' p. 7, GS
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
- ?
- Died at
- Not established here
- Outlived Brigham Young?
- Unknown - no death year recorded
- Marriage or sealing
- 15 Jan 1846
- Her age at the marriage
- 28
- His age at the marriage
- 45
- Age gap
- 17 years
- Phase of his life
- Nauvoo temple (Jan-Feb 1846)
- Type of sealing
- To Joseph for eternity, to BY for time ?
- Already married to another man?
- No ?
- Her other husbands
- (1) Joseph Smith
- Widow of Joseph Smith?
- Yes
- Sexual relationship?
- Not documented here
- Children by Brigham Young
- 0
- Lived with him?
- Unknown
- 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?
- Not documented here
- Remarried after Brigham Young?
- Not established here
- Her later husband(s)
- None recorded
Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 23; Brown, Nauvoo Sealings (register cross-ref)
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.