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

Olive Grey Frost

1816–1845

Sealed to Brigham Young 7 Nov 1844 — she was 28, he was 43.

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

A widow of Joseph Smith who died in Nauvoo before the temple sealings - hers is THE ONLY marriage from this cohort never confirmed in the temple, because she did not live to see it open. Her sister Mary Ann Frost Pratt wrote the only real biographical sketch of her. DATE CONFLICT NOW RESOLVED INSIDE JOHNSON: his PROSE (p. 63) says she died in October 1844, but his own TABLE entry 16 reads 'Olive Gray Frost, 1816-45' and his note dates the marriage to 7 November 1844. The table and the Tanners (6 October 1845) agree; the prose sentence is the error.

Key dates

  1. 1844 Sealed to him 7 Nov 1844 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.
  2. 1845 Died 6 Oct 1845 (Tanner); Johnson's prose says Oct 1844, his table says 1845
  3. no date Never confirmed NEVER confirmed - she died before the temple opened. Johnson p. 63: hers is the only sealing from that period never confirmed.

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; a life of her was written by someone else.

A PUBLISHED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH by her sister - the only real account of her life.

Mary Ann Frost Pratt, 'Biographical Sketch of Olive Gray Frost,' Historical Record 6 (Jan 1887): 234-35

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
1816
Died
6 Oct 1845 (Tanner); Johnson's prose says Oct 1844, his table says 1845
Died at
Nauvoo, Illinois
Outlived Brigham Young?
No - died before him
Marriage or sealing
7 Nov 1844
Her age at the marriage
28
His age at the marriage
43
Age gap
15 years
Phase of his life
Post-martyrdom, pre-temple
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
Sister of Mary Ann Frost Pratt (Parley P. Pratt's wife)
Left the church?
n/a - died 1845
Remarried after Brigham Young?
No - died 1845
Her later husband(s)
None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 entry 16 (1816-45) and n. 16, against his prose p. 63; Tanner, Joseph Smith and Polygamy p. 47. TABLE PREFERRED OVER PROSE

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.