Susannah (Susan) Snively

1815–1892

Sealed to Brigham Young 31 Oct 1844 — she was 29, 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 Virginia-born convert who came to Nauvoo in 1842. Childless. She ran Brigham's Forest Farm outside Salt Lake City for a period - the eight-hundred-acre working farm where several of his wives were sent and where, by Turner's account, none of them found much contentment: the chores included cooking for a large crew of hired workers. Died in Salt Lake City in 1892, still in the church, at 77.

Key dates

1844 Sealed to him 31 Oct 1844 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
1892 Died c. 21 Nov 1892

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. Ward record and an obituary.

Obituary, Deseret Evening News, 21 Nov 1892

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: 1815
Died: c. 21 Nov 1892
Died at: Salt Lake City
Outlived Brigham Young?: Yes
Marriage or sealing: 31 Oct 1844
Her age at the marriage: 29
His age at the marriage: 43
Age gap: 14 years
Phase of his life: Post-martyrdom, pre-temple
Type of sealing: Not recorded ?
Already married to another man?: No ?
Her other husbands: -
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
Sexual relationship?: Not documented here
Children by Brigham Young: 0
Lived with him?: Yes - lived at Forest Farm
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
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1 n. 15; Compton, JMH 25:2 biographical register

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.