the wives of brigham young:—their history and their daily life.
the wives of brigham young have always been subjects of interest to gentiles who visited zion; and having spoken of their husband, i think it is only fair that i should say a few words about them.
for many years i have known personally all the prophet’s wives who reside in salt lake city, and i wish to speak of them with kindness and respect. they are women whom any one would esteem—conscientious, good, earnest women; faithful, true-hearted wives, who have devoted their lives to the carrying out of what they believe is the revealed will of god.
when i first knew brother brigham, poor man, he had only sixteen living with him in salt lake city; and even now he has no more than nineteen! perhaps i ought to say eighteen, since eliza-ann has run away from him, and left the poor old gentleman desolate and forlorn. the three whom he took after i came to utah, were amelia folsom, mary van cott cobb, and eliza-ann. but the reader will perhaps be interested in hearing about them all, and so i will state the names and order of the ladies as they at present stand—according to the date of their marriage; making mention of the proxy wives last of all, for the sake of convenience and without reference to date. of course brother brigham has had many more than nineteen wives, but the following are the living ladies; others are dead or have strayed away, no one knew whither, and perhaps, as brother heber once said to me, nobody cared.
amelia folsom young, brigham’s favorite wife.
“eliza ann,” brigham’s nineteenth wife.
brother brigham’s last baby.
miss eliza r. snow, mormon poetess and high priestess.
mrs. john w. young, wife of brigham’s apostate son.
to face p. 168.
allow me to introduce the mrs. young.
mrs. mary ann angell young.
[number one.]
first in order is mrs. mary ann angell young, but she is[169] not the first wife that brother brigham ever had. once upon a time, brother brigham was a methodist; but after listening to the preaching of the mormon missionaries he became a vile apostate—as he loves to call those who leave his present faith—and he forsook methodism. in those days, before he apostatised, and long before he ever dreamed of polygamy, he had but one wife—one only! it must seem strange to the prophet to look back to that period of solitary existence. his second wife was mrs. angell young; and i call her his first wife because she is the first of those living now. as she was married to him after the death of his first wife, she is, of course, his legal wife, and would be recognized as such in any civilized country. she is a very fine-looking old lady and very much devoted to her unfaithful lord and master, firmly believing in his divine mission. she lives by herself and is seldom troubled with a visit from her affectionate spouse. once in a while brigham brings her out to a party when he has invited any gentiles, just for appearance sake. quite a number of persons in utah believe that she is dead, so very little is seen and known of her. she lives in the white house—brigham’s first residence in salt lake city—and is much thought of by those who do know her. her children are greatly attached to her, and show her a great deal of attention, making up in this way, to a certain extent, for her husband’s neglect; her three sons, joseph a. brigham—who it is expected will succeed his father as president of the church—and john w., as well as her two daughters, alice and luna, are all in polygamy. each of the sons has three wives; and each of the daughters has a half-sister as a partner in her husband’s affections. brigham has not the slightest objection to giving two of his daughters to the same husband.
lucy decker seely young.
[number two.]
lucy decker seely young was his first wife in polygamy. her former husband was a mr. seely. she is short and stout, a very excellent mother and a devoted wife.
clara decker young.
[number three.]
clara decker young is the third wife. she is a sister of lucy seely, and like her is short and stout, but otherwise good-looking. she is more than twenty years younger than her lord, with whom she was once quite a favourite, but like[170] many others, she has “had her day”—to use brigham’s own expression—and is now, as a matter of course, neglected.
harriet cook young.
[number four.]
harriet cook young is tall, with light hair and blue eyes, and is an intelligent but not at all a refined woman. she is said to have given a great deal of trouble to brother brigham, of whom she has frequently said very hard things. in times past she had the reputation of being a good deal more than a match for her husband when she had any cause of offence against him, but in her quiet moments she is a very sincere mormon. she has only one son—oscar young—now about twenty-five years of age. when he was born, brigham kindly announced to her that because she was not obedient she should have no more children, and during more than a quarter of a century he has kept his word. why she has remained with him so long is a mystery, for she makes no secret of her feelings towards him.
lucy bigelow young.
[number five.]
lucy bigelow young is quite a fine-looking woman—tall and fair, and still quite young. she has three pretty daughters. brigham has recently sent her to live in southern utah.
mrs. twiss young.
[number six.]
mrs. twiss young has no children, but she is a very good housewife, and brigham appreciates her accordingly, and has given her the position of housekeeper in the lion house. women have two great privileges in the mormon church—they may ask a man to marry them, if they chance to fancy him, and if they don’t like him afterwards they are able to obtain a divorce for the moderate sum of ten dollars, which sum the husband is expected to pay. mrs. twiss exercised the first privilege in reference to brother brigham, but has not yet availed herself of the last. there are other ladies who thought it would be a great honour to be called the wives of the prophet, and they have requested him to allow them to be called by his name. this he has done, but he has never troubled them with his society.
[171]
martha bowker young.
[number seven.]
martha bowker young is a quiet little body, with piercing dark eyes, and very retiring. brother brigham acts towards her as if he had quite forgotten that he had ever married her, and she lives in all the loneliness of married spinsterhood.
harriet barney seagers young.
[number eight.]
harriet barney seagers young, the eighth wife, is a tall, fine-looking woman. she was another man’s wife when brigham made love to her. it is not supposed to be the correct thing for a saint to court his neighbour’s wife, but the prophet did so in the case of harriet barney, and in several other cases too. harriet was married to a respectable young mormon gentleman, but after she had lived with him some time and had borne three children to him, the prophet persuaded her to join his ranks, and she did so, believing that the word of the prophet was the revelation of the lord to her, but she has since had bitter cause to repent of her folly. to a gentile mind such an infatuation must appear very strange, but the mormon people personally understand the powerful influence which their religion exercises over them, and to them there is nothing very singular in all this.
eliza burgess young.
[number nine.]
eliza burgess young is the only english wife that brigham has. she fell in love with the prophet, wanted him to marry her, and even offered to wait, like jacob, for seven years if she might be his at last. so she served in the family of her lord for the appointed time, and he finally took her to wife as a recompense for her faithfulness. she has added one son to the prophet’s kingdom.
susan snively young.
[number ten.]
the tenth wife on my list is susan snively young. she is a german woman—smart, active, and industrious. she has no children, but has been quite a help-meet to her husband in making butter and cheese, in which she excels. smart mormons[172] have always had an eye to business, and while living up to their privileges have not invariably sought for wives who were only fair and pleasant to look upon, but have frequently taken them for their own intrinsic worth: one as a good dairymaid, another as a good cook, a third as a good laundress, and a fourth as a lady to grace the parlour—perhaps even two or three of this last kind, if the saint were wealthy. there is a good deal of practical wisdom in this. brother brigham has gathered of all sorts into his net, and has then sorted them out, placing each lady in the position where he considered she would be most useful and profitable to himself.
margaret pierce young.
[number eleven.]
margaret pierce young is very lady-like, tall, and genteel. she has the appearance of being very unhappy, and it is certain that she has been very much neglected, but not more so than many of the other wives. she has one son.
emmeline free young.
[number twelve.]
when first i went to utah, emmeline free young was the reigning favourite, and she was really the handsomest of brigham’s wives—tall and graceful, with curling hair, beautiful eyes, and fair complexion. brigham was as fond of her, at the time, as a man of his nature, with such a low estimate of woman, could be. but a younger, though not a handsomer, rival soon captivated his fickle heart, and he left poor emmeline to mourn in sorrow. she has never been herself since then, and probably never will be—she is a broken-hearted woman. she is the mother of quite a numerous family, and doubtless, as she had been the favourite for so long a time, she had come to believe that her husband would never seek another love. but, if this was so, she sadly miscalculated brigham, for when his licentious fancy was attracted to another object of affection he cast off emmeline as ruthlessly as he would an old garment. what decent person could refrain from loathing such a man! how often has my heart gone out in sympathy towards that poor, wrecked woman whom he had forsaken; what a pity i deemed it that so much love should be wasted upon a creature who could never understand or appreciate it. and yet emmeline’s fate has been no worse than that of the others; but i was more with her, and saw how keenly she suffered,[173] and i sympathized with her when her sorrows brought her nearly to the point of death.
amelia folsom young.
[number thirteen.]
amelia folsom young is now the favourite, and it is supposed that she will continue to be so, for at last poor brother brigham has found a woman of whom he stands in dread. it is doubtful whether he loves her, but nobody in zion doubts that he fears her. it is said that the prophet has confided so many of his secrets to amelia that he is obliged to submit to her tyranny, for fear of her leaving him, and exposing some of his little ways which would not bear the light. be that as it may, it is generally believed that after all his matrimonial alliances he has at last found his master in the person of amelia. even good saints—friends of the prophet—secretly enjoy the idea of him being at last brought under petticoat government, for it is believed that brigham used unfair means to obtain her, and that at last he only gained his object by deluding her into the belief that the lord had revealed to him that it was her duty to become his wife. one thing is very certain—he was as crazy over her as a silly boy over his first love, much to the disgust of his more sober brethren, who felt rather ashamed of the folly of their leader. at the theatre a seat was reserved for her at his side, and in the ball-room the same special attention was shown to her. he would open the ball, and, after dancing with each of his other wives who might be present—simply for appearance sake—the remainder of the evening was devoted to her. for all that, his inconstant heart could not remain faithful to her, and old habits and feelings, to all appearance, have come over him again, and he has gone astray.
julia dean, the actress, was the first to draw him from amelia’s side, and it would have been a sorry day for amelia if julia had favoured the prophet’s suit. then the charms of mary van cott touched his sensitive heart, to say nothing of eliza-ann, his last but yet not his best-beloved.
with all this experience, and the constant evidences of the fickleness of brother brigham’s heart before her eyes, there is no wonder that poor amelia feels compelled to hold tight the reins, now that they are in her own hands, for, if it is not much to be known as brigham’s wife, it is a great deal to be known as his favourite. as for the future, it is whispered[174] that brother brigham has lately been “setting his house in order,” and in the ordinary course of nature, amelia is almost certain to outlive for many years her aged lord, she, therefore, can afford to wait for the good time coming. but amelia knows that she would sink into oblivion if he were to cast her off for another before his death.
mary van cott cobb young.
[number fourteen.]
mary van cott cobb—who became brigham’s wife after his marriage to amelia—is a very handsome woman, about twenty-eight years of age. she is tall, slender, and graceful, and has been married to the prophet about six years. at first he appeared to be very devoted to her, but amelia soon put a stop to that. nevertheless, she has since her marriage presented a little daughter to her lord, greatly to the annoyance of amelia, who has no children. she is said to be very unhappy, and though brigham has provided her with a fine house and every comfort, yet she seldom sees him—not perhaps more than once in three months, or so—though it is generally believed that his spirit is willing, but amelia won’t allow it.
eliza-ann webb dee young.
[number fifteen.]
eliza-ann webb dee young, commonly known as his “runaway wife,” is his last wedded and nineteenth living wife. if his deceased wives were taken into consideration she would probably be his thirtieth. in this list i have put all the living wives who are sealed to brigham for eternity first, and thus i count eliza-ann fifteen, but had i placed the proxy wives—who are only brigham’s “for time,” in the list, she would, of course, be the “nineteenth,” as she is generally called.
“miss” eliza r. snow.
[number sixteen.]
“miss” eliza r. snow i mention here as i have not followed the order of date. she and the three ladies whose names i shall presently give, are the proxy wives of brigham, living with him.
zina d. huntington jacobs young.
[number seventeen.]
zina d. huntington jacobs young is another proxy wife,[175] and a widow of the prophet joseph. she, too, will have to be handed over in the day of reckoning. she has one grown up daughter, of whom i shall presently speak under rather interesting circumstances.
emily partridge young.
[number eighteen.]
emily partridge young is a tall, dark-eyed, handsome woman, and she also is a “proxy” wife—a relict of joseph. when joseph died, brigham told his wives that they were at liberty to choose whom they would for husbands; and some of them showed their appreciation of his generosity by choosing him himself. thus it was that emily partridge became brigham’s wife. the prophet has dealt kindly to his brother joseph smith, through her, for she has quite a family of children to be handed over with her. she was young and handsome when the prophet died, but perhaps it would be wrong to suppose that that had anything to do with brigham’s generosity to his brother, for it is generally believed that he took all those wives of joseph, from pure principle.
augusta cobb young.
[number nineteen.]
augusta cobb young is a very fine-looking woman, and must have been quite handsome in her youthful days. as i before stated, she formerly lived in boston, but hearing brigham preach, she fell in love with him, abandoned her home, children, and husband, and, taking her youngest child with her, went to salt lake city, and was married to the prophet. it was she who, when brigham began to neglect her, wanted to be sealed to christ, but was ultimately added to the kingdom of joseph smith.
now these are the prophet’s wives—his real, living wives—nineteen in all. how many spiritual wives he has had it would be impossible to say. probably he himself does not know their number.
in his habits and mode of living, brigham young is very simple, or at least was so until recently. when i first knew him he dressed in plain, home-spun, home-made, and every article about his person and his houses was as plain and unostentatious as could possibly be. but the importation of gentiles and gentile goods, since the opening of the railway, has worked a great change. his wives, who once carried simplicity[176] of dress almost to the verge of dowdyism, have now acquired a taste for eastern fashions.
the prophet’s first home in utah was a little cottage which is now known as the white house.—the same house, i believe, which was valued at sixty thousand dollars, and which brother tenant supposed he bought:—a more scandalous and barefaced robbery never was perpetrated.
this is on the hill-side, north of the eagle gate, and is now the residence of his first wife, mrs. angell young. the bee-hive house is the official residence of brother brigham. there he used to reign supreme as “governor” young; and thence he now issues secular and ecclesiastical edicts to all who acknowledge his sway. there is one lady resident in this house—mrs. lucy decker young—and no one else is permitted to intrude upon its privacy. here the prophet has his own private bedroom, and here he breakfasts when he has been at home over night.
the lion house is what ought to be the home of the prophet, for here nearly all his wives reside. (he has, however, many other houses in the city.) on the basement floor is the dining-room, kitchen, pantry, and other general offices. the first floor is divided by a long passage with doors on each side. on the right hand, about half-a-dozen wives with small families find accommodation. on the left, at the entrance, is the parlour, and the other rooms on that side are occupied by mothers with larger families, and ladies who have a little more than ordinary attention. the upper floor is divided into twenty square bedrooms.
there is no extravagance in the furniture or apparel of these wives, but they are comfortable and are kept neat and clean. again and again, the prophet has declared that the ten-dollar fees which are obtained from the divorces provide his wives with pin-money. i do not believe a word of this, as the amount thus obtained is far more than the avaricious soul of the prophet would allow to pass out of his hands for feminine vanities. but i know of another source of income which is open to the wives. they are allowed all the fruit—peaches especially—which they or their children, can gather or dry. this, in fact, is pretty nearly their only “pin-money” their “lord” is not a generous man, and they have to make the most of trifles.
the prophet usually dines in the lion house at three in the afternoon. mrs. twiss young, as i mentioned before, acts the part of housekeeper, and she acts it well. at three[177] punctually the bell rings, and the mothers with their children move down to the dining-room. they are all seated at a very long table which is lengthened by turning round at the end of the room. each mother has her children around her. brigham sits at the head of the table, with his favourite—when at home—vis à vis, or on his left, and if a visitor is present he sits at the prophet’s right hand. the repast is frugal but ample, for brigham is a sober and exceedingly economical man. this is the first time he sees his family. in the evening at seven o’clock the bell again rings, and the mothers and the children again fill the sides and end of the parlour. when they are all seated, the patriarch enters, takes his seat at the table and chats quietly with those who chance to go in with him to prayers. when all the members of the family are assembled, the door is closed. all kneel down and the prophet prays, invoking special blessings upon zion and “the kingdom.” this is the last that his family see of him for the day, unless they have occasion to seek him privately.
with his family brother brigham is said to be kind; but it is supposed to be more the awe which his position as prophet inspires, than the love which they bear him as a man which renders him successful in managing them. at the same time, that sweet familiarity is destroyed which should exist between husband and wife, father and children. with such a number of wives, he cannot possibly wait upon them in visiting, and in the ball-room, and other places of amusement. with the exception of his reigning favourite, whoever for the time she may happen to be, no one expects his attentions. at the theatre a full number of seats are reserved, and his wives attend, or remain at home, as they please. they sit in the body of the parquette, among the rest of the people; but one of the two proscenium boxes is reserved for him, and beside him is a chair for the favourite amelia.
when he goes to the ball, the same special attention is shown. he dances first with the favourite, and, if half-a-dozen more of his wives have accompanied them, he will dance with each of them once in the course of the evening; but with the favourite he dances as frequently as any youth in the ball-room with his first maiden love. the apostles and leading men of the community, who dance attendance on him and desire his favour, are sure to seek the pleasure of her hand and place her in the same cotillion with brigham, who is thus able all the evening to enjoy her company.
some of the apostles and elders look with pain upon this[178] boyishness of the prophet, and deplore it. many of them are attached to their first wives, and have shown them consideration and attention which has not always pleased brother brigham. i have heard more than one of them, express a wish that the prophet had been a little more attentive to his own first wife.
