Ann Eliza Young (September 13, 1844 – December 7, 1917) also known as Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning was one of Brigham Young's fifty-six wives and later a critic of polygamy. Her autobiography, Wife No. 19, Chauncey G. Webb was a 32-year-old carriage-maker, and Eliza Jane a 29-year-old schoolteacher at the time of Ann Eliza's birth. In 1846, the Webb family moved to the Salt Lake Valley with the Mormon pioneers. They had two sons together, Edward Wesley and Leonard "Louis" Lorenzo, According to her biographer, Irving Wallace, "for the rest of her days Ann Eliza would always refer to James Dee as the man who 'blighted' her life."

Polygamous marriage to Brigham Young

thumb|upright|Ann Young ca. 1887

On the advice of her family, Ann Eliza married Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church, when he was 67 years old and she was a 24-year-old divorcee. The discrepancies may be due, in part, to difficulties in defining what constitutes a "wife" in early Mormon polygamous practices. A book published in the 1890s and endorsed by church leaders entitled Pictures and Biographies of Brigham Young and His Wives provides brief descriptions of 26 wives, including Ann Eliza. On Ann Eliza's legal counsel was Judge Hagan who also believed that Stratton was primarily to blame for Ann Eliza's separation from Young. In a statement, Stratton denied having any influence on Ann Eliza's decision, claiming instead that he had encouraged her to stay in her situation with Young. He indicated, however, that Ann Eliza was "a person of womanly instincts" whose "present position [was] exceedingly distasteful to her". Reverend Stratton was invited to be listed as Ann Eliza's "next friend" in the divorce case. Judge Hagan believed that Stratton's background as a Methodist minister would validate the indictments against Young and the LDS Church. Stratton refused, however, due to other high-profile legal circumstances, which had forced him to leave his previous ministry in Portland, Oregon. He did not want the additional publicity of Ann Eliza's court case. The divorce was granted in January 1875, and Young was ordered to pay a $500 per month allowance as well as $3,000 in court fees. In a biographical entry on Brigham Young in American National Biography, Leonard Arrington stated that Ann Eliza's lectures against Young were "influential in the federal antipolygamy legislation of 1882 and 1887".

Wife No. 19

In 1876, Ann Eliza published an autobiography titled Wife No. 19. In it, she wrote that she had "a desire to impress upon the world what Mormonism really is; to show the pitiable condition of its women, held in a system of bondage that is more cruel than African slavery ever was, since it claims to hold body and soul alike". The autobiography was the basis for Irving Wallace's 1961 biography The Twenty-Seventh Wife and for David Ebershoff's 2008 novel The 19th Wife.

Third marriage

After her divorce from Brigham Young in 1875, Ann Eliza married 53-year-old Moses R. Denning of Manistee, Michigan, Two years prior to her marriage to Denning, who was married with children at the time, Ann Eliza stayed at his home.

Divorce from Denning

A 1907 article on the 30th anniversary of Brigham Young'<nowiki/>s death updated the public on his then-surviving widows and stated that Ann Eliza was divorced for the third time and living in Lansing, Michigan. The 1900 U.S. census had reported her living in Breckenridge, Summit County, Colorado. Ann Eliza eventually returned to Utah to claim a $2,000 legacy from her first husband, James Dee. She eventually became estranged from her family, including her children. One of her grandsons told Wallace that neither of her sons maintained contact with her after they reached early adulthood. In 1930, her older grandson told Wallace, "I hope to hell I never see her again." She died at her home in Sparks of pneumonia, related to old age, and was buried on December 9, 1917, in Mountain View Cemetery, Reno, Nevada.

Published works

See also

  • Celestial marriage
  • Current state of polygamy in the Latter Day Saint movement
  • History of civil marriage in the United States
  • Latter Day Saint polygamy in the late 19th century
  • Polygamy in North America

References

Further reading