Jane Terry

1819–1847

Sealed to Brigham Young 10 Feb 1847 — she was 28, he was 46.

This was a sealing, not a marriage in law — plural marriage had no legal standing. What that meant.

Crossing the plains

Who she was, and what happened

Married at Winter Quarters in February 1847 and dead within the year. Her second husband had been a George W. Young - not a close relative of Brigham's so far as the record shows, but the name recurs. One of three wives who died before reaching the Salt Lake Valley.

Key dates

1847 Died Feb 1847, four days after the sealing
1847 Sealed to him 10 Feb 1847 A sealing, not a marriage in law: plural marriage had no legal standing.

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. Her story survives inside a RELATIVE's autobiography.

Elizabeth Terry Heward, Autobiography, in Parshall Terry Family History (1956), pp. 66-78

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: 1819
Died: Feb 1847, four days after the sealing
Died at: Winter Quarters, Nebraska
Outlived Brigham Young?: No - died before him
Marriage or sealing: 10 Feb 1847
Her age at the marriage: 28
His age at the marriage: 46
Age gap: 18 years
Phase of his life: Crossing the plains
Type of sealing: Not recorded ?
Already married to another man?: No ?
Her other husbands: (1) George Tarbox (2) George W. Young
Widow of Joseph Smith?: No
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: Previously married to a George W. Young
Left the church?: n/a - died 1847
Remarried after Brigham Young?: No - died 1847
Her later husband(s): None recorded

Source and confidence: Johnson Table 1

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. The size of that gap is the argument for the book.