Episode 273

Ep273: Did Brigham Young Have a 13 Year Old Wife?

Most of us have heard about Brigham Young‘s 15 year-old wife Clarissa Decker. Until now she is thought to be the youngest wife of Brigham Young‘s 56 wives. The age gap between them was 27 years.

More recently, confusion over the birthdate of Brigham’s wife Elizabeth Fairchild, or maybe outright manipulation of the dates, could indicate that Brigham Young actually had a wife who was only 13 years old and there was a 29 year age gap.

We encourage all amateur historians and armchair genealogist to follow the records like we did. Don’t take our word for it. 

(Graphic on thumbnail is not Elizabeth Fairchild, but represents a 13-year-old child of the era.)

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Rebecca Bibliotheca

Rebecca Bibliotheca is a mother or three boys, co-founder of "The Good Book Club," a virtual reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, cohost of "Mormon Media Reviews," and leader of the "Mormon Stories Book Club." She has a Masters of Library and Information Science from BYU and worked for many years at the BYU Library. She and her husband, Tom, also founded a youth theater program that is in its 19th year. Rebecca loves the theater, reading, film, spending times outdoors, church watching and iced coffee!
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Landon Brophy

Landon Brophy is the proud father of four children, two grandchildren, three ATVs and a boat. He's a former military officer, the co-founder of The Good Book Club, a reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, ann international manager for a global defense contractor, and a worldwide traveler. He and his wife founded "Utah Wanderers," an online travel guide to exploring Utah. Landon loves the outdoors, ATVing, boating, flying, reading, observing the "ongoing restoration" and second Saturdays!