Because Mormon history has so long been a matter of heated controversy, it seems to me that any new writer in this field should (even as a juror must) state his preconceived notions on the subject. I came to Ann Eliza Young and her story as a non-Mormon, with no preconceived notions about the Latter-day Saints. During close to three years of intensive research on Ann Eliza, and on her Church, I became neither anti-Mormon nor pro-Mormon.
I chose to write about the heroine of this biography, who had once been an orthodox Mormon and had then become a bitter anti-Mormon, only because I was fascinated by the woman herself, by her little-known adventure in polygamy, by her subsequent career, and by her important contribution, in her time, to the downfall of plural marriage in America. Beyond performing as storyteller, I had no conscious ax to grind.
I believe I emerged from my researches as I had entered them, with my objectivity unblurred. If I enjoyed or suffered any deviations from neutral observer, they were slight, and they were these: I was even more favorably impressed than heretofore by Brigham Young and by the remarkable saga of the Latter-day Saints; and, though it may be paradoxical to say it, I was even more favorably impressed than heretofore by Ann Eliza’s relentless and emotional crusade against polygamy in the United States. As to Western polygamy itself—it may, indeed, have been an evil on the land, as Ann Eliza and the vast majority of her contemporaries believed, but I cannot persuade myself that it was quite as harmful an institution as its enemies made it appear. Consideration of divine revelation aside, I am certain that polygamy had its good points, too—but then, I am a male.
While researching this book in Salt Lake City during the summer of 1959, I inquired of an important member of the Mormon hierarchy as to how his Church would regard a biography of Brigham Young’s twenty-seventh and apostate wife. He replied, “We would have no objections whatsoever. The only factor that would worry the Church would be if you whitewashed Ann Eliza completely.”
I have made no effort to whitewash Ann Eliza or, for that matter, Brigham Young—but have tried to adhere to the two-sided facts as I found them. I tried to interpret these facts and recounted her story, with all its contradictions, as truly as I could tell it
Only after I had undertaken this project did I fully realize how difficult it was going to be. Most biographies—my own past creations included—draw upon a central well of previously written works, old, new, for clues and material. The majority of books of fact derive from earlier books of fact, secondary material to some extent, like egg cells dividing themselves in halves. The worth of each new biographer, talent and perception taken for granted, usually depends on how resourceful, original, imaginative, and persistent he is in locating less accessible wells of information in the periphery of his central well. But usually, in the beginning of any research, there is the central well. In the case of Ann Eliza Young there was, alas, none. Once I realized this, she seemed a mirage. The life path she trod lay trackless, almost untouched by other literary spades. Therein lay the difficulty—and the challenge.
Since Ann Eliza’s birth in 1844, to the best of my knowledge, no full-length book had ever been written about her. With one exception, no collective biography ever contained a chapter on her. No major encyclopedia ever mentioned her. And, as to histories of the Saints or of leaders of the Saints, by Mormon or non-Mormon, no volume of the past or the present that I could find ever gave her more than passing reference. Clearly any biography of Ann Eliza Young would have to be written largely from primary source material—contemporary memoirs, letters, scrapbooks, diaries and journals, newspapers and periodicals, as well as personal recollections of the descendants of her family, friends, enemies.
And that, indeed, is how this book was written.
The most fruitful sources on Ann Eliza Young remain in her own two memoirs. The first of these was Wife No. 19, published in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1876, when the author was thirty-three. The second of these, a slight revision of the original book with some new material added, was the now rare Life in Mormon Bondage, published in Philadelphia in 1908, when the author was sixty-four. On certain aspects of her life, before and during her time as plural spouse, these memoirs offer priceless fragments of fact and gossip. But, too often, chronological autobiography is omitted and the precious pages are given over to an almost continuous diatribe against the horrors of polygamy, the beastliness of Brigham Young, and the dangers of Mormonism. Except for a handful of anecdotes, these memoirs record far too little of life with the Prophet and too few facts of her own physical existence and that of her family. On the subjects of the colorful Gentiles who surrounded and assisted her, on the details of her ten-year lecture career, on the scandal that almost destroyed her, there is next to nothing. Her third marriage and later years up to 1908 are entirely ignored.
Only one other source made any sustained mention of Ann Eliza. In The Bold Women, published in 1953, Helen Beal Woodward included a twenty-six-page chapter on Ann Eliza, as one of fifteen rebellious American ladies of the past. Three other books gave brief but valuable glimpses of Ann Eliza: Portrait and Biographical Record of Northern Michigan, published in 1895; Eccentricities of Genius by Major J. B. Pond, published in 1901; and The Life of James Redpath by Charles F. Horner, published in 1926.
In preparation for this biography I found a great number of books, which, if contributing little to Ann Eliza’s own story, offered information and insights into Brigham Young, into polygamy in America, and into Mormonism in general. A selected list of these works will be found in the bibliography. However, a handful of books are worthy of special mention for their research value. Among the numerous volumes on Ann Eliza’s second husband, one of the best by a non-Mormon was Brigham Young by M. R. Werner, published in 1925, and one of the best by a Mormon was Brigham Young by Preston Nibley, published in 1937. Of the many accounts touching on the Prophet’s home life, the most useful were the biographies written by two of his daughters, The Life Story of Brigham Young by Susa Young Gates, published in 1930, and One Who Was Valiant by Clarissa Young Spencer, published in 1940.
Authors of the nineteenth century were prolific in producing books on plural marriage. One of the best of these, aside from Ann Eliza’s own memoirs, was Tell It All by Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse, published in 1874. In modern times a more objective and comprehensive study of celestial marriage was presented by Kimball Young in his book, Isn’t One Wife Enough? published in 1954.
On Mormonism in general, one of the finest early narratives was The City of the Saints by Richard F. Burton, published in 1861. Of the recent histories of the Church, I found particularly enlightening Kingdom of the Saints by Ray B. West, Jr., 1957, Essentials in Church History by Joseph Fielding Smith, 1959 edition, and Among the Mormons, edited by William Mulder and A. Russell Mortensen, 1958. It goes without saying that no book with a Mormon background could be written without consulting the writings of Brigham H. Roberts and the collected discourses of Brigham Young. On the subject of Joseph Smith I found two of the most authoritative biographies to be No Man Knows My History by Fawn M. Brodie, 1945, and Joseph Smith The Prophet by Preston Nibley, 1944.
I owe my greatest debt, however, to countless individuals throughout the country who gave so selflessly of their time and energies to collaborate with me in my attempt to preserve a remarkable woman for history. First and foremost, I wish to thank two research assistants for more than two years of tireless and imaginative detective work. One of these was Elizebethe Kempthorne, of Arlington, California. The other was Luise Johnson, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and now of Indianapolis, Indiana. Both ladies pursued, by the writing of hundreds of letters, by the combing of hundreds of old newspapers, by the tracking down and interviewing of dozens of old-timers, every elusive source available to us on Ann Eliza Young. Also, I wish to thank their husbands, Walter Kempthorne and Robert Johnson, for their own assistance and for their patience in loaning their monogamous wives to me for the hunt.
Throughout the country other special researchers lent a hand. I am particularly beholden to Mrs. Luise Putcamp, of Salt Lake City, for her interviews with old settlers and for locating previously unpublished photographs. I owe further thanks to the following: Mrs. Kenneth Stanley, and Emma Musculus, Manistee, Michigan; Lilo and William Glozer, and Elizabeth Grant, Berkeley, California; Shirley Johnson, Denver, Colorado; and Helen Fahringer, Burbank, California.
I am lastingly grateful to a host of scholars on various aspects of the Mormon past for giving so unstintingly of their time and so generously of their knowledge. Especially am I indebted to Dr. M. Wilford Poulson, Dr. F. W. Cagle, Jr., Stanley Ivins, and Dr. T. Edgar Lyon, of Salt Lake City; Dale L. Morgan, of Berkeley, California; Kimball Young, of Evanston, Illinois; and Fawn M. Brodie, of Pacific Palisades, California.
For useful information and other services, my gratitude extends also to Grace Clayton Behle, Mrs. John M. Coletti, Burton W. Musser, Sr., Charles Kelly, Mrs. A. D. Thorne, all of Salt Lake City; Theron Luke, of Provo, Utah; Dr. Ray B. West, Jr., of Iowa City, Iowa; and Helen Beal Woodward, of Cincinnati, Ohio.
From the genealogy-conscious Mormons I received friendly co-operation. I feel it is important to state that almost nothing of a derogatory nature on plural marriage, Brigham Young, his wives, or any individual Saints of the past came to me from these Mormons whose names I am about to acknowledge. Almost all of the material supporting Ann Eliza’s point of view against Brigham Young or the Church was obtained from non-Church sources or from Ann Eliza’s writings and speeches. For their cooperation through personal interviews with my researchers and myself, for their loans of unpublished manuscripts, journals, letters, and photographs, I am deeply indebted to the following of Brigham Young’s and his wives’ descendants: Ann Widtsoe Wallace, Mrs. Leslie H. Groesbeck, Mrs. D. S. Moss, Mrs. Claude W. Gates, Mrs. Lyndon W. Clayton, Helen Spencer Williams, Mrs. Franklin B. Platt, Gaylen Snow Young, Georgius Y. Cannon, Hugh W. Dougall, all of Salt Lake City, and Edith Young Booth, of Provo, Utah. I am also indebted to the following members of the Church: Mrs. Henry Jay Black, Gwen Young Wilcox, Caroline Keturah Parry, Dr. Harold W. Bentley, Mrs. Thomas L. Dykes, D. Conrad Larson, William A. Moody, Mrs. Carol C. Brown, all of Salt Lake City; Mrs. Hyman K. Mortensen, Mrs. George A. Brown, of El Paso, Texas; Mrs. Cliff Whetten, of Colonia Juarez, Mexico.
I want to acknowledge, also, my thanks to a number of high-ranking Mormon Church officials whose objective cooperation might be misunderstood and whose names I am not at present at liberty to reveal.
For information on Ann Eliza’s family, including the Webb, Dee, Young, and Denning branches, I am grateful to Ernest Leon Dee, Kenneth F. Cropper, Mrs. J. G. Vernieu, Mrs. Percival O. Perkins, of Salt Lake City; Mrs. Guy Rollins, Mrs. Alberta R. Shanahan, of Los Angeles, California; Aline Yard Dee, Virginia Dee, of Burlingame, California; Mrs. Raymond Hawley, of Glendale, California; Mrs. W. G. Perron, Mrs. John H, Homung, of San Jose, California; Mrs. V. L. Champion of Wichita, Kansas; Rider Ridgway, Samuel Stark, of Safford, Arizona; Joe T. Place, of Duncan, Arizona; Mrs. Fred Webb, of Pima, Arizona.
For the use of magnificent Ann Eliza, Major Pond, and James Redpath correspondence and broadsides, I owe thanks to Robert K. Black, of Upper Montclair, New Jersey. Concerning Ann Eliza’s letters, I am also grateful to Charles Hamilton, of New York City.
My task was made easier by suggestions and materials from persons long devoted to the field of lecturing. I wish to thank Crawford A. Peffer, of Portland, Maine, former President of the Redpath Bureau; Harry P. Harrison, of Leland, Michigan, current President of Redpath; C. E. Backman, of Chicago, Illinois, Western Department manager of Redpath; W. Colston Leigh, of New York City.
I appreciate the friendly help of A. H. Barclay, Jr., Apple Valley, California; Wilburn H. Smith, Jr., San Francisco, California; Charles W. Worthington, Los Angeles, California; C. Wilson, Ronceverte, West Virginia; Marie B. Miller, Binghamton, New York; Helen Jackson, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Dr. Rex W. Strickland, El Paso, Texas; Mrs. Paul Thomas, James R. Orr, Fabens, Texas; Sam Lines, Pima, Arizona; Mrs. Emma Skousen, Mesa, Arizona.
I wish to acknowledge permission granted by Mrs. C. C. Wagner, of University City, Missouri, for the right to quote from the Mowry letters in her late husband’s collection.
Several hundred organizations of every description cooperated in answering inquiries. I am obligated to all and especially to the following: Union Pacific Railroad Company; Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; Board of Trade and Stationers’ Hall, of London; Board of Missions of the Methodist Church; Denver Bureau of Mines; Manistee County Savings Bank; Laurel Grove Cemetery, of Savannah, Georgia; Mountain View Cemetery, of Pueblo, Colorado.
The gathering of research for this biography might have been an insurmountable undertaking were it not for the generous cooperation of a great number of libraries and societies and their librarians in every part of the United States. I am especially obligated to the following for photostats and typescripts of letters and old newspaper accounts: Watt P. Marchman, Director of the Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Fremont, Ohio; Beth Oyler, Elizabeth Cannon N. Winter, Gioconda Capitolo, Librarians at the Salt Lake City Public Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; Margaret Shepherd, Mrs. R. T. Stites, Librarians of the Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah; Charles A. Davies, Church Historian of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independence, Missouri; Eleanor Short, Librarian of the Manistee, Michigan, City Public Library; Alberta Pande, Librarian of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas; Henry J. Dubester, Chief of General Reference and Bibliography Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Chad Flake, Librarian of Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Alys Freeze, Head of Western History Department of the Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado; Clarence O. Lewis, the Department of History, Court House, Lockport, New York; Allan Otley, Librarian of California Section of California State Library, Sacramento, California.
I am further grateful for the services and assistance offered by the following libraries in the United States and abroad: Albuquerque Public Library; Allegheny College Reis Library; Boston Public Library; British Museum, London; Brookline Public Library; California University Libraries, Berkeley and Los Angeles; Carnegie Public Library, Cheyenne; Chicago Public Library; Chicago University Library; Cleveland Public Library; Colorado Springs Public Library; Cordelia A. Greene Library, Castile, New York; Denver University Libraries; Harvard University Library; Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California; Illinois State Historical Library; Iowa State Library; Latter-day Saints Genealogical Society Archives Room, and Latter-day Saints Church Historian’s Office, Salt Lake City; Los Angeles Public Library; Michigan State Library; New Mexico Law Library; New York Public Library; Newberry Library, Chicago; Ohio Wesleyan University Slocum Library; Peabody Institute Library, Baltimore; Philadelphia Free Library, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia; Riverside Public Library; St. Louis Public Library; Savannah Public Library; Vaughn Public Library, Ashland, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C., National Archives and Records Service; Willard Library, Battle Creek, Michigan; Wisconsin State Historical Society; Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department; Yale University Library.