Mary Ann Angell

Angell was born in Seneca, Ontario County, New York to James and Phoebe Morton Angell.[1] When she was quite young, her parents moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where Mary Ann became a Free Will Baptist and was a Sunday School teacher.[2] Deeply religious and studious of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, she vowed never to marry until she met "a man of God" in whom she could confide her spirituality and with whom her heart could unite in the active duties of a Christian life.[2]

In 1831, because of her abusive father, Mary Ann, her mother Phoebe, and brother Truman O. Angell left Providence, and moved to China, New York. Truman was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January 1832; Mary Ann was baptized shortly thereafter by Elder John P. Greene. Mary Ann then set out alone for Kirtland, Ohio, the gathering place of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

She met and married Brigham Young in Kirtland, Ohio, shortly after her arrival there. The couple secured a marriage license in February of 1834, and were legally married on March 31, 1834.[3] The two were later sealed in the temple. Angell survived Young by nearly five years.[4][5]

Mary Ann Angell and Brigham Young had six children. One of these children was Brigham Young Jr., who was ordained an apostle by his father in 1864, but was not placed in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until 1868. John Willard Young, another one of her sons, was also an ordained apostle and was the first counselor in the First Presidency of the church at the end of Brigham Young's administration as church president.[3] Another son was Joseph Angell Young, who was ordained an apostle in 1864 but never became a member of either the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency.[3]

One of their daughters, Eunice "Luna" Caroline Young (Thatcher), married George Washington Thatcher and became the matriarch of the wealthy Thatcher–Young family of Logan, Utah. George Thatcher was a prominent Utah pioneer who had managed a number of Brigham Young's business interests, and was instrumental in developing political, business and church interests in Cache Valley, (Logan, Utah) on behalf of Brigham Young and the LDS church.[6]

Mary Ann's brother, Truman O. Angell, assisted in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, and served for a time as the official architect of the LDS Church.[3]

Mary Ann was also a skilled herbalist and folk doctor. During her trek across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848, she used these skills to treat many fellow pioneers. She also brought many seeds with her and is credited with planting the beautiful trees that grow along the eastern end of South Temple Street (once known as Brigham Street) in Salt Lake City. James H. Crockwell wrote of her, "She was a very gifted and intelligent woman, highly cultured, yet humble and meek, ever ready to help the poor and needy, or ease the suffering of the afflicted. She passed through great trials and privation but through it all she was a faithful wife, model mother, and Latter-day Saint, in whose heart native goodness and benevolence abounded."[7]

Angell died on June 27th, 1882 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is buried in the Brigham Young Family Memorial Cemetery near the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument in Salt Lake City.

• List of Brigham Young's wives

• Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 1