Today in Mormon History - Aug 02

[TodayInMormonHistory]

On this day in Mormon History
http://TodayInMormonHistory.com/

-- 180 years ago today - Aug 2, 1846 --
[Wilford Woodruff marriage]
Mary Carolyn [Caroline] Barton. Thomas Alexander refers to her as a teenager. She and Wilford Woodruff divorced four weeks later and she returned to her parents.

Alexander writes, The two young wives [she and Sarah Brown, see below] began keeping company with three young men nearer their own ages, staying out with them until early in the morning for several days. . . . The thirty-nine-year-old Woodruff forebade his teenage wives from consorting with the men . . . they continued dating their friends, and Woodruff thought some sexual misconduct had taken place . . . As promised, he sent Carolyn Barton back to her parents and Sarah Brown to another famly, and Hosea Stout whipped the boys. Woodruff thought the girls deserved similar punishment, but expulsion sufficed . . . Brigham Young agreed to divorces between Woodruff and the two women."

I have not yet identified the genealogy of Mary Barton. In Mormon history, there is a Mary Caroline Barton who married Erastus Curtis, with whom she had eleven children, but this is probably not the same Mary Caroline Barton. (1)
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[Wilford Woodruff marriage]
Sarah Elinore [Elinor or Eleanor] Brown. She was eighteen, Wilford was thirty-nine. They were divorced four weeks later and Sarah went to live with another family. This is Sarah Elinor Brown, born on August 22, 1827, in Vinal Haven, Knox, Maine, the daughter of Charles Brown and Mary Arey.

Wilford Woodruff apparently married her sister posthumously: Rebeca Brown born in vinal Haven Maine Oct 30, 1826 / Sealed to WW Died Aug 1839 Aged 13 year /June 15 1807/."

Sarah later married Lisbon Lamb in Salt Lake City on February 15, 1849, with whom she had three children. She died on December 25, 1915 in Farmington, Utah. (1)
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-- 175 years ago today - Aug 2, 1851 --

Groundbreaking for adobe Tabernacle on Temple Square. (2)
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1 - Compton, Todd, 'The Wives of Wilford Woodruff', http://toddmcompton.com/WWfamilies.htm
2 - Timeline of Wilford Woodruff's Life in the Context of US and Church History, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/timeline