back Bits of History — 4 next
something about it while there was still a chance? What would be more effective than an even closer affiliation with the Young family? Polygamy had been secretly experimented with by the inner circle of the church for some years. Could this be the door to her ambitions?

Kate B. Carter, in her “Our Pioneer Heritage” page 384, writing of “Heber C. Kimball-His Wives and Family” said:“ Heber is credited with having 45 wives and 65 children, but research has shown that several of the women were sealed to him who did not actually live with him as wives. (These women received a special sealing for spiritual reasons that did not constitute a husband and wife relationship in this life.) The history student might wonder why a man would encumber himself with so great a responsibility at a time when there was so little money, often so little food, and a general lack of other family necessities. But a vow had been made by the Church leaders when the Saints were driven from their beloved Nauvoo that none of the old, the widowed, the single women, or orphaned children would be abandoned, that somehow they must be cared for and brought to the valley of the mountains.”

The record shows that in 1842, William Seely abandoned Harriet’s oldest daughter, Lucy Ann and her two children. Nothing is said of any mother-in -law trouble, but I wonder. Brigham Young took the distressed family under his wing by marrying Lucy June 14,1842, as his first polygamist wife. March 9, 1843. Harriet married Brigham Young’s younger brother Lorenzo Dow as his first polygamous wife. She was four years older than Lorenzo. May 8, 1843 Brigham took Lucy’s younger sister Clara as his fifth polygamous wife. Subsequently, as the Pioneers were starting out for the west, Harriet’s older son Charles Franklin was married Feb. 4.1847 to Brigham Young’s daughter, Vilate, from her father’s house in Winter Quarters. In the meantime the other two daughters, Harriet Amelia and Fanny Maria had married nephews of Brigham Young (two of the Little brothers).

If Harriet had had such an ambition, she certainly had accomplished it magnificently.

To pick up the confused records-we left Harriet and Isaac separated in Nauvoo in 1841. They apparently had acquired a home there as page 174 of Vol. 14 of the Utah Historical Quarterly says, Clara “was married from her father’s house in Nauvoo”. Lorenzo and his family continued living in Macedonia through 1842-3, then 		moved into Nauvoo. Isaac seems to have been on very good terms with both Brigham and Lorenzo. Nibley writes on page 44, quoting Brigham Young “I was suddenly attacked (Nov. 1-6, 1842) with a slight fit of apoplexy. I laid on my back and was not turned upon my side for eighteen days. I laid in a log house which was rather open: it was so very cold during my sickness that Brother Isaac Decker, my attendant, froze his fingers and toes while fanning me. According to the biography of Lorenzo as reported in the above mentioned Vol. 14 page 70, on June 1 1844, Lorenzo, his son William, and Isaac Decker took off for a mission to Ohio. Arriving in Springfield, Illinois on the 28” day they learned of the assassination in Carthage.

“Elder Isaac Decker was sent back to Nauvoo with instructions, leaving his wife and daughter to go on with Lorenzo”. This daughter must have been Fanny, as all the other girls were married before now. The missionary party continued on to Waynesville, Ohio where Lorenzo rented a house. Here on Sept. 5, 1844, Harriet gave birth to a baby boy (John Brigham) which Lorenzo claimed was his. The boy died at birth. The biographer, (James A Little, nephew of Lorenzo) continues “Lorenzo traveled and preached the gospel during the summer. Mr. Isaac decker had come out to Ohio during the summer and with his wife and daughter returned to Nauvoo with Lorenzo in the autum.” On the bottom of this same page (72) the editor explains: “Prior to this mission to Ohio, on March 9,1843, Harriet Page Wheeler Decker, wife of Isaac Decker was married to Lorenzo as a plural wife. Presumably an amicable separation had been arranged between Harriet and her first husband, though the record is blank. As for Persis Goodall Young, (Lorenzo’s first wife) about all that can be said is that she gradually fades from the picture. There is no further mention of her in the biography, but in the journal she is mentioned twice. Persis subsequently became the wife of Dr. Levi Richards, and came to Utah in Bishop Edward Hunter’s Company, Sept. 29, 1850, with her daughter Harriet. She died Sept. 16, 1894 in Salt Lake City, age 83.”

Until July 12, 1843, polygamy was practiced secretly. It is possible that Harriet resided in Isaac’s home until polygamy was announced, leading the biographer to think she was still Isaac’s wife.

Harriet became pregnant in December 1843 and Persis became pregnant in September 1844, indicating that they all lived as a polygamous family beginning soon
Families   Sloppy   Chronology   Bits   Interred
Back a Page
(Bits-3)		 This Section:
Isaac Decker		 Contents [Wayne04.htm]
Updated Jul 2020		 Next Page
(Bits-5)		 Page Isaac-19
Welcome Stories Sections Such a Life People Places Site Search Do You Know?