The 19th Wife
Page 54
The mighty lens of history has enabled me to see Ann Eliza’s life as she could not, and I have used this perspective to tell her story in a way that perhaps broadens it and connects it to our day. All of this is a long-winded answer to the original question, is The 19th Wife based on real people and real events? Yes. Have I invented much of it? Yes, for that is what novelists do.
Inevitably I relied on a variety of sources to write this book, each important to my task and worth acknowledging. Many times I turned to Irving Wallace’s thorough biography, The Twenty-Seventh Wife (1961), itself indebted to Ann Eliza’s original memoirs. I recommend it, along with Wife No. 19, for anyone who wants to know more about her life. In addition, the Irving Wallace Archive at the Honnold Library at the Claremont Colleges holds a fine collection on Ann Eliza Young; I’m grateful to Mr. Wallace for making his original research available to the public and to Carrie Marsh and the other archivists who maintain it today. Just as important were the archives of the Salt Lake Daily Tribune, one of Ann Eliza’s most vocal allies. This paper published almost daily reports on her battle with Brigham, devoting dozens of news columns to her story and many editorials to support her cause, and reprinted most of the legal filings in their divorce case. Throughout the 1870s and ’80s the Tribune featured a number of articles about the general conditions of polygamy in Utah and serialized sensational personal narratives, such as “Tied to the Stake; or Martyrs of Latter Days” by Mrs. A. G. Paddock, many of which supported Ann Eliza’s claims. This thorough repository—today housed on microfiche at the magnificent Salt Lake City Public Library—helped me with crucial details about Ann Eliza’s life, as well as to better understand its historical context. On the other hand, the Deseret News, Ann Eliza’s inevitable opponent, reported on her story from Brigham’s perspective. While other local and national papers covered Ann Eliza’s story in great (and often tabloid) detail, these two publications documented her life story and her apostasy from the Mormon Church as well as any periodical during her day. (The Anti-Polygamy Standard, which published out of Salt Lake City in the 1880s, is a useful source for stories of plural marriage a few years after Ann Eliza’s apostasy.)
Some people argue bibliographies have no place in fiction, but several books and documents have helped me with so many matters large and small that I want to give them the thanks they are due. I haven’t included this list to show off the extent of my reading (or lack thereof) but to acknowledge a set of authors whose work I learned from: “Ann Eliza Young” by the American Literary Bureau; Brigham Young: American Moses by Leonard J. Arrington; Twenty Years of Congress by James G. Blaine; No Man Knows My History by Fawn M. Brodie; Emma Lee by Juanita Brooks; The City of the Saints by Sir Richard F. Burton; The Pioneer Cookbook by Kate Carter; In Sacred Loneliness by Todd Compton; “Forest Farm House and Forest Dale” by Edith Olsen Cowen; “Brigham Young, His Family and His Wives” compiled by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers; “Unique Story—President Brigham Young” compiled by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers; “Autobiography of Moses Deming” by Moses Deming; The Women of Mormonism edited by Jennie A. Froiseth; Nauvoo Factbook by George and Sylvia Givens; By the Hand of Mormon by Terry L. Givens; The Mormon Question by Sarah Barringer Gordon; “Letters” by Irene Haskell; Solemn Covenant by B. Carmon Hardy; “Eliza Jane Churchill Webb, Pioneer of 1848” by Olivette Webb Goe Henry; “Chauncey Griswold Webb, Pioneer of 1848” by Olivette Webb Goe Henry and Nina Beth E. Goe Cunningham; Old Mormon Kirtland by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffrey Cottle; Old Mormon Nauvoo by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and T. Jeffrey Cottle; Life of James Redpath by Charles F. Horner; 111 Days to Zion by Hal Knight and Dr. Stanley B. Kimball; Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer; The Story of the Mormons from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 by William Alexander Linn, especially Chapter IV, “The Hand-Cart Tragedy”; “Utah’s Forty Years of Historical Amnesia” by Theron Luke; Historic Dress in America by Elizabeth McClellan; Redburn by Herman Melville, especially Chapter 38 for its vivid depiction of Liverpool’s slums; Sounding Brass by Hugh Nibley; The Fate of Madame La Tour by Mrs. A. G. Paddock; Eccentricities of Genius by Major J. B. Pond; “August Announcement of 1875” by the Redpath Lyceum; “Brigham Young Divorce Case” by Brigham Henry Roberts; “Ann Eliza—Mrs. Young’s Lecture Last Night—The Story of Her Life” by the St. Louis Republican, December 30, 1873; The Book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith, Jr.; The Pearl of Great Price by Joseph Smith, Jr.; God Has Made Us a Kingdom by Vickie Cleverley Speek; Brigham Young at Home by Clarissa Young Spencer and Mabel Harmer; Mormon Country by Wallace Stegner; Expose of Polygamy in Utah by Mrs. T.B.H. Stenhouse; Tell It All by Mrs. T.B.H. Stenhouse (it’s worth noting that Stenhouse’s books inspired Ann Eliza’s memoirs in many ways); Roughing It by Mark Twain; Mormon Polygamy by Richard S. Van Wagoner; “Interview with Joe Place, April 23, 1960” by Irving Wallace; Brigham Young by M. R. Werner; The Bold Women by Helen Beal Woodward; The Journal of Discourses, Volumes 3 and 4, by Brigham Young; Diary of Brigham Young, 1857, edited by Everett L. Cooley; My Dear Sons: Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons, edited by Dean C. Jessee; The Complete Sermons of Brigham Young; and Isn’t One Wife Enough? by Kimball Young.
I owe a great deal to the following institutions and their staffs for making their collections readily available through open stacks and policies of access. Each contains a variety of useful, idiosyncratic materials that I gladly co-opted for my use: the Salt Lake City Public Library; Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library; the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library; the Provo Public Library; the Washington County Library in St. George; the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum; and the Nauvoo Family History Center.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has devoted countless resources to creating and staffing dozens of historical museums, many of them free and open to the public. I visited these institutions several times, lingering to take notes and talk to the missionaries serving as docents and guides. Without the church’s careful and abundant preservation of the past throughout Utah, as well as in Nauvoo, I could not have conjured up Ann Eliza’s world.
I want to thank the Metropolitan Community Church of Las Vegas for warmly welcoming me into their sanctuary. Although the sermon on this page–this page is inspired by one I heard there on December 18, 2005, the scene itself is fictitious and does not depict this actual church or anyone in its loving congregation.
A number of people generously shared their stories with me. Without them I could not have written this novel as it is: Flora Jessop, Carmen Thompson, Steve Tripp, Mickey Unger, Beverly White, Kevin, Jimmy, Peter, and Susan. Thank you all.
Kari Main of the Pioneer Memorial Museum read the book in manuscript, correcting a number of errors. Her sharp, knowing eye fixed the book in many ways. She was an ideal reader and these few words are not enough thanks for her efforts.
The supremely talented Catherine Hamilton drew the illustration on this page; it is based on an original 1876 etching by Stanley Fox.
I’d like to thank the Danish Arts Council for their support while I was revising the novel; Peter and Gitte Rannes for their warm hospitality at the Danish Centre for Writers and Translators in Hald; and Nathaniel Rich and Martin Glaz Serup for a productive retreat.
Alexis Richland provided much needed editorial guidance on an early draft. Her thoughtful response helped solve some problems that had lingered in my mind for years. Mark Nelson read several drafts, each time raising important questions in need of resolution. His fierce intelligence improved the novel in every sense. I’m grateful for the many hours he devoted to this book, and for his unyielding friendship and support. Daryl Mattson, who has never tired of listening to me gab about almost anything, served as a sounding board for a number of ideas in this book, even when he wasn’t aware of it. The name of the Internet café in St. George, A Woman Sconed, comes from him.
For ten years Elaine Koster has been a formidable agent, insightful editor, and loyal friend. Her unflaggi
ng encouragement helped bring this book from an early idea to the pages you now hold. I owe her much.
Lots of thanks are due to Marianne Velmanns and her colleagues at Transworld. They are the kind of publisher every writer hopes to have.
The thanks I want to offer Random House are vast. So many people there have helped me over so many years that any list of names is bound to forget someone crucial. So I’ll make a blanket but sincere expression of gratitude to everyone at 1745. I know how books are published, and I know that each of you played a part. I hope you’ll forgive me for not printing the company roster. But I must thank my editor, Kate Medina. She is a brilliant reader, and her wise pencil made this book better in many, many ways. Frankie Jones and Jennifer Smith shouldered the burdens of turning a manuscript into a book; each did so with grace and generosity. Jynne Martin, publicity-goddess: it’s an honor to be on your roster. And to my publisher, Gina Centrello, thank you for your support, which has shown itself in so many ways.
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
Pasadena
The Rose City
The Danish Girl
DAVID EBERSHOFF is the author of the novels The 19th Wife, Pasadena, and The Danish Girl, and a short-story collection, The Rose City. His fiction has won a number of awards, including the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Ferro-Grumley Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. His books have been translated into more than fifteen languages to critical acclaim. Ebershoff has taught creative writing at New York University and Princeton and currently teaches in the graduate writing program at Columbia University. For many years he was the publishing director of the Modern Library and now is an editor-at-large at Random House. He lives in New York City. His website is www.19thwife.com.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
I. TWO WIVES
II. WIFE #19: THE RED IN THE DESERT
III. EARLY HISTORY
IV. THE ORIGINS OF LOVE
V. WIFE #19: AN EYE IN THE DARK
VI. CELESTIAL MARRIAGE
VII. WOMEN’S STUDIES
VIII. WIFE #19: THE GUN ON THE SCREEN
IX. ZION
X. THE MISSION
XI. WIFE #19: THE CON OF THE WEST
XII . THE ACTRESS
XIII . CONTRACT OF FAITH
XIV . WIFE #19: OFF THE STRIP
XV. THE PROPHET’S WIFE
XVI. MY MOTHER’S FLIGHT
XVII. WIFE #19: THE GIRL IN SLC
XVIII. RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS
XIX . PRISON DIARY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG
XX. WIFE #19: THE CONVICTION OF JORDAN SCOTT
XXI . EPILOGUES
A READER’S GUIDE
Dedication
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
Other Books by This Author
About the author