Birth: Beman, Louisa (Female) Date: February 7, 1815 Place: Livonia,
Livingston, NY, USA
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951 Nauvoo Temple
Endowment Register 1845-46]
Parents: Beman, Louisa (Female) Father: Beman, Alvah
[Temple Index Bureau (TIB)]
Mother: Burt, Sarah
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951]
Alternate Mother: Burt, Betsy
[Temple Index Bureau (TIB)]
Death: Beman, Louisa (Female) Date: May 15, 1850 Place: Salt Lake City,
Salt Lake, UT, USA
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951]
Marriage Information: Beman, Louisa (Female) Spouse: Smith, Joseph Jr.
Date: April 5, 1841
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951 Temple Index Bureau
(TIB)]
Marriage Number 2 Beman, Louisa (Female) Spouse: Young, Brigham Date:
1846
[Revelations of Joseph Smith. Cook, Lyndon. 1981]
Marriage 2 Children:
[Revelations of Joseph Smith. Cook, Lyndon. 1981]
Name: Birthdate: Place:
1. Young, Joseph
2. Young, Hyrum
3. Young, Moroni
4. Young, Alvah
5. Young, Alma
Temple Ordinance Data: Beman, Louisa (Female) Baptism Date: August 30,
1967 Temple: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah
[Temple Index Bureau (TIB)]
Endowment Date: December 29, 1845 Temple: Nauvoo, Hancock County,
Illinois
[Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register 1845-46]
Endowment Date: January 14, 1846 Temple: Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois,
USA
[The Revelations of Joseph Smith. Cook, Lyndon. 1981]
Sealed to Spouse Date: April 5, 1841
[Temple Index Bureau (TIB)]
Places of Residence: Beman, Louisa (Female) OH, USA MO, USA Nauvoo,
Hancock, IL, USA
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951 Temple Index Bureau
(TIB)]
Comments: Beman, Louisa (Female)Louisa was a member of the Nauvoo 4th Ward.
Louisa was sealed to Joseph Smith Jr. as his first pluralwife.
She witnessed Joseph sealed to 2nd wife. Erastus Snow said
Louisa was Joseph's first wife. Louisa was the first woman
in this dispensation to practice plural marriage. Louisa was
sealed to Brigham Young for time after Joseph was martyred.
Louisa died of cancer in the Salt Lake Valley.
[LDS Biographical Encyclopedia. Jenson, Andrew. 1951]
Louisa Beaman Young, daughter of Alva and Betsy Burtt Beaman, was born in Livonia, Livingston County, New York, February 7, 1815. She moved with her parents to Ohio and afterwards to Missouri, where she suffered in the persecutions and mobbings until driven with the Saints out of that State. She later moved to Nauvoo, Illinois where she became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith, who taught her the principles of plural marriage. She became his wife when she was twenty-six years of age, April 5, 1841. She was one of the first women in this dispensation who was married according to the order of plural or Celestial marriage, taught by the Prophet Joseph.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 1, p.425
Much of the month of January was devoted by Elder Woodruff to his legislative work. Under date of the 22nd, however, he recorded the testimony of Joseph B. Noble to the effect that he officiated in the first plural marriage of this dispensation, by sealing Louisa Beaman to the Prophet Joseph Smith, on May 6th, 1841.
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 13, p.17
In the little town of Lovina, Livingston County, New York, in the early eighteen hundreds, there lived a family bearing the name of Alva and Sally Burtis Beaman. These good Christian folk, through hard work and frugality, had acquired a good home and much land and had become known among the townspeople as well-to-do.
[p.203] Into the Beaman home several children were born, both sons and daughters. Of the sons, we know very little, but of the three daughters much has been written. These three fine young ladies were destined to be among the vanguard of women to the Salt Lake Valley. Artemissia became the wife of Erastus Snow. Mary Adeline, my grandmother, married Joseph Bates Noble. It is said Louisa became the first plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith. These girls were given every opportunity in education. They attended the best schools of the day. They were gifted in music and the Beaman home was one of refinement and culture.
Alva and Sally Burtis Beaman and their daughters were among the early converts to the Church in that area. Old Father Beaman as he was affectionately called, made his home a headquarters for the missionaries as they traveled east from Kirtland preaching the restored Gospel.
Elder Parley P. Pratt, one of these missionaries, relates the following instance in his Autobiography. "Among those whose hospitality we shared in the vicinity of Genesco was Old Father Beaman and his amiable and interesting family. He was a good singer and so were his three daughters. We were much edified and comforted in their society and were deeply interested in hearing the old gentleman and Brother Joseph converse on their early acquaintance and history." He (Beaman) had been intimate with Joseph long before the first organization of the church, and had assisted him to preserve the plates of the Book of Mormon from the enemy, and had at one time had them concealed under his own hearth.
The Beaman family removed with the Saints to Kirtland, Ohio. Here was witnessed those stirring and history-making events of that early period; the construction of the first Temple of this Dispensation, its dedication which took place March 27, 1836. The beautiful and heavenly manifestations that accompanied the dedication, were experiences in the lives of these people never to be forgotten.
There were also dark days in that little city. Apostacy, persecution, extreme financial difficulties of the Saints, brought down upon their heads the wrath and fury of the enemy. To proclaim that Joseph Smith was still a chosen and inspired Prophet was taking great risk with your life. Louisa Beaman, together with her family met the adversity of those days with conviction and fortitude that a testimony of the Gospel had instilled in their hearts.
It was summer of 1838 that an important organization known as the Kirtland Camp which consisted of the Seventy's Quorum, organized themselves into a compact body and journeyed one thousand miles to Far West, Missouri. Louisa and her family joined with that of her brother-in-law, Joseph B. Noble and made [p.204] the historic trek to Far West, arriving there in early October, 1838. They were joyfully welcomed by the Saints, but there was to be no rest or peace in that little city. It was already in a state of siege by the mob. On October 27, 1838, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his famous exterminating order which forced the Saints to flee the State of Missouri and take refuge in Quincy and other small towns along the Mississippi River.
The next we hear of Louisa Beaman is in Nauvoo, Illinois. She had made her home with her sister and brother-in-law, Mary Adeline and Joseph Bates Noble. Brother Noble and the Prophet Joseph Smith had been devoted friends. Elder Noble had been almost instantly healed by the administrations of Joseph Smith in the summer of 1838 at Montrose, Iowa. While the Prophet was confined in Liberty Jail, Joseph Bates Noble visited him many times.
After the martyrdom of the Prophet, events were reaching a climax in Nauvoo. During the Fall and Winter of 1845–46, every effort was made to get ready for the exodus to the West. Louisa and Mary Adeline worked hard to dry and make ready vegetables, provide bedding for the winter's journey onto the windswept prairies of Iowa. Far into the night these women worked and planned and prayed. Traveling with the Joseph B. Noble family, Louisa arrived at the site of Winter Quarters sometime during the summer of 1846. The energies of all the Saints were put to work erecting a sod or log house before the advent of winter.
It was in the late Fall of 1846 that Louisa became the wife of President Brigham Young. It was a signal honor to share the respect and protection of this great and noble leader.
As the year 1847 dawned, the eyes of all the Saints were turned toward the West, that was to be their home, their refuge. The womenfolk were busy weaving baskets of willows, making leggings etc., for the journey to the Rocky Mountains. Louisa and her people arrived in the Salt Lake Valley early in October or 1847, having traveled in the Jedediah M. Grant Company.
In 1848 Louisa Young gave birth to her first children, a set of twins, both sons. She named them Joseph and Hyrum. The tiny babes had little vitality and shortly after their birth both babies died. Her tender mother heart was deeply touched by this loss, but hers was the courage and faith of a real pioneer mother. Again in 1850, she gave birth to twin boys. They were named Alva and Alma. Whether it was the effect of childbirth or other difficulties these two sons also passed away.
A few short weeks after the birth of her last children, Louisa became very ill. She passed away sometime during the year 1850, in the Great Salt Lake Valley, she who had been a valiant wife and mother among the vanguard of Latter-day Saint women to the West.
[p.205] Louisa Beaman Smith Young was born in Lovina, New York the 7th of February, 1815. At the time of her passing she was but thirty-five years of age. In the Church Historical Record these few words were written that sum up the life of this valiant pioneer lady: Sister Louisa was a gentle, affectionate woman, beloved by all who knew her.—Hazel Noble Boyack
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 19, pp.202-205