The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

Author:David Ebershoff [Ebershoff, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-58836-748-8
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-01-03T16:00:00+00:00

XIII

CONTRACT OF FAITH

WRITTEN DEPOSITION IN THE CASE OF

ANN ELIZA WEBB DEE YOUNG

Versus

BRIGHAM YOUNG

NO. 71189

On this 3rd day of October, 1873, in Salt Lake, in the Territory of Utah, Gilbert Webb personally appeared before me, Judge Albert Hagan, counsel to the plaintiff, Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young, to enter into the record of this Special Examination a written deposition consisting of his Testimony in the matter between the plaintiff and Brigham Young.

I am Gilbert Webb, thirty-nine years old, son of Elizabeth and Chauncey Webb. I received my ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple in January 1846, in the state of Illinois. I presently live in South Cottonwood on my father’s land. I work as a shepherd, rancher, and wagon manufacturer. I have two wives, Kate and Almira, and eighteen children. My statement, as written here, is limited to my knowledge of, and direct experience with, Brigham Young, President, between the periods of May 1866 and March 1868, leading to my indebtedness to him, and the engagement of my sister, Ann Eliza, to become his 19th wife. With our Heavenly Father watching over, I swear everything I write here is true as far as I know it and I know no other version of these events.

It started on a Sunday in May 1866. My wives and I stopped on the Salt Lake Road under the nine o’clock sun. The Prophet wasn’t due for another hour. By my count more than a thousand people had come out to greet him and a thousand more would come before ten. The valley was green from the grass and out to the East the mountains were blue with morning shade and white on the cap with old snow.

My wives had stitched a welcome banner saying “The Daughters of Zion—Virtue” and held it above our heads on two sticks. Under the locust we could feel the spring chill on our necks but when in the sun it was hot as June and my wives fanned themselves with the leaflets announcing the Prophet’s visit.

Up the road I could see my ma and pa, along with his wives. Sisters Lydia and Eleanor held a banner that said “Mothers in Israel.” Ann Eliza was with them, along with her boys, James and Lorenzo. It looked as if she was holding a banner that read “Hail to the Prophet,” but the woman next to her was carrying it. There were so many people it was hard to tell.

After an hour a brass band led Brigham into town, followed by a brigade of children waving sticks with ribbons on the ends, then the hundred carriages in his party escorted by fifty horsemen. People stood three deep along the road and everyone cheered and waved. “Do you see him?” cried Kate, bouncing on her toes. “All I see is a hat in a window.” Almira set her hand on my shoulder and jumped a foot off the ground. “That’s him all right,” she said. “I recognize the brim.”

I picked up one child after the

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