Several recent posts on this board have brought up Ann Eliza Webb Young AKA "Wife No. 19" and I thought that perhaps some people here would be interested to find out what became of her after she dropped out of the public eye.

After divorcing her third husband in Michigan, she worked her way back west over the next 15 or so years. Finally around 1910, she landed in Sparks, Nevada to live with one of her Churchill cousins.

She remained in Sparks without incident for the final seven years of her life, dying peacefully at home in 1917 in her cousin’s care. No foul play or roving Danite bands were involved. Other than that cousin, it's doubtful that anyone in town had a clue about who she had once been. Her obituary mentioned that she had been born in Nauvoo, but said nothing about Brigham Young or polygamy. I get the sense that she had indeed moved on and wanted to put all the drama and shouting behind her.

In July 2012, after many false leads and dead ends I finally obtained her death certificate and used it to update her Wikipedia entry. I also sent a copy of the certificate to the sponsor of her Find a Grave page, where it has been posted for everyone to view and/or download should they so wish.

That August, I stood at her unmarked gravesite to pay my respects, aware that I was probably her first visitor in nearly a century. The experience caused far warmer fuzzies than I’ve ever felt in any church meeting. If The Spirit® exists it was there on that occasion.

(I ought to admit that this was personal because my Webb great-grandfather was another of her cousins. Her name has been used at times as a cautionary tale on the perils of apostasy, and I didn’t appreciate a relative of mine being treated like that merely for following her conscience and standing up to Brigham Young.)

So the next time you’re in Reno, take a few minutes to visit Mountain View Cemetery. Say hello to Ann Eliza (she’s there as Ann E. Denning) and tell her I sent you.

I like this very much.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=74547270

I read her book, and was so taken with her story. I was also troubled by the stories of her mysterious disappearance.

I read it shortly after my disaffection and was slack-jawed in near disbelief while reading most it, since I was not very familiar with early Utah history. I had no idea about Blood Atonement, MMM, and what a mob boss BY was, etc.

Ann Eliza had a lot of courage to do what she did. We live in the age of information, but at the time with Utah such a isolated place, even a person who might not like Mormons, may have found her story unbelievable. Sometime the truth is stranger than fiction, and it certainly was in her case.

I also recommend "Tell It All" by Fanny Stenhouse from the same period. A woman of equal strength and fiber.

It's always so amazing to me how much history gets left behind. We think we know it, but we don't. Thanks again for dragging the river to find out what really happened to her.

You should drop author, David Ebershoff, a line http://www.ebershoff.com/about.html in case he has hasn't found out yet (he wrote a fictional book about her). He would be very interested to know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2014 02:06PM by mrtranquility.

mrtranquility Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You should drop author, David Ebershoff, a line
> http://www.ebershoff.com/about.html in case he has
> hasn't found out yet (he wrote a fictional book
> about her). He would be very interested to know.

Very good book. I just don't like how Ebershoff's fiction indicates that LDS Inc. accepts Webb - they don't.

Great background information and thank you for posting your experience.

I recommend her book. Must read for anyone seeking a small piece of truth about Brigham Young and the type of man he was.

He was no prophet. The people around him during his life knew this without a doubt. They respected him. Feared him. Defied him. Some loved him too, but they (nor he) never called him "prophet."

TSCC history rewrite department began calling him a prophet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2014 02:34PM by Doubting Thomas.

I have her book in hard cover. It was a real eye-opener for me.

Does anyone know about her 2 sons? Wiki says they despised their own mother, but I found it suspicious.

you might like this chupo

https://ia800201.us.archive.org/16/items/tellitallstoryof00sten/tellitallstoryof00sten.pdf

and get a picture.

Absolutely, by all means visit the cemetery and pay respects, that will be terrific. But there’s really nothing to photograph. The grave is unmarked, no headstone or monument of any kind. It’s only dirt with patches of grass.

Without a diagram of the adjacent plots you won’t be able to pinpoint the gravesite. The office can draw you that diagram. There’s one headstone two spaces to her right, and another four spaces to her left. Those are the closest markers. You’ll have to triangulate between them to make sure you’re in the right spot.

very cool. well done

Another reason- as if one were needed- to not live or die Mormon.

What a shame. TSCC covers up, hides.
Thanks again for sharing Book of Mordor. Pieces make the puzzle.

M@t

Yes, I know that resurrecting one's own old thread isn't often done, but there's a reason for it. It occurred to me that since I have the obituary, I really ought to enter it into the permanent record; otherwise you have to travel to Nevada to look it up. [Incorrect birthdate and age retained, but routine typos have been corrected.]


Sparks (Nevada) Tribune, 7 December 1917, p. 1

"Aged Lady Answers the Summons

After a long period of ill health, during the last few days of which she was confined to her bed, Mrs. Anna E. Denning, an aged and respected resident of this city, answered the final summons at 4:00 o'clock this morning at her home on 16th street.

Deceased was a native of Illinois, having been born at Nauvoo, in that State, October 13, 1847, and was 70 years of age at the time of her death.

During her younger years, Mrs. Denning was active in charitable work and was prominent in her community. Her husband and two sons preceded her to the Great Beyond, and, after their death she came to Sparks to be with her cousin, John G. Murray, her sole surviving relative.

During a residence of seven years in Sparks, Mrs. Denning had gained the friendship and esteem of a wide circle of acquaintances. During the past few months the infirmities of age have been telling heavily upon her, and she was confined to her home the greater portion of the time. In the passing of Mrs. A. E. Denning a good woman has gone to her reward."


Nevada State Journal (Reno), 9 December 1917, p. 4

"DENNING – In Sparks, December 7, 1917, Anna E. Denning. Aged 70 years 1 month 24 days. Native of Illinois.

Funeral services this afternoon at 2 o'clock from her late residence, 546 16th street. Interment Mountain View cemetery."


To conclude, she did have many friends in town; not fake church friends, but real ones who liked her for herself. And even though she died without fanfare, it was obviously her choice – not due to the wrath of a vengeful God, and not because The Brigham was pulling strings or calling in celestial favors. If she had wanted her history broadcast, there were plenty of opportunities for it, this being the last. RIP.

how come nobody would volunteer to buy her a headstone ?

Thanks for posting this.
I'm actually related to her, my great-grandpa on mom's side came from one of her parents' other children.

I'll make it a point to go there next time I get near Sparks :)

Many thanks for such astute sleuthing...one can only imagine the pluck this woman had to poke the bear of briggy in early Utah...id say few had that courage or conviction ...so many being lapdogs and yes men...a time honoured Utah tradition alive and well today...oh yes the Danite's no longer cut throats or blow brains out but the bubble the fifteen float around in remains quite intact

I must be looking in the wrong places... about my speed