How did living in a household full of wives and daughters reshape Brigham Young’s understanding of women’s capabilities, even while he held traditional views of male roles in society? In what ways did plural marriage paradoxically expand Utah women’s legal rights (property ownership, etc.) compared with the rest of the United States? Hosts Camrey Fox and Dan Peterson, joined by Jenessa Sheffield, visit the Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum to explore artifacts, letters, and documents from Brigham Young’s long presidency. The discussion highlights Brigham’s complex personality—forceful yet kind, practical yet philosophical, and described by visitors as industrious, sharp-eyed, and surprisingly jolly even in his sixties. The heart of the episode is an interview with Church History Department historians Brittany Chapman Nash and Lisa Olsen Tait about Brigham Young’s views on women. They place him firmly in the traditional 19th-century framework of male leadership, yet they also show how his views evolved. Living in a predominantly female household and managing the practical realities of plural marriage pushed women into greater responsibility for farms, households, and community life. This, in turn, contributed to expanded legal rights for women in Utah—property ownership and maternal custody after divorce—that were more progressive than many other parts of the United States at the time.
September 12, 2026
September 12, 2026
