155 years ago today - Jul 26, 1870

Apostle Joseph F. Smith performs the proxy sealing of Scotland's Queen Maud (or Matilda, b. 1104) as an eternal wife to the martyred prophet Joseph Smith. Similar ordinances are performed by the Apostle Wilford Woodruff on 5 Sept. for eight political heroines or female rulers including Charlotte Corday (who murdered the radical Marat during the French Revolution) and Empress Josephine (wife of Napoleon). On 15 Sept. second counselor Daniel H. Wells seals two Catholic saints as wives to founding Mormon prophet: Saint Helena (mother of the Roman emperor Constantine) and Saint Theresa (b. 1515 in Spain). These are the first women of international prominence sealed as wives to Joseph Smith, but during fifty years after his death hundreds of deceased women are similarly joined to him, even though many had husbands during their lifetimes.

[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]