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Polyandry &
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
propositioned polygamous marriage to many married women.
Some women rebuffed his advances; others married Joseph polyandrously.
(Polyandry is when one woman has multiple husbands at one time.)
The following married women married Joseph Smith.
(The majority of the information here is from
No Man Knows My History
by Fawn Brodie & Reconsidering No Man Knows My History by Newell
Bringhurst. Additional sources are included in parentheses after each
woman's name. Scanned images of No Man Knows My History are
available for several of the women. Many thanks go to the authors of the
following websites where much of this information was gathered from:
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/Joseph_Smth_mens_wives.htm
and
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/6552/wives.html)
Lucinda Pendleton (Morgan) (Harris) (Smith), 1801-? (died
after the Civil War), probably married Joseph polyandrously in 1838, at age
thirty-seven. She was the widow of the anti-Masonic martyr William Morgan, to
whom she had been married from 1819 to 1826; she bore him two children. She then
married George Washington Harris in 1830, who became a prominent high councilor
in Missouri, Nauvoo, and Council Bluffs. She left Harris in approximately 1853,
apparently converted to Catholicism, and served as a nursing nun in Tennessee
during the Civil War.
Parents:Joseph Pendleton and Elizabeth Rilee
Born:September 27, 1801, Washington Co., Virginia
Died:
Marriage to Joseph Smith:1838, Far West, Missouri
Other Marriages:William Morgan, Virginia
George Washington Harris, January 12, 1831, Arkansas
Zina Diantha Huntington (Jacobs) (Smith) (Young), 1821-1901, married Joseph
Smith polyandrously on October 27, 1841, at age twenty. She had married Henry
Jacobs on March 7, 1841, and bore him two children. On February 2, 1846, she
married Brigham Young polyandrously, for time. (In Mormon theology and ritual,
spouses were generally married for time and eternity, but under special
circumstances, as when a widow had already married her first husband for time
and eternity, the partners were "seated" for time only. Most of Joseph Smith's
plural marriages were re-solemnized in the Nauvoo temple, with living men
standing proxy for Smith; generally, the proxy husbands were then married to the
women for time.) Her marriage with Jacobs finally came to an end in May 1846,
soon after the birth of their second child, when Brigham Young sent Henry on a
mission to England. She and Young then began cohabiting as man and wife. In
Utah, Zina bore Young a daughter, was a close friend and counselor of Eliza Snow
Smith Young, and became the third General Relief Society president of the
Latter-day Saint church.
Parents:William Huntington, Jr. and Zina Baker
Born:January 31, 1821, Watertown, New York
Died:August 28, 1901, Salt Lake City, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith: October 27, 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois
Other Marriages:Henry Bailey Jacobs, March 7, 1841
Brigham Young, February 2, 1846, Nauvoo, Illinois
Children:
1. Zebulon William Jacobs, January 2, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
2. Henry Chariton Jacobs, March 22, 1846, Chariton, Iowa
3. Zina Prescindia Young, April 3, 1850, Salt Lake City, Utah
(Also see "History of Henry Bailey Jacobs." By Ora J. Cannon, page 5-7. also
see "Recollections of Zina D. Young" by Mary Brown Firmage), ("Short
Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs" By Ora J. Cannon),
Prescendia Lathrop Huntington (Buell) (Smith) (Kimball), 1810-92. The older
sister of Zina Huntington, she married Joseph Smith polyandrously on December
11, 1841, at age thirty-one. She had married Norman Buell in 1827, with whom she
lived for nineteen years even though he became disaffected from Mormonism in
1838. She bore him seven children, five of whom died young. After Smith's death,
she married Heber C. Kimball polyandrously on February 4, 1846. She finally left
Buell in May 1846 and traveled to Utah, where she bore Kimball two children.
Parents:William Huntington, Jr. and Zina Baker
Born:September 7, 1810, Watertown, New York
Died:February 1, 1892, Salt Lake City, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith:December 11, 1841, Smith's Store, Nauvoo, Illinois
Other Marriages:Norman Buell, January 6, 1828, Watertown, New York
Heber Chase Kimball, November 7, 1846, Nauvoo, Illinois
Children:
1. George William Buell, December 12, 1829, Ellisburgh, New York
2. Silas Dimick Buell, December 25, 1831, Rodman, New York
3. Thomas D. Buell, March 8, 1834, Lorraine, New York
4. Chancy Dressor Buell, September 8, 1836, Kirtland, Ohio
5. Adaline Elizabeth Buell, April 24, 1838, Washington Township, Missouri
6. Oliver Norman Buell, January 31, 1840, Washington Township, Missouri
7. John Hiram Buell, July 13, 1843, Adams Co., Illinois
8. Prescindia Celestia Kimball, January 9, 1849, Salt Lake City, Utah
9. Joseph Smith Kimball, December 22, 1851, Salt Lake City, Utah
(See also
Mormon Polygamy: A History" by Richard S. Van Wagoner, page 44) (Mary
Ettie V. Smith, "Fifteen Years Among the Mormons", page 34; Fawn Brodie "No Man
Knows My History" pages 301-302, 437-39)
Sylvia Porter Sessions (Lyon) (Smith) (Kimball) (Clark), 1818-82, married
Joseph Smith polyandrously on February 8, 1842, at age twenty-three, and bore
him one child, Josephine Lyon (Fisher), on February 8, 1844. Sylvia had married
Windsor Lyon in 1838 and stayed with him for eleven years, bearing him four
children, all of whom died as infants. He was excommunicated in Nauvoo in
November 1842, due to a financial/legal conflict with Nauvoo Stake President
William Marks, but was rebaptized in January 1846. Sylvia married Heber C.
Kimball for time, polyandrously, on January 26, 1846, but did not go west with
him, staying with Lyon. After Lyon's death in January 1849, she married a
non-Mormon, Ezekiel Clark, in Iowa on January 1, 1850. She bore him three
children (all of whom survived) but left him and came to Bountiful, Utah, in
1854.
Parents:David Sessions and Patty Bartlett
Born:July 31, 1818, Newry, Maine
Died:April 12, 1882, Bountiful, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith:about 1843
Other Marriages:Windsor Palmer Lyon, 1838, Far West, Missouri
Heber Chase Kimball, January 1846, Nauvoo, Illinois
Ezekiel Clark, January 1, 1850, Iowa City, Iowa
Children:
1. Marian Lyon, July 30, 1839, Nauvoo, Illinois
2. Philofreen Lyon, June 11, 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois
3. Asa Windsor Lyon, December 25, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
4. Josephine Rosetta Lyon, February 8, 1844, Nauvoo, Illinois
5. Byron Windsor Lyon, September 4, 1847, Iowa City, Iowa
6. David Carlos Lyon, August 8, 1848, Iowa City, Iowa
7. Perry Ezekiel Clark, February 8, 1851, Iowa City, Iowa
8. Phebe Jane Clark, September 1, 1852, Iowa City, Iowa
9. Martha Sylvia Clark, January 20, 1854, Iowa City, Iowa
(See also Affidavit to Church Historian Andrew Jenson, 24 Feb. 1915)
Mary Elizabeth Rollins (Lightner) (Smith) (Young), 1818-1913, married Joseph
Smith polyandrously approximately at the end of February 1842, at age
twenty-three. She had married Adam Lightner, a non-Mormon, in 1835, with whom
she had ten children. Mary and Adam lived together until his death in 1885. She
also married Brigham Young for time, polyandrously, on May 22, 1845, but never
lived with him as his wife. The Lightner family resided in Wisconsin for a
number of years but came to Utah in 1863. Mary lived most of her later life in
Minerville in southern Utah.
Parents:John Porter Rollins and Keziah Keturah Van Benthuysen
Born:April 9, 1818, Lima, New York
Died:December 17, 1913, Minersville, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith:January 17, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
Other Marriages:Adam Lightner, August 11, 1835, Independence, Missouri
Brigham Young, January 17, 1846, Nauvoo, Illinois
Children:
1. Miles Henry Lightner, June 18, 1836, Far West, Missouri
2. Caroline Keziah Lightner, October 18, 1840, Half Breed Tract, Lee Co., Iowa
3. George Algernon Lightner, March 22, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
4. Florentine Mathias Lightner, March 23, 1843, Far West, Missouri
5. John Horace Gilbert Lightner, February 9, 1847, Galena, Illinois
6. Elizabeth Lightner, April 3, 1849, Stillwater, Minnesota
7. Mary Rollins Lightner, April 9, 1850, Willow River, Wisconsin
8. Algernon Sidney Lightner, March 25, 1853, Hudson, Wisconsin
9. Charles Washington Lightner, March 17, 1857, Marine, Minnesota
10. Adam Lightner, Jr., October 28, 1861, Chisago, Minnesota
(See also Lightner, Mary E. Statement. 8 Feb. 1902; Lightner to Emmeline B.
Wells, 21 Nov. 1880; Lightner to John R. Young, 25 Jan. 1892. George A. Smith
Papers. Special Collections. University of Utah)
Patty Bartlett (Sessions) (Smith) (Parry), 1795-1892, married Joseph Smith
polyandrously on March 9, 1842, at age forty-seven. The mother of Sylvia
Sessions, Patty was famous as a frontier midwife and diarist. She married David
Sessions in 1812, lived with him in Missouri, Nauvoo, and Utah, and bore him
eight children; he died on August 11, 1850, in Salt Lake City. She then married
John Parry for time in 1851; he died in 1868. She moved from Salt Lake City to
Bountiful in 1872.
Parents:Enoch Bartlett and Anna Hall
Born:February 4, 1795, Bethel, Maine
Died:December 14, 1893, Bountiful, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith:March 9, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
Other Marriages:David Sessions, June 28, 1812, Newry, Maine
John Perry, March 27, 1852, Salt Lake City, Utah
Children:
1. Perrigrine Sessions, June 14, 1814, Newry, Maine
2. Sylvannus Sessions, June 5, 1816, Newry, Maine
3. Amanda Sessions, March 19, 1817, Newry, Maine
4. Sylvia Porter Session, July 31, 1818, Newry, Maine
5. Asa Sessions, about 1819, Newry, Maine
6. Anna B. Sessions, March 21, 1820, Newry, Maine
7. David Sessions, Jr., May 9, 1823, Newry, Maine
8. Anna B. Sessions, March 16, 1825, Newry, Maine
9. Bartlett Sessions, August 1, 1827, Newry, Maine
10. Amanda Sessions, March 19, 1837, Far West, Missouri
Sarah Maryetta Kingsley (Howe) (Cleveland) (Smith) (Smith), 1788-1856,
married Joseph Smith polyandrously before June 29, 1842, approximately at age
fifty-three or fiftyfour. She had married John Howe in 1807, with whom she had
one son, but John died between 1823 and 1826. She then martied John Cleveland in
1826, with whom she lived for the rest of her life and to whom she bore two
children. Sarah became Mormon between 1832 and 1836, but Cleveland never
converted to Mormonism, although they eventually moved to Nauvoo. She served as
first counselor to Emma Smith in the first Relief Society organization. After
Smith's death, Sarah married John Smith, later church patriarch, her daughter's
father-inlaw, in a polyandrous proxy marriage but never lived with him. The
Clevelands stayed in Illinois when the Mormons went west.
Parents:Ebenezer Kingsley and Sarah Chaplin
Born:November 23, 1813, Massachusetts
Died:April 20, 1856, Plymouth, Illinois
Marriage to Joseph Smith:after June 1842
Other Marriages:John Howe, about 1807 John Cleveland, March 16, 1826, Cincinatti,
Ohio
John Smith, January 1856, Nauvoo, Illinois
Children:
1. Edward Howe, 1808, Becket, Massachusetts
2. Augusta Bowen Cleveland, December 7, 1828, Cincinatti, Ohio
3. Alexander Dennison Cleveland, October 7, 1832, Cincinatti, Ohio
Ruth Daggett Vose (Sayers) (Smith), 1808-84, married Joseph Smith
polyandrously in- February 1843, at age thirtythree. She had married Edward
Sayers in 1841 and stayed with him until his death in 1861. Sayers was never
baptized but lived with Ruth in Nauvoo and Salt Lake City, where they both died.
She bore no children.
Parents:
Born:February 26, 1808, Boston, Massachusetts
Died:August 18, 1884, Salt Lake City, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith:August 1842
Other Marriages:Edward Sayers, January 23, 1841, St. Louis, Missouri
Children:
Elvira Annie Cowles (Holmes) (Smith), 1813-71, married Joseph Smith
polyandrously on June 1, 1843, at age twentynine. She was the daughter of Austin
Cowles, a counselor in the Nauvoo stake presidency, who joined William Law's
dissenting church in Nauvoo, perhaps because he disapproved of joseph's marriage
to his daughter. Elvira had married Jonathan Holmes on December 1, 1842, and
stayed with him until her death, living most of her later life in Farmington,
Utah. She bore Holmes five daughters from 1845 to 1856.
Parents:Austin Cowles and Phoebe Wilbur
Born:November 23, 1813, Unadilla, New York
Died:March 10, 1871, Farmington, Utah
Marriage to Joseph Smith:before December 1842
Other Marriages:Jonathan Harriman Holmes, December 1, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
Children:
1. Lucy Elvira Holmes, October 11, 1845, Nauvoo, Illinois
2. Marietta Holmes, July 17, 1849, Salt Lake City, Utah
3. Phebe Louisa Holmes, February 5, 1851, Farmington, Utah
4. Josephine Octavia Ann Holmes, July 8, 1854, Farmington, Utah
5. Emma Lucinda Holmes, February 1, 1856, Farmington, Utah
Marinda Hyde, [do not have full
information] (See Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, August 6, 1844)
These married women were
propositioned by Joseph Smith but turned him down.
(The bulk of this information was taken from
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/Joseph_Smth_mens_wives.htm; many thanks to the
author(s) of this site.)
Sarah Pratt, wife of Orson Pratt
"Sometime in late 1840 or early 1841, Joseph Smith confided to his friend that
he was smitten by the "amiable and accomplished" Sarah Pratt and wanted her for
"one of his spiritual wives, for the Lord had given her to him as a
special favor for his faithfulness" (emphasis in original). Shortly afterward,
the two men took some of Bennett's sewing to Sarah's house. During the visit, as
Bennett describes it, Joseph said, "Sister Pratt, the Lord has given you to me
as one of my spiritual wives. I have the blessings of Jacob granted me,
as God granted holy men of old, and as I have long looked upon you with favor,
and an earnest desire of connubial bliss, I hope you will not repulse or deny
me." "And is that the great secret that I am not to utter," Sarah replied. "Am I
called upon to break the marriage covenant, and prove recreant to my lawful
husband! I never will." She added, "I care not for the blessings of
Jacob. I have one good husband, and that is enough for me." But according to
Bennett, the Prophet was persistent. Finally Sarah angrily told him on a
subsequent visit, "Joseph, if you ever attempt any thing of the kind with me
again, I will make a full disclosure to Mr. Pratt on his return home. Depend
upon it, I will certainly do it." "Sister Pratt," the Prophet
responded, "I hope you will not expose me, for if I suffer, all must suffer; so
do not expose me. Will you promise me that you will not do it?" "If you will
never insult me again," Sarah replied, "I will not expose you unless strong
circumstances should require it." "If you should tell," the Prophet added, "I
will ruin your reputation, remember that."
(Article "Sarah M. Pratt" by Richard A. Van Wagoner, Dialogue, Vol.19, No.2,
p.72. Also see The History of the Saints
Sarah Pratt Section from http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/spratt.htm)
Jane Law, wife of William Law
"William Law, a former counselor in the First Presidency, wrote in his 13 May
1844 diary: "[Joseph] ha[s] lately endeavored to seduce my wife, and ha[s] found
her a virtuous woman" The Laws elaborated on this in a public meeting shortly
thereafter. "The Prophet had made dishonorable proposals to [my] wife . . .
under cover of his asserted 'Revelation,' " Law stated. He further explained
that Joseph came to the Law home in the middle of the night when William was
absent and told Jane that "the Lord had commanded that he should take spiritual
wives, to add to his glory." Law then called on his wife to corroborate what he
had said. She did so and further explained that Joseph had "asked her to give
him half her love; she was at liberty to keep the other half for her husband"
Jane refused the Prophet, and according to William Law's 20 January 1887 letter
to the Salt Lake Tribune, Smith then considered the couple apostates.
"Jane had been speaking evil of him for a long time . . . slandered him, and
lied about him without cause," Law reported Smith as saying. "My wife would not
speak evil of . . . anyone . . . without cause," Law asserted. "Joseph is the
liar and not she. That Smith admired and lusted after many men's wives and
daughters, is a fact, but they could not help that. They or most of them
considered his admiration an insult, and treated him with scorn. In return for
this scorn, he generally managed to blacken their reputations--see the case of .
. . Mrs. Pratt, a good, virtuous woman."
("Mormon Polygamy" by Richard S. Van Wagoner, page 44)
Sarah Kimball, wife of Hiram Kimball
Sarah M. Kimball, a prominent Nauvoo and Salt Lake City Relief Society leader
was also approached by the Prophet in early 1842 despite her solid 1840 marriage
to Hiram Kimball. Sarah later recalled that
"Joseph Smith taught me the principle of marriage for
eternity, and the doctrine of plural marriage. He said that in teaching this
he realized that he jeopardized his life; but God had revealed it to him many
years before as a privilege with blessings, now God had revealed it again and
instructed him to teach with commandment, as the Church could travel
[progress] no further without the introduction of this principle." ("LDS
Biographical Encyclopedia" By Elder Andrew Jensen, 6:232, 1887)
Sarah Kimball, like Sarah Pratt, was committed to her
husband, and refused the Prophet's invitation, asking that he "teach it to
someone else." Although she kept the matter quiet, her husband and Smith
evidently had difficulties over Smith's proposal. On 19 May 1842, at a Nauvoo
City Council meeting, Smith jotted down and then "threw across the room" a
revelation to Kimball which declared that "Hiram Kimball has been insinuating
evil, and formulating evil opinions" against the Prophet, which if he does not
desist from, he "shall be accursed." Sarah remained a lifetime member of the
Church and a lifelong wife to Hiram Kimball.
("LDS Biographical Encyclopedia" By Elder Andrew Jensen, 6:232, 1887,
Official History of the Church 5: 12-13)
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