Plural wives of Joseph Smith

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Plural wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.

General articles

Divine manifestations to plural wives, their families, and other members

Summary: Did those who entered into plural marriage do so simply because Joseph Smith (or another Church leader) "told them to"? Is this an example of "blind obedience"? No, they bore witness that only powerful revelatory experiences convinced them that the command was from God.

Specific wives

Fanny Alger

Fanny Alger

• • Discovered in a barn—
    Brief Summary: How did Emma learn about Joseph's marriage to Fanny Alger? I've heard they were discovered together in the barn. Was Fanny pregnant? (Click here for full article)
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  • Fanny Alger: Marriage or affair?—
    Brief Summary: Critics charge that Joseph Smith's early plural marriage(s) cannot have been "real" marriages, since the doctrine of "eternal marriage" (i.e., marriages which last beyond the grave) was not introduced until 1841. (Click here for full article)
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  • Claimed miscarriage of child by Joseph—
    Brief Summary: TWo women are claimed to have had miscarriages of a child by Joseph Smith. There are serious problems with accepting either account as probable. (Click here for full article)
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Louisa Beaman

• Louisa Beaman

Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell

• Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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  • Claimed child(ren) fathered by Joseph ruled out by DNA evidence (Click here for full article)
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  • Did Prescindia Buell not know who was the father of her son?—
    Brief Summary: A notoriously inaccurate anti-Mormon work claimed that Buell confessed to not knowing her son's paternity. The account contains multiple of others, is implausible, requires proponents to overcome severe historical timeline and geographic problems, and has been refuted by DNA evidence. It is not convincing. (Click here for full article)
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Sarah Kingsley Howe Cleveland

• Sarah Kingsley Howe Cleveland
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Agnes Moulton Coolbrith

• Agnes Moulton Coolbrith

Elizabeth Davis Goldsmith Brackenbury Durfee

• Elizabeth Davis Goldsmith Brackenbury Durfee
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Esther Dutcher

• Esther Dutcher
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Hannah S. Ells

• Hannah S. Ells

Olive Grey Frost

• Olive Grey Frost
  • Mother of a possible child by Joseph Smith, but very limited evidence. (Click here for full article)
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Desdemona Catlin Wadsworth Fulmmer

• Desdemona Catlin Wadsworth Fulmmer

Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris

• Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris

Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes

• Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Sarah Maryetta Kingsley Howe

• Sarah Maryetta Kingsley Howe

Zina Huntington

Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs

• • Analysis of Zina and Henry Jacobs—Zina and Her Men: An Examination of the Changing Marital State of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young by Allen Wyatt (Link)
  • Divine manifestation to Zina. (Click here for full article)
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  • Zina and polyandry (Click here for full article)
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  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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  • Claimed child(ren) fathered by Joseph ruled out by DNA evidence (Click here for full article)
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  • Emma Smith remark to Zina—
    Brief Summary: Zina Huntington remembered a conversation between Elizabeth [Davis] and Emma [Smith] in which Elizabeth asked the prophet’s wife if she felt that Joseph was a prophet. Yes, Emma answered, but I wish to God I did not know it. (Click here for full article)
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Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde

• Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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  • Very unlikely to have had child(ren) fathered by Joseph—
    Brief Summary: One child's death certificate rules Joseph out as the father; the other has chronology problems which suggest that Joseph is not the father. (Click here for full article)
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  • Did Mrs. Hyde not know whether Orson or Joseph fathered her child? (Click here for full article)
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Almera Johnson

• Almera Johnson
  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Helen Mar Kimball

Helen Mar Kimball

• • Why was Joseph sealed to young women?—
    Brief Summary: Critics argue that Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages to young women are evidence that he was immoral, perhaps even a pedophile. (Click here for full article)
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  • Was Helen's marriage consummated?—
    Brief Summary: Helen was the youngest plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr. Critics claim that the marriage was consummated, despite a complete lack of supporting evidence. (Click here for full article)
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  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Maria Lawrence

• Maria Lawrence
  • Claimed mismanagement of the Lawrence estate—
    Brief Summary: Joseph Smith was appointed the guardian of two daughters, Maria and Sarah Lawrence, and their inheritance. He later married them in plural marriage. The evidence shows that Joseph Smith faithfully discharged his legal duties, despite the claims made by some nineteeth-century and modern critics. (Click here for full article)
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Sarah Lawrence

• Sarah Lawrence
  • Claimed mismanagement of the Lawrence estate—
    Brief Summary: Joseph Smith was appointed the guardian of two daughters, Maria and Sarah Lawrence, and their inheritance. He later married them in plural marriage. The evidence shows that Joseph Smith faithfully discharged his legal duties, despite the claims made by some nineteeth-century and modern critics. (Click here for full article)
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Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner

• Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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  • Very unlikely to have had child(ren) fathered by Joseph (Click here for full article)
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Malissa Lott

• Malissa Lott
  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Sylvia Sessions Lyon

• Sylvia Sessions Lyon
  • Likely pseudopolyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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  • Mother of a possible/probable child by Joseph Smith (Click here for full article)
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Martha McBride

• Martha McBride
  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Emily Partridge

• Emily Partridge
  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Emily Partridge

• Eliza Partridge

Rhonda Richards

• Rhonda Richards

Ruth Vose Sayers

• Ruth Vose Sayers
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Patty Bartlett Sessions

• Patty Bartlett Sessions
  • Polyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Delcena Diadamia Johnson Sherman

• Delcena Diadamia Johnson Sherman

Mary Heron Snider

• Mary Heron Snider
  • Likely pseudopolyandrous wife (Click here for full article)
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Eliza R. Snow

Eliza R. Snow

• • Emma pushing Eliza down the stairs—
    Brief Summary: Some charge that Eliza R. Snow, one of Joseph's plural wives, was pregnant by Joseph. According to the claim, a furious Emma pushed Eliza down the stairs, resulting in a miscarriage. (Click here for full article)
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  • Claimed miscarriage of child by Joseph—
    Brief Summary: TWo women are claimed to have had miscarriages of a child by Joseph Smith. There are serious problems with accepting either account as probable. (Click here for full article)
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Lucy Walker

• Lucy Walker
  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Sarah Ann Whitney

Sarah Ann Whitney

• • Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family—
    Brief Summary: Critics claim that on 18 August 1842 Joseph Smith wrote a “love letter” to Sarah Ann Whitney requesting a secret rendezvous or "tryst." Joseph had been sealed to Sarah Ann three weeks prior to this time. (Click here for full article)
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  • Did Joseph write secret "love letters" to any of his polygamous wives?—
    Brief Summary: Critics claim that on 18 August 1842 Joseph Smith wrote a “love letter” to Sarah Ann Whitney requesting a secret rendezvous or "tryst." Joseph had been sealed to Sarah Ann three weeks prior to this time. What does this letter actually say? (Click here for full article)
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Nancy Maria Winchester

• Nancy Maria Winchester
  • Why was Joseph sealed to young women?—
    Brief Summary: Critics argue that Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages to young women are evidence that he was immoral, perhaps even a pedophile. (Click here for full article)
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  • Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case—
    Brief Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages. (Click here for full article)
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Flora Ann Woodworth

• Flora Ann Woodworth

Fanny Young

• Fanny Young