Jeffs and Joseph

Image: Polygamist FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs.


From the LDS church’s Gospel Topic Essay ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’ [footnote]Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo – LDS.org [/footnote]

‘Careful estimates put the number {of wives} between 30 and 40.’

‘The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.’

‘Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married.’

‘Several Latter-day Saints who had lived in Kirtland reported decades later that Joseph Smith had married Alger, who lived and worked in the Smith household…’ (Fanny Alger was ~16 at the time)

Joseph Smith’s plural marriages:

Wife Date Age Husband
Emma Hale Jan 1827 22
Fanny Alger 1833 16
Lucinda Morgan Harris 1838 37 George W. Harris
Louisa Beaman Apr 1841 26
Zina Huntington Jacobs Oct 1841 20 Henry Jacobs
Presendia Huntington Buell Dec 1841 31 Norman Buell
Agnes Coolbrith Jan 1842 33
Sylvia Sessions Lyon Feb 1842 23 Windsor Lyon
Mary Rollins Lightner Feb 1842 23 Adam Lightner
Patty Bartlett Sessions Mar 1842 47 David Sessions
Marinda Johnson Hyde Apr 1842 27 Orson Hyde
Elizabeth Davis Durfee Jun 1842 50 Jabez Durfee
Sarah Kingsley Cleveland Jun 1842 53 John Cleveland
Delcena Johnson Jul 1842 37
Eliza R. Snow Jun 1842 38
Sarah Ann Whitney Jul 1842 17
Martha McBride Knight Aug 1842 37
Ruth Vose Sayers Feb 1843 33 Edward Sayers
Flora Ann Woodworth Spring 1843 16
Emily Dow Partridge Mar 1843 19
Eliza Maria Partridge Mar 1843 22
Almera Johnson Apr 1843 30
Lucy Walker May 1843 17
Sarah Lawrence May 1843 17
Maria Lawrence May 1843 19
Helen Mar Kimball May 1843 14
Hanna Ells Mid 1843 29
Elvira Cowles Holmes Jun 1843 29 Jonathan Holmes
Rhoda Richards Jun 1843 58
Desdemona Fullmer Jul 1843 32
Olive Frost Mid 1843 27
Melissa Lott Sep 1843 19
Nancy Winchester 1843 14
Fanny Young Nov 1843 56

Crash Course:

Year of Polygamy Podcast – The series follows the Mormon faith through the lens of “The Principle of Plural Marriage”.

Joseph Smith’s Polygamy – Discusses Joseph Smith’s introduction of polygamy into early Mormon Church.

Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism – D. Michael Quinn

The Wives of Joseph Smith

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