Joseph Smith's Plural Wives
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Fanny Alger:
“Therefore Brother Joseph said ‘Brother Levi I want to make a bargain with you – If you will get Fanny Alger for me for a wife you may have Clarissa Reed. I love Fanny.’ ‘I will’ Said Father. ‘Go brother Levi and the Lord will prosper you’ Said Joseph – Father goes to the Father Samuel Alger – Father’s Brother in Law and [said] ‘Samuel the Prophet Joseph loves your Daughter Fanny and wishes her for a wife what say you’ – Uncle Sam Says – ‘Go and talk to the Old woman about it twill be as She says’ Father goes to his Sister and said ‘Clarrissy, Brother Joseph the Prophet of the most high God loves Fanny and wishes her for a wife what say you’ Said She ‘go and talk to Fanny it will be all right with me’ – Father goes to Fanny and said ‘Fanny Brother Joseph the Prophet loves you and wishes you for a wife will you be his wife?’ ‘I will Levi’ Said She – Father takes Fanny to Joseph and said ‘Brother Joseph I have been successful in my mission’ – Father gave her to Joseph repeating the Ceremony as Joseph repeated to him.”
- Mosiah Hancock Autobiography, pp. 62-63
“Consequently it was with a shocked surprise that the people heard that sister Emma had turned Fanny out of the house in the night.... it was felt that she [Emma] certainly must have had some very good reason for her action. By degrees it became whispered about that Joseph’s love for his adopted daughter was by no means a paternal affection, and his wife, discovering the fact, at once took measures to place the girl beyond his reach.”
- Ann Eliza Webb Young, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 34
“The worthy couple – the Prophet and his scribe [Oliver Cowdery] – were sorely perplexed what to do with the girl [Fanny], since Emma refused decidedly to allow her to remain in her house; but after some consultation, my mother offered to take her until she could be sent to her relatives.”
- Ann Eliza Webb Young, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 34
“Although her parents were living, they considered it the highest honor to have their daughter adopted into the prophet’s family, and her mother has always claimed that she [Fanny] was sealed to Joseph at that time.”
- Ann Eliza Webb Young, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 34
“He [Joseph Smith, Jr.] was sealed there [in Kirtland] secretly to Fanny Alger. Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house.”
- Chauncey Webb, Ann Eliza’s father, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, pp. 34-35
“Again I told her [Emma] I heard that one night she missed Joseph and Fanny Alger. She went to the barn and saw him and Fanny in the barn together alone. She looked through a crack and saw the transaction!! She told me this story too was verily true.”
- William McLellin, 1872 letter to Joseph Smith III, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 35
“As time progressed the Apostates thought they had a good hold on Joseph because of Fanny and some of the smart? ones Confined her in an upper room of the Temple determined that the Prophet should be settled, according to their notions. Brother Joseph came to Father and said ‘Brother Levi what can be done?’ – There being a wagon and a dry goods Box close by and Joseph being strong and Father active Father soon gained the window Sill and Fanny was soon on the ground Father mounts his horse with Fanny behind him and although dark they were in New Lyme forty five miles distant – And when the worthies? sent Fannys dinner the next day they were astonished not to be able to find her – Father by that time had returned and his animal was in the Stable.”
- Mosiah Hancock Autobiography, p. 64
“Soon Married to one of the Citizens ther [Indiana] & although she [Fanny] never left the State She did not turn from the Church nor from her friendship for the Prophet while She lived.”
- Benjamin Johnson, I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs, Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, 1976, ed. by Dean R. Zimmerman, p. 38
[Apostle David Patten asked Cowdery if] “a certain story was true respecting J. Smith’s committing adultery with a certain girl, when he turned on his heel and insinuated as though he was guilty; he then went on and gave a history of some circumstances respecting the adultery scrape stating that no doubt it was true. Also said that Joseph told him, he had confessed to Emma.”
- Testimony of David Patten, Apostle, see Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, p. 167
“I heard Oliver Cowdery say to Joseph Smith, Jr., while at George W. Harris’ house, in Far West, that he (Joseph) never confessed to him [adultery]. And O. Cowdery gave me to understand that Joseph Smith Jr. never acknowledged to him, that he [Smith] ever confessed to any one, that he [Smith] was guilty of the above crime [adultery].”
- Affidavit of Thomas Marsh, Elder’s Journal, v. 1, July 1838, p. 45
[Cowdery was excommunicated in part] “For seeking to destroy the character of President Joseph Smith, Jun., by falsely insinuating that he was guilty of adultery [with Fanny Alger].”
- Far West Record, pp. 167-168, also History of the Church, v. 3, see pp. 16-18
Lucinda Pendleton:
“No 64 Jan 22’46
Lucinda Pendleton [born] Sept. 27, 1801 {Kinghurstworks}, Washington Co. Vermont, was Sealed to Jos. Smith (deceased born Dec. 23d 1805 Sharron Windsor Co Vert.) for time & all Eternity. George Washington Harris acting proxy for (Pres. J. Smith Jun. deceased) G.W. Harris & Lucinda Smith were then Sealed Husband & wife for time By Pres B. Young. In presence of Orson Pratt & {F.D.} Richards & A Lyman at 28 min past 6 a.m. _______ J.D. Lee clerk
- “A Book of Proxey.” Nauvoo temple proxy sealings, Jan. 7 to Feb. 5, 1846. Marriott Library
Louisa Beaman:
“Sister Louisa asked the Lord in fervent prayer for a testimony concerning the principle. The Lord heard her supplication and granted her request, and after being convinced that the principle had emanated from God, she accepted it, and was married to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
- James Crockwell, Pictures and Biographies of Brigham Young and His Wives, [1877], pp. 20-21
“Question: where did they [Joseph and Louisa] sleep together? Answer: Right across the river at my house they slept together.”
- Joseph Bates Noble under oath, Temple Lot transcript, p. 427
Zina Diantha Huntington:
“Zina [Diantha Huntington], faced with the responsibility for his position as prophet, and even perhaps his life, finally acquiesced. The usual date for the marriage is October 27, and throughout her life Zina commemorated her marriage to [Joseph] Smith on this date.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 81
Presendia Lathrop Huntington:
“Joseph himself taught the principle of plural marriage to Sister Presendia, and her heart was humble, and her mind open to receive the revelations of heaven. She knew Joseph to be a man of God, and she had received many manifestations in proof of this, and consequently when he explained to her clearly the knowledge which he had obtained from the Lord, she accepted the sealing ordinance with Joseph as a sacred and holy confirmation.”
- Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, p. 122; online at http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/polyandry.pdf
“In 1841 I entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant – was sealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Seer, and to the best of my ability I have honored Plural Marriage, never speaking one word against the principle.”
- Presendia Kimball affidavit, Smith Affidavit Books, comp. by Joseph F. Smith, v. 1, p. 7
Agnes Moulton Coolbrith:
“I was taken in to the lodge J Smith was [sealed to] Agness.”
- Brigham Young journal, January 6, 1842, Marriott Library
Patty Bartlett:
“I was sealed to Joseph Smith by Willard Richards March 9 1842 in Newel K Whitneys chamber Nauvoo, for time and all Eternity... Sylvia my daughter was present when I was sealed to Joseph Smith.”
- Patty Bartlett affidavit, 1869, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 179
Sylvia Porter Sessions:
“On February 8, 1842, when Sylvia was twenty-three, she was sealed to Joseph Smith. Virtually nothing is known about the internal dynamics of this polyandrous marriage, except that she later claimed that her daughter Josephine was a product of it.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 179
“[Patty, interpreting,] said that God was well pleas’d with this [Relief] Society, that if we would be humble and faithful the Lord would pour out upon the members generally the gift of prophecy – that when the speaker laid her hand on the head of Sister Snow, she said that not only she should have the spirit but that all should have it also – that the speaker then address’d herself to mother Smith saying that the prayers of father Smith were now answered upon the members of the Society – that the days of Mother S. should be prolong’d and she should meet many times with the Society, should enjoy much in the society of the sisters & shall hereafter be crown’d a mother of those that shall prove faithful &c.”
- April 19, 1842, Relief Society Minutes, pp. 32-33
“Just prior to my mothers death in 1882 she called me to her bedside and told me that her days on earth were about numbered and before she passed away from mortality she desired to tell me something which she had kept as an entire secret from me and from all the others but which she now desired to communicate to me. She then told me that I was the daughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith, she having been sealed to the Prophet at the time that her husband Mr. Lyon was out of fellowship with the Church.”
- Wells, Emmeline, “Patty Sessions,” Women’s Exponent, v. 13, September 1, 1884, p. 95
“In 1834 he was commanded to take me for a Wife, I was a thousand miles from him, he got afraid.”
- Mary Elizabeth Rollins, “Remarks,” A talk given at Lee Library, April 14, 1905, p. 255, typescript in Lee Library; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 211
“The angel came to me three times between the year of ’34 and ’42 and said I was to obey that principle or he would lay [destroy] me.”
- Joseph Smith, Jr. as recollected by Marry Elizabeth Rollins, “Remarks,” A talk given at Lee Library, April 14, 1905, p. 255, typescript in Lee Library; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 212
“I felt stunned [that Brigham Young left], the thought came to me that Poligamy was of the Devil – and Brigham knew it, or he would have cut off his right hand before he would have left me... I wept myself sick, and felt to give up, and go among the Gentiles in fact I felt as though I was like one in any open Boat at Sea, without Compass or Rudder.”
- Mary Elizabeth Lightner, Autobiography, holograph, p. 25; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 215
Marinda Johnson, Apostle Orson Hyde’s wife:
“Apr [18]42 Marinda Johnson to Joseph Smith.”
- Joseph Smith journal, published in An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 1989, comp. Scott Faulring, p. 396
“If R. [Richards] should take a notion to H.’s [Hyde’s] wife in his absence, all that is necessary to be done is to be sealed. No harm done, no adultery committed; only taking a little advantage of rights of priesthood. And after R. has gone the round of dissipation with H’s wife, she is afterwards turned over to S. [Smith] and thus the poor silly woman becomes the actual dupe to two designing men, under the sanctimonious garb of rights of the royal priesthood.”
- Sidney Rigdon, “To the Sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” Latter Day Saint’s Messenger and Advocate, v. 1, see pp. 154-158, 156
“Orson Hyde and W.W. Phelps turned against Joseph in Missouri, and forsook him in time of peril and danger, and even testified against him in the courts. [They asked to be reinstated.] With tears he moved that we would forgive them and receive them back into fellowship. He then sent Elder O. Hyde and John E. Page to Jerusalem, and to the land of Palestine, to dedicate that land for the gathering of the Jews. Report said that Hyde’s wife, with his consent, was sealed to Joseph for an eternal state, but I do not assert the fact.”
- John D. Lee, Mormonism Unvailed: The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, 1877, p. 147
“When he [Hyde] returned, he, in turn, imbibed the teachings of polygamy also... In the mean time it was hinted to him that Smith had had his first wife sealed to himself in his absence, as a wife for eternity. Inconsistent as it may seem, Hyde was in a furious passion... he did not propose having HIS rights interfered wife even by the holy Prophet whose teachings he had so implicitly followed, and he swore that if this was true he would never live with her again. But he did live with her for several years after the exodus from Nauvoo.”
- Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, 1876, p. 324-326
“On the return of Orson Hyde from his mission to Palestine he carried letters of introduction to me and invited me to visit his wife. I was there met by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, who, after an interesting conversation introduced the subject of plural marriage and endeavored to teach me that principle. I resisted it with every argument I could command, for, with my tradition, it was most repulsive to my feelings and rendered me very unhappy, as I could not reconcile it with the purity of the Gospel of Christ. Mr. Hyde took me home in a carriage and asked me what I thought of it and if I would consent to enter his family? I replied that I could not think of it for a moment.”
- Mary Ann Price, Autobiography, pp. 2-3; date of marriage in An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 1989, comp. Scott Faulring, p. 396
“A few years since, at a large party at the Social Hall in Salt Lake City, Orson Hyde, one of the twelve apostles, met the wife of his youth, the mother of many of his children. He had escorted some of his younger wives there, and she came with a friend. It chanced that they were seated near each other at the table, and were compelled to speak; they shook hands, exchanged a very commonplace greeting, and that was all that passed between them... it very often occurs that an elderly lady attends a party with friends, and meets her husband there with one or more younger wives; and sometimes both she and they have to watch their mutual husband while he plays the agreeable to some young girl... Sometimes these old and middle-aged ladies do not see their husbands once a year, and yet they may not live half a mile apart.”
- Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, 1876, p. 324
Elizabeth Davis:
“Finally, Elizabeth received a very early proxy marriage to the Mormon prophet in the Nauvoo temple. All these data taken together make a strong case for Elizabeth as one of Joseph Smith’s plural wives. As John Bennett left Nauvoo in June 1842, we can date the marriage as taking place before that time. If it took place in spring 1842, then Elizabeth would have been fifty-one at the time of the ceremony.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 260
Sarah Maryetta Kingsley:
“Soon after moving to the Mormon city [Nauvoo], if not before, Sarah was converted to Joseph Smith’s doctrine of celestial marriage, for she is listed by church historian Andrew Jensen as one of Smith’s wives. Although Jensen gives no date for the ceremony, Sarah and Joseph were almost certainly married before June 29, 1842, when she witnessed Eliza Snow’s marriage to Smith, according to an affidavit by Snow. Previously married wives frequently witnessed the Mormon leader’s new plural marriages, as they were part of the inner circle that could be trusted with such secret knowledge.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 277
“Elder Sherman sung in the gift of tongues & proclaimed great & marvelous things while clothed upon by the power & spirit of God.”
- Wilford Woodruff journal, v. 1, p. 120, also BYU Studies, v. 12, 1972, p. 382
Almera Johnson:
“[Hyrum] came to me and said I need not be afraid. I had been fearing and doubting about the principle and so had he, but he now knew it was true. After this time I lived with the Prophet Joseph as his wife... I had many conversations with Eliza Beaman who was also a wife of Joseph Smith... on the subject of plurality of wives.”
- Almera Johnson Barton, affidavit, August 1, 1883, see Joseph Fielding Smith, Blood Atonement, pp. 70-71
“Meanwhile the Prophet with Louisa Beeman and my Sister Delcena had it agreeably arranged with sister Almara and after a little instruction, She Stood by the Prophets Side & was Sealed to him as a wife by Brother Clayton. After which the Prophet asked me to take my Sister to occupy Room No 10 in his Mansion Home during her Stay in the City.”
- Benjamin Johnson, My Life’s Review, p. 96
Eliza Roxcy Snow:
“I was sealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for time and eternity, in accordance with the Celestial Law of Marriage which God has revealed – the ceremony being performed by a servant of the Most High – authorized to officiate in sacred ordinances. This, one of the most important circumstances of my life, I never had had cause to regret.
“From personal knowledge I bear my testimony that Plural Celestial Marriage is a pure and holy principle, not only tending to individual purity and elevation of character, but also instrumental in producing a more perfect type of manhood mentally and physically, as well as in restoring human life to its former longevity.”
- Eliza Snow Affidavit, Smith Affidavit Books, comp. by Joseph Fielding Smith, v. 1, p. 25
“I am proud to state, before this large and honorable assembly that I believe in the principle of plural marriage just as sacredly as I believe in any other institution which God has revealed. I believe it to be necessary for the redemption of the human family from the low state of corruption into which it has sunken... this sacred principle of plural marriage tends to virtue, purity and holiness. Those who represent the women of Utah as ignorant and degraded are either aiming to bring evil upon us, or they know not what they are doing.”
- Eliza Roxcy Snow, “Woman’s Mass Meeting,” Women’s Exponent, v. 7, December 1, 1878, pp. 97-98
“All I knew was that which Lucy Walker herself contends. They were so nervous and lived in such constant fear that they could not conceive. He made light of my reply. He said, ‘I am informed that Eliza Snow was a virgin at the time of her death.’ I in turn said, ‘Brother Heber C. Kimball, I am informed, asked her the question if she was not a virgin although married to Joseph Smith and afterwards to Brigham Young, when she replied in a private gathering, ‘I thought you knew Joseph Smith better than that.’”
- Angus M. Cannon, statement, 25-26, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 13
Sarah Ann Whitney:
“He [Joseph Smith, Jr.] had been strictly charged by the angel... that the most profound secrecy must be maintained... He... confided to him [Newell] the principles [of polygamy]... My husband revealed these things to me... We pondered upon them continually, and our prayers were unceasing that the Lord would grant us some special manifestation concerning this new and strange doctrine. The Lord was very merciful to us; He revealed unto us His power and glory. We were seemingly wrapt in a heavenly vision, a halo of light encircled us, and we were convinced in our own minds that God heard and approved our prayers... Our hearts were comforted and our faith made so perfect that we were willing to give our eldest daughter, then only seventeen years of age, to Joseph, in the holy order of plural marriage... laying aside all our traditions and former notions in regard to marriage, we gave her with our mutual consent.”
- Elizabeth Whitney, in Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 102
“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto my servant N.K. Whitney, the thing that my servant Joseph Smith has made known unto you and your family and which you have agreed upon is right in mine eyes and shall be rewarded upon your heads with honor and immortality and eternal life to all your house, both old and young because of the lineage of my Priesthood, saith the Lord, it shall be upon you and upon your children after you from generation to generation, by virtue of the holy promise which I now make unto you, saith the Lord....
“These are the words which you shall pronounce upon my servant Joseph and your daughter S.A. Whitney. They shall take each other by the hand and you shall say, ‘You both mutually agree,’ calling them by name, ‘to be each other’s companion so long as you both shall live, preserving yourselves for each other and from all others and also throughout eternity, reserving only those rights which have been given to my servant Joseph by revelation and commandment and by legal authority in times passed. If you both agree to covenant and do this, I then give you, S.A. Whitney, my daughter, to Joseph Smith, to be his wife, to observe all the rights between you both that belong to that condition. I do it in my own name and in the name of my wife, your mother, and in the name of my holy progenitors, by the right of birth which is of priesthood, vested in my by revelation and commandment and promise of the living God, obtained by the Holy Melchisedeck Gethrow [Jethro] and others of the Holy Fathers, commanding in the name of the Lord all those powers to concentrate in you and through you to your posterity forever. All these things I do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through this order he may be glorified and that through the power of anointing David may reign King over Israel, which shall hereafter be revealed. Let immortality and eternal life hereafter be sealed upon your heads forever and ever.”
- Joseph Smith revelation, in Daniel Bachman, “A Study of the Mormon Practice of Plural Marriage before the Death of Joseph Smith,” Master’s thesis, Purdue University, 121-122
Martha McBride:
“... she [Martha] would not be single long. In August 1842, within a month of Vinson’s death, she married Joseph Smith, with Heber C. Kimball performing the ceremony, according to an affidavit she signed later in her life and her obituary.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 371
Ruth Daggett Vose:
“Some six months later, in February 1843, Ruth was married to the prophet [Joseph Smith], with Hyrum Smith officiating, according to her own 1869 affidavit. As was usual in Smith’s polyandrous marriages, she continued to live with Edward after the ceremony. What her marriage relationship to Smith was like and whether Edward knew about the marriage are entirely unknown.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 383
Flora Ann Woodworth:
“According to an affidavit by William Clayton, Joseph Smith married Flora Ann Woodworth in the spring of 1843.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 389
“He opend the doore for us and when we were seated opposite to him he told the driver to drive on we went to the Temple lot and many other places during the Afternoon and then he drove to the Woodworth house and we got out and went in – After we got in the house sister Woodworth took me in an other room and told me that Flora was one of Joseph’s wives, I was awar or believed that Eliza R. Snow and the Patrage Girls were his wives but was not informed about Flora But now Sister Woodworth gave me all the information nessary, so I knew Joseph Believed and practiced Polygamy... Now as a matter of corse I at once after giving her Flora a mild lecture left her and looked for a companion in other places and where I could be more sure.”
- Orange Wight, see his Reminiscences, pp. 20-23; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 390
Emily Dow Partridge:
“He taught me this principle of plural marriage that is called polygamy now, but we called it celestial marriage, and he told me that this principle had been revealed to him but it was not generally known; and he went on and said that the Lord had given me to him, and he wanted to know if I would consent to a marriage, and I consented.”
- Emily Dow Partridge, Emily Young Autobiography, p. 4; see Women’s Exponent, v. 14, August 1, 1885, p. 38
“Mrs. Durf – came to me one day and said Joseph would like an opportunity to talk with me. I asked her if she knew what he wanted. She said she thought he wanted me for a wife. I was thirely [thoroughly] prepared for almost anything. I was to meet him in the evening at Mr. Kimball’s.
- Women’s Exponent, v. 14, August 1, 1885, p. 38
“I cannot tell all Joseph said, but he said the Lord had commanded [him] to enter into plural marriage and had given me to him and although I had got badly frightened he knew I would yet have him. So he waited till the Lord told him. My mind was now prepared and would receive the principles. I do not think if I had not gone through the ordeal I did that I could ever [have] gone off at night to meet him. But that was the only way [it could] be done then. Well I was married there and then. Joseph went home his way and I going my way alone. A strange way of getting married wasen’t it? Brother Kimball married us, the 4th of March 1843.”
- Eliza Lyman autobiography, p. 219, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 408
“But the last times she [Emma] called us [Emily and Eliza] to her room I felt quite indignant and was determined it should be the last for it was becoming monotonous, and I am ashamed to say I felt indignant towards Joseph for submitting to Emma. But I see now he could do no different. When we went in Joseph was there, his countenance was the perfect picture of despair. I cannot remember all that passed at that time but she insisted that we should promise to break our covenants, that we had made before God. Joseph asked her if we made her the promises she required, if she would cease to trouble us, and not persist in our marrying some one else. She made the promise. Joseph came to us and shook hands with us, and the understanding was that all was ended between us....
“After our interview was over we went downstairs. Joseph soon came into the room where I was, said, how do you fell Emily. My heart being still hard, I answered him rather short that I expected I felt as anybody would under the circumstance. He said you know my hands are tied. And he looked as if he would sink into the earth. I knew he spoke truly, and my heart was melted, all my hard feeling was gone in a moment (toward him) but I had no time to speak for he was gone. Emma was on his track, and came in as he went out. She said Emily what did Joseph say to you? I answered, He asked me how I felt. She said you might as well tell me, for I am determined that a stop shall be put to these things, and I want you to tell me what he says to you. I replied, I shall not tell you, he can say what he pleases to me, and I shall not report it to you, there has been mischief enough made, by doing that. I am as sick of these things as you can be. I said it in a tone that she knew I meant it.”
- Emily Partridge autobiography, November 4, 1883, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 410-411
Lucy Walker:
“In the year 1842 President Joseph Smith sought an interview with me, and said, ‘I have a message for you, I have been commanded of God to take another wife, and you are the woman.’ My astonishment knew no bounds. This announcement was indeed a thunderbolt to me... He [Joseph Smith] fully Explained to me [Lucy Walker] the principle of plural or celestial marriage. Said this principle was again to be restored for the benefit of the human family. That it would prove an everlasting blessing to my father’s house. And form a chain that could never be broken, worlds without End.”
- Lucy Walker, “Brief Biographical Sketch,” pp. 5-6
“In the spring of 1843, my father, being away on a mission, the Prophet asked my [William Walker] consent, for my sister Lucy in marriage. I replied, that if it was her choice: that if she entered into the celestial order of marriage of her own free will and choice, I had no objection.”
- William Holmes Walker, The Life Incidents and Travels of Elder William Holmes Walker and his Association with Joseph Smith, the Prophet, 1943, pp. 9-10
Maria and Sarah Lawrence:
“In late spring 1843 Joseph married both Maria, nineteen, and Sarah, seventeen, and soon after this he married the Partridge sisters the second time.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 475
“Emma, about this time [May], gave her husband two other wives – Maria and Sarah Lawrence.”
- Emily Partridge, “Autobiography of Emily D.P. Young,” Women’s Exponent, v. 14, August 1, 1885, p. 38
Hannah Ells:
“Sometime between January and summer 1843, Hannah became a plural wife of Joseph Smith. Andrew Jenson gives only the year of the marriage, but an affidavit by John Benbow (with whom Hannah was living) shows that Hannah and Joseph were married before the summer of that year.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 537
“Hannah Ells Smith, a wife of the Prophet, boarded at his [Benbow’s] house two months during the summer of the same year [1843]; and the said Hannah E. Smith also lived at his [Benbow’s] house several months in 1844, after the Prophet’s death. And further, that President Smith frequently visited his wife Hannah at his (J.B.’s) house.”
- John Benbow, in Historical Record, v. 6, pp. 222-223
Elvira Annie Cowles:
“According to an affidavit she signed in Utah in 1869, Elvira was sealed to Joseph Smith on June 1, 1843, in Heber C. Kimball’s house, with Heber officiating and Vilate Kimball and Eliza Partridge standing as witnesses.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 537
Rhoda Richards:
“I have witnessed the death of many near and dear friends, both old and young. In my days I buried my first and only love, and true to that affiance, I have passed companionless through life; but am sure of having my proper place and standing in the resurrection, having been sealed to the prophet Joseph, according to the celestial law, by his own request, under the inspiration of divine revelation.”
- Rhoda Richards affidavit, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, pp. 568-569
Olive Grey Frost:
“She seemed to realize and appreciate the magnitude of the great and important mission allotted to woman in the perfect plan of this Gospel dispensation, and she desired to do her part in the good work. She freely accorded to man the title of king, and joyfully accepted the place of queen by his side. It was at this time [summer 1843] that the principle of plurality of wives was taught to her. She never opposed it, and, as in the case of baptism, soon accepted it to be her creed, in practice as well as in theory. She was married for time and all eternity to Joseph Smith some time previous to his death and martyrdom.”
- Mary Ann Winters, “Sealing and Adoption Book A.” Marriott Library
Melissa Lott:
“You both mutually agree to be each other’s companion, husband, and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition, that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others during your lives....
I was married for time and eternity.”
- Melissa Lott under oath, Temple Lot Case, pp. 314-315
Nancy Maria Winchester:
“Nancy Maria must have married Joseph Smith at about this time. Our best evidence for the union is Andrew Jenson [in Historical Record], who lists ‘Maria Winchester’ as one of Smith’s wives; in addition, Orson Whitney, the son of Nancy Maria’s friend, Helen, also identified her as a Smith wife. These two witnesses, taken together, make a good case for her marriage to the prophet, the best hypothesis is that the ceremony took place in 1843, since the last recorded plural marriage to Smith took place on November 2, 1843. If so, she became his wife at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Nothing more is known of this union.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, pp. 568-569
Fanny Young:
“I recollect a sister [Fanny Young] conversing with Joseph Smith on this subject. She told him: ‘Now, don't talk to me; when I get into the celestial kingdom, if I ever do get there, I shall request the privilege of being a ministering angel; that is the labor that I wish to perform. I don't want any companion in that world; and if the Lord will make me a ministering angel, it is all I want.’ Joseph said, ‘Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know what you will want.’ He then said to me: ‘Here, brother Brigham, you seal this lady [Fanny] to me.’ I sealed her to him. This was my own sister according to the flesh.
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 16, pp. 166-167, August 31, 1873
A test for Heber and Vilate Kimball:
“It was no less than a requirement for him [Heber C. Kimball] to surrender his wife, his beloved Vilate, and give her to Joseph [Smith] in marriage!”
- Apostle Orson Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1888, pp. 333-335
“Then, with a broken and bleeding heart, but with soul self-mastered for the sacrifice, he led his darling wife to the Prophet’s house and presented her to Joseph. Joseph wept at this proof of devotion, and embracing Heber, told him that was all that the Lord required.”
- Apostle Orson Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1888, pp. 333-335
“This [the requirement for Heber to take a plural wife] was the greatest test of his faith he had ever experienced... the thought of deceiving the kind and faithful wife of his youth, whom he loved with all his heart, and who with him had borne so patiently their separation and all the trials and sacrifices they had been called to endure, was more than he felt able to bear.”
- Women’s Exponent, v. 10, October 15, 1881, p. 74
Fanny Alger:
“Therefore Brother Joseph said ‘Brother Levi I want to make a bargain with you – If you will get Fanny Alger for me for a wife you may have Clarissa Reed. I love Fanny.’ ‘I will’ Said Father. ‘Go brother Levi and the Lord will prosper you’ Said Joseph – Father goes to the Father Samuel Alger – Father’s Brother in Law and [said] ‘Samuel the Prophet Joseph loves your Daughter Fanny and wishes her for a wife what say you’ – Uncle Sam Says – ‘Go and talk to the Old woman about it twill be as She says’ Father goes to his Sister and said ‘Clarrissy, Brother Joseph the Prophet of the most high God loves Fanny and wishes her for a wife what say you’ Said She ‘go and talk to Fanny it will be all right with me’ – Father goes to Fanny and said ‘Fanny Brother Joseph the Prophet loves you and wishes you for a wife will you be his wife?’ ‘I will Levi’ Said She – Father takes Fanny to Joseph and said ‘Brother Joseph I have been successful in my mission’ – Father gave her to Joseph repeating the Ceremony as Joseph repeated to him.”
- Mosiah Hancock Autobiography, pp. 62-63
“Consequently it was with a shocked surprise that the people heard that sister Emma had turned Fanny out of the house in the night.... it was felt that she [Emma] certainly must have had some very good reason for her action. By degrees it became whispered about that Joseph’s love for his adopted daughter was by no means a paternal affection, and his wife, discovering the fact, at once took measures to place the girl beyond his reach.”
- Ann Eliza Webb Young, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 34
“The worthy couple – the Prophet and his scribe [Oliver Cowdery] – were sorely perplexed what to do with the girl [Fanny], since Emma refused decidedly to allow her to remain in her house; but after some consultation, my mother offered to take her until she could be sent to her relatives.”
- Ann Eliza Webb Young, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 34
“Although her parents were living, they considered it the highest honor to have their daughter adopted into the prophet’s family, and her mother has always claimed that she [Fanny] was sealed to Joseph at that time.”
- Ann Eliza Webb Young, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 34
“He [Joseph Smith, Jr.] was sealed there [in Kirtland] secretly to Fanny Alger. Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house.”
- Chauncey Webb, Ann Eliza’s father, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, pp. 34-35
“Again I told her [Emma] I heard that one night she missed Joseph and Fanny Alger. She went to the barn and saw him and Fanny in the barn together alone. She looked through a crack and saw the transaction!! She told me this story too was verily true.”
- William McLellin, 1872 letter to Joseph Smith III, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 35
“As time progressed the Apostates thought they had a good hold on Joseph because of Fanny and some of the smart? ones Confined her in an upper room of the Temple determined that the Prophet should be settled, according to their notions. Brother Joseph came to Father and said ‘Brother Levi what can be done?’ – There being a wagon and a dry goods Box close by and Joseph being strong and Father active Father soon gained the window Sill and Fanny was soon on the ground Father mounts his horse with Fanny behind him and although dark they were in New Lyme forty five miles distant – And when the worthies? sent Fannys dinner the next day they were astonished not to be able to find her – Father by that time had returned and his animal was in the Stable.”
- Mosiah Hancock Autobiography, p. 64
“Soon Married to one of the Citizens ther [Indiana] & although she [Fanny] never left the State She did not turn from the Church nor from her friendship for the Prophet while She lived.”
- Benjamin Johnson, I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs, Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, 1976, ed. by Dean R. Zimmerman, p. 38
[Apostle David Patten asked Cowdery if] “a certain story was true respecting J. Smith’s committing adultery with a certain girl, when he turned on his heel and insinuated as though he was guilty; he then went on and gave a history of some circumstances respecting the adultery scrape stating that no doubt it was true. Also said that Joseph told him, he had confessed to Emma.”
- Testimony of David Patten, Apostle, see Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, p. 167
“I heard Oliver Cowdery say to Joseph Smith, Jr., while at George W. Harris’ house, in Far West, that he (Joseph) never confessed to him [adultery]. And O. Cowdery gave me to understand that Joseph Smith Jr. never acknowledged to him, that he [Smith] ever confessed to any one, that he [Smith] was guilty of the above crime [adultery].”
- Affidavit of Thomas Marsh, Elder’s Journal, v. 1, July 1838, p. 45
[Cowdery was excommunicated in part] “For seeking to destroy the character of President Joseph Smith, Jun., by falsely insinuating that he was guilty of adultery [with Fanny Alger].”
- Far West Record, pp. 167-168, also History of the Church, v. 3, see pp. 16-18
Lucinda Pendleton:
“No 64 Jan 22’46
Lucinda Pendleton [born] Sept. 27, 1801 {Kinghurstworks}, Washington Co. Vermont, was Sealed to Jos. Smith (deceased born Dec. 23d 1805 Sharron Windsor Co Vert.) for time & all Eternity. George Washington Harris acting proxy for (Pres. J. Smith Jun. deceased) G.W. Harris & Lucinda Smith were then Sealed Husband & wife for time By Pres B. Young. In presence of Orson Pratt & {F.D.} Richards & A Lyman at 28 min past 6 a.m. _______ J.D. Lee clerk
- “A Book of Proxey.” Nauvoo temple proxy sealings, Jan. 7 to Feb. 5, 1846. Marriott Library
Louisa Beaman:
“Sister Louisa asked the Lord in fervent prayer for a testimony concerning the principle. The Lord heard her supplication and granted her request, and after being convinced that the principle had emanated from God, she accepted it, and was married to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
- James Crockwell, Pictures and Biographies of Brigham Young and His Wives, [1877], pp. 20-21
“Question: where did they [Joseph and Louisa] sleep together? Answer: Right across the river at my house they slept together.”
- Joseph Bates Noble under oath, Temple Lot transcript, p. 427
Zina Diantha Huntington:
“Zina [Diantha Huntington], faced with the responsibility for his position as prophet, and even perhaps his life, finally acquiesced. The usual date for the marriage is October 27, and throughout her life Zina commemorated her marriage to [Joseph] Smith on this date.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 81
Presendia Lathrop Huntington:
“Joseph himself taught the principle of plural marriage to Sister Presendia, and her heart was humble, and her mind open to receive the revelations of heaven. She knew Joseph to be a man of God, and she had received many manifestations in proof of this, and consequently when he explained to her clearly the knowledge which he had obtained from the Lord, she accepted the sealing ordinance with Joseph as a sacred and holy confirmation.”
- Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, p. 122; online at http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/polyandry.pdf
“In 1841 I entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant – was sealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Seer, and to the best of my ability I have honored Plural Marriage, never speaking one word against the principle.”
- Presendia Kimball affidavit, Smith Affidavit Books, comp. by Joseph F. Smith, v. 1, p. 7
Agnes Moulton Coolbrith:
“I was taken in to the lodge J Smith was [sealed to] Agness.”
- Brigham Young journal, January 6, 1842, Marriott Library
Patty Bartlett:
“I was sealed to Joseph Smith by Willard Richards March 9 1842 in Newel K Whitneys chamber Nauvoo, for time and all Eternity... Sylvia my daughter was present when I was sealed to Joseph Smith.”
- Patty Bartlett affidavit, 1869, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 179
Sylvia Porter Sessions:
“On February 8, 1842, when Sylvia was twenty-three, she was sealed to Joseph Smith. Virtually nothing is known about the internal dynamics of this polyandrous marriage, except that she later claimed that her daughter Josephine was a product of it.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 179
“[Patty, interpreting,] said that God was well pleas’d with this [Relief] Society, that if we would be humble and faithful the Lord would pour out upon the members generally the gift of prophecy – that when the speaker laid her hand on the head of Sister Snow, she said that not only she should have the spirit but that all should have it also – that the speaker then address’d herself to mother Smith saying that the prayers of father Smith were now answered upon the members of the Society – that the days of Mother S. should be prolong’d and she should meet many times with the Society, should enjoy much in the society of the sisters & shall hereafter be crown’d a mother of those that shall prove faithful &c.”
- April 19, 1842, Relief Society Minutes, pp. 32-33
“Just prior to my mothers death in 1882 she called me to her bedside and told me that her days on earth were about numbered and before she passed away from mortality she desired to tell me something which she had kept as an entire secret from me and from all the others but which she now desired to communicate to me. She then told me that I was the daughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith, she having been sealed to the Prophet at the time that her husband Mr. Lyon was out of fellowship with the Church.”
- Wells, Emmeline, “Patty Sessions,” Women’s Exponent, v. 13, September 1, 1884, p. 95
“In 1834 he was commanded to take me for a Wife, I was a thousand miles from him, he got afraid.”
- Mary Elizabeth Rollins, “Remarks,” A talk given at Lee Library, April 14, 1905, p. 255, typescript in Lee Library; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 211
“The angel came to me three times between the year of ’34 and ’42 and said I was to obey that principle or he would lay [destroy] me.”
- Joseph Smith, Jr. as recollected by Marry Elizabeth Rollins, “Remarks,” A talk given at Lee Library, April 14, 1905, p. 255, typescript in Lee Library; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 212
“I felt stunned [that Brigham Young left], the thought came to me that Poligamy was of the Devil – and Brigham knew it, or he would have cut off his right hand before he would have left me... I wept myself sick, and felt to give up, and go among the Gentiles in fact I felt as though I was like one in any open Boat at Sea, without Compass or Rudder.”
- Mary Elizabeth Lightner, Autobiography, holograph, p. 25; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 215
Marinda Johnson, Apostle Orson Hyde’s wife:
“Apr [18]42 Marinda Johnson to Joseph Smith.”
- Joseph Smith journal, published in An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 1989, comp. Scott Faulring, p. 396
“If R. [Richards] should take a notion to H.’s [Hyde’s] wife in his absence, all that is necessary to be done is to be sealed. No harm done, no adultery committed; only taking a little advantage of rights of priesthood. And after R. has gone the round of dissipation with H’s wife, she is afterwards turned over to S. [Smith] and thus the poor silly woman becomes the actual dupe to two designing men, under the sanctimonious garb of rights of the royal priesthood.”
- Sidney Rigdon, “To the Sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” Latter Day Saint’s Messenger and Advocate, v. 1, see pp. 154-158, 156
“Orson Hyde and W.W. Phelps turned against Joseph in Missouri, and forsook him in time of peril and danger, and even testified against him in the courts. [They asked to be reinstated.] With tears he moved that we would forgive them and receive them back into fellowship. He then sent Elder O. Hyde and John E. Page to Jerusalem, and to the land of Palestine, to dedicate that land for the gathering of the Jews. Report said that Hyde’s wife, with his consent, was sealed to Joseph for an eternal state, but I do not assert the fact.”
- John D. Lee, Mormonism Unvailed: The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, 1877, p. 147
“When he [Hyde] returned, he, in turn, imbibed the teachings of polygamy also... In the mean time it was hinted to him that Smith had had his first wife sealed to himself in his absence, as a wife for eternity. Inconsistent as it may seem, Hyde was in a furious passion... he did not propose having HIS rights interfered wife even by the holy Prophet whose teachings he had so implicitly followed, and he swore that if this was true he would never live with her again. But he did live with her for several years after the exodus from Nauvoo.”
- Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, 1876, p. 324-326
“On the return of Orson Hyde from his mission to Palestine he carried letters of introduction to me and invited me to visit his wife. I was there met by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, who, after an interesting conversation introduced the subject of plural marriage and endeavored to teach me that principle. I resisted it with every argument I could command, for, with my tradition, it was most repulsive to my feelings and rendered me very unhappy, as I could not reconcile it with the purity of the Gospel of Christ. Mr. Hyde took me home in a carriage and asked me what I thought of it and if I would consent to enter his family? I replied that I could not think of it for a moment.”
- Mary Ann Price, Autobiography, pp. 2-3; date of marriage in An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 1989, comp. Scott Faulring, p. 396
“A few years since, at a large party at the Social Hall in Salt Lake City, Orson Hyde, one of the twelve apostles, met the wife of his youth, the mother of many of his children. He had escorted some of his younger wives there, and she came with a friend. It chanced that they were seated near each other at the table, and were compelled to speak; they shook hands, exchanged a very commonplace greeting, and that was all that passed between them... it very often occurs that an elderly lady attends a party with friends, and meets her husband there with one or more younger wives; and sometimes both she and they have to watch their mutual husband while he plays the agreeable to some young girl... Sometimes these old and middle-aged ladies do not see their husbands once a year, and yet they may not live half a mile apart.”
- Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, 1876, p. 324
Elizabeth Davis:
“Finally, Elizabeth received a very early proxy marriage to the Mormon prophet in the Nauvoo temple. All these data taken together make a strong case for Elizabeth as one of Joseph Smith’s plural wives. As John Bennett left Nauvoo in June 1842, we can date the marriage as taking place before that time. If it took place in spring 1842, then Elizabeth would have been fifty-one at the time of the ceremony.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 260
Sarah Maryetta Kingsley:
“Soon after moving to the Mormon city [Nauvoo], if not before, Sarah was converted to Joseph Smith’s doctrine of celestial marriage, for she is listed by church historian Andrew Jensen as one of Smith’s wives. Although Jensen gives no date for the ceremony, Sarah and Joseph were almost certainly married before June 29, 1842, when she witnessed Eliza Snow’s marriage to Smith, according to an affidavit by Snow. Previously married wives frequently witnessed the Mormon leader’s new plural marriages, as they were part of the inner circle that could be trusted with such secret knowledge.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 277
“Elder Sherman sung in the gift of tongues & proclaimed great & marvelous things while clothed upon by the power & spirit of God.”
- Wilford Woodruff journal, v. 1, p. 120, also BYU Studies, v. 12, 1972, p. 382
Almera Johnson:
“[Hyrum] came to me and said I need not be afraid. I had been fearing and doubting about the principle and so had he, but he now knew it was true. After this time I lived with the Prophet Joseph as his wife... I had many conversations with Eliza Beaman who was also a wife of Joseph Smith... on the subject of plurality of wives.”
- Almera Johnson Barton, affidavit, August 1, 1883, see Joseph Fielding Smith, Blood Atonement, pp. 70-71
“Meanwhile the Prophet with Louisa Beeman and my Sister Delcena had it agreeably arranged with sister Almara and after a little instruction, She Stood by the Prophets Side & was Sealed to him as a wife by Brother Clayton. After which the Prophet asked me to take my Sister to occupy Room No 10 in his Mansion Home during her Stay in the City.”
- Benjamin Johnson, My Life’s Review, p. 96
Eliza Roxcy Snow:
“I was sealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for time and eternity, in accordance with the Celestial Law of Marriage which God has revealed – the ceremony being performed by a servant of the Most High – authorized to officiate in sacred ordinances. This, one of the most important circumstances of my life, I never had had cause to regret.
“From personal knowledge I bear my testimony that Plural Celestial Marriage is a pure and holy principle, not only tending to individual purity and elevation of character, but also instrumental in producing a more perfect type of manhood mentally and physically, as well as in restoring human life to its former longevity.”
- Eliza Snow Affidavit, Smith Affidavit Books, comp. by Joseph Fielding Smith, v. 1, p. 25
“I am proud to state, before this large and honorable assembly that I believe in the principle of plural marriage just as sacredly as I believe in any other institution which God has revealed. I believe it to be necessary for the redemption of the human family from the low state of corruption into which it has sunken... this sacred principle of plural marriage tends to virtue, purity and holiness. Those who represent the women of Utah as ignorant and degraded are either aiming to bring evil upon us, or they know not what they are doing.”
- Eliza Roxcy Snow, “Woman’s Mass Meeting,” Women’s Exponent, v. 7, December 1, 1878, pp. 97-98
“All I knew was that which Lucy Walker herself contends. They were so nervous and lived in such constant fear that they could not conceive. He made light of my reply. He said, ‘I am informed that Eliza Snow was a virgin at the time of her death.’ I in turn said, ‘Brother Heber C. Kimball, I am informed, asked her the question if she was not a virgin although married to Joseph Smith and afterwards to Brigham Young, when she replied in a private gathering, ‘I thought you knew Joseph Smith better than that.’”
- Angus M. Cannon, statement, 25-26, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 13
Sarah Ann Whitney:
“He [Joseph Smith, Jr.] had been strictly charged by the angel... that the most profound secrecy must be maintained... He... confided to him [Newell] the principles [of polygamy]... My husband revealed these things to me... We pondered upon them continually, and our prayers were unceasing that the Lord would grant us some special manifestation concerning this new and strange doctrine. The Lord was very merciful to us; He revealed unto us His power and glory. We were seemingly wrapt in a heavenly vision, a halo of light encircled us, and we were convinced in our own minds that God heard and approved our prayers... Our hearts were comforted and our faith made so perfect that we were willing to give our eldest daughter, then only seventeen years of age, to Joseph, in the holy order of plural marriage... laying aside all our traditions and former notions in regard to marriage, we gave her with our mutual consent.”
- Elizabeth Whitney, in Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 102
“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto my servant N.K. Whitney, the thing that my servant Joseph Smith has made known unto you and your family and which you have agreed upon is right in mine eyes and shall be rewarded upon your heads with honor and immortality and eternal life to all your house, both old and young because of the lineage of my Priesthood, saith the Lord, it shall be upon you and upon your children after you from generation to generation, by virtue of the holy promise which I now make unto you, saith the Lord....
“These are the words which you shall pronounce upon my servant Joseph and your daughter S.A. Whitney. They shall take each other by the hand and you shall say, ‘You both mutually agree,’ calling them by name, ‘to be each other’s companion so long as you both shall live, preserving yourselves for each other and from all others and also throughout eternity, reserving only those rights which have been given to my servant Joseph by revelation and commandment and by legal authority in times passed. If you both agree to covenant and do this, I then give you, S.A. Whitney, my daughter, to Joseph Smith, to be his wife, to observe all the rights between you both that belong to that condition. I do it in my own name and in the name of my wife, your mother, and in the name of my holy progenitors, by the right of birth which is of priesthood, vested in my by revelation and commandment and promise of the living God, obtained by the Holy Melchisedeck Gethrow [Jethro] and others of the Holy Fathers, commanding in the name of the Lord all those powers to concentrate in you and through you to your posterity forever. All these things I do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through this order he may be glorified and that through the power of anointing David may reign King over Israel, which shall hereafter be revealed. Let immortality and eternal life hereafter be sealed upon your heads forever and ever.”
- Joseph Smith revelation, in Daniel Bachman, “A Study of the Mormon Practice of Plural Marriage before the Death of Joseph Smith,” Master’s thesis, Purdue University, 121-122
Martha McBride:
“... she [Martha] would not be single long. In August 1842, within a month of Vinson’s death, she married Joseph Smith, with Heber C. Kimball performing the ceremony, according to an affidavit she signed later in her life and her obituary.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 371
Ruth Daggett Vose:
“Some six months later, in February 1843, Ruth was married to the prophet [Joseph Smith], with Hyrum Smith officiating, according to her own 1869 affidavit. As was usual in Smith’s polyandrous marriages, she continued to live with Edward after the ceremony. What her marriage relationship to Smith was like and whether Edward knew about the marriage are entirely unknown.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 383
Flora Ann Woodworth:
“According to an affidavit by William Clayton, Joseph Smith married Flora Ann Woodworth in the spring of 1843.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 389
“He opend the doore for us and when we were seated opposite to him he told the driver to drive on we went to the Temple lot and many other places during the Afternoon and then he drove to the Woodworth house and we got out and went in – After we got in the house sister Woodworth took me in an other room and told me that Flora was one of Joseph’s wives, I was awar or believed that Eliza R. Snow and the Patrage Girls were his wives but was not informed about Flora But now Sister Woodworth gave me all the information nessary, so I knew Joseph Believed and practiced Polygamy... Now as a matter of corse I at once after giving her Flora a mild lecture left her and looked for a companion in other places and where I could be more sure.”
- Orange Wight, see his Reminiscences, pp. 20-23; see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 390
Emily Dow Partridge:
“He taught me this principle of plural marriage that is called polygamy now, but we called it celestial marriage, and he told me that this principle had been revealed to him but it was not generally known; and he went on and said that the Lord had given me to him, and he wanted to know if I would consent to a marriage, and I consented.”
- Emily Dow Partridge, Emily Young Autobiography, p. 4; see Women’s Exponent, v. 14, August 1, 1885, p. 38
“Mrs. Durf – came to me one day and said Joseph would like an opportunity to talk with me. I asked her if she knew what he wanted. She said she thought he wanted me for a wife. I was thirely [thoroughly] prepared for almost anything. I was to meet him in the evening at Mr. Kimball’s.
- Women’s Exponent, v. 14, August 1, 1885, p. 38
“I cannot tell all Joseph said, but he said the Lord had commanded [him] to enter into plural marriage and had given me to him and although I had got badly frightened he knew I would yet have him. So he waited till the Lord told him. My mind was now prepared and would receive the principles. I do not think if I had not gone through the ordeal I did that I could ever [have] gone off at night to meet him. But that was the only way [it could] be done then. Well I was married there and then. Joseph went home his way and I going my way alone. A strange way of getting married wasen’t it? Brother Kimball married us, the 4th of March 1843.”
- Eliza Lyman autobiography, p. 219, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 408
“But the last times she [Emma] called us [Emily and Eliza] to her room I felt quite indignant and was determined it should be the last for it was becoming monotonous, and I am ashamed to say I felt indignant towards Joseph for submitting to Emma. But I see now he could do no different. When we went in Joseph was there, his countenance was the perfect picture of despair. I cannot remember all that passed at that time but she insisted that we should promise to break our covenants, that we had made before God. Joseph asked her if we made her the promises she required, if she would cease to trouble us, and not persist in our marrying some one else. She made the promise. Joseph came to us and shook hands with us, and the understanding was that all was ended between us....
“After our interview was over we went downstairs. Joseph soon came into the room where I was, said, how do you fell Emily. My heart being still hard, I answered him rather short that I expected I felt as anybody would under the circumstance. He said you know my hands are tied. And he looked as if he would sink into the earth. I knew he spoke truly, and my heart was melted, all my hard feeling was gone in a moment (toward him) but I had no time to speak for he was gone. Emma was on his track, and came in as he went out. She said Emily what did Joseph say to you? I answered, He asked me how I felt. She said you might as well tell me, for I am determined that a stop shall be put to these things, and I want you to tell me what he says to you. I replied, I shall not tell you, he can say what he pleases to me, and I shall not report it to you, there has been mischief enough made, by doing that. I am as sick of these things as you can be. I said it in a tone that she knew I meant it.”
- Emily Partridge autobiography, November 4, 1883, see In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 410-411
Lucy Walker:
“In the year 1842 President Joseph Smith sought an interview with me, and said, ‘I have a message for you, I have been commanded of God to take another wife, and you are the woman.’ My astonishment knew no bounds. This announcement was indeed a thunderbolt to me... He [Joseph Smith] fully Explained to me [Lucy Walker] the principle of plural or celestial marriage. Said this principle was again to be restored for the benefit of the human family. That it would prove an everlasting blessing to my father’s house. And form a chain that could never be broken, worlds without End.”
- Lucy Walker, “Brief Biographical Sketch,” pp. 5-6
“In the spring of 1843, my father, being away on a mission, the Prophet asked my [William Walker] consent, for my sister Lucy in marriage. I replied, that if it was her choice: that if she entered into the celestial order of marriage of her own free will and choice, I had no objection.”
- William Holmes Walker, The Life Incidents and Travels of Elder William Holmes Walker and his Association with Joseph Smith, the Prophet, 1943, pp. 9-10
Maria and Sarah Lawrence:
“In late spring 1843 Joseph married both Maria, nineteen, and Sarah, seventeen, and soon after this he married the Partridge sisters the second time.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 475
“Emma, about this time [May], gave her husband two other wives – Maria and Sarah Lawrence.”
- Emily Partridge, “Autobiography of Emily D.P. Young,” Women’s Exponent, v. 14, August 1, 1885, p. 38
Hannah Ells:
“Sometime between January and summer 1843, Hannah became a plural wife of Joseph Smith. Andrew Jenson gives only the year of the marriage, but an affidavit by John Benbow (with whom Hannah was living) shows that Hannah and Joseph were married before the summer of that year.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 537
“Hannah Ells Smith, a wife of the Prophet, boarded at his [Benbow’s] house two months during the summer of the same year [1843]; and the said Hannah E. Smith also lived at his [Benbow’s] house several months in 1844, after the Prophet’s death. And further, that President Smith frequently visited his wife Hannah at his (J.B.’s) house.”
- John Benbow, in Historical Record, v. 6, pp. 222-223
Elvira Annie Cowles:
“According to an affidavit she signed in Utah in 1869, Elvira was sealed to Joseph Smith on June 1, 1843, in Heber C. Kimball’s house, with Heber officiating and Vilate Kimball and Eliza Partridge standing as witnesses.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, p. 537
Rhoda Richards:
“I have witnessed the death of many near and dear friends, both old and young. In my days I buried my first and only love, and true to that affiance, I have passed companionless through life; but am sure of having my proper place and standing in the resurrection, having been sealed to the prophet Joseph, according to the celestial law, by his own request, under the inspiration of divine revelation.”
- Rhoda Richards affidavit, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, pp. 568-569
Olive Grey Frost:
“She seemed to realize and appreciate the magnitude of the great and important mission allotted to woman in the perfect plan of this Gospel dispensation, and she desired to do her part in the good work. She freely accorded to man the title of king, and joyfully accepted the place of queen by his side. It was at this time [summer 1843] that the principle of plurality of wives was taught to her. She never opposed it, and, as in the case of baptism, soon accepted it to be her creed, in practice as well as in theory. She was married for time and all eternity to Joseph Smith some time previous to his death and martyrdom.”
- Mary Ann Winters, “Sealing and Adoption Book A.” Marriott Library
Melissa Lott:
“You both mutually agree to be each other’s companion, husband, and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition, that is, keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all others during your lives....
I was married for time and eternity.”
- Melissa Lott under oath, Temple Lot Case, pp. 314-315
Nancy Maria Winchester:
“Nancy Maria must have married Joseph Smith at about this time. Our best evidence for the union is Andrew Jenson [in Historical Record], who lists ‘Maria Winchester’ as one of Smith’s wives; in addition, Orson Whitney, the son of Nancy Maria’s friend, Helen, also identified her as a Smith wife. These two witnesses, taken together, make a good case for her marriage to the prophet, the best hypothesis is that the ceremony took place in 1843, since the last recorded plural marriage to Smith took place on November 2, 1843. If so, she became his wife at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Nothing more is known of this union.”
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, by Todd Compton, pp. 568-569
Fanny Young:
“I recollect a sister [Fanny Young] conversing with Joseph Smith on this subject. She told him: ‘Now, don't talk to me; when I get into the celestial kingdom, if I ever do get there, I shall request the privilege of being a ministering angel; that is the labor that I wish to perform. I don't want any companion in that world; and if the Lord will make me a ministering angel, it is all I want.’ Joseph said, ‘Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know what you will want.’ He then said to me: ‘Here, brother Brigham, you seal this lady [Fanny] to me.’ I sealed her to him. This was my own sister according to the flesh.
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 16, pp. 166-167, August 31, 1873
A test for Heber and Vilate Kimball:
“It was no less than a requirement for him [Heber C. Kimball] to surrender his wife, his beloved Vilate, and give her to Joseph [Smith] in marriage!”
- Apostle Orson Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1888, pp. 333-335
“Then, with a broken and bleeding heart, but with soul self-mastered for the sacrifice, he led his darling wife to the Prophet’s house and presented her to Joseph. Joseph wept at this proof of devotion, and embracing Heber, told him that was all that the Lord required.”
- Apostle Orson Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 1888, pp. 333-335
“This [the requirement for Heber to take a plural wife] was the greatest test of his faith he had ever experienced... the thought of deceiving the kind and faithful wife of his youth, whom he loved with all his heart, and who with him had borne so patiently their separation and all the trials and sacrifices they had been called to endure, was more than he felt able to bear.”
- Women’s Exponent, v. 10, October 15, 1881, p. 74