List of the wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.

A majority of historians agree that Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism, taught and practiced polygamy during his ministry, and married several dozen women during his life time, even though Smith, and the leading quorums of his church, publicly denied he taught or practiced it. ["Notice", "Times and Seasons", Volume 5, No. 3, 1 February 1844 (p. 423 in [http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2FNCMP1820-1846&CISOPTR=8375&REC=10&CISOBOX=Polygamy bound edition] — [http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n03.htm alt source] of text) "As we have lately been credibly informed, that an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Hiram Brown, has been preaching Polygamy, and other false and corrupt doctrines, in the county of Lapeer, state of Michigan." ] [ cite book |last= Roberts |first= B. H. (Brigham Henry) |authorlink= B. H. Roberts |title= History of the Church |date= 1912 |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=pGi-iiz6juYC |volume= 6 |pages= [http://books.google.com/books?id=pGi-iiz6juYC&pg=PA411&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=0_0 p. 411] |quote= What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. ] ["The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star" 4 [January 1844] : 144] Additionally, after his death, several women were "sealed" to him. [cite journal |url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/pdfsrc/19.3Beecher.pdf |title=All Things Move in Order in the City: The Nauvoo Diary of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs |editor=Maureen Ursenbach Beecher |last=Jacobs |first=Zina Diantha Huntington | journal=BYU Studies |volume=19 |issue=3 |pp=285 ]

The first publication of a list of Smith's alleged plural wives was in 1887, by assistant Mormon church historian Andrew Jenson, and included 27 women besides Emma Smith. [Jenson, A. "Historical Record" 6 [May 1887] :233–234] ] Currently, there is disagreement as to the precise number of polygamous wives Smith had. Various scholars and historians have attempted to identify the list of women that married Joseph Smith, including Fawn Brodie, [Harvnb|Brodie|1971|p=457] D. Michael Quinn, [Harvnb|Quinn|1994|p=587] George D. Smith, [Harvnb|Smith|1994|p=14] and Todd Compton. The discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support the alleged marriages to some of the named wives. As Compton has stated, for many of these marriages "absolutely nothing is known of [the] marriage after the ceremony". [ [http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=290 Maxwell Institute, BYU] ]

Smith's son Joseph Smith III, widow Emma Smith and most members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS, now called the Community of Christ) refuted the evidence presented and taught that Joseph Smith opposed the practice of polygamy. [Harvnb|Whitmer|1887] [ [http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n06.htm "Times and Seasons", Volume 5, page 474] ] [ [http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n03.htm "Times and Seasons", Volume 5, page 423] ] ["The Latter-Day Saints' Millennial Star" 4 [January 1844] : 144]

List of wives

See also

* Children of Joseph Smith, Jr.
* List of Brigham Young's wives

Notes

References

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