Evidence of sexual relations in Joseph Smith's plural marriage with Lucy Walker:
|
Wife’s Name |
Witness |
Quotation |
Reference |
Lucy Walker
|
Self
|
Q. Can you state the circumstances under which h [Joseph Smith] first taught you that principle [of plural marriage]? A. Well, the circumstances were these, - it was a command from Go to me to receive it, and I would rather have laid down my life than disobeyed it, but it was a grand and glorious principle that was to be established, and when I was called upon I stepped forward and gave myself up as a sacrifice to establish that principle, and I did that in the face of prejudice, of course. In this day and age [1892] we are considered fanatics of course, more or less. I gave myself up as a sacrifice, for it was not a love matter, so to speak, in our affairs, at least on my part it was not, -- but simply the giving up of myself as a sacrifice to establish that grand and glorious principle that God had revealed to the world. Q. Did you live with Joseph Smith as his wife? A. He was my husband sir… Q. How many children did you have by virtue of your marriage with Joseph Smith? A. I decline to answer that question sir. Q. Did you have any? A. I decline to answer the question. Q. Have you any children by Joseph Smith? A. I decline to answer the question Q. Why do you decline to answer it? A. Well I think that is my business and one of yours. The principle by which we were married is an eternal principle, and will endure forever… Q. Well did you raise a child by him? A. I decline to answer the question. Q. Did you ever occupy the same bed with him? A. I decline to answer the question. Q. You say you will not answer any of these questions. A. I do, not on that subject. Q. Did you ever see a child that you knew was Joseph Smith’s outside of David, Alexander, Frederick and Joseph? A. I decline to answer that question… Q. You know you did not have any children by him [Joseph Smith]? A. Well now that is something that I did not tell you anything about at all. It is none of your business if we had twenty sons or children, and it is none of your business if we did not have any. |
Lucy Walker deposition, |
D. H. Morris
|
“I… married Joseph Smith as a plural wife and
lived and cohabited with him as such.” |
Morris, D.H. “Statement,” June 12, 1930.[1] |
|
Theodocia Frances Walker Davis
(niece of Lucy Walker)
|
"Mrs. Davis daughter of Wm Walker [Lucy’s
brother] at |
Joseph Smith III Journal, Nov 12 [or Nov 18?],
1876, Community of Christ Archives |
|
Angus Cannon
|
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. |
Statement in interview with Joseph Smith III,
1905, CHL. |
|
John Walker
|
“They [Joseph Smith’s sons] seem surprised
that there was no issue from asserted plural marriages with
their father. Could
they but realize the hazardous life he lived, after that
revelation was given, they would comprehend the reason.
He was harassed and hounded and lived in constant fear of
being betrayed by those who ought to have been true to him.”
|
Lucy Walker, “Statement.”[2] |
[1] Copy in Vesta P. Crawford Collection, Marriott Library, University of Utah, MS 125, bx 1, fd 5.
[2] Lucy Walker, “Lucy Walker Statement,” quoted in Rodney W. Walker and Noel W. Stevenson, Ancestry and Descendents of John Walker [1794-1869] of Vermont and Utah, Descendants of Robert Walker, an Emigrant of 1632 from England to Boston, Mass. [Kaysville, Utah: Inland Printing Col., 1953] 35.
