Joseph Smith’s Plural Marriages

It appears that a great deal of misunderstanding exists surrounding Joseph Smith's plural marriages. Evidence indicates that he knew the practice was difficult for his followers, especially women.

Available documents support that Joseph Smith was sealed to plural wives other than his legal wife Emma Smith. However, contrary to some anti-Mormon accounts, he was cautious and selective.

How many women and what was the type of marriage to the Prophet? Over the past decades, numerous researchers have examined the question, creating different lists. These lists are all compared in the diagram:

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My research corroborates all thirty-three of the plural wives identified by Todd Compton (In Sacred Loneliness, 4-8), while adding one more, Esther Dutcher.

Despite the large number of plural wives, none of the women every complained about his treatment of them.

Todd Compton also compiled a list of eight "possible wives."

Without providing any new evidence, author George D. Smith inflated Compton's list to thirty-eight by lowering the evidentiary bar.

An examination of the types of plural marriages experienced by Joseph Smith with his plural wives indicates that three forms of unions were contracted. Some were for this life only, called “time” only matrimonies. Most were “time and eternity” sealings, meaning a marriage for this life that would continue after death and forever.

Also, over a third of the relationships were “eternity” only sealings. An "eternity" only sealing is a marriage only for the next life, after death. It permits the woman to be married to a different man on earth. While a few of "eternity" only marriages were performed during Joseph Smith's lifetime, evidence indicates the practice was discontinued after his death.