Joseph Smith Did Not Marry Every Woman He Could

Evidence shows that Joseph Smith did not marry every woman available to him. He could have contracted additional plural marriages, if he had desired. For example, Benjamin F. Johnson wrote: “The orphan girl - Mary Ann Hale - that my mother had raised from a child, was now living with us… and I asked him if he would not like her, as well as Almira [whom he had already married]. He said, 'No, but she is for you. You keep her and take her for your wife and you will be blessed.'"[1]

In addition, both Lucy Walker (b. 1826) and her older sister, Catherine (b. 1824), lived with the Prophet in his home. In 1892, Lucy testified that Catherine, who lived there longer than Lucy, was never married to Joseph Smith and knew nothing of her own sealing to the Prophet.[2] No evidence has been found that he ever discussed the topic with her.

Available evidence indicates that Joseph Smith used plural marriage as a test for several of the apostles. Two narratives involving Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor demonstrate that these men were willing to give their legal wives to the Prophet, if that were required. In both cases, Joseph Smith did not marry their wives, but sealed them to their husbands.[3] No historical data has been found showing that the Prophet demanded a follower to give up his wife so he could marry her.

Two accounts exist describing how the Prophet sought plural marriages for his brothers Hyrum and William, rather than seeking to marry the women himself. In 1908, Almira, daughter of Martha McBride Knight, was asked if she had ever received a proposal to be a plural wife:

She looked startled and answered, "Yes and No." She said, "One day mother and I were in the front room and Joseph Smith came walking down the street and turned in at our gate. I had a hunch and as he entered the front door I went out the back and remained until he left. When I returned my Mother told me that Joseph had come at the request of his brother, Hyrum, to ask me to be his wife. And also asked Mother to ask me, seeing I wasn't in. So when my mother said, Almira what do you say about it?" I said, "No."[4]

Mary Ann Covington (Sheffield Smith Stratton West) recalled her interaction with the Prophet:

I went to live at Orson Hyde’s and soon after that time Joseph Smith wished to have an interview with me at Orson Hyde’s. He had the interview with me, and then asked me if I had ever heard of a man’s having more wives than one, and I said I had not. He then told me that he had received a revelation from God that man could have more wives than one, and that men were now being married in plural marriage. He told me soon after that his brother William wished to marry me as a wife in plural marriage if I felt willing to consent to it… He said that there was power on earth to seal wives in plural marriages.[5]

The historical record indicates that Joseph Smith could have been sealed to several more women if he had sought to do so. For reasons he never explained, he declined some plural marriage opportunities, accepted others, and arranged additional polygamous unions for family members and friends.[6]

[1] Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life’s Review, Mesa: 21st Century Printing, n.d. 96; Joseph F. Smith Affidavit Books, 2:7.

[2] See Lucy Walker, deposition, Temple Lot transcript, respondent’s testimony (part 3), pages 458, 461, questions 207-09, 283.

[3] See Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1945), 323-24; John Mills Whitaker, Autobiography and Journals, 1883-1960, MS 1356, LDS CHL, Reel 1, entry dated November 1, 1890. Whitaker's typed version was apparently based on his shorthand original. See also Samuel W. Taylor, The Kingdom or Nothing: The Life of John Taylor, Militant Mormon, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., and London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1976, 80-83, 87-89.

[4] Almira Hanscom statement, 1908 in "Autobiography of Hyrum Belnap," from a compilation by Della Belnap titled "Biographies of the Belnap and Knight Families" (typescript), copied by BYU library 1958; copy at BYU HBLL Special Collections—Amer BX 8670.1 .B41. This statement is found on page 55 of whole compilation, or page 20 of Hyrum Belnap Autobiography.

[5] Mary Ann West, Deposition, Temple Lot transcript, respondent’s testimony (part 3), pages 495-96, 504, questions 13, 272. According to her testimony, this was the only time she discussed plural marriage with the Prophet. See ibid., page 503, questions 264-65.

[6] Joseph Smith also facilitated the plural marriages of Parley P. Pratt to Elizabeth Brotherton (see “Affidavit of Mary Ann Pratt,” MS 3423, CHL) and Heber C. Kimball to Sarah Noon. (See Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, “Scenes and Incidents In Nauvoo,” Women’s Exponent, 10 [October 15, 1881] 10:74.)