Alleged Sexual Impropriety between Joseph Smith and

Clarissa Reed Hancock

Source:

Fawn Brodie suggests that Clarissa Reed Hancock was married to Joseph Smith or had a relationship in 1840.

Accusation:

“There is a tradition among some of the descendants of Levi Hancock that Mrs. Hancock was sealed to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo and that one of her sons may have been his child. Since there seems to be no printed or manuscript evidence to support this story, however, it must be taken with considerable reserve.”[1]

Discussion:

A few authors concurred,[2] while others have disagreed that Clarrisa Reed Hancock was a plural wife of Joseph Smith.[3] Fawn Brodie asserts: “Legend among the descendants of Levi W. Hancock points to another son of the prophet. If the legend is true, the child was probably John Reed Hancock… Oddly, the next Hancock child, born considerably after Joseph Smith’s death, was named Levison, as if to satisfy any doubt that Levi Hancock was in truth the father.”[4]

The child in question, John R. Hancock, was born April 19, 1841 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Conception would have occurred around July 28, 1840, which date (with the accompanying legend) is the sole evidence for an 1840 relationship between Joseph Smith and Clarissa. It appears that Joseph Smith was living in Nauvoo at that time, but other than conjecture and geographic proximity, there is nothing to support this allegation.

Stanley Ivins lists Clarissa as a plural wife, but adds: “There appears to be no documentary evidence of this.”[5] In fact, most historians do not include Clarissa as one of the Prophet’s plural wives (at any time) including Andrew Jenson, D. Michael Quinn, Michael Marquardt, and Todd Compton.[6] Compton comments: “Brodie posits a union between Joseph and Clarissa; however, I am aware of no evidence for any such relationship.”[7]

Summary

Other than speculation and a family "legend," evidence of a sexual relationship or plural marriage between Joseph Smith and Clarissa Reed Hancock is absent. This reference by Fawn Brodie illustrates her willingness to inflate the number of Joseph Smith's plural wives based upon the flimsiest of evidences.

[1] Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, 2nd rev. ed. New York, 1971, 464.

[2] See for example, Martha Sonntag Bradley and Mary Brown Firmage Woodward, “Plurality, Patriarchy, and the Priestess: Zina D. H. Young’s Nauvoo Marriages,” Journal of Mormon History, 20 (Spring 1994) 1: 96. [84-118]

[3] See Andrew Jenson, "Plural Marriage," Historical Record 6 (July 1887): 233-34), D. Michael Quinn (The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994], 587-88), and Todd Compton (In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997, 4-8).

[4] Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, 2nd rev. ed. New York, 1971, 345.

[5] Stanley S. Ivins collection, USHS. His list is reproduced in Jerald Tanner, and Sandra Tanner. Joseph Smith and Polygamy. Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm, n.d. 46.

[6] Andrew Jenson, "Plural Marriage," Historical Record 6 (July 1887): 233-34); D. Michael Quinn (The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1994], 587-88); Michael Marquardt (The Rise of Mormonism: 1816-1844, Longwood, Florida: Xulon Press, 2005, 561); Todd Compton, (In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997, 4-8).

[7] Todd Compton, “Fanny Alger Smith Custer Mormonism’s First Plural Wife?” Journal of Mormon History, 22 (Spring 1996) 1:189 fn50. [174-207]