Mormon Polygamy Documents

Original Document Links

Documentation of Joseph Smith's Plural Wives

Oliver Cowdery Letter to Warren Cowdery  | January 21, 1838 | Oliver Cowdery Letterbook | Joseph Smith Papers |
  • __
William Clayton's Personal Writings and Nauvoo Diaries  | Compiled by Robert C. Fillerup | 1840-1846 | 304 Pages
John C. Bennett | The History of the Saints | 1842 | 344 Pages
    • P. 219 -
Oliver H. Olney Papers | 1842-1843 | Typed copy | Yale University
  • folder labeled “Nauvoo Female Society.” Some of the writing on the document is dated October 18, 1843.
William Law | The Nauvoo Expositor | 1844 | __ Pages
    • P. 219 -
Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Annointings | Brown |
  • P. 282 - Lucy Walker
  • P. 284 - Elvira Cowles
  • P. 285 - Helen Mar Kimball to Joseph Smith
George A. Smith Letter to Joseph Smith III | Oct. 9, 1869 | Archive.org | __ pages

 

 

40 Affidavits on Celestial Marriage, Book number 1 (second series) (Joseph F. Smith)

Church History Library Description: "Affidavits are similar copies to those registered in Book 1 in folder 44, but pagination sometimes varies. A crossed out affidavit for Vienna Jaques, in Joseph F. Smith's handwriting, is located on page 56. Name index is at end of volume."

Affidavits on Celestial Marriage, Book number 2, 1870, 1903 (Joseph F. Smith)

Church History Library Description: "Volume contains plural marriage affidavits as copied by Joseph F. Smith. Those through page 18 and that on page 50 are signed by affiants and certified. Bathsheba W. Smith's 1903 affidavit is copied by Joseph Fielding Smith. Front and back fly leaves are embossed with name of Joseph F. Smith."

 

Affidavits on Celestial Marriage, Book number 2 (second series), 1870 (Joseph F. Smith)

Church History Library Description: "Affidavits are similar to copies registered in Book 2 in folder 45; volume does not contain a copy of Bathsheba W. Smith's 1903 affidavit."

Andrew Jenson Collection | MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.| Names and notes about women who have been identified as probable wives of Joseph Smith | 40 Pages
  • Blank pages: 2, 6, 8, 16, 18, 20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 34, 38, 40
  • P. 1  Eliza R. Snow, “First list of wives,”
  • P. 3 Lucinda Harris Morgan, scribbled out sheet
  • P. 4 Eldredge died 1871? scribbled out sheet
  • P. 5 Mary Rollins lightner and a few names
  • P. 7 Fanny Young biographical sheet
  • P. 9 Ruth Vose Sayers
  • P. 10 blankish
  • P. 11 Ruth Vose Sayers?
  • P. 12 unclear something about March 1886
  • P. 13 Ruth Vose Sayers
  • P. 14 blankish
  • P. 15 Marietta Welling letter to Andrew Jenson
  • P. 17 Elvira Cowles
  • P. 19 Sarah M. Cleveland (name)
  • P. 21-22  List of women sealed to Joseph Smith
  • P. 23 Fanny Alger
  • P. 25 Hannah Ells biographical sheet
  • P. 27 Sylvia sessions biographical sheet
  • P. 29 Flora Ann Woodworth biographical sheet
  • P. 31  Malissa Ann Willis signed affidavit June 27, 1887?
  • P. 32 Flora woodworth (name)
  • P. 33 Rhoda Richards biographical sheet
  • P. 35 Ruth Vose Sayers biographical sheet
  • P. 36 Abraham Hoagland? scribbled out page
  • P. 37 Sarah Ann Whitney biographical sheet
  • P. 39 Eliza Snow biographical sheet

Further research on Jensen can be found at: Perkins, Keith W., “A Study of the Contributions of Andrew Jenson to the Writing and Preservation of LDS Church History.” M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971.

William McLellin, Letter to Joseph Smith III | January 10, 1861 | Community of Christ Archives | Mormonpolyamydocuments.org
William McLellin, Letter to Joseph Smith III | July 1872 | Community of Christ Archives
William W. Blair Diary | June 17, 1874 | Community of Christ Archives | Mormonpolygamydocuments.org

"Whitehead says Joseph did teach polygamy and practice too. That Emma knows it and that she put the hand of wives in Joseph's hand."

William McLellin to Orson Pratt | Joseph F. Smith Diary | Sept. 6, 1878 (not verified if this is when JFS wrote this) |

William McLellln in conversation with Emma Smith on August 28, 1847, later wrote:

“Mrs. Joseph Smith, the widow of the Prophet, told me in 1847 that she knew her husband – the Prophet practiced both adultery and polygamy.”

- William E. McLellin Notebook, ca. 1880, John L. Traughber Collection, Ms 666, Manuscripts Division, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt lake City

On September 6, 1878, McLellin was visited by Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt. Joseph F. recorded in his diary:

“He [McLellin] said Emma Smith told him that Joseph was both a polygamist and an adulterer.” Joseph Fielding Smith, comp., Life of Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938), 239

Wife No. 19 | Ann Eliza Webb Young | 1875 | Archive.org
  • p. 66-67 Fanny Alger
  • p. 72 Louisa Beaman
Andrew Jenson | The Historical Record | 1886? | Plural Marriage | P. 219-234
    • P. 219 -
Joseph Smith III Letter to Bro. E.C. Brand | Letter Press Book #4, 63–67, P6, Community of Christ Archives | 1880s (estimated) | Plural Marriage | __ pages
  • p. 79 - See this page
Helen Mar Kimball Autobiography | March 30, 1881 | CHL MS 744 | Original
John Hawley, Autobiography | 1885 |
  • Fanny Alger reference
  • Mormon polygamy documents
Mormon Portraits | Wyl [pseud. of Wilhelm Ritter Von Wymetal] |  1886 |
  • p. 54-55 quoted Sarah Pratt
  • p. 57 Chauncey Webb
Temple Lot Case | 1893 |  Typed copy
  • Temple Lot case fair lds summary and links
Benjamin F. Johnson My Life's Review | 1895?? |  Typed copy
    • p. 96 - see this page
Autobiography of Levi Ward Hancock, Reminiscence of Mosiah Hancock | June 6, 1896 |  CHL MS 570 |
    • See P. 63-64
    • Editorial Note From Fanny Alger Church topics essay “Hancock, who was only two years old when Fanny left Kirtland in 1836, and Johnson relied on secondhand information for their accounts.”
Benjamin F. Johnson Letter to George F. Gibbs | 1903 |  LDS Church History Library | 1903 | 72 pages
Benjamin F. Johnson Letter to Anthon H. Lund  |  LDS Church History Library | 1903 | 22 pages
Utah Newspapers Archives  |  University of Utah Library | Scans of all of Utah's newspapers

 

 

—————-

Agnes M Coolbrith

Almera Johnson

Delcena Johnson

Desdemona Fullmer

Eliza Maria Partridge

Eliza R. Snow

Elizabeth Davis

Elvira Cowles

  • Elvira A. C. Holmes, Affidavit, August 28, 1869, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavit Books, 1:78, 4:80.
  • Malissa Lott, “First list of wives,” Document #1, dictated to Jenson, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Marietta Welling, “Letter of Marietta Welling to Jenson regarding Elvira Cowles Holmes, June 30, 1887,” Document #6, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Jenson, “Elvira Cowles biographical information sheet,” Document #7, in Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 234.
  • Nauvoo Temple proxy marriage to Joseph Smith, February 3, 1846, in Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings, 284.
  • Accompanied Eliza R. Snow, Sarah Ann Whitney, and Elizabeth Davis to visit Malissa Lot on June 29, 1843, in Beecher, The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, 78.

Emily Dow Partridge

Esther Dutcher

  • Daniel H. Wells to Joseph F. Smith, June 25, 1888.

Fanny Alger

Fanny Young

Flora Ann Woodworth

Hannah Ells

Helen Mar Kimball

I was baptized by Uncle Brigham Young in a branch of the Chagrin river, my father cutting the ice for that purpose. He & Brigham Young then belonged to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Years passed away and we were living in the City of Nauvoo. Just previous to my father’s starting upon his last mission but one, to the Eastern States, he taught me the principle [p. 1] of Celestial marriage, & having a great desire to be connected with the Prophet, Joseph, he offered me to him; this I afterwards learned from the Prophet’s own mouth. My father had but one Ewe Lamb, but willingly laid her upon the alter: how cruel this seamed to the mother whose heartstrings were already stretched untill they were ready to snap asunder, for he had taken Sarah Noon to wife & she thought she had made sufficient sacrafise, but the Lord required more. I will pass over the temptations which I had during the twenty four hours after my father introduced to me this principle & asked me if I would be sealed to Joseph, who came next morning & with my parents I heard him teach & explain the principle of [p. 1] Celestial marrage-after which he said to me, “If you will take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation & that of your father’s household & all of your kindred.

This promise was so great that I will-ingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward. None but God & his angels could see my mother’s bleeding heart—when Joseph asked her if she was willing, she replied “If Helen is willing I have nothing more to say.” She had witnessed the sufferings of others, who were older & who better understood the step they were taking, & to see her child, who had scarcely seen her fifteenth summer, following in the same thorny path, in her mind she saw the misery which was as sure to come as the sun was to rise and set; but it was all hidden from me.

I thought through this life my time will be my own

The step I now am taking’s for eternity alone,

No one need be the wiser, through time I shall be free,

And as the past hath been the future still will be.

To my guileless heart all free from worldly care

And full of blissful hopes—and youthful visions rare

The world seamed bright the thret’ning clouds were kept

From sight, and all looked fair but pitying angels wept.

They saw my youthful friends grow shy and cold.

And poisonous darts from sland’rous tongues were hurled,

Untutor’d heart in thy gen’rous sacrafise,

Thou dids’t not weigh the cost nor know the bitter price;

Thy happy dreems all o’er thou’rt doom’d alas to be

Bar’d out from social scenes by this thy destiny,

And o’er thy sad’nd mem’ries of sweet departed joys

Thy sicken’d heart will brood and imagine future woes,

And like a fetter’d bird with wild and longing heart,

Thou’lt dayly pine for freedom and murmor at thy lot;

But could’st thou see the future & view that glorious crown,

Awaiting you in Heaven you would not weep nor mourn, [p. 2]

Pure and exalted was thy father’s aim, he saw

A glory in obeying this high celestial law,

For to thousands who’ve died without the light

I will bring eternal joy & make thy crown more bright.

I’d been taught to receive the Prophet of God

And receive every word as the word of the Lord.

But had this not come through my dear father’s mouth,

I should ne’r have received it as God’s sacred truth.

Two years after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum I loved and married your father, Horace Kimball Whitney, eldest son of Bishop Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney. He stood proxy for Joseph & I stood for Elizabeth Sikes. We were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple over the alter on the 3d of Feb. 1846.

Louisa Beaman

  • (under evidence a lot of comparison 1841 vs 1840
  • Joseph B. Noble, Affidavit, June 26, 1869, Joseph F. Smith, Affidavit Books, 1:3, 4:1.
  • George A. Smith, Letter to Joseph Smith III, October 9, 1869.
  • Franklin D. Richards, Journal, January 22, 1869.
  • Joseph B. Noble, quoted in Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruffs Journal, 6:452, February 22, 1869.
  • William Clayton, Affidavit, February 16, 1874.
  • Almera Johnson, Affidavit, August 1, 1883.
  • Joseph B. Noble, quoted in Karl A. Larson and Katherine Miles Larson, eds., Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 2:515.
  • Joseph Bates Noble, Testimony at the Temple Lot Case, Part 3, pp. 432, 436, questions 793, 799, 861.
  • Joseph B. Noble, Affidavit, quoted in B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 2:102.
  • Joseph B. Noble, quoted in Franklin D. Richards, Journal, January 22, 1869 (loose sheet, numbered 145).
  • Joseph Noble, Address, June 11, 1883, at Centerville, Utah, stake conference, in Journal History.
  • Eliza R. Snow, “First list of wives,” Document #1, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Erastus Snow, Affidavit, in Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 232.
  • Erastus Snow, St. George Utah Stake [Conference], General Minutes, Sunday, June 17, 1883, 2 p.m., LR 7836 11, Reel 1.
  • Bennett, The History of the Saints, 256: “Miss L***** B*****.”
  • Orson Pratt, quoted in “Report of Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith,” 788. Date of sealing given but Louisa=s name not provided.
  • Ann Eliza Webb Young, Wife No. 19, 72
  • .
  • Benjamin Winchester, Testimony to Joseph Smith III, Council Bluffs, Iowa, November 27, 1900, Community of Christ Archives.
  • Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 239; biography of Joseph B. Noble.
  • Nauvoo Temple Proxy Marriage to Joseph Smith, January 14, 1846. Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings, 281.
  • Joseph Smith III, Letter to E. C. Brand, n.d. [likely early 1880s] Letter Press Book #4, pp. 63–67. (see p. 79 of link)
  • Wilford Woodruff, “Historian’s Private Journal,” (one volume, 1858-1878), undated statement written between a July 1, 1866 entry and a November 18, 1874 entry. Date is 1840. See chart below.
  • Johnson, My Life’s Review, 96.
  • [Oliver Olney?], uncatalogued and untitled manuscript, Western Americana MSS, Beinecke Library, Yale University, folder labeled “Nauvoo Female Society.” Some of the writing on the document is dated October 18, 1843.

Lucinda Pendleton

Lucy Walker

Malissa Lott

Maria Lawrence

Marinda Nancy Johnson

  • Joseph Smith, Journal, a list of marriages in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock, entered after July 14, 1843: “Apr 42 Marinda Johnson to Joseph Smith.” Turley, Selected Collections, Vol. 1, DVD #20, MS155_1_6_320.jpg.; it is written in the hand of a different scribe from previous entries on an undated page after the final entry in that journal dated July 14, 1843. Transcribed in Scott H. Faulring, ed., An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 396.
  • Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, Affidavit, May 1, 1869, Joseph F. Smith Affidavit Books, 1:15, 4:15.
  • Emmeline Wells, Letter to Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, March 12, 1887.
  • Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 147.

Martha McBride

  • Martha McBride, Affidavit, July 8, 1869, MS 3423, LDS Church History Library; copied in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavit Books, 2:36; 3:36. See also Joseph Fielding Smith, Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage, 72; p. 86 in 1905 ed.
  • Jenson, “Second, revised list of wives,” Document #9, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Nauvoo Temple proxy marriage to Joseph Smith, January 26, 1846; Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings, 283.
  • Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1945), 419.

Mary Elizabeth Rollins

  • Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Affidavit, March 23, 1877.
  • Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, “Autobiography,” 18–20.
  • Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Letter to Emmeline B. Wells, Summer 1905.
  • Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Address given at BYU, April 14, 1905, 2.
  • Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Statement, February 8, 1902.
  • Emmeline B. Wells, Letters to Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, February 10, March 12, June 22, 1887.
  • Mary Lightner, James H. Rollins, and John D. T. McAllister, Letter to John Taylor, May 22, 1882.
  • Mary Lightner, Letter to President Woodruff, October 7, 1887; Mary Lightner, Letter to Wilford Woodruff, October 9, 1887.
  • Eliza R. Snow, “First list of wives,” Document #1, Andrew Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Nauvoo Temple proxy marriage to Joseph Smith, January 17, 1846. Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings, 282.
  • Andrew Jenson, “Mary Lightner biographical sheet,” Document #3, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 234.
  • L. John Nuttall, Diary, April 18, 1884; Jedediah S. Rogers, ed., In the President=s Office: The Diaries of L. John Nuttall, 1879–1892, 123.

Mary Heron

  • Joseph Ellis Johnson alleged in 1850 that he was aware of sexual relations between Joseph Smith and Mary Heron, his mother-in-law. Misc Minutes, B.Y. Collection, September 2, 1850, D. Michael Quinn PapersCAdditionCUncat WA MS 244 (Accession:19990209-c) Box 1. This document is available on Richard E. Turley Jr., Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 2002), Vol. 1, DVD #18, but that entry is blacked out, restricted because it deals with Church disciplinary proceedings.
  • Nancy Maria Winchester
  • Eliza R. Snow, “First list of wives,” Document #1, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 234.
  • Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 419.
  • Nauvoo Temple proxy marriage to Joseph Smith, February 3, 1846, in Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings, 284.

Olive G. Frost

  • Eliza R. Snow, “First list of wives,” Document #1, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  • Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 235, 234.
  • Joseph E. Robinson, Diary, October 26, 1902.
  • James Whitehead, Interviewed by Joseph Smith III, April 20, 1885.
  • Proxy sealing to Joseph Smith, April 4, 1899, under the direction of President Lorenzo Snow, Salt Lake Temple Sealing Records, Book D, 243, GS film, 184,590, LDS Family History Library, in Tinney, “The Royal Family of the Prophet Joseph Smith” 41, 63.

Patty Bartlett

Presendia Huntington

Rhoda Richards

Ruth Vose

Sarah Ann Whitney

Sarah Lawrence

Sylvia Sessions

Zina Huntington

  • Zina D. Huntington Affidavit, May 1, 1869, Joseph F. Smith Affidavit Books, 1:5, 4:5,
  • Malissa Lott, “First list of wives,” Document #1, Andrew Jenson Papers, MS 17956, Box 49, fd. 16.
  •  Jenson, “Plural Marriage,” 233.
  • Oliver Huntington, Journal, February 18, 1883, October 27, 1887.
  • John Wight, interviewer, “Evidence from Zina D. Huntington Young, October 1, 1898,” Saints Herald 52 (January 11, 1905): 28–30.
  • Emmeline B. Wells, “A Distinguished Woman: Zina D. H. Young,” 99.
  • William Hall, The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed, 43–44.
  • John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, edited by W. W. Bishop, 132.
  • Nauvoo Temple proxy marriage to Joseph Smith, February 2, 1846, in Brown, Nauvoo Sealings, Adoptions, and Anointings,, 284.
  • Joseph Smith III, Letter to Bro. E. C. Brand, n.d. [likely early 1880s] Letter Press Book #4, 63–67, P6, Community of Christ Archives. (see p. 79 of this book)
  • Jane Wilkie Hooper Blood, Autobiography and Abridged Diary, edited by Ivey Hooper Blood Hill, 241, July 22, 1892.
  • Wilford Woodruff, “Historian’s Private Journal,” (one volume, 1858-1878), undated statement written between a July 1, 1866 entry and a November 18, 1874 entry. Date is for 1840. See chart below.

Joseph F. Smith Affidavits

Just in case you forgot...

Joseph Smith Affidavits—from the LDS Church Archives—Ms 3423—Folder 2

Transcriber’s notes:

  • The documents in this folder are unbound loose sheets.
  • Within the limits of what a careful transcriber can ensure, errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage are those of the original author or scribe.
  • This transcription has been compared against available published versions of these documents and is more accurate, the published versions having frequently been misread and standardized.
  • Some of the affidavits in these folders are handwritten copies of the originals; others are the originals.  In either case, they are the versions that appear to be the earliest and most reliable. I have noted only significant variations in other copies.
  • Italicizing and underlining in the transcription indicate underlining in the originals.

Key to Transcription Symbols:

Folder #x Folder number indicates the folder of the collection Ms 3423 in which the document was found.

Image #x The image numbers are numbers that were assigned to each document page when it was put into digital form.  They do not reflect page numbers on the documents themselves, which are generally unpaginated.

________   Lines like this above and below text mark off separate documents.

\example/   Words set off like this were added above the line.

[e/i] Letters within brackets, where a “/” divides them indicate that the first letter was written over the second.

[text here] Bracketed text in any form other than [x/y] was added to clarify meaning, indicate omissions, and supply document titles and dates.

[Affidavit of X] Document titles written in brackets were added by me.

Affidavit of X Document titles written without brackets are internal to the document, generally having been written on the back of the original.  These titles were usually added by the Church Historian.

Book 2, page #X Notations like “copied to Book 2, page #X” indicate where the document was copied into the bound Joseph Smith Affidavits.

 

Folder 2, images 3-4

  1. H. Gurley’s letter to Lyman O. Littlefield [April 15, 1886]

 

[Typescript copy of letter published in the newspaper—Utah State Journal (Logan), June 5, 1886.  The letter discusses the circumstances surrounding Gurley’s securing an affidavit from Leonard Soby to the effect that Joseph Smith did practice polygamy.  Rather than transcribe this letter, I’m including a PDF copy of the Utah State Journal article in which this letter, and a letter to Gurley from Littlefield, were printed.  While the exchange is not highly relevant to Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy, it sheds light on the context and accuracy of Soby’s statement.]

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, images 5-6

[Zina Huntington—Historian’s brief note about her first marriage being mentioned in the Times and Seasons and of her affidavit, which was not quoted—not transcribed.]

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, images 7-8

 

Affidavit of Orson Hyde to the sealing of wives to him by Prest. J. Smith

Copied in Book 2, p. 45

Springtown, Sept. 15, 1869.       

I, Orson Hyde, do hereby certify and declare according to my best recollection that on the 4th day of Septr. I was married to Miss Marinda N. Johnson, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the year of our Lord 1834, and in the month of Feby. or March [1843], I was married to Miss Martha R. Browitt, by Joseph Smith, the martyred Prophet and by him she was sealed to me for time, and for all eternity. \In Nauvoo, Ills./ And in the month of April of the same year 1843, I was married by the same person to Mrs. Mary Ann Price, and by him she was sealed to me for time and for all eternity \in Nauvoo, Ills./, while the woman to whom I was first married was yet living and gave her cordial consent to both transactions, and was personaly present to witness the ceremony’s.

Orson Hyde     

Sworn to and subscribed to before me this the 15th day of Septr. 1869, at Springtown, Sanpete Co. U.T.

George Brough Justice of Peace.       

I hereby certify that the above named George Brough is a Justice of the Peace for the Precinct of Springtown in the county of Sanpete, U. T., and that he is duly qualified in accordance with law; in testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand and affix the seal of the County Court of Sanpete County, U. T. at my office [in Manti] this Sep 16, A.D. 1869.

[SEAL] Wm. T. Reid   County Clerk.      

________________________________________________________________________

Folder 2, images 9-10

[Handwritten duplicate of the above; no significant variation—not transcribed.]

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, images 11-16a

Statement of Joseph A. Kelting, taken in California by B. H. Roberts

For some time previous to the death of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, I lived at Nauvoo, Handcock County, Illinois.  I acted for some years as agent for Bishop \George/ Miller, and was also a deputy sheriff in Handcock County.  Wh I heard rumors of to the effect that Joseph Smith was practicing polygamy; the matter frequently being repeated, especially by the Wm and Wilson Law and the Higbees.  Calling at the house of the prophet one day, early in the spring of 1844, on some business or other not now remembered, the prophet invited me into a room up stairs in his house, called the Mansion.  After \we/ entered the room he locked it \the door,/ and then asked me if I had heard the rumors connecting him with polygamy.  I told him I had.  He then began a defense of the doctrine by referring to the Old Testament.  I told him I did not want to hear that as I could read it for my self. He claimed to be a prophet—I believed him to be prophet—and I wanted to know what he had to say about it.  He expressed some doubts as to how I might receive it, and wanted to know what stand I would take if I should not believe what he had to say about it.  I then pledged him my word that whether I believed his revelation or not I would not betray him.  He then informed me that he had received a revelation a revelation from God which taught the correctness of the doctrine of a plurality of wives, and commanding him to obey it.  He then acknowledged  to having married several wives.  I told him that was all right.  He then said he would like a further pledge from me that I would not betray him.  I asked him if he wanted me to ex accept the principle by marrying a plural wife.  He answered yes.  A short time after this I married two wives in that order of marriage.

On the occasion of Alexander H Smith, son of the prophet, visiting me in this country some few years ago I related to him the above circumstances.

I also know that previous to the death of the prophet Joseph Smith there was a movement on foot looking to the removal of the church from Illinois to the west.  Joseph Smith was the one who took the lead in that matter and called up certain brethren to go on an exploring expedition to seek a suitable location for the church; and I was among the number selected to go.

Joseph A. Kelting

State of California }

County of San Bernardino}s.s.

Subscribed and sworn to before me

A Notary Public this First day of March

A.D. 1894

  1. Johnston

Notary Public in and for San Bernardino County,

State of California

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, images 17-20

[Statement of Joseph A. Kelting, 1903]

[Note: The term “moot” in this document means “discuss” or “introduce for discussion.”]

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA}

State of California } s.s.

County of San Bernardino.}

 

Joseph A. Kelting, being first duly sworn, says, I was born October 13th, 1811, at Philadelphia—P.A., and my present residence is Colton, San Bernardino County, California.

I first knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet, in Ohio.  I once called upon him afterwards at his residence in Nauvoo, Illinois, and told him I wanted a private interview.  We walked up stairs together.  His wife, Emma, was down stairs, and he did not wish her to hear what we were going to talk about.

We went into the front room, and he locked the door.  I told him it was mooted about that he was teaching plural marriage, and asked him the question, “Are you mooting plural marriage?”

His answer was, “[I] cannot answer you, as you are both a lawyer and sheriff of Hancock County, and it might militate against you as an officer as well as against us.”

I said, “Joseph, whatever you tell me as your friend is safe; I came here to find this out, and I assure you upon the square (and we were both Masons) it shall never injure you in any shape.”

“I did moot plural marriage,” said the Prophet.

“Did you have a revelation to teach this?” I asked.

“I did,” he answered.

“Have you more than one wife sealed to you by this authority,” I asked.

“I have,” said he.

After giving me this information, he referred me to Brigham Young if I wanted any more on this subject, Brigham seeming to be the man he trusted most with this matter, and was putting him to the front.

The Prophet assured me that the revelation was as authoritative and binding as any revelation given through him up to that time; and, in fact, that it was paramount to all the rest.

William Law was once his right hand man, but he apostatized because of this principle.  He told me on one occasion that he left the Church because, said he, “I had only wife and could obtain no more, but yet to gain eternal life one must have half a score?”  Joseph on the other hand, said he, “could cast his snares around and gather in Snow-birds, Partridges and N[i/o]gthingales,” meaning by this, girls whom he had married whose names were indicated by the names of these birds.

Joseph stuck to plural marriage to his death.  Emma Smith, to my own personal knowledge, promised to stand by Joseph on this question of polygamy, but she failed to keep faith with her promise.

Joseph Smith was a mighty man and borrowed from no one; he was original and inspiring in his talk.

I was his attorney at Carthage, and while I went to Nauvoo to get a little evidence he was killed in cold blood.

The mob was afraid of Joseph and they killed him, as they did Hyrum, because they were afraid of their influence.

 

  1. A. Kelting

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th day of September, 1903.

  1. B. Hanna.

Notary public.

Notary Public

in and for the County of San Bernardino, State of California

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder2, images 21-22

[Affidavit of Lucy Walker Smith Kimball, 1902]

United States of America, }
State of Utah. }
County of Salt Lake. }

LUCY WALKER SMITH KIMBALL, being first duly sworn, says:

I was a plural wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith and was married for time and eternity in Nauvoo, State of Illinois, on the first day of May, 1843, by Elder William Clayton. The Prophet was then living with his first wife, Emma Smith, and I know that she gave her consent to the marriage of at least four women to her husband as plural wives, and that she was well aware that he associated and cohabited with them as wives. The names of these women are E1iza and Emily Partridge, and Maria and Sarah Lawrence, all of whom knew that I too was his wife.

When the Prophet Joseph Smith first mentioned the principle of plural marriage to me I felt indignant and so expressed myself to him, because my feelings and education were averse to anything of that nature. But he assured me that this doctrine had been revealed to him of the Lord, and that I was entitled to receive a testimony of its divine origin for myself. He counselled me to pray to the Lord, which I did, and thereupon received from him a powerful and irresistible testimony of the truthfulness and divinity of plural marriage, which testimony has abided with me ever since.

On the 8th day of February, 1845, I was married for time to President Heber C. Kimball, and bore to him nine children. And in this connection allow me to say to his everlasting credit that during the whole of my married life with him he never failed to regard me as the wife for eternity of his devoted friend, the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Lucy Walker Smith Kimball.       

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 17th day of December, 1902. 

[SEAL] James Jack

Notary Public.

My Commission Expires, Aug. 6th 1905.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, 23-24

[Lucy Kimball statement duplicate—no significant variation—not transcribed]

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, 25-26

 

Affidavit of Martha McBride Kimball

Sealed to Joseph Smith

Copied in Book 2, page 36

[Note: Martha’s married surname is consistently spelled “Kimble” in this document.]

Territory of Utah, } 
County of Millard } ss.

Be it remembered that on this eighth day of July, A. D. 1869 personaly appeared before me Edward Partridge Probate Judge in and for said county, Martha McBride Kimble who was by me sworn in due form of law, and upon her oath saith, that sometime in the summer of the year 1842, at the city of Nauvoo, County of Hancock, State of Illinois, she was married or sealed to Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by Heber C. Kimble one of Twelve Apostles in said Church according to the 1aws of the same regulating marriage.

Martha McBride Kimble  

Subscribed and sworn to by the said Martha McBride Kimble the day and year first above written

[SEAL] Edward Partridge

Probate Judge      

________________________________________________________________________

 

Folder 2, images 27-28

[Martha McBride Kimball duplicate—no significant variation—not transcribed]

________________________________________________________________________

Folder 2, images 29-32

Affidavit [on] Celestial Marriage, Joseph C. Kingsbury [1886] 

     

In reference to the Affidavit of Elder William Clayton, on the subject of the Celestial Order of Patriarchal Marriage, published in the Deseret Evening News of May 20th 1886; and particularly to the statement made therein concerning myself, as having copied the original revelation written by Brother Clayton at the dictation of the Prophet Joseph, I will say that Bishop Newel K. Whitney handed me the revelation above referred to on either the day it was written or the day following, and stating that it was asked me to take a copy of it.  I did so, and then read my copy of it to Bishop Whitney, who compared it with the original which he held in his hand while I read to him.  When I had finished reading, Bishop Whitney pronounced the copy correct, and Hyrum Smith coming into the room at the time to fetch the original, Bishop Whitney handed it to him.  I will also state that this copy, as also the original, are identically the same as that published in the present edition of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.      

I will add that I also knew that the Prophet Joseph Smith had married other women besides his first wife—Emma; I was well aware of the fact of his having married Sarah Ann Whitney, the eldest daughter of Bishop Newel K.  Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Whitney, his wife.  And the Prophet Joseph told me personally that he had married other women, in accordance with the revealed will of God, and spoke concerning the principle as being a command of God for holy purposes.         

 Joseph C. Kingsbury  

 

Territory of Utah} 

County of Salt Lake}ss

 

I hereby certify that the foregoing statement of Joseph C. Kingsbury concerning the Revelation on \the/ Celestial Order of Patriarchal Marriage and the making of a copy thereof by him, was by said affiant read in my presence on this 22nd day of May A.D. 1886, previous to his signing the same, that after reading it as aforesaid and on the date aforesaid, he did thereupon subscribe his name thereto, and was then \and there/ at his request duly sworn to the same by me, as to its correctness in every particular, and did so swear that the same is true.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my Notarial Seal, this 22nd day of May A.D. 1886, at my office in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, U. T.

Chas. W. Stayner

Notary Public

Salt Lake Co. U. T.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

END OF FOLDER 2 ________________________________________________________________________

Oops I did it again...

We have as promised, collected a small list of gifts for the man who deserves it.

 These 3 luxury items will make a man forget whatever mistake you did. We found all these great "gadgets" online and they are shipped worldwide.

You need to hurry up, though. All items seen in this article are limited editions.

Is it possible to only have 5 pairs of shoes in your wardrobe?

We all love shoes and we can't have too many, right? Well, in this issue of FashionFreaks, we have a small competition for our readers. Come up with 5 different pairs of shoes that could cover all dressing situations in life and you could be our lucky winner.

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The Man, the Myth, the Watchmaker

Pierre-Yves Müller, the notorious Swiss watch maker, is sitting in a minimalistic garden chair outside his house located in the heart of fairy tale Swiss Alps. FashionFreaks were lucky enough to get an interview with this mysterious precision watchmaker.

It strikes me the second I see him, this man is the real deal. Well groomed fingers with nails trimmed to perfection. These hands are his tools and they are taken care of in the same manner an auto repairman takes care of his tools.

Pierre-Yves greets us with a conservative smile, there is no room for small talk in this interview. But small talk is not necessary, we want to know everything about the man and his company, Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

Read the rest of the article

FF Quick Picks

Kalman Lipstick

The new line of Kalman lipsticks are very exciting. Intense colors and a very long lasting effect. For the price, you get a lot of lipstick. The design of the lipstick looks cheap, though.

Eamonn Jeans

Eamonn have released a new line of jeans called Eamonn No. 5. If you have the right figure, you're in for a treat. The tight fit looks great, and they are very comfortable to wear. Although pricy, you won't get a much better pair of jeans.

Aaqil Silk Ties

Luxury ties from Italian makers, Aaqil. These ties are the best looking ties we have seen in a long time. Expensive, yes.. a problem, NO.

Nuna Streetwear

Kids streetwear from Nuna means color and craziness. Soft materials and wild patterns are the building block of Nuna. Durable, expensive and wild. Can't really beat that.

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