Stories of the Wives of Joseph Smith: Helen Mar Kimball

Helen Mar Kimball occupies a unique place in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born August 1828 into a family intimately connected with Church founder Joseph Smith, she would experience some of the most formative events of the Church’s first decades. 

Her life story, especially her sealing as the youngest of the wives of Joseph Smith, continues to draw scholarship and controversy. When seen in its full context, her life reveals meaningful insights on the lived realities of Latter-day Saints during a period of rapid change, conflict, and doctrinal development, including Joseph Smith multiple wives.

Early Life and Religious Background

Helen was born in Mendon, New York, the third of nine children of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Murray Kimball, both early converts to the Church. The Kimball family embraced the fledgling Church with zeal, moving with the Saints from New York to Ohio, then Missouri, and ultimately to Nauvoo, Illinois in response to persecution and the call to gather with the Saints. In each of these communities, Helen grew up surrounded by Church leaders and fellow believers, developing strong spiritual roots and a deep familiarity with the scriptures.

Her father, Heber C. Kimball, was ordained an Apostle in 1835 and frequently served missions, often leaving the household in the care of Vilate and young Helen. As a child and teenager, Helen witnessed both joy and hardship in the early Church, including mob violence in Missouri and the communal efforts to build temples and support fellow Saints. These experiences helped shape her lifelong devotion to her faith and her community.

Helen’s Sealing to Joseph Smith

In the spring of 1843, when Helen was 14 years old, her father introduced her to the concept of plural marriage, a religious doctrine Joseph Smith had begun teaching privately to select Church leaders and families in Nauvoo. After discussion and spiritual consideration, Helen consented to be sealed as one of the wives of Joseph Smith. She was one of a total of between 30 and 40 estimated how many wives did Joseph Smith had.

Latter-day Saint teachings distinguish between different kinds of sealings, with most temple sealings today being officiated for “time and eternity.” This means that a couple will be both traditionally married during life and connected in the afterlife. Helen herself later described her sealing to Joseph as being “for eternity alone,” a phrase that suggests the relationship was about connecting their families in the afterlife, and likely did not include traditional marital expectations in life. After being sealed, Helen continued to live with her own family.

After Joseph Smith’s assasination in 1844, Helen did not immediately remarry. A few years later, as the Saints prepared to migrate west, she married Horace Kimball Whitney in the Nauvoo Temple on February 3, 1846. Horace was a brother of her close friend Sarah Ann Whitney, and this marriage was “for time,” meaning it was only for mortal life.

Life After Nauvoo and Later Contributions

Following her marriage to Horace Whitney, Helen joined the Saints in their difficult trek across Iowa to Winter Quarters, Nebraska and later to the Salt Lake Valley. Life on the frontier was arduous, marked by sickness, loss, and the daily labors of building new homes and communities. Helen bore eleven children with Horace, though the first three died around the time of birth. Over the years, several of her other children also passed away at young ages, but many survived to adulthood, contributing to Church and civic life in Utah.

Helen’s life in Utah was marked not just by motherhood and community building, but also by intellectual and spiritual engagement. Encouraged by Relief Society leader Emmeline B. Wells, she became a prolific writer and diarist, sharing reminiscences of early Church history in the Woman’s Exponent and other publications. Her writings provide a rare firsthand perspective on the trials, faith, and evolving doctrines of the early Saints. 

During her later years, Helen also took part in public discussions about plural marriage, especially as critics mischaracterized the practice or questioned whether Joseph Smith had truly practiced it. In response, she published pamphlets such as Plural Marriage as Taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Why We Practice Plural Marriage, defending both the doctrine and the Prophet’s role in its introduction. 

Understanding Helen’s Sealing in Context

Helen Mar Kimball’s sealing as one of the wives of Joseph Smith often draws modern scrutiny from how old were Joseph Smith’s wives because she was legally a teenager. From a contemporary perspective, marriage at such an age is unacceptable. However, evaluating her life within the cultural and historical context of 19th-century America where adolescence and adulthood were defined differently than today helps nuance understanding. Many legal marriages occurred at younger ages than is common now, and Latter-day Saints of the era understood and practiced sealing ordinances within their own doctrinal and communal frameworks.

Moreover, early Church teachings distinguished between different types of sealings, with some emphasizing eternal rather than temporal relationships, especially for younger women. Helen’s own reflections on Joseph Smith multiple wives emphasize her belief that she participated in what she saw as an eternal covenant, designed to bless her family in the broader framework of salvation and exaltation.

Her later marriage to Horace Whitney and the family they raised together was a central part of her adult life, and her writings convey that she saw her choices and experiences as part of a larger divine plan. In her 1881 autobiographical letter to her children, Helen expressed gratitude for the trials she endured and affirmed her belief that her experiences helped her gain a personal testimony of God’s role in her life.

Helen Mar Kimball’s Legacy and Faith

Helen Mar Kimball Whitney died in Salt Lake City in 1896, surrounded by family and mourned by friends who remembered her life of service, reflection, and devotion. Even as debates about early Church history continue, her story remains a powerful reminder of the complexity of faith lived in community, under pressure, and across generations.

In reflecting on Helen’s life, it is important to define her not just as one of the wives of Joseph Smith, but as a woman whose faith, resilience, and voice helped shape the story of a people building Zion in an often-hostile world. Her life reflects the trials and commitments of early Saints, contributing to the tapestry of Latter-day Saint heritage.

Sources:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/helen-mar-kimball-whitney

https://rsc.byu.edu/womans-view/appendix-one

https://addfaith.org/blog/faith/joseph-smith/joseph-smiths-14-year-old-bride/

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/individual/helen-mar-kimball-1828?lang=eng

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