Who were Joseph Smith’s youngest wives?
Todd Noall
Fact Checked by Kevin Prince
Updated July 3, 2024
One of Joseph Smith’s youngest wives was Helen Mar Kimball. Kimball was fourteen years old when she was married to Joseph Smith. Kimball wrote about the marriage in her autobiography. She stated that the marriage was a sealing for eternity only. This likely meant that the relationship was not physical in any way.
Both Kimball and her father, Heber C. Kimball, believed that the marriage would “ensure her eternal salvation and exaltation of [her] father’s household.” Some historians have come to call these types of sealings–dynastic sealings.
After Joseph Smith’s martyrdom, Kimball married Horace K. Whitney. They migrated to Utah with the majority of those of the Mormon faith. While in Utah, Kimball authored two books in defense of polygamy.
References
- Helen Mar Kimball, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney 1881 Autobiography in Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, eds., A Woman’s View: Helen Mar Whitney’s Reminiscences of Early Church History (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997), 481–487, https://rsc.byu.edu/womans-view/appendix-one.
- Helen Mar Kimball, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney 1881 Autobiography in Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, eds., A Woman’s View: Helen Mar Whitney’s Reminiscences of Early Church History (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997), 481–487, https://rsc.byu.edu/womans-view/appendix-one.
- “Helen Mar Kimball Whitney,” Joseph Smith Papers, accessed May 3, 2024,