Mary Fielding Smith

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Mary Fielding Smith Kimball (1801 - 1852) was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement, the second wife of LDS Church leader Hyrum Smith and the mother of Joseph F. Smith.

Mary Fielding was born in Bedfordshire, England on July 21, 1801. She was the sixth child of John Fielding and Rachel Ibbotson, who were active in the growing Methodist movement in the area. In 1834, Mary emigrated to join her brother Joseph and her sister Mercy in Toronto, Canada.

The three Fielding siblings were introduced to the newly formed LDS religion in 1836, and were promptly baptized. Mary moved to Kirtland, Ohio the following year to join the larger body of the church. Well educated, Mary earned a living through teaching school, tutoring private pupils and acting as a governess. At the suggestion of the LDS prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., the recently widowed Hyrum Smith courted Mary Fielding and the couple married on December 24, 1837. Mary accepted the responsibility of caring for and raising Hyrum's children from his first marriage.

Mary Fielding Smith died in Salt Lake City, Utah at the home of her second husband Heber C. Kimball, on September 21, 1852 apparently of pneumonia. Although she was widely known and respected during her lifetime, her son, LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith, enhanced her reputation after her death as he presented her as a role model of courage and faithfulness in public addresses, sermons and articles.