Sarah Ann Whitney (22 March 1825 in Kirtland, Ohio - 4 September 1873 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is alleged to have been a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
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Sarah Ann Whitney was born in Kirtland, Ohio on March 22, 1825 to Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Whitney. [1] Sarah was thirteen years old when her family left Kirtland shortly after the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society with the intention of relocating to Missouri. During this time, Sarah’s mother wrote that her children “accepted this change in their worldly circumstances without a murmur. They were devotedly attached to Joseph".[2] Upon their arrival in St. Louis, the family learned of the escalating conflicts between the Mormons and the Missourians, and the Governor’s issuance of the Missouri Executive Order 44. Sarah’s family decided to avoid Missouri, and lived temporarily in several places before eventually arriving in Nauvoo, Illinois in the spring of 1840.[3]
Joseph Smith Jr. and Newel Whitney had a very close friendship. According to Brodie, after her parents were introduced to the principle of plural marriage by Smith, the marriage of Sarah to Smith was arranged with her parents' consent. [4][5] Compton claims this marriage is believed to have been performed for the purpose of creating a “dynastic” link between the Whitney and Smith families in the afterlife and to be “very much a family activity".[6]
During the time that she lived in Nauvoo, Sarah became very close friends with Helen Mar Kimball, who is also alleged to have been one of Smith’s plural wives according to a memoir that Kimball wrote in her later life. According to Helen, she and Sarah were like “the two halves of one soul.” Sarah’s brother Horace Whitney married Helen Mar Kimball “for time” after the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844.[7]
Nine months after her marriage to Smith, Sarah married Joseph Kingsbury in a civil ceremony.[8] This marriage was considered a "pretend" marriage according to Kingsbury, who was also later sealed to his deceased wife Caroline for eternity.[9]
After the death of Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844, Sarah's marriage to Joseph Kingsbury was dissolved and on 17 March 1845 Sarah married Heber C. Kimball "for time".[10] Seven children resulted from this marriage, two of which died in infancy. Sarah was described in Kimball's biography as "a woman of wonderful character, respected by the other wives and children. She was deeply devoted to her own children and to Heber C. Kimball."[11]