Joseph Smith (1805–1844), founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, taught and practiced religious polygamy, termed "plural marriage" during his adulthood, marrying an estimated 30 to 40 wives throughout his lifetime. Smith and some of the top leaders of the church he founded publicly denied he taught or practiced it.bound edition—"Notice", Times and Seasons, 5(3) (1 February 1844): 423: "As we have lately been credibly informed, that an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Hiram Brown, has been preaching Polygamy, and other false and corrupt doctrines, in the county of Lapeer, state of Michigan.".Millennial Star 4 [January 1844]: 144.

In 1852, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) publicly acknowledged that Smith had practiced plural marriage and produced a statement of Smith's which he said was a revelation from God authorizing its practice. Smith's lawful widow Emma Smith, his son Joseph Smith III, and most members of the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or RLDS Church) attempted for years to refute the evidence of plural marriages. They pointed to Smith's public statements opposing polygamy,Times and Seasons 5:474. and stated that plural marriage began in Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young.

The first publication of a list of those alleged to be Smith's plural wives was in 1887, by Andrew Jenson, an assistant LDS Church historian. It included 27 names besides Emma Smith.Jenson, A. Historical Record 6 [May 1887]: 233–34. There are currently 49 wives on this list. However, historians disagree as to the number and identity of the polygamous wives Smith had. Various scholars and historians, including Fawn M. Brodie, George D. Smith, and Todd Compton, have attempted to identify the individuals who married Smith. The discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support some of the reported marriages. Apart from his marriage to Emma, Smith's marriages were not solemnized under any civil authority and were therefore solely religious unions.

List of reported wives

Image Plural wife's maiden name (married name) Marriage date Age and Recognized by Marital status at time of sealing NotesTCGSFB Emma Hale (Smith) January 17, 1827 22 Yes Yes Yes N/A The only woman legally wed to Smith, who he claimed publicly was his only spouse, and the only union known to have produced offspring.History of the Church 6:410–11. Continued church activity within the RLDS Church.Frequently Asked Questions at official Community of Christ website. Throughout life and on her deathbed she denied that her husband had plural wives.History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 3:55–56, Independence, Missouri, Herald House Publishing, 1967–, c1896–; . Claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of a polygamy revelation being attributed to Smith was when she read about it in Orson Pratt's periodical The Seer in 1853.Saints' Herald 65:1044–45. Emma Hale and Joseph Smith were sealed together on May 28, 1843.Carol Cornwall Madsen, "'My Dear and Beloved Companion': The Letters of Joseph and Emma Smith", Ensign, September 2008. Fanny Alger c. 1833–1837 16 Yes Yes Single Alger's relationship with Smith was attested to by several people, including Emma Smith, Warren Parish, Oliver Cowdery, and Heber C. Kimball. Several Mormons including Benjamin F. Johnson, Heber C. Kimball and Andrew Jenson, and former Mormons Chauncey Webb and Ann Eliza Webb Young, regarded the relationship as a marriage. Compton cites Mosiah Hancock's handwritten report of his father Levi's account of the marriage ceremony of Smith and Alger, and records his father's account of negotiations between Levi and Smith in procuring their respective wives. Compton also notes that nineteenth-century Historian Lawrence Foster asserts a claim that later Mormons may have falsely assumed there was a marriage where there was only a sexual relationship: he views the marriage of Alger to Smith as a "debatable supposition".Lawrence Foster, Review of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith" , Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 33 (spring 2001): 184–86. As Richard Bushman has noted, Smith "never denied a relationship with Alger, but insisted it was not adulterous. He wanted it on record that he had never confessed to such a sin."Bushman, pg. 325 After Smith's death, when Alger's brother asked her about her relationship with Smith, she replied, "That is all a matter of my own. And I have nothing to communicate."Bushman, pg 327 Brian C. Hales documents three possible timelines for Alger's relationship: the relationship starts in 1832–33 and is shortly discovered; the relationship starts in 1832–33 and is not discovered until 1835–37; the relationship starts in 1835–37 and is shortly discovered. Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris c. 1838–1842 37–41 Yes Yes Yes Married Compton notes the following evidence: she is the third woman on Andrew Jenson's 1887 list of Smith's plural wives; Compton writes that "Sarah Pratt reported that while in Nauvoo Lucinda had admitted a long-standing relationship with Smith", though Compton admits that this statement is "antagonistic, third-hand, and late"; and that there is an "early Nauvoo temple proxy sealing to Smith". This marriage was polyandrous, as Lucinda lived with her husband George Washington Harris until about 1853. Compton believes the marriage occurred around 1838, when Smith was living with Lucinda and her husband.

Quinn gave this sealing a window of year between 1838 and 1842.