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At one time during the early years of the church there were many widows that needed to be taken care of. For this reason, and a few others, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that he and other men in the church should take more then one wife. So yes, Joseph did have more then one wife. We don't know how many because of the reason listed above--since so many of the marriages were political contracts with older widows to allow them to keep their property, to assure that he would pay their mortgages, etc., it is assumed that there were many polygamous relationships that were not only non-sexual, but where the two may have never met one another. The church hasn't practiced polygamy since 1890.
The answer above gives an apologetic view to Mormon Polygamy and in some areas not 100% accurate. There is no historical evidence for the amount of widows compared to men in the Church in the early 19th Century. That argument is not accepted by historians and holds no water. The reason for the revelation calling Joseph Smith to live "the Principle," as it is called among some Fundamentalist groups, or Polygamy is contained in the revelation itself. He received the revelation because he was inquiring of the Lord concerning David, Solomon and Abraham's practice of plural wives. Historian Todd Compton in his book "In Sacred Loneliness" provides ample evidence that Joseph Smith had at least 28 plural wives and possible up to about 32 maximum. So, to answer your question, yes, Joseph Smith did have more than one wife. The argument above that Joseph Smith was married to them only to help them financially also holds no water, he was steeped deeply in debt and could not have rendered much, if any, financial support for those women. Joseph Smith did meet his wives and there are arguments for sexual relations between the two. However, the sexual relations must have been few and rare because in that time period there were no serious contraceptives and if Smith were running around with nearly 30 women on a regular basis there would be nearly dozens of documented and plausible illegitimate children. The thing is there are none. No one has found evidence supporting that any one person was an illegitimate child of Joseph Smith through any of his wives other than Emma Hale Smith. There are possibly 3 cases that could argue to be Smith's illegitimate children however none are accepted by scholars as plausible, let alone true. While many Latter-day Saints would like to think that all polygamy ended in 1890 there were many Members who did not accept the Manifest from President Wilford Woodruff and continued to perform and engage in Polygamous marriages. This is why we see so many fundamentalist Mormon sects today like the one Warren Jeffs once lead.
There are two camps to this question; (1) Brother Joseph was only married to Emma, and (2) Brother Joseph had between 40 to 80 other wives. From my high level of scholarly research, I have found not one single shred of credible historical evidence that Brother Joseph had more than one wife. While it is "cool" to say that he did, a rigorous academic investigation will show that claims that he had more than one wife hold no historical weight.
What else can I help you with?
How many people are named Joseph smith?
That's impossible to answer but i know that Joseph smith is probaly one of the most common names
What practice did Mormons believe in that upset many Americans?
The early Mormon Church supported and encouraged the practice of polygamy, although this was against the law of the United States. The Church has acknowledged that its founder, Joseph Smith, had as many as 40 wives.
Are there any pictures of Joseph Smith?
Yes, there are many pictures of Joseph Smith, but there are no photographs as photography was still a new invention at the time of his death.
How many people were in the church when Joseph Smith died?
There were about 40,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when Joseph Smith was martyred.
How many wives could a man have in time of Jesus?
One wife which was evident in Joseph and Marry.
When did Joseph smith find Missouri?
Joseph Smith did not find Missouri. It was already a well known and established place with many cities and towns before he arrived.
Who was Joseph smiths successor?
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church) believe that Joseph Smith's successor was Brigham Young. However, many offshoot groups claim other successors, such as Joseph Smith's son, Joseph Smith III.
Hiw many boys did Joseph smith?
None. Sadly, I find this offensive.
Who discovered the California Trail was it Joseph Smith?
While there have been many people named Joseph Smith, the most well known from the time period Joseph Smith, the founding Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church). Joseph Smith never travelled farther west than Missouri, so he could not have discovered the California Trail.
Was david koresh a pedophile?
yup
What was the effect of Joseph Smith's murder?
Joseph Smith's murder or martyr took place on June 27, 1844 when a mob of about 100 to 200 men with faces painted black stormed Carthage Jail. The religious intent of Joseph Smith's murder was suppose to bring an end to the LDS/Mormon faith. After Joseph Smith's death many men stepped forward and claimed that they were Joseph Smith's successor. Some believed that Joseph Smith the III, Joseph's son should take the place as leader of the church, essentially this was the start of the RLDS church. Sidney Rigdon, also claimed leadership of the church as he had been in the leadership of the church with Joseph Smith in the early beginnings of the church. However, Sidney Rigdon's association with the church had been marred and at one time he had been almost excommunicated from the church. Rigdon believed that with Joseph Smith's death that no one could take Joseph's place and that there could only be a caretaker of the church. He pronounced that he should be that caretaker. The only other person who stood against this statement was Brigham Young, president of the twelve apostles, who claimed that Rigdon had not been there in many teaching and learning opportunities with the Prophet Joseph Smith. Priot to his death, Joseph Smith spent time teaching and giving instruction to the Twelve Apostles. Brigham Young claimed essentially that this was why Sidney Rigdon's position was faulty. In addition, many of the saints in Nauvoo believed they saw and heard the "mantle" of Joseph Smith fall upon Brigham Young. This was to confirm to many of the LDS Saints that Brigham Young was indeed the next prophet to lead the faith. Other Mormon sects as well sprung up from Joseph Smith's death such as: RLDS, Rigdonites, Strangites, etc.
How many wives did Joseph have?
Stalin had two wives. The first was Ketevan Svanidze, who died of tuberculosis on November 22, 1907. The second was Nadezhda Allilueva, who shot herself on November 7, 1932.
