FA

First plural wife (disputed)

Fanny Alger

1816–1889

1 topic · 1 dated event

Their part in each topic

Joseph Smith's Plural Marriage

First plural wife (disputed)

A household helper in the Smith home in Kirtland, she is named by Utah-era Latter-day Saints as Joseph Smith's first plural wife, probably in 1835 or early 1836. Emma expelled her from the house; Oliver Cowdery called the relationship a dirty, nasty, filthy affair. Fanny married Solomon Custer, a non-Mormon, on 16 November 1836 and never spoke publicly about Joseph Smith.

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In the timeline

1 events across 1 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.

c. 1835–1836

Fanny Alger and the Kirtland householdhinge

Fanny Alger, a household helper in the Smith home, was joined to Joseph Smith in what Utah-era Latter-day Saints called his first plural marriage. Emma Smith discovered the relationship and expelled her; Fanny stayed briefly with Chauncey Webb's family, left Kirtland with her family in September 1836, and married Solomon Custer, a non-Mormon her own age, in Indiana on 16 November 1836. She never spoke publicly about Joseph Smith.

Why this is a hingeEverything about the practice's origin, its authorisation and its moral character turns on whether this was a marriage or an affair.
Disputed Compton, Hales and the Gospel Topics essay call it a plural marriage; Lawrence Foster, Vogel and Brodie hold that contemporaries did not regard it as one. There are no first-hand accounts from Joseph, Fanny or Emma.
People: Fanny Alger · Joseph Smith Jr. · Emma Hale Smith

Appears alongside

People who share the most dated events with Fanny Alger.

This page is generated from the same topic records as the rest of the database, so a correction made once shows up here too. All key players · How this is built