Fanny Alger

FAIR Answers Wiki Table of Contents

Articles about Joseph Smith
Articles about plural marriage
Doctrinal foundation of plural marriage
Introduction of plural marriage
Questions about Joseph Smith and plural marriage
  • Joseph Smith's marriages to young women
  • Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him?
  • Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage
  • Does Joseph Smith's lack of children through polygamy contradict the commandment to "multiply and replenish the earth"?
  • Joseph Smith was sealed to other men's wives
  • Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma
  • Emma Smith's reaction to Joseph Smith's plural marriages
  • What is known about possible children through Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages?
  • Did Joseph have "lustful motives" for practicing polygamy?
  • Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to "steal" their wives?
  • Did Joseph Smith practice polygamy for the purpose of monetary gain?
Wives of Joseph Smith
  • Fanny Alger
  • Plural wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.
Plural marriage in Utah
  • Question: Did early Church leaders "admit" that there were many difficulties with plural marriage that caused "problems" and "great sorrow"?
  • Brigham Young's statements regarding polygamy
  • John Taylor's statements regarding polygamy
  • 19th century statements from Church leaders regarding the practice of plural marriage
  • Divorce among Mormons in the 19th century
  • Prevalence of polygamy in Utah
End of plural marriage
  • Question: Was Wilford Woodruff actually inspired to end polygamy?
  • Polygamy practiced after the Manifesto
  • The attitude of the modern Church toward polygamy


Fanny Alger

What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife, Fanny Alger, whom he came to know in early 1833 when she stayed at the Smith home as a house-assistant of sorts to Emma (such work was common for young women at the time). There are no first-hand accounts of their relationship (from Joseph or Fanny), nor are there second-hand accounts (from Emma or Fanny's family). All that we do have is third hand accounts, most of them recorded many years after the events.

  1. REDIRECT Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife

Claimed miscarriage of child by Joseph

Summary: Two women are claimed to have had miscarriages of a child by Joseph Smith. There are serious problems with accepting either account as probable.


Joseph Smith's Polygamy: "Fanny Alger", by Brian C. Hales

Summary: The marriage of Joseph Smith to Fanny Alger, his first and only plural wife prior to the Saints settling in Nauvoo, has received much scrutiny.

(Click here for full article)


See also Brian Hales' discussion: An Overview of Joseph’s Plural Marriage to Fanny Alger
Researching the relationship between Joseph Smith and Fanny is difficult because of limitations in available documentation. Only nineteen manuscripts have been identified in the historical record discussing the occurrence either firsthand or secondhand. Unfortunately they contain contradictory and ambiguous statements. (Link)