Fanny Alger

FAIR Answers Wiki Table of Contents

Articles about Joseph Smith

Life and Character	Status in Latter-day Saint belief Joseph Smith's family as trustworthy and hard-working Education Trustworthiness The Hurlbut affidavits Alleged narcissism Money digging Folk magic or the occult The Word of Wisdom
Revelations and the Church	Use of seer stones as a youth First Vision Book of Mormon Joseph Smith's inspired revision of the Bible The restoration of the priesthood Personages who appeared to Joseph Smith
Prophetic Statements	The U.S. Civil War Rocky Mountain prophecy The White Horse prophecy Alleged false prophecies of Joseph Smith
Society	Legal issues 1826 trial Creation of the Kirtland Safety Society Failure of the Kirtland Safety Society Campaign for President of the United States
Plural marriage (polygamy)	Notable plural wives: Fanny Alger Helen Mar Kimball Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde
Death	The Nauvoo Expositor Events surrounding the death of Joseph Smith Firing a gun at Carthage Jail Qualification as a martyr 1844 Succession to Joseph Smith

Articles about plural marriage

Joseph Smith

Fanny Alger

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.

Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife

Summary: With a lone exception, there is no account after Joseph’s death of Emma admitting Joseph’s plural marriages in any source. The reported exception is recorded in a newspaper article and two letters written by excommunicated Latter-day Saint apostle William E. McLellin. The former apostle claimed to have visited Emma in 1847 and to have discussed Joseph’s relationship with Fanny Alger. McLellin also reported a tale he had heard about Joseph and Fanny Alger in which they were allegedly observed by Emma together in the barn.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife Fanny Alger?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833?
• Question: How could Joseph and Fanny have been married in 1831 if the sealing power had not yet been restored?
• Question: Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that he had an affair with Fanny Alger?
• Question: Did Emma Smith discover her husband Joseph with Fanny Alger in a barn?
• Question: Did Fanny Alger have a child by Joseph Smith?

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.

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