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Interview of Benjamin Winchester, 27 November 1900 (RLDS archives –
Call Number _____ ?; not proofed)
"Did Joseph Smith, the prophet, ever practice polygamy?
"Yes, I know he had for wives Ella Kimball, Louisa Beman,
Eliza Snow and two Partridges. Also before the revelation
came out on polygamy he had a child to a Miss Smith of
Philadelphia. She had two children before he sealed her as his
wife. She was a fine looking woman, and traveled for months
with Smith, about nine or ten months before her child was
born. I could not have been any other man's child. Smith got
Philo Dibble to marry here so as to avoid scandal."
"Were you personally acquainted with any of Smith's wives?
"Yes, but especially with Louisa Beman from a girl. About the
year 43 Joseph Smith took rooms for her in my fathers house,
and Smith came to see her about once a week."
"Did they sleep together?
"Yes they did.
"Was there only one bed in the room?
"Yes just one bed." Are you sure it was in 1843? "No, but it
was about that time, or from 42 to 44."
"Where did your father live at that time?
"At Nauvoo, Illinois. I got much information concerning
polygamy from Hiram Smith. He was a great friend of mine.
He was satisfied that it was the will of the Lord that we should
permit polygamy, so he admitted to me that he had went into
it. I had many talks with him on this subject in the winter of 43
and 44, while I was sick at my father's house. He often came
there and talked for hours with me on this and other subjects
relating to the church. Many of the leaders here (in Council
Bluffs) and in other places have admitted to me that Smith like
Moses fell, and that as Moses had sinned and therefore could
not enter Canaan, so Smith had sinned and this was the cause
of his death.
Transcriber’s comment:
The content of this autobiographical document correspond in
several places with that of Winchester's 1889 article "Primitive
Mormonism," and it is best read in parallel with that pubkished
article. For example, in both accounts Winchester relates the
story of a Mrs. or Miss "Smith of Philadelphia," whom he
indentifies as being a mistress or early plural wife of Joseph
Smith, Jr. This woman, Hannah Ann Duboise Smith (also
known as "Widow Smith"), became the second or third wife of
Philo Dibble at Nauvoo in 1841; she went West with him and
died in Springville Utah.
The following is from the Salt Lake Daily Tribune, 22 September 1889, source Benjamin Winchester:
During the time of Smith's sojourn with me in Philadelphia we
visited quite a number of members of the Church there. Among
them was a Mrs. Smith, foreman or forewoman of a glove
factory, and some eight or ten girls were working in that
factory who were, like Mrs. Smith, members of the Church.
Smith, after several silly flirtations with the girls which I
witnessed and which created
A GOOD DEAL OF SCANDAL
And caused me some trouble, finally became enamored with
Mrs. Smith and induced her and two girls to leave there and go
to Nauvoo. I subsequently met Mrs. Smith at Nauvoo, when
she told me that she had lent Joseph all of her money and he
had gotten her married to a man by the name of Debble that
through the "prophet" she had lost her all and was reduced to a
condition of abject poverty.